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It’s time for another whimsical Tuesday Turnip search wherein I type a random phrase and we see what kind of interesting factoids “turn-up.”
Today I typed in “1 in every 4 Americans” unearthing the following curious tidbits:
- 1 in every 4 Americans has appeared someway or another on television.
- 1 in every 4 Americans has a higher than normal blood sugar level.
- 1 in every 4 Americans have [sic] purchased a product advertised on an infomerical.
- Almost 1 in every 4 Americans has a tattoo, according to a 2006 study conducted by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
- After 40 years of sex-education in the US, sexual promiscuity has skyrocketed, leaving approximately 1 in every 4 Americans currently with an STD.
- The Census Bureau predicts that 1 in every 4 Americans will be Hispanic by 2050,
- 1 in every 4 Americans, or about 60 million people, experience heartburn at least once a month. Almost 15 million people have heartburn each day.
“The Census Bureau predicts that 1 in every 4 Americans will be Hispanic by 2050″
I can’t wait till I turn Hispanic… too bad I have to wait until 2050.
posted by Jud on 11-6-2007 at 7:04 am
Statistics like ‘1 in 4 are higher than normal’ are so silly. Of course the top 25% are higher than the average (50%). That’s statistics!
posted by Sarah on 11-6-2007 at 8:15 am
“The Census Bureau predicts that 1 in every 4 Americans will be Hispanic by 2050″
my question is how do you count this. My husband is hispanic, I am anglo. That would make my children 1/2 hispanic. If they married non-hispanics their children would be 1/4 hispanic.
Trully it gets ridiculus. When it comes to the census my children are hispanic. Which is not a true label for the variety that his their heritage. It is more along the line of american mutts.
posted by Elizabeth on 11-6-2007 at 8:32 am
“1 in every 4 Americans has a higher than normal blood sugar level.”
Wouldn’t it stand to reason that one in two Americans has higher than normal blood sugar?
And then the others have lower than normal? I guess if you averaged it out far enough only a couple people would have “normal” blood sugar.
Makes me wonder how the MAJORITY of Americans are overweight. Shouldn’t we move that average?
posted by Witty Nickname on 11-6-2007 at 9:26 am
I wonder what the odds are of being a heartburn suffering Hispanic American with an STD, a tattoo and high blood sugar who has appeared on television and likes to shop infomercials?
posted by tpal on 11-6-2007 at 11:39 am
“1 in every 4 Americans will be Hispanic in 2050″ … To Elizabeth and Jud: the Census predicts this because of the large increase of Hispanic immigrants (legal and illegal). It will continue to grow until the border is locked down and non-Hispanics stop having abortions. America’s population will grow so much that eventually 1 in every 4 will be Hispanic.
posted by Michelle on 11-6-2007 at 2:32 pm
These statistics are not based on an average of weight or blood sugar. They take “healthy” levels and compare to that. I dont know the actual numbers but if, for example, a healthy blood sugar level is 100 then 1 in 4 people have over that healthy number (the same goes for weight). The average of all Americans does not matter.
posted by GTT on 11-6-2007 at 2:57 pm
Thank you, GTT! :o)
posted by Kristen on 11-6-2007 at 4:07 pm
Wow, Michelle, I sort of feel sorry for you. THis is classice “they’re taking over” racism, in fact I’m fascinated by how much attention that one “statistic” has received.
Elizabeth, you point out a really interesting and socially-meaningful phenomenon called the “one-drop rule.” “One drop” of “non-white blood” and you’re not “white.” sorry for excessive quotes. It really makes you think about racial identity; does it only have meaning if it is recognized and reaffirmed by others? Does it matter if your kids don’t consider themselves Hispanic (perhaps just “American”) if everyone else does?
Also, no one has said anything about the sex-ed quote. The mere packaging of these two pieces of information together is misleading and biased (the increase in sex-ed and the increase in std’s). This is a classic case of an erroneous correlation, for example: “when people drink more soda, they are more likely to get polio.” People are more likely to drink soda in the summer and thats also when polio spreads the easiest, there’s obviously no relation between the two. In this example the mistake is obvious, but perhaps it is less obvious to a religious abstinence-only fanatic groping for facts that in reality don’t support their arguement.
posted by Omega on 11-6-2007 at 4:44 pm
Did you know that 1 in every 4 statistics are made up on the spot.
posted by Aimee on 11-6-2007 at 9:23 pm