@reeshuffled on Github

Articles & Essays

I don't have a hard and fast distinction for articles vs essays that I publish, but for me I think of essays to be much more heavily edited and focused than an article.

See a list of my favorite articles that I've written here.

Posts By Date Published

2024-12-11

(Article)

Romance Is Personally Constructed

A philosophical account of romance as personally defined niche of actions.

Tagged: Philosophy, Love/Romance

2024-12-11

(Article)

A Year of Home Updates - 2024

A list and description of all the home updates that I did during 2024.

Tagged: Interior Design

2024-12-09

(Article)

2024: Stumbling Into A Groove

A reflection on my 2024 Word of the Year: Groove.

Tagged: Living Better

2024-12-01

(Article)

Gifts I Gave This Year (2024)

A list of all the cool things that I found to give to my amazing and wonderful friends and family.

Tagged: Gifts

2024-11-28

(Article)

Difficulties in Non-Traditional Dating

A look into dating beyond typical romantic relationships and how it complicates the search process.

Tagged: Dating, Non-monogamy

2024-11-27

(Article)

Ways of Being A-Spec

Targeted desire and how both components can determine your A-Spec identity.

Tagged: Sexuality

2024-11-26

(Article)

Getting People to Eat Less Meat

How can we get people to eat less meat?

Tagged: Veganism

2024-11-06

(Article)

Online Dating From An Abundance Mindset

My case for how a change in your perspective toward online dating will make it a better overall experience.

Tagged: Loving Better, Dating

2024-11-06

(Article)

"Game" Day Gathering

A Sunday gathering centered around football and board games with fun for everyone.

Tagged: Hosting

2024-11-04

(Article)

Building A Loft Bed (And The Importance of Community)

A retrospective on building a loft bed and how difficult it would have been to do alone.

Tagged: Interior Design, Community

2024-08-30

(Article)

IndieWeb Carnival: Rituals

My submission to August 2024's IndieWeb Carnival topic: Rituals.

Tagged: IndieWeb/Meta-blogging, Living Better

2024-08-22

(Article)

Jekyll Page Backlinks Without Plugins

Adding backlinks to pages in Jekyll in Pure Liquid.

Tagged: Jekyll

2024-08-19

(Article)

I Surveyed My Friends' Event Preferences - Part 2

Analysis of event preference survey results in regards to event type.

Tagged: Hosting

2024-08-16

(Essay)

The Joy of Creating Software For Others

An essay about the joy of creating software for others and the love that it takes to make great software.

Tagged: Software Engineering, Loving Better

2024-08-15

(Article)

I Surveyed My Friends' Event Preferences - Part 1

Analysis of event preference survey results in regards to event pricing, size, and timing.

Tagged: Hosting

2024-08-01

(Article)

Vegan At Home

My system for eating vegan at home, but non-vegan outside of the house.

Tagged: Veganism

2024-07-21

(Article)

Owning My Data

An exploration of the relative implementation complexity of collecting and visualizing my own data.

Tagged: IndieWeb/Meta-blogging

2024-07-05

(Article)

Non-Romantic Partnerships

A look into what RA as CNM might look like implemented, especially as an aromantic person.

Tagged: Non-monogamy

2024-06-28

(Article)

How to Answer Hinge Prompts (Effectively)

Answering Hinge prompts effectively can increase both the quality and quantity of your matches. In this article, I discuss various techniques on how to better answer prompts and boost the strength of your profile.

Tagged: Dating

2024-06-23

(Article)

Asexuality, Attraction, and Desire

A philosophical account of asexuality, sexual attraction, and sexual desire.

Tagged: Philosophy, Sexuality

2024-06-22

(Article)

How to Dress Yourself

An exploration of what personal style is and how to find it.

Tagged: Personal Style

2024-06-09

(Article)

Adopting Relationship Anarchy as CNM

A personal exploration into Relationship Anarchy as a practice of Consensual Non-Monogamy.

