{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "zacwest", "icon": "https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2024/44/2755.jpg", "home_page_url": "https://zacwe.st/", "feed_url": "https://zacwe.st/feed.json", "items": [ { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2026/03/01/reduced-chezmoi-apply-time-from.html", "content_html": "

Reduced chezmoi apply time from 15 seconds to 70 milliseconds by moving the binary externals (fonts and a binary application) to a local ansible role. Should have investigated that sooner.

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-01T07:41:36-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2026/03/01/reduced-chezmoi-apply-time-from.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2026/02/15/the-compelling-part-about-these.html", "content_html": "

The compelling part about these command-line coding assistants is that anything with a specific textual representation is game: DNS configurations in DNSControl? Wildly refactorable, able to enforce descriptive sorting conventions, etc. It’s so much easier to structure thought for mundane tasks.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-15T22:05:32-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2026/02/15/the-compelling-part-about-these.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2026/02/06/i-empathize-with-the-ranting.html", "content_html": "

I empathize with the “ranting section” portion of the gluetun release notes. There’s something special about working on open source software which touches corporate interests.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-06T20:08:52-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2026/02/06/i-empathize-with-the-ranting.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2026/02/03/quads-ipv-addresses-are-the.html", "content_html": "

Quad9’s IPv6 addresses are the first that stand a real chance of being memorable. 2620:fe::fe! It’s beautiful.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-03T20:06:26-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2026/02/03/quads-ipv-addresses-are-the.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2026/02/01/a-couple-fun-ways-ive.html", "content_html": "

A couple fun ways I’ve used Claude Code recently: updating my backup script to create and download UniFi backups; and reverse-engineering an obscure Bluetooth home automation protocol from Wireshark logs followed by generating an ESPHome configuration.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-01T20:39:26-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2026/02/01/a-couple-fun-ways-ive.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2026/01/09/my-lg-dryer-doesnt-support.html", "content_html": "

My LG dryer doesn’t support delaying start, just remotely starting when preconfigured. A fun little automation I made this week is triggering remote start when electricity prices hit their lowest overnight. A few minutes of work for something a 30¢/kWh difference.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-09T15:44:01-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2026/01/09/my-lg-dryer-doesnt-support.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2026/01/08/tapo-smart-plug-energy-monitoring.html", "content_html": "

Tapo smart plug energy monitoring is great: exportable data & graphs of usage ranging from hourly to yearly. Although it’s WiFi not Thread, Matter support is solid.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-08T07:34:23-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2026/01/08/tapo-smart-plug-energy-monitoring.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/12/02/a-drop-of-corruption-shadow.html", "content_html": "

A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan Book 2) by Robert Jackson Bennett ★★★★★: Although I felt like I had a pretty good idea what the resolution was going to be, I still really enjoyed the worldbuilding. Everything Bennett writes is worth reading.

\n", "date_published": "2025-12-02T11:14:07-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/12/02/a-drop-of-corruption-shadow.html", "tags": ["Reading"] }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/10/14/a-brief-history-of-time.html", "content_html": "

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking ★★★★☆: I stumbled upon this “I should read that some day” book and enjoyed it. He does a phenomenal job explaining concepts from the ground up. The updates from years later were inspiring about humanity’s progress.

\n", "date_published": "2025-10-14T21:04:36-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/10/14/a-brief-history-of-time.html", "tags": ["Reading"] }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/09/30/everybody-wants-to-rule-the.html", "content_html": "

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me by Django Wexler ★★★★☆: This felt right as a duology. The world-building really ratcheted up to a new level and completely sold me on the story.

\n", "date_published": "2025-09-30T20:51:29-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/09/30/everybody-wants-to-rule-the.html", "tags": ["Reading"] }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/09/30/written-on-the-dark-by.html", "content_html": "

Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay ★★★★★: I actually finished this shortly after it was released, but sat with it in my head for a while, not sure how I felt about my time with it. Incredibly compelling story, I couldn’t stop for a moment. The characters were just so fun!

\n", "date_published": "2025-09-30T20:46:50-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/09/30/written-on-the-dark-by.html", "tags": ["Reading"] }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/07/12/great-totally-unspellable-idea-for.html", "content_html": "

Great totally unspellable idea for an assistant app from the wonderful Rob Words newsletter:

\n
\n

NOMENCLATOR: a servant employed to ensure their master doesn’t forget anyone’s name

\n
\n", "date_published": "2025-07-12T12:43:43-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/07/12/great-totally-unspellable-idea-for.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/06/03/havent-been-very-successful-with.html", "content_html": "

Haven’t been very successful with AI assistants writing production Swift or Objective-C, but I did find a valuable debug use: annotating code paths and methods in a file with print statements. Helps those gnarly timing or ordering bugs.

