Katie's Place | 347Online.me

Primetime and the Monster Myth

2026-10-03T06:00:00Z

Primetime (2026) is about the events surrounding Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator, and its host Chris Hansen (played by Robert Pattinson) circa 2006. I walked into this movie on a whim, knowing precious little other than whom Pattinson was playing, but that was enough for me. It was a phenomenal film from beginning to end and I highly recommend going to see it in the theater if you have a chance.

Spoilers for Primetime (2026)

Content Warning for Sexual Violence, Grooming, Suicide

In the opening scene we hear Hansen quietly rehearsing his lines as the show's primary decoy actress opens the front door of the house in which the film crew have set up to shoot. After admitting their latest target into the home, she promptly excuses herself, leaving the man alone to wait in the kitchen. Atop a flight of stairs, Hansen appears in a flash. He reads off line after lurid line from chat logs between the man and whom he had thought to be an adolescent girl. An investigative journalist by trade, Hansen begins to attempt an interview. Pattinson's performance in this scene is as frightening as it is captivating. The effect is hypnotic, and as both the target and we the audience hang on every word, it quickly becomes crystal clear why Chris Hansen would eventually be nicknamed 'The Predator Hunter'. I think this film is a potent reminder that in order to catch a predator, one must necessarily become a predator themselves.

When the show's popularity gets it moved to a more prestigious yet more competitive time slot (the titular Primetime) the stakes are elevated tremendously. The network demands more and Hansen is thrilled to oblige, demanding more of his team in turn. The film will ultimately crescendo with the final target we will track, holed up in his home, shooting himself in the head. A dumbfounded Hansen runs through his script as ever, unsure what to do at this escalation. One line rings out above all the others: "What would've happened if I wasn't here?" the same words delivered earlier to the first man, cast through a dark fun house mirror.

This film does nothing to soften the vile acts of these men, yet it stops short of fully casting them as the "Ancient Evil" that Hansen believes them to be. It is a comfort to imagine that such reprehensible actions are simply those of inhuman monsters, rather than face the truth, that these are the actions of fallible, flesh-and-blood human beings just like the rest of us. When we allow ourselves to harbor hatred and contempt for other people, we all have the capacity to be monstrous.

It is an all-too-tempting fiction to tell ourselves that with enough cops, with enough prisons, with enough vengeful retribution we can lock away the worst aspects of humanity and throw away the key, but to do so is to debate who does and does not "qualify" as human, as deserving of rights. Whether granted to an individual or an institution, this is a level of power that no one should possess.

We truly damn ourselves to a Hell of our own creation when we attempt — whether in a court of law or the court of public opinion — to litigate humanity and personhood as anything other than intrinsic and unalienable.

Switching Password Managers is Getting Easier

2026-09-23T06:00:00Z

I'm truly delighted anytime I discover some website I use has added support for Passkeys. I was aware, however that moving them between devices or Password Managers could prove troublesome. I really enjoyed Ricky Mondello's piece a couple weeks back which got into some of the details behind the kinds of clever solutions being devised to build a more private and secure internet for all^[1]. Ricky is a very sharp engineer and a powerful communicator on the impacts and value of passkeys for regular people.

Shamefully, it was only by reading this post that I learned that the company behind my password manager of choice 1Password has seen fit to contribute financial support to Omarchy, the Linux distribution controlled by vocal neo-nazi DHH. Disgraceful. Switching Password Managers myself just became a lot more attractive. ↩︎

What's a Computer? | The Human's Guide to Computers

2026-08-05T12:00:00Z

Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science
~Girl Genius Online

Computers are all around us. Obvious examples are Smartphones, Game Consoles, and other "Smart" Appliances like Televisions. There are also computers hiding in surprising places you may not expect, such as Wireless Routers or Printers. When such a diverse set of devices can all be described with a single word, one begins to wonder: What's a Computer?

A Computer is a device that can perform useful work by executing millions of tiny steps in an ordered collection called a Program. Critical components include the Motherboard, Memory, Central Processing Unit (CPU), and Inputs/Outputs (I/O). In time we'll discuss each of these in detail, but we'll start with a basic overview.

A Motherboard is a large Printed Circuit Board (PCB) which connects every other component together. It's the first component to receive power when the device is powered on. Connected components are able to communicate with each other over electrical pathways called "Buses".

When we talk about a computer having "Memory", what we're really talking about is a working area to process, transform, hold onto, and re-arrange Data, similar in principle to how you might use a piece of scratch paper. When we put something into this workspace, we need to be able to retrieve it quickly no matter where it is located within. Just as the Post Office communicates where mail should go, regions of memory are referenced by their "Address". This kind of arbitrary location-based retrieval is the eponymous "Random Access" in Random Access Memory (RAM).

