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How to tour the world without ever leaving Maine
My family has a place in Athens. People would always be interested when I mentioned we were going to Athens. Less so after I explained that it's a very small town kind of in the middle of nowhere. People also get less impressed by the "vacation house" when I explain about the outhouse and eternal rodent and snake population that is in residence when we aren't. And while we are, actually. I still love it!
More Emails to the World
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Small slice of reality
You don’t live in the real universe — you live in the tiny slice your senses can detect.
Most of what exists around you is invisible, inaudible, untouchable.
Scientists estimate that 95% of the universe is hidden from human perception, meaning almost everything happening in reality never registers in your brain at all.
Your eyes only detect a narrow band of light — 380 to 770 nanometres.
Your ears hear just 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
Everything outside that range is constantly passing through you:
Ultraviolet and infrared light
Ultrasonic and infrasonic sound
Radio waves moving through walls
Cosmic rays showering Earth
And neutrinos — star-born particles — streaming through your body by the trillions every second
We navigate the world as if we see everything, when in truth we sense almost nothing, or very very little .
Technology widened the keyhole.
Infrared cameras show heat.
Ultrasonic sensors hear what we can’t.
Radio telescopes reveal galaxies invisible to the naked eye.
But even with all our tools, the greatest pieces of the cosmos — dark matter and dark energy — remain complete mysteries.
They hold the universe together, shape its expansion, and yet we cannot see or touch them.
It’s a humbling truth:
we don’t perceive reality in full.
We perceive a filtered version built for survival, not understanding.
The universe is larger, stranger, and more beautiful than anything our senses allow us to experience — and we’re only just beginning to uncover the rest.
Fun Fact:
Every second, about 100 trillion neutrinos pass through your body — but you’ll never feel a single one.
Most of what exists around you is invisible, inaudible, untouchable.
Scientists estimate that 95% of the universe is hidden from human perception, meaning almost everything happening in reality never registers in your brain at all.
Your eyes only detect a narrow band of light — 380 to 770 nanometres.
Your ears hear just 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
Everything outside that range is constantly passing through you:
Ultraviolet and infrared light
Ultrasonic and infrasonic sound
Radio waves moving through walls
Cosmic rays showering Earth
And neutrinos — star-born particles — streaming through your body by the trillions every second
We navigate the world as if we see everything, when in truth we sense almost nothing, or very very little .
Technology widened the keyhole.
Infrared cameras show heat.
Ultrasonic sensors hear what we can’t.
Radio telescopes reveal galaxies invisible to the naked eye.
But even with all our tools, the greatest pieces of the cosmos — dark matter and dark energy — remain complete mysteries.
They hold the universe together, shape its expansion, and yet we cannot see or touch them.
It’s a humbling truth:
we don’t perceive reality in full.
We perceive a filtered version built for survival, not understanding.
The universe is larger, stranger, and more beautiful than anything our senses allow us to experience — and we’re only just beginning to uncover the rest.
Fun Fact:
Every second, about 100 trillion neutrinos pass through your body — but you’ll never feel a single one.
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Night sky
This is a photo of the recent comet by an amateur astronomer named Barb Barton. This is a timed shutter with a tracking telescope, and it was set for 59 minutes to get details of the comet.
The other lines are mostly satellite traces. Starlink, the GPS constellation, mapping, spy, weather, etc. Notice how they have affected this photo, which would have likely been a masterpiece without them, or at least a lot fewer of them.
Do you think that perhaps we have too much traffic orbiting our planet?
Is there an ongoing "traffic jam" already, at least for such activities like wide-field astronomy photos?
Do you think this is also a problem with professional instruments on remote mountain tops the world around?
The other lines are mostly satellite traces. Starlink, the GPS constellation, mapping, spy, weather, etc. Notice how they have affected this photo, which would have likely been a masterpiece without them, or at least a lot fewer of them.
Do you think that perhaps we have too much traffic orbiting our planet?
Is there an ongoing "traffic jam" already, at least for such activities like wide-field astronomy photos?
Do you think this is also a problem with professional instruments on remote mountain tops the world around?
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The *symmetry between Earth’s hemispheres is breaking*
For decades, Earth's Northern and Southern Hemispheres maintained a surprising balance—despite stark contrasts in land, pollution, and city density, both sides reflected nearly equal amounts of sunlight into space.
