Author: RTNM

A Crush, a Data Viz, and a Book Long Postponed I have a crush on a YouTuber. There, I said it. I hesitate because there is no chance I would ever approach her and “shoot my shot.”  She is probably half my age…maybe. She might be much younger. I am not delusional; even at my […]

I am broken…defeated. I fought the good fight, but I lost. Better people than me have experienced a worse fate.  The future I always had planned for myself is dead.  There is nothing I can do about it. As some of you know, I spent my best years at Harvard University. I was there for […]

The Greatest Tweet I am not a big social media guy.  I do have a Facebook page, but it is under a pen name.  I never visit it and don’t believe I have ever posted on it.  I don’t feel social media is necessary for me; if I have anything to say, I can speak […]

Datasaurus! Well…that is something. Buford Lister (personal communication) That is in the top seven of the coolest things I have ever seen. Warren Andrew Slay (personal communication) This post takes off where the last one (Anscombe’s Quartet) ended.  Anscombe had four data sets, whereas the mighty Datasaurus file has 13.  Yes, it is either a […]

Anscombe’s Quartet Let’s be Frank; this data set is interesting. Buford Lister (personal communication)   Yale statistician Frank Anscombe published a short paper in 1973.  As I recall, around that time, Tony Orlando hoped to see a yellow ribbon wrapped around an old oak tree while The Godfather dominated award season in the film industry. […]

A Few Thoughts from the Big City Do any of us set out to live an uneventful, pedestrian life? My guess is that, yes, many of us want nothing more than a decent partner, a job that pays the bills, and kids that don’t end up as axe murderers. In the land of low expectations, […]

An Unwelcome Memoir I guess it is simply a function of getting older, right?  No matter their age, these people I once knew are dying too young.  I am 60, but I am only 60.  I am not 85 or 90.  People I met when we were young should not be dying, yet here we […]

More Thoughts on the Great Tara Westover I had a bit of an epiphany a few moments ago.  I am sitting on my couch, listening to the transcendent music of Mozart, my favorite composer (the greatest who has ever lived, by the way).  I am drinking a few beers, a luxury in my post-60-year-old existence.  […]