Max is neutral-good and lives tucked away in the Colorado Rockies - where the sky is big and the stars are bright. Originally from Canton, Ohio, he got his liberal arts degree from Indiana University in 2003. He’s a writer and co-hosts the podcast, Ignorant and Uninformed (which you should totally check out…unless you’re easily offended). Max spent his 20’s bartending, waiting tables, and filling his passport from cover to cover. And, on Wednesday nights, he and his friends save the world with the help of their trusty 20-sided dice. Email: rmsirak [at] gmail.com
by Max Sirak (On the go? Listen instead of read!) We have it all wrong. Confidence isn't what we think it is and it doesn't come from where we think it does. And that's alright. Because with some help from my friends, I'm going to set the record straight. Misconceptions Vince Lombardi, legendary coach of…
by Max Sirak (Free audio version here. Or scroll down.) Most of us, hunters and english teachers especially, know the answer to the question, "What's the most dangerous game?" Maybe you remember reading Richard Connell's short story in middle or high school. Maybe, depending upon your age, you remember hearing Orson Welles portray General Zaroff.…
by Max Sirak (Don't want to read? You don't have to. Listen instead.) Last month I wrote about narrative bias and how it shapes our lives. (You can read it here. Be sure to watch the videos, especially the last one, This Is Water.) As a quick refresher, narrative bias is our tendency to make…
by Max Sirak Would you soar through the skies flying as most our feathered friends do? Would you lord over light, bending beams this way and that, going invisible, and launching lasers? Would you opt for elemental mastery? Controlling fire, air, wind, or water could definitely have its perks. Would you wish to wrangle the…
by Max Sirak Happy Presidents Day, ‘Murica!!! Ah, nothing like a made-up holiday to honor the CEO of our oligarchy. Mmmm…drink it in. It goes down jagged with a bitter and retching aftertaste. Which is good. It means we're of a like mind and among friends. 3QD is a bastion of thought. It's a place…
by Max Sirak There's a reason change is hard. It's biology's fault. Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon write in their book, A General Theory of Love, "Because human beings remember with neurons, we are disposed to see more of what we have already seen, hear anew what we have heard most often, think…
by Max Sirak Money? Power? Sex? Revenge? Or would you be more altruistic? Would you wish for peace? Harmony? Unity? What if you had two wishes? Would you go one and one? Something for you and something for everyone else? The only reason I ask is Steve Martin. He has a list. In fact, he…
by Max Sirak We live in an uncertain world. We hate to admit it, but it's true. So true, in fact, physicist Max Born wrote, as quoted by Leonard Mlodinow, “Chance is a more fundamental conception than causality.” (The Drunkard's Walk) This idea probably sits poorly with most of us, quantum physicists aside, for two…
by Max Sirak Knowing what something is not isn't the same as knowing what it is. Being aware that red is not blue, the sky is not the ground, or that dark is not light helps us in the beginning. It lets us narrow down the field and start to figure out what red, sky,…
by Max Sirak Everything I believe about love I learned from an animated fox when I was seven. Needless to say, it hasn't really gone well for me since. It turns out, Disney movies from the 70s aren't the best teachers. At least, not when we're speaking about the intricacies of love, romance, and human…
by Max Sirak Today, we're going to talk about opposites. We're all smart here, right? I mean, this isn't a site for dumb people. The banner at the top of every 3qd page says: Science, Arts, Literature, Politics, Gossip, and Philosophy. Even a casual scroll down the posts of any given day lets the reader…
by Max Sirak “I freed thousands of slaves; I could have freed more if they knew they were slaves.” (Harriet Tubman.) (Although there's no historical evidence she ever said it. But it's a good line. And she was a bad bitch.) Freedom has been on my mind a lot lately. This makes sense. I'm an…
by Max Sirak I spent my 20s working in bars and bookstores. Really, what this means is – I read a lot and I drank a lot. And, over the course of all this reading and drinking, I even managed to learn a thing or two. So, today we're going to talk about making a…
by Max Sirak It's happened to us all. Maybe it was a meet-and-greet cocktail hour. Perhaps a dinner party at your neighbors. Or, the dreaded first family holiday at your new boyfriend's or girlfriend's place… “Oh, Max…it's so nice to finally meet you. We've heard so much about you. I'm Sara,” your girlfriend's sister says.…
by Max Sirak “Twenty-three hundred years ago Aristotle concluded that, more than anything else, men and women seek happiness. While happiness itself is sought for its own sake, every other goal—health, beauty, money, or power—is valued only because we expect that it will make us happy.” Mihaly Csikszentmilayi wrote that in Flow. Both Csikszentmilayi and…