Tagged: Non-monogamy

2024-06-05

(Article)

Funk or Groove?

A reflection on my yearly word now that we are halfway through 2024.

Tagged: Living Better

2024-05-21

(Article)

How to Live Alone

Living alone, especially for the first time, can be daunting, but there are some things that you can do to make it far more enjoyable.

Tagged: Living Better

2024-05-20

(Article)

How to bulk edit Jekyll frontmatter with Python

A guide on how to bulk edit Jekyll post frontmatter with python-frontmatter and oyaml.

Tagged: Jekyll

2024-05-16

(Essay)

We Need More IRL Friends to Lovers

People love to read the friends to lovers trope, but why not bring it into their own lives?

Tagged: Love/Romance

2024-04-12

(Article)

Search with SimpleJekyllSearch

My modifications to Jake Lee's configuration of SimpleJekyllSearch to fit my Digital Garden.

Tagged: Jekyll

2024-04-01

(Article)

Listening At A Distance March 2024 Edition

The March 2024 edition of Listening at a Distance: A Monthly Co-Created Music Newsletter.

Tagged: Music/Vinyl, Listening at a Distance

2024-03-01

(Article)

Listening At A Distance February 2024 Edition

The February 2024 edition of Listening at a Distance: A Monthly Co-Created Music Newsletter.

Tagged: Music/Vinyl, Listening at a Distance

2024-02-28

(Article)

Push vs Pull Social Media Usage

Applying polling vs event driven systems architecture concepts to social media usage.

Tagged: Social Media

2024-02-22

(Article)

Romantic abolitionism

Should we abolish the concept of romantic love?

Tagged: Love/Romance

2024-01-26

(Article)

Building Yourself In Public

Outlining a model of social media usage that maximizes social interaction and engagement from close friends.

Tagged: Social Media

2024-01-12

(Article)

What Do I Do As A Data Engineer?

An examination of what a Data Engineer is and the kind the projects I work on as one.

Tagged: Software Engineering, Career

2024-01-06

(Article)

Creating a Flexible Permalinking System in Jekyll

How to create and maintain a flexible permalinking system in Jekyll for your posts.

Tagged: Jekyll

2024-01-05

(Article)

Finding My Groove in 2024

Setting my new word of year for 2024: Groove.

Tagged: Living Better

2024-01-04

(Article)

How do I decide my favorite breweries?

An exploration of what it means to have a favorite brewery in the face of imperfection and changing tastes.

Tagged: Beer

2024-01-02

(Article)

My 2023 Wrapped

My second ever year wrapped where I analyze my data in a Spotify Wrapped-esque manner.

Tagged: Living Better

2023-12-29

(Article)

Using jekyll-feed + XSLT with GitHub Pages

A guide on how to set up and use the jekyll-feed plugin on GitHub Pages to create a stylized feed.xml for RSS feeds.

Tagged: Jekyll

2023-12-19

(Article)

Listening to a New Album a Day

I tried listening to at least a new album a day for two weeks in order to find new music.

Tagged: Music/Vinyl

2023-12-18

(Article)

2023: My Year of Intention

A reflection of my 2023 Word of the Year: Intention.

Tagged: Living Better

2023-12-17

(Article)

I Drank 1,000 Beers!

Analyzing my Untappd data after trying 1,000 unique beers.

Tagged: Beer

2023-11-28

(Article)

What Makes A Great Brewery Experience?

There are a lot of good breweries, but what makes one great?

Tagged: Beer

2023-11-28

(Article)

Reflecting on 50 Posts

A look at how my blog and I have changed over 50 posts to my blog.

Tagged: IndieWeb/Meta-blogging

2023-11-27

(Article)

Developing A Non-Hierarchical View of Friendships

Friendships are one of the most important things in our life, and I think that we could all benefit from re-evaluating how we think about them.

Tagged: Loving Better

2023-11-13

(Article)

Post and Author Age Without Plugins

How to display post and author age in Jekyll via JavaScript.

