City Untangled

Personal Thoughts on Physical Limits, Complexity, City Planning, and Community

    • “I wish I was a Buffalo” (Very Short Fiction)

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      I wrote this very short work of fiction based on real-life at a literature group meetup. Each participant suggested one random and optional word to use. The only word I used was “bear,” which was my word suggestion. I have been moving words and numbers for most of my life. I was a model student…

    • Peak Complexity Part 5

      *You can find all past articles of the Peak Complexity series by going to the Complexity Category page at https://cityuntangled.com/category/complexity/. I was planning on making Part 4 of this series (https://cityuntangled.com/2026/05/24/peak-complexity-part-4/) the last one for a while. It covered potential solutions for managing complexity, along with some criticisms of social… More ⇢

    • Practical Civics, Part 1

      Multiple people who read my writing commented that my writing, especially the political content, is hard to follow. I recalled how confusing it was for me when I started attending government meetings and working for the government. The United States has a well-known civics gap (https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/political-communication/civics-knowledge-survey/), and I think some… More ⇢

    • “Farewell to My Guestroom” (Very Short Fiction)

      I have been going to a writers group for fun the past few months. At each session, we get a prompt, come up with a list of random words we can use if we want, and free-write for about 20 minutes. This very short and satirical piece of fiction shared… More ⇢

    • Peak Complexity, Part 4

      *This will be the last article on peak complexity for a while. You can find all past articles by going to the Complexity Category page at https://cityuntangled.com/category/complexity/. This article goes into potential solutions for managing complexity and criticizes social factors that can prevent reforms. I ended Part 3 (https://cityuntangled.com/2025/07/26/peak-complexity-part-3/) with… More ⇢

    • Toward a New American Identity

      On Sunday 3/15/2026, I submitted the essay below titled, “Toward a New American Identity” to a local newspaper. Anyone can submit a letter up to 300 words and a column up to 750 words. Mine is 738 words. It seems the newspaper will not publish it since it has been… More ⇢

    • Going Almost Car-Free

      I have been living almost car-free since the end of August of 2025 when I junked my car due to heavy rusting. By “car-free,” I mean not owning a personal automobile, and I say “almost” because I have a ZipCar hourly rental car subscription I use about once a month.… More ⇢

    • All Information is Physical

      A short post, with mostly links pointing to videos about the UK’s British Library. I learned from a YouTube video by Tom Scott (link listed further down) that the British Library needs to have a copy of anything published in UK and Ireland and that the copies are stored in… More ⇢

    • The Art and Culture of KPop Demon Hunters

      *To read other articles on the hit 2025 animated musical KPop Demon Hunters, please go to the Arts & Culture category.* Similar to the previous article about the music of KPop Demon Hunters (KDH for short), this article will mostly list links to content by other people. It focuses on… More ⇢

    • Political Tension 06: A Lonely Tribe of Heroes

      *For a list of all the articles in this series and other political articles, please go here: https://cityuntangled.com/category/politics/. I will write this brief article more like an informal diary entry without being technical or pointing to other sources. This week starting on Monday, 10/20/2025, I experienced many ups and downs. I… More ⇢