Re: Statistics (was: Re: 55 minute download

On Sat, 4 Sep 2004, Sandy King wrote:

> The statistics were brought up in response to Katharine Thayer's suggestion
> that people who use broad band service are elitists. They were not meant to
> convince anyone that they should adopt a particular service because it is
> sanctioned by the majority. However, the fact that a majority of internet
> users get their service via broad band versus dial-up debunks KT's uninformed
> notion that broad band users are elitists. I don't think it possible to be
> an elitist and a part of the majority on a specific issue.

Which majority? Let me refer you to a classic work, "How to Lie With
Statistics." If you factor in those who have no private Internet access
at all (in all or no part for reasons of cost), I daresay broad band are a
small minority.

Elitism aside, the majority is often wrong, we might even say *usually*
wrong. So let it be said that dial-up is available for $10 a month (or
$100 a year) and some may prefer to spend the difference for other
purposes than viewing unsolicited attachments larded with viruses. Let us
protect that choice (among others).

Judy

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> But just for the record, the primary purpose of my original message was to
> suggest that there are alternatives to 55 minute downloads, at least for some
> people.
>
> Sandy
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>>>>> It is not an "elitist" idea, it's just the way things are going.
>>
>> Now let me get this straight... We independent thinkers, original creative
>> artists, self-actualized personalities, free spirits, proud humanists,
>> strong-willed searchers, and seekers of truth (etc. etc. and so forth, get
>> your own thesaurus) are being told to do it because the *majority* are
>> doing it (possibly, apparently, statistically -- or not).
>>
>> Like footbinding, or belly button piercing, suttee, or female
>> circumcision, among "going" ways of other cultures ?
>>
>> In this culture it's do what the nice corporation tells you to do so CEOs
>> and merger managers can suck up more millions -- whether or not you
>> personally feel a need or see a benefit and if you don't you're an
>> out-of-it luddite unprogressive dorky retard. You're saying that with a
>> straight face (so to speak)?
>>
>> Not to mention that in the recent past Sandy King, of all people, has told
>> us this is the 21st century, so get with the program. Has anyone failed to
>> notice that the 21st century is (so far) a disaster, worse even than the
>> 20th, which was bad enough?
>>
>> Is this how lemmings do it? Or call it "manufacturing consent" (I believe
>> a phrase coined by that spawn of Satan Noam Chomsky, but seems to apply
>> here).
>>
>> Judy
>>
>>> Actually that's only true if you use the newer browsers. I use an
>>> ancient browser that's very fast. I have a newer one on the disk to use
>>> for websites that won't work with the old browser, but it works slower
>>> than the dickens and I refuse to use it except when absolutely
>>> necessary. And even the "newer" one is several versions back.
>>>
>>> I deleted Mateo's mail after a brief glance this morning, because I
>>> thought I was done talking about bandwidth and all that. But being a
>>> statistican, numbers interest me and I've been thinking about those
>>> numbers off and on all day.
>>>
>>> I've emptied the trash and the archives are behind, so I can't look at
>>> the post again to check the numbers, but the way I remember it, it said
>>> that by a recent estimate, 63 million (people? connections?) were
>>> connected by broadband and 61.3 by narrowband, reflecting a 47% increase
>>> in broadband and a 13% decrease in narrowband from the year before.
>>>
>>> If I've got the figures right, that means that over the year there were
>>> 20 million more broadband (users, connections, whatever the unit was)
>>> but only 9 million fewer narrowband units. If this is so, then it would
>>> be misleading to attribute the increase, or even half of the increase,
>>> in broadband to people switching from narrowband. I don't know where
>>> those other 11 million came from, but if these numbers are right, they
>>> weren't dialup customers moving up.
>>>
>>> This is the kind of thing I think about while driving, sorry about that.
>>> Katharine Thayer
>
Received on Sun Sep 5 08:43:21 2004