fun facts
In Tokyo you can rent a middle-aged Japanese man.
There’s a service where you can rent an Ossan (slang term for middle-aged man) to hang out with you by the hour. | learn more
book recommendations
Change Agent
Daniel Suarez comes back with more after his excellent sci-fi books Daemon and Freedom. Change Agent is the story of a future where CRISPR (the REAL new tool that enables DNA edits) has developed to the point where scientists can […]
better doing
Good managers apply radical candor.
Kim Scott worked for Sheryl Sandberg at Google. After a presentation to triumvirate Larry, Sergey, and Eric, Sandberg wanted to help Scott by offering real-time feedback. Scott was having a hard time hearing it until Sandberg said “You know, Kim, I can tell […]
better doing
Why you should have two careers.
Investment banker, record producer, and author Kabir Sehgal makes a great case for why you should have (at least) two careers simultaneously. He says by committing to multiple careers, you’ll be better at all of them. I agree with him. | learn […]
retail therapy
Germany’s Otto uses AI to order inventory.
Managing inventory efficiently is a challenge that each retailer (and wholesaler) must figure out how to work through. Managing a broad assortment of inventory gets really hard for a team of humans. Otto has applied AI to automatically order over […]
fun facts
I have good new and bad news.
We may know this intuitively: adding in a spot of good news makes bad news easier to take. Researchers have studied this Silver Lining Effect over the years, helping us understand when that’s true and when it’s not. | learn more
fun facts
Queens of history love a good fight.
A study by researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research set out to answer the question, “Are states led by women less prone to conflict than states led by men?” What they found was that between 1480 and 1913, Europe’s queens […]
oh, chicago
Quick, text 911!
Chicago is finally making strides to pull its emergency response system into the digital age, with the hopes of enabling texts, photos, and videos. The city is expected to go out to bid for a new system in the next […]
oh, chicago
Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Richard C Cooke funded his own election campaign ($660k) to win an uncontested Cook County judgeship last year. Since then, he’s refused to work in traffic court where judges usually start (even those with hugely successful legal careers). Instead Cook […]
tech, startups, internet
The journey to a flying car.
Larry Page, one of the cofounders of Google, has been investing (over $100mm by some reports) in creating a flying car since 2010. This week the company Kitty Hawk unveiled an early prototype called The Flyer, which can take off vertically […]