Reading Stats

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Funny thing 1...

Adverts on that statistics page were trying to sell me underwear :-)
Funny thing 2: "eastern" states are fouling statistics as there are so many book shops in Boston and Providence and so many people in every book shop that it becomes obvious that they read only there... :-)

well....

Andrea Lena's picture

Raymond: Gotta get my boxer shorts at K-Mart.

Charlie: [pulls over and gets out of the car] I'm going out of my mind! Outta my mind! WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE WHERE YOU BUY UNDERWEAR?! WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?! UNDERWEAR IS UNDERWEAR! IT IS UNDERWEAR WHEREVER YOU BUY IT! IN CINCINNATI OR WHEREVER!!

Raymond: K-Mart.

Charlie: You know what I think, Ray? I think this autism is a bunch of shit! Because you can't tell me that you're not in there somewhere!

Raymond: Boxer shorts. K-Mart.

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

Reading Stats! ??

Hypatia Littlewings's picture

In some cases you need to ask, "What exactly are they measuring and how?"

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Buying Underwear!
Slightly Irregular Panties (women's cotton briefs), at the local Discount Store!

>i<

PS. What an odd combo of topics!

Survey data

Those kind of statistics could only have been compiled from surveys (probably several separate ones), which raises questions such as who commissioned the research, when was it carried out, who carried it out, what was the sample size, was it demographically controlled, where was it published, what were the exact questions asked...

The latter quesiton may seem odd, but people aren't always completely honest when answering surveys, so if there's any indication in the clue of what the researchers may be looking for, some may answer with the answer they think the researchers are looking for rather than reality (a classic example being if you ask children something like "Who was Jesus?" - given almost all will know, several will try and 'game' the survey by answering something to the effect of "I don't know" - which is often significant enough to promote tabloid headlines along the lines of "A quarter of children don't know who Jesus is!")


As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

I was diagnosed as being

I was diagnosed as being Dsylexic (why did they make the work so hard to spell for those that have problems spelling.....) around 1968.
I have not found it to be a problem in my career. If you inderstand the reason why 50% the people who work for NASA are like me then you will know why. I'm also a lefty.

Some of the stats on that page (no undies adverts for me... boo hiss) are actually believable especially with young people today so addicted to the Twitterati (newly added to the OED) and their smartphones, they just don't have time(or is it the ability) to read anything more than 140 characters.
I wonder if Dickens was alive today would he publish his books by Tweet?

Can the young people of today just understand how theraputic it is to sit somewhere quiet out in the fresh air and while away the hours doing nothing more than reading a book and/or watching the natural world go about its business? No listeneing to 'tunes' allowed. Somehow I don't think so. Rather sad really.

I have a 5hr flight tomorrow. I already have my book (dead tree edition) selected for the flight.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/books/dp/1408704315

Lies, Damn Lies etc...

"96.2% of statistics are made up."

Vic Reeves

Ban nothing. Question everything.