Fun With Statistics, Pirate Edition

This edition of Fun With Statistics tells us a thing or two about relational attributes.  Let's get right to it, with the following graphical analysis that is apparently making the rounds on Capitol Hill.

Statistics never lie, right?  Where's a good pirate, or a few thousand, when you need them?

The lesson should be obvious: make sure the two attributes you are trying to correlate are actually related.  A nice trend does not a trend make.

Hat tip to Donald Luskin at the Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid blog.

Comments

[Matthew Zito]

Just in the interests of full disclosure, that graph is from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster:

http://www.venganza.org/

Brilliant satire originally made to combat the kansas school board teaching creationism in the school system there.