The CPU executes atomic units of work called "Instructions". These kinds of operations are so small, you'd hardly believe they could ever be useful. We're talking about complexity at the level of "put this number over there". But don't let their seeming simplicity fool you; every program that has ever been written or ever will be written is comprised of these kinds of tiny building blocks.

Last but not least, we have I/O. These are all the various physical connection points that allow us to connect to external devices or components such as Input Methods like a Keyboard or Mouse, or Output Devices like a Display or Speakers. Some external devices act as both input and output, such as an External Storage Medium like a Hard Drive. For any data to enter or exit the world inside the computer, it must first pass through the I/O.

In concert, a Computer is far greater than the sum of its parts. When we put all these pieces together we can accomplish truly amazing things. We can calculate additional digits of pi, achieving precision many orders of magnitude above and beyond what one could ever apply in practice. We can simulate aspects of the physical world such as how differently-shaped objects affect and are affected by oncoming headwinds. This power increases exponentially when connecting multiple computers together, allowing us to communicate with people and cultures on every continent, even with astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Computers make all this and so much more possible. They are among the most powerful tools we have ever devised, but this promethean bargain also places them among our most dangerous. Easily as they can connect us, they can divide us. Quickly as they can spread truth and peace, they can spread fear and strife. With great power, there must also come great responsibility.

Despite their place at the center of all our lives, how these machines really work is oft-regarded as a Realm of the Arcane, inscrutable to all but a select few, far beyond the grasp of "mere mortals". This could not be further from the truth.

Information wants to be free, so if you are someone for whom knowledge of this domain has felt inaccessible, it is by no means because you are simply of an "inferior sort". Rather it is because this information has been systematically obscured by jargon and withheld by gatekeepers. In this series I hope to cut through the noise and de-mystify the subject matter for anyone and everyone, regardless of technical acumen or personal background.

Journey with me through the forces by which our modern world has been built and broken alike. Welcome to the Human's Guide to Computers.

Tech Tales: The Ouya

2026-07-10T06:00:00Z

I was recently on an episode of Tech Tales, the podcast hosted by my good friend Corbin Davenport

This was an especially fun episode to record featuring lots of twists and turns that I either didn't remember or never knew about. That's always how it goes with this show, Corbin is really good at that.

I hope you'll give the episode a listen!

I shouldn't have to resort to half-working Firefox forks

2026-01-29T07:00:00Z

My friend Corbin Davenport has created numerous useful tools^[1] over the years to make the web a nicer place. Unfortunately, it's not just the web that's worsening, but the browsers in which we view it too.

Corbin's really outdone himself with Just the Browser. I myself am a Firefox user, and I've been on my own odyssey to get all these annoyances disabled. I've been implementing this via my Nix config, but while that's great for me, it's an awful lot of complexity.

I'm really glad someone out there is doing the work of making these kinds of improvements accessible to as many people as possible who may not feel comfortable digging around in weird obscure settings.

Thank you <3

I myself use Link Cleaner most frequently ↩︎

Samus did not crawl out of development hell unchanged

2025-12-09T07:00:00Z

Note

The linked post contains spoilers for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

I really enjoyed Lizstar's review of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and highly recommend giving it a read. My feelings traced a very similar arc to Liz. I may or may not end up publishing a post of my own on the subject, although I wouldn't call it a review.

We'll see.

Protagonists, Antagonists, and Toy Story

2025-11-20T07:00:00Z

Recently, in a conversation with my friend and colleague Zak^[1], we came upon the subject of Toy Story^[2]. Zak made the rather bold claim that Woody is the true villain of the first film, and we had a fun little back and forth about that before our attention was drawn back to other matters. I've seen this take go around a few times over the years, and there is certainly some truth to it! This has been rattling around in my head ever since, so I'd like to offer the slightly more complex perspective I eventually sent to Zak the following Saturday.

Warning

Spoilers for Toy Story (1995)

Image Credit: Zak Dagnall

Woody is the protagonist, in that he is the primary character we follow throughout the story.^[3]. The terms protagonist and antagonist do not describe the morals of the characters, rather they describe the characters' relationship to one another within the structure of the narrative. From the start Woody is a flawed character and most certainly not a hero. He's bossy, irritable, and set in his ways. However, while villains are often also portrayed this way, these are not inherently villainous qualities.

Despite his shortcomings, we know that he does care about Andy and the other toys. Before Buzz shows up, Woody's actions are entirely in service of maintaining calm among them amidst the tension of the impending move. He's trying to ensure things go smoothly and that no toy is left behind.