Tagged: Jekyll

2023-11-10

(Article)

What Are Hobbies and Interests?

An examination of the essences of hobbies and interests and why that's helpful to you/how to put it into practice.

Tagged: Living Better

2023-11-05

(Article)

How to Try More Beer

Various ways to try more craft beer and fill out that Untappd profile.

Tagged: Beer

2023-11-01

(Article)

How I Shop For Vinyl

My methodology for keeping track, purchasing, and minimizing cost of record shopping.

Tagged: Music/Vinyl

2023-10-30

(Article)

BYO Vinyl Night/Potluck

An event to listen to music & eat food in good company.

Tagged: Hosting

2023-10-30

(Article)

Stock the Bar Party

Bring a bottle to enjoy together with friends.

Tagged: Hosting

2023-10-24

(Article)

Why Get Into Beer?

Reasons why you should give beer a chance.

Tagged: Beer

2023-10-24

(Article)

Should You Buy Vinyl?

Reflections on whether playing music via vinyl and buying/collecting vinyl is a worthwhile endeavor.

Tagged: Music/Vinyl

2023-10-18

(Article)

The Walkability of Arlington, VA

My personal experience and opinions on Arlington, VA and its urban planning.

Tagged: Urban Planning/Public Transportation

2023-10-18

(Article)

Human Consciousness is not Uniform

A reflection about how and why human consciousness is not uniform.

Tagged: Cognitive Science

2023-10-16

(Article)

Do I Use My Degrees?

A reflection on whether or not my fields of study were "useful" and if I regret them.

Tagged: College

2023-10-11

(Article)

On Regifting

An examination of the reasons for moral unease around regifting and how to do properly in order to be more sustainable and anti-consumerist.

Tagged: Gifts, Loving Better

2023-10-06

(Article)

How To Buy Beer Like A Nerd

My methodology of buying craft beer in a way that diversifies risk and maximizes enjoyment.

Tagged: Beer

2023-09-22

(Article)

Living Seasonally

A guide of how to live in tune with the seasons.

Tagged: Living Better

2023-09-18

(Article)

An Ode to Short Sleeve Button Down Shirts

I am the number one short sleeve button down shirt apologist.

Tagged: Personal Style

2023-09-13

(Article)

Room Lighting Design

How to light your rooms to make them feel warm.

Tagged: Interior Design

2023-08-30

(Article)

Choosing Seating For My One Bedroom Apartment

My thought process and solutions found for seating in my one-bedroom apartment.

Tagged: Interior Design

2023-08-28

(Article)

Word Count Statistics Without Plugins

Word Count Statistics Without Plugins

Tagged: Jekyll

2023-08-28

(Article)

Numeric Value Humanization Without Plugins

Numeric Value Humanization Without Plugins

Tagged: Jekyll

2023-08-28

(Article)

Getting Posts by Tag

How I improved my Liquid code in Jekyll to display posts by tag.

Tagged: Jekyll

2023-08-26

(Article)

How to Augment Your Memory With A Calendar

A way to use your calendar to store temporal information for easy lookup and analysis later.

Tagged: Maintaining a Second Brain, Calendars

2023-08-25

(Article)

Own Your Tools

You should own your tools, and why I don't (yet).

Tagged: Maintaining a Second Brain

2023-08-24

(Article)

Programming "Patterns"

A practical model for algorithmic decomposition.

Tagged: Computer Science Education

2023-08-24

(Article)

A Mental Model of Programming as Data Manipulation

A model for understanding computation that is good for beginners or people who are looking to learn program without too much Computer Science theory.

Tagged: Computer Science Education

2023-08-23

(Article)

How to Get Into Beer

A guide on how to get into craft beer.

Tagged: Beer

2023-08-22

(Article)

Using a Cork Board as an Art Display

Tips about how to use and style a cork board as a way to display art instead of a gallery wall.

Tagged: Interior Design

2023-08-19

(Article)

Finding a Good Budget-Friendly Media Display Shelf

My quest to find a cheap, aesthetic record and magazine display shelf.

