Inside the head of Daniel Roy Greenfeld

Writing tools to download everything

2026-01-16T11:22:35.582258+00:00

Over the years, Audrey and I have accumulated photos across a variety of services. Flickr, SmugMug, and others all have chunks of our memories sitting on their servers. Some of these services we haven't touched in years, others we pay for but rarely use. It was time to bring everything home.

Why Bother?

Two reasons pushed me to finally tackle this.

First, money. Subscriptions add up. Paying for storage on services we barely use felt wasteful. As a backup even more so because there are services that are cheaper and easier to use for that purpose, like Backblaze.

Second, simplicity. Having photos scattered across multiple services means hunting through different interfaces when looking for a specific memory. Consolidating everything into one place makes our photo library actually usable.

Using Claude to Write a Downloader

I decided to start with SmugMug since that had the largest collection. I could have written this script myself. I've done plenty of API work over the years. But I'm busy, and this felt like a perfect use case for AI assistance.

My approach was straightforward:

Wrote a specification for a Smugmug downloader. I linked to the docs for the service then told it to make a CLI for downloading things off that service. For the CLI I insist on typer but otherwise I didn't specify dependencies.
Told Claude to generate code based on the spec. I provided the specification and let Claude produce a working Python script.
Tested by running the scripts against real data. I started with small batches to verify the downloads worked correctly. Claude got everything right when iy came to downloads on the first go, which was impressive.
Adjust for volume. We had over 5,000 files on Smugmug. Downloading everything at once took longer than I expected. I asked Claude to track files so if the script was interrupted it could resume where it left off. Claude kept messing this up, and after the 5th or 6th attempt I gave up trying to use Claude to write this part.

I Wrote Some Code

I wrote a super simple image ID cache using a plaintext file for storage. It was simple, effective, and worked on the first go. Sometimes it's easier to just write the code yourself than try to get an AI to do it for you.

The SmugMug Downloader

The project is here at SmugMug downloader. It authenticates, enumerates all albums, and downloads every photo while preserving the album structure. Nothing fancy, just practical.

I'll be working on the Flickr downloader soon, following the same pattern. There's a few other services on the list too; I'm scanning our bank statements to see what else we have accounts on that we've let linger for too long.

Was It Worth It?

Absolutely. What would have taken me a day of focused coding took an hour of iterating with Claude. Our photos are off Smugmug and we're canceling a subscription we no longer need. I think this is what they mean by "vibe engineering".

Summary

These are files which in some cases we thought we lost. Or had forgotten. So the emotional and financial investment in a vibe engineered effort was low. If this were something that was touching our finances or wedding/baby photos I would have been much more cautious. But for now, this is a fun experiment in using AI to handle the mundane parts of coding so I can focus on more critical tasks.

We moved to Manila!

2026-02-03T06:41:22.863302+00:00

Last year we relocated to Metro Manila, Philippines for the foreseeable future. Audrey's mother is from here, and we wanted our daughter Uma to have the opportunity to spend time with her extended family and experience another line of her heritage.

Where are you living?

In Makati, a city that contains one of the major business districts in Metro Manila. Specifically we're in Salcedo village, a neighboorhood in the CBD, made of towering residential and business buildings with numerous shops, markets, and a few parks. This area allows for a walkable life, which is important to us coming from London.

What about the USA?

The USA is our homeland and we're US citizens. We still have family and friends there. We're hoping to visit the US at least once a year.

What about the UK?

We loved living in London, and have many good friends there. I really enjoyed working for Kraken Tech, but my time came to an end there so our visas were no longer valid. We hope to visit the UK (and the rest of Europe) as tourists, but without the family connection it's harder to justify than trips to the homeland.

What about your daughter?

Uma loves Manila and is in second grade at an international school here in walking distance of our residence. We had looked into getting her into a local public school with a notable science program, but the paperwork required too much lead time. We do like the small class sizes at her current school, and how they accomodate the different learning speeds of students. She will probably stay there for a while.

For extra curricular activities she's enjoying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, climbing, yoga, and swimming.

If I'm in Manila can I meet up with you?

