After a relatively long break, the weekend newsletter returns. I was traveling — a lot and as a result was having a tough time trying to find and read stuff on the web. Those international data rates are a killer. Here is an assortment of links that I find worth reading. Hopefully you will like them as well.
Fauja Singh, the 101-year-old marathoner: He started running marathons at the age of 89. And at 101 he is the oldest marathoner. His amazing story told by ESPN’s Outside the Lines. If possible, read this on a big screen.
Why does the U.S. gets weather forecasts wrong? Every time I travel outside of the U.S., I realize that the weather forecasts are very accurate, so much so that I am surprised. After all, I live in the U.S., where weather people are rarely right. It wasn’t up until I read this piece by Dan Satterfield that I understood the accuracy disparity.
How Manhattan’s area code was influenced by the rotary dial. Yes kids, there was this thing called the rotary dial. Read and find out.
India’s rice revolution: No genetic modifications, no herbicides. Just plain old ingenuity and India’s poorest state, Bihar, is turning into a rice mine. I am being serious. Don’t believe me, read this.
The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer. Rolling Stone looks at the military’s culture of sexual abuse, denial and coverup. The New York Times‘ James Risen writes about Virginia Messick who decided to speak up about what happened to her when she was a young Air Force recruit.
The rise and fall of Alex Rodriguez: The man with the one of the richest contracts in baseball is living up to his tabloid name: A-Fraud. What went wrong? Joe Posnanski postulates.
His saving grace: The amazing story of Chef Curtis Duffy and his battle to escape his demons. Also, worth reading on a big screen or on your tablet.
Also, if you are a fan of the Om Says newsletter, check out the GigaOM Reader, a weekend column that looks back at some of the top stories in tech with my take and also curates some of the best tech writing from around the web. I try and showcase indie writers, mostly because their work needs our love.
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