My favorite musical artists

My favorite musical artists

When someone asks me this, I can always rattle off a few I’ve always loved, but then everything else is this giant soup and I can’t really rank them. So, I like to take a scientific approach.

I looked at songs I’ve liked in Spotify and found the artists with the most likes and this is the list I came up with for my Top 10:

  • VAST
  • Ludovico Einaudi
  • Enya
  • David Byrne
  • Brett Dennen
  • R.E.M.
  • Sia
  • Iron & Wine
  • Beatles
  • Two Lone Swordsmen

It’s interesting how many of these were not really on the tip of my tongue but clearly I like them! I did the exact same exercise in 2013 and here’s what changed.

Changes since 2013

Added Ludovico Einaudi, Brett Dennen, and Sia, three artists completely new to me that I now adore.

Added Enya, who I’ve always liked, but as I listen to more music as background with people around, I’ve shifted towards more mellow music.… READ THE REST

Dialogue in TV shows and movies

Dialogue in TV shows and movies

So, I’ve analyzed a number of TV shows and movies and found 40 common lines of dialogue that I listed below. If we banned all of them, we could spend more time looking at the pretty pictures and listening to the soundtrack.

  1. Thanks.
  2. For what?
  3. I’m sorry.
  4. There’s nothing to be forgiven.
  5. It’s not your fault, stop blaming yourself.
  6. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid.
  7. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to protect you.
  8. I don’t need protecting.
  9. Can I talk to you for a minute?
  10. Last night was a mistake.
  11. I’ll walk you out.
  12. I’m fine. I’m just tired.
  13. I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at myself.
  14. You really didn’t have to do that.
  15. It was my pleasure.
  16. I’m sorry, I gotta take this call.
  17. He is in a better place.
  18. It’s not you, it’s me.
  19. I want to apologize.
  20. There’s really no need to apologize.
… READ THE REST
Exam for contractors

Exam for contractors

I’m working on an exam that contractors can take to become licensed. I’m open to suggestions.

To set this up, let’s say the exam is Monday at noon to 2pm. You fail the exam if:

  • You arrive before Tuesday
  • You call and let those running the exam that you will be late
  • You clean up any mess you may have made
  • You take less than 72 hours to complete the exam
  • You kill only one plant walking from your car to the exam
  • You have a vacuum, broom, or level in your car
  • You discard any of your trash into the correct bin when leaving
  • You write down any important things you are told
Why do stocks go up and down?

Why do stocks go up and down?

I was motivated to major in Economics because I wanted to understand human behavior and how the world works. Especially things that don’t make any sense. It’s hard to find a better example than the stock market. There are hundreds of publications and TV networks and commentators that try to make sense of something that really seems to makes no sense.

But it actually does make sense. It’s just a kind of sense that’s difficult to accept especially if you’ve invested your retirement into the market.

Let’s start with things that are often cited as reasons for stocks going up or down:

  • Company earnings
  • News stories
  • P/E ratio or other numerics
  • New product introduction
  • Layoffs

I could go on. But none of these directly causes a stock to go up or down. It’s easy to prove this by picking a company and looking at historical price moves based on one of the items above.… READ THE REST

The last time I saw Steve Jobs

The last time I saw Steve Jobs

I wrote this little anecdote shortly after Steve Jobs passed away. Despite it happening more than 7 years ago, it still is imprinted on my brain and does a great job of illustrating the person I felt he was.

I was leaving the main building on the Apple campus. Just ahead of me was Steve. This was not an uncommon sight despite being such a large company. He was often seen walking in the halls or in the courtyard in the center of all the buildings. He always seemed to have a spring in his step, like he was walking on his toes. And the glint in his eyes that you’ll see in photos. Sometimes he was seen eating lunch with Jony Ive, one of his closest friends.

On this day, though, the spring in his step was gone. I slowed down a little bit to match his pace. Although I passed by him often, I wanted to see how he was doing at close range.… READ THE REST

New tennis face for 2018

New tennis face for 2018

Not since my 2016 pick of Alexander Zverev (now in the top 10!) have I been this excited by a new player. This year it’s Alex de Minaur. Currently ranked 208 in the world, this is definitely my biggest longshot of a pick ever.

He has a long list of things going for him:

  • He’s got a great attitude. Gets fired up regularly and generally doesn’t have negative outbursts. They always tell you to play one point at a time and Alex does this. Terrible point? Reset, then try again.
  • He’s fast as almost anyone out there
  • He’s patient, which is rare in young players. He waits for the right moment and then strikes.
  • He’s scrappy and steals points that you think you should have one
  • He’s a tremendously good volleyer
  • He hits the ball on the rise and does very well against difficult servers like Raonic

Weaknesses are his second serve and sometimes playing a bit too conservatively.… READ THE REST

Just eat real food

Just eat real food

I still hear most people demonize fat (especially saturated fat), salt, and cholesterol (especially eggs) despite a significant amount of research that says otherwise. Perhaps many decades of having it pounded into everyone will take some undoing.

I thought I’d collect some references to recent research that covers these maligned nutrients. There’s much more out there, but these are the most signicant ones from trusted sources.

Salt

This week a meta-analysis of seven studies involving a total of 6,250 subjects in the American Journal of Hypertension found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death in people with normal or high blood pressure.

It’s Time to End the War on Salt

Fat and Saturated Fat

The second study, published in the European Journal of Nutrition, is a meta-analysis of 16 observational studies. There has been a hypothesis that high-fat dairy foods contribute to obesity and heart disease risk, but the reviewers concluded that the evidence does not support this hypothesis.

… READ THE REST
New tennis face for 2016

New tennis face for 2016

I did this for 2011 but I thought it would be fun to put my pick or picks for the next hot player in writing and see how I do.

I was watching a match on Court 5 at the US Open in 2015, which shares seating with Court 4 so you can watch two matches at once. On Court 4 was an unknown player, Alexander Zverev, playing veteran Philip Kohlshreiber. As time went on, I started watching that match instead. It was 95 degrees, humid, and the match went 5 sets. Zverev succumbed to cramps and lost the match.

But holy shit, one of the most impressive players I’ve seen in years. Tall with an impressive serve, fast, equally good on both forehand and backhand, but not such a great volley. Ranked around 100 in the world at the time. Future Top 10 for sure if not higher.

INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 13: Alexander Zverev of Germany in action in his match against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during day seven of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 13, 2016 in Indian Wells, California.
… READ THE REST