# statistics, sex and pudding **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636 "2012-10-23T17:05:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![onetwothreego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac91a4/32.png) [@onetwothreego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/onetwothreego)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/1 "2012-10-23T17:05:37Z")
Yo - So…I had this argument with my bf. I can’t really remember how it began, but it ended with us both storming out the house. The argument was about statistics. 😕 …I was talking about how figures can be misleading, etc, ect. - i don’t know why I was talking about this; I think it was something to do with the healthcare positions I’m applying to. Anyway - along the course of the argument, I mention ‘8 out of 9 cats prefer whiskers’ - it’s a silly example, but this was a silly argument about people using silly figures to prove silly points. I don’t think either of us had any direction; it was just a argument for argument’s sake. He eventually concluded by going off on a wild tangent; talking about Milgram’s study, and how it wasn’t representative because only a few people participated. -I completely failed to see what he was trying to say - Milgram’s experiment was not only immoral, but also leading. He then told me that all statistics are stupid. Meaningless. All the same. -I don’t know why, but at this point I just got fed up. I stormed out, and am now eating pudding by myself in a cafe. Anyway - there you go. I don’t really know why I wrote this. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/2 "2012-10-23T17:07:50Z")
Okay. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/3 "2012-10-23T17:12:58Z")
Just calm down and go patch it up later. In the mean time - YEA! PUDDING! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/4 "2012-10-23T17:15:49Z")
Often it is not so much the kind of arguements a person has as the kind of cafe in which they find themself that determines how they will post. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/5 "2012-10-23T17:32:27Z")
> [@onetwothreego](#): > > He then told me that all statistics are stupid. Meaningless. All the same. Statistics are often misunderstood, misused, and abused. A lot of the stats put forth in the media fall in that category. However, when properly applied, statistics are powerful tools. For example, if you’re applying for a research grant, the funding agency often requires that your proposal include detailed statistical analyses just to demonstrate that your study will even be capable of reliably measuring what it proposes to measure. The funding agency understands statistics, and so the applicant had better understand them too; if he/she does (and if the study’s objectives are worthwhile), then the grant will get funded, and the study has a high probability of coming to some meaningful conclusions that are well-supported by further statistical work. Statistics used in this way are far from stupid and meaningless. > [@](#): > > I don’t know why, but at this point I just got fed up. I stormed out, and am now eating pudding by myself in a cafe. Cuz he was being a dick. A statement like his indicates he wasn’t pursuing a [dialectical](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical) argument; rather, his goal was [eristic.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eristic) > [@](#): > > Anyway - there you go. I don’t really know why I wrote this. Then this should have been in MPSIMS. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/6 "2012-10-23T17:39:09Z")
you should definitely read into this too much and take it as a sign that something deeper is wrong, and that the bedrock of the relationship is fundamentally flawed. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/7 "2012-10-23T17:43:28Z")
An important principle to understand about statistics: While figures don’t lie, liars do figure. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/8 "2012-10-23T17:48:33Z")
Ninety-nine out of one hundred Dope threads devolve into a discussion involving statistics, sex, or pudding. You started there. Congratulations on being a member of the 1%. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/9 "2012-10-23T17:49:46Z")
6.18% of all sexual encounters either involve or are initiated by pudding. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/10 "2012-10-23T17:50:12Z")
99% of sexual acts do not involve pudding. ETA: Damn you, **August West**! ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/11 "2012-10-23T17:51:18Z")
By that math, 100% of doper threads involve stats, sex, or pudding. My favorite quote about the misuse of statistics is: “He uses statistics like a drunk uses lamp-posts, more for support than illumination.” ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/12 "2012-10-23T17:53:36Z")
Just by the way, the impact of the Milgrim study doesn’t have to do with statistics. According people’s perceptions of human nature at the time nobody was expected to obey the experimenter’s orders. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/13 "2012-10-23T17:54:32Z")
Sorry you had a fight. Hope the pudding was yummy. I loved your post. Thanks for writing it. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/14 "2012-10-23T17:59:10Z")
Can we please stay on topic - thank you. What kind of pudding are we talking about? Butterscotch? Chocolate? It wasn’t vanilla was it? 'Cause that spells real trouble. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/15 "2012-10-23T18:02:56Z")
Hey, you can take my vanilla pudding when you pry it from my cold, dead statistics. ---
**Author:** ![humblebumble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@humblebumble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humblebumble)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/16 "2012-10-23T18:06:36Z")
[Sarcasm] Yo dawgy dawg, My name is Humble to the Bumble. Sup, homie? Anyway, I love pudding. You dig? For realz! [/Sarcasm] ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/17 "2012-10-23T18:07:47Z")
Y’all can have the pudding and the statistics I’ll take the sex ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/18 "2012-10-23T18:10:02Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > Y’all can have the pudding > and the statistics > > I’ll take the sex There is clearly an “and” in the subject line of the OP. The pudding and stats are non-optional. If you can’t find a way to integrate them into your sex, you’re out of luck. ---
**Author:** ![humblebumble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@humblebumble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humblebumble)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/19 "2012-10-23T18:10:15Z")
I’ll take the sex and the pudding. Statistically, it will be a great time. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636/20 "2012-10-23T18:21:28Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Can we please stay on topic - thank you. > > What kind of pudding are we talking about? Butterscotch? Chocolate? > It wasn’t vanilla was it? 'Cause that spells real trouble. I thought she was using “pudding” in the meaning of dessert of any sort. But still, what did you have for pudding, **onetwothreego**? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statistics-sex-and-pudding/638636.md?page=2)