Happy Friday! If you're new to Now I Know, you'll notice that today's format differs from the rest of the week. On Fridays, I pause to write the "Weekender," my  "week in review" type of thing, or to share something else I think you may find interesting. Thanks for reading! — Dan

Help Me Write a Reader Survey?

Hi!

I’d like to get to know all of you better, but there are a lot of you — and while I read every email you send back, that’s not a very efficient (or achievable) way to meet you all. Back in early 2019, I sent the list a survey of questions, some basic (like, where do you live) and some fun, like the ones below.

Well, 2019 was a long time ago, and I’m long overdue for another survey. I started writing it this week and then it occurred me — why not invite you to suggest some fun questions? It can be something you’d like to know about your fellow readers, sure, but it can also be something just fun to think about. It’s really up to you. Please shy away from politics and keep it family-friendly, though.

To submit a question, just reply to this email with the details. Ideally, provide answer choices too. Open-ended questions aren’t great because then I have to look through all of the answers — I’d rather be able to auto-generate pie charts and the like.

My plan is to gather questions for the next week and, time permitting, share the survey with you next Friday. And then, a week or two after that, I’ll share all the survey responses. Thanks!

The Now I Know Week In Review

Monday: The Discrimination Lawsuit That Led to a Discrimination Lawsuit: It took me a long time to come up with a good title for this one.

Tuesday: The Longest Marriage Proposal?: A few readers suggested I also look into Strava art, which I hadn’t heard of before. Here are two stories via readers Chris B. and Monica F., respectively: 13 incredible examples of Strava art and the Guinness Record Strava velociraptor. (Strava, if you’re not familiar with it, is GPS-powered tracking service for runners, hikers, and of particular note, cyclists.)

Wednesday: How a Creative Codebreaker Changed the Course of WWII: I really liked the ingenuity shown here.

Thursday: The Bridge Designed for Glass Holes: There is no way I’d get on one of these bridges, even if the prank weren’t active.

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And thanks! — Dan

Long Reads and Other Things

Here are a few things you may want to check out over the weekend:

1) “A Brand-New Electric Bus, No Charge. (That Was One Problem.)” (New York Times, July 2024, 13 minutes). This is a story about an electric school bus and how a small town in Nebraska reacted to receiving it, for free. I’ve been thinking about this story all week — and I find it generally positive and hopeful. The link is a gift link, so you don’t need a Times account to read it.

2) “The Arrow of Disease” (Discover, 22 minutes, January 1992). The subhead: “When Columbus and his successors invaded the Americas, the most potent weapon they carried was their germs. But why didn't deadly disease flow in the other direction, from the New World to the Old?” The formatting of the article makes this a bit hard to read, and Discover’s paywall appears often for no discernable reason, but I hope you’re able to read this one.

3) “Why do people persecute city pigeons?” (BBC, 9 minutes, June 2024). I lived in Manhattan for a decade and never really minded the pigeons. I had no idea that people were very anti-pigeon. The article warns at the top that it “contains details and images that some readers may find distressing,” so reader beware.

Have a great weekend!

Dan