But that planetary symmetry is now breaking.
A new NASA-led study analyzing 24 years of satellite data has revealed that the Northern Hemisphere is absorbing significantly more solar energy than the Southern Hemisphere—about 0.34 watt per square meter per decade. While that may sound minor, it represents an immense and growing energy imbalance that could reshape global climate patterns by influencing rainfall, wind, and ocean currents.
The causes of this tipping point are both natural and human-made. Melting snow and ice are exposing darker surfaces that absorb more sunlight. Efforts to reduce air pollution have also lowered the amount of light-reflecting aerosols, especially in heavily industrialized northern regions. Meanwhile, a warming north holds more water vapor, which traps additional heat. What’s troubling scientists is that cloud cover—once a key equalizer in balancing hemispheric sunlight—hasn’t adjusted to offset these changes. The result: a slow, planetary tilt toward imbalance, the consequences of which remain uncertain.
Source: "Emerging hemispheric asymmetry of Earth’s radiation." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 29 September 2025.
But that planetary symmetry is now breaking.
A new NASA-led study analyzing 24 years of satellite data has revealed that the Northern Hemisphere is absorbing significantly more solar energy than the Southern Hemisphere—about 0.34 watt per square meter per decade. While that may sound minor, it represents an immense and growing energy imbalance that could reshape global climate patterns by influencing rainfall, wind, and ocean currents.
The causes of this tipping point are both natural and human-made. Melting snow and ice are exposing darker surfaces that absorb more sunlight. Efforts to reduce air pollution have also lowered the amount of light-reflecting aerosols, especially in heavily industrialized northern regions. Meanwhile, a warming north holds more water vapor, which traps additional heat. What’s troubling scientists is that cloud cover—once a key equalizer in balancing hemispheric sunlight—hasn’t adjusted to offset these changes. The result: a slow, planetary tilt toward imbalance, the consequences of which remain uncertain.
Source: "Emerging hemispheric asymmetry of Earth’s radiation." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 29 September 2025.
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Postive news - fun fact!
Neuroscience fun fact:
Complaining, judging, or criticizing doesn’t just drag others down
it literally rewires your brain to make you less focused and less effective.
Here’s why:
1. Hebb’s Law: Neurons that fire together, wire together.
Complain often, and you train your brain to see more problems—while missing solutions.
2. Chronic negativity shrinks the prefrontal cortex.
That’s the part of your brain responsible for focus, decision-making, and emotional regulation.
You weaken your problem-solving center while strengthening your problem-spotting one.
3. And yes, research shows complaining makes you less attractive.
Not just socially but neurologically.
Because negativity narrows. Positivity expands.
The inverse is true.
Gratitude and optimism strengthen the prefrontal cortex.
Every time you speak or type, you’re training your brain.
Train it for abundance, not lack.
Because you don’t get what you want in life…
you get what your brain is wired for.
Citation: Servaas, M. N., Riese, H., Renken, R. J., Marsman, J. B., Lambregs, J., Ormel, J., & Aleman, A. (2013). The effect of criticism on functional brain connectivity and associations with neuroticism. PloS one, 8(7), e69606.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0069606
Complaining, judging, or criticizing doesn’t just drag others down
it literally rewires your brain to make you less focused and less effective.
Here’s why:
1. Hebb’s Law: Neurons that fire together, wire together.
Complain often, and you train your brain to see more problems—while missing solutions.
2. Chronic negativity shrinks the prefrontal cortex.
That’s the part of your brain responsible for focus, decision-making, and emotional regulation.
You weaken your problem-solving center while strengthening your problem-spotting one.
3. And yes, research shows complaining makes you less attractive.
Not just socially but neurologically.
Because negativity narrows. Positivity expands.
The inverse is true.
Gratitude and optimism strengthen the prefrontal cortex.
Every time you speak or type, you’re training your brain.
Train it for abundance, not lack.
Because you don’t get what you want in life…
you get what your brain is wired for.
Citation: Servaas, M. N., Riese, H., Renken, R. J., Marsman, J. B., Lambregs, J., Ormel, J., & Aleman, A. (2013). The effect of criticism on functional brain connectivity and associations with neuroticism. PloS one, 8(7), e69606.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0069606
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Class Nopes: Six Fictional Stanford GSB Grads
More than 25,000 people have received MBAs from Stanford Graduate
School of Business. That number does not include the following
fictional characters whose backstories include imaginary Stanford GSB
degrees.
