Welcome to leptokurtains! Here are some questions you might naturally ask. I may add some more if lots of people email me at leptokurtains@gmail.com .
Why are you writing a blog?
I’m generally at a state in life where I believe I’ve learned most of what I aim to learn, and most people I know/have known are now set in their ways and talking points. This is my chance to retain a bit of novelty and hopefully help others with some interesting knowledge and ideas.
Why are you writing a blog now?
I was directly given the “kick up the backside” by reading this post: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KHh7txJyECK9AriZq/why-and-how-to-write-things-on-the-internet . But there is also a mildly personal reason that I am unlikely to ever be able to reveal.
Why the name ‘leptokurtains’?
I think statistics has plenty of excellent names for concepts that aren’t all that important/common. In my experience the names sound cooler than plenty in Maths/Physics where you often come across yet another Euler/Cauchy theorem/constant. Leptokurtosis sounds very complicated, whereas it’s actually not too difficult to explain. Heteroskedasticity is a fun word with similar properties. If anyone wants my personal explanation of any statistical concept (including leptokurtosis), please email me at leptokurtains@gmail.com .
Why “urtains” instead of “urtosis”? I’d like to claim it’s some fundamental point linking curtains (of which I have strongly opinionated views) and statistics, perhaps incorporating “slender” somehow (which is what the “lepto” refers to apparently :shrug: ). However, it’s simply that the name seemed to fit, was available, and curtains were the first thing I saw around me when coming up with a title.
What will you write about?
Boldly before actually writing anything, I’m going to claim that this blog will be mostly restricted to my preferred topics, which are mathematics, statistics, and using the two to better model/understand the world. The applied parts always take precedence, and tentative topics I can envision include history, biology, the history of mathematics, the history of ideas, social relationships, sports and sporting success, working relationships, working practices, politics (but not often). I fully expect far more discussion of the statistical part of this blog’s name than the interior design part!
I have one love in life that I will try my best to keep out of the blog, those who know me will know immediately what I mean.
Why should I read this?
In my view, you probably shouldn’t, the quality. As someone from the UK, I instinctively don’t like hype or self-promotion.
How did you create this website?
I mostly followed the advice/instructions of the Google Gemini 2.5 large language model. I use quarto and an XYZ subscription. Without my current employer’s tolerance of my learning R Markdown (a sort of spiritual predecessor to quarto) “on the job” there would be little hope of me self-learning how to create a website, so I don’t necessarily recommend this approach to any aspiring writers.
Who are you?
I’ll give some vague details. I completed a mathematics degree at a reasonably well-known university in the UK, and have worked as a research statistician for most of the time since (with no realistic plans on changing). I have a modest range of interests, but if I am interested in a topic I typically “go deep” on it, usually up to the point where I recognise I am near the frontier of knowledge, and then my motivation typically craters in favour of doing something easier.
Why are you anonymous?
No major reason, I just vaguely hope it will put more focus on what I am writing than why I am writing it. I have no plans to name any friends/family, my current employer or past employers, but I may be inadvertently sharing some insight about their impacts on me and therefore it seemed sensible to be discreet. If you have a pretty good idea who I am by “reading between the lines”, you are welcome to email me at leptokurtains@gmail.com , or message directly who you think the “real person” is (it would be fun if it is one of my friends and/or family who start to get hassled about it).
Why does it look boring?
I have very little taste in graphic/website design, and have little motivation to learn, if anyone wants to suggest improvements I am always open to ideas, and wouldn’t say no if someone offered to improve the look on my behalf.
What will your first topic be about?
The biggest mistake I ever made. Not in magnitude, but hopefully in informativeness.