It’s Free for ALL Friday! Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall, using my own subscriptions, gift links, and other (legal) hocus-pocus.
(That said … if you find links that don’t work, let me know!)
Free For All Friday
He Was a Washed-Up Pop Star. Now He’s Selling Out Stadiums Hosting Baby Raves.
A former boy-band member has turned his remixes of classic nursery rhymes into a global touring sensation
The scene at Red Rocks Amphitheatre had all the hallmarks of an electronic dance music festival. Attendees wore holographic bodysuits, went wild when the beat dropped and occasionally spilled their drinks down their shirts.
But getting dressed required parental assistance, the bass pulsing off the sandstone was a techno remix of “The Wheels on the Bus,” and the drinks were apple juice and formula.
This rave was for toddlers.
At the center of the diapered frenzy, bouncing around on stage alongside a giant stack of inflatable rings, was Lenny Pearce. Covered in tattoos, his hair in a long white braid, the Australian DJ and former boy-band member looks more like an all-night raver than a children’s host. But he has turned his remixes of nursery rhymes into a global sensation.
In 2022, Pearce and his wife had their first child together. At home, he was primarily listening to an endless loop of children’s songs. His daughter was often in a highchair in his music studio when his wife was working. What if he gave “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” a heavy techno beat?
“I wanted to play with her more, in my world.”
Within 24 hours of uploading his version to TikTok, it had hundreds of thousands of views. Major dance labels that Pearce had spent years pursuing reached out.
Link: Wall Street Journal
The 25 Best Documentaries of All Time, Ranked
From ‘Grey Gardens’ to ‘The Gleaners and I,’ ‘Gimme Shelter’ to ‘Grizzly Man’ and beyond, THR critics pick their favorite non-fiction films of all time
One of the paradoxes when it comes to documentaries — especially the “best” of all docs, as we’ve chosen here — is that the more personal, obsessive and, yes, subjective they are, the better they tend to be.
In a genre that many viewers expect to offer us dispassionate, seemingly impartial portraits of our past and present, the films that stand out frequently do the opposite. They present bold, singular, deeply idiosyncratic visions, oftentimes from directors who’ve oscillated between fiction and nonfiction work.
Even the late, great Frederick Wiseman — two of whose 46 films are on our list — claimed he made “reality fictions” and not documentaries, although they’ve always been classified as the latter.
Of course, a lot of great docs are also about great subjects, and there’s no shortage of pivotal historical events and figures explored in the films we’ve chosen. Yet nearly half of our top 25 are about people or places nobody had really heard of before.
Link: The Hollywood Reporter
Climbers Rescued From Mount Shasta After Relying on AI Chatbot to Plan Trip
Three novice climbers say they used Google’s AI chatbot Gemini to plan a Mount Shasta summit attempt that left them stranded and out of supplies
Three California college students had to be rescued from Mount Shasta during a poorly planned summit climb in which they overshot their itinerary, meandered off-route and ran out of food and water.
According to authorities with Siskiyou County and the U.S. Forest Service, the novice climbers, from Roseville, said they’d entrusted Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, to help them craft key logistics of their trip — from the best route up the mountain to the types of food they should pack and how much water they should carry with them. The county Sheriff’s Office called relying on artificial intelligence tools “a critical misstep.”
Things started to go wrong for them during their descent, according to authorities.
The phone they’d been using to navigate ran out of battery and the spare power bank they’d brought didn’t properly connect to the phone. By Sunday night, still high on the mountain, they wound up “well off-route,” according to a forest service report.
The role of AI in wilderness trip-planning has become a heated topic of conversation following a series of instances in which hikers and campers became lost or confused after relying on chatbots to help them devise their adventures.
Link: San Francisco Chronicle
I Study Successful People. They Have One Habit in Common.
A psychologist who wrote the book on grit says the real key to achievement is knowing how to ask for help
I was once stranded with my 86-year-old mother in the Atlantic Ocean. We were on a snorkeling excursion off the coast of Miami, and the two of us were quickly swept behind our boat, my mother overtaken by the current.
Attempting to tug her to safety, I thrashed and kicked with all my might, but the ocean swallowed my efforts whole. Lungs burning, legs heavy, I changed tactics. I used one hand to keep her head above water and waved the other wildly in the air, shouting for help as I did.
Most people understand the importance of asking for help in a life-or-death crisis. We know we should wave to the lifeguard during a riptide or call 911 if our house catches fire. But in our personal and professional lives, Americans are encouraged to pursue rugged individualism over interdependency.
