latest articles
01A short defence of slow systemsOn why I distrust the word real-time, and what twenty milliseconds of patience can buy you.
02A proof, badly drawnWorking through Gauss–Bonnet on the back of an electricity bill. The mistakes are kept on purpose.
03On retry stormsThundering herds, jitter, and the small mercy of exponential backoff. Mostly an apology to a database.
adventures
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Adventures in distributed systems2 pieces
A short defence of slow systemsOn why I distrust the word real-time, and what twenty milliseconds of patience can buy you.
On retry stormsThundering herds, jitter, and the small mercy of exponential backoff. Mostly an apology to a database.
Adventures in mathematics1 piece
A proof, badly drawnWorking through Gauss–Bonnet on the back of an electricity bill. The mistakes are kept on purpose.
Adventures in being wrong2 pieces
One thing I got wrong in 2025A short list, edited down for your sake and mine. Seven made it past the editor.
Notes on naming thingsThe second hard problem, approached with rather more humility than the first.
letters to myself
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How to read a paper without drowningThree passes, in the order that actually works. Advice I keep having to give myself.
Setting up a new machine, againThe eleven things I reinstall every time and forget every time. Mostly dotfiles, and one keyboard setting.
What I know about debugging at 3amThe order to check things in, written down while I was calm enough to mean it.
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