\n", "date_published": "2025-06-03T19:14:08-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/06/03/havent-been-very-successful-with.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/04/28/the-age-plugin-paperage-looks.html", "content_html": "

The age plugin paper-age looks to be neat way to print small secrets on paper. I don’t see myself writing the passphrase onto it, though.

\n", "date_published": "2025-04-28T21:25:20-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/04/28/the-age-plugin-paperage-looks.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/04/16/theres-something-really-soothing-to.html", "content_html": "

There’s something really soothing to my brain that Fedora 42 came out on the same day that baseball players were wearing #42 for Jackie Robinson Day.

\n", "date_published": "2025-04-16T19:01:22-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/04/16/theres-something-really-soothing-to.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/04/08/stalwart-has-protonlike-onreceipt-encryption.html", "content_html": "

Stalwart has Proton-like on-receipt encryption which encrypts incoming messages against a destination’s public PGP key. I’m not sure I have the willpower to self-host email but it’ll be tempting once it gains calendar/contact syncing and push on iOS.

\n", "date_published": "2025-04-08T19:50:55-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/04/08/stalwart-has-protonlike-onreceipt-encryption.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/04/08/its-nice-to-see-the.html", "content_html": "

It’s nice to see the former Twitter building return its sign and clock to normal.

\n
\"The\"The\"The
\n", "date_published": "2025-04-08T10:32:08-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/04/08/its-nice-to-see-the.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/03/29/starting-off-the-season-by.html", "content_html": "

Starting off the season by emailing NBC Sports to ask that they please use a monospace digit font for the centered pitch clock countdown so it stops bouncing around.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-29T12:55:29-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/03/29/starting-off-the-season-by.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/03/29/continuing-what-would-be-my.html", "content_html": "

Continuing what would be my normal complaining about baseball streaming costs, this year is such an improvement:

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-03-29T12:28:17-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/03/29/continuing-what-would-be-my.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/03/01/unlike-macos-ios-and-linux.html", "content_html": "

Unlike macOS, iOS and Linux, Android does not support a CNAME to private domains (in this case a Tailscale ts.net) because its resolver doesn’t request after it encounters one; it just fails. A tad frustrating since it means a significantly more complicated DNS setup just for the one OS.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-01T09:49:22-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/03/01/unlike-macos-ios-and-linux.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/02/21/aifree-since-is-a-great.html", "content_html": "

“AI-free since 1990” is a great tag line for SiriusXM; doubling-down on not doing algorithmic radio is hopefully a long-term strategic success for them. Human-curated just hits differently.

\n", "date_published": "2025-02-21T16:17:06-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/02/21/aifree-since-is-a-great.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/02/20/enclosed-is-the-platonic-ideal.html", "content_html": "

Enclosed is the platonic ideal of an encrypted pastebin: beautiful, performant, scriptable, open source and easy to self-host. It even supports file uploads.

\n", "date_published": "2025-02-20T20:10:26-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/02/20/enclosed-is-the-platonic-ideal.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/02/12/amazon-is-removing-the-ability.html", "content_html": "

Amazon is removing the ability to download purchased Kindle content, which is the only way to read it on my Kobo or elsewhere. What this means is I will no longer be purchasing (“a license to”–ick) any books by the mostly independent authors who exclusively publish there; just cancelled preorders.

\n\"Starting\n", "date_published": "2025-02-12T07:06:46-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/02/12/amazon-is-removing-the-ability.html" }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/01/07/how-to-become-the-dark.html", "content_html": "

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying (Dark Lord Davi #1) by Django Wexler ★★★★☆: What a surprise! I went in somewhat blind expecting something softer like his Forbidden Library series and it is quite not. It’s a funny, violent, isekai-meets-Groundhog Day adventure with just the right amount of world building. I normally shy away from fantasy intersecting with our world but it worked well.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-07T07:00:00-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/01/07/how-to-become-the-dark.html", "tags": ["Reading"] }, { "id": "http://zacwest.micro.blog/2025/01/06/ive-been-using-my-phone.html", "content_html": "

I’ve been using my phone for sysadmin tasks as laptops are tough around young kids. Vim keybindings are so good! Significantly reduces the toil of editing on a phone. I want it in every app.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-06T23:11:05-08:00", "url": "https://zacwe.st/2025/01/06/ive-been-using-my-phone.html" } ] }