Tagged: Interior Design

2023-08-18

(Article)

Using a Baker's Rack as a Beverage Bar

Using a Baker's Rack, create the beverage bar of your dreams: serve up coffee or cocktails from a stylish work surface/storage solution.

Tagged: Interior Design

2023-08-14

(Article)

Pick Two and A Side

A framework for planning extracurricular involvement in order to achieve balance in your college life.

Tagged: College

2023-08-14

(Article)

College Goal Setting

A holistic framework for setting goals for the various aspects of your life during college.

Tagged: College

2023-07-21

(Article)

Love Languages Are Fake. So What?

Love Languages were created by a somewhat problematic marriage counselor and are not evidence-based/supported by science. Does this mean that Love Languages should be scrapped entirely? I think that with some rehabilitation, the concept of Love Languages can still provide a lot of utility to people.

Tagged: Loving Better, Love/Romance

2023-07-20

(Article)

Things I Do (Almost) Everyday

The results from reflecting about the things that I do (almost) everyday.

Tagged: Living Better

2023-07-13

(Article)

Choosing a Delivery Mechanism for New Blog Posts

How can you distribute post notifications for a static site with no server-side code?

Tagged: IndieWeb/Meta-blogging

2023-06-27

(Article)

5 Lessons I Learned About Living Alone

In summer of 2023, I moved into an apartment by myself and started living alone for the first time in my life. These are my reflections and lessons learned from the first month of living alone about the pros and cons of living alone.

Tagged: Living Better

2023-05-22

(Article)

You Won't Get Left Behind

On AI hype and why you can just watch it ride out for now.

Tagged: Artificial Intelligence

2023-05-22

(Article)

Could a Machine Like a Burrito?

On the separation of consciousness and human-like qualities.

Tagged: Artificial Intelligence

2023-05-10

(Article)

Why I Log Every Beer That I Drink

How and why I rate all the beers that I drink.

Tagged: Beer

2023-05-09

(Article)

Libraries and Starting My Own?

A look at how libraries and librarians have shaped my life, and how I want to stay connected with them.

Tagged: Reading

2023-03-06

(Article)

My Reading Journey

An exploration of how my attitudes and habits toward reading have changed over time.

Tagged: Reading

2023-02-26

(Article)

Living Slower and More Intentionally

A reflection on how in 2023, I want to live more intentionally.

Tagged: Living Better

2022-12-25

(Article)

My 2022 Wrapped

A Spotify Wrapped-esque analysis of my Google Calendar data.

Tagged: Living Better

2022-05-06

(Article)

My Philosophy Degree in a Nutshell

A retrospective at all the courses I took at UMBC for my Philosophy B.A.

Tagged: College

2022-05-05

(Article)

My CS Degree in a Nutshell

A retrospective at all the courses I took at UMBC for my Computer Science B.S.

Tagged: College

2022-05-04

(Article)

My Advice for Incoming College Students

A collection of my advice for incoming college students that I wrote and compiled right before I graduated.

Tagged: College

2021-12-15

(Essay)

Theoretical Virtues of Major Theories of Time

In this paper, I have two main goals. The first of which is to develop an account of why people believe or choose to believe certain scientific and/or metaphysical theories, with an focus on theories of time. In particular, I will argue that people choose to believe intuition-preserving theories of time (intuition-preservation as a theoretical virtue). Additionally, I consider if this is a good thing or not, and whether people should evaluate theories on the basis of intuition-preservation. The second goal is to use the developed account to examine the theoretical virtues of some of the most popular competing metaphysical theories of time, namely: Presentism, Growing Block Theory, and Eternalism.

