Things I Learned - January 2024

1. The number of post offices in the US peaked in 1901. (cite)

2. Burpees, the exercise in which you alternate between a squat, a pushup position, and a jump, are named after physiologist Royal Huddleston Burpee Sr. (cite)

3. The average lifespan of domesticated pet cats has doubled since 1980 (cite).

4. The global bond market (105T) is larger than the global equity market (95T) (cite).

5. 25% of American men are taller than 6’ 0”, but just 0.383% are taller than 6’ 6”.

6. The Fibonacci sequence (3,5,8,13,21,34,55…) very closely approximates the conversion from miles to kilometers: 3 miles is approximately 5 km; 5 mi is approximately 8km; 8mi is approximately 13km, etc. (cite)

7. None of the phrases in the original Wikipedia article for the “Ship of Theseus” remain (cite)

8. Yo-yos are older than christianity (cite)

9. About one in five US families has a net worth greater than one million (cite).

10. The writer of the popular Christmas song “Winter Wonderland” was Jewish (cite).

11. No one’s name was changed at Ellis Island (cite, h/t cite)

12. “Male” and “Female” are etymologically unrelated, descending from “mas” and “femina”, respectively (cite),

13. American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker. (cite)

14. Trademarking a color has been legal in the US since 1985. Well known trademarked colors include T-Mobile’s magenta, Reeses’ orange, UPS’s brown, and Tiffany’s blue. (cite)

15. The last player to play a full MLB season of complete games (162) was in 2004 (cite)

16. The worst 30 year stock market return over the past 100 years was 8% annual (cite)

17. Ireland is the only country in the world with fewer people now than 180 years ago (cite)

18. In 1859, New York City funded 63.5% of the entire federal government's revenue (cite).

19. Lebron James has played against more than 1/3 of all players in NBA history (cite)

Some of my “2023 - wrapped”

Starting with Spotify, many apps now offer a year-end summary of how you interacted with that app. In that vein, I thought it would be interesting to see how much I could figure out what I did at 2023 year end using (somewhat) readily available info. Many things are automatically tracked via apps (e.g., rideshares, workouts, etc); other things I have to track anyway (i.e. I know what papers I’ve read based on my notes); and others are easy to recall (e.g., which events I went to). There are a bunch of things that I wish could be tracked, but sadly, aren’t easy to do: how much sleep I got, how much time I spent watching television, how often I cooked dinner, etc. Anyway:

• Travel: I got out less in 2023. Excluding transit, I visited 6 states and 3 countries. I took 33 flights, visited 8 airports, and spent 16 nights in hotels/airbnbs. I paid for 39 Ubers and 37 Lyfts.

• Entertainment: I wrote 11 blog posts, watched 4 films at the movie theater, and went to 2 live performances. I went to 4 major sporting events across 3 major sports leagues (NBA, MLB, and Super Rugby). I played [redacted] number of games of online chess.

• Exercise: I did 21 swimming workouts, 44 runs, and 3 spin rides.

• School: I read 77 journal articles and 5 books. I sent 562 emails. I presented my research at 4 workshops, 2 conferences, and 1 dissertation proposal. I TAed 2 courses and took 1.

• Other: I attended two weddings, a bat mitzvah, a memorial service.

I expect next year will be roughly similar, but I hope to get out, exercise, and read a little more!