Add a bunch of backlogged posts

_config.yml

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 name: 'rtyler'
 description: 'a moderately technical blog'
 
-
 tag_page_layout: tag_page
 tag_page_dir: tag
 

_posts/2018-07-10-its-in-the-dirt.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "It's all about the dirt"
+tags:
+- garden
+- compost
+---
+
+Last season I wrote down some of what I've learned [about growing
+tomatoes](/2017/09/13/growing-tomatoes.html) and made certain to highlight the
+importance of soil health. Unfortunately this season's tomatoes aren't doing as
+well as I would like, and I'm relatively certain I know the culprit, despite
+not having the time to correct it: soil health.
+
+Frequently when I'm gardening, thinking about gardening, or just letting my
+mind wander, a memory will pop into my brain of the lecture I attended last
+summer about the Johnson Su Bioreactor presented by Dr. David C Johnson at
+[Healdsburg SHED](https://healdsburgshed.com/) (video below).  In the lecture
+Dr. Johnson discussed his work on a new form of _no-turn_ composting which
+promotes significant fungal growth in the soil compared to traditional turned
+or rotated compost. 
+
+The benefits are multiple, but of primary interest to me are:
+
+* Increased performance by crops planted into compost with high fungal content.
+* Significantly amounts of carbon captured and sequestered into the soil.
+
+<center>
+<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/XlB4QSEMzdg" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
+</center>
+
+
+When my mind wanders into this space, I think about commercializing the
+bioireactor design for "mass market" usage. A significant problem which comes
+to my mind for "green" commercial composting operations is that they rely on
+_trucking_ to ship heavy soil to their customers, such as myself. Trucking not
+only reduces the benefits of carbon capture, but adds costs to the soil. For
+large gardens or small-scale farms, a generally accepted rule of thumb is that
+you want to keep as much "on the property" as possible. If you're "importing"
+something, that means you're probably "exporting" some of your cash. In order
+to keep costs manageable; trucking in compost, or fertilizer for
+non-permaculture oriented operations, is another out-of-pocket cost affecting
+the bottom line.
+
+Basing something commercial off the Johnson Su Bioreactor design, to me at least, would mean that a
+vertical system standing in a 5-6 sq/ft portion of the garden were able to
+produce a [yard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_yard), or more, of viable
+compost every nine months, that would be more than sufficient for my garden's
+annual composting needs. Alternatively that same output could be converted into
+an extract to innoculate a significant amount of seeds or spray a large plot of
+soil.
+
+Letting my mind day-dream even further, I consider the soil health challenges
+for large scale permaculture and organic farms. Imagining how this design could
+be scaled up, whether vertically or horizontally, to increase yields and
+capture more carbon, thereby benefiting consumers and the climate.
+
+Rather than thinking about selling soil, I dream of ways to sell shippable
+"on-premise" networked systems for manufacturing high quality soil. The
+relation between what I envision and existing large-scale composting operations
+is similar to to the relationship between residential/small-scale solar panel
+installations and large-scale solar or wind power plants: bringing the output closer to the
+consumer and thereby increasing the overall production of the aggregated
+system.
+
+
+---
+
+
+There's a common question people working at technology companies in the Bay
+Area like to ask each other, paraphrasing: what would you _actually_ want to do
+if the company goes public/gets acquired/etc? For many, they might buy some big
+things (house, boat, etc), some may travel the world, others would start a
+restaurant or other passion project.
+
+For me I think it's a safe bet that if I leave ever
+the tech industry you'll find me playing in the dirt.
+
+
+
+### Links
+
+* [How to build a Johnson Su Bioreactor](http://case.nmsu.edu/case/pasodelnorteagriculturalworkshops/documents/Johnson-Su_Bioreactor_BMP.pdf) (PDF)

