What Government Website Design Actually Looks Like
USWDS is a solid design system. Most federal websites aren't running it. Here is what government digital design looks like in practice, from VA.gov to state systems.
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When I'm not hiking, I'm coding. When I'm not exploring, I'm building. Notes on all of it.
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The Calhoun Effect
In 1968, a scientist built a mouse paradise and watched it collapse. The study failed to replicate. It may still be telling us something true.
The Porch Is Already Waiting
I charted 26 years of change in an infographic. But 2000 wasn't where my timeline starts, and the chart couldn't hold what I actually know about what's coming.
There's a State Park Hidden in the Median of US-441
I kept noticing concrete giants looming above the tree line on US-441. Turns out there's a state park hidden in the highway median, built around the ruins of a Florida canal that never got finished.
The Monster in the Machine (Isn't What You Think)
An AI agent deleted a company's production database in nine seconds. The headline called it 'goes rogue.' Here's what actually happened and why the framing matters.
The Floor Might Be Fine
I use AI every day and find real value in it. I still can't tell you how this resolves for people who do the kind of work I do. Neither can anyone else.
I've Been Programming for 30 Years. I Read the AI Report So You Don't Have To.
Stanford's 2026 AI Index is 423 pages. Here's what matters: the jagged frontier, the job numbers, and why both sides of the AI debate are partially right.
Showing Up: A Morning at Baseline Road
I wasn't feeling great last weekend, but I went anyway. That's kind of my rule with Bowie. He doesn't negotiate.
The First Thing I Do When I Open a Project
Opening a project cold can be a challenge. I built a VS Code extension to solve that: structure analysis, git diagnostics, and plain-text summaries in one file.
That One HTML Attribute I Wish I Knew About Sooner
The inert attribute solves focus trapping without JavaScript ceremony. A 40-line focus trap function replaced by four lines that actually work.
The Enshittification of Trust (or: Why You Need a Fake Name to Buy a Palisade)
How car buying became a three-layer trust collapse requiring fake identities and AI agents just to negotiate safely.
The Layout Reflow That Didn't Have To Happen
Pretext is a tiny JavaScript library that measures and lays out multiline text without touching the DOM. No reflow. No getBoundingClientRect. Just arithmetic.
The Bookmark That Survived Every Browser I've Ever Used
Peter Anspach's Evil Overlord List has been on the same URL since 1996. I've been meaning to write about it for twenty-five years. Here's why it still matters.
Four Lines of CSS and My Phone Finally Called Me Out
env() safe area insets return 0 unless you opt in first. Here is the viewport meta attribute that changes that, and the four lines of CSS that follow.
Things the Web Killed. Most of Them Had It Coming.
A look back at the web technologies that didn't make it: SOAP, Flash, framesets, the blink tag, and everything else the platform eventually outgrew.
My Local PHP Environment Kept Breaking. ddev Didn't.
After years of fighting MAMP, Valet, and handrolled Docker configs, ddev quietly solved local PHP development for me. Here's what clicked.
I Asked a Robot How to Fix iPhoto Search. Three Hours Later I Was Debugging Docker.
Practical guide to running Immich on Windows with Docker. Covers exFAT drives, Windows Firewall quirks, and other gotchas nobody warns you about.
CSS @starting-style: Animating Elements Into Existence
@starting-style gives CSS transitions a declarative 'from' state for elements entering the DOM. No JavaScript required.
The Lush Canopies of Marshall Swamp
Spring turns the Marshall Swamp Trail into a green corridor of maples, oaks, and palms. A reminder that Florida's floodplain forests do serious ecological work.
color-mix() Is Quietly Replacing My Sass Variables
For years I reached for Sass just to darken or lighten a brand color. native CSS color-mix() in oklch does it better.
Winter Solitude at Yearling Trail
Ocala National Forest in January has a stillness hard to find elsewhere in Florida. Open prairies, limestone sinkholes, and a homestead returned to scrub.
Scroll-Driven Animations Without a Single Line of JavaScript
The Scroll-Driven Animations spec lets you tie CSS animations to scroll position or element visibility. No JavaScript required.
The Ancient Giants of Silver Springs State Park
The humidity finally broke, and I spent a morning on the Sandhill and Swamp Trails. Away from the glass-bottom boats, deep in old cypress.