Plant families
2023-06-13
Squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and watermelons are all from the same plant family: cucurbits.
Tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and peppers are all from the same plant family: solanaceae.
via my friend Matthew
jdilla.xyz
Light years are relative
2023-06-12
I was today years old when I learned that "light years" is actually relative to time on Earth đ¤¯
— Steven Tey (@steventey) June 11, 2023
E.g. if you're traveling at 99.99% the speed of light to a star that's 4 light years away, it would take you just 3 weeks.
But to your loved ones on Earth, those 3 weeks = 4 years. pic.twitter.com/aMxNqdLswK
See also this article about time in Harper's Magazine. I feel like the more I learn about time the less I know.
Aside: I feel like there is an awesome pop culture book to be written about relativity and quantum mechanics that makes it accessible for people like me; or maybe it exists and I haven't found it yet?
Horse lineages
2023-06-11
Every thoroughbred alive today is an offspring of just three stallions: Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian, and Byerley Turk, and a select number of mares dating back to 17th and 18th century England. Darley Arabian and Godolphin Arabian were both said to have come from Yemen. The origins of Byerly Turk are less known although he was captured in the Battle of Buda in Hungary.
From 3 Quarks Daily via The Browser
Radiation fact of the day
2023-06-10
The natural rate of background radiation at the US capitol is above the acceptable threshold for a nuclear power plant.
Via Jack Devanney
Leadership and performance in the NBA
2023-06-09
On the relationship between leadership styles and performance, using NBA coaches and NBA players as the data set:
Specifically, experiencing abusive leadership at any point across the 6 years of the study shifted the trajectory of player performance downward. By moving beyond static relationships and demonstrating career-long performance effects, this finding extends inferences about abusive leadership from prior research. Giving added importance to this finding, the task performance measure was derived from objective performance data (rather than supervisor ratings that typify prior research), and the measure of task performance (i.e., player efficiency) is routinely used within the industry for major personnel decisions (e.g., hiring, salary, renewal).
Here is the paper.
This feels like a giant warning sign to me: look at how much impact positive management can make. Look at how much abusive management costs. If coaching style matters this much for NBA players, how much more important is parenting style?