Chaotic Good Computing
@chaoticgood.computer
Consulting and OSS projects around data processing and developer utilities.
https://chaoticgood.computer
https://chaoticgood.computer
New blog post: "APL: Pattern 0; Introduction"
APL: Pattern 0; Introduction | Spencer Elkington
Can graphs be libertarian? Authoritarian? Annotations for the introductory portion of the 1977 book A Pattern Language.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 6, 2026 at 3:55 AM
New blog post: "APL: Pattern 0; Introduction"
New blog post: "Systems: Week 7"
Systems: Week 7 | Spencer Elkington
Systems: Week 7 — As old as they are, emails still feel like magic Alright — if this system works, I’m going to flip.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 6, 2026 at 12:55 AM
New blog post: "Systems: Week 7"
New blog post: "Ants in the Neighborhood"
Ants in the Neighborhood | Spencer Elkington
Is Jane Street run by soccer-loving ants? Inconclusive. We *can* conclude that they're fans of Markov Chains, though — an invaluable tool for understanding complex data structures.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:03 PM
New blog post: "Ants in the Neighborhood"
New blog post: "A Pattern Language, and a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"
A Pattern Language, and a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
The beginning of a topological review of the 1977 urban design and architecture reference book A Pattern Language, and a journey to understand Earth's greatest graph: the Earth, itself.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:03 PM
New blog post: "A Pattern Language, and a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"
New blog post: "Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow"
Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow | Spencer Elkington
Annotations for Greiner's 1972 paper "Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow", about the structural composition of organizations at different sizes and requirements.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:03 PM
New blog post: "Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow"
New blog post: "Quick Fix: Tone Down Obsidian List/Header Padding"
Quick Fix: Tone Down Obsidian List/Header Padding | Spencer Elkington
Annoyed by Obsidian Live Preview over-padding headers and aggressively indenting? Some snippets to help keep your notes from jumping around, so you can focus on actually writing them.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:03 PM
New blog post: "Quick Fix: Tone Down Obsidian List/Header Padding"
New blog post: "The Advantages of Advantage: Intro to Probability Convolutions"
The Advantages of Advantage: Intro to Probability Convolutions
What *is* the advantage of rolling with advantage? Exploring dice roll combinations and probability convolutions.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:03 PM
New blog post: "The Advantages of Advantage: Intro to Probability Convolutions"
New blog post: "Dice Roll Distribution Widget"
Dice Roll Distribution Widget | Spencer Elkington
Discover the probability distributions of different dice roll combinations
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "Dice Roll Distribution Widget"
New blog post: "Quartz Widgets: Graphs, Galore!"
Quartz Widgets: Graphs, Galore! | Spencer Elkington
I killed 4 of my blogs trying to implement MDX support. Will this one be next?
Using MDX with Quartz to create interactive graphs, diagrams, and demos — clear as day.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "Quartz Widgets: Graphs, Galore!"
New blog post: "LLMs; or, How to Run Your Own Hostage Negotiation"
LLMs; or, How to Run Your Own Hostage Negotiation | Spencer Elkington
LLMs: Are we doomed to die, or born to garden?
I'd like to make the case that AI is less like Terminator, and more like tomatoes.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "LLMs; or, How to Run Your Own Hostage Negotiation"
New blog post: "Intro to Event Storming"
Intro to Event Storming | Spencer Elkington
Notes from learning Event Storming for domain-driven design. Thoughts on phases,
color-coded chaos, and how to transition from fast pitches to full products.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "Intro to Event Storming"
New blog post: "Kickoff: Season of Systems"
Kickoff: Season of Systems | Spencer Elkington
I'm learning to live with the systems that stole my beloved em-dash.
A season dedicated to negotiating how to live with the agentic models that have turned my career upside-down.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "Kickoff: Season of Systems"
New blog post: "Review: Season of Rhythm"
Review: Season of Rhythm | Spencer Elkington
Looking back at my year-long attempt to build up long-lasting habits.
