Introducing Square 101

TL;DR: I'm starting a newsletter called "Square 101," where each issue is a short (500 words), sharp introduction to terms you hear often but no one ever explains. You can subscribe to the newsletter or follow it here on the blog. I will send the first issue on May 1st and post a new one on the 1st and 15th of every month.

Have you ever been listening to a podcast, like I was recently, and heard a guest casually say, "It's AI. It's all just 0s and 1s after all"? This time, that last statement made me pause. We use this phrase often, but do we ever ponder why that's the case? Why are they 0s and 1s? What's so special about binary?

It hit me that we encounter jargon like this all the time—in news reports, product launches, even ads—and most of the time, we just nod along. We accept these terms as truths without really questioning them.

That's precisely why I decided to call this newsletter "Square 101". It’s about going back to basics, to the starting point, like returning to the first square on a game board.

And I want to start with myself. I want to understand the terms I’ve been glossing over for years. So, this is my goal: to ask the questions you might be too busy (or too polite) to ask—and share what I learn along the way. Each issue will dive into one concept, just enough to give you an awareness, so next time you hear it, you won’t just let it slide by.

Honestly, this is a little selfish—I'm doing it to jumpstart my own learning. I’ve already got a six-month-long list of topics I want to explore, and I’m genuinely excited to get this going.

How can you support?

I would absolutely love it if you subscribed. I don't have a specific subscriber count in mind, but the more, the merrier, as we learn together.

If you find this idea intriguing, I'd be grateful if you'd pass the word along. Feel free to share this post, the archive here, or the newsletter landing page.

Also, if there are any specific terms you've always been curious about but never quite understood, feel free to email them to me – I'm always looking for new topics to explore!

And you can also support through donations or by becoming a member.

Simply put, this newsletter explores the simple ideas that power our complex world. Subscribe to follow along. I will send the first issue on 1st May.