$ ls ~/articles/ --filter=
$ grep

~/homelab/

self-hosting, networking, Docker, backups, infrastructure, automation 8 articles
NEW

How 25 Pinball Machines Talk to a Database (Without Anyone Touching a Keyboard)

Stern and IScored both track scores but won't talk to each other. One n8n pipeline later, every machine feeds one leaderboard — and players can finally see who actually owns the bar.

6 SVG 8 dives 36 min

What’s Your Privacy Policy?

Your WordPress site is probably leaking visitor data to Google right now through fonts alone. A 15-minute fix stops it — no plugins, no cost.

2 dives ↓ CSS 14 min

The Bulletproof Kiosk

What happens when your display is 200 miles away and the screen goes black? You build six layers of self-healing and hope you got them all.

4 dives 15 min

Backups Let You Sleep At Night!

Most homelab backups fail silently. Mine did too. A staleness monitor that cost $0 to build was the difference between catching it and losing everything.

7 dives ↓ workflow 14 min

n8n Backs Up n8n: A Love Story About Not Losing Your Work

The tool that backs up everything in my homelab couldn't back up itself. That gap almost bit me — a 10-node workflow and GCS pipeline later, it won't.

3 dives ↓ JSON 17 min

N8n – Automate your Homelab

The workflow engine that automates anything can also become your biggest attack surface. Three settings stand between superpower and open door.

6 min

Step Aside, Pi-Hole: Why Adguard Home is the DNS Hero Your Homelab Deserves

We're trusting our network's DNS to a device that stores data on a medium famous for dying without warning. I stopped accepting that risk.

9 min

The #1 DNS Mistake That Will Crash Your Homelab (and How to Fix It for Free)

Your backup DNS server is useless — your OS will wait for the dead one instead of switching. Here's the fix nobody tells you about.

2 SVG 8 min

~/infosec/

privacy, threat analysis, hardening, vulnerabilities, AI safety 1 article

SearXNG – Your Very Own Search Engine

Every "private" search engine is still someone else's server. SearXNG runs on your hardware, your rules. Privacy without trust.

5 dives 20 min

~/ai/

Claude, prompt engineering, AI workflows, context architecture 9 articles
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Every Rule in My CLAUDE.md Is a Mistake I Made Once

Six real failures that became documentation. Every rule in my CLAUDE.md is scar tissue from a session that went sideways — so yours doesn't have to.

2 SVG 5 dives 24 min
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So You’re Good at AI? Build This Skill Before You Get Sued

I nearly published my homelab's fingerprint baked in by AI. That near-miss became a reusable sanitization skill — luck is not a security control.

↓ prompt 11 min
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Context Engineering: How I Taught an AI to Coach Pinball

2 SVG 4 dives 24 min
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Why I Treat My AI Context Like Infrastructure

We treat our shell configs as sacred infrastructure but throw away our AI context every session. A sysadmin's instinct says that's backwards.

10 min
NEW

Give Claude a Memory

The most powerful AI on the planet can't remember your name between sessions. One Markdown file fixes that. Fifteen minutes, no plugins.

2 dives 10 min

Don’t worry! It’s Not a Secret!

Google said API keys weren't secrets for a decade. Then AI happened and millions of "safe" keys became live credentials overnight. Nobody sent a memo.

1 dive 11 min

Ever Lost your Soul?

Anthropic said safety was non-negotiable. Then the Pentagon came calling. A security professional's take on principles meeting revenue.

12 min

An Elegant Coach Claude

Most AI "coaching" is generic platitudes. This skill uses real frameworks, quotes real leaders, and won't let you skip the hard questions.

8 dives 24 min

AI Curated Newsletter – Just 4U!

We have AI that can pass the bar exam, but nobody pointed it at an RSS reader? One afternoon and $0/month later, problem solved.

4 dives ↓ workflow 15 min

~/life/

travel, family, community, lifestyle 2 articles

The Hackerlab

Someone handed me mismatched laptops for a hacker conference. SysAdmin brain kicked in — Ansible'd them into a fleet with live voting and a jumbotron.

8 min

DeLay’s Bivouac – South Dakota Version

I plan vacations the way I plan infrastructure — spreadsheets, constraints, way too much detail. Here's the Black Hills guide I wish existed.

58 dives 24 min