Things I Learned - March 2026

Hello and happy April. Here is March’s edition of Things I Learned.

Things I Learned

1. 69% of all criminal cases in New Haven between 1710 and 1750 were for premarital sex. (source)

2. By total value in circulation, U.S. banknotes are ordered: $100, $1, $20, $5, $50, $10, $2. (source)

3. The average height for men worldwide is 5ft 7.5in. (source)

4. Age discrimination laws only apply to employees/applicants over the age of 40; there are no federal age-related discrimination laws for anyone under 40. (source)

5. The US Border Patrol is majority latino. (source)

6. The Boston Tea Party was a pro-tax revolt; it was in response to the British crown lowering taxes on the East India Company. (source)

7. Buddhism is the only major religion in the world with a falling number of adherents. (source)

8. According to the NHL rulebook (Rule 31.11), if the referees do not show up to a game, the teams mutually agree on players from each side to referee (as has happened multiple times in the 1980s!) (source)

9. At the start of World War II, the US army ranked seventeenth among armies of the world in size. (source)

10. France’s longest land border is with Brazil. (source)

11. 2025 was the lowest homicide rate the US has had in 125 years. (source)

12. Pinball machines were illegal in New York City from 1942 to 1976.¹ (source)

13. The basketball term “alley-oop” — is derived from the French term allez hop!, the cry of a circus acrobate to leap. It only later entered basketball parlance after (i) first becoming popularized as the titular name of a prehistoric cartoon character (ii) then describing a football play involving a leaping grab. (source)

14. Road transport makes up 45 per cent of global oil demand (source)

15. The US is among the least concentrated stock markets in the world; of the 46 largest stock markets in the world, only three stock markets are less concentrated. (source).

16. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are (obviously) heavily anglicized versions of the gospels’ names; the names they would have most likely been called at the time in their mother tongues were Mattith-yahu, Markos (but would have been referred to as Yōhānān) , Loukás, and Yōhānān (but would have been referred to by his patronymic, Tou Zebedaion). (source)

On this Day in Previous Editions

• (March 2025)² The word “daily” in the Lord’s prayer (”give us today our daily bread”) is a guess as to what the Greek word epiousion (ἐπιούσιον) means, since the word appears nowhere else. (source)

• (March 2024) The phrase “mother of all [___]” was coined by Saddam Hussein, to describe the Gulf War. (source)

Charts I Liked

• Over the past 30 years, animated films have gone from 3% of the American film market to ~20%:

• The Decline of the Trophy Wife

  

• Changing Diets

  

Articles I Liked

• Freddie De Boer’s (somewhat sad) article about recent trends in basketball.³

• Jesus Fernandez Villaverde on sequencing risk.⁴

• Not quite an article, but I was amused by this list of Bronx Science Alumni in “Sports”, which gives new meaning to the word “sport.”

Final Words

Sylvia Plath reportedly said “In March I’ll be rested, caught up and human.” I’m not sure I was any of those things this past month. But some highlights of my March included: (i) watching the World Baseball Classic (ii) the Raphael exhibit at the Met⁵ (iii) Project Hail Mary (iv) meeting Garry Kasparov.

A not-so-accurate sketch of me done by one of the “renaissance” artists at the Raphael exhibit. He instructed me not to smile since smiling is (apparently) not a feature of Renaissance portraiture.

Speaking of chess, the main hobby I took up this past month (and the previous one) is chessboxing. It’s more or less exactly what it sounds like — you alternate between chess and boxing. In official matchplay, the winner is the first person to win by checkmate or knockout, but the weekly sessions I do are mostly training. We switch every 5 mins or so for about 90 minutes; alternating between drills, sparring, tactics, blitz play, etc. I guess the point is that chess is harder when you’re out of breath and/or have sustained a headshot? Anyway it’s been quite fun and I hope to keep it up.

Scenes from chessboxing. I’ll let you guess which I’m better at.

Chag Sameach to those celebrating Passover. Until next time!

1. I also learned that the mayor at the time (Fiorello Laguardia) participated with police in destroying pinball machines with sledgehammers before dumping the remnants into the city’s rivers.

2. That edition also featured the surreal (and incredible) article: How Much Would You Need to be Paid to Live on a Deserted Island for 1.5 Years and Do Nothing but Kill Seals?

3. I largely agree with the comment that NFL got “lucky” in that analytics made it more exciting (going for it on 4th down, etc.) compared to NBA. But I want to push back that analytics made MLB less exciting (disclaimer: I used to work in analytics for the Yankees). Three-true outcomes are exciting!

4. Pairs well with Owen Lamont’s piece on serial correlation.

5. The most interesting piece was “The Central Episode of the Bathers in the Battle of Cascina” after Michelangelo’s Cartoon.