How does this work? Each week you’ll see one reader’s answer to the previous week’s question. Then you’ll see the question they have for the list, which you can respond to if you’d like. Or you can just read and enjoy.
Previous ask:
Why did (or do you think) the last person that broke up with you break up with you?
Martin answers:
I don’t think I’ll ever know, and to some extent I think it’s always a mix of reasons. They said it was because (after almost eight months) getting together was starting to feel like a chore. Our schedules were busy, life felt like it was always conspiring to keep us apart and we weren’t finding it natural to want to spend time with each other. I think it was because they hated their job but didn’t have the courage to quit that; so they quit this instead.
Martin’s ask:
What did you think you were really good at until you saw someone who was *actually* really good at it?
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Bits and Pieces
From time to time, I’ll throw some updates, links, and other notes at the bottom of the newsletter.
There’s a new season of 30 for 30 Podcasts. We’ve been working on this for over a year and a half. We got to team up with one of ESPN’s best reporters to tell a story of scandal, power, race and more. I think you’ll like it, even if you don’t like sports. Take a listen to “The Sterling Affairs.”
Just this morning, I did an interview about Sterling with my old 538 pal Walt Hickey for his excellent Numlock newsletter. Read it and subscribe now.
One of my go-to activities when cooking or just palling around the house is to put a full concert video up in the background (I have a nice little wall-projector setup so I get to watch it big). I recently asked folks for their recommendations, and put together a youtube playlist.
“A metastasizing swath of media is controlled by private-equity vultures and capricious billionaires and other people who genuinely believe that they are rich because they are smart and that they are smart because they are rich, and that anyone less rich is by definition less smart.” I’m such an admirer of Megan Greenwell, and hate what’s happening at one of my favorite websites.
I have a bunch of coffee table books that — as I suspect is the case with others — don’t sit on a coffee table, and hardly ever get opened. But three I do crack pretty regularly: