Zach Berwaldt on zachberwaldt.dev

A Basic grep in C

Let's build a copy of the grep tool. A common tool used to search files for text patterns on UNIX based systems (i.e. MacOS, Linux, FreeBSD)

One Neat Trick To Increase Privacy and Security

Let's examine one simple trick you can use to significantly increase your privacy online.

Geo Blocking in Nginx

A brief guide on setting up geoblocking with nginx.

Why Static?

A short examination on why I use static generation over other website methods.

Update: November 2025

I can't believe it's November already. Overall I can't say I have a ton of updates. I'm still employed, not to mention I recently got a promotion-Yay, me! So that's all good. A week or two ago I started on a new personal project to build a telegram bot. I've always been intrigued to make one, not necessarily on telegram, but bots in general. Since I have been using Telegram more recently it seemed…

The Privacy Chase Is Over

The privacy chase is over because the chase is fundamentally wrong. Instead simply start being a private person. This essay talks about my takeaways of getting wrapped up in chasing privacy for the better part of a decade, and that your salvation lies in real life.

Test Pen

AI Generation CLI

I never managed to give this project a formal name. Simply put it was a prototype written in Python of a command line tool to generate images with the Flux model on my personal computer. Sadly, Image generation is a pretty resource intensive process. Anything over 1024px by 1024px images would lock my computer up.

NoteTools: Opinionated Notetaking Tool For Sublime Text

I am a note taker. At one point my favorite tool to do this on my computer was, and sort of still is, a text editor called Sublime Text. One of the features that I has always intrigued me was it's plug in system. I have used, but never written my own. Since I have an opinionated approached to my note taking organization, this seems like a great opportunity to do two things:

How I Automated Deployment For My Website

One of the challenges I have faced with this site is simplifying the deployment process. In the past, as I'm sure you've guessed, I would have to manually get all my files onto my server. While this isn't hard, it is time consuming. Here is the gist of how I saved myself a lot of time and future effort.

Improving minigrep

We will go improve our implementation of grep that we started in a previous article. This article focuses on

Prepping

A short essay about being prepared. And how I am not crazy for wanting to be.

The Hobbit

The Solar War

The Invisible Hook

Democracy is good because even pirates did it

A Confession: Leo Tolstoy

As a Man Thinketh

Mine Were of Trouble

The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom

A great introduction into how politics actually works.

Leave Social Media Behind

My thoughts on leaving social media behind. Why anyone should consider getting off of social media, and some of the benefits of doing so.

Blackbear

Blackbear is a theme for Hugo , the static site generator. It tries to provide you with the tools to craft high quality static sites for the modern web. Structured Data. Well-structured code. Accessibility. And more.

About Me

My name is Zach. I love to learn, read books , and watch movies. My relationship with technology is a little complicated. Somehow, I hate it and love it at the same time. On one hand it allows me to make this website. On the other hand it reduces quality of life in some very important ways (I think). In fairness, it improves quality of life in other ways. I will spare you my opinions on the matter…

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