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Hunh?
News item:
China, the world’s most populous nation, is the first country in the world to reach 1 billion mobile subscribers. According to the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, mobile phone subscriptions in China had reached 997 million by late February, and were expected reach one billion by the end of the month, AllThingsD reported. In 2007, China’s mobile market surpassed 500 million subscribers; if the MIIT’s figures are correct, the market has doubled in the last five years. Out of China’s roughly 1.3 billion citizens, 73.6% of the population own a cell phone. In the United States, cell phone penetration is currently estimated to be approximately 103.9%.
It's not that China has a billion cell phone users... hell, they have 1.3 billion people so having that many cell phone users doesn't stretch credibility. No, my issue is that 103.9% percent number for the US. I understand that might mean some people have more than one phone, but still: wouldn't that be 100% penetration and no more? I used to HATE asshats that told me they wanted a "110% effort" or some other bullshit like that. You got all o' sumthin'? That's 100%... you can't get any more than that.
I know a lot of people with two cell phones. Hundreds of thousands of military members, more thousands in corporate America.
ReplyDeleteAll of administration, many of the nurses at work...hell, even the maintenance men are issued work blackberries.
That must be where they come up with the 104% figure.
BTW, I heard something interesting about China. In China you can pay something like a dollar a month for a service that stamps your outgoing e-mails with "Sent from my iPhone," regardless of what you're actually using.
I forget how many millions of subscribers they have, but it was staggering. It's a "status" thing to own an iPhone I guess...or maybe humiliating not to.
In the world of weather measurement, I learned that there is such a thing as over 100% humidity. Drives me nuts.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I've experienced such a thing. Often.
ReplyDeleteMe, too.
DeleteI'm behind you 100% on this one, Buck. This kind of linguistic exaggeration irritates me too.
ReplyDeleteI used to shave some sympathy for these people but then I did a 360 degree turn and changed my views.:o)
Actually, there's probably some guy with Yogi Berra genes doing these stats. "Baseball is 90% mental--the other half is physical."
Ooops. Sorry: "shave" read "have."
ReplyDeleteSounds like a White House analysis of increase in drilling during the O administration.
ReplyDeleteDapperD...well said! I loved it!
ReplyDeleteBTW, I heard something interesting about China. In China you can pay something like a dollar a month for a service that stamps your outgoing e-mails with "Sent from my iPhone," regardless of what you're actually using.
ReplyDeleteSo... SN1, SN2, and I were having an e-mail exchange shortly after SN1 gt his iPad, which does the same thang: stamps "sent from my iPad" at the bottom of all outgoing messages. The first reply we got from SN2 had "sent from my normal laptop" appended to the bottom of HIS message. I laughed my ass off, SN1 disabled the "sent from" thang very shortly thereafter.
Clever people, those Chinese. ;-)
In the world of weather measurement, I learned that there is such a thing as over 100% humidity. Drives me nuts.
The world o' statistics has a lot of that, too. But there are at least two ways of expressing the idea... e.g., you can meet 125% of a quota or you can exceed standards by 25%. I prefer the latter method.
Andy & Moogie: You're talking humidity, right? About which yer part o' the world is famous. Or INFAMOUS.
Dan: I hear ya. This is just one of my hot buttons, which seem to get more numerous every freakin' day.
Moogie: In re: drilling. Heh.
Buck, I actually posted something on Blogger, and self-stamped it, "Sent from my Toshiba Netbook." I don't think anybody got it...
ReplyDeleteSigh.
So, SN1 is a pod-people.
Don't kick yourself. No matter how hard we try, kids can turn out like that.
Yeah, and I rag on SN1 mercilessly about bein' a Fanboi. The chickens came home to roost night before last, though... when I got a phone call around 2330 hrs (that would be 11:30 pm, for you civilians) from him bemoaning the fact that a VIRUS had just ate up a five-page command and staff college paper due at 0800 the following morning. I told him I wouldn't laugh for at least 48 hours after the fact, and I think the moratorium is just about over now.
DeleteAll ended well, though... he used his Mac's TimeMachine to recover all but a tiny portion of the paper. Which was a good thang. But... so much for the "Macs don't get viruses (virii?)" krep.
I'm with Scotty on Enterprise. Full top of the green on power out is 100% power. Beyond the top of the green is the red zone. Departure into the red zone meant much sooner than later a catastrophic event with an engine or all 4. If they really truly want 110% power or more, OK. The engines will slag and we will be out of the things that matter for a couple of weeks or so as we repair them. But for a brief shining moment you can coast along on that extra knot or two as the lube oil emulsifies due to all the blown head gaskets on 45 year old aluminum block diesel engines.
ReplyDeleteAfter that, well after that class of ship the navy and whossname got smart and made integrated throttles and pitch controls to save their souls and we got 'plant logic' and you can't boost above top of the green without taking the safeties and interlocks off line so you'd like sign a career death sentence to order doing so unless you were hell bent on avoiding a torpedo at any cost.
You sound like a CHENG, Defiant.
DeleteYeah, my neighbor is a Macman. Got a virus, and just couldn't believe it.
ReplyDeleteI told him, "Believe it."