Personal reflections on technology, life, music, philosophy, and the human experience.https://andrewriefenstahl.com/en-ushttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-09-01-whole-earth-curriculum/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-09-01-whole-earth-curriculum/Announcing Whole Earth Curriculum, a free open source K-12 curriculum built by an agent loop across nearly two billion tokens, and why DeepSeek made it affordable enough to actually finish.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-05-27-the-three-way-attack/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-05-27-the-three-way-attack/A call to protect our land against the intertwined forces of corporate extraction, unchecked AI infrastructure, and a government that has abandoned its stewardship. From Cancer Alley to the data center gold rush — this is the generational battle.Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-05-22-augment-humanity/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-05-22-augment-humanity/Late-night thoughts on why we're using AI wrong, why executives shouldn't fire people to chase hype, and why simpler was better.Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-05-08-vibe-coding-with-deepseek/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-05-08-vibe-coding-with-deepseek/Running out of tokens, discovering DeepSeek credits, and vibe coding a 3D rendering pipeline for an old-school RPG, with some technical debt along the way.Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-05-07-human-archaeology-moving-as-a-compression-algorithm/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-05-07-human-archaeology-moving-as-a-compression-algorithm/A stream-of-thought post on LLM context overload, moving, memory, and the strange emotional labor of deciding what stays and what goes.Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-04-26-stream-of-thought-socialist-ai/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-04-26-stream-of-thought-socialist-ai/On AI commit attribution, environmental contradictions, and why model access should look more like public infrastructure than a premium subscription.Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-04-20-why-i-kept-wordpress-and-bolted-laravel-on-top/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-04-20-why-i-kept-wordpress-and-bolted-laravel-on-top/A technical case study in building a modern membership site with Sage 11, Acorn 5, Blade, and config-as-code without going headless.Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-03-21-time-to-reinvent-the-wheel/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-03-21-time-to-reinvent-the-wheel/On bike rides, wormholes, collapsing the wheel, writing a novel for ten years, and why I take my brain's thoughts and just make something with them.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-01-24-changing-landscape/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-01-24-changing-landscape/A reflection on how AI coding agents are transforming software development, exposing organizational weaknesses, and why communication and leadership matter more than ever.Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-01-13-new-world-order/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2026-01-13-new-world-order/A reflection on technological disruption, the emergence of a globalized earth, and why we need accessible technology policies that benefit everyone—not just the technocratic elite.Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2025-12-06-unchecked-capitalism-and-social-systems/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2025-12-06-unchecked-capitalism-and-social-systems/A critical look at how unchecked capitalism and corporate investments in warfare—highlighted by Spotify's recent defense spending—threaten social systems, urging a return to community, education, and stewardship.Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2025-09-23-custom-context-aware-code-review-action/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2025-09-23-custom-context-aware-code-review-action/How I built a custom, context-aware AI code review system that leverages organizational knowledge and beats generic tools on cost and insight.Tue, 23 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2025-08-09-curious-path-through-pain/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2025-08-09-curious-path-through-pain/How genuine curiosity, neuroplasticity, and somatic tracking rewired my relationship with chronic wrist pain.Sat, 09 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2025-06-27-korea-japan/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2025-06-27-korea-japan/Travel reflections on Korea and Japan, cultural insights, infrastructure envy, and thoughts on society, education, and the future.Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2025-04-30-checking-in/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/2025-04-30-checking-in/An update after a few months of silence: health, work shifts, embracing new tech like Cursor and AI, music production, and recent reads.Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/moonlighters-tale-1/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/moonlighters-tale-1/An overview of recent moonlighting projects including building a restaurant website with Astro, a custom monitoring solution using Deno, and an agent RAG application to assist with revising a 90,000-word book.Sun, 22 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/die-before-dying/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/die-before-dying/A personal journey of spiritual awakening through the painful loss of identity, reshaping the self, and embracing a new perspective on life after a cochlear concussion.Wed, 28 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/emergent-trends-in-software/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/emergent-trends-in-software/An exploration of the current state and future aspirations of AI, custom agents, and the evolving landscape of technology. This piece delves into the practical applications of AI, the challenges and opportunities it presents, and the vision for creating AI agents that tackle everyday tasks and support communities.Sun, 09 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/rsi-developer-cautionary-tale-and-how-talon-saved-my-life/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/rsi-developer-cautionary-tale-and-how-talon-saved-my-life/An in-depth journey through the trials of enduring a repetitive stress injury, the invisible battle with chronic pain, and the eventual road to recovery through self-advocacy and innovative solutions like Talon speech software. This story aims to shed light on the often overlooked aspects of workplace injuries, mental health struggles, and the resilience required to navigate through them.Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/educated-citizens/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/educated-citizens/Exploring the key qualities essential for the success of human civilization, focusing on education, stewardship, recycling, empathy, and the concept of universal basic income.Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/react-slick-horizontal-slider/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/react-slick-horizontal-slider/A practical guide on developing an efficient, responsive horizontal scroll slider using React Slick, tailored for modern web projects.Tue, 09 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/my-philosophies/https://andrewriefenstahl.com/posts/my-philosophies/In the following passages, I delve into the core philosophies that have steered my life's journey: hard work, dreaming big, the importance of history, and the joy in the minutiae.Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT