The word “kurtosis” sounds like a painful, festering disease of the gums. But the term actually describes the shape of a data distribution.

Shortly after the death of the brilliant comedian and actor Robin Williams, his daughter Zelda quit Twitter and Instagram following online harassment over his death. How sad. We seem to somehow like to see the dark side of the world.

Last evening my wife, Carole, and I attended a celebratory dinner for the family of one of my former students. Luca, my student, originally from Italy, brought his wife, Olivia, and his young daughter, Kendra.

If you teach statistics or quality statistics, you’re probably already familiar with the cuckoo egg data set.