Guest guest Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 As Mark Twain once said, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. He meant all are used to manipulate public opinion and none can be trusted. We can all play this game. Statistics are how we justify our projected self-delusions. Nothing more. Now, they can be useful in very limited, concrete ways -- baseball is a good example. it's when they're applied to society that they become hilarious. On Friday, February 21, 2003, at 11:10 AM, (AT) (DOT) com wrote: > No, according to my Research Methods Professor, statistics only gives you > a 95% probability that something is true, that means that there is still > the other 5% that they are sure of thus, the + or - 3% for marginal error. > Autumn " Whatever I am, I'm not a physical me. I am not a thing, a noun. I seem to be a verb. " --R. Buckminster Fuller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Mark Twain was a highly respected man. He was also a humorist. Enough said... DaveO The Stewarts [stews9] As Mark Twain once said, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. He meant all are used to manipulate public opinion and none can be trusted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Actually you took what Mark Twain siad out of context what he said was: Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: " There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics. " We we all know statistics liek anything else in this world can be manipulated or tasken out of context to be used for our own advantage. That is where trust or lack of comes in, either you trust the person who is doing the statistics or you don't, if I were to trust the person that I would now that what they say is true with maybe an exception of an honest error, if I didn't trust the person then I would not trust the statistics that he presents to be true. And I might say that ther is not to many people in this world of who I would trust that they would not manipulate the facts to better themselves. Even as Mark Twain says in the above quote tht even he does not trust himself when it comes to statistics. He also said the following about slander: It is not wise to keep the fires going under a slander unless you can get some large advantage out of keeping it alive. Few slanders can stand the wear of silence. - Autobiography of Mark Twain I chose to stay slient just thought I would give everyone Mark Twains full quote to ponder about statistics. Have a great day. Autumn The Stewarts <stews9 wrote:As Mark Twain once said, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. He meant all are used to manipulate public opinion and none can be trusted. We can all play this game. Statistics are how we justify our projected self-delusions. Nothing more. Now, they can be useful in very limited, concrete ways -- baseball is a good example. it's when they're applied to society that they become hilarious. On Friday, February 21, 2003, at 11:10 AM, (AT) (DOT) com wrote: > No, according to my Research Methods Professor, statistics only gives you > a 95% probability that something is true, that means that there is still > the other 5% that they are sure of thus, the + or - 3% for marginal error. > Autumn " Whatever I am, I'm not a physical me. I am not a thing, a noun. I seem to be a verb. " --R. Buckminster Fuller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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