Random Thoughts-32
February 17th, 2008

As human beings, every one of us has one thing in common: we're all a statistic. Whether someone has just taken their last breath or their first, they're a statistic. You can't escape. You are data. You are a number to someone somewhere.
We are inundated with statistics every day. Whether it's the weather stats, or the Canadian dollar level, or your favourite hockey team's stats, we are all affected by statistics.
One can't help but observe statistics. A while back I was the statistician for the Old Vienna Hockey League in Regina for a few seasons. Statistics fascinate, frustrate and sometimes infuriate me.
There have been some interesting numbers jump out at me from some recent articles that I have been reading. I will list off some of them for your perusal. Some of the information may make you just grin and shake your head. Others might have you reaching for the high blood pressure medication. Here goes:
According to a recent study, Canada's highest paid private sector CEO's earned $38,010.00 (the average Canadian salary), by 9:46am on January 2nd!!
A Saskatchewan minimum wage earner will earn $17,160.00 for 52 weeks of work at 40 hours per week.
The cost to air a 30-second 2008 Super Bowl Commercial....US$2.7 million.
Two-thirds of the population of the state of Mississippi is overweight. Yes, TWO-THIRDS!!
In Canada, the prevalence of being overweight among children aged 6 to 11 has doubled from 13% in 1977/78 to 26% in 2004.
The average National Football League game contains about 120 actual plays, which take an average of 6 seconds each. That's 720 seconds of play, or 12 minutes. An average game takes about three hours to play. This means that a regular-season game contains 12 minutes of action and 168 minutes of inaction! Are you with me so far? As an offensive player, Peyton Manning, whose salary this past year was $11,000,000.00, played, at most, 8 minutes out of the 12-minute total of each of the Indianapolis Colts' 18 regular season games, or about 24 minutes in all-which means he made some $4,583,000.00 per hour! Hmmmm.
Trevor Hoffman, the San Diego Padres' relief pitcher received $367,775.83 per inning pitched.
Alex Rodriquez, the New York Yankees third baseman, received $420,528.24 per home run.
For the first time in 15 years the teen birth rate in the United States increased! Canadian stats are a few years old and do not show the same alarming trend, yet. The United Nations' last comprehensive tally of G8 countries, from 2004, showed the U.K. has the third-highest teen birth rate, with 26.8 births per 1000, slightly lower than Russia (28.2) and well above Japan (5.6), France (7.8), Italy (6.7) and Germany(11). The U.S. is at 41.8 per 1000!
Just a note: this isn't really an official statistic but a Winnipeg High School offers a daycare program specifically to accommodate students and staff, although the main users of the program were students. Despite the school's acknowledgment of teen pregnancy, there was not one condom dispenser in the entire school or any sex education courses. Again, hmmmm.
Numbers are numbers and they can be used in numerous ways, but one thing is for sure, numbers don't lie.
"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you." - Rita Mae Brown.