I saw this on the news recently. Recent national demographic info concerning Alzheimer's can be viewed at a county level.
Of course the medical community is quick to point out that lifestyles and genetics has far more to do with the disease manifestation that location. But the data can be revealing.
Uniquely the map's low incident indication in central Oklahoma coincides eerily with a map of the Garber-Wellington aquifer from which most of us here get our drinking water. Quinky-dink? Who knows.
I also noticed Appalachia seemed to indicate low incidents of the disease. With lifestyle being a contributing factor to Alzheimer's I wondered what life-habits might be helping this along. After all, I don't think folks in Appalachia are that well known for gym memberships or their consumption of wheat grass drinks...so I did some reading.
And as is with all statistics the devil is in the details. You'll notice the map reflects only those age 65 and older. Simply put there's places in the US where no one lives long enough to be reflected in the data.
I believe it was Sam Clemons that noted, "There's lies, damned lies, and then there's statistics". 😉
Ah, statistics. The easiest way to prove or disprove the exact same thing.
The State-adopted assessment tests to evaluate public school students is fraught with such foolishness. To prove something one way, they make a declaration that a certain percent of all students tested in such a manner. To prove something else, they make a declaration that a certain percent of all schools had results of a certain category. There are nearly 290 school districts. Over half of those schools have fewer than 400 students, all the way down to less than 50. The other half range up to over 20,000 students. Something good or bad in one of those huge districts skews the statistics for the other districts.
The assessments also keep track of how various ethnic students are performing. Of course, this information is not to be used to point fingers at a handful of students, but, to condemn the school district. A small district with 15 kids in the Third Grade might have one student who fits one of those selected minorities to be monitored. So, everyone knows exactly how that "ethnic group" representative did and how well or how poorly he/she did on the assessment.
To prove something one way, they make a declaration that a certain percent of all students tested in such a manner. To prove something else, they make a declaration that a certain percent of all schools had results of a certain category. There are nearly 290 school districts. Over half of those schools have fewer than 400 students, all the way down to less than 50. The other half range up to over 20,000 students. Something good or bad in one of those huge districts skews the statistics for the other districts.
The law of small numbers is incredibly simple and incredibly overlooked in many analyses.
Go ahead and show that Payden, I'm going to forget I saw it by morning.
47.8% of all statistics are made up on the spot...
47.8% of all statistics are made up on the spot...
I believe that should had been rounded up to 47.9%
I am doomed. I ate to much possum and such or was it the potted meat I can’t remember.
If you think that's crazy, you should see the Alzheimer's map by county someone else posted recently!
47.8% of all statistics are made up on the spot...
I believe that should had been rounded up to 47.9%
and it's also a well known fact that 4/3 of all people have trouble with fractions....
I am the richest and poorest surviving member of my Second Grade Class. I am also the smartest and the dumbest. I am also the most handsome and the ugliest.
The only other student in my Second Grade class was killed in an automobile/train wreck in 1980. We did gain one other student for Third Grade. So, I can only make half as many of the above claims depending on how Billy Ray is doing this days. He may still be employed as a major airline pilot or he may have retired.
@holy-cow Oh my. 10 years ago i was taking my son hunting. The local shop had a hunters breakfast. Everyone was sitting together and this man that sounds like you was talking to my son he was like 13 years old. He started telling him how when he was in school everyone from different grades was all in the same room so what we call elementary school through high-school. He would advance as he finished the requirements for each grade . He was a retired mechanical engineer which was amazing as he we t to 8th grade the. Went to work many years later going to college and getting a phd. Maybe we need to bring that type of education back.
During First thru Third Grade our school had First thru Fourth in one room and Fifth thru Eighth in another room. Slower students were helped by faster and/or older students as well as a teacher who was not overwhelmed. You could advance at a pace that suited you by challenging yourself beyond the minimum that was required of everyone. Some graduates went on to be doctors, dentists, teachers, CPAs and PhDs. Others became the laborers they would have become no matter what school they had attended.
What is hard for most to imagine is that this school had absorbed four one-room schools about a dozen years before I began. Originally, there were roughly 115 one-room schools in my home county with an area of 576 square miles.
Those who challenge themselves continuously and are supported at home can do almost anything.
What was this thread about again
