Saturday 26 January 2008

One in a thousand

I do online roleplaying, and I do it via Skype. One thing I notice when I'm Skyping is the number of other people online. It varies over a range, but is around six million or so. Which is, roughly, one in a thousand people are on Skype.

For some reason, I find it rather amusing to think that, for example, if you go through desert areas of Africa, if you count up a thousand people, one of them will be a Skyper. (Yeah, I know, averaging statistics, blah...)

I tried to find other "one in a thousand" statistics, but the first thing I found was the One-in-a-Thousand Society. This is MENSA's MENSA, where, for the OATHS, you need to be in the top 99.9th percentile of intelligence.

Now, IQ tests are right rubbish in the first place (they measure something, but most likely "ability to take these tests", and, if being generous, the ability to speak the main language of the country), but I'm sure these people feel very elitest in their superiority. (Let's face it, we would if we were in there.)

I tried for MENSA a few years ago, but I was too big with the STEWP!D to get in (only in the top 93% or something). So I'll never be one in that thousand. But at least I know there are 999 other people around here who aren't a Skyper like me.

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