A really nice piece of economic education from David Tufte. My favorite part:

We know how to calculate averages, but few know how a median differs. The latter is the middle value when you sort from smallest to largest. Average prices tend to be higher than medians because prices can't go below zero, but they can go sky high.

Would you believe this comes up in football, too? Coaches use both halfbacks and fullbacks: halfbacks have gaudier averages from the occasional long run, but fullbacks have jobs because their median rush is about the same.

On autumn weekends we understand this, but financial reporters - like carnival barkers - fool people who aren't paying attention.

ATSRTWT.