Kevin Whitaker
@whitakk.bsky.social
random things I write and read about (plus some college basketball thoughts in the winter) https://kaleidoscopemind.substack.com/
Pinned
Kevin Whitaker
@whitakk.bsky.social
· Dec 16
52 things I learned in 2024
1 | Mice don't particularly like cheese. They're known for eating it because they could easily find it aging uncovered in cellars, but exterminators say their favorite food is actually peanut butter.
kaleidoscopemind.substack.com
The teen pager scare, what Cookie Monster's cookies are really made of, why LEGO advertises pre-made sets now, and more things I learned this year: kaleidoscopemind.substack.com/p/52-things-...
Reposted by Kevin Whitaker
the funniest scenario for leaving ichiro off the ballot is just someone from cleveland who’s still mad about the quote and has been waiting for revenge. if that’s the case, respect
January 21, 2025 at 11:36 PM
the funniest scenario for leaving ichiro off the ballot is just someone from cleveland who’s still mad about the quote and has been waiting for revenge. if that’s the case, respect
Late to this but apparently that "black spatulas will kill you" paper that went viral had a math error overstating the effect by 10x statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/12/13/h...
“How a simple math error sparked a panic about black plastic kitchen utensils”: Does it matter when an estimate is off by a factor of 10? | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science...
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu
December 20, 2024 at 7:55 PM
Late to this but apparently that "black spatulas will kill you" paper that went viral had a math error overstating the effect by 10x statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/12/13/h...
The teen pager scare, what Cookie Monster's cookies are really made of, why LEGO advertises pre-made sets now, and more things I learned this year: kaleidoscopemind.substack.com/p/52-things-...
52 things I learned in 2024
1 | Mice don't particularly like cheese. They're known for eating it because they could easily find it aging uncovered in cellars, but exterminators say their favorite food is actually peanut butter.
kaleidoscopemind.substack.com
December 16, 2024 at 1:33 PM
The teen pager scare, what Cookie Monster's cookies are really made of, why LEGO advertises pre-made sets now, and more things I learned this year: kaleidoscopemind.substack.com/p/52-things-...
19 of the last 20 men's soccer final four teams have come from Power 6 conferences - what happened in 2024 to get this chaos?
December 14, 2024 at 12:05 AM
19 of the last 20 men's soccer final four teams have come from Power 6 conferences - what happened in 2024 to get this chaos?
In the 2022-23 Ivy League Xaivian Lee and Danny Wolf (both listed in this week's BR NBA mock draft) averaged 20.7 minutes and 7.4 points *combined*
December 7, 2024 at 1:09 AM
In the 2022-23 Ivy League Xaivian Lee and Danny Wolf (both listed in this week's BR NBA mock draft) averaged 20.7 minutes and 7.4 points *combined*
one of the few decent pieces I’ve seen about emotional labor that’s actually targeted at men (the ones who tend to need it): archive.ph/SbMCo
archive.ph
November 28, 2024 at 2:59 AM
one of the few decent pieces I’ve seen about emotional labor that’s actually targeted at men (the ones who tend to need it): archive.ph/SbMCo
Rutgers isn’t as good as Seton Hall but this win was more impressive since it didn’t require bananas three-point shooting. Thought Princeton would fall to third in the league without St Rose, but so far they’ve looked just fine. bsky.app/profile/adam...
For the Trentonian, I talked with Carla Berube & Fadima Tall about how Princeton is doing in the aftermath of Madison St. Rose's ACL tear. "We want to give her another ring for another Ivy League championship," Tall said. "... Maddie’s always right there with us." www.trentonian.com/2024/11/24/p...
Princeton women’s basketball once again Jersey’s best after win over Rutgers
PISCATAWAY – The Princeton women’s basketball team is remaining confident that it’ll reach its goals, even though leading scorer Madison St. Rose is now on the bench with crutches. The Tigers…
www.trentonian.com
November 25, 2024 at 1:11 AM
Rutgers isn’t as good as Seton Hall but this win was more impressive since it didn’t require bananas three-point shooting. Thought Princeton would fall to third in the league without St Rose, but so far they’ve looked just fine. bsky.app/profile/adam...
Reposted by Kevin Whitaker
Something surprising to me (via @maxtmcc on X) is how the big red 2016-24 shift in the northeast isn’t a big cities phenomenon, it’s literally a New York City-specific phenomenon. You don’t see much of a shift in Boston, Philly, or DC:
November 23, 2024 at 1:24 PM
Something surprising to me (via @maxtmcc on X) is how the big red 2016-24 shift in the northeast isn’t a big cities phenomenon, it’s literally a New York City-specific phenomenon. You don’t see much of a shift in Boston, Philly, or DC:
No surprise but a major bummer. Offense was great in a win at Seton Hall without her, but built on an unsustainable 12-19 3P%, and they’ll face a brutal schedule through the end of this year. bsky.app/profile/jenn...