Tagged: Philosophy

2021-05-07

(Essay)

Uprooting the Flame

In this paper, I will argue that, following the advice of the Buddhists and Stoics, we should extirpate anger from ourselves for the betterment of ourselves, and to a greater extent, our society. First, I will describe the Aristeolian “containment” view of anger. Then I will present an argument that anger is a categorically negative emotion. Next, I will consider a common objection, of which I think is the strongest pro-anger argument, that anger is actually good because it is a necessary moral emotion, especially in responding to instances of injustice. Finally, I will show why this is not a satisfactory explanation by arguing for grief, rather than anger, as a way to motivate against injustice.

Tagged: Philosophy

2021-03-20

(Article)

Why I Think IAP Spoofing is Stealing

A philosophical argument as to why I think in-app purchase spoofing is theft.

Tagged: Philosophy

2020-11-30

(Essay)

Holes (Pretty Good Movie/Pretty Tough Ontological Question)

In this essay I argue that holes cannot exist.

Tagged: Philosophy

2020-11-21

(Essay)

Evaluating Anti-Platonist Approaches to Mathematics

In this paper, I will first explain Platonism and its relation to mathematics and reconstruct arguments against it to show how mathematical objects ultimately cannot exist. I will then explore logicism and formalism in order to critically evaluate how they create truth for mathematical propositions and the problems that they have that could or should prevent mainstream philosophical adoption. Finally, I will explain Benacerraf’s structuralism and why I think it is the best Anti-Platonist explanation for the philosophical foundation of mathematics.

Tagged: Philosophy

2020-03-16

(Essay)

Incongruity Theory in the Philosophy of Humor

In this paper, I will first explain Platonism and its relation to mathematics and reconstruct arguments against it to show how mathematical objects ultimately cannot exist. I will then explore logicism and formalism in order to critically evaluate how they create truth for mathematical propositions and the problems that they have that could or should prevent mainstream philosophical adoption. Finally, I will explain Benacerraf’s structuralism and why I think it is the best Anti-Platonist explanation for the philosophical foundation of mathematics.

Tagged: Philosophy

Posts By Tag

Artificial Intelligence (2)

You Won't Get Left Behind

On AI hype and why you can just watch it ride out for now.

Could a Machine Like a Burrito?

On the separation of consciousness and human-like qualities.

Beer (8)

How do I decide my favorite breweries?

An exploration of what it means to have a favorite brewery in the face of imperfection and changing tastes.

I Drank 1,000 Beers!

Analyzing my Untappd data after trying 1,000 unique beers.

What Makes A Great Brewery Experience?

There are a lot of good breweries, but what makes one great?

How to Try More Beer

Various ways to try more craft beer and fill out that Untappd profile.

Why Get Into Beer?

Reasons why you should give beer a chance.

How To Buy Beer Like A Nerd

My methodology of buying craft beer in a way that diversifies risk and maximizes enjoyment.

How to Get Into Beer

A guide on how to get into craft beer.

Why I Log Every Beer That I Drink

How and why I rate all the beers that I drink.

Calendars (1)

How to Augment Your Memory With A Calendar

A way to use your calendar to store temporal information for easy lookup and analysis later.

Career (1)

What Do I Do As A Data Engineer?

An examination of what a Data Engineer is and the kind the projects I work on as one.

Cognitive Science (1)

Human Consciousness is not Uniform

A reflection about how and why human consciousness is not uniform.

College (6)

Do I Use My Degrees?

A reflection on whether or not my fields of study were "useful" and if I regret them.

Pick Two and A Side

A framework for planning extracurricular involvement in order to achieve balance in your college life.

College Goal Setting

A holistic framework for setting goals for the various aspects of your life during college.

My Philosophy Degree in a Nutshell

A retrospective at all the courses I took at UMBC for my Philosophy B.A.

My CS Degree in a Nutshell

A retrospective at all the courses I took at UMBC for my Computer Science B.S.

My Advice for Incoming College Students

A collection of my advice for incoming college students that I wrote and compiled right before I graduated.

Community (1)

Building A Loft Bed (And The Importance of Community)

A retrospective on building a loft bed and how difficult it would have been to do alone.

Computer Science Education (2)

Programming "Patterns"

A practical model for algorithmic decomposition.

