Ways of Looking #16 (December '25)
In this issue: buccal massage, cell phone carcinogenicity, The Scam, sci-fi about language, and an autonomous todo list.
Welcome to Ways of Looking. Roughly every month, I send my friends links and summaries for anything I’ve written recently, plus a few things I’m enjoying.
Check out my more regular writing and reply to this email anytime. Thanks for reading.
What I wrote last month
“Just call me” — I wrote about this in WoL #11, but it deserved a dedicated / shareable post. My life is much more enjoyable with very few scheduled calls, and this explains why (and how to do it)! Try it out!
An experimental, private, autonomous todo list — I built a funky experimental AI product that I’ve been using for research tasks. Hard to describe cleanly but quite useful.
Are EMFs bad? — assessing the evidence, Part I: RF-EMF — if you ever wanted to read 25,000 words reviewing the scientific literature on whether cell phone use is carcinogenic… now’s your chance. (… crickets… )
My newsletter recommendations archive — there’s now a filterable page on my site with everything I’ve recommended in the “What I’m enjoying” sections (below) in these newsletters.
AI Captain’s Log — usual updates on my usage of AI, including thoughts on task duration and working memory.
What I’m enjoying
App: Macrofactor. Every couple years I track all my food consumption for a month or so to recalibrate intuitions for what I’m eating, find any gaps, build more awareness etc. Macrofactor is by far the best product I’ve used for this.
Experiment: buccal massage. Back in WoL #3 I mentioned rolfing. Buccal massage is like rolfing for your jaw specifically. I’ve found this category of fascial work to be super impactful. At my wife’s recommendation, I went to Vetiver in Austin for my first session and felt like they disassembled and reconstructed my jaw. It dissipated a huge amount of tension I didn’t know was there (and incidentally changed the shape of my face noticeably).
X thread: The Scam is that your opinion matters by Romeo Stevens. Worth considering — and perhaps even giving “I don’t think I have an opinion on that” a shot… (be prepared for shockingly negative reactions!)
Book: Embassytown by China Miéville. Compelling sci-fi exploring language and how deeply interlinked it is with how we think. Good plot, good world-building, and quite thought-provoking.
Article: Why Is Moscow So Weird? by Tomas Pueyo. Outstanding, logical, rigorous walkthrough of why Moscow is where it is, why it’s the capital of Russia, and the story behind other of its superficially-odd characteristics.
About me: I’m a multi-time founder (Eco, Lightwork Home Health, CoinList, Sidewire). I’m currently spending time on: Eco, Lightwork, building interface0, investing at Amity, supporting FreeWorld, hacking on a few other products, and advising great companies and founders.
Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.
— Andy