I write Now I Know, a free trivia/interesting facts email newsletter which goes to nearly 90,000 people a day. Yesterday, I announced that it's being made into a book. AMAA!

You got any... ummm... ^{cat facts?}

Sure thing:

• Hotel which let you rent cats for the night... unfortunately, the new owners ended that.
• The time the CIA wired a cat to be a spy
• A French ritual where they burned live cats
• How making cats glow green can help fight AIDS
• That time when Garfield woke up to find that Odie and John were hallucinations, and he's actually screwed.

How's that? I won't send them via text message though.

^{We need a Now I Know dedicated to cat facts. I'll subscribe everyone to it.}

It's called reddit.

redditor for 7 years

Checks out.

Why would a guy who writes about facts start with a lie?

Trust but verify.

very Wikipedia of you.

More Russian than Wiki.

now I know!

What about raccoon facts?

gives you phone-rabies

Searched thread for cat facts, was not disappointed.

I should have had that reply in the can, that and something about horse-sized ducks.

What can you tell me about horse-sized ducks?

They surprisingly come out of pea-sized eggs.

And taste delicious.

Thanks for the interesting facts every day, Dan!

How do you always come up with new ideas/amazing tidbits of information every week day without fail? Do you think it would ever dry up?

There's so much out there. I mean, there are six billion people on Earth right now, and if one in a million has a one in a million story (get it?), that's 6,000 articles. And that's only the people who are alive right now.

Finding stuff isn't all that hard any more. I have 20-something pages of things saved in Instapaper, a bunch of other bookmarks, and readers send me things pretty much every day.

That said, I don't have anything written yet for Monday.

The USCB estimates that the world population exceeded 7 billion on March 12, 2012

Now I Know?

It surprises me that someone that knows so many random facts doesn't know the exact Earth's population.

Changes too quickly.

You better get crackin then, I just discovered your newsletter and I want to be dazzled.

ok

Hey Dan, I see that you are like a human encyclopedia and I was just wondering if you could answer a random question for me haha.

So yeah, I was just wondering if during all this time you've been collecting facts, you have come across knowledge of how to get females attracted to nice guys like me. I don't seem to have much success even though I meet most of the requirements. I have a hobby, I'm nice, I know how to protect someone, and I'm funny haha.

But yeah, I would like to know if you've come across some psychology tips or something. Maybe I'm missing something lol. And don't worry, I'm not some predator or anything. I just want a female so that I can treat her right, just ask my waifu Rei about how good she has it haha. I clean her and tuck her in every night and kiss her forehead. Of course, she is printed on a pillow so I'm afraid that our interactions are fairly limited. I would love to have a real female and I fantasize about the things I could do for her. I would kneel at her holy feet and hug her thighs. I would write her poetry and take her to anime conventions and dress up as Shinji haha

My advice is to invest in time travel. The ancient Greeks saw beards as a sign of virility and your creepy neckbeard would get you all the ladies.

He drinks a lot of Snapple.

I actually bought a six pack today.

Haha, I knew it! Plus, based on your love of quick facts and tidbits of information, Snapple is the only logical drink of choice for you.

And possibly because it tastes good as well...

I prefer Diet Dr Pepper, to be honest

Johan Santana: done for good, or back to be a good/average/subpar pitcher?

To whomever is downvoting this one, seriously, don't. I love this question and can talk about it for hours, and, will.

The answer:

As far as the Mets are concerned, he's done for good. But I think you know that.

He'll be a less-than-average pitcher. I think when your arm is as bad off as his has been, anything that tweaks it is going to be a major, major problem. One of the things I wonder about is whether the ankle injury last year ended up causing significant long-term arm damage because he clearly had to change his delivery in order to compensate for the bum ankle.

Also, read this.

Also: he's 34.

Follow-up, thanks to your Neyer link: HOF or no? He's got a little Koufax in him, doesn't he?

He'd get my vote, but they don't give me one.

Does this same logic apply to Chris Carpenter or do you think he makes another superhuman comeback?