Sure! Some options:

We're long-time members of the Python Philippines community, so you can often find us at their events
If you train in BJJ, I'm usually at Open Mat Makati quite a bit. Just let me know ahead of time so I can plan around it
If you want to meet up for coffee, hit me up on social media. Manila is awesome for coffee shops!

Recap of 2025 and Resolutions for 2026

2026-02-04T04:00:29.326317+00:00

Better late than never! Here's my annual recap!

Recap of 2025

We moved from London, UK to Manila, Philippines
Spent another year with my soul mate, Audrey. Spent time together doing fun things like coding, cooking, traveling, yoga, and raising our daughter together
Uma spent her 6th year on Planet Earth. She's really growing, spent the year focusing on school, goofy kid play, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, swimming, engineering, and science. Working on science kits and activities with her is one of my greatest joys. I also became a coach at her BJJ school; my blue belt helps validate my role there. She's quite the character and we adore her
Suffered a serious back injury from some bad weight lifting that had me bedridden for the first two months of the year. What was effective for my recovery included acupuncture, healthy diet, stretching, mobility exercises, living in a warm country, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). These days I'm much more careful about partners and restrict my sparring to just 2-3 rolls per session
Started doing a lot more gi BJJ. London is very much a city of no-gi practitioners, but in Manila most schools focus on gi. It's funny when you think about the uniform preferences of each as the gi makes more sense in the cooler weather of London compared to the tropical heat of Manila
Spent much of the year in the Philippines. I appreciate the people and culture - the people I've met have been friendly, hard-working, pragmatic, and trustworthy. Watching the nation improve (reduced poverty, improved infrastructure) since I first visited in 2012 is inspiring
Left an AI lab and have been focusing on startups and FOSS
Started the Air web framework with Audrey
Rewrote this blog in Air
Spoke at PyCon Davao 2025 and various meetups
Snorkeled for the first time in nearly 20 years. I did it in Mexico back in 2006, and this time in the Philippines in Batangas. It was amazing to see the coral and fish life up close again
Travelled to new places:
- 🚙 Batangas, PH
- ✈️ Davao, PH
- ✈️ Denver, CO
- ✈️ Melbourne, AU
- 🚙 Tagaytay, PH
- ✈️ Taipei, TW
- ✈️ Tokyo, JP
- 🚄 Yokohama, JP

2025 Resolutions Completed

✔️ Adore my soul mate, Audrey Roy Greenfeld
✔️ Be there for my daughter Uma Roy Greenfeld in her 6th year on Planet Earth
✖️ Beat last year's number of blog posts
✔️ Continue my fitness journey with BJJ, weights, cycling, walking, and other healthy activities
✖️ Write fiction again, maybe publish it
✔️ Continue to have a healthy work/life balance
✔️ Travel to yet more new places, preferably by train or other carbon-efficient methods. Unfortunately the geography of Asia and limited mass transit options made staying out of airplanes difficult. I wish ocean liners were still a thing
✔️ Be a speaker in at least one conference
✔️ Change my career from being a backend developer to that of an ML/AI specialist. I did this but it wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be

2026 Resolutions

❤️ Continue to adore my soul mate, Audrey Roy Greenfeld
👩‍👧 Be there for my daughter Uma Roy Greenfeld in her 7th year on Planet Earth. Continue to contribute to her activities
📝 Write at least as many blog posts as I did last year (37)
🥋 Continue my fitness journey with BJJ, weights, yoga, climbing, and other healthy activities
📚 Write fiction again, maybe publish it
⚖️ Continue to have a healthy work/life balance
🌍 Travel to yet more new places, preferably by train or other carbon-efficient methods
🎤 Be a speaker in at least one conference
🤖 Stay focused on research rather than building product. I'm much more interested in exploration
💪 Avoid injury and maintain my health so I can be there for Audrey and Uma for many years to come
🤿 Snorkle again. Nature is amazing

TIL: Using PygmentsRenderer with mistletoe as a partial

2026-02-22T10:09:16.103693+00:00

For the past 18 months or so on this site, I've been using marked.js for the web and python-markdown for the atom feed. I decided not long ago to switch to using mistletoe so there's one consistent source of truth for markdown rendering.

