Before the S&P 500 reached its all-time high back in January, I reached a milestone where my investments were technically paying my rent. I didn’t want to make too big a deal of this, as I knew that markets inevitably experience downturns, and it was also true that my rent was abnormally low, so it […]
Author: risky
In Defense of Evolution
One of the most controversial topics in the Christian church is evolution. It’s so controversial, in fact, that it’s even talked about less than abortion, and when it is, just like abortion, it is often spoken of with great hostility. But this has been strange for me, and hard at times, because…I’m an evolutionist. I’m […]
Food Part 1: The Economics of Emergency Food
Many years ago, my dad bought me a box of freeze-dried emergency meals. This box expired in 2019, and while I had planned to get rid of it in 2020, the pandemic convinced me to hold onto it a little longer. But it’s been several years now, and it got me researching emergency food. First […]
The Myth of the Eternal Beater Car
There is a general category of urban legend that features beater cars that simply never die. Many of these urban legends revolve around Hondas and Toyotas from the 1990s, even spawning the great “1999 Toyota Corolla – Fine AF” post on Craigslist. Many people have anecdotes of older cars seeming to last forever, or stories […]
The Importance of Owning Less
My parents moved out of state this past week. I wrote up a rather large rant on the subject, but after taking a few days to clear my thoughts, I decided to rewrite it into something maybe a little more useful. Nobody ever moves and thinks, “Wow, I’m glad I have all this stuff!” And […]
Tomes: Reflections on Knowledge and the Physicality of Books
I’ve found a few new YouTube channels to watch recently, mostly related to religion and mythology, and a few of these channels feature backdrops of shelves filled with books related to the subject matter. It feels slightly pretentious, but seems to be a common design choice. After all, if a channel is trying to be […]
Online Privacy, Computer Security, and the Cost of Going Full Tin-Hat
Aside from my hiking ambitions, another goal for this year has been to develop some critical software and programming skills, many of which involve aspects of computer security. This has led me down a rabbit-hole of YouTube videos about online privacy, and I have some reflections on the things I’ve learned. First of all, it’s […]
The Protestant Stupid Ethic Part 2: The World is Complicated
Years ago I ranted about how the so-called “protestant work ethic” is largely bullshit in this post. But now, I’d like to revisit a few key ideas. First, let me talk about getting hassled in Thamel. It was my last day in Nepal, but most shops in Pokhara had been closed, and now, back in […]
Studying Buddhism as a Christian
I can’t believe it’s July already, and that means it’s been 1.5 months since I returned from Nepal. I’ve had a lot of time to read some of the books I brought back from there as well as new books that I’ve bought since returning. What fascinates me about Buddhism is its rich textual history. […]
Life Lessons from a Failed Museum
I can’t remember the train of thought that led me to this, but just recently I wondered what happened to the Wildlife Experience, a museum that used to be in Parker, Colorado. Despite living not far from there for a time, I never actually went. I knew they had opened the building up for college […]