Screw the Cardinals.

Maybe I should clarify for redditors downvoting me: Dan is a HUGE Mets fan.

He didn't look that fat to me.

Eh, on the spectrum of Mets fans, I'm on the wrong side of the mean.

I read your emails every morning and really love it. Unfortunately I also end up reading them every afternoon when they get reposted (Especially here in Reddit).

How do you feel about your content being reposted? Is it ok because it's spreading cool knowledge or are you upset that people don't get it directly from your email subscription which brings you money?

I LOVE IT.

Seriously, PLEASE POST THEM ALL THE TIME. Eventually, someone may point out where it came from or how they learned about it and more and more people will know about Now I Know. And more and more people get to learn the cool facts. And you get karma! I don't need the karma! Take it!

The money, whatever, I'll make up for it in new subscribers. Don't worry about it, repost like crazy!

This is actually how I found out about you and I am now a subscriber, as is my dad!

SEE!

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Upvote it and drop a comment citing me as the source instead :)

In my head I do it in Honor, or something

That's cool.

I didn't give you gold for this, but I'm glad someone did :-)

Any thoughts on making it more mobile friendly? I definitely skip over reading them sometimes when I'm on my phone on my morning commute and I know I'm not the only one.

Constantly. The problem is the ads. I need the ads to make this economically viable for me -- it's not and likely will never be a full-time job, but it has to make me something -- and that's what harms the mobile experience. I'm trying to get into subbable and seeing if I can crowdfund this, but I think that's a longshot.

Thanks for the reply! I'm a graphic designer, and I used to work in advertising so I know there's a way. Check out what users of MailChimp do or just general newsletters. Take a look around. I have an idea below:

For mobile: stack the content with no sidebar like below: Title Horizontal Ad (Leaderboard) Content Bonus Fact Horizontal Ad (Leaderboard) Extras

Yeah, I need to look into this more. Thanks!

You may want to also think about creating an app.

I've considered it. It'd have to do something different.

I'd have no problems paying $1 for the mobile app. This could offset the loss of ads.

Maybe. I'd rather just make it mobile-friendly and go reader supported, like PBS/NPR model-y. Maybe one day I'll have the you-know-what to try that.

Hi, Dan. Thanks for making my inbox more enlightening every day.

What do you think is your most interesting Now I Know story?

One that's forthcoming in the book. And no, that's not some ploy to get you to buy it :) I just remember, during the editing process, really liking how it read and what it was about, and I'm typically the type who HATES reading what I myself wrote.

But that's kind of cheating, right?

Unfortunately, I don't think I have a real favorite. I have a lot I didn't particularly like for one reason or another, and those end up often being some of the more popular ones, which just goes to show I have really poor taste ... or something.

Münchausen by Internet is (one of, at least) my personal favorite.

That's what I mean, I didn't really like that one that much. It was fine, but nothing that I would have ever put in my top 20. (And no, I'm not making a top 20, at least not today.)

I have a few questions:

• What were the reasons you began Now I Know in the first place?

• Do you have any worries that you will one day run out of facts to send out?

• (If you don't mind me asking) What do you do for a living and, if its a demanding job, where do you find the time to research and write each article?

The second one I've answered elsewhere and for the third one, just look me up :) I write nights, weekends, and on the train to work. I wrote today's on the train ride on Wednesday, and had enough time left over to accidentally fall asleep. And my train isn't that long!

Why I began NIK in the first place? Two reasons:

1) I had created a sports wiki-blog hybrid with a few friends in 2005 -- ArmchairGM, if you're interested, but it's long dead. A few years later, was working with some other guys on a sports email newsletter. My job on both was to grow readership/audience, and I did an OK job in the first but a terrrrrible job in the second. Email was really hard, and I wanted to beat it.