I also thought that instead of defining a reusable function that both the web and atom feed could use, I would just use Python's functools.partial to create a new function that has the renderer argument set to PygmentsRenderer. Normally I prefer fully defined functions over using partial, but in this case, since it is for my personal site it felt like a good use of partial.

Add the dependencies

uv add mistletoe pygments

Create the partial function

from functools import partial

import mistletoe
from mistletoe.contrib.pygments_renderer import PygmentsRenderer

markdown = partial(mistletoe.markdown, renderer=PygmentsRenderer)

Use the new function

html = markdown(markdown_string)

See it in action

Here's the commits where I implemented this change, at least on the web side: Using pygments for highlighting of code. Before I change the atom feed generation to use this, I'll make sure that it renders nicely on planetpython and other feed aggregators. I'll post that in a seperate TIL when I do figure out how to do that.

What I miss about London

2026-03-01T00:58:24.171653+00:00

It's been nearly a year since we left London. We lived there from March of 2023 to March of 2025. I find myself reflecting on the things I really enjoyed during our time there.

Things that I miss about London

Architecture, especially the older buildings
Mixed use neighborhoods, with shops and restaurants on the ground floor and apartments above
Museums, so many good ones
Public transit, the buses, tube, and rail were all very good and made it easy to get around without a car
Walkability, thanks to how compact neighborhoods were due to narrow streets, some just a few feet wide
Bike routes and bike sharing services
Cozy homes and food businesses
Culture of hand-me-downs and second hand shopping, especially for kids clothes and toys. We not only saved money but reduced waste. It allowed us to teach our daughter about giving up things she no longer needed to other kids who could use them
Easy access to the countryside
Easy access to Europe
Not significantly further to visit East Coast family in the US than from California
Parks and green spaces
Calculating GMT was easy
The places where streets shut down during lunchtime so food stalls could serve meals
Good public primary schools being the standard for young children
So many different gyms and workout methods competing with each other offering amazing trial deals
Premium dairy products:
- Clotted cream
- Milk from Devonshire and Cornwall
- Blue stilton cheese
- Easy access to French cheeses
British food, specifically:
- Fish and chips
- Bangers and mash
- Sunday roast at the pub
- Yorkshire puddings
- Water crackers available everywhere
- Seasonal vegetables that were fresh and delicious

Things I don't miss about London

The constant smoking and vaping
The cost of living, especially housing and food
The commonality of theft, especially of phones and bikes

Top Terminal Tools

2026-03-05T07:30:50.970143+00:00

When I sit down to code, these are the tools I use at this time whenever I touch code. In alphabetical order:

Atuin

Atuin is a replacement for the default shell history. It saves your history to a local, encrypted SQLite database. Then it allows for blazing fast searches. You can sync your history across devices, and is has a lot of other features. I can't imagine using a terminal without Atuin.

For OSX users, I recommend installing following these instructions.

bat

A Rust-based cat replacement. It has syntax highlighting, line numbers, and a lot of other features that make it a great tool for quickly looking at files in the terminal.

Ghostty

Ghostty is a fast, feature-rich, and cross-platform terminal emulator that I believe works everywhere. Yes, TMUX (and competitors) are more configurable and have more features, but Ghostty just works out of the box. Ghostty eschews the arcane key combinations of its predecessors in favor of intuitive keybindings. A ghostty terminal can be split horizontally and vertically and copy/paste works as expected. It also doesn't appear to interfere with any other shell tool, something that annoyed me about TMUX.

Usually I have three vertical panels:

On the far left a panel for running general shell commands like git, uv, and whatever. Atuin is a must for me, giving me shell history on steriods so I don't have to remember commands anymore
In the middle I run a CLI-based text editor, these days usually pad
On the righthand side a panel for running LLM CLI tools, usually AMP, Codex, and sometimes Claude

GitHub CLI

Even though I use a fraction of the available commands, this is just a really useful tool for working on GitHub-hosted projects.

Pad

Pad is an easy-to-use terminal editor I created for those of us who aren't into vim. It's powered by Will McGugan's Textual. I did what I can to make pad work with typical VS Code keybindings.

