A skeptical dive into the weird, sketchy, occasionally life-changing world
of self-improvement.

  • I painted the Prime Minister

    I painted the Prime Minister

    tworuru

    ,

    I am writing this using voice transcription software because at the moment I’m slowly pacing about the house, carrying a two-week-ish old infant around the lounge room, because if I stop for more than about 30 seconds she’ll realize I’m not her mother and I’m of no use to her because I don’t have mammary […]

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  • An Actual Neuroscientist’s Guide for Adults Who Can’t Science Good

    tworuru

    ,

    Gidday Cynics, First, a warm welcome to the new readers who’ve signed up after reading my Webworm guest post “An Insult To Life Itself” on AI. It was… interesting to write. AI is complicated and confusing, but…

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  • A Scientist’s Guide To Self-Improvement Science (For Non-Scientists)

    tworuru

    ,

    Gidday Cynics, Thanks for waiting for this newsletter. There’s a lot of info here, so I wanted to take extra time to make sure it was as solid as possible. Subscribe This one has been brewing for…

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  • Noot me on Noots

    tworuru

    ,

    Hello, Cynics. If you subscribe to one or more Substack newsletters, you are now likely drowning in requests to join Notes, the noo feature Substack just launched. Obviously, you should ignore all those other emails, and pay…

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  • Inside you, there aren’t two wolves

    tworuru

    ,

    Hi, Cynics! I hope you don’t mind if I call you that, because I’m going to anyway. I think we could all use a break from ultrapersonal infodumps, so I’m going a bit lighter for this newsletter.…

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  • The Electric Needle ALS Test

    tworuru

    ,

    Hi, This is another personal one, I’m afraid. Bear with me. The longer I go on with this project, the more I realise I can’t continue without telling this story. It’s the foundation for much of my…

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  • Bad things happen when sleep fights back

    tworuru

    ,

    I’m already feeling a bit dizzy. I know why — this often happens when this train of thought arrives — but I can handle it. I think. Deep breath. This isn’t a story I’ve told before. My…

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  • The Sleep Conspiracy

    tworuru

    ,

    Hi, I’m writing this in a haze of sleep deprivation, only slightly offset by a coffee so strong it’s probably illegal in multiple countries. Subscribe It began when my wife went out at 3 AM to direct…

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  • “I worked for a body influencer”

    tworuru

    ,

    Hi, It’s been a while between posts! The good news is that my tardiness is because I got a new job, and it’s been keeping me really busy. The bad news I’d hinted darkly about in previous…

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  • The accidental body double

    tworuru

    ,

    Last time I wrote about what I’d consider success to look like for this self-improvement malarkey. One measure was posting once a week; the other was getting art done. So it was shocking to realise that I’d…

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  • It’s just one of those days when you don’t wanna write stuff

    tworuru

    ,

    Yesterday was a bit shit, to be honest. It started with bad news, not the sort that’s really bad, but the kind that can still send you hurtling over the handlebars of life. Worse, it’s not something…

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