Posts

Pieces I’ve written.

Climbing Further Up the Stack

As Gen AI programming tools continue to develop, I’m wondering what things will look like when we remove the human from the loop.

At that point, all the code that’s generated is solely for the AI. All the human-focused concerns we care about in code disappear—it becomes a black box. The code effectively becomes another intermediate language for a new layer on the stack.

As long as the solution fulfils its requirements and fits within the constraints of security and cost for the necessary performance, we’re happy.

Code structures and data schemas don’t matter—so long as the AI can refactor them to meet new requirements as they emerge.

It reminds me of stories of when assembly programmers first saw these flash new C compilers arrive on the scene and generate all this assembly code that no human had directly written.

Jun 5, 2025 ∙ AI, Programming

May

It warmed up a bit and then Winter decided to properly turn up.

Jun 1, 2025 ∙ My Photos

April

The days are shortening and the air is getting crisp.

Apr 30, 2025 ∙ My Photos

A Raycast Extension to Search My Blog

A screen shot of Raycast running my new extension

I’ve been looking for a way to search through the local copy of my blog using Raycast.

I ended up writing a custom extension to do it. ChatGPT helped grease the way—especially in rendering the results.

It uses a brute force grep over the files’ contents which works fine given the size of the repository.

The two main actions on the extension are opening the post in my editor and copying a Markdown link to the post¹.

Here is a look at the Raycast command:

export default function Command() {
  const [query, setQuery] = useState<string>("");
  const [results, setResults] = useState<SearchResult[]>([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (query.trim() === "") {
      setResults([]);
      return;
    }
    try {
      const posts = getAllPosts(BASE_PATH, BLOG_SUBDIRS);
      const matches = searchPosts(posts, query);
      setResults(matches);
    } catch (err) {
      console.error("Error reading blog posts:", err);
    }
  }, [query]);

  return (
    <List onSearchTextChange={setQuery} throttle isShowingDetail>
      {results.map(({ file, snippet }) => {
        const filename = path.basename(file);
        const relativePath = path.relative(BASE_PATH, file).replace(/\\/g, "/");

        // Convert to URL relative from site root based upon Hugo URL config
        const relativeUrl = `/${relativePath.replace(/\.md$/, "").replace(/\/\d\d\d\d-/, "/")}`;

        // Grab the title from the front matter
        const fileContent = fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8");
        const titleMatch = fileContent.match(/^title:\s*(.*)$/m);
        const title = titleMatch ? titleMatch[1].replace(/^['"]|['"]$/g, "") : filename;
        const markdownLink = `[${title}](${relativeUrl})`;

        return (
          <List.Item
            key={file}
            title={snippet.replace(/\*\*/g, "")}
            detail={<List.Item.Detail markdown={`**${relativeUrl}**\n\n---\n\n${snippet}`} />}
            actions={
              <ActionPanel>
                <Action.Open title="Open in VS Code" target={file} application="/Applications/Visual Studio Code.app" />
                <Action.CopyToClipboard title="Copy Markdown Link" content={markdownLink} />
              </ActionPanel>
            }
          />
        );
      })}
    </List>
  );
}

And here is the full file.

Which is handy when cross linking while writing other posts. ↩︎

Apr 23, 2025 ∙ Automation, Programming, Tools

Uses Page

Inspired by uses.tech, I’ve created a uses page on here.

Apr 23, 2025 ∙ Blogging, Gear, Grizzlebit

100 Days In

I’m over 100 days into my black & white a day project.

I inevitably end up shooting around the house and neighbourhood most days. This is forcing me to find novel perspectives on things I regularly pass. It’s also making me appreciate the different light over the course of the day.

Some days I struggle to get something good. That’s ok, photography, like most things, is a numbers game.

Apr 13, 2025 ∙ My Photos, Photography

March in Perth

Autumn is starting to peek its way in. The heat is retreating. Life is grand.

Mar 26, 2025 ∙ My Photos

A New Domain for My Photos

I moved my photography to rays.photos.

The existing feeds and links should hopefully redirect properly.

Mar 14, 2025 ∙ Blogging, My Photos

Settling Back In

The last month has been a whirlwind as we’ve moved back to Perth.

I’ve taken photos down in Margaret River and around the old haunts.

It’s good to be back.

Feb 22, 2025 ∙ My Photos

Brisbane in January

Some photos of Brisbane before we move.

Jan 13, 2025 ∙ My Photos

Black & White 365

I’m taking on a 365 photo challenge this year: capturing at least one black and white photo each day and adding it to my journal.

I haven’t focused on black and white photography since parting with my film cameras, so I’m excited to get back into it and hopefully improve.

Six days in, and I’m enjoying it so far.

Jan 6, 2025 ∙ My Photos, Photography

Blue Hour

Clouds at sunset snare me.

Jan 6, 2025 ∙ My Photos

K'gari

K’gari (Fraser Island) is beautiful.

We spent a few days there between Christmas and New Years.

It was the busy season and the island was packed with four wheel drivers. It felt like there were about fifty vehicles parked up for a swim at Eli Creek while we were there. We never felt crowded though, the island is huge.

Everyone bangs on about Lake McKenzie, and for good reason, it is beautiful.

The Illumina light show was an audiovisual delight.

The island is well worth a visit.