COVID confusion

The people who are opposed to the COVID vaccines point to the fact that vaccinated people are getting COVID anyway. That's true, but it doesn't tell the whole story. The statistics here in Saskatchewan show that if you're not vaccinated you are five times as apt to get the disease and 20 times as apt … Continue reading COVID confusion

What’s going on here?

I'm a statistician, a numbers guy. Put a bunch of numbers in front of me and I'll start analyzing them. Here are the numbers I have been puzzling over today: Saskatchewan: number of new cases of COVID - 449 / number of people in hospital due to COVID - 311 / number in ICU - … Continue reading What’s going on here?

STATISTICS DON’T LIE

BUT HARDLY ANYONE UNDERSTANDS WHAT THEY SAY Public opinion polls are not infallible. At best they give a snapshot of what people are thinking at the moment the polling agency spoke to them. At worst, the snapshot is poorly focussed and the results unreliable. Polling results are presented as being accurate within a certain range … Continue reading STATISTICS DON’T LIE

Caveat Lector

Let the reader beware. These are my own contrarian views on the COVID-19 situation and not grounds to take things lightly. I am not a scientist or medical expert. Even if I am correct in what I say here, it still remains that elderly and infirm people are in danger and we need to take … Continue reading Caveat Lector

African Americans and the Bible

The January - February issue of Christianity Today carried an article entitled Black Bible Reading Endures. I would like to share some of the statistics and a couple of quotes from that article. Twice as many African Americans as other Americans to say that Bible reading is crucial to their daily routine. They are twice … Continue reading African Americans and the Bible

The right and wrong use of statistics

[This is an article I wrote a year ago for The Business Bulletin.] A few weeks ago I went into a small town branch of the Royal Bank of Canada with a cheque received for some translation work. The cheque was in US dollars and I asked the teller to convert it to Canadian dollars, … Continue reading The right and wrong use of statistics

We are not machines

A week ago I went into a small town branch of the Royal Bank of Canada with a $500.00 cheque I had received for some translation work.  The cheque was in US dollars and I asked the teller to give me $80.00 in Canadian cash, $20.00 in US cash and deposit the rest in my … Continue reading We are not machines