Buzz' arrival disrupts the status quo to which Woody has become complacent. It's possible, if perhaps unlikely, that Woody had been entirely truthful in his initial claims not to be worried about being replaced. The events prior to the trip to Pizza Planet are a test of Woody's character which he fails! Instead of rising above his insecurities and letting Andy make his own choice, he opts to give into them by putting his thumb on the scale. In his attempt to knock Buzz behind the table, he intends only to incapacitate Buzz long enough so that he can go to Pizza Planet with Andy. Buzz falls out the window instead because this plan goes awry. Interestingly we see a glimmer of Woody's conscience take over in this scene. When Buzz falls, Woody's immediate instinctual reaction is one of concern for his fellow toy, sticking his head out the window exclaiming "Buzz!". It's only after he's had a moment to process these events that, confronted by the other toys, he reverts to myopic self-interest.

Later, trapped under the milk crate in Sid's house, attempting to rally a demoralized Buzz to his aid, he is forced to finally accept responsibility for getting them into this mess in the first place, his remorse evident in his statement that "I'm the one that should be strapped to that rocket". The scene where Woody makes it into the moving truck and attempts to use R/C to rescue Buzz is a mirror image of the earlier scene at the window. His belief in "no toy left behind" reaffirmed, he refuses to make the same mistake twice. His actions here are the exact opposite of those prior. Concerned only with rescuing Buzz, he wastes no time trying to explain himself^[4].

Woody is a nuanced character who, despite his principles, is not immune to his own selfish desires^[5], but this is exactly what makes his arc so satisfying. Facing the consequences of his actions reminds him that what's truly important is doing what's best for others, even when it's not what's best for him. Neither hero nor villain, I'd argue that his character is something far more compelling: Human.

Happy 30th Anniversary Toy Story

Who, by the way, also made the image seen at the top of this article which he has graciously allowed me to use here. Thanks Zak! ↩︎
This is an extremely common occurrence in conversations with me. My brain is a machine that turns conversational context into Toy Story references 😅 ↩︎
Buzz is our secondary main character, the word for which is deuteragonist, which I find fun ↩︎
Causing him to be thrown overboard by Rocky, ironically ↩︎
This comes up again in Toy Story 2 for that matter when the other toys show up to rescue Woody from Al ↩︎

The Stewardship of Walking in Love

2025-11-04T07:00:00Z

I was honored on Sunday Morning November 2nd, 2025, to have the opportunity to speak at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, which I have been attending for about a year now. Part of our Stewardship Season Speaker Series, I wanted to introduce my fellow parishioners to my late mother and the lessons she taught me about what it truly means to be a Christian, despite what some of the loudest voices would say.

Dedicated to Christina Janzen (1964 - 2017), who taught me each and every day through word and deed alike what it truly means to love unconditionally.
I love and miss you so much, Mom. Thank you for always loving me.
May you rest in peace.

The Stewardship of Walking in Love (PDF)

Good morning.

When I was little, Sunday Morning meant Sunday School. I learned a lot there each week with my two younger siblings. We learned about a young couple living in a beautiful garden, and how life changed for them after eating something they shouldn't have. We learned about a man who built an enormous boat to save animals from extinction. We also learned of course, about the barn-born carpenter named Jesus, who was unjustly killed when his "radical ideology" made too many waves. Stewardship is a recurring theme across each of these stories, but I'm not here to talk to you today about tending the land, or preserving endangered wildlife. No, what I'm here to talk to you about today is walking in love.

In all my life, I have never known a better example of this than my late mother, Christina Janzen. My Mom was always doing something for somebody, whether it was bringing an elder a hot meal after a bad fall, or visiting people in the hospital to lay hands on and pray for them. For as long as I can remember, she truly lived up to her name 'Christina', which literally means 'follower of Christ'. According to her, walking in love meant treating others the way you want to be treated, helping people in need, and showing kindness and acceptance to everyone, especially those who were different from us. Her clearest demonstration of this to me, was her constant refrain that for as long as she lived, she would always accept my siblings and I for who we were, no matter what. Anyone who knew my Mom adored her and she adored them right back. Needless to say, everyone was devastated when she died eight years ago, after a long battle with various illnesses. While I received many wonderful things from my Mom such as her love for classic rock, or the red four-slice toaster she gave me for Christmas the year I rented my first home, showing me what it truly means to love unconditionally, was far and away her greatest gift to me.

As I reached adulthood, working my first job, paying my first bills, and starting a family of my own, I'd been experiencing a crisis of faith. I saw so many people who called themselves 'Christians' seem to lose sight of anything other than the so-called "abominations" of dressing the "wrong" way, or loving the "wrong" people. Mom, for her part, was disgusted by this, and when the pastor preached a 45-minute sermon exclusively dedicated to demonizing gay and transgender people, she never set foot in that church again. If this experience had weakened my faith, losing my Mom destroyed it. How was I supposed to be a Christian in a world where the voices screaming about who was and was not acceptable were amplified, yet my mother's voice, which only spoke words of love and reconciliation, had been silenced?

