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For the past week or so I have been doing a peculiar kind of engineering. I have been extending an AI assistant, and I have been doing it with the assistant. Not by feeding it into an editor as a source file, but by sitting across from it, describing what it was missing, and letting it write the code that would connect the new capability back into itself. The distinction sounds like a technicality. It is not. It is most of the point, but first, the two things I set out to give it. ...

Every era of programming has been an argument about the same thing. How much of the work should the human do, and how much should we hand to the machine? Each time we have answered “give more to the machine,” someone has objected that the machine cannot be trusted with it, that real programmers work closer to the metal, and that the new convenience is a toy. And each time, within a decade, the convenience has become the floor that the next generation of programmers stands on without a second thought. This is a story about that floor rising. It runs from a woman feeding subroutines to a UNIVAC on tape in 1952 to a teenager in 2026 building a working web application by describing it to a language model in English. The technologies could not look more different. The motive behind them is identical. ...

Last month I put together a watch list about why thirteen colonies decided to become a country. This is the sequel, and it asks the harder question. Once they had won independence, why did Americans build their government the way they did? Why three branches instead of one strong executive. Why a Senate and a House. Why so much power stays with the states rather than collecting in Washington. None of that was obvious in 1787, and the people in the room disagreed about all of it. ...

On July 4, 2026, the United States turns 250. The formal name for a 250th anniversary is the Semiquincentennial; the shorthand everyone is using is America250. Either way, it marks a quarter-millennium since the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. I wanted to mark the occasion with something more durable than fireworks. This is a watch list. It is not a “greatest hits of patriotism” reel. It is a guided tour through one specific question. Why did thirteen British colonies decide they needed to become their own country? It was not inevitable. For most of the 1760s and early 1770s, the colonists wanted their rights restored within the empire, not a new nation. Something changed. This list is about what. ...

Building a DIY propane pool heating system to heat a 4,400 gallon above ground pool from 68°F to 85°F using a tankless water heater and submersible pump.

Details about the Intex above ground pool setup including padding, dimensions, and skimmer installation for the DIY propane heating project.

Comprehensive shopping list for building a DIY propane pool heater, including tankless water heater, submersible pump, hoses, filters, and all necessary components with Amazon links.

Step-by-step instructions for assembling and testing the DIY propane pool heater system, including water connections, propane setup, and safety testing procedures.

Daily operation procedures and maintenance schedule for the DIY propane pool heater system, including startup/shutdown procedures and troubleshooting tips.

Unexpected wildlife visitors to our DIY pool heater setup, including raccoon encounters that led to equipment damage and important lessons about protecting outdoor equipment.