Category: Culture

I’m being a little cheeky with this one, but I wanted to make the point that health advice and “studying” nutrition can actually make you worse off in the end. When I was making major dietary changes in my life 3 or so years ago, I read a lot about the positive benefits of fiber. […]

Before I dive into this post, I want to assure you that this is not a summary of existing opinions, nor a prediction of what life will be like in 100 years, nor (necessarily) a screed about how things ought to be. It is more an observation, paired with experience, and some things that mean […]

Generally, the word “orthorexia” refers to a condition in which people become so obsessed with improving their health that their health actually suffers. I see this as a form of perfectionism that has leached into other areas of life, and I think we are absolutely surrounded by it. If I’m not mistaken, the late 1800s […]

From a purely financial perspective, these years I’ve taken off work probably look like one of the stupidest decisions a person could make: take a sizeable nest egg in the low hundred thousands and quit your job for almost 4+ years, foregoing an almost six figure income the whole time, while studying for an industry […]

I don’t go to Microcenter very often, but when I do, I dread the checkout process. I went a few days ago and had forgotten about this, though. Before I talk about that, though, I’ll first mention that it’s a very fun store to visit and their general return policy is great. I built a […]

I’ve recently been rereading “The Trail of Gold and Silver: Mining in Colorado, 1859-2009”. I feel like I should remember this, but I’m struck by how much fraud went into the early Colorado Gold Rush. We talk a lot about fake news and propaganda in the media today, but this has existed for a long […]

Not too long ago, my pastor said something to the effect of “You should really support Israel”. This is my own paraphrase, and it doesn’t do justice to his more gentle demeanor, but it still caught me off guard, as I immediately found myself wondering, “What does that even mean?” Do I support the decisions […]

We all have limited time on this Earth, and consequently, we all have limits to the skills we can develop. This is not to discourage us from learning in general, or to suggest that we can never be competent at or knowledgeable of a number of things, but it is to acknowledge that life requires […]

I’m going to make up a series of fictional health claims which I will put in quotes below to begin a discussion on pseudoscience. “Smoking is actually good for you. Doctors used to recommend it, until the government realized that demonizing tobacco would allow them to charge exorbitant taxes on cigarettes. It is a well-known […]

Several weeks ago, the book “Cobalt Red” came to my attention. It apparently details the slave-labor conditions that once again exist in the Congo, a chain reaction to the global surge in demand for lithium batteries, which employ components of cobalt. My gut reaction was to go out and buy it, but as I’ve mentioned […]