Notes & Essays
On tech, disasters, family, AI, security, and more.
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Non-Diagnostic Recovery
Tap-rack-bang, aviation boldface, Heroku's daily dyno restart: the best operators execute pre-authorized recovery sequences before they know what's wrong. How to write that list for your stack, keep the evidence, count every fire, and let AI hold both ends of the loop.
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Dox'd by Design
Your personal data is already leaked, on purpose, and the standard advice does not work: rotation only fixes identifiers that rotate. A five-step protocol, walked through a client's leaked phone number, for making data you cannot un-leak useless to whoever holds it. It can identify you. It must never authenticate you.
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Zero to MVP Security
Your first enterprise customer will put you through a security review, and passing it is the floor, not proof you are safe. Here is the map from zero to MVP security: the checklist every buyer names, the five things that checklist cannot see, and the order to do them in.
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Crisis Response for Startups: When It Goes Beyond Cyber
Most startup crisis plans are cyber-only: written by security, for security, assuming the systems stay up. Then a missile lands near your office. The fix is one inverted assumption, command first and cyber second, and three things you can do this week.
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Hive Mind: Build the Data Layer First
Most AI agents work from the open internet. What becomes possible when they work from a graph of data you own, rank, and curate. A daily personalized podcast, a research API ready for any draft, and four other unlocks. The data layer matters more than the model.
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OpSec for Adults: Graduated Resilience Under Observation
Operations security as graduated resilience under observation. A practical floor: civilian baseline anchored on the EFF curriculum, plus a public-figure layer for the crypto archetype with the Lazarus threat model. Pair with the companion piece on what running really costs in 2026.
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Midwit Multiplexing with Agents
The midwit approach to scaling AI coding agents. Tmuxinator, safety hooks, separate clones, and an OODA loop for figuring out what's next.
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The Self-Taught Meteorologist's Guide to Not Dying in Tornado Season
You have the radar app. You have no idea what it means. A 4-layer guide from survival basics to reading radar like a meteorologist, built by a self-taught Oklahoman who learned the hard way.
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Growing Exoskeletons 4: Building the Control Room
n8n as a secure execution layer for OpenClaw. The agent triggers workflows, n8n holds the secrets, git controls what's allowed.
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SSE Streaming on Fly.io: Two Bugs and a Fix
How to get Server-Sent Events working on Fly.io with Bun and Hono. Two non-obvious bugs, the debugging story, and the complete configuration.
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Growing Exoskeletons 3.5: Inverting the Perimeter
We ran OpenClaw in Docker with a command allowlist. Then we inverted the security model: give the agent full machine access, make the network the cage.
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Architecture of Human Conviction
The sheer act of holding a human will shapes outcomes. In spite of situation, evidence, or reason. 31 research threads, one thesis, and a daily practice to operationalize it.
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The Cyborg Method: How to Build Apps in 2026
Five architectural principles that survive AI tool churn. Not my setup. The method.
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Growing Exoskeletons 2.75: NullClaw on a Hardened Box
Delta guide for adding NullClaw to an already-hardened Ubuntu box. Same paranoia, 678 KB binary, built-in sandbox.
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Threat Models That Can Street Fight: Vibe Code to Prod
Napkin-math security for companies shipping vibe-coded software. A 15-minute method, five questions, and a copy-pasteable prompt.
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Growing Exoskeletons Part 3: Clawperators Notes
Operational notes from running two AI agents. Skills, tools, workflows, secrets, failure modes, and what we'd do differently.
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Growing Exoskeletons 2.5: OpenClaw on Hardened Ubuntu
A practical guide to setting up OpenClaw on Ubuntu with serious security hardening. No philosophy, just implementation.
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Master Money or It Masters You
A lifestyle approach to budgeting for mid-career professionals who make enough but aren't building. Not a diet — a practice. How to stop letting money run your life.
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Be the Heart, Respect the Bark: Growing Exoskeletons (Part 2)
Part 1 named the problem: AI agents borrow your identity because nobody gave them one. Part 2 grows the exoskeleton — a practical, security-first guide to deploying OpenClaw when the CEO says ship and the infrastructure says wait.
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Be the Heart, Respect the Bark: Security, Identity, and AI Collaboration (Part 1)
We're handing AI our identities without building the infrastructure for it to have one of its own. The deeper problem isn't trust — it's identity.
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Sultans of Learning Guitar
Six evidence-based learning principles, one impossible song, 30 days. I'm proving the science of rapid skill acquisition by learning Sultans of Swing and recording the whole thing.
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Rhythms of a Family in a Machine World
Raising kids isn't about giving up your life — it's about building rhythms that let you bring them along. Daily habits, weekly rituals, and the intentional use of technology in a world designed to steal their attention.
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If You Want to Lose Weight with IIFYM, You Must Be Relentless
What finally worked after a decade of yo-yoing. Not advice—testimony. Consistent logging beats perfect tracking. Wartime rules that make spiraling structurally impossible.
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A Content Diet for Mild Degenerates
A tiered framework for consuming content like a professional. Active Learning, Engaged Consumption, Decompression, and The Void. Guilt-free.
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On Training: Showing Up Isn't Enough
A no-stripe blue belt's system for actually improving. Write it down, drill your game, show up consistently.
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Sleep Like Your Life Depends On It: 37-Year-Old with a Dream
Training BJJ 6x/week + lifting 3x/week. Sleep isn't optional—it's my first performance enhancing drug.
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Overengineering My Daily Routine
I work for a startup. I have a family. I'm training for a BJJ competition. Here's my over-optimized daily routine—P0s, Break Glass protocols, and all.
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Make Kids Make Progress
The daily routine I force on my kids and the effects it's had.
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Budgets Are Boring Just Like Success
Not financial advice on how much less stressful life is when you follow a budget.