/ receipts

The Receipts

Every graphic, clip, and dataset from the show, with the math behind it. Plus the code.

Thomas argues from vibes. Eric argues from models. The rule of the show is that the math has to be on the table: real sources, methodology you can read, queries you can run. This is that table. The episode posts tell each long-form's whole story; the infographics are the individual charts and clips; the datasets are the raw tables, free to download; and the repos are the open-source code the show is built with.

Episodes — the story of each long-form

Episode · EP 2.5 · The Final verdict · 2026-07-21

The model bet against me

The bet was settled before the Final kicked off. Then the machine, freed of its locked bracket, priced the Final 53/47 Spain — against its own crowned champion. Spain won 1-0. The concession is on camera.

Episode · EP 02 · The World Cup Bracket Machine · 2026-07-18

One semifinal decided the whole bet

2,147,483,648 possible brackets, two real entries, and every remaining pick identical except one. The model priced its side of the coin flip at 50.7%. Spain won 2-0.

Episode · EP 01 · Airports · 2026-07-18

It wasn't the weather

Thomas texted "delayed an hour because of weather" from a gate. So we rebuilt that entire day of US air traffic — 21,261 flights — as a simulation. Weather loses, five to one.

The datasets — the raw tables

Dataset · EP 01 · parquet · 1.7 GB · 2026-07-07

Every US flight since 2003

150+ million scheduled US domestic flights, 2003-2025, cleaned and repacked into one parquet file per year. Free to take, queryable in one line of DuckDB.

Dataset · EP 02 · parquet/CSV · CC0 · 2026-07-08

Every international football match since 1872

49,477 full internationals — from Scotland 0-0 England in 1872 to the 2026 group stage — plus the Elo and attack/defense ratings the bracket engine runs on.

The repos — the code behind the show

Repo · Go · created 2026-07-27

traffic-sim

A traffic simulation engine on NATS: real road networks from OpenStreetMap, AI and human drivers on the same roads, and congestion metrics for answering "which upgrade actually fixes this intersection?" Simulation, not vibes.

Repo · Python · created 2026-07-31

traffic-video-analysis

Turns drone footage of a traffic jam into measured stop events: homography stabilization to the road plane, YOLO+ByteTrack tracking, world-frame kinematics. 1,541 tracks, 154 measured stops from 17 seconds of film.

Repo · Python · created 2026-07-19

research-bot

Deep research on cheap tokens: one architect, four orchestrators, 262 worker models doing the reading, and an adversarial verification gate. $7.88 instead of $74.50 at list prices.

Repo · TypeScript · created 2026-07-19

llm-bench-tower-building

An LLM benchmark where the test is a tower: build the tallest one you can under an uncertainty contract — place a block exactly where you want, or push it exactly how you want, never both.

Repo · Python · created 2026-07-20

llm-meter

Measures LLM provider mechanics — time-to-first-token, sustained tokens/sec, cost at list rates — one line of JSONL per probe, a schema any benchmark can consume.

Repo · JavaScript · created 2026-07-14

eric-builds-math-models

Self-contained statistical models and the charts built from them — one folder per project, each runs on its own. Home of the World Cup Poisson model, ratings frozen before the round of 32.

Repo · Python · created 2026-08-05

sci-fi-analysis

A directed graph of science fiction history: 106 works, authors, and editors, 83 documented influence edges — and seven disputed "firsts" kept as claims, not verdicts. D3 visualization plus Manim scenes.

Infographics — EP 02, The World Cup Bracket Machine

h2h-ARG-ESP.png · PNG · 0.5 MB · EP 02 · 2026-07-18

Argentina vs Spain: 14 meetings, one that counted

74 years of head-to-head, dead even at 6-6-2, and thirteen friendlies. Sunday is their first ever final. The model: 53/47 Spain.

semifinal-card-×4.png · PNG · 2 MB · EP 02 · 2026-07-18

The semifinal sheets

Spain, France, Argentina, England: one card each, the model's per-match expectation against what actually happened.

ep02-elo-worldmap.mp4 · MP4 · 13.8 MB · EP 02 · 2026-07-18

The world learning football

Every international match ever played, 1872-2026, as an Elo map replay. All 22 World Cup titles are gold fireworks. 154 years in 29 seconds.

pedigree-funnel.png · PNG · 0.9 MB · EP 02 · 2026-07-18

Been here before

Every 2026 knockout team by how many of the last 10 World Cups it reached each stage. Brazil: 10-for-10 to the round of 16, and out anyway.

goals-dist.png · PNG · 0.4 MB · EP 02 · 2026-07-18

The highest-scoring World Cup since 1970

2.91 goals per game deep into the knockout rounds. Only 1970 and the ancient cups ever scored faster.

Infographics — EP 01, Airports

cheat-sheet.png · PNG · 1.2 MB · EP 01 · 2026-07-17

The best and worst times to fly, from 7,001,619 flights

Every US domestic flight of 2025, boiled down to four booking rules. A 6 a.m. departure is late 10% of the time. By 7 p.m. it is 32%.

ground-stop-loop.mp4 · MP4 · 2.7 MB · EP 01 · 2026-07-17

The morning America stopped flying

January 11, 2023: the first nationwide ground stop since 9/11, replayed from 17,267 flight records. 5 departures in 15 minutes, nationwide, at 8:15 a.m.

Want the raw material? The full datasets behind every episode are free at /data/. Found something that contradicts the show? We want to hear it.