Sheila's Dribs 'n Drabs

"I'm not a mathematician but these numbers speak for themselves..." How many posts and articles have you seen that begin this way? And how many times have you been encouraged to believe what the author says, as if that were truly what "infallible" numbers decreed? The richest 10% pay over 50% of the taxes, therefore the rich pay too much. If you self-publish you'll earn as much from 20 sales as you would from 200 traditionally published sales, therefore you'll earn more by self-publishing. The Bible tells us people's ages when they died, therefore we can work out the age of the earth. Of course, if three people each pay 10% in taxes, two of whom earn ten cents a day, and one earns $10,000 per day, then one who earns more will pay a long way over 50% of the total taxes, not because they're paying too much, but because the other two aren't earning enough to live on. Context changes everything. When it comes to publishing, if you can't sell ...

Becky couldn’t do math. The numbers wouldn’t stay still—just skittered sideways in her mind. One and one, she thought—but one of what? And why? –then all too soon forgot what was required. Becky couldn’t do it, till Mom said, “Use your fingers.” Now she’s counting all the time.

It was only a tiny mistake; only an insignificant detail that no-one would ever spot in the great scheme of things. The program was the thing. The plan. The dream. The working out of complex algorithms with unending calculation. The fine scholarship that gloriously, finally worked. It was only such a tiny mistake, measuring units in inches instead of those foreign centimeters. And after all, whoever uses those units? They’re not wanted here. It was strange how the tiny mistake grew huge, and stranger still how nobody learned the lesson. Tiny things matter. And foreign’s not the same as wrong.