The scientist behind the verdicts

About Rex

  • My work: Head of R&D, Clean Report
  • Where I went to school: University of Colorado Boulder, Ph.D.
  • Lives in: Chicago, IL
  • I'm obsessed with: pH strips and specific gravity
  • Fun fact: Pitches any pickle jar that misses its numbers
  • Most useless skill: Refereeing board games from the rulebook

Rex runs R&D at Clean Report. He tests what owners and cleaners need next, cheaply enough that a wrong answer is still useful, and he'd rather retire a clever idea on a small test than defend it in a meeting.

Before he believes a hack, he asks

  1. 01

    How sure am I?

    Every claim gets a confidence label. Guesses are marked as guesses.

  2. 02

    What would change my mind?

    If no result could prove it wrong, it is not a test.

  3. 03

    What is the smallest test?

    Small experiments beat big bets. Run the cheap one first.

7 pursuits · all of them measured

Off the clock

Same habits, different bench.

Kitchen cabbage + NaCl + time → 2.5% salt, by total mass

Controlled fermentation

Sauerkraut, kimchi and pickles in glass crocks, logged for temperature, specific gravity and pH. A jar that misses gets pitched.

Morning H₂O + MgSO₄ + CaCl₂ → V60 water rebuilt from distilled

Coffee water

Pour-over on water he mixes himself. Blind cupping decides whether a flavor note is real.

Garage NaOH bath → bare iron → FILM seasoning is a polymer

Cast iron and carbon steel

Strips pans to bare iron, then builds thin coats of drying oil. Tracks smoke points like other people track sports.

Workbench gear train + pivot oil → TICK checked against reference weights

Instruments he can open

Surplus balance scales, mechanical timers and refractometers. Cleaned, oiled, and calibrated.

Outdoors 3 keys + spore print + KOH → ID'D or it stays in the leaf litter

Foraging, with a key

Three identification keys, a spore print and a reagent test, or the mushroom stays where it is.

Game night Pandemic + Forbidden Island → WE WIN rulebook open, blame shared

Cooperative games

He referees from the rulebook. The win is shared, and so is a miscalculated turn.

Workshop hardwood + sandpaper + beeswax → 0 SNAGS food-safe finish only

Wooden toys and puzzles

Blocks and push-toys for younger family, sanded until nothing catches.

Rex's verdicts

See all 55 hacks
Danger NaOCl + NH₃ → NH₂Cl chloramine gas

Bleach + ammonia "power mix"

★ 0.0

Bathroom · Toilets, mop buckets

Rex: Never. Not even a little.
Danger spray + bag + spinning motor → 0 CFM no airflow, all heat

Bag over a running fan

★ 0.2

Bedroom · Box & pedestal fans

Rex: Unplug it. Then clean it.
Danger Na₂CO₃·1.5H₂O₂ + 100°C → FOAM caustic boil-over

Dishwasher tablet in the kettle

★ 0.4

Kitchen · Electric kettles

Rex: Your next guest drinks from that.
Danger Bleach + white vinegar, mixed in one bottle Chlorine gas Acid + hypochlorite releases Cl2 gas and wastes the bleach's killing power

Bleach + Vinegar "Super Mold Killer" Spray

★ 0.5

Bathroom · Silicone caulk, cement grout, vinyl

Rex: Releases chlorine gas and kills the bleach's own power.