Not exactly my cup of tea, either, but there's an argument to be made that these things do help make the subject more accessible, which is probably a good thing.

I did legitimately cringe at the Bieber joke. The O'Brien one didn't make enough sense to bother me. The author may want to steer clear next time.

Analogy, metaphor or just simple evocative imagery are good tools for making subject matter stick, though: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn/lecture...

I don't want to be rude, but I would like to point out that if you don't like the references, you are always welcome to invest your own time and write your own article.