Russell Pollari
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(Of books that I read in 2024. Not books that were released in 2024) 1. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr Three stories told in parallel, all in different eras. 16th century Constantinople, the modern age, and some uncertain time in the future. The characters are all connected in some way by a (fictional) ancient…
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The year was 1839 and China had an opium problem. Opium wasn’t new to China. It had been a luxury good for centuries. But the supply had increased dramatically over the last few decades, which drove the price down and made it accessible to the masses. Addiction and corruption were becoming widespread. The cause for…
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“I’m a far parker… I park far,” my dad said once, unaware that he sounded like an episode of Seinfeld. But he wasn’t joking. He parks far. I laughed at him initially, but have since come some to see the light. I too am a far parker. If you have to drive, it’s a healthier…
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Loving music has been a key part of my identity since I was a child. But, recently, I’ve noticed a troubling trend—I have a harder time answering the question, “What are you listening to, these days?“ This is a question that would have had a younger me geeking out about the latest artist, album, or…
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When I read science fiction, I prefer to read hard science fiction. Where authors aspire to be accurate with their depiction of reality. The laws of physics are not broken. Energy is conserved. Technology is not just magic with another name. There’s nothing I love more than a science fiction book with good science. The…
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The good news is that it’s easy to be vegetarian these days. When people ask me what it was like to stop eating meat, I can honestly reply that my diet hasn’t changed very much. I still enjoy burgers, bolognese sauce, chicken wraps, and many of my favourite meat dishes thanks to a growing selection…
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I’m a self-taught programmer* and the CTO at SharpestMinds, where we have very small team (we just recently went from N=3 to N=4) and our engineering and development team consists of mostly just me. After leaving my PhD in Physics, I’ve learnt to code almost exclusively by building. Inevitably, I’ve had to refactor a lot…
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I sat down with Jeremie Harris recently (co-founder and COO of SharpestMinds) for the Towards Data Science podcast. We talked about quitting a PhD, learning programming and data science from scratch, and what habits can help you get there. Listen below on Spotify, or find it on your favourite podcast streaming service!
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