Author: Daniel Keem
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TOTO vs. Kohler vs. American Standard: the big three of toilet brands compared
TOTO, Kohler, and American Standard dominate the residential toilet market. A direct comparison of flush performance, design, warranty, and price.
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Cheap Products Aren’t Always Disposable
The buy-it-for-life ethos overcorrects against cheap goods. Sometimes inexpensive products outlast expensive ones and the price tag is a poor proxy for durability.
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Tenure is the only thing keeping universities from becoming corporations
Tenure is criticized from every direction, but it remains the structural feature that keeps universities from operating purely as market entities.
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Why I stopped tracking every expense — and my net worth went up
Detailed expense tracking can become a substitute for the structural choices that actually build wealth. Sometimes the spreadsheet is the problem.
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Some products address fear more than risk
Many consumer products promise safety but mostly deliver reassurance. How to tell when you’re paying for genuine risk reduction and when you’re paying for calm.
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Cyber insurance is fueling the ransomware industry
Cyber insurance was supposed to make organizations safer. Instead, it underwrote a ransom payment market that criminal groups now treat as predictable revenue.
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Marriage as a legal institution should be abolished and replaced with civil contracts
Civil marriage bundles dozens of legal effects into one status. Unbundling them into chosen contracts would be fairer, clearer, and more honest.
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Wealth taxes don’t work and the data is clear
Wealth taxes sound elegant but have been repeatedly tried and repeatedly abandoned. The track record across Europe is unflattering and worth taking seriously.
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Why you should question every long-term strategy
Long-term strategies feel responsible, but they often hide assumptions that age badly. Why regular skepticism beats blind commitment to any plan.
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Therapy speak is poisoning real relationships
Therapy vocabulary used outside therapy is reframing ordinary friction as pathology. The result is fewer actual conversations and more weaponized labels.