Here’s a fascinating story about a scammer who faked grave illness in order to defraud friends, family, and sympathetic strangers.
Check out this excellent video from fivethirtyeight.com on why the polls missed the result in 2016 (although they were closer than you might think) and what sort of adjustments they’re making in 2020.
I found this short list of life rules on Twitter, posted by an account named after Richard Feynman.
I love this short interview from the New York Times with Jerry Seinfeld, about how he came up with one of his bits. I find his retelling of the creative process as funny as the actual delivery of the same material.
I was in sixth grade when I first saw this puzzle and it captivated me for a few days, because I have no problem wasting ridiculous amounts of time on useless activities (like this blog).
This is a great read from the Washington Post in case you ever wondered what it might be like to challenge a conspiracy mongering, hate spewing, xenophobic candidate for US Congress.
What happens when an ordinary person is suddenly thrust into the glaring spotlight of viral attention?
When I was a high school student in New Jersey, the state legalized gambling in Atlantic City. As a math and games enthusiast, I was immediately drawn to the Blackjack tables and the prospect of gaining an edge over the house by counting cards.
Jupyter Notebooks are awesome but there are so many. Just at Google we have Colab, Kaggle Notebooks, and Cloud AI Platform Notebooks. So which should you use? The answer is “it depends”. This session will summarize your options and try to help you choose the best notebook for your needs.
Take five minutes out of your day to watch what must be the most moving and eloquent testimony in the history of congressional hearings. If you’ve seen this before, watch it again. You won’t be disappointed.
Check out this blog post by author Neal Stephenson on why he’s a bad email correspondent, by design. I feel similarly about meetings - they generally interrupt my flow and fragment my day. I already have attention issues, so avoiding all but the most important meetings enables me to stay focussed.
Check out this New York Times profile of University of Virginia students attempting to adjust to a very different sort of life on campus.
Remember when we had a president we could proud of? This is funny, but it would be funnier if it wasn’t real.
Check out this gripping true story about how one seemingly random decision can change the entire course of your life.
Check out these three profiles of women who gave birth in these challenging times.
A new study reveals the age at which the human brain, on average, stops being the amazing linguistic sponge we’re all born with.
Could you jump off a ten meter diving platform? It doesn’t sound that bad, does it?
Check out this physical realization of a powerful self-motivation device.
Take 2.5 minutes out of your day to watch this young man play Dance Monkey, with flair and finesse, on a public piano in a London train station.
This excellent story from Toronto Life profiles a brazen and prolific con man. Shawn Rootenberg serially romanced women, sometimes more than one at a time, and had a unique knack for scamming them out of their life savings. Modern dating apps seem perfectly designed for bringing together predators like this guy with needy victims.
Check out this excellent piece of video journalism from the New York Times, explaining exactly how and why America failed the pandemic test so badly.
In what now seems a particularly prescient piece of journalism, back in April, fivethirtyeight.com asked the question “What Happens If A Presidential Nominee Can No Longer Run For Office?".
Check out this list of excellent docs available now on Netflix.
Check out this brilliant new xkcd comic. Make sure to avoid the activity in the lower right, which has both the highest Covid and non-Covid risk.
Check out this fascinating profile of Jerry and Marge Selbee, a working class retired couple from a small town in Michigan, who legally hacked two state lotteries.
I’m a huge fan of this series and this video is one of my favorites. The whole performance is great but check out the energy in the song I’ve queued this video to. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen someone actually perform on top of the Tiny Desk.
You’ve probably heard there was a pandemic in the 1918-1920 time frame, which wiped out on the order of 50 million people. This interview with Laura Spinney, author of Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World, provides some insights into what we can learn from that event.
Imagine a country where paid maternity and paternity leave was not just something left to the discretion of employers, but was mandated by the government.
Check out these simple, yet profound rules.
Check out this haunting black and white video of Strand of Oaks performing Bonfire from 2010.