_posts/2018-07-13-you-should-blog-more.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "You should blog more"
+tags:
+- opinion
+- writing
+---
+
+Some time ago, whenever I started the draft for this blog post, I was
+discussing with my colleague Kathy why I feel it's important for people to
+write out their thoughts in long-form, ideally sharing them via a blog such as
+this. My reasoning is not to build "your brand", share information, or anything
+else like that per se. I find that fundamentally, taking the time to write my
+thoughts down long-form helps draw more reasoned and nuanced thoughts out, and
+allows the cultivation of a richer inner mental landscape.
+
+While I obviously enjoy the [short-form dumpster
+fire](https://twitter.com/agentdero), the platform itself doesn't lend itself to
+thoughtful reasoned arguments, and I find that the medium used for
+communication does _seem_ to have an effect on our own way of internalizing
+information. Additionally, I think an overwhelming stream of information has a
+tendency to forcefully insert thoughts and opinions into the reader's mind,
+leaving precious little space left to the owner for forming their own unique
+thoughts.
+
+Contrasting that to the act of writing, spending the time to author a long-form
+piece of content, which requires a more thoughtful processing and conveying of
+information. Long-form also is done at your own speed, allowing plenty of time
+for "hmmms" and "mmhmms". Working at my own pace allows me to compare points
+and counter-points for my thoughts, and develop a reasoning of my own, without
+somebody else explicitly inserting their own narrative into my mouth.
+
+That time and space spent writing is something I believe everybody should
+experience and practice. 
+
+In short, writing enables me to **focus** on my own thoughts.
+
+---
+
+Writing itself doesn't necessarily require an audience or public posts, but I
+argue that blogging publicly carries benefits atop just writing for one's self.
+Blogging can still be very personal and at your own speed, since nobody knows
+when you start a draft. And of course, nobody knows if you never finish a
+draft. But completing and sharing that post with peers can help foster a
+creative dialogue, opening new avenues of thought and discussion, and
+_hopefully_ challenging or changing some of your ideas.
+
+Outside of the personal benefits of blogging, I also think there is something
+to be said about blogging for posterity; sharing your thoughts with the big
+wide-open commons of the internet carries certain benefits unto itself.
+Depending on the platform, your blog may even outlive you, serving as a
+long-term stake in the ground for your thoughts and ideas, even if you're no
+longer around to defend them.
+
+
+---
+
+Blogging isn't difficult, but most people I've discussed this with believe that
+there is some mental barrier to entry, or that they "just don't have anything
+important to say." I tend to disagree, but here are some suggestions of things
+that I find interesting and worth sharing:
+
+* Something you learned, no matter how small or obvious it seemed in
+  retrospect.
+* Thoughts on a current discussion happening in a project, organization, town, country, etc
+* A recent accomplishment, and sharing how you arrived at that point.
+* A recent failure, and a personal retrospective on what went wrong.
+* Or of course, anything else you feel like writing, it's your blog after all!
+
+
+Generally, I don't care what you write, how you write it, when you write it, or
+where you post it. But I firmly believe that there's more than enough space on
+the internet, and your thoughts are worth sharing!

_posts/2018-07-14-spi-board-election.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: 'Running for election to the SPI board'
+tags:
+- spi
+- opensource
+---
+
+Over the past seven years, the [Jenkins project](https://jenkins.io) has been
+an associate project with an umbrella 501(c)3 organization called [Software in
+the Public Interest](https://spi-inc.org) (SPI). Debian, PostgreSQL, and a
+number of other [associate projects](https://spi-inc.org/projects/) utilize SPI
+as a legal entity with which they can collect donations and assign intellectual
+property, such as trademarks. For the past few months I have been coming up to
+speed as an interim director on the board, replacing a seat vacated, but now
+I'm running for the seat in the [2018 board
+election](http://www.spi-inc.org/corporate/votes/2018-board-election/)
+
+The vote is [**open**](https://members.spi-inc.org/vote/15) for contributing
+members  from now until the end of July 26 (UTC).
+
+## Position Statement
+
+I am running for election on the SPI board to help Software in the Public
+Interest continue to grow as a neutral umbrella organization for such
+associated projects as Jenkins, PostgreSQL, Debian, and many others.
+
+As part of the Jenkins project, now the Jenkins board, I have been involved
+with SPI since the association of Jenkins in 2011, seeing and experiencing some
+of the growing challenges facing both associated projects and SPI in the
+changing open source landscape.
+
+As an SPI board member, my primary interests and objectives are:
+
+ * To increase responsiveness for associated projects, especially as it
+   pertains to book-keeping duties.
+ * Help ensure the long term continuity of operations of SPI.
+
+Both of these I believe will be accomplished by supporting and advocating for
+more part-time or full-time project management duties, rather than solely
+relying on volunteer efforts, to make Software in the Public Interest "go."
+
+
+## About Me
+
+I am a long time contributor and board member of the Jenkins project, and
+employed full-time arguably as a Software Developer/Engineering Manager. I have
+been contributing to open source projects since I participated in the initial
+Google Summer of Code (2005) with the FreeBSD project.
+
+

