A good article from the recent New Yorker on Jim Simons, the billionaire mathematician (subscription may be required).

Jim Simons, the Numbers King

One bit I found interesting:

In the years before the Second World War, private institutions such as Rockefeller University, in Manhattan, and the Institute for Advanced Study, which was funded by the Bamberger’s department-store heirs, came of age. But by the fifties the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other governmental organizations were paying for the vast majority of scientific research in America. For half a century, the government remained the dominant funder. But in the early aughts federal support began to dwindle, and philanthropy came roaring back, led by Silicon Valley billionaires. In 2015, for the first time since the Second World War, private money, including corporate contributions, provided most of the funding for basic-science research.

Japan sumo champion Harumafuji charged with assault

“The grand champion is reported to have been angered that his countryman was checking his phone while being given advice. The latter was admitted to hospital with concussion and a fractured skull.”

“Harumafuji admitted punching him hitting him with a karaoke remote control but denied using a beer bottle in the attack.”

Mr. Victor Tango, the Hokie Plane stopping by on the way to Big Bend.

From the BBC.

Tiananmen Square protest death toll ‘was 10,000’

“. . . Students linked arms but were mown down including soldiers. APCs then ran over bodies time and time again to make ‘pie’ and remains collected by bulldozer. Remains incinerated and then hosed down drains.”

One of my favorites.  The annual Texas Monthly Bum Steer Awards.

Bum Steer Awards 2018: The Rest of the List

From Quartz:

US nuclear tests killed far more civilians than we knew

When the US used nuclear weapons during World War II, bombing the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, conservative estimates suggest 250,000 people died in immediate aftermath. Even those horrified by the bombing didn’t realize that the US would deploy similar weapons against its own people, accidentally, and on a comparable scale.