What is a Stochastic? And how can I make mud pies with it?

I've been given another hint about all of this by Dr. Patricia Manos Kraemer, pilot extraordinaire (oh yes, she also gives out NIH government grants to researchers who are studying brains[note: I often study brains but am sadly ineligible] )

She looked at a passage in one of my emails and instead of giving me the usual "huh?" comment, promptly labeled it an example of stochastic thinking.

Hey, new phrase! Of course I have to look into it.

The most common words associated with this are "aiming" "random" and "probabilistic".

Maybe that's why I like fractals so much.

And it looks like a concept which will contribute to this line of exploration perfectly.

Note to self: Look into stochastic modeling and become enlightened. Report back here soon.