A Call For Humor!

[Ralph_Cramden]

 

[respice finem]

View attachment 506644

This is sometimes serious. At the onset of the famous martial law in Poland (end 1981) there was a hard winter, general strike, nothing entertaining on TV/radio, and permanent frost. 9 months later - the "side effects"...

 

[mhardy6647]

This is sometimes serious. At the onset of the famous martial law in Poland (end 1981) there was a hard winter, general strike, nothing entertaining on TV/radio, and permanent frost. 9 months later - the "side effects"...

Wasn't it the great NY blackout in the 1960s that had similar results?
It appears so -- although, as we all know, correlation is not causation.

Births Up 9 Months After the Blackout; Hospitals Report Rise in Births 9 Months After Power Failure (Published 1966)

Hosps rept rise in births 9 mos after Nov 9 '65 elec power blackout

www.nytimes.com

 

[respice finem]

Wasn't it the great NY blackout in the 1960s that had similar results?
It appears so -- although, as we all know, correlation is not causation.

Births Up 9 Months After the Blackout; Hospitals Report Rise in Births 9 Months After Power Failure (Published 1966)

Hosps rept rise in births 9 mos after Nov 9 '65 elec power blackout

www.nytimes.com

OK, 1965 I wasn't even in planning
If a correlation is the only plausible one, causation can sometimes be cautiously assumed.

 

[mhardy6647]

If a correlation is the only plausible one, causation can sometimes be cautiously assumed.

Totally!

Spurious Correlations

Correlation is not causation: thousands of charts of real data showing actual correlations between ridiculous variables.

www.tylervigen.com

 

[respice finem]

Totally!

View attachment 506649

Spurious Correlations

Correlation is not causation: thousands of charts of real data showing actual correlations between ridiculous variables.

www.tylervigen.com

Surely not the only plausible one
Like in the correlations: number of cars, prevalence of fast food, remote control for TV etc. and the rise of obesity.
Probably they all contribute, and none is the only cause.

BTW: Medicine is full of such "probable cause" cases.
If "mathematical standards" would be applied to medicine, there would be maybe 20% left of it.

 

[mhardy6647]

Surely not the only plausible one

AI should be able to find an infinite number of them!
We're so lucky to live in times such as these!

so... since 1) I love data and 2) I have a truly skewed* sense of humor, let's explore this a little bit.
I am even more fascinated by some of these correlations that have unusual features, such as:

The lag between the two variables from 2010 to 2019.

The offsets from 2004-2008 and 2018-2020 -- I mean, COVID for the latter perhaps.

_____________
* skewed in the statistical sense of the term, of course.

 

[mhardy6647]

I mean, not humorous per se but still, arguably, amusing.
IMG_4525 by Tom Dressel, on Flickr

Per the poster @ Flickr:

When I first saw this VW, I wondered if this was the inspiration for the new USPS mail truck. Then I saw on the information sheet that about 6000 of these were produced for the German Postal Authority.

​

 

[TheWalkman]

Considering the car culture in Germany, I find it quite possible that the postal workers would demand a vehicle with mag wheels and turbo chargers.

(And as an aside, when visiting Germany, if you have a chance to drive on the Autobahn, do it. It’s an experience you’ll never forget.)

 

[Spkrdctr]

V-8 Vega by JOHN LLOYD, on Flickr

V-8 stuffed in a 1974 Chevy Vega. What could possibly go wrong?

Google Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins a Pro Stock racer from the 1970s and 1980s. He made the Vega great! Was a National Champion some years.

 

[respice finem]

Considering the car culture in Germany, I find it quite possible that the postal workers would demand a vehicle with mag wheels and turbo chargers.

(And as an aside, when visiting Germany, if you have a chance to drive on the Autobahn, do it. It’s an experience you’ll never forget.)

Yes, but I would advise to pick a Saturday for it (less lorries, and no deluge of sunday drivers yet)
and, an "open" Autobahn (without intermittent speed limits). These unlimited strips are slowly becoming scarce.
Here's a list (in German, but can be easily autotranslated)

Autobahnen in Deutschland ohne Tempolimit | SPEEDxpertz

Hier sind sie, die Autobahnen in Deutschland ohne Tempolimit. Auf diesen Autobahnen könnt ihr noch schnellfahren bis der Tank leer ist.

www.speedxpertz.com

 

[thewas]

 

[Salt]

Yes, but I would advise to pick a Saturday for it (less lorries, and no deluge of sunday drivers yet)
and, an "open" Autobahn (without intermittent speed limits). These are slowly becoming scarce.
Here's a list (in German, but can be easily autotranslated)

Autobahnen in Deutschland ohne Tempolimit | SPEEDxpertz

Hier sind sie, die Autobahnen in Deutschland ohne Tempolimit. Auf diesen Autobahnen könnt ihr noch schnellfahren bis der Tank leer ist.

www.speedxpertz.com

 

[JeffGB]

Totally!

View attachment 506649

Spurious Correlations

Correlation is not causation: thousands of charts of real data showing actual correlations between ridiculous variables.

www.tylervigen.com

Very interesting, but it's possible both graphs are correlated by an increase in sales of KY jelly .

 

[respice finem]

And then a bunch of boars crossing like yesterday

Wildschwein-Rudel überquert A1 – Mehrere Tiere sterben auf der Autobahn

Ein Rudel Wildschweine verursachte einen schweren Unfall auf der A1. Mehrere Tiere starben, in beiden Fahrtrichtungen fand die Feuerwehr tote Tiere.

www.sauerlandkurier.de

 

[JeffGB]

And then a bunch of boars crossing like yesterday

Wildschwein-Rudel überquert A1 – Mehrere Tiere sterben auf der Autobahn

Ein Rudel Wildschweine verursachte einen schweren Unfall auf der A1. Mehrere Tiere starben, in beiden Fahrtrichtungen fand die Feuerwehr tote Tiere.

www.sauerlandkurier.de

Wow, I have a Jeep Wrangler and it is less stable at 80kph . A new BYD EV supercar just blew past Bugatti's record with 496.22 kph making it the fastest production car on the planet.

 

[thegeton]

 

[KenA]

The possibility of multiple fucks exists. So, plural possessive would be fucks’.

I’m married. The possibility of no fucks is way higher. So do I use ‘For fuckless sake!’

 

[LTig]

And then a bunch of boars crossing like yesterday

Wildschwein-Rudel überquert A1 – Mehrere Tiere sterben auf der Autobahn

Ein Rudel Wildschweine verursachte einen schweren Unfall auf der A1. Mehrere Tiere starben, in beiden Fahrtrichtungen fand die Feuerwehr tote Tiere.

www.sauerlandkurier.de

Yep. I passed an accident years ago on the Autobahn (no speed limit there) and the car which had hit the boar looked really bad. Don't want to imagine if this had happened at really high speed.

 

[KellenVancouver]