Productivity

It’s that time of year again! All the best people were born in October! :) As my birthday approaches, I’ve put together a wishlist of items that I’ve been eyeing. If you’re looking for gift ideas (or if you just want to snag some cool tools for yourself!), here’s what I’m hoping for this year: Tools Affordable Tools WORKPRO 8-Inch Long Nose Slip Joint Pliers: Really excited to try these affordable pliers. I love my longer slip joint long nose pliers, and I think the 8-inch size will be perfect. Fiskars PowerArc Utility Snips, 8-Inch: These scissors look like they can handle anything, and I like that it keeps your hand out of the way in case you’re cutting something with a sharp edge. Morakniv Chisel Knife, 3-Inch: Great, affordable chisel knife. I’ve been wanting one of these for a while. Milescraft Exactor Multifunction Measuring and Marking Tool: I love how many different features this thing packs into a small package. Will definitely earn a spot in my grab-and-go tool bag. Also worth mentioning are these two Knipex clones from WORKPRO that I’ve been wanting to try out: ...

Wow, what a week. As democracy continues to crumble in the USA, I’ve made some updates to my “Resist” page. If you haven’t seen it, please check it out. I’d also draw your attention to my “Citizen’s Manifesto” post, in which I outline some “working principles for democratic renewal.” I’d love to hear your thoughts on it, if you give it a read. Some things I bought recently that I’d recommend: Good Anger: How Rethinking Rage Can Change Our Lives by Sam Parker Harbor Freight’s new ICON Magnetic Tool Mat Garden of Life’s Raw Organic Fiber The Squatty Potty Toilet Stool This rotating Pomodoro timer for focus and productivity This small but incredibly powerful electric air duster Here are some other things I came across that I found interesting: ...

Here’s Meredith Whittaker on the “key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world” in a recent interview with Politico: What’s a technology that you think is overhyped? I’m going to give a sideways answer to this, which is that the venture capital business model needs to be understood as requiring hype. You can go back to the Netscape IPO, and that was the proof point that made venture capital the financial lifeblood of the tech industry. ...

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. ...

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: ...

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). ...

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? ...

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. ...

In November 2024, I bought a 55-inch Hisense U6 4K Smart TV on sale for $350. It’s been great so far! Definitely an upgrade over our old Samsung. I’m not a TV expert, but I did a fair bit of research and the consensus seems to be that the Hisense U6 series is a great deal for the money. Here are some of the online reviews I found helpful: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-4k-tv/ https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-budget-tvs https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/best/budget (Linked from my Questions page, where I keep track of questions I’m asking and answering.) ...

Source: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman Where in your life or your work are you currently pursuing comfort, when what’s called for is a little discomfort? Are you holding yourself to, and judging yourself by, standards of productivity or performance that are impossible to meet? In what ways have you yet to accept the fact that you are who you are, not the person you think you ought to be? In which areas of life are you still holding back until you feel like you know what you’re doing? How would you spend your days differently if you didn’t care so much about seeing your actions reach fruition? Want more self-elicitation questions like these? Check out “Questions Worth Asking.” ...

Source: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman Adopt a “fixed volume” approach to productivity Keep two todo lists, one unbounded and one limited to a certain number of items (max 10); you can’t add a task to the second list until you’ve completed a task Might also need an “On Hold” or “Waiting For” todo list Set predetermined boundaries for your daily work Focus on only one big project at a time Decide in advance what to “fail” at (“strategic underachievement”) Focus on what you’ve already completed, not just on what’s left to complete Consolidate your caring (pick your battles!) Embrace boring, single-purpose technology (like the Kindle) Seek out novelty in the mundane Be a “researcher” in relationships (be curious, on purpose) Cultivate instantaneous generosity (act on the impulse to be generous right away) Practice doing nothing

I don’t know what it is about mini toolkits, but I love them. Actually, scratch that. I know why. It’s the same reason I love buying tools and books, more generally: the illusion of control. I like how having tools (and a great personal library) makes me feel like I’m ready for whatever life throws at me (ha!). It’s why I liked carrying around a pocketknife as a kid, and it’s why I’m into EDC (everyday carry) and tools as an adult. ...