Taming Firefox’s places.sqlite: A Weekend Performance Breakthrough
A bored-weekend side project turned into a tiny masterclass in database design. I rebuilt a “works-for-now” importer into a set-based, transactional loader and dropped runtime from 4 hours to under 10 seconds for 300k+ rows – on an average NVMe host with MariaDB. Same machine, same data, different architecture. Here’s the story, the thinking, and just enough code.
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Writing
Essays, notes, and synthesis across technology, society, identity, and systems.
This is where I develop public thought: reflections on AI, software, strategy, media, policy, personal alignment, craft, and the structures beneath complex systems.
Taming Firefox’s places.sqlite: A Weekend Performance Breakthrough
A bored-weekend side project turned into a tiny masterclass in database design. I rebuilt a “works-for-now” importer into a set-based, transactional loader and dropped runtime from 4 hours to under 10 seconds for 300k+ rows – on an average NVMe host with MariaDB. Same machine, same data, different architecture. Here’s the story, the thinking, and just enough code.
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Why I Read 800 Headlines a Day (and Why You Don’t Have To)
Every morning and evening I skim ~350–450 headlines – roughly 800 per day – in 15–20 minutes per session. No doomscrolling, no algorithm. Just a calm, custom-built RSS flow that keeps me globally aware and leaves me with more time (and sanity) for deep work. Here’s how it works, why it’s not crazy, and how you can adopt a lighter version on your own terms.
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I Didn't Disappear. I Rebuilt.
For the past few months, I’ve been quiet — at least on the outside.
But it wasn’t a break. It was a deliberate restructuring.
Of how I think, how I work, how I operate in the world.
And who I’ve now become because of it.
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Windows 11 on unsupported PCs: Why I Upgraded Everything Anyway
Upgraded all my “unsupported” PCs to Windows 11—zero issues, no drama. This post unpacks why it worked, how Microsoft uses fear (FUD) to push upgrades, and what TPM 2.0 really means. Less of a how-to, more of a rational, systems-level reflection on tech, trust, and long-term hardware strategy.
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Cheap Bits, Solid Data: Building a Whole‑House Climate Monitor
Turn a cheap DVB-T USB stick and €20 wireless sensors into a reliable, real-time climate monitoring system for your entire house. This guide walks you through setting up tfrec on Linux, collecting temperature and humidity data over 868 MHz, and integrating it seamlessly into OpenHAB, Home Assistant, or any MQTT-capable platform. No cloud, no vendor lock-in—just efficient, low-cost data from every room.
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Digital Resilience in Your Pocket: A Strategic Guide to Backing-Up Wikipedia with Kiwix
When the network drops, regimes tighten their grip or a storm wipes out the fibre cabinet, uninhibited access to knowledge should not vanish with the signal. Kiwix lets you compress the cultural treasure-trove of Wikipedia — and thousands of other open resources — into a handful of ZIM files you can carry on a USB stick.
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RoboBackup: A Simple, Reliable Mirror Backup for Windows with PowerShell and Robocopy
Backups are essential – yet many solutions are bloated, expensive, or unnecessarily complicated. But there’s a simpler way: With PowerShell and Robocopy, you can create an automated, rsync-like mirror backup that runs reliably in the background, securing your most important data – all without third-party software!
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Securing Your LAN with SSL: A Comprehensive Guide for Home Servers
Secure your local network with trusted SSL certificates that are recognized by every device. In this guide, we’ll explore how to set up out-of-the-box SSL for your LAN projects, highlight the advantages of owning a personal domain, and discuss how even a modest investment can elevate your web presence.
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What's the Most Reliable Way to Run Jobs Every Minute?
Running jobs every minute might sound simple, but there’s a lot that can go wrong. From overlapping tasks to missed executions, choosing the right approach is crucial for reliability. While tools like cron and systemd timers are great for most use cases, I’ve found that a custom PHP daemon strikes the perfect balance of control and flexibility for certain scenarios.
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Why I Don’t Use RAID on My Home Server – And Haven't Looked Back
RAID may be the gold standard for data redundancy, but for my home server, I’ve found a simpler, more energy-efficient approach: nightly manual backups. This setup gives me flexibility, protection from accidental deletions, and lets me use older drives efficiently. Here’s why my daily rsync strategy beats RAID for personal use and how it’s saved my data more than once.
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Ultimate Guide to Configuring Samba for Time Machine Backups on Debian Servers
Setting up Time Machine backups for Apple devices on a Linux-based NAS has become significantly easier and faster thanks to Samba’s new features. With a well-configured Samba server on Debian, you can seamlessly backup macOS devices over the network and access your NAS with minimal setup. No more manually creating sparsebundles or struggling with complex configurations.
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Crafting My Own Blog Engine
Why settle for bloated, one-size-fits-all solutions when you can create something uniquely tailored to your needs? As a developer who thrives on optimization and performance, I built my own blog engine from scratch—anchored by the powerful Charm PHP framework and seamlessly integrated into my PentaPaper SaaS platform.
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