“Buy Why?” Let’s jump in …
The Daily Rabbit Hole: How Rivers Keep Flowing
If there was a picture worth 1000 words, it’s this one. Though copying and pasting that question is a great jumping off point if you want to know more.
“She just became the first WNBA player to score 34 points, while wearing a puka shell necklace and chucking a hamster into the crowd.” While this would be an incredible statistic, and perhaps worth an entire oral history write-up, it isn’t true. However, if you have ever found yourself listening to the commentators during a sporting event say something completely off the wall and yet incredibly detailed and seemingly data-backed, you aren’t alone. Where this information comes from is often credited at the end of the broadcast when you have either tuned out due to the frustration of your team losing, or the euphoria of winning caused you to black out.
The Elias Sports Bureau has been around since 1917, and unless you are paying close attention most fans have never even heard of the company - but that is where the “First left-handed pitcher from Wyoming to ever throw a knuckleball on his first pitch in the majors” lines originate. The better guy or gal you have running the SQL pulls during the game, the more wild the stats become.
The ‘Wait, What?’ Vortex: How They Make How It’s Made
“(At one point they were receiving) over 1,000 emails a week from viewers and corporations with requests or suggestions on items they’d like to see featured on the show.”
If I got 1000s of emails a week about what to feature in this newsletter, I wouldn’t even have to write it.
Ask …
Curiosity can kill the cat, but it can also send humans to Mars. The smartest people I know ask questions. So do nearly all kids. It may be a somewhat unscientific conclusion, but it is those who never give up the habit of asking questions that are often the most successful, or wind up as people worth looking up to.
This is why the answer to the question, “Why do biology nerds know who Richard Ebright is?” is for a question he asked himself in high school: “What is the purpose of the 12 little gold spots on the monarch (butterfly/caterpillar) pupa?” One thing led to another (I’ll let you dig further if you’d like) and a 22 year old Ebright then discovered that cells can read the blueprint of their own DNA.
So: Ask.