As Hurricane Florence continues endangering lives and destroying property, many of us wait in uncertainty, wondering how homes, boats, and treasured landmarks are faring. It's personal and emotional kind of uncertainty, the kind that can't be addressed by probabilities. But on the statistical side, the National Weather service...

On Sunday, this "news" came out that Geoffrey Owens--an actor who had a recurring role on The Cosby Show--was spotted working at a Trader Joe's somewhere in New Jersey, and then shamed for it. The sentiment seems to have been something like, "Poor Geoffrey. If only his former fame had...