Posts on keathley.co

Theology of Reaction

Sat, 30 May 2026 19:10:00 -0400

Lately I have been thinking about a recurring pattern I see in some contemporary evangelical critique. It has shown up in books (that I will discuss below), social media, and personal conversations that I have had in the church. The pattern usually begins with something true and important such as real harm has been done by someone in the church. It can be abuses of authority, historical failures within the church, or the misuse of biblical language. This in turn caused very real pain to people.

Gratitude

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:09:00 -0500

It’s not surprising for anyone who’s had marriage trouble that the way we perceive our spouse starts to play a larger and larger role in how we feel about them. If I spend my time ruminating on their failures or flaws it will slowly build resentment and amplify what’s wrong until I drive a wedge into the relationship. However, if I practice gratitude… which looks like naming what they do well, noticing their strengths, and giving thanks for them, then I will grow closer and build a reservoir of grace.

Slot Hacker

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 18:45:15 -0500

I have recently been fiddling with some slot machine probability calculations and thought it would be fun to build a little web app to help visualize and experiment with different scenarios.

This ended up being a mix of an idle ‘cookie clicker’ style game mixed with a slot machine with a coding aesthetic. I thought it was fun and my son’s middle school buddies got a kick out of it.

The Time Machine

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 09:45:00 -0500

I saw some variations on this idea. I think the original idea was credited to Peter Attia on JRE #1961.

Whenever I catch myself feeling frustrated by a messy house or cranky kids, I imagine I’m 80 years old, sitting around the dinner table with my children and grandchildren. After a fantastic meal, I excuse myself and step away. Everyone assumes I’m just headed to the garage for a moment, but instead, I walk into a tiny time machine. It whirs and buzzes and sends me back to one random point in my past—and it lands me right here, in this very moment: the toys scattered on the floor, the kids squabbling, the chaos of everyday life. I realize I have just five precious minutes to savor it all, to see my little ones as they really are—small, vibrant, and full of life. Suddenly, that wave of frustration dissipates, replaced by pure gratitude. After all, this challenging second of my timeline is actually one small part of an otherwise incredible life.

The Whispering Earring

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 13:59:00 -0500

Originally From: http://squid314.livejournal.com/332946.html The article appears to be down but can still be accessed via the Wayback Machine as of 2025-01-31

In the treasure-vaults of Til Iosophrang rests the Whispering Earring, buried deep beneath a heap of gold where it can do no further harm.

The earring is a little topaz tetrahedron dangling from a thin gold wire. When worn, it whispers in the wearer’s ear: “Better for you if you take me off.” If the wearer ignores the advice, it never again repeats that particular suggestion.

AI Bookmarks and Quick Reference

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 22:21:00 -0500

Introduction

AI development is moving fast and it is hard to keep a handle on all the resources available. There are also many facets to the discussion surrounding AI since it is not simply a computer science but is a mainstream philosophical discussion at this point. This set of bookmarks and references are intended to provide resources for both the technical introduction but also associated discussions of rationality and the nature of intelligence. It should go without saying that it is incomplete and is a list of people and information that I personally find useful. I am always looking for new resources and content to absorb in this field so please DM me any other ideas on Twitter: @Matt_Keathley

Thinking of Home

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 09:35:00 -0400

This is just a work in progress. I’m not sure where I’m going with this yet.

I was born in a small town in southeast Missouri called ‘Poplar Bluff’. My early memories are almost exclusively happy. I remember looking up at the counter tops as I walked around the kitchen and living room. My mom, Penny, was making a grilled cheese sandwich and Perry Mason was on the television in the living room. My dad, Kenneth, was the pastor of Maud Street Baptist church at the time. We were Christians and it was something that ran in the family. My mom’s dad, Tommy, was also a pastor. I believe he was at Elsinore Baptist at the time. I was too young to have much say in denominational matters but I think there had been slow movement from the independent baptists of the area toward the souther baptist church at the time. But our life would still be markedly Christian in all the good things this entails and with some of the baggage as well.

Moutain, Fence, Cliff

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 14:54:00 -0400

I enjoy parenting. It is exhausting but there is real joy in the day to day moments with my kids. Last month saw a peculiar rise in parenting moments that required immediate and thorough attention. I blame this on part to my oldest son who is now officially a teenager. He has decided to test the limits of the rules we have placed around our home and call into question the motives that his parents had for creating them in the first place. I’ve come to think of this as ‘the altruism challenge’ — your kids are checking if you are in this for them. The problem is that they might not fully understand the reason for the rule and thus need to trust in your character as a parent. I wonder if many teenage and parent struggles could be addressed if the parents really had a moment to introspect and see if they had their child’s best interests in mind.

Foundry VTT System: Dark Heresy 2nd Edition

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 14:04:15 -0500

This is an unofficial system for playing Dark Heresy 2nd Edition on Foundry VTT.

It offers extensive support for character sheets, compendium packs, and automated management to save you time and allow you to focus on role playing. The existing system listed on Foundry was character sheet only and thus this system was created to facilitate the automation features I desired.

Features

The system includes a variety of compendium packs, such as weapons, weapon mods, talents, armor, psychic abilities, ammunition, tools, traits, attack specials (toxic, corrosive, etc.), and consumables and drugs.

OBS Tally Lights using a Raspberry Pi

Sat, 27 Jun 2020 20:15:15 -0500

OBS Tally Lights using Raspberry Pi

GitHub Source

See them in action

In our use case we wanted lights attached to a specific camera that might appear in multiple scenes. To accomplish this, this script tracks a OBS source by name even if it appears in multiple scenes.

If the source is live the tally light is red. If the source is in preview the light is yellow. And if the source is not in use in either location the light is green.