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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Statistics and other proven facts


Apropos of nothing, my dad would drop statistics into a conversation.

You can rely on luck—half the time.

Half the married people in the world are women.  That probably remains true.

If you invite 400 people to your wedding, at least 35 of them will have been born on the same day.  He had variations on this, like the probability of 100 people in a room having the same birthday. Odds increased dramatically for days of the week. 

Nine of ten people turn right when then enter a store.  Having exhibited in many large expo centers, this is absolutely true. 

A pint’s a pound the world around.

A drip a second is eight gallons a year.

Eating raw vegetables consumes more calories than are contained in the celery stick, carrot, etc.

Janice and I each read a book once and wish we could remember the title.  It was light reading; its heroine solved mysteries and often used “proven facts” to reach her conclusions.  Thanks to my dad I knew facts were proven.

But, one “proven fact” I learned in the book whose title I cannot remember is:  If you put your heel in your elbow, your big toe will reach the end of your wrist.  There was a time I could actually prove this fact.  It’s from Michelangelo’s perfect body measurements and comes in very handy when I’ve wanted to make socks for someone as a surprise.  I’ve just had to steer the conversation around.  Although I know a Marine whose toe ends almost at his fingers.

6 comments:

  1. It's TRUE your toes DO end at your wrist. I had no idea I had such big feet (or such short arms.) what a fun thing to know.

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  2. Righto! Raw celery and carrot sticks it is. I find the fact about the birthdays fascinating - not that we could ever have afforded to invite so many to our wedding! My birthday is 3rd May, any takers?

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  3. The bit about people always veering to the right is so true!
    I volunteer in the lobby of a clinic. I sit by the elevators and direct people to the correct floor for their appointment. There is another clinic located to the right of the lobby for disabled adults. I have to keep calling to people wandering off that way to get them going where they should. I've gotten pretty good as spotting the wanderers!

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  4. Must make it easy to measure for your OWN socks...a lot easier than untying your shoes to check for fit!

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    Replies
    1. Perfect fit. I expected you'd be checking in with an even longer list of your grandpa's statistics.

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  5. I think your Dad and my Dad would have gotten along fantastically! Love your little-known facts. Now, if I just knew how to knit . . .

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