Stop giving numbers a bad name
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 07/Jul/2011 01:49, 34 days ago
People are giving numbers a bad name.As a numbers guy I was completely shocked to read that Toronto’s Bathurst subway station was the third most romantic subway stop in Canada - a Craig's List item reported inthe Toronto Star newspaper on July 5, 2011. An interviewed subway user, Jason Palmer pictured below, essentially agrees with my point of view.I have been through Bathurst subway station by train.I have even got on or off trains there in the past.Maybe it’s a defect in my character that I never once gushed “How romantic”, or “Stop the train I want to get married”.http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1019545--bathurst-ttc-station-3rd-most-romantic-in-country-craigslistNumbers guys by definition have brains.You have to give us credit.You would never hear us saying to our better halves.Dear, you may pick one of these two destinations for our summer holidays.1) A municipality called Venice in Italy that has a water problem, or2) Toronto's Bathurst subway station, one of the top three most romantic subway stops in Canada.Other guys may note how I spun the station ranking a little bit without saying anything untrue. I downplayed Venice a bit for a numbers reason because the number of dollars to get to Venice from Toronto is more than the number of dollars needed to get to the Bathurst subway station, especially if you already live in Toronto.That's numbers for you - very utilitarian. Romance and beauty are elsewhere. A quick look at travel guides would let you know that sensible people do not make their decisions based on numbers.Not using numbers in the right places would have resulted in what might have been eminently forgettable poems.Fortunately the poets in question edited out the numbers before publishing and the rest is history.First from Great Britain we have this draft poem.I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hillsWhen all at once I saw 9, 126,Actually more probably 9,874 golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.http://www.reelyredd.com/1107ww-daffodils.htmLater on William Wordsworth suggested that he may have seen 10,000 daffodils at a glance, but then he was a poet.I can’t write poetry, so what could he know about numbers?Or closer to home in Canada we never read:On a Christmas Day we were mushing away over the Dawson TrailTalk of your cold! It felt like -70, or -80 with the wind chill factor.(It was a dry cold, so in a way it was not all that bad for Canadians.)If our eyes we’d close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn’t see;It wasn’t much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.http://thewanderinghermit.com/x-poetry/sammcgee.htmBut Robert Service later saw the light and changed the wording.He chose to write poetry and not a weather report.So really, people, numbers have their place and words have theirs. Even though with multimedia presentations we can assist the words by bringing in graphics as well. The ancient Egyptians went the graphics route a long, long time ago and we are catching up a few thousand years later.Here are some sample photos where you can decide for yourself if numbers are the appropriate yardstick.Just yesterday six blurry Jamaican policemen told my bus driver to take another route. Was this photo brought to you by the number six?Trust me on this that there are 3,174,438 Lignum Vitae blooms (the bluer ones)in this pictureand only 47,661 Poinciana blooms (the redder ones). I like big numbers so that's why I took this photo. True or false?There’s a place for numbers and utilitarianism and a place for words,beauty and romance.I never took a photo of the Bathurst subway station, although others have. It really destroys numbers people's credibility when those who are not in the know attribute romance to mere numbers. Numbers people are people too. We know when, and when not to, use numbers.However, let's not knock the Bathurst subway station. If it weren't there we would have to get off at Christie or Spadina and walk back along Bloor to get to Bathurst Street. That's at least an extra 924 paces that we'd have to make. Not that it would matter if our hearts were lightly traipsing free of care to meet our special person.I