Ascendance — a field journal — Vol. IV

Altitude for the restless mind.

A one-person field journal across health science, philosophy, markets, books, phones, and the craft of making things. Read the primary source. Climb slowly. Hold conclusions loosely.

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." — Edmund Hillary

scroll to climb

The Ascent

Seven niches. Each a station on the climb.
Read everything →

Latest dispatches

All writing →

Instruments

Seven interactive calculators. Everything runs in your browser.
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▲Instrument

Daily calorie estimator

BMR · TDEE · macro split

Mifflin-St Jeor BMR with an activity multiplier and a goal-based target. Built from an ACE coaching framework.

◈Instrument

Research paper sanity check

p · n · Cohen's d

Plug three numbers from an abstract and get a one-line verdict on whether the finding is worth your attention.

▲Game

Cadence — walk to the beat

90-song library · live pace coach · daily step tracker

A tap-to-step walking game. Pick an intensity and a genre, rock, R&B, hip hop, pop, phonk, Bollywood, Punjabi, and Cadence hands you a song with a step target sized to its exact runtime. Tap once per step, keep pace, build your daily count.