Hi! I'm Emma. I'm an ideator, optimizer, and personal growth nerd, with a dash of woo and politics. This is my "kitchen sink" blog, where I share random notes from my life, including the various rabbit holes I go down.

Consumed
January 28, 2023

Jon Stewart interview on the US Classified Documents system

As you can imagine, it’s a mess. Really interesting, though. Data scientists will have to sort it out.

Consumed
December 17, 2022

Real Engineering: Helion (Nuclear Fusion)

A different way to achieve nuclear fusion that avoids some of the pitfalls of Tokamak reactors (fuel cost, byproducts). Looks promising! Fusion is coming along, slowly.

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November 8, 2022

I’m sad that Elon bought Twitter

I am not temperamentally suited to using Twitter myself. But I can see the significance and impact of it, and I'm sad that Elon bought it because I don't think he has any idea what he is doing. 
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October 9, 2022

decluttering as inventory management (like in a game)

Ditching my guilt and mental noise around not being a minimalist by using the frame of inventory in MMORPG games.
Consumed
September 20, 2022

How the Brain Perceives Fear

We’re getting closer to understanding the biology and biochemistry underneath trauma reactions. Here’s another article in a similar vein about the role of neurotensin.

Consumed
August 6, 2022

Verge: Interview with Midjourney founder

I love this: “Right now, people totally misunderstand what AI is. They see it as a tiger. A tiger is dangerous. It might eat me. It’s an adversary. And there’s danger in water, too — you can drown in it — but the danger of a flowing river of water is very different to the danger of a tiger. Water is dangerous, yes, but you can also swim in it, you can make boats, you can dam it and make electricity. Water is dangerous, but it’s also a driver of civilization, and we are better off as humans who know how to live with and work with water. It’s an opportunity. It has no will, it has no spite, and yes, you can drown in it, but that doesn’t mean we should ban water. And when you discover a new source of water, it’s a really good thing…How do we go from people who are scared of drowning to kids in the future who are surfing the wave?”

Consumed
July 19, 2022

Current State of Fusion Tech

Interesting to see the number of privately funded fusion startups in the works.

Consumed
June 18, 2022

ReligionforBreakfast: Why Humans Evolved to Play Music

Apparently, doing things synchronistically to a beat makes you bond with strangers quickly, like singing, drumming, or marching. Music could have evolved earlier than language as a way to promote social cohesion.

Consumed
May 14, 2022

VICE: Invasive Species Are Riding Plastics Across Oceans

The debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan went all around the world, carrying invasive species with it in a “mass rafting event”.

Even without the tsunami, the amount of plastic floating near the top of the ocean makes coastal species able to live in the ocean and cross oceans in ways that were never possible before.

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May 11, 2022

Decluttering Hobby Stuff When Your Excitement Fades

I've always had a lot of potential-hobby clutter. I like to start new things. I get enamored of a new hobby and get so excited acquiring stuff for it and then I may or may not have a sustained interest in that hobby. But I might want to pick it back up again someday, so how do I justify getting rid of things?
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