![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.conversiondiary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg\" "\\"7_quick_takes_sm\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u2014 1 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ll start these quick takes with two call backs to recent topics. \u00a0Chicago Mag has\u00a0a post-election interview with Nate Silver<\/a>.<\/p>\n Back when you were living in Chicago, one of your first blogs was the Burrito Bracket<\/a>, in which you attempted\u2014via statistics\u2014to find the best burrito in Wicker Park.<\/strong> Meat-to-cheese ratio.<\/strong>
\nYes. I would just go and eat tacos and burritos for lunch a lot and compare those, get the same food item, like a steak burrito, for consecutive days at different locations. And then try to have quasi-scientific criteria for judging those, just thinking about all the different characteristics for a good burrito or taco.<\/p>\n
\nMeat-to-cheese ratio. It\u2019s funny. I think it\u2019s always helpful when you\u2019re trying to evaluate something to have a disciplined set of criteria. For a while, I was trying to rate every restaurant that I went to in New York. I would find that I would rate a place four stars and go back a few months later and have a very different view of it. You realize it\u2019s because the food quality can change, but your mood changes so much, where you\u2019ve had a really stressful day at work, and you\u2019re out with a friend who\u2019s in a bad mood, and the service is slow, and the food kind of tastes worse. Whereas, if you\u2019re in a good mood, and you\u2019ve had a couple cocktails, and you\u2019re not feeling stressed, then everything seems wonderful. That exercise taught me that when we go by our gut or our mood\u2014\u201cOh, our gut will tell us everything we need to know\u201d\u2014believe me, it\u2019s very useful for a lot of things, but it can also fool us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n