Statistics

You ever see people draw broad conclusions with just a little bit of data? For example, consider the person that said, "All Indians walk single file." You ask about his data to draw that conclusion, and he responds, "Well.... at least the one I saw did."

You may not know it, but my career was in statistics, and that involved helping people make decisions and draw appropriate conclusions from data. Statisticians also like to determine valid cause and effect relationships.

My son, Kevin, sent me this little cartoon a while back. I liked it because it illustrates the difference between normal people and scientists & statisticians. The guy gets zapped. the normal person says, "I better not do that again." While the statistician says. "I wonder if that happens every time I do that?"

You guessed it, Kevin is also a statistician.

Someone once told me that a statistician is someone who likes numbers but did not have the personality to be an accountant. (Ouch! That hurt.) Actually, my career in statistics was most gratifying. It was enjoyable and filled with a variety of challenging projects, and gave me a feeling of accomplishment.

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Quote of the Day

It's hard to detect good luck -
it looks so much like something you've earned.
~Frank A. Clark

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Joke of the Day

A lawyer and an accountant were fishing in the Caribbean. The lawyer said, "I am here because my house burned down and everything I owned was burned. The insurance company paid for everything."

"That is quite a coincidence," said the engineer, "I am here because my house and all my belongings were destroyed by a flood, and my insurance company also paid for everything."

The lawyer looked somewhat confused and asked, "how do you start a flood?"

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