2) I think I could have a pretty big Twitter following (by the way, I'm @DanDotLewis) if I focused on something like strange facts or baseball or social media stuff, but I didn't want to focus, because that's not fun. But I like the idea of having an audience where I can share ideas, and I'm willing to work at something to create that. A bunch of stuff came together at the same time, and I realized that people were actually interested in this collection of interesting but generally useless facts that I seemed to gravitate toward. So I turned them into something.

Thanks for answering!

I did see that you answered my second question here.

I hope to hear when you reach 100,000 subscribers!

I hope to get there!

Have you ever been so blown away by a story that you were sure it wasn't true until you did more research?

Likewise, have you ever printed a story that later turned out to be false? If so, how did it happen?

Thanks for the great stories, I read them every day!

As far as I know, I've never printed something which turned up false.

But I have been in the other situation many, many times. The most notable was about a month ago. CS Monitor ran an article about the "world's last telegram" which was going to happen sometime in July, and a few other places picked up the story. That's fantastic, right?

I started writing and then realized, crap, it's just plain false.

I ended up publishing what I had written and the mess that the CS Monitor mistake caused elsewhere. If you want to read that, it's here.

Hey Dan. I write BrokenSecrets.com, a similar concept to yours. I started about 8 months before you but you've grown yours so much more; congratulations on your readership and the book deal, that's a ton of work!

Anyway, on topic... I think you, OMGFacts, me and everyone else who does something similar runs into the same thing all too frequently: someone, or even some reputable news agency, shares something mind blowing and then you spend hours researching it and eventually discover that it's completely untrue.

Cool.

I hate when that happens.

You could almost have a separate snopes style "trivia debunking" site.

Yeah but Snopes does a good job of that, other than the annoying popup ads.

Hi Dan! Love the daily facts, I start every morning off by reading your emails.

My question is what was your main motivation for starting to write these daily essays?

Thanks! I answered this elsewhere, but I'll add something I forgot: I really, really like to write. A few nights ago, I was frustrated with this Bud Selig/A-Rod BS, and ended up writing about 3,000 words on why Selig's also to blame for all the steroid use. That's a lot of words.

(And I may not even publish it.)

Thanks! (subscriber, here). Not to go too far afield, but, yes, drugs saved baseball after the strike. Also, Ted Turner is responsible for the tolerance of drug abuse in baseball - he let Pascual Perez (sp?) come back.

Drugs totally saved baseball after the strike.

So, would you let likely steroid users in the HOF? What about Pete Rose and Joe Jackson?

I'd put most likely steroid users in the Hall, yes. I would not put Rose or Shoeless Joe in.

Hey Dan! I love reading your emails every morning. Have you ever found facts that you've purposely not shared with the world because it's too disturbing or dangerous? Is there a limit to what you're willing to say?

Not because it's too disturbing or dangerous (although honestly, I'm not all that interested in stuff like "how to make a bomb!" or whatever). But I've had to not talk about a few things involving sex and drugs because email spam filters kill those.

For example, there's this thing called Koro -- here's a Wikipedia entry -- where people freak out because they inexplicably begin to think that their penises are going to shrink and ultimately disappear. There's no way to write that without either using the word penis over and over again, or being really childish and using a ton of euphemisms for the word penis.

So I didn't publish it (or write it up, for that matter).

Has any of your research been frustrating? I run a trivia blog myself (to verify factoids from a trivia book) and sometimes finding information can be extremely frustrating.

Nope. It's been great. Really.

I don't really right up little facts. I flesh out stories about facts which I've mostly already verified. So the research process just leads to more neat things to learn about. You know when you're reading through Wikipedia and you end up in one of those rabbit holes of neat stuff? That happens to me a few times a week, and when it does, I don't feel the "holy cow I wasted SO MUCH TIME!" regret, because I just turn that stuff into email newsletters. :)

Hi Dan,

I'm a recent convert from the UK. It's a great service!

1. Do you get bored of having to provide something every day? Do you write them weeks in advance and then have a few weeks off?
2. Do you make your entire living from it?

I don't get bored but I do burn out here and there. I don't write them far in advance at all, usually a day or two. Monday's isn't written yet and I haven't picked a topic.