A Mental Model of Programming as Data Manipulation

A model for understanding computation that is good for beginners or people who are looking to learn program without too much Computer Science theory.

Dating (3)

Difficulties in Non-Traditional Dating

A look into dating beyond typical romantic relationships and how it complicates the search process.

Online Dating From An Abundance Mindset

My case for how a change in your perspective toward online dating will make it a better overall experience.

How to Answer Hinge Prompts (Effectively)

Answering Hinge prompts effectively can increase both the quality and quantity of your matches. In this article, I discuss various techniques on how to better answer prompts and boost the strength of your profile.

Gifts (2)

Gifts I Gave This Year (2024)

A list of all the cool things that I found to give to my amazing and wonderful friends and family.

On Regifting

An examination of the reasons for moral unease around regifting and how to do properly in order to be more sustainable and anti-consumerist.

Hosting (5)

"Game" Day Gathering

A Sunday gathering centered around football and board games with fun for everyone.

I Surveyed My Friends' Event Preferences - Part 2

Analysis of event preference survey results in regards to event type.

I Surveyed My Friends' Event Preferences - Part 1

Analysis of event preference survey results in regards to event pricing, size, and timing.

BYO Vinyl Night/Potluck

An event to listen to music & eat food in good company.

Stock the Bar Party

Bring a bottle to enjoy together with friends.

IndieWeb/Meta-blogging (4)

IndieWeb Carnival: Rituals

My submission to August 2024's IndieWeb Carnival topic: Rituals.

Owning My Data

An exploration of the relative implementation complexity of collecting and visualizing my own data.

Reflecting on 50 Posts

A look at how my blog and I have changed over 50 posts to my blog.

Choosing a Delivery Mechanism for New Blog Posts

How can you distribute post notifications for a static site with no server-side code?

Interior Design (7)

A Year of Home Updates - 2024

A list and description of all the home updates that I did during 2024.

Building A Loft Bed (And The Importance of Community)

A retrospective on building a loft bed and how difficult it would have been to do alone.

Room Lighting Design

How to light your rooms to make them feel warm.

Choosing Seating For My One Bedroom Apartment

My thought process and solutions found for seating in my one-bedroom apartment.

Using a Cork Board as an Art Display

Tips about how to use and style a cork board as a way to display art instead of a gallery wall.

Finding a Good Budget-Friendly Media Display Shelf

My quest to find a cheap, aesthetic record and magazine display shelf.

Using a Baker's Rack as a Beverage Bar

Using a Baker's Rack, create the beverage bar of your dreams: serve up coffee or cocktails from a stylish work surface/storage solution.

Jekyll (9)

Jekyll Page Backlinks Without Plugins

Adding backlinks to pages in Jekyll in Pure Liquid.

How to bulk edit Jekyll frontmatter with Python

A guide on how to bulk edit Jekyll post frontmatter with python-frontmatter and oyaml.

Search with SimpleJekyllSearch

My modifications to Jake Lee's configuration of SimpleJekyllSearch to fit my Digital Garden.

Creating a Flexible Permalinking System in Jekyll

How to create and maintain a flexible permalinking system in Jekyll for your posts.

Using jekyll-feed + XSLT with GitHub Pages

A guide on how to set up and use the jekyll-feed plugin on GitHub Pages to create a stylized feed.xml for RSS feeds.

Post and Author Age Without Plugins

How to display post and author age in Jekyll via JavaScript.

Word Count Statistics Without Plugins

Word Count Statistics Without Plugins

Numeric Value Humanization Without Plugins

Numeric Value Humanization Without Plugins

Getting Posts by Tag

How I improved my Liquid code in Jekyll to display posts by tag.

Listening at a Distance (2)

Listening At A Distance March 2024 Edition

The March 2024 edition of Listening at a Distance: A Monthly Co-Created Music Newsletter.

Listening At A Distance February 2024 Edition

The February 2024 edition of Listening at a Distance: A Monthly Co-Created Music Newsletter.