Right now I'm not accepting general contributions to Pad. I am still recovering from a head injury and that unfortunately makes reviewing PRs challenging. As I get better I plan to put more features into the project and perhaps even accept contributions. For now it does what I need it to do and is a handy addition to my tool chain.

Various LLM CLI tools

I have no loyalty to any particular LLM provider. I use whatever tool gets the job done and for which I have free or affordable credits. For now I use:

Amp
ChatGPT Codex
Claude Code

For a while I was using gemini-cli, but it stopped working for me weeks ago. Rather than try to debug it I just used the competition.

TIL: Checkov's Gun

2026-03-09T03:12:43.043418+00:00

Chekhov's gun is a storytelling rule that says:

If you show something important early in a story, it should matter later.

I've used this technique for years but didn't know it had a name until today. It's similar to foreshadowing, and objectively just a synonym of that word. My personal interpretation is that it has to do with specific concrete objects or behaviors rather.

One of my favorite uses of Checkov's Gun is in early cinema as well as some Hong Kong action films where the camera will show a background object early in a dramatic scene. That background object will then be used in some way later in the action. Buster Keaton, Jackie Chan, and Sammo Hung are the grandmasters of this technique.

Stupid human coding mistakes

2026-03-10T05:54:45.072695+00:00

This bug was created by me without the assistance of any AI. Does that make this "human slop"?

description=content["attributes"].get("description", "slug"),

What this snippet does is that if the content attributes doesn't include a description field, then the description provided will be "slug". It's a stupid bug that's been in my personal site for about 18 months. I should have a test around it (but was lazy) and I shouldn't have made the mistake in the first place (I was overconfident). It is, in a word, "sloppy".

So does that mean I generated "human slop"?

To return a value or not return a value

2026-03-13T02:41:19.009972+00:00

I believe any function that changes a variable should return a variable. For example, I argue that Python's random.shuffle() is flawed. This is how random.shuffle() unfortunately works:

import random

my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print(f"Original list: {my_list}")

# Change happens in place
# my_list is forever changed
random.shuffle(my_list) 
print(f"Shuffled list: {my_list}")

In my opinion, random.shuffle() should work like this:

import random

my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

# Function returns a new, shuffled list
new_list = random.shuffle(my_list)
print(f"Original list: {my_list}")
print(f"Shuffled list: {new_list}")

Of course, Python won't fix this mistake to fit my preference. There's too many places in the universe expecting random.shuffle to change a list in place. Yet it still bugs me every time I see the function. Stuff like this is why I created my listo package, it allowed me to get past my own sense of annoyance. The listo library is barely used, even by myself, serving mostly as a fun exercise that allowed me to scratch an itch about objects changing in place.

Counterargument

Some of you might say, "It's not practical to return giant dict or list objects when you are changing a single value". You are correct. However, does it make sense for random.shuffle and other offenders to muck around with the entirety of a variable's contents? Why shouldn't a function that disrupts the entirety of a variable just return a new variable?

Closing statement

My preference is that when it is reasonable, that the scope is not outrageous, to create functions that return values.

Also, to the people who implemented the original random.shuffle function, you are awesome. I'm just taking advantage of having 20/20 hindsight.

Facebook's Terms of Service

2026-04-02T17:00:52.469879+00:00

Note: On March 18, 2025 I wrote this on Facebook to help instruct family and friends about how. I am reposting it here to make it easier for me to find when I need it.

You know how people sometimes post on their Facebook feed that they deny Facebook the right to use their data? For the record, that post is useless. In fact, as soon as you post that statement on Facebook, Facebook can do with it whatever they want.

Rather than go off what faux attorney statements found on the internet might say, I strongly suggest instead everyone read the Facebook terms of service: www.facebook.com/terms/

Specifically, I recommend people go over Section 3.3 "The permissions you give us", where it is made clear that by using Facebook we grant Facebook a "non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content".

Section 3.3 also covers deleting of content, which is the only way according to Facebook's terms that we can stop facebook from using our data.

Most other social media platforms have similar policies. Use their platform and you are granting them access. Don't take my word for it, find and read their terms of service.

