Real Tennis
Clare Bucknell | Granta | 27th February 2025 | U
Introduction to the "sport of kings", the ancestor of modern tennis. Enjoyed by the likes of Henry VIII, it is best described as a mixture of tennis and squash with elements of hockey and billiards. It has barely changed since the early modern era. About 4,000 people play worldwide. "Real tennis players like to say that theirs is the only proper racket sport because the rest aren’t difficult enough." (4,800 words)
Bayes Is Not A Phase
Dynomight | 27th February 2025 | U
In defence of Bayesian reasoning. There is a good explanation here of this method of statistical inference popular with certain segments of the "techie" population. Far from being a "hipster fad", this combination of aleatoric uncertainty and epistemic uncertainty is very useful for optimising decisions. Unfortunately, building a trustworthy formal model takes far too long for real life (2,200 words)
10 Observations About Tokyo
Quico Toro | Persuasion | 19th February 2025 | U
American resident in Tokyo reflects on the city's norms. Interesting throughout. Unlike elsewhere, a polite and formal manner projects warmth, rather than frosty reserve. The more casual affect commonly used with strangers can seem aggressive to the unfamiliar. Most important is the prosocial consensus, which ensures that every interaction has a clear script and set of expectations (1,500 words)
Everyone Knows Your Location
Tim Sh | 1st February 2025 | U
The apps we use collect our data, especially location data, in a way that is tricky to get your head around. This writer explored all parts of the process for himself, by playing a mobile game and then following his data through various trackers and to the real-time auctions where this kind of information is sold to the highest bidder. He concludes: "I know my location data was collected and I know where to buy it!" (2,500 words)
from The Browser ten years ago:
Kitchen Rhythm
Frances Leech | Longreads | 26th February 2015 | U
Diary of an English baker working in a Parisian patisserie. "If the hot sugar hits your skin, you will hear a slight hiss — the hiss of a drop of water in a frying pan — before you really feel it. I have burned both cakes and myself. I wear my scars like badges: A thin line from a seven-liter bath of crème pâtissière, an isosceles from the first time I was allowed to make four trays of the cocoa sponge sans farine" (3,500 words)
Puzzle: Nomido is the Browser's daily word game. Play today's before it's gone!
Podcast: Ghana’s Exiled King | It's A Continent. Audio profile of Asantehene Prempeh I, who ruled the Ashanti Empire in the late 19C, defied the British Empire, and spent 28 years exiled in the Seychelles (29m 52s)
Video: Ernest Wright | YouTube | Sheffield Museums | 9m 12s
A craftsman in the historic steel-making city of Sheffield, Yorkshire, demonstrates the process for making the perfect kitchen scissors.
Afterthought:
"Nothing, like something, happens anywhere"
―Philip Larkin