What shattering both of your legs feels like — and more weekend reads
🍂 On Sunday, we’ll all experience equal amounts of day and night thanks to our friend the September equinox — and if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere like me, happy first day of fall
Issue #168: contested elections and bad habits
By Harris Sockel
We found a few weekend reads you might be interested in…
#1. How the U.S. set itself up for a contested election
Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig uncovers two ways the U.S. may have inadvertently set itself up for a contested election in November. One of them: The Electoral Count Reform Act, passed in 2022, is intended to make the election process smoother (and prevent another January 6) by mandating states verify election results six days before electors cast their official votes. In practice, “the system amplifies the incentive to fudge any contest, to run the clock out.” In other words, Congress didn’t take into account how the law might be abused.
#2. The coding stumper that might get you hired?
Carlos Arguelles, a principal engineer at Amazon, shares his favorite question to ask prospective hires. He’s run over 1,000 interviews (800 at Amazon alone) and asked this one ~500 times. (It’s a scenario that involves tracking pageviews.) A successful response leads to an offer 95% of the time. And it’s not just about answering correctly. How candidates respond matters too. Top performers ask clarifying questions that tangibly impact the result and push themselves to improve upon their first response.
#3. A survivor story worth bookmarking
The human body is a strange and fascinating thing. Mia Lazarewicz’s harrowing (yet somehow funny and very self-aware) tale of shattering both of her legs in a gymnastics accident is a testament to that. Shocking pretty much everyone, Lazarewicz would not rate the experience zero stars! (She gives it a solid 3/10.) Obviously, she has no desire to relive the accident, but it did change her mindset in a few important ways. “Changes will always be made without our permission, and that is one of the few things in life where I advocate for blind acceptance.”
Your daily dose of practical wisdom
Building habits around the wrong actions doesn’t solve problems; it multiplies them.
Quiz: Zoom In
Below is a zoomed-in version of an image related to one of the stories linked above. If you know what it is, email us: tips@medium.com. First to guess correctly will win a free Medium membership.
Deepen your understanding every day with the Medium Newsletter. Sign up here.
Edited and produced by Scott Lamb & Carly Gillis
Questions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us: tips@medium.com