So if you are wondering why I post intermittently on social media, and without anything very personal, now you know. We aren't the customers of social media services, we're the product. That's something we need to recognize and understand everytime we use one of these platforms.

TIL: Improving µCSS readability on mobile

2026-04-06T02:45:46.176600+00:00

With µCSS on mobile, the typography can be hard to read, and media queries appear to be the right approach to fixing it. Adding this bit of CSS below makes text more easy to read on mobile devices. I'm now using this on both this site and my author site.

@media (max-width: 768px) {
  body {
    font-size: 18px;
    line-height: 1.7;
    padding: 0 14px;
  }

  h1, h2, h3 {
    line-height: 1.25;
  }

  pre, code {
    font-size: 0.9em;
    overflow-x: auto;
  }
}

Enter Grimdaniel

2026-04-14T03:31:22.288365+00:00

TLDR

My new fiction-dedicated fiction writing site is here:

grimdaniel.com

Why?

About three months ago I received a head injury. Recovery wasn't quick, and I couldn't do a lot of things like look at traffic, do intense workouts, or spend more than a few minutes on code. Mostly I could only do passive things like reading or watching video. One active thing that I could do with impunity was write fiction. I hadn't done it in years, but now I found it was a rare active pursuit I could enjoy.

The result was my first book in about 8 years, a grimdark novella titled, "Everyone Dies". I listed it here on this site, but most of my readers are here for my technical writing, not fiction. Rather than combine the two categoris (non-fiction and fiction) I decided to build out a dedicated app for my fiction efforts.

As for a name, "Daniel" is the formal version of "Danny," which works better for an author of dark fantasy. In tech I try to be more positive than negative so "Danny" works better there. And so Grimdaniel was born.

Where?

The location of my new material is centered around the grimdaniel.com app. It's more than just a site, it is an engine for creating a new audience. Amongst other things there's a mailing list and mechanisms for granting access to in-progress works and advanced review copies. The newsletter signup starts at grimdaniel.com/list-signup.

How?

I built out grimdaniel.com used these tools:

Air to build out the website portion of the app. The GitHub repo for the project is at github.com/pydanny/grimdaniel.com
sendfox for managing of the email list
Story Origin App for growing of my fiction-focused community. While it looks simple on the surface, it is actually a sophisticated app designed to help authors grow their audience.

Soon I'll write about the tools I use to write books.

Word counter that ignores Markdown

2026-05-04T11:55:23.590783+00:00

I've been doing a lot of writing recently, and tracking my word count. I write in markdown. I could just render the text using a markdown library and then do a count on the generated output, but then I wouldn't have the fun of writing out a bunch of regular expressions. Yes, I know the cautionary meme by that says:

"Some people, when confronted with a problem, think ‘I know, I’ll use regular expressions.’ Now they have two problems." -- Jamie Zawinski

I don't care.

I love working in regular expressions. It was the one thing I got out of my brief foray in Perl at the very start of my software development career. I carried it into my Java and ColdFusion days and periodically use it in Python. Yes, Python has lots of useful string tools, but playing with regular expressions until they are just right remains a fun puzzle for me.

So here you go, a Python-powered word counter powered by my desire to noodle with regular expressions:

"""
word_count.py — Count words in a Markdown file or a directory of markdown files.

Dependencies:
    typer
    rich

Usage:
    python word_count.py README.md
    python word_count.py README.md --no-strip-markdown
    python word_count.py README.md --verbose
    python word_count.py book/
"""

import re
from pathlib import Path

import typer
from rich.console import Console
from rich.panel import Panel
from rich.table import Table
from rich import box

app = typer.Typer(
    name="word-count",
    help="Count words in Markdown files.",
    add_completion=False,
)
console = Console()


MARKDOWN_PATTERNS = [
    r"```[\s\S]*?```",  # fenced code blocks
    r"`[^`]+`",  # inline code
    r"!\[.*?\]\(.*?\)",  # images
    r"\[.*?\]\(.*?\)",  # links => keep link text
    r"^#{1,6}\s+",  # ATX headings
    r"^\s*[-*+]\s+",  # unordered list markers
    r"^\s*\d+\.\s+",  # ordered list markers
    r"[*_]{1,2}([^*_]+)[*_]{1,2}",  # bold / italic => keep inner text
    r"~~([^~]+)~~",  # strikethrough => keep inner text
    r"^>+\s*",  # blockquote markers
    r"^\s*\|.*\|\s*$",  # table rows (kept as-is, words counted)
    r"^[-*_]{3,}\s*$",  # horizontal rules
    r"<!--[\s\S]*?-->",  # HTML comments
    r"<[^>]+>",  # remaining HTML tags
]

_STRIP_RE = re.compile("|".join(MARKDOWN_PATTERNS), re.MULTILINE)


def strip_markdown(text: str) -> str:
    """Remove Markdown syntax, keeping readable prose."""
    # Replace links/images with their label text
    text = re.sub(r"!\[.*?\]\(.*?\)", "", text)
    text = re.sub(r"\[(.*?)\]\(.*?\)", r"\1", text)
    # Remove fenced code blocks entirely
    text = re.sub(r"```[\s\S]*?```", "", text)
    # Remove inline code
    text = re.sub(r"`[^`]+`", "", text)
    # Unwrap bold / italic
    text = re.sub(r"[*_]{1,2}([^*_\n]+)[*_]{1,2}", r"\1", text)
    text = re.sub(r"~~([^~]+)~~", r"\1", text)
    # Remove HTML comments and tags
    text = re.sub(r"<!--[\s\S]*?-->", "", text)
    text = re.sub(r"<[^>]+>", "", text)
    # Strip leading syntax characters
    text = re.sub(r"^#{1,6}\s+", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
    text = re.sub(r"^\s*[-*+]\s+", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
    text = re.sub(r"^\s*\d+\.\s+", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
    text = re.sub(r"^>+\s*", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
    text = re.sub(r"^[-*_]{3,}\s*$", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
    return text


def count_stats(text: str) -> dict:
    words = text.split()
    lines = text.splitlines()
    chars_no_space = len(re.sub(r"\s", "", text))
    sentences = len(re.findall(r"[.!?]+", text))
    return {
        "words": len(words),
        "lines": len(lines),
        "chars": len(text),
        "chars_no_space": chars_no_space,
        "sentences": max(sentences, 1),
        "avg_word_len": (
            round(sum(len(x) for x in words) / len(words), 1) if words else 0.0
        ),
        "reading_time_min": max(1, round(len(words) / 200)),  # ~200 wpm
    }


def _count_single_file(
    file: Path,
    strip: bool,
    verbose: bool,
    plain: bool,
) -> dict:
    """Count words for a single file, print output, and return stats."""
    raw = file.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
    text = strip_markdown(raw) if strip else raw
    stats = count_stats(text)

    if plain:
        typer.echo(f"{file.name}\t{stats['words']}")
        return stats

    if not verbose:
        console.print(
            Panel(
                f"[bold cyan]{stats['words']:,}[/bold cyan] words  ·  "
                f"[dim]{stats['reading_time_min']} min read[/dim]",
                title=f"[bold]{file.name}[/bold]",
                border_style="cyan",
            )
        )
        return stats

    # Verbose: full table
    table = Table(box=box.ROUNDED, show_header=True, header_style="bold magenta")
    table.add_column("Metric", style="bold")
    table.add_column("Value", justify="right")

    rows = [
        ("Words", f"{stats['words']:,}"),
        ("Lines", f"{stats['lines']:,}"),
        ("Characters (with spaces)", f"{stats['chars']:,}"),
        ("Characters (no spaces)", f"{stats['chars_no_space']:,}"),
        ("Sentences (approx.)", f"{stats['sentences']:,}"),
        ("Average word length", f"{stats['avg_word_len']} chars"),
        ("Estimated reading time", f"{stats['reading_time_min']} min"),
        ("Markdown stripped", "yes" if strip else "no"),
    ]
    for label, value in rows:
        table.add_row(label, value)

    console.print()
    console.print(f"  [bold]{file}[/bold]", style="dim")
    console.print(table)
    console.print()
    return stats