_posts/2018-07-16-garbage-in-garbage-out.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: Deciding who you are by why you eat.
+tags:
+- food
+- garden
+- opinion
+---
+
+Living in Northern California has taught me many valuable lessons, but perhaps
+the most fundamental has been to appreciate high quality food. This
+appreciation was further enhanced when I started a garden, and began to savor
+freshly grown, vine-ripened, fruits and vegetables. Providing a strong
+counter-example, my travels to areas without great access to either fresh
+ingredients or strong culinary culture (strip malls, strip malls everywhere),
+usually results in a change in my own well-being. An upset stomach really
+hammers home the importance of high-quality food.
+
+On some trips I find myself feeling lethargic, queasy, bloated, or otherwise
+unpleasant, and on a number of occasions I was able to trace the symptoms back
+to some sub-par meal or series of meals. I find myself most affected by heavily
+processed foods, those high in salt, sugars, oils or all three.
+
+To borrow a simple phrase, often used in the software industry::
+"_garbage in, garbage out_."
+
+Another truism, much more broadly recognizable, would be: "you are what you eat."
+
+
+---
+
+Last November I began an experiment, partly driven by the importance of food to
+my energy level and mental health, and partly by curiosity: I started to eat
+**vegetarian**.
+
+I should make an note here, this was not a moral choice and I
+honestly don't give a hoot what you eat or why, so long as you're eating the
+best food available to you.
+
+In the first month or two of my experiment, a number of things became apparent to me:
+
+* Thanksgiving involves far more potatoes when you eat vegetarian.
+* I felt much more limber. It's hard to describe it exactly, I didn't
+  immediately become that much more flexible, but I did feel like my body moved
+  more smoothly. My theory is that the inflammation which is often
+  accompanied by heavy red meat diets went down.
+* I had to re-learn much of what I knew about cooking and organizing meals.
+  Prior to the experiment my meals typically revolved around the filet or some
+  other piece of meat, and everything else was secondary. With vegetables as
+  the center piece, I needed to learn how to handle potatoes, broccoli,
+  peppers, and grains in a much more interesting manner than I had previously
+  prepared them.
+
+
+Some months after I started eating vegetarian, I also stopped drinking caffeine
+as well. With these two habits combined I started to sleep better than I can
+remember in my adult life, and have found that I'm able to sustain a strong
+energy level throughout the day provided I'm keeping myself fed properly.
+
+It turns out, unsurprisingly, that "garbage in, garbage out" has an inverse
+property. Imagining my own body as the vehicle which propels my mind, I have
+been making changes with the intent of allowing the vehicle to run as smoothly
+and durably as possible.
+
+---
+
+Of course, good food is **expensive** and not everybody has the means, or access,
+that I have to the ingredients which are readily available in Northern
+California.
+
+The rationale for my food purchases is still applicable regardless of where you
+are, and I believe it will still result in a healthier lifestyle, regardless of
+whether you're vegetarian or not.
+
+### Raw Ingredients
+
+First and foremost I believe that purchasing ingredients rather than finished
+processed foods, which in the US tend to be very high in salt or sugar. The
+preservative content of processed foods aside, I simply think that they're not
+that flavorful. They seem to be primarily optimized for shelf life and end up
+using "taste hacks" like over-salting, sugaring, or including significant oil
+or butter content to dupe our monkey-brains into believing that it's a "good"
+meal.
+
+I'm not severely dogmatic on the subject however; I still enjoy milk and oreos
+with some frequency. My monkey-brain likes some junk too, but generally try to
+avoid eating processed meals-in-a-box.
+
+
+### Local First
+
+Everywhere humans exist, there is some form of local agriculture. Whether it's
+animal husbandry or cultivation of crops. The benefits of prioritizing local
+ingredients first, in my opinion, is that you're much more likely to get
+something _fresh_ and of high quality.
+
+If you consider a tomato shipped to the United States from Chile, for example.
+It is picked before it is ripe, cold packed, and then trucked or flown to the
+supermarket where it's ripening process is kick-started once again before you
+purchase the product. Contrasted to a locally grown tomato, which is picked
+_much_ closer to the natural ripeness date, allowing the plant to develop a much
+sweeter flavor.
+
+In the case of meats, freshly butchered meat, especially from a smaller producer,
+has in my experience resulted in much more flavorful cuts than large-scale
+industrialized meat packing. Additionally, I have found the cuts tend to be
+more generous and well-marbled when they come from smaller local producers. This of course
+could be an artifact of the types of small producers in Northern California, but I would
+hazard a guess that the proud family ranchers across the country take much more
+pride in their work than a multi-national MeatCo.
+
+
+### Organic
+
+Perhaps surprisingly I prioritize organic foods last. Organic producers, in my
+experience, seem to worry less about the shelf-life or look of a piece of
+produce, and instead prioritize taste or ethos above all else. That's not to
+say organic produce is ugly, usually quite to the contrary, but it doesn't seem
+to be as uniformally "perfect looking" as conventional industrialized produce
+which has a different value system to their products.
+
+While I tend to prefer to purchase organic foods, mostly because I find them to
+taste better, I will take a conventionally-but-locally-grown product over an
+organic product grown overseas.
+
+
+---
+
+Barring those who live in food deserts, I believe that most Americans should
+have access to reasonably priced raw ingredients, whether local, organic, or
+conventional. What most Americans do _not_ seem to have is the appreciation
+that food can have such a fundamental impact on our physical and mental health.
+This, to me, is especially frustrating. Providing oneself with quality food is
+a simple, yet often overlooked, aspect of self-care.
+
+We are all worthy a good meal.