iPod units sold

The suggestion that iPod sales and toilet-related ER visits share a hidden correlation is an almost offensively low point for the spirit of statistical inquiry. And yet, the numbers agree. One suspects the universe is testing us.

iPod sales have been in terminal decline for over a decade as smartphones ate their market, while toilet-related ER visits have slowly risen with an aging population — and both curves had particularly sharp 2020 bends as covid disrupted medical reporting and accelerated the trends. The correlation is a classic case of two unrelated long-term curves that happen to share a calendar and a pandemic.

So we are left with two numbers that should never be in the same chart, which is the point of this whole project. One faded with progress. The other, unfortunately, did not.