I had seldom been back to a church ever since, when I attended my first service here at St. Andrew's. Having seen so many claiming to represent 'Christianity' despite making targets out of first one sibling, then another, and finally myself, I was initially timid and skeptical. While those of you in this parish who know me have only ever known me as Katie, a woman, I have cried my eyes out so many times lamenting that the woman who raised me, and who always promised to accept me for me, never had the chance to meet the version of myself standing here today.

But I am so proud to say that St. Andrew's is where I belong because here, the golden rule isn't some childish thing to leave behind, 'all are welcome' is more than just a slogan, and each week we are instructed to practice the kind of stewardship my Mom always taught me. "Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God." THAT is what stewardship truly means to me. Unconditional love.

Thank you

Introducing KClip 📋

2025-10-09T06:00:00Z

KClip is a cross-platform commandline utility I wrote for copying to and pasting from the system clipboard, similar to pbcopy/pbpaste on macOS.

You can install it now via cargo

cargo install kclip-cli
kclip install # installs symlink aliases for kccopy/kcpaste

More info: github.com/347Online/kclip-cli

I've long been annoyed by not having a consistent commandline interface to the clipboard across macOS and Linux. I had long ago had the idea to use a shell script to abstract over the different tools available across the different platforms, but this idea wasn't particularly satisfying and I never ended up moving on it.

Recently however, I was browsing 1Password's GitHub repositories (as one does) and I noticed they maintain a library called Arboard. This library is fantastic. As I was reading the documentation I suddenly had the realization that I could use this to solve my issue!

I've been using KClip myself for about a week now and I'm already really happy with it. It's feature-complete in terms of my initial vision for a minimum viable product, but I already have some fun new ideas I'm playing with.

If this sounds like a tool you could use, I'd be so happy if you gave it a look.

Watch this space for updates as KClip evolves

Techathon 2025

2025-09-23T06:00:00Z

I'm pleased to announce that I'll be joining the Techathon livestream this Saturday, September 27th.

We'll be playing games, discussing technology topics, all benefitting Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

MSF's life-saving mission has perhaps never been more important, so I'm incredibly honored to be participating.

Details for the event can be found at techathon.live

Hope to see you there!

Tech Tales Movie Club: Pirates of Silicon Valley

2025-08-03T06:00:00Z

In case you missed it, I was on another episode of Tech Tales, hosted by my friend Corbin Davenport. This was my first movie club episode and I had a blast. Corbin, Zachary Wander, and myself discussed Pirates of Silicon Valley. It's hard to say it was a "good" movie, but I do highly recommend it if you have any interest in the early rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. It also has some of the best casting choices imaginable.

Check out the movie, then listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts!

The New 347Online.me

2025-06-21T06:00:00Z

I've been dissatisfied with my website since oh... I dunno, a few minutes after I launched it? Not to mention that my blog was completely separate from the website as a whole. That sucks!

I knew I could do better. A regular hey-I'm-just-a-person-who-says-stuff-sometimes website shouldn't be a React app. And I've been doing this kind of thing long enough that I can make my own blog, damn it.

I've been itching to switch over to a static site generator and finally after much deliberation, I have switched over to 11ty — check out the source code for details.

I'm really trying to write more and I've realized that I hated the publishing workflow for my old blog. I'm a [Neo]Vim girlie and these days that's where I do all of my writing. Pasting that markdown into a web form didn't feel nice. Writing in the editor I spend most of my time in and being able to write drafts as git commits in a pull request sparks joy.

Even as I write this I'm already quite enamored with this new workflow. It's never felt easier to express myself.

There are still a few rough edges I'd like to polish up — if I don't have RSS soon I'll go mad — but this should be a great foundation to build on for years to come.

I couldn't be happier. I hope to talk to you here again real soon. :)

The Mystery of the Bloomfield Bridge

2025-05-13T06:00:00Z

This article is incredible. What starts as a banal public works inquiry quickly spirals into a sprawling affair uncovering a shocking amount of history for what seems like a trivial question: Why did they build this bridge?

Your product shouldn’t require showing my legal name

2025-02-24T07:00:00Z

This is one of my biggest frustrations with many online services particularly those in the realm of hiring and employment as Nicole mentioned with LinkedIn

What especially gets me is when they ask for a preferred name, then continually refer to me by my legal name anyway

Estimating projects sells them short (and that’s okay)

2024-12-17T07:00:00Z

The upshot here is that given this sort of distribution, we capture the property of unlimited potential downside with limited upside. And this is really the case with estimates!

This point about unlimited potential downside with limited upside is going to stick with me.