This is a side project -- I don't make anything close to a full-time salary from this.

Thanks for replying! Is there a sense of panic and of letting people down when you're not sure of the topic, or you're running late?

Oh, terribly.

Hey Dan, love Now I Know, got a couple of questions:

1. What rules/guidelines do you have for facts to report? e.g. no politics
2. Can you share any great facts that you've heard but felt wouldn't be suitable for your mailing list (i.e. nsfw facts)
3. Not that I begrudge you any time off for what is a free (and much appreciated) service, but why do you take all of the holidays off?

1)

I try to be apolitical, but I don't shy away from politics, if that makes sense. That's not why you read and honestly, that's not why I write.

Sometimes, though, strange things happen. About a year ago, I wrote this article, which begins "During the final days of World War II, the United States, apparently believing that Japan was unlikely to surrender otherwise, dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki." And by the end of the morning, I got two emails from people saying that I was totally off-base with my politics.

But the crazy part: they took opposite sides! One guy wrote to say that "apparently believing" is garbage, and there's no way Japan would have surrendered, and I shouldn't give lip service to such myths. The other guy was shocked that I'd accept that the Japanese weren't about to surrender, when they so obviously were. Sometimes, you can't win.

2) Just to avoid spam filters, as noted above. I've talked people who murder children. There's not much worse out there.

3) I take the holidays off because I need the occasional day off like anyone else, and it helps prevent me from burning out. It's easy to just have a blanket policy, too.

Thanks for sending out NIK - it reminds me that there's too much fascinating weirdness out there to get too caught up in any one special-interest niche, much less my own personal woes.

What other general-interest blogs or newsletters would you recommend? Are there any that you think do a good job of covering things you wouldn't?

• Hacker Newsletter if you're a coder/startup type.
• NextDraft is a good look at the day's news in a very Internet-y way.
• Cup of Zup is light, fun, but comes at the same time as Now I Know :)

I'm sure there are a few others I read so I may end up editing this one....

You actually replied to a google chat I sent you. Just wanted to say you are awesome! Love reading these every day!! Tell me something I don't know about the Packers in one of the future ones :D :D

How much do you know about the Packers?

Hi Dan. Do you ever get ideas for your newsletters from things on reddit?

And what now I know would you like to do but can't for some reason?

Oh yeah, definitely. Especially the comments.

I'd like to be able to tie my shoes better but I can never get that to work right.

Watch this TED talk and consider your problem solved!

Huh. Go TED.

[deleted]

As of right this moment, there are 89,764 subscribers.

Replying to emails isn't a big deal -- I only get about a dozen or two a day. Most people don't bother replying, perhaps because they don't think I will :)

[deleted]

It comes in bits and spurts. I've been higher -- just over 90,000 -- but 88k+ is relatively new.

[deleted]

Rarely, unless I make a mistake ("million" when I mean "billion" happens a lot) and then there's not much of an argument.

Hey Dan love reading your emails every day when i get to work. It's pretty much my prep routine for the day haha. Have you ever thought about going on Jepordy / tried out for some sort of trivia show with your vast knowledge of facts?

I don't know all that much. It's "Now I Know" -- "I," not "You" -- because I just recently learned this stuff an am fascinated by what I've discovered. I'm decent at trivia but not Jeopardy! good.

Want an app? I can make you an app.

email me, dan.lewis gmail

A question about the economics of newsletters -

How long did it take before your newsletter broke even?

How long until you think you can support yourself from it?

1) It broke even basically overnight, because the costs are pretty low. My only expenses are my server (to handle traffic spikes) and the Mailchimp fees, which are reasonable.

2) I'd have to change my model dramatically to ever get there. Or find sponsors, which I'm not good at. But if anyone want to sponsor it for a week or a month, shoot me an email and we'll figure it out.

Hi Dan! If you were going to write a Now I Know about yourself, what would the fact be?

I have a voluntary nystagmus, which would be a really interesting thing to show everyone, but I don't know how to let you see through my eyes.

