vi(be)log
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NBA Picks – Jan. 8, 2026
Here are today’s projections. The model has crunched the numbers, and we have identified clear value on the board. The Gold Play (Spread) CHARLOTTE HORNETS -3.5 (vs. Indiana) The Silver Play (Total) DAL/UTA UNDER 240.5 The Bronze Play (Total) CLE/MIN UNDER 238.5 The “Hard Pass” (Stay Away) Sometimes the best bet is the one you…
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Beyond the Box Score: Inside the AI-Driven Architecture of PROPHET
The evolution of NBA analytics has reached a tipping point where traditional box scores and basic betting algorithms are no longer sufficient to capture the game’s complexity. PROPHET was born out of a necessity to bridge the gap between raw data and actionable insight. By integrating a proprietary Stochastic Power Metric (SPM) with advanced machine…
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The “No-Peek” Creamy Chicken & Rice Casserole
A one-pan, dump-and-bake dinner that ditches the “Cream of X” soup cans for a savory, homemade gravy sauce. Ingredients Instructions Why We Love This Recipe Let’s be honest: the “chicken and rice casserole” is a staple of the American weeknight dinner. But almost every recipe you find calls for a can of Cream of Mushroom…
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From Chatting to Engineering: How I Built a Prompt Compiler with AI to Democratize “Perfect” Prompts
There is a moment that every user of Generative AI experiences. You sit down, stare at the blinking cursor inside the chat box, and you type something simple like, “Write me a blog post about marketing.” The AI spits back 800 words of generic, fluffy, uninspired text. You sigh, try again, add a few more…
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A Field Guide to Prompting Gemini Without Losing Your Mind
If you’ve spent more than five minutes with a Large Language Model (LLM) like Gemini, you have likely experienced the “Slot Machine Effect.” You type a question. You pull the handle. You wait. Sometimes, you get a jackpot—a brilliant paragraph, a perfect line of code, or a meal plan that actually makes sense. But mostly?…
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The “Poor Man’s Prime Rib” (Air Fryer Chuck Roast)
Prep time: 10 mins (+4 hr rest) | Cook time: ~50 mins | Yields: 4 servings Here is the recipe, right at the top where it belongs. No scrolling through my life story to find the temperature. The Hardware The Ingredients Instructions 1. The “Dry Brine” (The Secret Step) 2. The Prep 3. The Cook…
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The Echo Chamber: What 90 Days of Wrestling an AI Taught Me About Being Human
If you scroll back to the beginning of my chat logs from November 2025, you will see a man shouting at a cloud. I was trying to build a predictive model for the NBA. I was copy-pasting errors. I was calling the AI “useless.” I was getting hallucinations in return—made-up stats, broken formulas, and apology…
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Moneyball for Morons: How I Built an NBA Prediction Engine in Google Sheets
Before I started building directory websites like SoonerClassifieds or automating garage sales with Python, I had a much simpler, much more dangerous ambition: I wanted to predict the future. Specifically, I wanted to predict the outcome of Oklahoma City Thunder games. This project, which took place back in November, was effectively “Season 1” of my…
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The Digital Scavenger Hunt: Automating the Weekend with OKGarageSales.com
If SoonerClassifieds.com was a lesson in blunt-force trauma—me banging my head against CSS until the wall cracked—then OKGarageSales.com was supposed to be the refined follow-up. The jazz record to the previous punk rock album. I decided to spin up a second project. The goal? A dedicated portal for garage sales in Oklahoma City. It’s a…
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The Centaur’s Dilemma: Building SoonerClassifieds with a Hallucinating Partner
We talk a lot about “Artificial Intelligence” replacing us. We talk about the Robot Overlords coming for our jobs, our creativity, and our purpose. But we rarely talk about what it’s actually like to get down in the mud and wrestle with one of these things to build something real. For the last few weeks,…