Living Better (13)

2024: Stumbling Into A Groove

A reflection on my 2024 Word of the Year: Groove.

IndieWeb Carnival: Rituals

My submission to August 2024's IndieWeb Carnival topic: Rituals.

Funk or Groove?

A reflection on my yearly word now that we are halfway through 2024.

How to Live Alone

Living alone, especially for the first time, can be daunting, but there are some things that you can do to make it far more enjoyable.

Finding My Groove in 2024

Setting my new word of year for 2024: Groove.

My 2023 Wrapped

My second ever year wrapped where I analyze my data in a Spotify Wrapped-esque manner.

2023: My Year of Intention

A reflection of my 2023 Word of the Year: Intention.

What Are Hobbies and Interests?

An examination of the essences of hobbies and interests and why that's helpful to you/how to put it into practice.

Living Seasonally

A guide of how to live in tune with the seasons.

Things I Do (Almost) Everyday

The results from reflecting about the things that I do (almost) everyday.

5 Lessons I Learned About Living Alone

In summer of 2023, I moved into an apartment by myself and started living alone for the first time in my life. These are my reflections and lessons learned from the first month of living alone about the pros and cons of living alone.

Living Slower and More Intentionally

A reflection on how in 2023, I want to live more intentionally.

My 2022 Wrapped

A Spotify Wrapped-esque analysis of my Google Calendar data.

Love/Romance (4)

Romance Is Personally Constructed

A philosophical account of romance as personally defined niche of actions.

We Need More IRL Friends to Lovers

People love to read the friends to lovers trope, but why not bring it into their own lives?

Romantic abolitionism

Should we abolish the concept of romantic love?

Love Languages Are Fake. So What?

Love Languages were created by a somewhat problematic marriage counselor and are not evidence-based/supported by science. Does this mean that Love Languages should be scrapped entirely? I think that with some rehabilitation, the concept of Love Languages can still provide a lot of utility to people.

Loving Better (5)

Online Dating From An Abundance Mindset

My case for how a change in your perspective toward online dating will make it a better overall experience.

The Joy of Creating Software For Others

An essay about the joy of creating software for others and the love that it takes to make great software.

Developing A Non-Hierarchical View of Friendships

Friendships are one of the most important things in our life, and I think that we could all benefit from re-evaluating how we think about them.

On Regifting

An examination of the reasons for moral unease around regifting and how to do properly in order to be more sustainable and anti-consumerist.

Love Languages Are Fake. So What?

Love Languages were created by a somewhat problematic marriage counselor and are not evidence-based/supported by science. Does this mean that Love Languages should be scrapped entirely? I think that with some rehabilitation, the concept of Love Languages can still provide a lot of utility to people.

Maintaining a Second Brain (2)

How to Augment Your Memory With A Calendar

A way to use your calendar to store temporal information for easy lookup and analysis later.

Own Your Tools

You should own your tools, and why I don't (yet).

Music/Vinyl (5)

Listening At A Distance March 2024 Edition

The March 2024 edition of Listening at a Distance: A Monthly Co-Created Music Newsletter.

Listening At A Distance February 2024 Edition

The February 2024 edition of Listening at a Distance: A Monthly Co-Created Music Newsletter.

Listening to a New Album a Day

I tried listening to at least a new album a day for two weeks in order to find new music.

How I Shop For Vinyl

My methodology for keeping track, purchasing, and minimizing cost of record shopping.

Should You Buy Vinyl?

Reflections on whether playing music via vinyl and buying/collecting vinyl is a worthwhile endeavor.

Non-monogamy (3)

Difficulties in Non-Traditional Dating

A look into dating beyond typical romantic relationships and how it complicates the search process.

Non-Romantic Partnerships

A look into what RA as CNM might look like implemented, especially as an aromantic person.

Adopting Relationship Anarchy as CNM

A personal exploration into Relationship Anarchy as a practice of Consensual Non-Monogamy.

