Field notes on sound money, good food & practical legal writing

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ISSUE 001 / OCTOBER 2026

Three
obsessions.
One notebook.

I mine Bitcoin, chase memorable meals, practice law, and go to the Bitcoin conference every year. This is where the hash rate, hot sauce, and hard questions meet.

Rows of Bitcoin mining computers with circular cooling fans A woman's hand editing a printed court motion with a red pen Half a carne asada burrito with an orange Bitcoin logo resting on Mexican rice and black beans, with pico de gallo, avocado, lime, lettuce, and cilantro
Bitcoin

Mining notes, policy shifts, and the things worth watching past the price ticker.

Burritos

Great meals, practical recipes, and a strict refusal to accept a bad tortilla.

Briefs

Practical tips for legal writing and litigation practice, clearly framed.

01 / BITCOIN

CLARITY met procedure

The market structure bill promised a cleaner SEC/CFTC boundary. The Senate never reached the merits.

49 to 50
Cloture rejected September 15, 2026 · 60 votes were needed to proceed

The House passed H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, by 294 to 134 on July 17, 2025. Fourteen months later, the Senate voted 49 to 50 against cloture on the motion to proceed. This was not a final vote on the bill’s substance; it was a failed attempt to open debate.

The practical posture: the bill is stalled and its prospects for the remainder of this Congress are dim. In the meantime, the SEC and CFTC can keep using existing authority, but only Congress can supply parts of the proposed framework, including a comprehensive federal registration regime for spot digital commodity intermediaries and certain bankruptcy protections.

Senate roll call CRS overview Post vote analysis

POLICY SNAPSHOT AS OF OCTOBER 1, 2026. Links open original sources.

A burrito stamped with an orange Bitcoin logo on a plate with rice, black beans, pico de gallo, avocado, lime, lettuce, and cilantro
Conference rule No. 1: never let the panel schedule choose lunch for you.
02 / BURRITOS

Tort, meet tart

One creates civil liability. The other disappears before the coffee cools.

A round fruit tart topped with strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, and raspberries
A tart with a better record than most pleadings.
A burrito stamped with an orange Bitcoin logo on a plate with rice, black beans, pico de gallo, avocado, lime, lettuce, and cilantro
Exhibit B: tightly wrapped, properly supported.

A tort is a civil wrong, apart from breach of contract, for which the law supplies a remedy. A tart is a shallow pastry case filled with something worth defending. Both require structure. Only one benefits from flaky edges.

Negligence (a tort)Duty. Breach. Actual and proximate causation. Damages.
TartCrust. Filling. Heat. Restraint.

Brown butter apple “tort”

6 slices

THE RECORD

  • 1 sheet puff pastry
  • 3 crisp apples
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 pinch salt
  • lemon zest + flaky salt

THE HOLDING

  1. Heat oven to 400°F. Score a ½ inch border in the pastry; dock the center.
  2. Brown the butter until nutty. Whisk in sugar, cinnamon, salt, and zest.
  3. Fan thin apple slices inside the border. Brush with the butter mixture.
  4. Bake 24 to 30 minutes, until the edges are deeply golden. Finish with flaky salt.
03 / BRIEFS

Practical writing, sharper practice

Practical tips for legal writing and litigation practice, from clear issue framing to the right procedural format.

A woman's hand editing a printed court motion with a red pen
Editing the motion by hand, one red line at a time.

Before writing the first sentence, identify the court’s exact ask, the governing rule, and what the judge needs to decide today.

State and federal motion practice can share the same substantive law while differing in timing, page limits, requirements to meet and confer, proposed orders, evidentiary handling, and the judge’s own procedures.

Start local

  • Read statewide civil rules, then county or division rules.
  • Confirm motion calendars, service timing, exhibits, and practice concerning proposed orders.
  • Do not assume the judge wants federal issue framing or citation density.

IN THE COURT OF READER ATTENTION

Motion for an argument the judge can use

01
Lead with the requested ruling

State what you want and why you win before the reader has to assemble the pieces.

02
Make headings do legal work

A heading should carry the governing rule and your outcome rather than merely label a topic.

03
Separate rule from quarrel

Give the legal test cleanly; then show how the record satisfies each necessary element.

04
Answer the best counterargument

Credibility rises when the brief identifies the real obstacle and resolves it directly.

05
Draft the order in your head

If the proposed holding cannot fit in two precise sentences, the brief may not yet be focused.

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Issue 001: Three obsessions. One notebook. Read issue →
ABOUT THE NOTEBOOK

Serious about the work. Hungry for the rest.