One of my pet peeves is stupid graphs and statistics.

I canceled my subscription to The Seattle Times a few years ago after reading, in an article about foster children, that half of foster children in Washington State are under the age of 9. If you define "child" as "someone under 18," and barring any huge bumps in birth rates recently, wouldn't you expect that about half of all children would be under 9? Honestly.

So anyway, when I see a stupid graph or hear a stupid statistic, it bugs me.

Here's one from the most recent church newsletter. It clearly shows that one number is smaller than the other.



See how the "Pledges Received" number is smaller than the "2008-09 Goal" number? See it? Because there's no way anyone could grasp the concept of one number being smaller than the other without a graph showing that it's so.

*fume*

Along those lines -- only in a humorous vein -- check out GraphJam. It's a site where people can create and upload their own flow charts, Venn diagrams, bar graphs, pie charts, and other forms of visual statistical representation; and a la LOLcats, it's being used for laughs.

I particularly like that if you don't get the joke, you can click "See Cheat Sheet" underneath almost every offering to find out where the reference comes from. Perfect for people who missed Pop Culture 101.

This may be a rather esoteric piece of humor. You need to have at least a passing familiarity with T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland," and you also need to have been exposed to the within-the-last-year-or-so "LOLcat" genre on the internet. (See www.icanhascheezburger.com)

If that's you, then prepare to revel in the glory that is --

LOLcat Wasteland

(First stanza or two, to give you da flavah...)

"1. IM IN UR WASTELAND BURYING UR DEAD

april hates u, makes lilacs, u no can has. (1)
april in ur memoriez, making ur desire.
spring rain in ur dull rootzes.

earth in ur winter, covered in snow
can has potato. PO-TA-TO.
INVISIBLE SUMMER! RAININGZES!
im in ur hofgarden, drinking ur coffeez."

. . .
OMG funniez!!!!1!!! :-D

Thanks to John Bryan for the tip. (John, you really need your own LJ account.)

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