Spring has sprung

Spring is here (so early!), or at least so it seemed yesterday. The great egrets are staking out territories, reuniting with or courting new mates, and gutting and refurbishing their old nests down at the rookery at Audubon Park. I love seeing the birds (displaying males, primarily) fanning out their lacy, snow-white plumes almost peacock-like. It's sad to think how we nearly lost this species - and so many others - a century ago, though I can see why people wanted those gorgeous plumes for themselves. Crows are building nests and songbirds are belting out their amorous songs from the treetops, while young couples walk arm-in-arm below, acting out their own courting rituals on this St. Valentin's Day (we like to think we're so different from the "lower animals", but are we really?)

Anyway, what does this have to do with stats? Absolutely nothing! I just don't have anything all that interesting to say about today's reading. The Verzani book is certainly practical, and is a good introduction to programming in this language - which is fairly different (less object-oriented) than some other programs I've worked with. But it's straight-forwardness (is that a word?) which makes it so useful for learning the code leaves little to comment upon!