The Great Tea Race of 1866. On a May morning, five fast clippers set sail from China to London in a maritime showdown for the prized first tea delivery. Ariel and Taeping reached London neck-and-neck, only to face the harsh […]
The Spilhaus Projection. This unique map shifts focus to the vast expanse of oceans, unifying them as one continuous body and centering Antarctica, offering a much-needed perspective on our Earth’s waters. ~ learn more
Back up your data. A blaze at South Korea’s National Information Resources Service destroyed the government’s G-Drive cloud system. “Due to the system’s large-capacity, low-performance storage structure, no external backups were maintained — meaning all data has been permanently lost.” […]
The myth of medieval beer over water. Contrary to the popular belief that medieval people drank beer to avoid unsafe water, historical evidence suggests they were more than willing to drink water when it was clear and odorless. I admit […]
E-cargo bikes change family travel. I can’t miss a chance to share a study promoting my favorite way to get around town. “E-cargo cycling may help cultivate a cycling culture both at the household level and the community level.” New […]
Reverse engineering ICE’s AI. “What I found isn’t just data analytics—it’s an automated surveillance network built for precision at scale. The system draws from DMV databases, data brokers, phone metadata, facial recognition, and license plate readers. Together, these feeds form […]
Price’s law. “Price’s law says that 50% of the work is done by the square root of the total number of people who participate in the work.” ~ learn more
AOL’s dial up internet takes its last bow. As recently as 2023 there were still 160k households using the service. Meanwhile, I haven’t had a landline phone in what feels like decades. ~ learn more
JPMorgan’s insult added to its injury. They are “footing a staggering $115 million bill for the army of lawyers who defended convicted fraudster Charlie Javice and her former colleague Olivier Amar — a sum nearly two-thirds of what the bank […]
When not to trust Wikipedia. “Wikipedia claimed Roth’s book “The Human Stain” was inspired by the life of writer Anatole Broyard. Roth said this was “in no way substantiated by fact.” He should know: he wrote it. … Roth contacted […]