Author: Brian Enigma

Brian Enigma is a Portlander, manipulator of atoms & bits, minor-league blogger, and all-around great guy. He typically writes about the interesting “maker” projects he's working on, but sometimes veers off into puzzles, software, games, local news, and current events.

You are Beautiful, Inside and Out

I have perhaps gained a reputation among close personal friends. The phrase “real-life troll” has been kicked around by those that are in the know. I can neither confirm nor deny this allegation, but the following evidence has been entered into the record: Exhibit A: The “voice activated paper towel instruction” stickers. Exhibit B: The … Continue reading You are Beautiful, Inside and Out

Open Architecture Security Cameras

About a month ago, I got a pair of security cameras for the house. It took a bit of research to arrive at the right ones. There are a lot of cameras on the market, and most of them are cheap things locked into a vendor ecosystem. It was a bit more expensive, but I … Continue reading Open Architecture Security Cameras

Living With USB-C

I’ve had my MacBook Pro for a little over 6 months now. It’s the one with the touchbar and only USB-C ports. I was worried that those ports — no “conventional” USB ports nor an SD card slot — would be the most difficult part of the laptop. (It turns out that the most difficult … Continue reading Living With USB-C

Experiments in Glass Etching

Every fall I bust out the candlemaking supplies. My skill in that department isn’t going to place my candles in fancy boutiques, but they’re functional enough to provide some warmth and ambience throughout the winter. And every year I hone that skill or broaden the scope to adjacent domains. I’ve mainly stuck to producing container … Continue reading Experiments in Glass Etching

Reduced Drinking with a Victorian Design

In day-to-day life, I drink a lot of water and a lot of tea. If there’s a drink in front of me, I go through it fairly quickly. Unfortunately, this mechanism also applies to alcoholic drinks. At happy hours and out at bars with friends, I can go through quite a number of drinks before … Continue reading Reduced Drinking with a Victorian Design

Building Lambda Binaries in the Cloud

I needed to build some binaries for a specific version of Linux. Because manually building in a VM is for chumps, I automated it in the cloud. It’s effectively two clicks (plus some confirmation steps). This post will touch upon a couple of difference services, then tie things together toward the end. But first a warning: … Continue reading Building Lambda Binaries in the Cloud

Building the AdjectiveNounBot on AWS

Long ago, during the wild times of the 2004 internet, I ran a site of web experiments called Adjective Noun. The site’s header had random (but curated) pairings of adjectives with nouns, each coupled with a clever stock photo. Some of my favorites were “Dumb Snowman” (sitting in front of a fire) and “Mysterious Clock” … Continue reading Building the AdjectiveNounBot on AWS

I found a different kind of egg on Easter

A few weeks ago, I was preparing to travel. I have two lists I perpetually maintain for trips. One is a packing list of everything I will need (clothing, toiletries, chargers), stuff I might need (swim trunks, sunscreen, Fire TV Stick), and a separate appendix for camping. Overall, it holds almost 200 items! The other list is full … Continue reading I found a different kind of egg on Easter

Keeping a Zelda Task Journal

It’s no secret that I like to use paper. Just take a look at my Hipster PDA section, and my constant reliance on Field Notes notebooks for quickly jotting down ideas to deal with later. (I’m really into their Lunacy notebooks right now.) It doesn’t have the nifty editing, sharing, and text reflow that digital … Continue reading Keeping a Zelda Task Journal

What’s in my [Protest] Bag?

I’ve always enjoyed articles that interview folks from different walks of life that cover “what’s in your bag?” and “everyday carry” topics. You get to see a little glimpse of that person’s life, their personality. On rare occasions, I’d find something clever to incorporate into my life. But I always avoided writing one for myself. … Continue reading What’s in my [Protest] Bag?