Hey there! In my latest blog post, I delve into some fascinating topics: how goats are being used to clear invasive plants from creeks, a visual introduction to Fourier Series, the rise of police drones, energy-efficient machine learning hardware, and the changing dynamics of consumer power. Plus, I share tips on baking the perfect potato, explain Alan Watts’ Backwards Law to improve mental health, and highlight NASA-recommended air-purifying plants for your home. Enjoy!

• Goats help clean up creek by clearing out invasive plants: A new approach to cleaning up a local creek is involving some furry, four-legged friends. The Goat Project uses goats to clear out invasive plants around Vaughn’s Branch Creek on Oxford Circle.
• From the Circle to Epicycles (Part 1) – An animated introduction to Fourier Series: A visual introduction to Fourier Series
• The Age of the Drone Police Is Here: A WIRED investigation, based on more than 22 million flight coordinates, reveals the complicated truth about the first full-blown police drone program in the US—and why your city could be next.
• MIT Technology Review: A simple electric circuit learns to classify data in a creative new design that could lead to more energy-efficient machine-learning hardware.
• The Age of Recoupment: How power, technology, and opportunity have come together to gouge consumers
• How to Bake a Potato: We walk you through how to bake a potato three ways: in the oven, in the air fryer and in your microwave.
• Alan Watt’s Backwards Law And 3 Ways It Can Help With Your Mental Health: One of his more famous thoughts is the “backwards law,” which is nicely summed up in the quote above. Essentially the more you try and grab a hold of something, the more it slips through your fingers. His “backwards law” is not an original thought by any means. It’s origins come directly from the Tao Te Ching or Zen Buddhism. But like a lot of famous white male philosophers of recent times, he has made it more understandable to a Western audience. So how does this apply to mental health? I can think of a number of ways: 1) Happiness- Many people’s parents tell them “I just want you to be happy.” I know parents mean well, but it can create an unrealistic impression for a lot of us and a source of shame. It means that if we don’t feel happy, then we feel shame because that’s all anyone has ever wanted for us, and yet we can’t achieve it still. We become failures.
• 12 NASA recommended air-purifying plants that you must have in your house: The right to clean air is a fundamental right. Yet we rarely ever get to breathe clean air, especially in cities. Now, buying an air purifier to clean our ambient air seems like the only wise option…