Ways of Looking #18 (February '26)
In this issue: quantum experiences, screenshots, the Salem witch trials, microwave gourmands, mystical space pilots, and flossing.
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
I don’t write code anymore — well, it happened. Sooner than I thought!
Stanford Lecture on Theory of Constraints for AI — slides from a lecture I gave to a Stanford AI engineering class on applying Theory of Constraints — which I have written about before here, here, and elsewhere. ToC is one of my favorite ways of looking in general.
AI Captain’s Log — usual updates on my usage of AI, including thoughts on whether Something Big is Happening.
AI-heavy this month… we should be back to at least a little bit more of a mix next month!
What I’m enjoying
Book: Quantum Mechanics and Experience by David Albert. Really, really great and thought-provoking. Albert walks through several thought experiments that helped me understand quantum concepts I had never quite grokked before. You’ll need to tolerate some math, but it is manageable and frankly you can probably just skim over it and still get 90% of the benefit of the book.
My recently-read book recommendation backlog is building up, so I’ll toss a second one in here: Neverness by David Zindell. Space opera sci-fi with outstanding worldbuilding and prose. While I wouldn’t put it on the same level as Dune, fellow fans of Herbert are likely to really enjoy this one.
App: Xnapper or Clean Shot X. I’ve recently realized that not everyone already uses a tool like these. It makes screenshot experience 10x better — trivially letting you add annotations, padding, backgrounds, and more, and drag the result wherever you want to put it. I slightly prefer Xnapper — less fully-featured but faster to do the core padding/balancing/etc. I typically want — but Clean Shot X is cool too, especially if you want to redact things or have more control over annotations.
Article: another good month of articles…
My journey to the microwave alternate timeline by Malmesbury. Just delightful. Worth the easy read.
How to live without your phone by Sam Kriss. Kriss is reliably incisive and this is no exception.
Antique Beef by “a literal banana.” A breakdown of what actually probably happened around the time of the Salem witch trials, from primary sources. I had no idea!
How to Make a Living as an Artist by fnnch. The creator of those “honey bear” paintings you have almost certainly seen has clearly given this question some thought. Always rare and wonderful to see someone who has succeeded in something against all odds give a considered, analytical breakdown of the same.
Going Founder Mode On Cancer by Elliot Hershberg. This has been circulating widely, but I feel like I have to do my part to surface to anyone who hasn’t seen it. What does it look like when you get to the end of the medical standard-of-care but refuse to accept it (and have the resources to go further)?
Radios, how do they work? by lcamtuf. Self-describing.
Experiment: flossing. I regret to inform you that flossing extremely consistently does, in fact, seem to make a massive difference in how your mouth feels and — presumably, given the mouth and teeth’s connections to the rest of the body — your overall health. It took me a few decades of being pestered by family members and dentists to really commit to the bit on this one, but I don’t think I’m going back. If you’ve similarly been inconsistent… just commit to three months.
For a compilation of all past recommendations, see the Recommendations page on my site.
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