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Alex Ellis

Writing about tech, our minds, and how things work.

  • How much oranger do red orange bags make oranges look?
    Apr. 13, 2025

    Look at this orange: Now look at this orange: It’s the same orange. But, look how much more orange it looks with the red …

  • Visualizing my strengths and areas for growth with RPG radar charts
    Apr. 12, 2025

    Sometimes I just love a good visualization, and there’s something about radar charts that makes them so approachable. …

  • Harry Chapin and RATM: the problem with bleeding interests
    Apr. 28, 2024

    Note: this post requires a basic familiarity with the songs discussed. If you’re not familiar with them, I’d recommend …

  • All of the writing I did in a week as a software engineer
    Nov. 18, 2023

    The other day, I was thinking about less-obvious skills that I find helpful for working as a software engineer. Some …

  • Brute-forcing the NYT Digits game
    Jul. 11, 2023

    You’re given a list of integers and a target number. You can add, subtract, multiply, or divide numbers, and you can use …

  • The dog hair and the computer mouse
    Apr. 13, 2023

    Because I spend my entire workday on the computer, my mouse is very important to me. With my basic optical mouse, I’m …

  • Things that are hard to measure, things that are easy to measure
    Feb. 26, 2023

    There are things that are hard to measure, and there are things that are easy to measure. I think about this duality a …

  • In the desert, no service, and your partner's late to the rendezvous. What now?
    Feb. 16, 2023

    Let’s say, purely hypothetically, that you’re in Joshua Tree National Park. Your partner dropped you off in the morning, …

  • Practice being a beginner
    Nov. 1, 2022

    I’m a big fan of trying new things. Part of the process that I’ve come to enjoy is facing and getting over my initial …

  • Learning by working on problems just outside of your reach
    Oct. 2, 2022

    There’s a common pattern I’ve seen when learning something new, where you can effectively move towards a larger goal by …

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