This quote spurred me to think this past week: "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses a lamp post -- for support rather than illumination" -- Andrew Lang, a Scottish poet. While we profess to have data at our fingertips, how do you think of this data? What do you have to compile yourself, and what data is out there that you struggle to use in any meaningful way? I try to simplify this into a few categories I like to call the Four Ps -- not to be confused with the marketing mix: