Tech

OpenBSD and Me OpenBSD holds a place near and dear to my heart. Back in the Air Force, I deployed some of the first Snort sensors in 2003/2004 to detect network traffic. I quickly became engrossed with the elegance and simplicity of OpenBSD’s build system and ongoing maintenance. I wish I could dig back through my early eBay purchases and find the little Compaq machine that powered my first home server install. In my dorm room, I built my first PF firewall and router to practice network configurations. After spending all day working on Sidewinder firewalls and Cisco gear, I was blown away by what I could accomplish with a $200 computer and some persistence. ...

There’s something delightfully analog about growing up before smartphones. We don’t have TikTok timelines or Instagram reels of high school. Our memories live on dusty Hi8 and DV tapes, glitchy, lo-fi fragments from a time before social media ruled our lives. Back in Latimer, Mississippi, our English teacher Vadis Perkins, a true visionary, gave us the green light to launch a morning news show at St. Martin High. She handed us a makeshift newsroom: a few camcorders, some clear tape, and a ton of enthusiasm. We recorded, spliced, and narrated, one linear edit at a time. ...

I’ve been a loyal follower of Nokia’s mobile innovation journey for years, starting with the Nokia N800 and every subsequent device. Before Android fully established itself, Nokia’s Linux-based devices offered a genuinely geek-friendly alternative. I fondly recall a time in Tel Aviv when I used my N900 to SSH into a server and fix a config file while riding in a taxi—those were magical moments! Over the years, I’ve kept up with the evolution of Nokia and Jolla devices, purchasing each new iteration. While I’m still waiting on my Jolla Tablet, I was excited to grab the Jolla C2 after its launch under Russian ownership. Living in the US meant shipping it to my EU office first, but I was eager to give it a try. ...

In my teens, close family friends gave me a [Sega Nomad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_Nomad) along with several Genesis/Mega Drive games. Up until then, I was only allowed a computer and a GameBoy, so the Nomad—with its colour screen and vast game library—became an instant favourite as I travelled around Europe. It was a fantastic but little-known device; its biggest flaw was its battery life. Even with the brightness set to its lowest, you’d be lucky to get two hours of playtime. It basically turned into a mobile Genesis with a small TV, forcing me to hunt down cigarette lighters in cars or wall plugs to keep it going. You learned to time your gaming between the 6-AA life and finding a dependable source of electrons. ...

I’m the kind of guy who buys a car and keeps it forever. When we got our Model 3 over five years ago, I thought I’d be handing the virtual keys to our daughter in a decade. Well, it’s totalled. That started our search for another electric vehicle. We left the ICE world behind and didn’t consider hybrids—we’re firmly in the EV camp. After a week of driving ICE cars in Europe, we were reminded why we won’t go back. ...