Typology of Horror
I was recently trying to explain to someone why I feel the horror novel House of Leaves is particularly unique. It’s not just because of its metafictional...
Stop Eating Breakfast
Stop eating breakfast! I hold to few folk mental models, but this is a hill I will, if not die on, then at least be mildly wounded on. A couple years ago, I...
Canine Cognition of Conveyances
Do dogs understand elevators? I wonder this every time the elevator doors close on Rooibos and I, trapping us in a metal box that will hopefully deposit us...
Perplexed with Perplexity
Hello frens, I no longer feel comfortable using Perplexity. You may remember I was trialing it a few months ago. In many ways, it’s an impressive product,...
The Sixth Five-Year Plan
Hello frens, I recently put in my two weeks’ notice. When I joined Asana in the summer of 2019 as a fresh-faced new grad, my plan was to stay for four or...
Not Literally Truckloads, But You Know What I Mean (rwblog S6E24)
"The Harvesters", Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565 I’m training for the San Francisco Marathon (my first marathon; come join!) and I decided it was about time...
Perhaps The LLM Juice Isn’t Worth The Electrical Squeeze (rwblog S6E23)
This will be an unusually content-lite post. I’m moving, among other things, so it’s been a long week. LLM LLM LLM So this week noted cryptic skeptic Molly...
Wait! This Sounds Familiar (rwblog S6E22)
Balatro and Deliberate Practice So lately I, like everybody else, have been playing Balatro. (You may remember that I recommended it a month ago). Balatro is...
Meeting A Stranger In New York Without Communicating (rwblog S6E21)
Here’s a Spy x Family themed KFC in Suzhou. The interior was entirely Spy x Family themed, too. Schelling Points as Human Capital Recently I revisited one of...
Accessible, Understandable Answers in a Broad Domain of Interest (rwblog S6E20)
Hello frens! I hope you are doing well during these rainy San Francisco days, or whatever the weather is like where you are. The Magician from the Rider-...
The Old Cyberpunk Vision of a World of Neoliberal Corporations Run Amok (rwblog S6E19)
Today I am going to ramble about a topic near-and-dear to my heart: we live in a state-based society! This is occasioned by reading Rebecca Solnit’s1 “In the...
28 Pieces of Advice for 28 (rwblog S6E18)
I recently turned 28. I started a silly tradition of forcing my friends to give n pieces of advice for their nth birthday, so, in that spirit, here’s 28...
My Year of Rest and Relaxation (rwblog S6E17)
I did too much last year and I got bit! So this year I am going to learn to appreciate being alone again. Coming out of the pandemic, I was suddenly an...
Yes Yes I Know It’s Passé (rwblog S6E16)
Hello, it is time for my yearly top 5 lists. I have noticed a lot of other people do these sorts of year-in-review articles recently, so hopefully you are...
When I Hit Cmd-Z One Too Many Times (rwblog S6E15)
Miyazaki and Allowing Artists To Make Bad Art Earlier this year, Austin Kleon linked to an old BBC interview where an art critic argued that “artists must be...
Good Enough To Call It A Zine, Right? (rwblog S6E14)
Hello! I’ve been pretty busy since the last issue, so this is going to be more of a life update newsletter. If that’s boring come back in two weeks please 🙂...
React and Try Something Different (rwblog S6E13)
A REPL for Writing A possibly-productive metaphor between software engineering and writing: is there a benefit to a faster “REPL loop” in fiction writing? To...
A Giant Continuous Blob of Semantic Functions (rwblog S6E12)
I have had a bad few weeks, I will not pretend otherwise. In lieu of original thoughts, here are some interesting links I’ve found lately. Robin Sloan...
Unsusceptibility to the Illusion is Inherent (rwblog S6E11)
Hello friends. It has been a rough couple weeks for me personally, not to mention, well, the world as a whole. Hopefully you are all staying safe, sane, and...
If You Show Still Frames In Sequence Fast Enough (rwblog S6E10)
Last month I introduced a 500-word cap. I’ll keep the cap and try to make this newsletter biweekly. Let’s go! Communities of Practice Recently I’ve been...
