Your inner statistician

[Maister]

There's something about the way certain factoids are presented pertaining to cumulative/comparative totals that appeals to our inner statistician. You know the ones, like - if you were to take all the roads in France and line them up end to end in a single road it would circle the earth six times....or if every man, woman, and child in the state of Connecticut devoted 100% of their earnings towards paying off the national debt it would take 1500 years before they could accomplish the task. Okay, I just made those up on the spot but you get the idea. Our inner statisticians love to see some visible or tangible comparative measure when dealing with quantities.

I once calculated that if I stay at my current residence the rest of my lifetime, I will probably spend almost two weeks while waiting for traffic to clear for long enough to allow me to back out. I haven't calculated it out, but I wonder if I have drank enough beer yet to fill an olympic pool?

How about you, any (real or made up) statistics you'd like to share? And don't you just love to deceive with statistics?

[ursus]

You know you get in your car and the bell bings to tell you haven't put on your seatbelt yet?

Bings an average of 4 times before you buckle. I calculate that in the average persons driving lifespan they will hear that bell ring approximately 262,800 times.

They will scream "I know! I know!" at that bell approximately 59 times. Slightly higher averages for heavy-set men are probable.

[ColoGI]

How about you, any (real or made up) statistics you'd like to share? And don't you just love to deceive with statistics?

The MIL wastes enough space in the dishwasher that after 10 years there is enough for KP for the entire 3rd ID for a month. She wastes enough energy through her OCD on the curtains that after 10 years we could heat the venue for the 2013 Super Bowl game. All the people in the United States waste enough energy simply by letting their cars idle that we'll never reduce CO2 emissions enough to halt man-made climate change...

hmmm...I might be projecting the general topic of my latest writing project...

[ofos]

Although the official odds of winning the state lottery are approximately 1:25,827,165, I have calculated that my personal odds are more in the range of 1: national debt. That doesn't deter me from buying tickets because I believe that the Feds are actively working to reduce the debt to the point at which I will win the jackpot.

[Cardinal]

"Walk" is one of the first words a puppy will learn. A study in England found that dog guardians will walk up to 24,000 miles over the lifetime of their dog.

[ColoGI]

"Walk" is one of the first words a puppy will learn. A study in England found that dog guardians will walk up to 24,000 miles over the lifetime of their dog.

t

Aside but relevant: out here in our McSuburb paradise, we are fully sidewalked and connected and have paved walks in connected greenspace, but no services to walk to. Nevertheless, the neighborhood is considered "walkable". Lots of dog-walkers and people who try jogging for three weeks. IMHO dogs are an underutilized walkability tool.

[Cardinal]

t

Aside but relevant: out here in our McSuburb paradise, we are fully sidewalked and connected and have paved walks in connected greenspace, but no services to walk to. Nevertheless, the neighborhood is considered "walkable". Lots of dog-walkers and people who try jogging for three weeks. IMHO dogs are an underutilized walkability tool.

I have an article I wrote about that, which I am trying to get published. Planning Magazine rejected my pitch. Anyone have suggestions of other planning-related magazines?

[michaelskis]

I love numbers and try to find patterns in the numbers... there is no inner here.

I have even included some of it in the Zoning Regulations. Date that a particular tourist community needs to remove tarps over windows and doors happens fall very close to final day of the average low temp is at the freezing point.