On Sun, 2010-12-12 at 10:04 +0000, Kevin Wright wrote: [ . . . ] > > People who didn't watch televisions would otherwise get up off the > couch and find something less sedentary to do. The TV leads to > inactivity, which leads to health problems - including heart attacks. > > > I believe the statistics on this one...
The statistics are true (sort of), but . . . I think I had better knock this one on the head before it turns into a 10,000 entry mega thread: I added the line to ensure the hidden humour level was high, but it seems it might have the undesired effect of being misunderstood. Although you can show a high correlation between television ownership and heart attacks, it is a statistical slight of hand, something akin to the proof that 0 = 1. The reality is that time and population are hidden variables: over time population increases, increased population leads to higher incidences of heart attacks, and increased population leads to increased ownership of televisions. -- Russel. ============================================================================= Dr Russel Winder t: +44 20 7585 2200 voip: sip:[email protected] 41 Buckmaster Road m: +44 7770 465 077 xmpp: [email protected] London SW11 1EN, UK w: www.russel.org.uk skype: russel_winder
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