Here’s the headlines:

Bees can train each other to use tools (ArsTechnica)
As an undergraduate, I took an insect biology class because I thought it’d be interesting. I didn’t retain much from those days, but bees and ants and their whole order fascinate me. This story tells what I mostly knew, bees are quite smart and apparently, can learn to use tools and teach other bees to do it too.

The Contestant Who Outsmarted ‘The Price Is Right’ (Esquire)
You probably don’t realize how much I love game shows. This is a story about someone who managed to get a perfect score in the showcase showdown, the first time (and only time to date) it’s ever happened, thanks to a Vegas card-counter. This is a podcast episode waiting to happen for some intrepid show.

Mars Needs Lawyers – (Five Thirty Eight)
Most people don’t realize that the majority of the treaties that govern space were drafted during the height of the space race in the 1960s. As companies continue to invade space, what will determine the rules of engagement as humans colonize space? Maggie Koerth-Baker talks about the need for more space lawyers.

The World’s Worst Skier Had Never Skiied On Snow (NYTimes)
I know a good half of my friends and followers are not regular sports fans, so I love introducing you all to these off-beat sports stories that I don’t think would otherwise end up on your radar. This is about a skiier Adrian Solano of Venezuela and his foray into the Skiing World Championships and his ‘unorthodox’ form. There are lots of warm-weather athletes who participate in cold weather sports despite no one in their country caring about that sport, the lack of training options and opportunities to get sponsorships. This one will be a useful dinner party story.

The Top 40 is anything but (Outline)
A glimpse into the outdated ways that music’s Top 40 charts get determined, radio programming gets dictated and as a result, why it fails to reflect the ways that real people listen to music in modern times.

How A Texas Teen-ager Became NYC’s premier truffle dealer (New Yorker)
Fascinating story of Ian Purkayastha and how he went from a Texas kid to one of the world’s foremost dealers in truffles? Life is a trip, man.

His book is my book rec of the week: Truffle Boy: My Unexpected Journey Through the Exotic Food Underground. 

I Lost My Olympic Dream By A Fraction of A Second (MEL Magazine)
I appreciated this story because I think there are few parallels to losing your dream when it’s not dictated by how hard you work, but by luck, timing and maybe someone being a fraction of a second faster than you were. I think there are not as many real life applications to this when your job is working in an office or something, but I still think it’s worth thinking about in the context of the work we do ever.

Listening: I’m always sharing old music with you all, here’s an oldies playlist I made years ago and it’s quite good.

Watching (Bonus): Speaking of game shows, did you ever hear about the Press Your Luck scandal of the 1980s? It’s about a man who figured out the algorithm and used it to win on the game for well over a month. Here’s the hour-long documentary that’ll be the highlight of your viewing.

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