Zachary Cook
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zac.direct
Zachary Cook
@zac.direct
DevOps, platform engineering. Bread and butter tech that isn't AI (mostly) or blockchain.

Blog: https://www.zac.direct
Democracy Project: https://www.democracycandidate.us
Internal Tools : @pulumi.com

Opinions my own, etc.
GabeNCube? Nah. They got the name right. youtu.be/0sa2R-PM0Uk

Anyways... Just sitting here wishing that my controller doesn't drift like whoa...
Daft Punk - Steam Machine (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Daft Punk
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 8:18 AM
I really love that a catfish was chosen for this cover.
October 13, 2025 at 4:46 AM
What's that sound? Is it the death nell of ads in my start menu?
www.winboat.app

Yes... Yes it is.
WinBoat - Run Windows Apps on Linux with Seamless Integration
WinBoat lets you run any Windows application on Linux with seamless desktop integration. Elegant interface, automated installs, filesystem integration, and native OS-level windows.
www.winboat.app
October 13, 2025 at 4:22 AM
I feel this in my bones.
October 4, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Unfortunate follow up question. WTF is a desktop?
September 27, 2025 at 5:43 AM
I find it hard to tell the difference tone-wise once I prompt a few basics. Never use emojis for anything. Please stop using thesis statements. Etc.

Maybe I'm odd in that because most people seem to want to give them personality and names. I want them to just be a robot.
August 21, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The other side of this is as a consumer of the models, I'm finding I have absolutely zero loyalty to any of them. While GPT gives me good results I'll use it. When Sonnet does better I stop using GPT.

Billions of dollars invested, and the industry is already commodified...
August 21, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Agreed. What I'm starting to wonder about though is how much it might chip away at all the supporting systems. E.g. new model promotion.

Feels like we're at the place in the story where John Henry is fine, but not everybody is John Henry and not everything needs someone as good as John Henry.
August 21, 2025 at 2:19 PM
The problem I've been finding is knowing exactly enough to question it in all the right ways. It's not just skeptical thinking required to keep this stuff in line, but James Randi level debunking skills.

What's becoming interesting though, is that those James Randi controls are easily copied...
August 21, 2025 at 4:50 AM
You can't trust it is right. I've been exploring this model a lot, and it's really good, but wants to over promise.

For code, coming up with some basic 'do not bullshit me' unit tests, like writing a mock http client and counting web requests has become something of a secret sauce.
August 21, 2025 at 4:44 AM
😂 That's how you know it's getting closer to real human behavior.

"IDK what the problem is let me allow all and see if it's fixed."

It's fixed. Backlogging investigation and moving on.
August 6, 2025 at 4:35 AM
This is pretty cool stuff! Have you looked at github.com/pulumi/pulum... to see how some of your examples compare to official answers for this?

Not too many apples-to-apples between them, but things like the vpc module are interesting.
GitHub - pulumi/pulumi-awsx: AWS infrastructure best practices in component form!
AWS infrastructure best practices in component form! - pulumi/pulumi-awsx
github.com
July 30, 2025 at 10:37 AM
I joined this company several years after his involvement here, but I've got a story or two I've heard of you want something for a B-side... my DM's are open 😂

lupefiasco.fandom.com/wiki/Higi
Higi
Higi (pronounced H IH G-iy; stylized in all lowercase) is a free mobile health and wellness app. It was created by Michael Ferro and first launched at the annual conference and music festival, South b...
lupefiasco.fandom.com
July 17, 2025 at 2:52 AM
The Beekeeper 2: This time it's Christmas or whatever.
April 17, 2025 at 5:20 AM