World Statistics Day?

Go figure.

           Sorry, couldn't resist.

It is a day mandated by the United Nations. How does one dress for such a day?

New Zealand's Statistics Minister, Maurice says
"Statistics are important in informing decision making and measuring both the country's progress, but the growth of global development.

"Government uses official statistics to help make decisions around where and how to invest in public services. Statistics also help measure the success of those decisions."

And ministers use statistics to hide the really appalling way they are run a country.

"They also record our past and tell the story of our country," Mr Williamson says.

They can certainly be used to tell stories.  

My book club will discuss Freakonomics tomorrow. I'm amazed at how the same set of numbers can be used to arrive at hugely different conclusions, often depending on the agenda of the manipulator, uhm, I mean commentator. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Jill,
Just skimming through your blog. Got a chuckle from the "World Statistics Day" post. I read the first part aloud to Gregory. When I got to "...mandated by the UN. How does one dress for such a day?" Gregory responded "In a sexy little number."
He's a quick one.
Rondy