Hi Dan, thanks for the great stories in my inbox every day! I went to the amazon site and it looked like your book is not available in electronic format--are you only publishing a paperback version? If so, why?

The ebook is coming out in October and we are working on getting it available as a pre-order, too. I'll announce it on the newsletter when it's up.

Now I know that /u/unidan and /u/MrDNL are not the same person. I'm both, deeply saddened by the fact that they are not, and thoroughly happy that there is two people with expansive trivial knowledge.

okay

Did you ever think this would become as popular as it did, let alone enough to write a book about it?

Maybe? I hoped so.

When I started off, I created a spreadsheet. My goal was to get to 10,000 subscribers before I had 365 issues written, so I could say "hey, I have 10,000 subscribers and enough content for a Fact a Day calendar, let's make one!" That was motivating but not necessarily an expectation.

I'd still like to do that, too.

What's the extra A for?

"Ask me Almost Anything." That was very common at one time.

Hey Dan, Can you tell me the Number 1 tool (software or hardware) that enhances or promotes efficiency in your work?

Instapaper.

Hi Dan! Love your newsletter -- it and Futility Closet are my favorite morning diversions.

My question: Your Change.org petition to keep Google Reader running earned more than 150,000 signatures, but ultimately failed to sway them. Now that all is said and done, how do you feel about the closure? Have you found a good replacement? And how has its absence affected the way you discover new content for NIK?

Thanks!

Thanks! Futility Closet is awesome and I'd love for him to mention my work -- I'm a fan of his and I like when that happens. Maybe one day.

I've found myself using RSS less and less, which kind of sucks. I have a few readers I've tried and I need to build a new habit, but haven't yet.

Thanks for the interesting facts every day, Dan! I pre-ordered your new book and am excited for my house guests to learn something new while taking a dump.

Thanks! A chicken in every pot, and the Now I Know book next to every potty!

Hey Dan, love reading your stuff.

Which one of your facts took perhaps the most research? Something that was annoyingly difficult to find enough information for?

The one I wrote Thursday -- the Bambeanos one -- was horrible. Couldn't find anything about it. It's as if the Internet didn't exist in 1975 or something.

Love the emails, i registered last time you did an AMA. Just wish i had more time to read them all.. Anywho:

How much time do you spend on one email/fact in a day?

About an hour or two. Sometimes much longer, but that's rare.

Fact: Bears eat beets.

True, but not interesting. Beets eating bears, that's interesting, but not true.

That is why what I do is hard.

What's it like working for Sesame Street? How do you feel about the Kevin Clash (voice of Elmo) issue?

Also, I love love love the Now I Know email newsletter and have saved every single one I have received since signing up. It's one of the highlights of my day to have my coffee and breakfast while learning something new. Thank you.

Yeah, so that's the "Ask me almost anything" part.

But thanks for reading.

What is your favorite cookie?

Monster.

Sesame Street reference! I asked you once why you never mention Sesame Street trivia, and you said you like to keep your day job and Now I Know pretty separated, but why? Legal issues? Personal preference?

Ah, I accidentally missed this one. Personal preference.

How do you feel about all the redditors that take your essays and post them to TIL for some sweet sweet karma?

I LOVE IT!, as explained when you click this link.

No question for you Dan, I just wanted to say thank you for all the fun facts every morning! Congatulations on the book, I can't wait to read it and leave it laying on my coffee table for all to see!

Cheers!

Thanks!

I read your daily email every morning before work, love it man, its a part of my day.

My question: What was your most significant redaction? Over time you've written so many articles, I'd have to imagine there was a major mistake either due to misinformation or miscalculation.

There have been a few but none that really stand out. Last week I wrote "peddle" when I meant "pedal" which changed the meaning of a bunch of things, and that was a pretty big one.

Is this your full-time job? Or do you do other stuff to help make a living?

This is not my full time job.

Hi Dan, my housemate runs a very popular trivia night here in Australia. Have you got a curly question I could throw at him? Or is there a couple of go to questions you would use if you were running a trivia night?

