Listen in while I do the research with you
Notes on mindset, research and markets. Every post ends with one small thing you can take with you today.
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Podcast Notes Weekly: Sep 28–Oct 04, 2026
The takeaways from 26 podcast notes I wrote this week (Catalyst with Shayle Kann, Macro Musings with David Beckworth, Bloomberg Odd Lots, Serenity Weekly, Asianometry, The Circuit and more). Two to four sentences per episode, with a link to each full post.
We Lost the English Textbook CD, So I Built a Reading Machine from a Webcam and an AI
My kid needed the textbook audio to practice English, and the CD was nowhere to be found. I clipped a webcam onto an old laptop and wrote two tiny scripts with an AI: one takes a photo of the page, the other reads it aloud slowly in a natural offline voice. Here is how it works, how it compares with other options, what it can't do, and the full code at the end so you can use it. A personal write-up.
I Let AI Turn My Old Laptop Into a Home AI Server
An old HP laptop still running Windows 7 had been sitting in a drawer. I plugged in an install USB stick, typed a few short commands and entered my own passwords; AI did the rest over SSH from my other computer, installing Arch Linux and Omarchy, full-disk encryption, Tailscale and input methods, while keeping Windows 7 intact. What it did, where it got stuck, what it couldn't do, and the steps if you want to try it. Personal notes.
Is My AI Assistant's Data Safe on DeepSeek? I Read the Privacy Fine Print at OpenCode Go and OpenRouter
In October 2026 I wanted to move my home AI assistant off DeepSeek's official API, mostly for data sensitivity. This is what I found, in order: OpenCode Go costs $10 a month and lists DeepSeek as '0-day retention', but that agreement only runs to October 31; on OpenRouter, 31 providers serve the same DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, 25 of them are on its zero-data-retention list, and DeepSeek's own endpoint is not. Then the math on when a subscription beats pay-as-you-go. Personal notes, not a recommendation for any service.
Renting GPUs on vast, and How It Stacks Up Against RunPod: Booting Up Costs More Than the Rent
Notes from renting cloud GPUs on vast.ai and RunPod in September 2026: an RTX 3090 on vast at $0.22 an hour, 50 images for $0.18; how to choose between the two and where each one bites. A personal write-up, not an endorsement of any service.
Using AI as My MLA-C01 Tutor: What It Did in Four Weeks, and What It Couldn't
Part two of my notes from passing AWS MLA-C01 on September 26, 2026: having AI check the exam specs, write study notes in Traditional Chinese, quiz me five questions at a time with hints, and turn 271 past questions into Chinese audio, plus the things I still had to do myself. A personal study log.
Passing AWS MLA-C01 in Four Weeks: My Route, and the Deadline I Almost Missed
Notes from passing the AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate (MLA-C01) exam on September 26, 2026: the exam specs, the English version's September 28 retirement and how I registered in Simplified Chinese instead, a four-week plan, and how I drilled questions. A personal study log.
Podcast Notes Weekly: Sep 21–Sep 27, 2026
The takeaways from 28 podcast notes I wrote this week (Asianometry, Caibaogou (財報狗), Macro Musings with David Beckworth, Bloomberg Odd Lots, Serenity Weekly, The Circuit and more). Two to four sentences per episode, with a link to each full post.
Enough Fear to Fill the Trenches, Yet War Still Needs a Decision: Reading Westad's The Coming Storm
Yale historian Odd Arne Westad sets pre-1914 Europe beside today's multipolar world. The passage I keep coming back to: fear and resentment between Great Powers are never in short supply, and what actually pushed the world into war was a handful of concrete decisions made during a crisis. An educational reading note, not investment advice.
Podcast Notes Weekly: Sep 14–Sep 20, 2026
The takeaways from 31 podcast notes I wrote this week (Acquired, Asianometry, Macro Musings with David Beckworth, Bloomberg Odd Lots, Serenity Weekly, Lunchuizhe (掄錘者) and more). Two to four sentences per episode, with a link to each full post.
You Are Not a Knowledge Worker. You Are a Cognitive Athlete.
Reading Tommy Wood's The Stimulated Mind: why a day chopped into fifty-second fragments costs your brain more than long hours do. Educational and methodological notes; not investment advice.
![[AI in Practice] Before You Install a Stranger's Code, Let AI Read the Source First](/covers/read-the-source-before-you-install.png)
[AI in Practice] Before You Install a Stranger's Code, Let AI Read the Source First
A 60-star file-transfer tool with no license. I had AI read all 280KB of its source in about five minutes, got four things to switch off or avoid, then checked three of its claims myself. Includes the questions you can ask AI before installing any small tool.