Have you ever wondered what the richest people on Earth actually do when they wake up? I went looking, expecting green smoothies and 5 a.m. alarms. Instead I found a man who had his teenage son's blood pumped into his own veins, a billionaire who has already paid to be frozen after he dies, and a helmet that fires magnetic pulses through people's skulls. Some of this is real medicine. Some of it is spectacularly expensive nonsense. All of it is happening right now, to real people, with real...

An allusion is a short reference to another story, usually through well-known elements. For example, you can quickly reference Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by mentioning a white rabbit. Allusions generate interest because they set a context for the story you’re reading while hinting at the similarities or differences between the two works. Creative writers use allusions often, wide-ranging as storytelling interests, referencing Egyptian and Greek mythology, Victorian fairy tales,...

Hey everyone! It's the beginning of second semester, and so far this blog has mostly been about non-fiction materials such as AIs, propagandas, persuasive skills, and writing speculative fictions. Today, we take a detour and talk about money. Not the coins in your pocket, but the giant invisible forces that decide how much your snacks cost, why your parents sigh at the gas station, and why adults on the news keep saying words like "the Fed" with very serious faces. Last year in 2025, I wrote...