What Are the Best Sports to Watch Live?
A personal look into several popular American sports and how they rank against one another in terms of how enjoyable they are to watch live versus on TV.
The Origins of "Champagne Socialism"
A look at the many origins of champagne socialism, a phenomenon of wealthy people who are fans of left-leaning politics.
Engineered: Would Your Golf Game Improve if You Ditched the Driver?
Welcome to Engineered, where I take an inconsequential problem and do my very best to overthink the hell out of it using some combination of math, Excel, and coding. Today's topic: golf, or more specifically, is your favorite club (the driver) hurting you more than helping you? I don't play a lot of golf these…
Is the Cast Iron Renaissance Due to...Smartphones?
Cast Iron cookware fell out of favor more than 50 years ago, but is starting to become popular again. Why might this be? Does it have to do with its uses in cooking, or is it deeper than that?
A Selection of Neil Peart's Best Lyrics
On January 7, 2020, Neil Peart passed on, and music lost probably its greatest drummer. I'm not a drummer, so I can't really comment on what I think were his best riffs, but I've always thought that his lyrical prowess is what elevated Rush to the legendary status that they achieved. So in honor of…
Should You Pay Off A Mortgage Early? Part II: Charts and Graphs
In Part I of this two-part series I discussed the pros and cons of 15 and 30 year mortgage terms, which are the two most common types. The main benefit of shorter loan terms in general is less money paid in interest over the course of the loan. The main benefit of longer loan terms…
Should You Pay Off A Mortgage Early? Part I: Good Debt/Bad Debt
I've recently been trying to be a responsible adult and be more cognizant of my finances, which means that I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos on the subject. Back in high school, when I was more optimistic than I am now, I told myself that I would never get into debt. I figured I…
A (Slightly) More Fair Way To Do College Football Playoffs
In 2014 the NCAA finally caved to pressures that the championship system for the FBS (formerly known as Division I-A) was inherently unfair. Instead of using a computer algorithm to pick two teams out of over 120 to play in a championship, they decided to choose four teams by committee to compete in a 2-round…
Football Rules I'd Like to See Changed
Football (the American version, mind you) is one of my favorite sports to watch. It beautifully combines athleticism, violence, and strategy into a very entertaining (albeit long) game to watch. Among its features are a myriad of rules that require countless years of watching the game to become familiar with (or perhaps just an afternoon…
The 7 Best Meals to Learn to Cook Yourself
Cooking is hard for some people. I don't really understand why, as there are a lot of really easy recipes out there and following a recipe is in itself very easy (even easier if there is a video to go along with it), but nonetheless many people still struggle with cooking. And there are others…