Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

After my ‘Universe’ posting which has probably had most of you cancelling your subscription to my blog, I thought we’d continue the ‘education’ theme with some interesting statistics and facts.

Did you know that the dear old Frenchies have the longest sleep time of any people on earth, taking 8 hours 50 minutes to catch 40 winks? So that’s where my tiredness comes from.

Did you know that Qatar has the highest ratio of men to women, an astonishing 307 men per 100 women which maybe explains why my son, Tim, who’s serving out there at the moment with the RAF, has been chasing camels! Just remember Tim – they spit, but then maybe the girls you meet in Glasgow do so as well!

Which country produces more gold than any other country in the world – 270 tonnes a year? Nope – it’s not South Africa as we all thought, it’s China, and J has most of it in her jewellery box by my reckoning!

Iraq is the largest recipient of aid, at $9.1 billion in 2007. And all because of the black, liquid stuff under its desert.

The United States uses the most energy, 2,321 million barrels of oil equivalent. No surprise there is there? The United Kingdom is 10th with 231 million. So your average American uses 10 times as much energy as your average Brit. Does this explain a few things about US foreign policy?

Qatar has the least safe drivers, with 9,989 injuries and 33 deaths in road accidents per 100,000 people. And it’s probably risen since Tim went out there – what a driver!

The largest number of tourists head to la belle France, at 81,900,000 in 2007. And most of them seem to bloody well come to Tourrettes and drive around at 15km per hour!

Of the 100 largest ‘economies’ in the world, 57 of those are actually companies. The other 43 are countries. And as an example, Wal-Mart with annual sales of $246 billion is the world’s 19^th largest ‘economy’!

Before the seafaring nations discovered them, the Americas (both North and South) had a population of some 100 million people, most of which were wiped out, not by slavery or fighting, but by European diseases.

When a city in Montana (US) banned smoking in public places in June 2002, the heart attack rate in its citizens fell by 58%. And when the tobacco lobby overturned the ban, the heart attack rate climbed back to its original level.

Of the 530,000 or so soldiers killed during the American Civil War, an estimated 315,000 died of disease.

It’s strange but true but more people die of donkey kicks than are killed in air crashes.

And finally – let’s come clean about this ……. toilet seats are usually one of the cleanest surfaces around the home or office, probably because they are frequently cleaned. Phones, computer keyboards, desktops and doorknobs are commonly inhabited by between 10,000 and up to 100,000 bacteria per square inch. It’s also said that your toothbrush, assuming it’s kept in the bathroom, will have more bacteria on it than your toilet brush. Since I told J, my blonde wife this, she’s started cleaning her teeth with the toilet brush. We don’t kiss anymore!

Have a great weekend.