Blogs

The following 20 “lessons” are taken from Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Here’s a video of John Lithgow reading the 20 lessons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXR5HLodsT8. (For more information and resources along these lines, make sure to visit my /resist page.) 1. Do not obey in advance Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do. ...

Here are 14 YouTube channels that I really enjoy. Do you have any other YouTube channels you think I might enjoy? Budget Mechanic ChrisFix Essential Craftsman First Class Amateur Grand Roofing Home RenoVision DIY The Honest Carpenter Practical Engineering Project Farm Silver Cymbal Smarter Every Day Stumpy Nubs This Old House Veritasium P.S. For more lists, visit my Lists page!

“The Bible is clear…” “The Bible says…” “The Bible is for/against…” How often—especially within American evangelicalism—do these phrases become rhetorical battering rams for partisan talking points? Let’s be honest: the Bible is not a monolith. It is a library of ancient, inspired texts written across centuries, cultures, and genres. “What the Bible says” on any given topic often depends heavily on who’s reading, how they’re reading, and what they bring to the text. ...

Are you using OpenFGA or another Google Zanzibar-inspired authorization engine in the wild—not just for a side project or proof of concept, but in a production environment with real users and systems? If so, I’d love to learn from your experience. My Interest I’m currently working on a centralized authorization system prototype based on OpenFGA. The design is aiming to support fine-grained, relationship-based access control (ReBAC) for multiple business units—each with its own data domain, developer team, and authorization needs. ...

Imagine waking up to find out that your neighbor—a legal immigrant who works hard, pays taxes, and has never been charged with a crime—was taken away in the middle of the night by government agents. No warrant. No lawyer. No hearing. No chance to defend themselves. Just gone. Then imagine the government claims they’re a danger—but refuses to show any real evidence. And instead of bringing them to a courtroom, they ship them off to a prison in another country. ...

How does your personal machine compare to your work laptop? If you were going to get a new personal computer/laptop today, what would you go with? Just curious as I consider replacing my aging 2016 MacBook Pro as my personal laptop (especially since costs might go up soon for electronics, due to tariffs). For work, I’ve got a 2019 MacBook Pro. More details below: Personal machine: 2016 MacBook Pro 13-inch 2 Thunderbolt ports 2 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 processor 16 GB memory 250 GB storage Work machine: 2019 MacBook Pro 16-inch 4 Thunderbolt ports 2.6 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7 processor 32 GB memory 500 GB storage Essentially, I’m thinking of a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. Not quite sure which specs to go with. I don’t need crazy capabilities at this time for personal hacking/development, but I’d like to be able to build and run stuff locally using stuff like LangGraph to build AI tools. ...

The Table Saw I know you’ve all been waiting for (lol) updates on my vintage 1947 Craftsman 113 table saw. I’m happy to report that, after disassembling and cleaning the saw, I was able to put it back together and get it running again! In the process, I installed: A new power toggle switch on the motor housing A safety ON/OFF switch for the front of the saw (where you stand) An 8-inch thin-kerf combination blade A 6-inch motor pulley to replace the original 3-inch pulley (this was recommended in the manual since the motor is a 1750 RPM motor, not a 3450 RPM motor) An adjustable linked v-belt Some larger caster wheels for the base of the saw The rip fence provided some extra challenges, mainly because I accidentally broke the cam/clamp handle that holds the fence in place. I originally repaired the handle with some J-B Weld “SteelStik” epoxy putty, which seemed strong and promising at first. ...

I finally got my first table saw! A 1947 Craftsman 113.22400 8-inch table saw, for $40 on Facebook Marketplace. To Do List I’m excited to start using it, but first I want to do the following: ✅ Disassemble Clean (in progress) Remove Rust (in progress) Lubricate (in progress) Replace faulty power toggle switch (in progress) Replace blade Reassemble Manuals Thanks to the folks over at Vintage Machinery, it was easy enough to find the following manual PDFs for the saw and for the 1/2 HP motor: ...

In his “Letters and Papers from Prison,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer made some remarkably insightful observations about the nature of stupidity and its dangers to society. These reflections, perhaps more relevant today than ever, deserve our careful attention. Here they are in full. On Stupidity (DBWE 8:43-44) Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed—in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical—and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous. ...

As I mentioned in my previous post, “Devs, Let’s Talk Authorization!”, I’m working on a new, exploratory work project related to authorization. Specifically, we’re gathering authorization requirements from various orgs across our company and building 1-3 proofs-of-concept of a centralized, fine-grained approach to authorization. Right now, each org handles authorization in its own, usually coarse-grained and role-based way. Clarify Current Requirements The first thing I did was gather and clarify my org’s current authorization model/requirements. We’re heavily role-and-permission-based when it comes to authorization, with a touch of attribute-based access control mixed-in (to make sure that, for example, a user can only view resources related to their company, and not other companies). So, RBAC (role-based access control) with a bit of ABAC (attribute-based access control). ...

The following statements should not be controversial, but they sadly are. What would you add to this list? Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. January 6th, 2021, was an insurrection. Congress, not the President (and much less the President’s unelected adviser), holds the power of the purse. The Judicial branch, and not the Executive branch, interprets the law and the Constitution. No one, not even the President, is above the law. ...

Calling all software developers! As I embark on a new, exploratory work project, I’d like to hear your thoughts on authorization. How have you designed and implemented authorization in your applications? To get into the weeds a bit, have you opted for RBAC (Role-Based Access Control), ABAC (Attribute-Based Access Control), ReBAC (Relationship-Based Access Control), or something else entirely? What tools or libraries have you found most useful in your work? Have you built everything from scratch, or have you relied on existing frameworks? Open source or commercial solutions? ...

With fascism on the rise in the United States of America and around the world, and with many so-called “Christians” gladly supporting the rise of the far-right and attributing it to the will of God, I was struck by these words from Ephesians 5 (which were assigned as one of the readings for Morning Prayer today). Ephesians 5:11-14 (New Living Translation, NLT) 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, ...

Since buying our first house about a year ago, I’ve gotten really into DIY home repair, home improvement, etc. As a software engineer, I find that working with physical tools on physical problems is a refreshing change of pace after staring at a screen all day! Plus, it’s an excuse to buy a bunch of tools! Speaking of tools, I’ve been thinking about diagnostic tools that would be helpful for a homeowner to own. Here’s a list of the ones I own, organized roughly in order of importance. ...

For the past few years, I’ve loosely followed the “Bullet Journal” method of note-taking. Usually in a Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover A5 notebook with dotted pages (the best!). Whenever I finish one notebook and start another, among other things, I like to write down some key questions and mental models at the front of the new notebook, so that I can easily refer back to them whenever I need to. Here’s what I’ve written at the start of my current notebook. ...