What animal is quoted on the side of a standard Trivial Pursuit box?

When I first started getting your emails, I thought it was like getting a fun Mental Floss article every day. Have you ever done work for them in the past or any work for magazines?

Mental Floss is great and yes, I've worked with them. They've republished some of my article on their website. I've done the same with Smithsonian, GOOD, and a few other places which are going to get upset with me for forgetting.

I have an article in this month's Reader's Digest.

Hey Dan,

Love your work. I think the book release is a great idea. Wish you the best.

Thanks!

Have any of the facts you've researched changed your worldview?

Are you the absolute funnest person at parties?

No, and definitely not. Dear god, you know that random fact guy at parties? He's the worst, and I'm like him on crack.

Could you unsubscribe my girlfriend from your list? It was much better when she didn't know about it and I could pretend to have come up with your awesome facts myself.

No, but I can screw with her copy.

Just kidding.

No.

Why should I care about your book, or that you're using reddit to promote it?

Because I have children and they need toys.

Thank you for your daily emails!! it is awesome to read something interesting everyday at my job. For the sake of the question... What did you have for breakfast???

Cereal. I'm boring today. I was going to make an egg white omelet but the morning got away from me.

Dan! Huge fan. Thanks for everything you do! The personal emails you send every now and again thanking your subscribers are awesome. Thoughts on the SF Giants this year? Also, ever thought of making a trivia game?

Decent team having an off-year. Happens. Impressed that Sabean didn't go full-Amaro and start buying when he shouldn't be.

I'd love to make a trivia game but it'd be easier to license one :-)

Thanks for Wheeler, by the way.

Hi Dan, thanks for doing the AMA, and I always love the cool facts every morning!

How many hours a week do you spend on research, writing, etc? What's the easiest part of the process?

Each issue probably takes an hour, maybe two, all said and done. So let's say five to ten hours? And that doesn't include the dozens of hours I spend thinking about it and talking about it and that kind of stuff.

Yay! I read your email every day while brushing my teeth. It's the perfect two minute-ish read.

Thanks for helping my dental hygiene!

huh, that's the first time anyone's said that!

To help fight chlamydia, Sweden once set up an on-demand condom delivery service and had an awareness day called Chlamydia Monday.

Brings a whole new meaning to having a case of the Mondays.

and 20 pieces of flair

I don't really have a question. I just wanted to say thanks for all of the interesting facts! I love being able to start off the work day with a small vignette about a hotel full of cats, or why paper cuts hurt.

thanks!

Hi Dan! I've been following your newsletter for a couple of years now.. Major fan! I just wanted to ask if this is all you do for work, or is it still a side project of sorts?

Side project. Took the day off from work today to do this, though.

Hi Dan,

I get your emails. They are great, and I would recommend them to everyone who reads this. I learned about you from your last AMA.

I don't really have a question. I guess, how far do you go to factcheck your emails when you have to deliver so much in so little time?

If a major news org says it, I credit and blame them for that job :) I usually will see if others say it too, though.

Hey Dan, great newsletter!

Do your colleagues and family know you do this newsletter? I mean to say, that how often does an acquaintance come up and say "hey, is this you?"

Most all of them know, but rarely has anyone come up to me and asked if I'm the guy who writes the thing. Happened once, kind of.

Just a thank you. I love reading Now I Know and share it with friends. Also, you've always responded to my emails (you're even on my gchat - don't worry, I won't message you).

Eh, you can, but I may ignore you after a while :-)

I dont have a question, just wanted to say that i sub to your daily email on my work account, and enjoy redditing and reading your blurbs to help the day move along. Thank you for what you do!

Sure thing! Thanks for reading!

Who's your baseball team? Wanna bet on a game at /r/CharitableBets? I got $10 says some team (I'm English, I know nothing of the sport) beats your team.

Mets, and no, I don't bet on them because they're meh, and I don't bet against them because I love them.

