Writing

I have a ranging array of interests, so I wanted to have a space to be able to write about them and share it. If you ever notice any typos, please email me (hi@reesdraminski.com) so that I can get them fixed, and I also am always open to having a conversation about any of my articles.

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Articles by Date

The dates are not fully to be trusted as sometimes I will date something to be when I first started drafting it, instead of the actual publication date. However I think that the dating gives good insight into the sporadic bursts at which I typically write these posts and update my site.

Articles by Tag

Interior Design

1. Room Lighting Design (Published on 9/13/2023)

   How to light your rooms to make them feel warm.

2. Choosing Seating For My One Bedroom Apartment (Published on 8/30/2023)

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

3. Using a Cork Board as an Art Display (Published on 8/22/2023)

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

4. Finding a Good Budget-Friendly Media Display Shelf (Published on 8/19/2023)

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

5. Using a Baker's Rack as a Beverage Bar (Published on 8/18/2023)

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

Living Better

1. What Are Hobbies and Interests? (Published on 11/10/2023)

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

2. Living Seasonally (Published on 9/22/2023)

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

3. Things I Do (Almost) Everyday (Published on 7/20/2023)

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

4. 5 Lessons I Learned About Living Alone (Published on 6/27/2023)

   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.

5. Living Slower and More Intentionally (Published on 2/26/2023)

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

6. My 2022 Wrapped (Published on 12/25/2022)

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

Loving Better

1. Developing A Non-Hierarchical View of Friendships (Published on 11/27/2023)

   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.

2. On Regifting (Published on 10/11/2023)

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

3. Love Languages Are Fake. So What? (Published on 7/21/2023)

   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.

Hosting Ideas

1. BYO Vinyl Night/Potluck (Published on 10/30/2023)

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

2. Stock the Bar Party (Published on 10/30/2023)

   Bring a bottle to enjoy together with friends.

Jekyll

Jekyll is a static site generator that can used on GitHub Pages, which is what I use for this website.

1. Post and Author Age Without Plugins (Published on 11/13/2023)

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

2. Word Count Statistics Without Plugins (Published on 8/28/2023)

   Word Count Statistics Without Plugins

3. Numeric Value Humanization Without Plugins (Published on 8/28/2023)

   Numeric Value Humanization Without Plugins

4. Getting Posts by Tag (Published on 8/28/2023)

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

IndieWeb/Meta-blogging

1. Reflecting on 50 Posts (Published on 11/28/2023)

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

2. Choosing a Delivery Mechanism for New Blog Posts (Published on 7/13/2023)

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

College

1. Do I Use My Degrees? (Published on 10/16/2023)

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

2. Pick Two and A Side (Published on 8/14/2023)

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

3. College Goal Setting (Published on 8/14/2023)

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

4. My Philosophy Degree in a Nutshell (Published on 5/6/2022)

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

5. My CS Degree in a Nutshell (Published on 5/5/2022)

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

6. My Advice for Incoming College Students (Published on 5/4/2022)

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

Computer Science Education

1. Programming "Patterns" (Published on 8/24/2023)

   A practical model for algorithmic decomposition.

2. A Mental Model of Programming as Data Manipulation (Published on 8/24/2023)

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

Reading

1. Libraries and Starting My Own? (Published on 5/9/2023)

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

2. My Reading Journey (Published on 3/6/2023)

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

Beer

1. What Makes A Great Brewery Experience? (Published on 11/28/2023)

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

2. How to Try More Beer (Published on 11/5/2023)

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

3. Why Get Into Beer? (Published on 10/24/2023)

   Reasons why you should give beer a chance.

4. How To Buy Beer Like A Nerd (Published on 10/6/2023)

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

5. How to Get Into Beer (Published on 8/23/2023)

   A guide on how to get into craft beer.

6. Why I Log Every Beer That I Drink (Published on 5/10/2023)

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

Music/Vinyl

1. Should You Buy Vinyl? (Published on 10/24/2023)

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

Cognitive Science

1. Human Consciousness is not Uniform (Published on 10/18/2023)

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

Urban Planning

1. The Walkability of Arlington, VA (Published on 10/18/2023)

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

Personal Style

1. An Ode to Short Sleeve Button Down Shirts (Published on 9/18/2023)

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

Maintaining a Second Brain

A second brain is a digital collection of your ideas, memories, notes, and resources that you wish to store and make searchable and accessible.

1. How to Augment Your Memory With A Calendar (Published on 8/26/2023)

   How to Augment Your Memory With A Calendar

2. Own Your Tools (Published on 8/25/2023)

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

Artificial Intelligence

As a person interested in thinking about both Philosophy and Computer Science, AI is at the intersection of that, which means that I do tend to think about it a lot. I am not interested in AI from a technical standpoint, but more from a philosophical lens.

1. You Won't Get Left Behind (Published on 5/22/2023)

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

2. Could a Machine Like a Burrito? (Published on 5/22/2023)

   On the separation of consciousness and human-like qualities.

Philosophy

I am by no means a professional philosopher, but I try my best to formalize my arguments and present them in an easily digestible way. I hope at the very least my writing makes you think a little bit more about the topic.

1. Theoretical Virtues of Major Theories of Time (Published on 12/15/2021)

   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.

2. Uprooting the Flame (Published on 5/7/2021)

   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.

3. Why I Think IAP Spoofing is Stealing (Published on 3/20/2021)

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

4. Holes (Pretty Good Movie/Pretty Tough Ontological Question) (Published on 11/30/2020)

   In this paper, I will first contrast two different types of holes and explore the concept of hole-lining as a potential definition of holes. Finally I will consider how hole-fillings affect the identity of holes, before ultimately arguing that holes cannot exist in reality, and how discussions about holes are really instead about “quasi-holes”.

5. Evaluating Anti-Platonist Approaches to Mathematics (Published on 11/21/2020)

   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.

6. Incongruity Theory in the Philosophy of Humor (Published on 3/16/2020)

   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.