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[Charlie_Iliff]

An entertaining equal to "How to lie with Statistics" is "Innumeracy, Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos. Professor Paulos was recently quoted as saying that no matter what process is used to evaluate the vote in the 2000 Florida Presidential balloting, the margin of error will exceed the margin of victory.

Charlie Iliff

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Real life scientific studies may be performed by those same folks. Today's paper reports that tobacco smoking in the Czech Republic results in saving the government money. The savings due to premature death outweigh the costs of caring for smokers' illnesses prior to death.
Philip Morris commissioned the study by Arthur D. Little International. Now, that's market analysis at its finest.

Charlie Iliff

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>that's market analysis at its finest</font color=blue>

Yep, it is, Charlie, but it's also probably more truthful than what our government and medical profession have been telling us./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

And you either have a copy of the book, or a lot better memory for author's names than I have./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Bird

 

[ERNIEB]

Randy, great stuff. Reminds me of the "National Lampoon" true facts stories.
The small town of Leon Valley TX, has a small police dept. One night The chief was riding in a patrol car with another officer, when they came across a pickup parked on a dark side street. The driver had a warrant out on him, so he was taken into custody, and the chief told the officer to take him to the station, and he would follow with the pickup. After the officer drove off, the chief climbed into the pickup and started the engine. Before he could put it in gear, a figure came running from the darkness, with an arm load of electronic equipment. He put them in the back of the truck, jumped in the back himself, and shouted "Let's go". The chief obliged and drove him straight to the police station.

Ernie

 

[RJohnson]

Ernie,
I love it, only in Texas could such things happen.
Now if you will just turn the heater off and the air conditioner on/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif it will be more enjoyable here in Texas.

Randy

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Bird:
I had a copy of "how to Lie With Statistics" but lent it to my son for college, along with "How to make yourself Miserable", a self-help classic. I must confess, I did a quick search on the net to supplement my faulty memory of the author's name.
Given such authorities as "How to Lie With Statistics" and "Innumeracy", why is it that each of us reads the paper each day and believes at least part of the stated "statistics" to be fact?

Charlie Iliff