Princeton announces that guard Madison St. Rose is out for the season after tearing her ACL at Quinnipiac. She was expected to be an Ivy League Player of the Year candidate & started the season strong, averaging 17.0 points & 7.3 rebounds. @thenext.bsky.social
goprincetontigers.com/news/2024/11...
goprincetontigers.com/news/2024/11...
St. Rose To Miss Rest of 2024-25 Season Because Of Knee Injury - Princeton University Athletics
PRINCETON – Madison St. Rose will miss the rest of the season after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.
goprincetontigers.com
November 23, 2024 at 12:34 AM
No surprise but a major bummer. Offense was great in a win at Seton Hall without her, but built on an unsustainable 12-19 3P%, and they’ll face a brutal schedule through the end of this year. bsky.app/profile/jenn...
Reposted by Kevin Whitaker
I wrote about Baseball's Copacabana Shot, the breakout star of the postseason pebblehunting.substack.com/p/baseballs-...
Baseball's Copa Shot
The underrated breakout star of the postseason.
pebblehunting.substack.com
November 18, 2024 at 8:32 PM
I wrote about Baseball's Copacabana Shot, the breakout star of the postseason pebblehunting.substack.com/p/baseballs-...
Famous books about world-changing organizations reveal some common patterns of innovation - and Skunk Works shows how those can be broken: kaleidoscopemind.substack.com/p/rules-and-...
Rules (and exceptions) of innovation
The "Silicon Valley canon" includes lots of stories of small groups that created big things. One of these is not like the others.
kaleidoscopemind.substack.com
November 19, 2024 at 12:47 AM
Famous books about world-changing organizations reveal some common patterns of innovation - and Skunk Works shows how those can be broken: kaleidoscopemind.substack.com/p/rules-and-...
Reposted by Kevin Whitaker
Scoring in men's college basketball is the best it's been in 30 years. Why? My theories ($):
-Continued erasure of charge calls
-Coaches being younger and more analytically-friendly
-Crashing the boards is BACK
open.substack.com/pub/statsbyw...
-Continued erasure of charge calls
-Coaches being younger and more analytically-friendly
-Crashing the boards is BACK
open.substack.com/pub/statsbyw...
Scoring is the best it's been in men's college basketball in 30 years. Why?
Questions with questionably easy answers
open.substack.com
November 15, 2024 at 1:57 PM
Scoring in men's college basketball is the best it's been in 30 years. Why? My theories ($):
-Continued erasure of charge calls
-Coaches being younger and more analytically-friendly
-Crashing the boards is BACK
open.substack.com/pub/statsbyw...
-Continued erasure of charge calls
-Coaches being younger and more analytically-friendly
-Crashing the boards is BACK
open.substack.com/pub/statsbyw...
this somewhat changed my view of the "true" state of the economy in 2024: jzmazlish.substack.com/p/yes-inflat...
Yes, inflation made the median voter poorer
I began writing this post the morning of Wednesday November 6th 2024 — the morning after the US election, where Donald Trump won a reasonably close yet nonetheless resounding victory over Kamala Harri...
jzmazlish.substack.com
November 14, 2024 at 6:18 PM
this somewhat changed my view of the "true" state of the economy in 2024: jzmazlish.substack.com/p/yes-inflat...
Drop the Monty Hall Problem into any group of people and they’ll collapse into infighting and talking past each other. What makes this particular puzzle so hard to explain?
open.substack.com/pub/kaleidos...
open.substack.com/pub/kaleidos...
Why the Monty Hall problem is confounding
When I was in eighth grade, I became obsessed with a card game called Killer Bunnies, spending an embarrassing amount of time on a fan forum about its mechanics and strategy.
open.substack.com
November 14, 2024 at 1:40 AM
Drop the Monty Hall Problem into any group of people and they’ll collapse into infighting and talking past each other. What makes this particular puzzle so hard to explain?
open.substack.com/pub/kaleidos...
open.substack.com/pub/kaleidos...
How geometry can help you care for babies, the mysterious health benefits of ice cream, and other things I learned last year: kaleidoscopemind.substack.com/p/52-things-...
52 things I learned in 2023
How geometry explains caring for babies, the mysterious health benefits of ice cream, and 50 other things I learned this year.
kaleidoscopemind.substack.com
November 13, 2024 at 2:22 AM
How geometry can help you care for babies, the mysterious health benefits of ice cream, and other things I learned last year: kaleidoscopemind.substack.com/p/52-things-...