Personal Style (2)

How to Dress Yourself

An exploration of what personal style is and how to find it.

An Ode to Short Sleeve Button Down Shirts

I am the number one short sleeve button down shirt apologist.

Philosophy (8)

Romance Is Personally Constructed

A philosophical account of romance as personally defined niche of actions.

Asexuality, Attraction, and Desire

A philosophical account of asexuality, sexual attraction, and sexual desire.

Theoretical Virtues of Major Theories of Time

In this paper, I have two main goals. The first of which is to develop an account of why people believe or choose to believe certain scientific and/or metaphysical theories, with an focus on theories of time. In particular, I will argue that people choose to believe intuition-preserving theories of time (intuition-preservation as a theoretical virtue). Additionally, I consider if this is a good thing or not, and whether people should evaluate theories on the basis of intuition-preservation. The second goal is to use the developed account to examine the theoretical virtues of some of the most popular competing metaphysical theories of time, namely: Presentism, Growing Block Theory, and Eternalism.

Uprooting the Flame

In this paper, I will argue that, following the advice of the Buddhists and Stoics, we should extirpate anger from ourselves for the betterment of ourselves, and to a greater extent, our society. First, I will describe the Aristeolian “containment” view of anger. Then I will present an argument that anger is a categorically negative emotion. Next, I will consider a common objection, of which I think is the strongest pro-anger argument, that anger is actually good because it is a necessary moral emotion, especially in responding to instances of injustice. Finally, I will show why this is not a satisfactory explanation by arguing for grief, rather than anger, as a way to motivate against injustice.

Why I Think IAP Spoofing is Stealing

A philosophical argument as to why I think in-app purchase spoofing is theft.

Holes (Pretty Good Movie/Pretty Tough Ontological Question)

In this essay I argue that holes cannot exist.

Evaluating Anti-Platonist Approaches to Mathematics

In this paper, I will first explain Platonism and its relation to mathematics and reconstruct arguments against it to show how mathematical objects ultimately cannot exist. I will then explore logicism and formalism in order to critically evaluate how they create truth for mathematical propositions and the problems that they have that could or should prevent mainstream philosophical adoption. Finally, I will explain Benacerraf’s structuralism and why I think it is the best Anti-Platonist explanation for the philosophical foundation of mathematics.

Incongruity Theory in the Philosophy of Humor

In this paper, I will first explain Platonism and its relation to mathematics and reconstruct arguments against it to show how mathematical objects ultimately cannot exist. I will then explore logicism and formalism in order to critically evaluate how they create truth for mathematical propositions and the problems that they have that could or should prevent mainstream philosophical adoption. Finally, I will explain Benacerraf’s structuralism and why I think it is the best Anti-Platonist explanation for the philosophical foundation of mathematics.

Reading (2)

Libraries and Starting My Own?

A look at how libraries and librarians have shaped my life, and how I want to stay connected with them.

My Reading Journey

An exploration of how my attitudes and habits toward reading have changed over time.

Sexuality (2)

Ways of Being A-Spec

Targeted desire and how both components can determine your A-Spec identity.

Asexuality, Attraction, and Desire

A philosophical account of asexuality, sexual attraction, and sexual desire.

Social Media (2)

Push vs Pull Social Media Usage

Applying polling vs event driven systems architecture concepts to social media usage.

Building Yourself In Public

Outlining a model of social media usage that maximizes social interaction and engagement from close friends.

Software Engineering (2)

The Joy of Creating Software For Others

An essay about the joy of creating software for others and the love that it takes to make great software.

What Do I Do As A Data Engineer?

An examination of what a Data Engineer is and the kind the projects I work on as one.

Urban Planning/Public Transportation (1)

The Walkability of Arlington, VA

My personal experience and opinions on Arlington, VA and its urban planning.

Veganism (2)

Getting People to Eat Less Meat

How can we get people to eat less meat?

Vegan At Home

My system for eating vegan at home, but non-vegan outside of the house.