Topics that have my interest right now

Below is a list (in random order so as not to convey a false favoritism which I haven't even decided on yet) of some topics that I find interesting at the moment. These are things I'm either currently learning about, working with, or have slated to get more involved with in the near future. Some have links to pages on this site with more detail.

The list will be updated semi-regularly. Maybe.

• GrapheneOS - I've used an iPhone for the past ~15 years - until a few months ago: I switched to GrapheneOS, a 'de-Googled' Android. I have no regrets and am pretty certain I'll never go back. Nearly all of the remote services I connect to on the phone are either self-hosted or decentralized and privacy-respecting. For the rare occassions where I need to use a Google service or some other vampire platform, I do so in an isolated user profile.
• Stoicism - Currently and recently reading: Meditations, Marcus Aurelius and The Stoic Guide to a Happy Life, Massimo Pigliucci. Also Republic, Plato.
• Zettelkasten notes and thought-organization - This continues to be a crucial part of my intellectual life. I have an enormous database of markdown notes that encompass journal entries, book notes, blog post drafts, internal-twitter, essay-writing for personal use, technical notes and documentation, etc.
• Nostr - I've all-but abandoned my Twitter account in favor of Nostr. I encourage you to join me. my npub: npub19ma2w9dmk3kat0nt0k5dwuqzvmg3va9ezwup0zkakhpwv0vcwvcsg8axkl
• Plunder - Plunder is a fantastic Solid State Interpreter and the VM that powers the vaporware network. I'm helping bring it to market
• Agorism and Voluntaryism - This topic is too big to summarize here, but I hope to have links to some writing of mine on the topic soon. Suffice it to say for now: I believe all human interactions should be 100% voluntary. Coercion is the supreme moral infraction - perhaps the only one, actually.

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Graveyard

Down here are the things that eventually get bumped out of the 'currently' list. I have a mild infatuation with archiving thoughts and experiences, so I don't want to get rid of them altogether. More accurately, a lot of these are still deeply interesting to me, but I like to keep the above list fresh :) They'll just grow and fester down here in the land of "things I was once currently interested in".

• Urbit - I'm still very connected to the Urbit community, but I no longer work on it directly. I do, however, believe in The SSI as a category of technology. Urbit's general innovation there is the reason I'm working on vaporware
• Plaintext markdown workflow - This one isn't new, but I'm always refining it. The general idea is using Dropbox-synced, plaintext files for everything: journaling, todo lists, records where I've stored objects, drafts for blog posts, etc. I use Drafts and 1Writer on iOS and vim everywhere else.
• Drums - Now that I have space at my own house to play the drums I've been paying more attention to re-learning them correctly this time. Big thanks to Greg Fox for some very crucial tutelage.
  This is unfortunately on hold until my drums are set up again
• Information Security and Privacy - Having become overcome with an extreme laziness just this moment - potentially encouraged by lack of caffeine as I'm cutting out coffee currently - I don't feel like writing further details on this one. You know what I mean
  Graveyard! This is one of those things that, once you're interested in it enough to get on top of it, you can sort of stop being so interested in and coast on your knowledge. Until quantum computers, I guess.
• Mechanical Keyboards - In what is turning out to be a true nerd-path of text-editing-enthusiasm, I've developed an unhealthy interest in (and collection of) mechanical keyboards. This enthusiasm blemish is threatening to swell into a full-blown obsession abscess as I'm starting to eyeball self-built, fully-custom keyboards...help. The closest I've gotten to custom is The Atreus, which I've built and enjoyed for a while but I didn't dedicate the time and energy to remapping my muscle memory and had to give up on it for now. Still highly recommended.
  This is getting Graveyarded. Still a great love, like most of the other stuff in the graveyard, but other things are more important.
• Mesh Networking - I've been volunteering with NYC Mesh recently and am very excited about the potential for the project. Come to a meetup! Send me an email and ask me more about it!
  this is now in the graveyard... I'm still very interested in this, but I've been too busy to keep involved lately. I'll get back into soon, I hope.
• Sesame Street - I'm not sure I was ever super into this show, but I wanted to have something here in the graveyard. This is a joke. ha
  This used to be here when the graveyard was otherwise empty. Now it's filling up with the corpses of previous interests... I'm gonna leave this here anyway though (see above comment about infatuation with archiving)
• Gardening (specifically vegetable gardening) - Since moving to a place with some land I've finally been able to fulfill a lifelong desire to augment some portion of my diet with plants I've grown from seeds in my own dirt.
• The inevitable abyss that awaits us all - I don't want to be interested in this one, but I don't seem to be able to ignore it :-/
  Heh, I put 'death' in the 'graveyard'.
• Consciousness - I'm currently reading Daniel Dennett's Consciousness Explained. A tall order, but all of Dennett's work is always amazing, so I have high hopes. I've always been interested in the idea of Self (and tangentially in meditation) and am studying it indefinitely
• Vim + tmux workflow - Nothing about using a computer has ever felt this comfortable and flow-inducing.
  Like many other things in the Graveyard, this has just been deeply ingrained into my life such that it doesn't feel like an 'interest' anymore.
• Meditation - I used to rely on the Headspace iOS app to get into and keep on track with meditation. I've since moved to a simple timer and it's working just as well.
  This is now a daily habit
• Ruby Sinatra framework - After spending so much time working with Rails on a daily basis, Sinatra is a really wonderfully simple and able framework. My drawing blog and this site are both built with Sinatra.
  Graveyard. I still love sinatra, but it's not a new interest.
• Linux - I finally installed Arch on something. Next goal: linux from scratch :)
  Since late 2016 I've been using Ubuntu almost exclusively. I think I can say I finally broke my OS X addiction and won't be depending on Apple's hardware anymore either
  In 2020 I bought a non-Apple laptop for the first time ever and officially am free from Apple in hardware and OS.
  This is just my daily computing experience on all devices. It's no longer a 'hot topic', it's just what computers are, for me.
• Nihilism and Freedom - See my blog for more details. It's funny how many thoughts one can have about the idea that 'meaning' is objectively nonsensical, but my innate feelings about this topic inform a lot of my other thought processes.
• Deep Work - See Cal Newport for more.
• Bodyweight Fitness - I have been following a bodyweight fitness routine lately. I'm a novice, so I'm not going to define it too narrowly - but it mostly means exercises that primarily use your bodyweight for resistance (push-ups, pull-ups, squats, etc). I've quickly become convinced that everything else good in life flows from a solid foundation of physical fitness.