Alan Halley: Essays, 2025–2026

Essays published on alanhalley.com in 2025–2026: memoir (Missouri in the 1950s–80s, France in 1982, Brazil since 2008), how I work with AI, and plain-language companions to my nuclear engineering preprints on Zenodo. Each essay is a PDF printed from the published web page (light print version; the site itself is dark). The live site may change or lapse; this record is the permanent copy. New versions of this record will add later essays. Memoir essays are assembled from my own words, told in conversation with Claude (Anthropic) and copyedited, not ghostwritten. The method is described in How I Write. Contents A Veritable Island (Memoir · Life in the Tropics) — a-veritable-island.pdf The Only Number That Matters When Buying a Beach Property (Real Estate · Brazil · beachburbs.com) — airport-to-beach.pdf Convincing Is Not Correct (Software · AI Evaluation) — convincing-is-not-correct.pdf Doc (Memoir) — doc.pdf Done Is a Claim (Software · Project Management) — done-is-a-claim.pdf Easing In (Software | Essay) — easing-in.pdf Family Tree Research With AI (Genealogy · AI · No API Required) — family-tree-ai.pdf France, 1982: Barcelona and Mallorca (France · 1982 · October 2026) — france-1982-barcelona-and-mallorca.pdf France, 1982: Doc (France · 1982 · October 2026) — france-1982-doc.pdf France, 1982: Getting There (France · 1982 · October 2026) — france-1982-getting-there.pdf France, 1982: Going Home (France · 1982 · October 2026) — france-1982-going-home.pdf France, 1982: Living There (France · 1982 · October 2026) — france-1982-living-there.pdf From One Garage to Another (Chicago · Pasadena · 1985 · October 2026) — from-one-garage-to-another.pdf Full Moon (Memoir · Missouri River · 1983) — full-moon.pdf My great-great-great-great-grandfather's travels (Family History · Missouri · About 190 Years Ago) — henry-and-polly.pdf How I Write (Software · Memoir) — how-i-write.pdf Less Than Two Dollars (Memoir · Ilhéus · Brazil) — less-than-two-dollars.pdf My Florida Vacation (Memoir | Writing) — my-florida-vacation.pdf Não Sei Nada (Memoir · Agentic Age) — nao-sei-nada.pdf One File, One Vendor (Software | Essay) — one-file-one-vendor.pdf The One-Person Operating System (Software | Essay) — one-person-operating-system.pdf I Used My Own Marketplace to Buy a Marketing Plan for My Marketplace (Software | Essay) — real-money-real-people.pdf The Go-Between, Revisited (Software · Platform Economics) — the-go-between-revisited.pdf The Go-Between (Software · Platform Economics) — the-go-between.pdf The High Road (Family History · Missouri · October 2026) — the-high-road.pdf The Last 80% (Software · Prototyping) — the-last-80-percent.pdf The Ranking Depends on the Ruler (Software · AI Evaluation) — the-ranking-depends-on-the-ruler.pdf Three Days (Software · Hiring) — three-days.pdf What a Bend Buys (Nuclear · Fusion Shielding) — what-a-bend-buys.pdf Working From Home Since 1975 (Career · Remote Work) — working-from-home-since-1975.pdf