Dan, I love you. Every morning my alarm goes off, I grab my phone and see what you will fill my mind with today. I then go to work and act like I was reading random things the night before and blow my coworkers mind with the knowledge I learned. Since I dont give you credit. If I end up scoring with my hot coworkers and knock one of them up and they keep the baby, I will name that baby "Dan" no matter what gender because of you, I look smarter than I am.

Please don't name babies after me, just buy her my book for your anniversary or something.

What is a trivia question/answer that you just CANNOT GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD?

Doesn't happen; these aren't songs.

Did you settle on the title of NIK fairly quickly or did it become an involved task? What were some of the other potential names you considered?

I asked one of my brothers for help. He came up with it. His complete list of suggestions:

Daily Brilliance, Daily Light Bulb, Daily Idea, Daily Neuron, New Neuron, Now You Know, Half the Battle, Just Got It, Got It, Ah Ha!, Just Found Out, I Just Found Out, This Just In, Now I Know, Now I Know That...

I ended up using Now I Know (obviously) and "That's Half the Battle!" as the subhead.

Thanks for the great morning E-mails. I don't click on the ads enough, so I bought two books (one for myself and one as a gift).

All the best!

Thanks! I'd rather not have the ads, but ce la vie.

Long time subscriber here, the NIK email and a cup of coffee are my morning routine.

I was a bit surprised when I received a response to my email I sent you, and we've had a bit of back and forth a couple times. It made me feel kinda famous by proxy, even if you haven't featured anything I've suggested.

Regarding the book, is it articles from the archives, entirely new content, or a bit of both?

50/50. Fifty stories from the archives, fifty which are new to the book. Same with the bonus facts, give or take.

And feel free to email whenever!

Hi Dan, thanks for the amazing facts that I read faithfully everyday!

How, and why, did you start this newsletter? Do you have another job?

I've answered most of these elsewhere but here's something just for saying hi:

A peeled orange sinks in water, an unpeeled one floats. And that's really neato.

Great to see on your bio that you list Mets fan before lawyer or trivia buff. Do you think the Mets should have dealt Buck, Byrd, or Parnell at the deadline? If you were the GM, what offseason acquisition would you pursue most vigorously?

I'm OK with the inaction on Byrd and in general -- here's why.

I'd have shopped Parnell (who I really like as a fan) heavily because relief pitchers are flighty and largely fungible. (You should see my OOTP teams.) Buck's not worth much so I didn't expect much there.

I think the Mets need to figure out the right side of the infield. 1B could be Ike, Duda, Flores... gotta pick one. If Flores can play second, where does that put Murphy? And then who is at first? And what about JV1 or EYJr, can either of them slot in at second?

I'd be unsurprised if Murph gets traded for a corner OF, they sign Shin-Soo Choo to play RF, Flores goes to 2B, Lagares sticks in CF, Ike gets non-tendered and Duda goes to first.

Bonus fact: Sandy Alderson and I went to the same barber before I moved.

I have been subscribed since your last AMA and want to say thanks. How often do people email you with suggestions or just to chat?

Chatting is rare, but suggestions come multiple times a day.

Wow, i didn't know about this! Thanks.

BTW how much are those facts reliable?

I cite my sources, don't make stuff up, and haven't gotten anything terribly wrong yet, so I'd say, very.

I LOVE your newsletter! Sometimes I don't get to read them everyday and then have a little binge session to catch up.

What's the weirdest way you've come across material for your articles?

Oh I LOVE this question.

I learned about this one from the side of a truck. Really. Kenneth Cole had this delivery truck parked near my office and it had a paragraph of text on it, so I walked through traffic to read it and it turned out to be pretty interesting.

Looks like your site has gotten the friendly reddit hug of death, is there another way to subscribe to the email?

It's just you, I think, but email me at dan.lewis at gmail and I can add you if you'd like.

Now that you have a book coming out, what do you see as the next step? More books? A syndicated column? An app? Something else entirely?

I have no idea.

Do you have any? I'm open to suggestions!