I cannot keep forgetting the importance of walking barefoot in the backyard. I feel like it cleanses the nerves, or maybe the meridians, and there are nature spirits that guide my thoughts in a more helpful, hopeful, and positive direction, and at a more relaxed pace.

Learning the language of physics by doing Steiner's control of thought exercise on a plastic pen cap:

• Pushing one object so it snaps over another object is called a "snap fit joint".
  • types of snap-fit joints: annular, cantilever
• "Joint" just means the meeting point between two objects.
• Joints need not be mobile (I had this association in my mind). There are immobile joints in the human body, e.g. where the ribs meet the sternum, or where the sacrum meets the pelvis (sacroiliac joint), or where the skull structures connect (they connect in "skull sutures" which look like seams or welding lines-- do these literally weave through the skull?).
• The "strain" put on a cap from stretching it must be within the caps "elastic limit" for it to return to normal when removed.
• "Creep" is slow deformation under constant stress. "Low creep" means the cap won't be permanently deformed if you leave it on the pen. It seems like my Muji pen has no grooves. And so the plastic pen cap is under constant stress for as long as it is left on the pen. This seems like suboptimal design? If the material can return to it's normal state once the fit is snapped, it won't be constantly stressed and won't suffer creep.
• "Fatigue" is the progressive cracking of materials due to repeated stress "cycles" (removing and fastening again and again).
  • S-N curves describe the relationship between stress amplitude and number of cycles to failure. For a pen, you'd want to select a stress size that gives a strong fit but does not fatigue the material to quickly.
  • what are these cracks on a molecular level in the context of plastic?

https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.13566?utm_source=chatgpt.com

• deep deep dive into the math of mechanical design in snap fits

Speaking through it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3tS9KzMJYE

Why do rubber bands lose elasticity with repeated stretching?

• The Mullins effect.

Correlations to anatomy:

• Creep
• Abrasive wear

Increasing sensation vs re-shaping mechanically

How to increase sensation?

• breath
• cold-exposure?
• awareness?
• drugs?

Useful Technology
apeel - plant based coatings on produce to preserve shelf-life in a more natural way, can even be washed off
modern meadow - natural leather alternative
birch biosciences - uses gen ai to come up with novel enzymes to break down plastic into re-usable plastic resin

• what does it take to turn plastic into something else entirely? like graphene synthesis?
  seaweed as packaging material

to read:
Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity

• evolutionary fitness is not selfish 'might is right' type qualities, but friendliness
• "self-domestication"
  "aristocratic tutoring": https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/contra-hoel-on-aristocratic-tutoring