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  "origin": "https://www.msweet.net/notes/",
  "page": "969-slate-wrens",
  "author": {
    "name": "Matthew McDowell-Sweet",
    "url": "https://www.msweet.net/"
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  "created": "2026-08-18T20:07:42Z",
  "updated": "2026-08-18T20:07:42Z",
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  "content_md": "Goddamn, reality is cool.\n\n> Gravity and friction are the driving forces of this process. Gravity supplies potential energy to flowing water. Friction, the cause of erosion, dissipates that energy. A channel configuration that wastes energy by forcing water along inefficient routes tends to erode rapidly and change. A configuration that routes water more effectively is stabler and therefore more persistent. The network becomes optimal through this dynamic evolution, eventually arriving at a form that adheres to Hack’s law.\n\n[Why Are Rivers So Mathematical? | Quanta Magazine ↗](https://quantamagazine.org/why-are-rivers-so-mathematical-20260810)",
  "content_html": "<p>Goddamn, reality is cool.</p>\n<blockquote><p>Gravity and friction are the driving forces of this process. Gravity supplies potential energy to flowing water. Friction, the cause of erosion, dissipates that energy. A channel configuration that wastes energy by forcing water along inefficient routes tends to erode rapidly and change. A configuration that routes water more effectively is stabler and therefore more persistent. The network becomes optimal through this dynamic evolution, eventually arriving at a form that adheres to Hack’s law.</p></blockquote>\n<p class=\"source\"><a href=\"https://quantamagazine.org/why-are-rivers-so-mathematical-20260810\">Why Are Rivers So Mathematical? | Quanta Magazine ↗</a></p>",
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