Lunch at the Labs

Various web links I found to be of interest recently.

• Researchers reflect on the death of billionaire science donor Jim Simons and his charitable impact

  A brilliant mathematician who made billions on Wall Street, Simons gave heavily to basic science and higher education

  Simons was also happy to take risks, both in his everyday life and in his business affairs, Phillips says. He had a penchant for adventure, often bringing his friends and family along on cruises on his superyacht, the Archimedes. And he was a continuous smoker since the age of 14. "I think if I stopped smoking, I'd get stupider than I am," he told a historian in a 2020 interview with the American Institute of Physics.

  Also on the Simons Foundation web site, Remembering the Life and Careers of Jim Simons.

• Cutting pollution from the shipping industry accidentally increased global warming, study suggests

  A reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions may have caused "80% of the measured increase in planetary heat uptake since 2020."

  Schmidt pointed to an analysis made by Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at the Breakthrough Institute, which argues that the study's warming calculation relies on an overly simplified model that misunderstands heat uptake from the ocean, meaning the study overstates the sulfur reduction's warming impact.

• 'The death of Slim Shady': Controversial legacy of Eminem's peroxide-blond alter ego

  Eminem's arrival as Slim Shady on the lead single, My Name Is, was timed perfectly for chaotic impact. While America reportedly enjoyed its "happiest decade" during the 90s, Shady revealed a disillusioned white underbelly.
  ...
  Mathers himself is a dichotomy, with Shady's antics counter-balanced by his thought-provoking raps as Eminem.

• New York City Public Restrooms Map

  NYC Public Restrooms by Location

• If you've tried meditating but can't sit still, here's how - and why - to try again
• A New Home for Meetup

  Italian technology developer Bending Spoons buys Meetup.com

• The Fifth Place - A Room with New Rules

  The Fifth Place is an invitation-only, absurdist social gathering held within different venues in New York. Each time you visit The Fifth Place you are given a new set of rules by our Directors of Behavior which shape your interactions with the other guests. The Fifth Place is devoted to antic joy and higher forms of irrationality. Attendance is free.

• The Greatest Social Media Site Is Craigslist (Yes, Craigslist)

  Craigslist's business model is quite simple: Users in a few categories-apartments in select cities, jobs, vehicles for sale-pay a small but reasonable fee to make posts. Everything else is free. Its Perl-backed tech is straightforward. The team is relatively lean, as the company considers functions like sales and marketing superfluous. This strategy has allowed Craigslist to stay extremely profitable throughout the years without implementing sophisticated recommendation algorithms or inundating the webpage with third-party advertisements. Its runaway success threatens decades-old industry gospels of growth, disruption, and innovation, and might force tech evangelists to admit they don't fully understand what people want.