@app.command()
def count(
    path: Path = typer.Argument(
        ...,
        help="Path to a Markdown file or a directory with digit-prefixed .md files.",
        exists=True,
        file_okay=True,
        dir_okay=True,
        readable=True,
    ),
    strip: bool = typer.Option(
        True,
        "--strip-markdown/--no-strip-markdown",
        help="Strip Markdown syntax before counting (default: True).",
    ),
    verbose: bool = typer.Option(
        False,
        "--verbose",
        "-v",
        help="Show a full breakdown table.",
    ),
    plain: bool = typer.Option(
        False,
        "--plain",
        help="Print a bare number (word count only) — useful for scripting.",
    ),
):
    """Count words in a Markdown FILE or all digit-prefixed .md files in a directory."""
    if path.is_file():
        _count_single_file(path, strip, verbose, plain)
        return

    # Directory mode: find .md files starting with a digit
    files = sorted(x for x in path.glob("[0-9]*.md") if f.is_file())
    if not files:
        console.print(f"[red]No digit-prefixed .md files found in {path}[/red]")
        raise typer.Exit(code=1)

    total_words = 0
    for f in files:
        stats = _count_single_file(f, strip, verbose, plain)
        total_words += stats["words"]

    if plain:
        typer.echo(f"TOTAL\t{total_words}")
    else:
        console.print(
            Panel(
                f"[bold green]{total_words:,}[/bold green] words across "
                f"[bold]{len(files)}[/bold] files  ·  "
                f"[dim]{max(1, round(total_words / 200))} min read[/dim]",
                title=f"[bold]{path}[/bold] — Total",
                border_style="green",
            )
        )


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app()

Everyone Dies... is on Kindle Unlimited

2026-05-21T07:19:38.125587+00:00

Years ago, I co-wrote a book in which the protagonist died at the end. I liked the protagonist, as did my co-author and the readers. So, at the beginning of the sequel, we brought the character back to life.

While it was fun to write that resurrection, it meant his sacrifice was diminished. He had paid the ultimate price, but then got a refund.

Since then, I kept thinking about writing a new book (or series) where protagonists die with regularity. Sacrifice would have meaning. Characters would struggle with the death of those around them. I would promise that death is permanent.

The result is this story.

The release of this book is bittersweet. I admit that I don't want to let some of the characters go. And that's what makes this story so interesting for me, that I'll miss them in kind of the same way I miss friends and family who have passed away.

Read "Everyone Dies" on Amazon

Please write a review

Here's where I ask for reviews. Even the negative ones.

Positive reviews inspire me to write more. I run to the keyboard, and the words and story rush out. They energize me, and I love each and every one I get.

Negative reviews fuel the negative emotions that are useful for portraying the darkness in the stories I write. Also, they help me identify what I can improve.

Even neutral reviews are good. I feel neutral about them, but having them is better than no review!

Finally, if you feel like just putting in a star rating on Amazon (or Goodreads), with an absolute minimal review, that works too. No matter how many stars you choose, you help me by rating it.

Write a review!

A week in the life of a seven year old

2026-05-26T15:14:07.710573+00:00

School

Uma attends school every weekday. She really likes school. We have tried homeschooling, but she vastly prefers the structure and social life of being in a dedicated facility. Of course she sometimes has her grumbles about where she learns, but she loves the learning process and being around other children.

Afterschool activities

We keep Uma busy through a mix of activities, mostly physical. We want her to have at least an hour of physical activity a day. Besides the advantages of strength and health it gives her, it find she sleeps better if she's been active. In no particular order:

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 2-3x
Swimming class: 2x
Free swimming at the local pool: 3x, often on weekends too
Climbing gym: 0-1x
Playground fun at one of the local parks: 0-1x
Abacus class: 1-2x

Free time

Every day we try to give Uma at least an hour of her own time at home. We've found she starts to lose her happy demeanor if she doesn't time to herself. In general order of her preference:

Assembling engineering kits (crunchlabs and other similar things)
Arts and crafts
Reading
Cooking
Self-driven chess practice
TV time
Toy time