clipped

| In a Political Science class I once had it was
pointed out that
| year after year there is a proven direct correlation
between the
| consumption of ice cream and the incidence of rape.
Look at any | year and you will see that starting in
January as the total
| amount of ice cream per week or month increases, so
do the
| number of reported rapes. Some might be tempted to
proclaim | that this is proof that the consumption of
ice cream causes rape | and decide that we should
outlaw ice cream. I suppose others
| might conclude that rapists must consume vast
quantities of ice | cream after doing their crime and
thus police should stake out
| Ben & Jerrys to look for rapists.
|
|
| Others might be tempted to note that both ice cream
| consumption and rape tend to increase and decrease as
outside
| temperatures vary.
|
| I believe Mark Twain noted that there are three kinds
of
| lies...lies, damned lies and statistics.
|
| Dave hall

Reminds me of the book "How To Lie With Statistics" by
Darrell Huff. It covers a multitude of ways to mislead
(lie) people. It's probably time to blow the dust off
it and re-read, refresh and re-arm myself.

John Flatley

--
My generation never got a break. When I was young they
taught me to respect my elders. Now that I am older,
they tell me to listen to the youth of the country.