Hi!

Last Friday, I promised you a behind-the-scenes look for how a Now I Know story came together. I’m going to deliver on that promise in a week or two, but today, I have something more important to share, especially with Mother’s Day coming this Sunday.

In 2021, I shared the story of my daughter’s friend, Emily. Then age 11, Emily was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of cancer rare in children. Emily was undergoing treatment at the time and she and her mom came up with a way to turn that downtime into something positive — making inspirational bracelets, with all proceeds going toward Memorial Sloan Kettering’s cancer research efforts.

I asked you to consider supporting her efforts and a lot of you did — and more than I’d imagined. One of you — a reader named Tom (hi Tom!) — bought one for his mom. I know that because a few weeks ago, Tom emailed me asking for an introduction to Emily and her mom, because Tom’s mom loved the bracelet and wore it all the time — wanted to get her a second one. I gladly made the connection, and Emily made another bracelet for Tom. And she has been for many others as well. Here are a few pictures her mom sent me (and no, I didn’t ask them to make the third one! 😀 )

If you’d like a bracelet or three, Emily’s family set up an order form, here. It’s a Google form and they won’t collect your payment info — they kept it simple because this really is a homemade endeavor, and they’re keeping it simple. (Basically, they’ll ask you to Venmo them at the end.) If you want to support Emily’s fundraising efforts but don’t want a bracelet, please consider making a donation to Memorial Sloan Kettering directly, here. But as I said four years ago, part of her family’s goal here is to help a young girl find some purpose during an ordeal that none of us should have to go through, so if you feel comfortable ordering a bracelet, please do so instead.

Either way, thank you for helping.

The Now I Know Week In Review

Monday: How Gibberish Beat a Prison Sentence: Creative defenestration. (Which, by the way, would be a good name for a band.)

Tuesday: The Phone Calls That Cost €220 Million a Minute (for Life): I had a lot of fun doing the math on this one.

Wednesday: The Sentence Sealed with a Kiss: Don’t go to a basketball game in violation of your parole, and if you do, don’t go to the game when your parole officer is also there, and if you do, well, sit by yourself.

Thursday: Why the U.S. Government Really Wants Some People To Take Vacations: It’s actually a good way to fight fraud!

Long Reads and Other Things

Here are a few things you may want to check out over the weekend:

1) “A scientist was urged not to take a risky cosmic image. He didn’t listen.” (Mashable, 9 minutes, May 2025). I really liked this quote from Robert Williams, the scientist in question: “If you want to make discoveries, one must take risks,” he said. “Someone has to try it.”

2) “Deliverance” (Atavist, 51 minutes, February 2020). The subhead: “A telekinetic teenager became a convicted killer. Can a group of strangers prove that Christina Boyer is really a victim of injustice?’“

3) “I Played ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ on a Bar Jukebox Until I Got Kicked Out” (Vice, 7 minutes, March 2015). I may have shared this story before; if so, well, it’s so much fun, read it again! Also, I have personal version of this story, kind of. (And it’s possible I’m misremembering the details, or even the big picture. Memory does that sometimes.)

Growing up, a few of the diners near my hometown had a jukebox-like machine at every table — you could put in a quarter, flip through some pages enclosed in the machine, and pick a song to play. I almost never did because it was a waste of money (and my parents wouldn’t give me a quarter for it). At one point before the machines went the way of the dodo, one of the diners decided to make the experience free, and some friends of mine and I wanted to play a song for everyone in the restaurant to listen to. I don’t remember the song, but I do remember that it didn’t come on right away, so we figured that we did something wrong, and selected the song again. And again. And again. And again.

Nothing. Ohter songs played — but not ours. Until right before we went to leave. So we stayed to listen to our song… and then it came on again. We didn’t realize it, but the all-restaurant jukebox had a queue, and we had just added a song to it a half-dozen times. We paid our bill and left the restaurant, quickly.

Anyway, have a great weekend, buy a bracelet or three, and happy Mother’s Day!

Dan