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Love this story. On this read, I noticed Multivac answers 7x adding a few more words, maybe to imply progress toward its final answer: INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER. INSU…

The librarians I know are adamant about keeping private the records of what patrons have checked out or searched. I don’t know the history you refer to, where library records were …

I lived and worked in Oregon in the early 90s, and this is huge news. I’ll admit I’d gradually let cynicism overtake hope this outcome was possible. Now on East Coast, interesting …

Last month while cleaning out a relative’s house, I made my first trip to a metal scrap yard. I had fishing weights (lead), old copper pipes, rolls of electrical wire, broken alumi…

If tugboats had been attending Dali, would they have had enough thrust to correct Dali’s course when it lost power?

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service could use his skills immediately and his peers there would appreciate and enjoy his skills.

I hope the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service hires Surdy asap.

How much plastic in the ocean gyres might be our supposedly recycled plastic? Has anyone audited this by putting a few GPS-tracked plastic bottles into the recycling stream to see …

A cartography professor of mine once advised me to take another career path because cartography was dying; he added, “Google Maps has terrible maps- but no one seems to care.” It h…

A municipality is run by a group of individuals elected by other individuals, whereas you have framed your housing policy proposal as if pitching to a dictator. Imagining how we mi…

How? Say more please!

I love the resume itself: the non-fussy font, wording, and layout is refreshingly straightforward. It makes me want to take your dad to lunch and hear all his stories. My grandfath…

If I could take you all to the pub, I would, because you are fun to talk to and listen to. But I can’t. I go to the pub with other people and enjoy their company, but many of them …

While post leads with “the White House is pushing…” in fact the report was requested by Congress: “In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, the White House Office of Science a…

In my experience two hurdles thwart honest conversations on this topic: 1.) Euphemisms- A social worker once told me that incontinence is frequently when families feel they can no …

Excellent article and interview. Jack London helped me see how those in control (here the New Orleans owners of enslaved people, the merchants, and/or the politicians—author says m…

Maybe regret (about the past) and worry (about the future) are similar because they serve to deflect one’s attention from the here and now. Trust that your past self chose as best …

Re:long term costs for maintenance, seems like there should be a secondary market for 3D-printing replacement knobs, buttons, and related parts. No inventory needed. Especially if …

I second EconTalk, hosted by Russ Roberts. I especially like his episodes with Michael Munger (a regular guest, like 42x).

From a vegetarian perspective, turning meat into sausage, paste (pate) and other goo is also pretty weird. So weird, in fact, that it gets compared to legislating and the trope is:…

Anecdote here, but my friend who is an anesthesiologist (MD) says:(1) anesthesiologists know exactly who the good and bad surgeons are (they see the outcomes and also must manage f…

They also say, "Each of our drones can plant over 40,000 seed pods per day“ - so putting these numbers together, does this mean they’ve so far done <2 days of work?

The book Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke imagined a world where technological advances allowed more free time — and for a few centuries humans became artists, poets, etc. The b…

The article left me wondering, how many of these endemic pathogens are treatable? If they aren’t treatable, it makes sense for doctors not to routinely test for them. (Basic resear…