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
The Joy of Discovery
Hi!
On Tuesday, I shared a story about a quirk of geography — and the emails I received in response were incredible. At least a dozen of you replied to tell me that it was your favorite Now I Know in weeks if not months. And honestly? I wasn’t surprised — because it was one of my favorites as well.
I learn a lot while writing Now I Know and I always enjoy that aspect; learning something new always brings me a little bit of joy. But this one, for reasons I can’t quite articulate, was jaw-dropping. Months ago, I learned that there was something weird about Namibia’s panhandle, made a note of it, and moved on — but I didn’t explore further in the moment. On Monday night, I was writing another story for Tuesday when I got distracted, rediscovered my note about Namibia, and dug in a bit. I was so amazed at how ridiculous the story was that I stopped writing the other story (which is good and I hope to share it next week!) and pivoted to the panhandle one.
I’ve been writing Now I Know for more than 15 years, and people regularly ask me if I’m running low on stuff to share. Honestly, sometimes it feels like I am, but I know better than that. There’s so much out there to be discovered, and when you do — or, at least, when I do — it brings so much joy.
(Related: this comic.)
Before we get to the week in review, a quick thank you to everyone who suggested books for me to read. I’m still getting through the dozens of ideas, and apologies — I can’t reply to everyone who sent in a suggestion, because there were simply way too many!
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The Now I Know Week In Review
Monday: A City Fit for a King: A story about MLK for MLK Day.
Tuesday: The Panhandle That Failed: See above!
Wednesday: Why Isn’t This Tennis Ball Bouncing?: Tennis is a game bound by the laws of physics… right?
Thursday: Why Does Toothpaste Make Orange Juice Taste So Awful?: The culprit is something called SLS.
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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) “New York’s Grand Central Terminal Helped Provide the Blueprint for American Cities. It Happened by Accident” (Smithsonian Magazine, 19 minutes, December 2025). I had no idea, and I’m a big fan of Grand Central. The “accident,” by the way, was a literal accident.
2) “The Trial of the Century” (Lapham’s Quarterly, 12 minutes, October 2025). A deep dive into the Scopes Money Trial, a century later.
3) “Are ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestants Really That Bad At Questions About Sports?” (Defector, 9 minutes, January 2026). This is behind a paywall, but the paywall is waived for January if you give them your email address.
Have a great weekend!
Dan