Roman emperors often suffered violent death in the first year or after 12 years of reign. So either you died very early or after people were a bit fed up of your work. Quit when you’re at the top is the advice that comes to mind — researchgate.net

Humans and chimpanzees have similar risk preferences. Just like humans, chimps will be more risk-averse when facing ambiguous situations, have a consistent risk profile across domains, and see their risk-taking prowess peak in young adulthood — sagepub.com

Up until the 2000s, church membership in the USA was about 70%. It started declining at the turn of the new millenium and is now at ~47%. Which of my American readers knew about that? — novum.substack.com

How did medieval people stay warm at night? Damn, winter must have been hard back in the day. But the people living then were resourceful. First, they only wore wool, as it is one of the few material that provides warm when wet. Second, they used heat-conducting stone and thick mud walls. And they slept together under wool blanket, and invited their livestock inside for protection and extra warmth — quora.com

How can you be less harsh with yourself? Think of yourself more impersonally. Think of yourself as a tree. When you walk through a forest and see an evergreen tree, a bent tree, or a straight tree, you intuitively get why, as maybe some did not get enough sun, or water. You allow it. When it comes to you and others, you’re like “I should be more like this, they should be more like that”. Be a tree. This is from Ram Dass who popularized “Eastern spirituality” to the West in the 1970s — themarginalian.org

Diamonds are not the hardest material on Earth. The hardest material is Lonsdaleite. Granted, it comes from meteorite debris, but it is still natural. The strongest non-natural element, you (did not) ask? It is graphene. Super good at conducting heat and electricity. And currently still only a multimillion dollar market — bigthink.com

Mexico City’s metro drivers use WhatsApp to keep trains running. There was an autopilot system but lack of institutional investment and maintenance have rendered it ineffective. One thing I often wonder about is how WhatsApp groups are used for mission-critical work — restofworld.org