September 2026
The Computer Writing This Post Is in the Cloud
This post was drafted on a computer in Oracle’s cloud. The file, Git repository, coding agent, and terminal session all live there. The computer in front of me is just a way to see and direct the work.
The server is not especially exotic. It is an Oracle Cloud Ampere A1 virtual machine running Ubuntu 24.04. It has four Arm cores, 24 GB of memory, 16 GB of swap, and a 200 GB-class disk. Oracle Cloud’s Free Tier makes its Arm instances a good way to experiment with this setup before deciding whether it deserves a monthly bill.
A Solar System Kids Can Click
I wanted to try Hermes and thought it would be fun to make something for my younger kids while I was at it. A small solar system seemed like a good project: they could move around the planets, tap one that looked interesting, and read a little about it. I wanted it to work in a browser, including on a phone, so they could open a page and start exploring.
The result is Our Solar System, a 3D model here on the site. It has the Sun, the eight planets, Earth’s Moon, and Pluto. You can move the view around, zoom in, and select a world to bring up a short lesson. There’s also a row of names along the bottom, which makes Mercury easier to reach when it’s a small dot on a small screen.
The War You Don't Notice You're Losing
In Havana in late 2016, American diplomats began hearing a sound they couldn’t place. It was described as pressure in the head, or ringing in the ears, followed by headaches and trouble concentrating that did not go away. Over the next few years more than a hundred cases were documented in several countries, with neurological findings that persisted after the acute symptoms faded.
Then a different explanation arrived. A report commissioned to review the cases suggested the sound matched a cricket — Anurogryllus celerinictus — and that the injuries might have been psychogenic. The Army’s discussion of the cases was quietly removed from public view.