Category Archives: Statistics

Plastic Surgery Statistics

Posted on 8 February 2013 by

While browsing charts and graphs about property bubbles and purchasing power parity, I came across this chart in The Economist which shows how much plastic surgery is performed in the following countries. There is a lot to be said about … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, Greece, Health, Italy, Russia, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Shrinking Lithuania

Posted on 29 September 2012 by

Now I understand why it was so easy to find a beautiful and affordable apartment when I moved to Lithuania: The population of Lithuania is shrinking. It has fallen below 3 million, meaning that this cute little country has lost … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Lithuania, Photography, Statistics, Travel | 12 Comments

Not so fast, Usain Bolt

Posted on 6 August 2012 by

Whenever somebody says “Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the world”, I cringe. My sense of logic feels under attack by this sentence – and by similar outrageous statements. I am not saying that Usain Bolt could not be … Continue reading →

Posted in Sports, Statistics | Tagged , | 5 Comments

The Lazy People of Malta

Posted on 4 August 2012 by

In the most complete study yet of physical activity, covering 122 countries, the people of Malta turned out to be the laziest people in the world. 72% of Maltese don’t get enough exercise, for which they would only need to … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Health, Malta, Statistics, Travel | 6 Comments

Bird Flu is not that Bad

Posted on 4 January 2012 by

From time to time, usually when nothing else of interest happens, the news remind us of bird flu (avian flu, H5N1) again. See The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and The Washington Post for examples from the past few days only. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, Health, Philosophy, Statistics | 9 Comments

Don’t be afraid of the stranger!

Posted on 28 October 2011 by

My default attitude towards other people is trust. Unless or until I become aware of a reason to mistrust someone, I will trust anyone whom I meet. Because of this I use CouchSurfing when travelling, I host CouchSurfers, I would … Continue reading →

Posted in Statistics, Travel | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Globalisation is a Myth

Posted on 9 May 2011 by

Globalisation, this concept that everyone writes about and that many people blame for their woes or use as an excuse for their policies, is in large parts a myth. Who am I to claim this? Having grown up in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Politics, Statistics, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

If you don’t read my blog, you will die.

Posted on 5 April 2011 by

That caught your attention, didn’t it? And on the face of it, it’s true and backed up by facts and statistics: About 150,000 people died worldwide yesterday. Of these, none had read my blog yesterday. The few people who did … Continue reading →

Posted in Death, Economics, Education, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Assessing the risk of nuclear technology

Posted on 24 March 2011 by

The nuclear industry is keen on coming up with probabilistic risk assessments that show that a serious accident at a nuclear power plant can only happen every 20,000 years or so (admittedly this number is from a somewhat outdated report … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Environment, Politics, Statistics, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

UK Budget – What spending cuts?

Posted on 15 November 2010 by

A large part of Britain seems to be in uproar about the government’s budget and the alleged spending cuts it contains. Students are taking to the streets as if they were French, their teachers are firing them on as if … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Politics, Statistics, UK | 11 Comments