A retrospective on routines, remote work transitions, and learning the art of slow-and-steady.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "Review: Season of Rhythm"
New blog post: "LLMs: A Primer Presentation for Our Newest, Scariest Tool"
LLMs: A Primer Presentation for Our Newest, Scariest Tool
An engineer-focused primer on the mechanisms that drive Large Language Models. Basics on how we got here,
how they work, and how to use them without feeling an apocalyptic dread.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "LLMs: A Primer Presentation for Our Newest, Scariest Tool"
New blog post: "Typst Resume Template"
Typst Resume Template | Spencer Elkington
A beginner-friendly resume template in Typst — 100% less LaTeX, 100% more opinions.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "Typst Resume Template"
New blog post: "Terraform LocalStack Testing"
Terraform LocalStack Testing | Spencer Elkington
$70/mo/seat? Just using live AWS may be cheaper.
An evaluation of LocalStack as a testbed for Account Factory Terraform.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "Terraform LocalStack Testing"
New blog post: "The Simple Economics of Open Source"
The Simple Economics of Open Source | Spencer Elkington
Why do we do what we do? "Egoboo."
Exploring economic models of OSS contributions beyond altruism and ego.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "The Simple Economics of Open Source"
New blog post: "College Admissions and the Stability of Marriage"
College Admissions and the Stability of Marriage | Spencer Elkington
A dive into the hottest algorithm of the 1960s: Gale-Shapley matchmaking. Who knew that the mysteries of the heart could be solved with a matrix?
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "College Admissions and the Stability of Marriage"
New blog post: "Feeling Right, Nothing Done: Don't Be the Death of Consensus"
Feeling Right, Nothing Done: Don't Be the Death of Consensus
Classifying opinions as "strong" or "weak" to stop wasting hours in fruitless engineering debates.
How consensus can beat being "right", and an open letter for the tactically apathetic.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "Feeling Right, Nothing Done: Don't Be the Death of Consensus"
New blog post: "Before You Slabtop Your Laptop: A Brief Warning"
Before You Slabtop Your Laptop: A Brief Warning | Spencer Elkington
PSA: Check if your laptop needs an LCD for POST before removing the screen.
Learned this the hard way after 5 hours and a fried motherboard. Learn from my dumb mistakes.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "Before You Slabtop Your Laptop: A Brief Warning"
New blog post: "GPTinglish: Unnatural Language Processing"
GPTinglish: Unnatural Language Processing | Spencer Elkington
The only market crashing is the market for sanitized language. Stay human. Embrace typos.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "GPTinglish: Unnatural Language Processing"
New blog post: "Turning SelfControl into Self Restraint"
Turning SelfControl into Self Restraint | Spencer Elkington
Building a Raycast plugin to schedule website blocks — because checking news "just one more time" destroys flow.
Automate SelfControl and self control: take your laptop back.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
New blog post: "Turning SelfControl into Self Restraint"
New blog post: "Caveat Lector: Reader Beware"
Caveat Lector: Reader Beware | Spencer Elkington
I'm embracing being wrong on the internet in an effort to learn in public.
A disclaimer on digital gardening, dead pixels, and the fear of terminal online-ness.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:01 PM
New blog post: "Caveat Lector: Reader Beware"
New blog post: "The Quest to Slay The Goblin"
The Quest to Slay The Goblin | Spencer Elkington
My life devolves into sleep-eat-procrastinate cycles without structure—I call this "The Goblin."
Productivity tools, hating on hustle culture, and a new definition for horticulture.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:01 PM
New blog post: "The Quest to Slay The Goblin"
New blog post: "Some initial thoughts about time tracking"
Some initial thoughts about time tracking | Spencer Elkington
TODO.
blog.chaoticgood.computer
February 5, 2026 at 10:01 PM
New blog post: "Some initial thoughts about time tracking"