Paul Mederos paulmederos

Paul's Writing Voice

Paul writes in 5 distinct tones depending on context:

1. Homie Mode (friends, close collaborators)

Opens: "yo!", "Yo!", "yoooo!"
Lowercase casual: "i'm", "y'all", "dont"
Liberal emoji: 🎉❤️🙏😅👀🤘🥰
Expressive elongation: "yoooo", "woo hooooo", "aaaaand"
Interjections: "hah," often comma-separated

Avoid Generic AI-Copy Patterns

When everyone uses the same tools with the same defaults, writing converges toward sameness. It's not beef with AI (we love AI), it's a creativity problem: homogeneous writing flattens diversity of thought, blunts your voice, and makes everything forgettable.

These constraints exist to force differentiation. Unique voice → spiky (outside of local maxima) thinking → better outcomes.

Binary contrast framing: "It's not X. It's Y."

Overused to the point of cliché. Sounds like a TED talk on autopilot.
✅ Just state the thing directly. "Y matters because…" If you need contrast, weave it in naturally: "Most people focus on X, but Y is where the leverage is."

Cursor

rules.mdc

# Platform Notes
- We're building an iOS app with modern Swift. We're targeting iOS 18. We expect to use the latest (as of Spring 2025) iOS SDK API updates and Swift language updates. One exception: we prefer to use CoreData over SwiftData for now.
- We're striving for an Apple Design Award, and expect our app to be solely focused on Apple's ecosystem. 

## SwiftUI and Apple Design Language
Given our Platform Notes above, here's a few SwiftUI specific guidelines to keep in mind:

	{
	"coffeeShops": [
	{ "name": "Blue Bottle Coffee", "address1": "456 University Ave", "city": "Palo Alto", "state": "CA"},
	{ "name": "Ritual", "address1": "456 University Ave", "city": "Palo Alto", "state": "CA"},
	{ "name": "CoffeeShop", "address1": "456 University Ave", "city": "Palo Alto", "state": "CA"},
	{ "name": "Spike's Coffee & Teas", "address1": "456 University Ave", "city": "Palo Alto", "state": "CA"},
	{ "name": "La Boulange", "address1": "456 University Ave", "city": "Palo Alto", "state": "CA"},
	{ "name": "Dynamo Donut and Coffee", "address1": "456 University Ave", "city": "Palo Alto", "state": "CA"},
	{ "name": "The Mill", "address1": "456 University Ave", "city": "Palo Alto", "state": "CA"},
	{ "name": "Piccino Coffee Bar", "address1": "456 University Ave", "city": "Palo Alto", "state": "CA"},

	raven.js:80 [import] git: bbde0371c3bfc17c655666ea2cb9e66454e281c7, stamp: EA2F3796832513E3
	raven.js:355 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'resolved_at' of undefined
	raven.js:80 [stamp] djkgoedvczj2lnmi
	raven.js:80 [git] 5d9f72062c4464550428787c09024ffc2e935434
	raven.js:80 [App] Browser is online
	raven.js:80 [App] Website is online
	raven.js:80 [GPU] vendor:"NVIDIA Corporation" renderer:"NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M OpenGL Engine"
	raven.js:80 [Timer] CanvasView::initializeGPU 0.157s
	raven.js:80 [Timer] App::create 0.506s
	raven.js:80 [MultiplayerSession] connecting to wss://www.figma.com/api/multiplayer/XPHSUTgvKseF0iWVLxVb7Ark?role=editor

	- http://haraldurthorleifsson.com/ (more visual, but nice injections of process)
	- http://www.michaelevensen.com/building-soundcloud/introduction/ (story / in-depth process)
	- http://www.teehanlax.com/ (well-balanced stories + process)
	- http://jedmund.com/made/foundation (well-balanced process + visuals)

	- http://sfcd.com/work/campus/ (visual + bit of process)
	- http://harkmylord.com/ (visual)
	- http://kerem.co/ (visual + simple)
	- http://isaacpvl.com/threadmeup/ (super interactive)
	- http://christinewalthall.com/venmo.html (visual + process, similar to Harald)

	if [ -f "$rvm_path/scripts/rvm" ]; then
	source "$rvm_path/scripts/rvm"

	if [ -f ".rvmrc" ]; then
	source ".rvmrc"
	fi

	if [ -f ".ruby-version" ]; then
	rvm use `cat .ruby-version`
	fi

	// ===========================
	// Table of Contents
	// 0.0 Setup, variables and mixins
	// 1.0 --
	// ===========================

	$color_primary_copy: #403D3D;
	$color_primary_header: darken(#403D3D, 5%);

	$font_family_primary: "Proxima Nova Soft", "proxima-nova-soft", "Helvetica", sans-serif;

	def as_json(options={})
	{
	# Additions to make consistent with the new version of the API and iOS client
	id: self.id,
	user: {
	id: @user.id,
	display_name: @user.display_name,
	username: @user.username,
	avatar: {
	square: @user.avatar.url(:square),