Monica Hall, Class of 2010*
After getting her start at McKinsey, Monica pivoted to VC, eventually
becoming CFO of the compression/web3/crypto startup Pied Piper on
HBO’s Silicon Valley. According to her bio on the now-defunct
company’s site, “she delivered the most efficient TALK in GSB history,
narrating her life story in just under twelve minutes.”
Christian Gillette, Class of 2002
Following a few years in M&A at Goldman, he assumed the top slot at
Everest Capital, the world’s largest private equity firm, after its
founder was murdered. The protagonist of Stephen Frey’s high-finance
action novels, Christian pulled off killer deals while evading killers
over the course of four books.
Neil Winters, Class of 1991
As a long-running character on the soap opera The Young and the
Restless, Neil built up an impressive résumé that included three
stints as a CEO, four marriages, and numerous affairs. His nearly
three-decade story arc ended suddenly with the death of actor Kristoff
St. John in 2019.
Edie Walker, Class of 2009
The protagonist of the “feminist dating world thriller” Nothing
Serious worked at Tixter, a fictional San Francisco social media
company. Between biting observations about matchmaking apps and the
internet circa 2017, Edie was drawn into a murder that may or may not
have involved her unrequited crush.
Sarah Sloane, Class of 2001
Sarah married her classmate Seth and settled in San Francisco, where
he became a successful, though shady, hedge fund manager. When a
massive earthquake rocked the Bay Area, Sarah saw “her perfect world
fall to pieces” in Danielle Steel’s 73rd novel, Amazing Grace.
Lloyd Lee, Class of 2003
Lloyd’s post-grad path led him to Hollywood, where he became the
long-suffering assistant to insufferable talent agent Ari Gold on
HBO’s Entourage. Or as he put it, he “graduated top of my class only
to take a job delivering mail to unappreciative overpaid little
[unprintable].”
*All class years estimated
source: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/newsroom/school-news/class-nopes-six-fictional-stanford-gsb-grads
School of Business. That number does not include the following
fictional characters whose backstories include imaginary Stanford GSB
degrees.
Monica Hall, Class of 2010*
After getting her start at McKinsey, Monica pivoted to VC, eventually
becoming CFO of the compression/web3/crypto startup Pied Piper on
HBO’s Silicon Valley. According to her bio on the now-defunct
company’s site, “she delivered the most efficient TALK in GSB history,
narrating her life story in just under twelve minutes.”
Christian Gillette, Class of 2002
Following a few years in M&A at Goldman, he assumed the top slot at
Everest Capital, the world’s largest private equity firm, after its
founder was murdered. The protagonist of Stephen Frey’s high-finance
action novels, Christian pulled off killer deals while evading killers
over the course of four books.
Neil Winters, Class of 1991
As a long-running character on the soap opera The Young and the
Restless, Neil built up an impressive résumé that included three
stints as a CEO, four marriages, and numerous affairs. His nearly
three-decade story arc ended suddenly with the death of actor Kristoff
St. John in 2019.
Edie Walker, Class of 2009
The protagonist of the “feminist dating world thriller” Nothing
Serious worked at Tixter, a fictional San Francisco social media
company. Between biting observations about matchmaking apps and the
internet circa 2017, Edie was drawn into a murder that may or may not
have involved her unrequited crush.
Sarah Sloane, Class of 2001
Sarah married her classmate Seth and settled in San Francisco, where
he became a successful, though shady, hedge fund manager. When a
massive earthquake rocked the Bay Area, Sarah saw “her perfect world
fall to pieces” in Danielle Steel’s 73rd novel, Amazing Grace.
Lloyd Lee, Class of 2003
Lloyd’s post-grad path led him to Hollywood, where he became the
long-suffering assistant to insufferable talent agent Ari Gold on
HBO’s Entourage. Or as he put it, he “graduated top of my class only
to take a job delivering mail to unappreciative overpaid little
[unprintable].”
*All class years estimated
source: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/newsroom/school-news/class-nopes-six-fictional-stanford-gsb-grads
express, not stress