this is cool. - 8/9/22

hi,

i've spent a lot of time over the past day working on a final project for my network analysis class, where my research partner and i analyzed if twitter followings were any indicator of bipartisanship. we thought that if politicians followed more politicians on twitter on both sides of the aisle, then there might be a higher chance that they are bipartisan while legislating.

wow, were we wrong. as in, there's not even an ounce of evidence to support that theory. when we gave our final presentation last night, we were the only group to not have a positive conclusion -- we were the only ones who said that we had little to no proof of what we were trying to answer. as we're writing our paper throughout the day today, we're left reaching, leaving me wondering why we spend so much time looking for confirmation as opposed to searching for the truth.

eh, we're still going to submit what we have -- there are a few insights there that are worth discussing. maybe I'll send out the final report. if anyone would like to read it, respond to this email and I'll send it your way when we're finished.

and now, for the cool article of the day:

The Rapture of Listening to a Fake Baseball Game, by Katy Waldman in the New Yorker

even though i grew up a baseball fan, it's strange to me that people would actively want to listen to a fake baseball game. nine innings of completely made up baseball. but as I'm sitting here writing this newsletter, I'm listening to the big rapids timbers taking on the cadillac cars -- and it's honestly amazing.

here's where you can listen to the first episode, the one I'm listening to right now. it's honestly awesome.

and with that, i'll see you tomorrow.

- zev

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