What do a bunch of statisticians do to celebrate World Statistics Day? Don't expect a parade down Independence Avenue.

CDC statisticians only recently have been able to overcome data-quality concerns and produce reliable life-expectancy estimates for Hispanics. What's been so hard about it?

A quarterback averages 1.75 touchdown passes for a season. But in more than half of his games, he threw for one touchdown or fewer. Which statistic is more important for evaluating his success?

In 2007 Red Sox rookie Jacoby Ellsbury batted .353 while teammate Mike Lowell batted .324. In 2008, Ellsbury again outperformed Lowell, batting .280 to Lowell's .274. Therefore Ellsbury outperformed Lowell over the two-year stretch. True or false?

State of the USA's editorial team experiments with various interactive data visualization techniques, and will enable users to do the same -- work that owes much to the legendary battlefield nurse and pie chart trailblazer born 190 years ago this spring. (With an audio salute to her wartime comrades circa 1854.)

Information gaps come to light when statisticians are asked to supply data for an important policy question not yet answered with hard facts. In other words, someone somewhere is faced with making critical decisions in a vacuum. Understanding the living arrangements of the nation's elderly is just one example.