How I came up with an entrepreneurial solution to a game I couldn’t afford. — Our pale yellow bus groaned to a stop and hissed as the door slid open, sending warm air out onto my freezing face. Our brown-haired driver was a cold and non-expressive woman who always wore sunglasses, would die midway through the year and be replaced by a new, colder driver…

What do you do with a walking HR problem who is hard to replace? — Ben was a radioactive employee and it didn’t take me long to realize it. He was a senior project executive, a big burly brown-haired man, who wore expensive frameless glasses that gave the faux impression of sophistication. I was a doe-eyed young financial analyst at the large trucking company, which…

Refusal to apologize is often a forecasting error by the sender that harms the recipient. — Just yesterday, I ate two delicious slices of my partner’s leftover Papa John’s pizza, not knowing it was her only dinner food. It was an error of neglect and presumption on my part. Three months earlier, we had a phone call and she warned, “I’ll be on a work call…

Researchers have linked cold exposure to increased metabolism, but using it for weight loss still carries risks. — The worst part of my college experience was getting out of my warm bed at 5 AM, and having to jump into a cold pool just 20 minutes later. It never got any easier. In fact, it got worse as winter came and put snow between me and the aquadome. …

The importance of lore building for fostering connections and developing our minds. — Brian and I stood outside the bathroom door, urging the other to go in and “Do it.” It was 11 PM and we weren’t supposed to be awake. We were only nine years old, and playing the old game, Bloody Mary. It was played when you stood in the bathroom…

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Why ethics should supplement long term thinking. — Industrial lightbulbs dangled in the hallway as we walked up the concrete stairs. Random puddles dotted the floor from unseen leaks from above. In front of me, a giant sign read “Floor 8”, as employees in hardhats hustled down the stairs past me, rushing to address some unseen crisis. My…

Their infiltrative and durable nature could someday improve our quality of life through engineering. — Cockroaches have made their way into my life, against my will, and to great inconvenience. Three years ago, my girlfriend cried into the phone for me to come over, “Please…please…it is twitching on my kitchen floor.” She sounded like a hostage. We went back and forth for two minutes, with…

The story of every “thing” we own and how it informs our nesting decisions. — As my hands pushed the ceiling hatch upward, the ladder beneath me suddenly wobbled. My heart caught in my throat as I reached down to stabilize it. Thankfully, there wouldn’t be an early trip to the ER that day, but it was a reminder that gravity is real, and watching. …