Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

Statistics weren't that easy to find when I was a kid...

[Mohican]

25% of statistics are made up.

[david3103]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is interesting; what they conceal is vital

[RED-DOG]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is interesting; what they conceal is vital

Click to see full-size image.

[BangBang]

I have always wondered whether commentary about how much 'stuff' children now have available is based on the comfortable middle class environment of the journalists who write it rather than the 'real' world.

I had a look and arguably the relevant statistics are hard to find - about 50% of families own 2 cars or more, so that automatically means that Tikay's list is only relevant to the minority though.

A couple of other statistics I found were 90% of 11-16 year olds have a mobile phone, and 70% of 10-18 year olds have TVs in their bedroom, that narrows it down a bit further but I'd question the relevance because the 'important' part I think is when they're under 10.

Think 90% of all UK 11-16 year olds having a mobile phone seems like a high statistic? Maybe in a few years when our dependence on smart phones becomes more epidemic and handsets and data plans become cheaper, but 90% really? with 7.7% unemployment and the average income in the UK being extraordinarily low (think £16k or thereabouts) how are families being able to afford such luxuries

My daughter (13) has an iphone which cost me £500 and maybe £20 a month in data and call charges, that's £740 a year which if we were earning £16k would represent a significant amount of our income. Even if you're paying £50 for a phone and £10 a month in charges £170 year seems a lot..

Always been against more then one TV in any household.. Annoys the c$@p out of me when I go to visit my brother and his family and all the kids take there dinner up to their own bedrooms to eat whilst watching TV.. Kind of Explains why kids are not as fit as Tikays generation 

Crazy world...

[Claw75]

I actually think the phone stat is probably right. Hannah doesn't have one now but I will get her one once she starts high school just as a safety precaution so we can contact each other. It'll be a cheap pay as you go jobbie with no data, which can be picked up for peanuts. I doubt 'most' 11 year olds have smart phones with full internet access etc.

[mondatoo]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is interesting; what they conceal is vital

<3 this.

[david3103]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is interesting; what they conceal is vital

<3 this.

I need to confess that this isn't in any sense an original 3103 thought.

It is a quote that has been around for years and although it seems to be considered to be anonymous nowadays I've been using it for 30+ years and I always attributed it to whoever was The Bishop of Norwich when I first heard it.

[RED-DOG]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is interesting; what they conceal is vital

<3 this.

I need to confess that this isn't in any sense an original 3103 thought.

It is a quote that has been around for years and although it seems to be considered to be anonymous nowadays I've been using it for 30+ years and I always attributed it to whoever was The Bishop of Norwich when I first heard it.

Norwich. It's Norfolk 'n good!

[Doobs]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is interesting; what they conceal is vital

<3 this.

I need to confess that this isn't in any sense an original 3103 thought.

It is a quote that has been around for years and although it seems to be considered to be anonymous nowadays I've been using it for 30+ years and I always attributed it to whoever was The Bishop of Norwich when I first heard it.

It is credited to Aaron Levenstein.

I must confess I don't understand the quote at all.  Nothing is concealed by statistics, it is just a series of data.  If people misunderstand or misuse data, it isn't because the data conceals anything.

[RED-DOG]

Why can't you use boiling water in hot water bottles?

[david3103]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is interesting; what they conceal is vital

<3 this.

I need to confess that this isn't in any sense an original 3103 thought.

It is a quote that has been around for years and although it seems to be considered to be anonymous nowadays I've been using it for 30+ years and I always attributed it to whoever was The Bishop of Norwich when I first heard it.

It is credited to Aaron Levenstein.

I must confess I don't understand the quote at all.  Nothing is concealed by statistics, it is just a series of data.  If people misunderstand or misuse data, it isn't because the data conceals anything.

I don't really know where to start in correcting this.

Statistics and data are two very different things though, perhaps that will help.

[Rod Paradise]

Why can't you use boiling water in hot water bottles?

It supposedly causes the rubber to deteriorate faster & increases the risk of the hot water bottle splitting, which could cause some really nasty burns.

[Doobs]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is interesting; what they conceal is vital

<3 this.

I need to confess that this isn't in any sense an original 3103 thought.

It is a quote that has been around for years and although it seems to be considered to be anonymous nowadays I've been using it for 30+ years and I always attributed it to whoever was The Bishop of Norwich when I first heard it.

It is credited to Aaron Levenstein.

I must confess I don't understand the quote at all.  Nothing is concealed by statistics, it is just a series of data.  If people misunderstand or misuse data, it isn't because the data conceals anything.

I don't really know where to start in correcting this.

Statistics and data are two very different things though, perhaps that will help.

You going to try and teach an actuary about statistics?  I am all ears. 

[RED-DOG]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is interesting; what they conceal is vital

<3 this.

I need to confess that this isn't in any sense an original 3103 thought.

It is a quote that has been around for years and although it seems to be considered to be anonymous nowadays I've been using it for 30+ years and I always attributed it to whoever was The Bishop of Norwich when I first heard it.

It is credited to Aaron Levenstein.

I must confess I don't understand the quote at all.  Nothing is concealed by statistics, it is just a series of data.  If people misunderstand or misuse data, it isn't because the data conceals anything.

I don't really know where to start in correcting this.

Statistics and data are two very different things though, perhaps that will help.

You going to try and teach an actuary about statistics?  I am all ears. 

I'm good at being alive, I've done it for almost 60 years, and yet little children, inexperienced as they are, manage to teach me something new about living almost every day.


Bruce Lee once said "A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer".


If you are an expert in a certain field, and you listen to the opinion of someone who isn't, you probably won't learn anything.

If you don't listen, you definitely won't.

I'm is a philosophical mood today. Humour me.