You might think I’d love the image of the solo striver triumphing over every challenge. After all, I’m a psychologist who wrote a book called “Grit” about the necessity of passion and perseverance for achieving long-term goals. The truth is, I hate it. Without exception, every high performer I’ve studied credits a host of supporters for success. Research has found that a willingness to ask for help is crucial to achievement.
Link: New York Times
A Makeover for College: No Gym, No Meal Plan and Two Years of Work
A group of business, college, and government leaders is building an entirely new college from scratch to fix higher education’s broken economics
MONTPELIER, Vt. — The buildings that frame a grassy quad on a hill above Vermont’s capital city are all red brick and white trim, dating from as far back as the 1870s.
This quintessential college campus from the 19th century is where a group of business, college and government leaders is working on the task of reinventing higher education for the 21st century.
An entirely new college is being planned here to change not only how higher education is delivered, but at what price. It also proposes to highlight ways the current business model no longer works, as evidenced by the 152 colleges and universities that have closed or merged since 2016, and the 442 others that a new projection says are at risk.
So deeply entrenched are the problems confronting higher education that a growing chorus of innovators says the easiest way to fix them is to begin again from scratch.
The Greenway Institute — “green” as in new — will adopt instructional methods proven to work well, such as real-world training under the supervision of faculty mentors, while stripping away such things as layers of administrators and nonacademic amenities that make college in the United States so expensive.
When Greenway is operating fully, students are expected to live on campus for two years doing projects and then go on to real-world workplaces for an additional two years while continuing to get support from faculty.
“It’s not fancy. It’s a place where you do have a meaningful relationship with your faculty members. But you also take out your own trash,” said Mark Somerville, the founding president.
Link: NPR
A Hedge-Fund Titan’s Divorce Is Putting Wall Street’s Staggering Wealth on Public View
John and Laura Overdeck’s split could also sway a power struggle atop Two Sigma
Hedge-fund billionaire John Overdeck took to the witness stand last week to explain that he had always shared his riches with his wife, Laura Overdeck. That included the hundreds of millions of dollars in pay that he put into a joint account during their marriage, he said.
“In fact, she was able to withdraw $75 million the day before she filed for divorce,” said Overdeck, co-founder of Two Sigma, the quant-trading powerhouse.
Overdeck didn’t flinch when he mentioned the figure, just one of the many staggering sums being bandied about in a blockbuster divorce trial under way in a New Jersey courthouse. The trial could result in one of the largest divorce settlements ever and shake up the power struggle atop Two Sigma, where John Overdeck has been locked in a bitter feud with his co-founder, David Siegel.
John Overdeck is offering to give his estranged wife $723 million to settle their split. Laura Overdeck says their marital assets should include his stake in Two Sigma, which her attorney estimates is worth $6.2 billion. She wants 35% of that, or $2.17 billion.
Link: Wall Street Journal
The Worst Places on Earth for Your Flight to Declare an Emergency
How far can a plane fly on a single working engine – and what happens if there’s an emergency in the middle of the ocean?
A trip to the Azores can be just the ticket – though this does tend to hinge on it being your planned destination. That wasn’t the case for the 222 passengers aboard SWISS LX9, whose flight from Chicago to Zurich last week had to make an emergency landing on Terceira, one of the Azores islands, after a chemical smell was reported onboard.
Diversion landings aren’t everyday occurrences, as such, but preparing for emergencies in the sky still plays a crucial part in aviation safety.
Perhaps the most notorious isolated route (in terms of diversion airports) served by a major airline is Qantas’s flight between Sydney and Santiago, the capital of Chile. Given that tiny Easter Island can only handle one plane at any time, Chilean air traffic control maintains tight restrictions ensuring that only one plane at a time is in range of the potential diversion spot.
Link: The Telegraph
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend. See you in the comments!
Proud Vermonter here, very happy to read about the new college model in Montpelier. As someone who did not enjoy school, this plan would be my ideal. Learning by doing followed by more learning on the job with real world applications. That's the way I've learned throughout my career and although I know it's not meant for everyone, it would work for many. Construction is like this model, in case any of your kids or grandkids are interested. We need tradespeople! No degree necessary, hands on learning, decent salary, no loans to pay off. Spread the word!
Jeez Bill, the very next article contained the phrase “But you also take out your own trash” in reference to rebuilding college education. I bet this was international on your part.