Rewards & Next Projects

(reading time: 7 minutes)

Alright, I'm back from my post-burnout break! I mean, I hope it's post-.

Quick housekeeping: Patreon added sales tax on July 1st, but you should be mostly unaffected since I don't offer "real" rewards. See FAQ for details. However, due to increased Patreon/PayPal fees, if you're at the $1/mo tier I recommend going up to $2/mo. No pressure if you can't afford it or don't want to, but big thanks for all your generous support either way!

Speaking of rewards: This month's are done! Depending on your tier, you can see yourself on the Wall of Thanks, or your custom Polygon avatar. I also emailed three of you a drawing of a duck.

I say this every time, but I mean this every time: thank you. 💖 For paying my rent & food & videogames, and gifting me the autonomy to do weird stuff. I promise I read all your comments, even if I'm too swamped to reply to them. :)

Anyway.

I hope, sincerely hope, that you're doing okay during all... [gestures around] ...this.

Lots of us are feeling justified anger at the people in/with power. But, y'know, at least I expected folks with power to be shitty. I wasn't expecting my own local & online communities to add further shittiness onto each other.

I hate vague-posting, but I can't explain it right now. For the past week I wrote & re-wrote a What's Nicky Learning? post trying to explain it, but it always came out so... angry. I don't know yet how to express this anger in a healthy, helpful way. So, I'll keep processing.

I bring this context up to explain why, for the next two months, I'm going to make...

🤡 STUPID LIGHT-HEARTED SHIT 🤡

This is both a sneak peek into what's next, and so you can have informed consent on whether you want to financially support the following nonsense:

😽CHARACTER CAM

I'm a catgirl now! UwU

This is a webcam toy that maps a cartoon character onto your face, in the browser, in real-time. There's parallax for fake-depth, too! There's zero educational value to this – I've just wanted to make this for years, to please my furry & weeaboo friends.

However, I'll get back to "educational value" with...

🃏SPACED REPETITION ESSAYS (with Andy Matuschak!)

You ever have this problem?

(comic by Alex Norris)

Michael Nielsen & Andy Matuschak solved this problem in Quantum Country, which is an online mini-textbook introducing you to quantum computing – but with Spaced Repetition flashcards embedded directly inside the book.

(Spaced Repetition helps you remember stuff long-term efficiently, using two robust findings from cognitive science: 1) testing yourself > re-reading material, and 2) practicing a bit over many days > practicing a lot in a crammed amount of time)

Now that Quantum Country's done, Andy's making a platform for "Spaced Repetition essays", called Orbit. Andy & I reached out to each other simultaneously (sike) to see if we could collab on an essay. Yes, we will!

The first essay I'll do will be a standalone version of my previous What's Nicky Learning? post, with more detail on control theory & Self-Determination Theory. (I have other ideas for Orbit essays – will list them later)

Anyway, after doing this, it's back to maximally stupid shit with...

🐔FEMBOY HOOTERS: AD JINGLE (...MAYBE)

Okay, I'm only 30% sure I actually want to make an animated music video for this.

Like every queer artist on the internet, eventually I'll cave into the temptation to make lewd art. I've been tempted to do this for 5 years. Note: If I do do this or other queer-lewd stuff, it'll be under a different Twitter, Patreon, and "brand" so that if you don't want to follow/fund my kinks, you don't have to.

Thinkin' the new brand would be "Sticky Case".

But, I'm only 30% sure. I'm confident I can avoid/offset the ethical issues with most adult art by having it 1) animated, no live actors, 2) promote consent & safe sex, and 3) respectfully celebrate queer bodies. Still, it's not educational or enriching, so there's the opportunity cost. We'll see.

Finally, speaking of queering it up...

👩‍🎤VOICE GENDER-BENDER TOY / TRAINING TOOL

Most of you know I've been gender-transitioning my voice! I was working on a voice training tool in February, but then COVID-19 happened, so I dropped the project to help folks understand privacy-first contact tracing and Epidemiology 101.

But finally, I can get back to this!

I was thinking I could also make a fun web toy that would: 

1. take your microphone input, then
2. digitally modify pitch + resonance + spectral tilt, to
3. simulate different vocal cords/tract, thus
4. altering your voice's gender!

This would be a cool demonstration of acoustic physics for a general audience, and a good way for trans/non-binary folks to "preview" their post-transition voice. (Should they want to change their voice, it's not "necessary" of course)

For proof-of-concept that this is possible digitally, see this video. But that plugin costs $100, nevermind the full tool. As for tutorials on how to alter your voice's gender physically, Amelia's TransVoiceLessons is the cutting-edge in practice and theory.

And that's the last of the "stupid light-hearted shit" I have planned!

Afterwards, not sure? Here's an idea-dump:

🗑 A WASTEBASKET OF IDEAS

Some technical topics I can simulate, and that I want to learn more about:

• Causal inference in statistics (You can extract causation out of correlation! If you're very, very careful. This is the newest development in stats I'm most excited about, coz we can't practically or ethically do randomized trails on the stuff we care most about – disease, poverty, policing, race, etc)
• Bayesian statistics
• Resampling-based statistics (Holy craps, stats is actually intuitive now)
• Control theory
• Quantum computing
• Artificial neural networks
• Computational neuroscience

For non-technical topics I can't simulate, I can still make Spaced Repetition essays. Like:

• Storytelling
• Cognitive science / educational psychology
• Moral / political psychology
• Social change / Activism

Ah, who knows. Maybe Femboy Hooters: Ad Jingle takes off and I quit to make lewd art full-time.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

I 100% understand if you want to pause your pledge, because stupid light-hearted shit wasn't what you signed up for. I just need to do this for my own sake. And hey, maybe it'll help uplift others' spirits too, in this messed-up time.

...which I'm still processing. For now, here's two pieces of totally unsolicited advice I want to get off my chest:

1) 😷

If you or someone you know needs to hear a pro-liberty argument for masks, try this – masks are the only way to prevent an even worse encroachment on liberty: a second lockdown. Hell, they could have prevented a first lockdown.

All the democracies that contained COVID-19 in March without a national lockdown used masks. Common sense. Which our elites ignored, of course. Then they either noble-lied saying "masks don't work for the public" to conserve supplies, or were too stupid to think of cloth masks.

So – for the sake of life, liberty, and proving our elites fucked up the first time – please wear a mask.

(Context: I live in the Canadian city hit hardest by COVID-19. Less than 10% of folks here are wearing masks, even in stores. For comparison, masks are polarized in the USA, yet a majority of Republicans still wear masks. My city is one of the most left-leaning in Canada.)

2) ✊

When those from our activist movement, who are supposed to fight for marginalized folk, have threatened the lives / safety / homes / jobs / neighborhoods of marginalized folk...

...and your first response is "that wasn't us, it was a false flag attack" or "that's due to deeper systemic issues" or "what the oppressors do is worse" or "that's a concern-troll distraction" or "it's for the greater good"...

...and your first response wasn't "Oh shit, how do we help this marginalized person & their family?"

...please ask yourself why those were your priorities.

As a queer immigrant of color, I must ask: is this movement a tool to serve marginalized folk, or are marginalized folk a tool to serve this movement's brand? It's not too late to change one's priorities. We can be better than this.

(Context: [REDACTED BECAUSE I'M A COWARD])

Stay safe, y'all.

💖,
~ Nicky