Complicated things, made visible.
Short articles that show you the shape of how systems work — money, policy, science, tech, culture.
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Earthquake early warning gives you 1.3 seconds at 10 miles and 26 at 200
ShakeAlert races the S-wave using the faster P-wave, and the entire lead time available at any location is fixed by the gap between two wave speeds.
A domain name resolves in three questions, and almost never asks them
Turning wikipedia.org into an IP address takes three referrals and about 150 milliseconds, but caching means the full walk happens for a tiny fraction of lookups.
The Social Security formula pays 90 cents on the first dollar and 15 on the last
A three-bracket formula converts 35 years of earnings into a monthly benefit, and the 2026 bend points at $1,286 and $7,749 decide how much each dollar is worth.
money_ more in money →
The Social Security formula pays 90 cents on the first dollar and 15 on the last
Why 87% of active funds lose to the S&P 500 over 25 years
Buybacks leave shareholders with more after-tax wealth than dividends
A Roth Conversion Is Worth It When the Current Rate Is Lower
policy_ more in policy →
How Medicare actually prices a doctor's visit
How to spot a gerrymander with one number
What it actually means when CBO says a bill costs $1.2 trillion
Why the FAA writes rules and the NTSB investigates crashes — and why they disagree
science_ more in science →
Earthquake early warning gives you 1.3 seconds at 10 miles and 26 at 200
Why only 1 in 10 drugs entering Phase 1 makes it to market
Why CRISPR cuts DNA and base editing doesn't
What mRNA does between your shoulder and your immune system
tech_ more in tech →
A domain name resolves in three questions, and almost never asks them
The 18,432-core difference between an H100 and a CPU is structural, not arbitrary
What happens between kubectl apply and a running container
Why a database sharded across 8 servers can be slower than 1
culture_ more in culture →
Why your "$80,000 scholarship" is mostly a discount, not a check
How a book publisher pays $50,000 for a book that earns $30,000
Supermarket profits come from the shelves, not the price tags
Why airlines are loyalty companies that happen to fly planes