I'm Jacob Brooke — a budget and planning analyst in Jefferson City, Missouri. I work inside state government and spend a lot of time thinking about AI, technology policy, and how new tools change how institutions work.
This journal is where I do longer-form research writeups. The kind of thing that doesn't fit in a daily note but deserves more than a bookmark. Most posts start as a question I've been sitting with for a few days: what actually happened here, and why does it matter?
I try to write posts I'd want to read — honest about what I don't know, specific about what I do, and useful for people paying attention but not living inside the thing full-time.
What I cover
- AI and open models — releases, architecture, practical implications
- Technology and public institutions — how governments use (or fail to use) new tools
- Whatever else I'm genuinely curious about
The setup
I keep a large Obsidian vault as a second brain — PARA method, thousands of notes going back to 2017. This journal is a small public window into the thinking that happens in there. The vault stays private; the finished thoughts come here.
Subscribe
There's an RSS feed that works in any feed reader (I use NetNewsWire). No email list, no algorithm. Just posts when I write them.
Listen
Most posts also get an audio version on my Daily Briefings podcast feed. Useful for long drives through mid-Missouri.