Content I Consumed: Time and Games

Dec 21, 2022

Back home for the holidays. I am not sending out a newsletter next week. I’ll be back in January. I hope you all have a restful end of 2022!

Podcast

Time

Researchers say time is an illusion. So why are we all obsessed with it? I learned a lot in this article. The National Institute of Technology averages 21 high precision clocks to determine what time it is. This time gets sent to all of our devices and determines when markets open, when aircraft land. This article dives into time as a capitalist tool, a technology thrust upon everyone. And a lot of physicists don’t think that time matters much.
Blank Page - Packy McCormick compares staring at a blank page when writing to starting a new year afresh. I think about this past year - working at Miter, getting married, hiking the CDT, and figuring out what is next. I’ve done so much since last January. I’m excited for our bigger wedding in August. Beyond that, who knows what 2023 will bring!

Games

This tool identifies the political leanings or positionings of a brand based on their Twitter following. Super interesting. REI → 69% Democrats. Tesla → 55% GOP. ESPN is the only one I’ve found that is 50-50.
Crazy World Cup final between Argentina and France. Maybe the best final of all time? Here are the highlights. And here is an interesting short on where players shot their penalty kicks across the tournament, their success rates, and how they compared to all world cup penalty kicks. Every 2022 World Cup penalty shootout, tracked.
I like short games that aren’t all-consuming. Here is a finance-themed variant on Minesweeper and Wordle game called Bull-Bear. Also, Netflix has games on mobile devices that are free with your subscription. Go into your Netflix mobile app and click the games tab. I downloaded a couple before my last plane ride and they were quite enjoyable. Immortality has been lauded as a top game of the year.
Legos are a lot of fun. I dabbled when I was a kid, but I don’t remember being a Lego addict like some people. Here is a fun interactive article about the relative price of Legos across the world. The Countries that Pay the Most and Least for LEGO. My main takeaway is that Legos are super expensive! The average price in the US is $349. In Argentina, the average is $2270! Wild.

Books

The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson - Book four of Mistborn Era 2 - a steampunk fantasy novel about gunslingers that have special powers when they consume certain metals. Brandon Sanderson is building one of the largest cohesive fantasy universes out there. Very good.

Misc

The future our grandchildren deserve - Bill Gates writes an end-of-year letter about his philanthropic priorities written in a Buffet-like shareholder letter. Good detailed overview of the problems the world face and what we must do to fix them. Topics include polio, climate change, math education, AIDs, and maternal health. Also slightly reflective on ending his marriage and the death of his father.
There are some topics (Elon + Twitter + SBF + AI) that dominate my newsfeeds. I’m kinda over all of them. But here is a funny Daily Shout based on SBF incinerating 8 billion dollars overnight. How do you misplace that much money? The most embarrassing ways I’ve lost eight billion dollars. The funniest parts are the NYT quotes at the top.