Fact

"El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!" (lightningzone) 01/11/2014 at 17:20 • Filed to: None

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Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/11/2014 at 17:22

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"My favorite bone in your body is mine"

Leadbull > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/11/2014 at 17:23

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One of those rare times when the Kinja crop is perfect.

Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT > Leadbull 01/11/2014 at 17:25

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Kinja hooked up with her Ex last night and is fairly happy today.

tomorrow is a mystery though.

vdub_nut: scooter snob > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/11/2014 at 17:26

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Leadbull > Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT 01/11/2014 at 17:28

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Her ex is a hamster named Nibbles.

This can't be good in the long term.

Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT > Leadbull 01/11/2014 at 17:29

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We are royally fucked.

davedave1111 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/11/2014 at 17:33

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That's not actually true, though. The average (mean) number of bones in an adult body is less than the total found in a full adult skeleton, because extra bones are rare (although not unheard of) whereas it's not all that uncommon for people to lose bones through amputation, or be born with them missing.

If you factor babies into account, it goes the other way: there are too many bones, because babies have separate bones that are fused into single bones in adults.

This comment was brought to you by the Campaign for Factual Accuracy in Memes.

Aaron James > davedave1111 01/11/2014 at 18:16

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I don't know, 1 in 500 people have extra ribs, some people have extra lumbar vertebrae, it would be next to impossible to quantify the actual number of people with more or less than the "typical" 206 bones.

davedave1111 > Aaron James 01/11/2014 at 18:24

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If we were only dealing with rich-world populations, it's hard to say - the data actually exists but would be a chore to gather together. But as soon as you factor in the third world, sadly the amputations are statistically overwhelming - particularly in parts of the world that have a landmine problem, or have had particularly vicious wars.

Aaron James > davedave1111 01/11/2014 at 18:31

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it would still come down to estimation, since you're looking for an exact determination of weather the Meme is correct you would have to count every bone in every adult. If you're gonna be picky, you have to be precise, not just estimate right? If you really want factual accuracy, you can't assume or estimate.

davedave1111 > Aaron James 01/11/2014 at 18:44

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If we were looking for an accurate figure, you'd have a point. But all we need to do is to show that the number with less than the normal total is sufficiently overwhelming that we don't need to check further.

In general, we still wouldn't need to check the entirety of the world's population to have a very accurate average. And the more the average rates of the two things we're comparing diverge, the smaller a sample size we need for any given level of accuracy.

In case it hasn't occurred to you, can I point out that extra bones tend to come in ones or twos, whereas amputations often take off dozens. For example someone who loses an arm above the elbow normally loses thirty (and a half) bones.