I created the blog You Are Not So Smart. I did a lot of other things before that. I even owned two pet stores for a few years. Yes, pet stores. Don't do that, by the way.

My blog became an internationally bestselling book now available in 14 languages. It also became a podcast hosted at Boing Boing where I'm currently writing about psychology. My second book, You Are Now Less Dumb, was released in 2013. I'm working on a third book right now, probably while you are reading this. 

I cut my teeth as a newspaper reporter covering Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast and in the Pine Belt region of the Deep South. Later, I covered things like who tests rockets for NASA, what it is like to run a halfway home for HIV-positive homeless men, and how a family sent their kids to college by making and selling knives.

Since then, I have been an editor, photographer, voiceover artist, television host, public speaker, and tornado survivor. I worked for several years as the head of digital media for WDAM-TV where I also produced The Green Couch Sessions, a TV show about the music of the Deep South. I've done some commercial work too. I've written for Heineken, Duck Tape, and a few others. I recently appeared in a Reebok ad that I also helped write. 

I am married to Amanda McRaney, who is my favorite person, and I live in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

My cat's name is Simon. This is a picture of him wearing a tie: