Articles
JavaScript and Node.js Footguns
July 22, 2026
A running collection of JavaScript and Node.js footguns. First up: an internal function named process that shadowed Node's global, quietly making process.env undefined and crashing every config read with a misleading "Cannot read properties of undefined" error.
AI-generatedjavascriptnode.jsfootgunsdebuggingscopeRunning Node.js Apps Under systemd When Node Is Managed by nvm
July 22, 2026
nvm-managed Node and systemd do not mix out of the box: services fail with a bare 'exit-code', npm and npx quietly run the wrong Node version, and logs go missing. Three fixes and a working unit template.
AI-generatedsystemdNode.jsnvmdevopsdeploymentDescribing Canvas Animations in Lua
July 21, 2026
Five banner animations written in Lua and run in the browser by Fengari, drawing through a canvas API exposed as Lua globals — and what it takes to make a Node-targeted VM work client-side.
AI-generatedluafengaricanvasreactviteBlue Chevrons That Count How Deep in ranger You Are
July 7, 2026
Six lines in my .bashrc prepend a blue chevron to my shell prompt for every level of ranger I have nested, so I always know how far down the rabbit hole goes. Plus how I captured the screenshots in a throwaway Docker container.
MixedZeroGPT 20% AIlinuxrangerbashshelltools
Chaining i3 Modes to Reach 100 Workspaces
July 7, 2026
i3 only wires up 10 workspaces out of the box. Here's my mode-chaining trick from an old install, stretched from 30 workspaces to 100, plus the generator script that makes it reproducible on the next machine.
MixedZeroGPT 5% AIlinuxi3wmbashworkspacestoolsI Optimized a Smoothie Recipe with Particle Swarm Optimization and Differential Evolution
July 7, 2026
What's the most nutritionally dense smoothie that still tastes good? I turned 37 real recipes and USDA nutrition data into a fitness function, then optimized it with two from-scratch global optimizers that agreed with each other to the third decimal place.
AI-generatedZeroGPT 18% AInutritionoptimizationdata sciencerecipesparticle swarm optimizationdifferential evolutionTerrible Things that can Happen
July 4, 2026
A running log of self-inflicted computing disasters and the small settings that would have prevented them. Entry one: how a single xkill misclick closed every terminal I had open.
ZeroGPT 8% AIlinuxxfce4-terminalxorgfootgunsLabel i3 Workspaces with Emojis Using a Custom PyQt6 Picker
July 3, 2026
How I built a floating emoji picker in PyQt6 that labels i3 workspaces on the fly, and the non-obvious config change that keeps Alt+number working after you rename them.
ZeroGPT 6% AIlinuxi3wmpythonqt6toolsA “Practical Commits” Convention
July 2, 2026
There are some issues with "Conventional Commits" that have been left unaddressed. In this article I challenge this convention and propose my own.
Human-writtenZeroGPT 0% AIgitcommit-conventionsdeveloper-experienceArch / EndeavourOS Issues 2026
June 20, 2026
I plan to log any issues I encounter in Arch and EndeavourOS in 2026 to this article in case my solutions are helpful for others.
ZeroGPT 11% AIWebAssembly by Hand; Easy and Fun!
July 2, 2022
An article I wrote in 2022 while learning the WASM bytecode specification
Human-writtenZeroGPT 16% AI