RE: Lies, Damn Lies...
Monday 23rd September 2002
Lies, Damn Lies...
Sensible debate is now marred by statistics says Robert Farago.
Discussion
Sounds a bit like Mr Williamson, of Camden Council, who was responsible for making virtually the whole of the borough either residents only or parking machines. He claimed that all the residents had been polled and that the scheme was "lawful and democratic". Now I run a business in one of these streets and we'd not been asked, nor had our tenants, nor had the Lord Stanley, right across the road, nor had our friendly barmaid living 2 down, nor had my drinking buddy 4 doors down... You get the picture. When presented with this overwhelming evidence there was very little democracy at work here, Mr Williamson could not do anything else but repeat over and over, yes you guessed it, "it's lawful and democratic". Nobhead!
I think with all these things there is a bias. People generally want to prove a point, rather than reach a null verdict, so bias creeps in.
If you're paying to do research, generally you want a satisfactory conclusion... and I think this is where the facts become distorted.
Besides, 82.4% of statistics are made up on the spot
(slight bastardisation of a Vic Reeves quote IIRC)
If you're paying to do research, generally you want a satisfactory conclusion... and I think this is where the facts become distorted.
Besides, 82.4% of statistics are made up on the spot
(slight bastardisation of a Vic Reeves quote IIRC)
quote:
The upshot of this would be that figures can only be presented in the way that they decree, means there can be no spin in essence.
Only 50% of this scentence is grammaticaly correct. And then only 20% of the 50% makes sense. Were you smoking whilst typing. Statistically, smokers are 47% more likely to make mistakes whilst typing.
No spin in essence. Marvelous.
A middle aged woman went to her cosmetic surgeon to see what her options were concerning her rapidly sagging face. "We can give you an old fashioned face-lift, or we can use a new high-tech procedure called the knob."
"What is the knob, doctor?", she asked.
"It is a procedure where we install a knob under the hair on the back of your head. We then connect it to the facial muscles which sag, and when you see new wrinkles and sagging, you just tighten the knob a few turns and your skin is nice and tight again."
"Oh, yes! That is what I would like to have", she replied excitedly. The operation was a complete success and she looked 15 years younger.
As time passed, when she would notice new sagging, she would simply tighten the knob and viola! Her face was beautiful again.
One day about 8 years later she woke up one morning and saw very large bags under her eyes. Alarmed, she called her doctor and reported the bags.
"You had better get right over and let me check this out!" the doctor replied.
After examining her, he said "the bags under your eyes are your breasts."
To which she said, "Well, I guess that explains the goatee!"
"What is the knob, doctor?", she asked.
"It is a procedure where we install a knob under the hair on the back of your head. We then connect it to the facial muscles which sag, and when you see new wrinkles and sagging, you just tighten the knob a few turns and your skin is nice and tight again."
"Oh, yes! That is what I would like to have", she replied excitedly. The operation was a complete success and she looked 15 years younger.
As time passed, when she would notice new sagging, she would simply tighten the knob and viola! Her face was beautiful again.
One day about 8 years later she woke up one morning and saw very large bags under her eyes. Alarmed, she called her doctor and reported the bags.
"You had better get right over and let me check this out!" the doctor replied.
After examining her, he said "the bags under your eyes are your breasts."
To which she said, "Well, I guess that explains the goatee!"
That's torn it! quote:You're a disgrace, Scruff ... good man
A middle aged woman went to her cosmetic surgeon to see what her options were concerning her rapidly sagging face. "We can give you an old fashioned face-lift, or we can use a new high-tech procedure called the walnut whip."
"What is the walnut whip, doctor?", she asked.
"It is a procedure where we install a walnut whip under the hair on the back of your head. We then connect it to the facial muscles which sag, and when you see new wrinkles and sagging, you just tighten the walnut whip a few turns and your skin is nice and tight again."
"Oh, yes! That is what I would like to have", she replied excitedly. The operation was a complete success and she looked 15 years younger.
As time passed, when she would notice new sagging, she would simply tighten the walnut whip and viola! Her face was beautiful again.
One day about 8 years later she woke up one morning and saw very large bags under her eyes. Alarmed, she called her doctor and reported the bags.
"You had better get right over and let me check this out!" the doctor replied.
After examining her, he said "the bags under your eyes are your breasts."
To which she said, "Well, I guess that explains the goatee!"
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