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This sort of thread would be remiss to not include the quote popularized by Twain about there being three types of falsehoods: "Lies, damn lies, and statistics"

Amusingly enough, it's got its own Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statisti...

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Of course, in this case Twain is guilty of statistics. The group of people most likely to die (old, infirm, sick) are more likely to be in a bed than on a train. And the people in New York beds spend a significant fraction of the year there, while the people on the train are only there for only a few hours or days. If Twain made an honest comparison of deaths per hour across similar demographic groups, the bed would look a lot better than the train.

Yes Buzz Killington, you're right. Silly of him to make such an obvious error, wasn't it. So silly, it makes me smile to think of his ignorance.

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