Before he was the journalist and stats whiz who predicted the election dead-on, he was just Nate Silver, the high school newspaper editor who quoted Shakespeare for his senior yearbook photo.
RedEye responded to an ad placed by a Michigan woman, who had the 1996 East Lansing High School yearbook up for sale for $20. Given his willingness to bet he'd be right about the election, and the flack he received for it, the quote is somewhat prophetic.
"Then the liars and swearers are fools for there are liars and swearers enough to beat the honest men and hang them up." - William Shakespeare
On Thursday, a twitter trend was born as users speculated what the stats whiz and University of Chicago graduate might do when drunk. Here are a few:
- @alan_maguire: Drunk Nate Silver points at the night sky. The star he is pointing at flickers then dies.
- @jfruh: Drunk Nate Silver waits 20 minutes for the G train, nods silently when it arrives, walks out of the station
- @maxread: drunk nate silver sighing loudly while looking over a russian lady's shoulder as she does sudoku on the subway
But the yearbook photo reveals Silver's earlier days, where he wasn't old enough to get hammered and make accurate predictions, at least legally. He was a debate team member all four years of high school, and a member of The Portrait newspaper for three, two as an editor. He also rocks a very modest polo, where it at least appears he forgot to button a button. He's slightly more edgy in the debate team photo where he dons a "Hornets" hoodie with the hood up.
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