h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Correction:

Austria's Tightrope
Sagittarius [ ' Thrope ]

Thanks for the acknowledgement six7's - but I think you did all the hard work and therefore deserve the honour(?) of posing the next question.

It really was a shot in the dark on my part

Feisor

Assuming the answer was right... here's a question


What human activity do the following stats [for 2001] apply:

1st
80.971%

2nd
4.560%

3rd
2.592%

4th
2.165%

5th through 27th countries combined
9.711%

six7's

Hello all
Well done six7s (and Feisor) - your answer was right, of course.
(You weren't meant to be able to make anything of the trailing part of the word or phrase. In each case, the name of the starsign appears as an anagram if you truncate at however-many-letters-you-need and rearrange just those)

Hey, this is tricky. h2g2 Researchers' origins, with UK being 1st, maybe. (Or maybe not. How would you collect that statistic?)


P.

Clue:

The UK does not (currently) figure in these stats

six7's

The countries illegal aliens try to enter Great Brittain from maybe?
With France on top with 80% and probably Belgium next.

Bear with me here folks, but I have to ask:
If there are only 12 signs of the Zodiac how come the question had 13 anagrams?

"Crap Incorporated, Quasi-aural Sensation, Cesspits, Nude Hang-gliding, Serial Killers, Art (Usually), Mini-Eggs, Cranecabs, Eloquence, Groving, Braille, Prosocial Behaviour, Austria's Tightrope"

Or was nude-hang-gliding just a 'spoiler'?

peace
~jwf~

As I recall (can't be bothered to check) Pinniped did say there was an odd one out.
As for six7s'question, I think the answer is judicial execution, with the good ol' US of A in first place.

eep
^. .^
= ' =

I wonder if six7s subject line "This is the year that was" may be a definite clue to something like number of Olympics medals won or some such...
jwf

The UK has definitely won Olympic medals before, though.

Yep, the previous question did say "one of these is an imposter - which?" Or at least I think it did. I can't be bothered to look either.

So kind of you to restore the "Death to Otarines" headline in order to emphasise the question, though. Nice to know who your friends are.


...Oh, you're interested in the CURRENT question. Fine, I'll just go find my own Nude Hang-gliding partner then...

P.

*decides to get dressed*



The Olympics was just a suggestion. Maybe it was a year for some other 'human activity' like purchasing cell phones or conversion to Christianity or multiple births. Because the figures are so strongly biased to one country in that year, it suggests a first or last wave of some phenomenon.

So, I have to ask six7s if the 'year' is statisically significant.

Or would these stats continue to be typical for other years, indicating a specific and ongoing national obsession by one country for something not normally done beyond their borders except perhaps by ex-pats? Some specific food or other cultural factor, perhaps.

Or would subsequent or previous years' statistics show the phenomenon occuring elswhere, moving on to other countries as some fad or consumer product swept its way round the world?

~jwf~

Give it up, John - Bagpuss has already won

In 2001 Amnesty International recorded 3048 judicial executions in 27 countries, the chart-topping four being China (2468), Iran(139), Saudi Arabia(79) and the USA(66). I just knew memorizing that report would come in handy one day

*whips out solar powered calculator to see if 66 really is 2.165% of 2468*

Ah, statistics. They're usually right 100% of the time if you don't bother to question them.

~jwf~

http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2002.nsf/intro8/intro8?OpenDocument

In 2001 at least 3,048 people were executed in 31 countries.

At least 5,265 people were sentenced to death in 68 countries. These figures include only cases known to AI; the true figures were certainly higher.

The vast majority of executions worldwide were carried out in a tiny handful of countries.

In 2001, 90 per cent of all known executions took place in China,Iran,Saudi Arabia and the USA.

In China, preliminary figures indicated that at least 2,468 people were executed, although the true number was believed to be much higher.

At least 139 executions were carried out in Iran.

In Saudi Arabia, 79 executions were reported.

Sixty-six people were executed in the USA.

~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~

So, I think Mycroft *wins* as Bagpuss was right in identifying the [grim] subject but not the USA's ranking wheras Mycroft got all the right figures

And ~j~, try putting 66 / 3048 into your solar powered machine

six7's

Douglas Adams, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Jean Claude Van Damme, Timothy McVeigh, Gene Simmons and Governor Jesse Ventura - which is the odd one out and why?

The late Tim.
He never wrestled with anything, not even his conscience.
<(
~jwf~

I only included him because he was one of the 66 mentioned above...

Then you win, I suppose.


I never would have guessed that!


But it is also true, that he is the only non-wrestler in the bunch.

~jwf~