Michigan Forest History: From Ancient Pines To Second-Growth Woods

Michigan Forest History: From Ancient Pines To Second-Growth Woods

The first time I really noticed michigan forest history wasn’t in a museum. It was on a quiet trail, when I spotted an old, mossy stump the size of a kitchen table. The trees around it looked “wild,” yet that stump told a different story. Michigan’s forests have been cut, burned, replanted, protected, and argued…

California Tree Types: A Practical Guide to Identifying and Choosing the Right Trees

California Tree Types: A Practical Guide to Identifying and Choosing the Right Trees

The first time I tried to name the trees on my street in California, I got humbled fast. A “pine” turned out to be a cypress, a “maple” was a plane tree, and I kept mixing up live oaks that look nearly identical from the sidewalk. So this is my field-friendly guide to California tree…

How To Enable Brotli Compression For WordPress On Apache

How To Enable Brotli Compression For WordPress On Apache

Ever look at your WordPress site’s HTML response size and think, “Why am I sending all this extra weight?” That’s how I end up enabling compression on most Apache setups I touch. Brotli compression shrinks text files (HTML, CSS, JS, JSON, SVG) before they travel over the network. It’s like packing your suitcase with a…

Best Views in San Francisco: My Favorite Free (or Cheap) Lookouts

Best Views in San Francisco: My Favorite Free (or Cheap) Lookouts

San Francisco feels like a pop-up book. You turn a corner, climb ten steps, and suddenly the San Francisco skyline opens up. That’s why I love hunting down san francisco views that don’t require a ticket, a reservation, or a long wait in line. Below are the viewpoints I keep coming back to, mostly free…