Writing.
Some of these essays are written here and nowhere else. The rest are collected from the brands I build — cybersecurity, critical thinking, men’s health, the shape of work after fifty — each linking back to where it first ran. One address for the lot.
Written here
Originals
Essays written for this site, published nowhere else.
The Tools I Stopped Renting
Over a year I quietly replaced most of the software I used to pay for with tools I built myself. The money saved is the least interesting part of what happened.
13 July 2026
Why I Keep a Blog I Never Meant to Start
A personal site that began as a filing cabinet and turned into the one place I write — irregularly, un-syndicated, about the three things I keep coming back to.
3 July 2026
Collected
From across the brands
Pieces first published on the brands I write for — each links to its canonical home.
Why Being Comfortable with Uncertainty Is a Superpower
Performed certainty is everywhere. The rarer skill — knowing exactly where the boundary between known and unknown sits — is one STEM training builds quietly and consistently.
From ABC Training & Consulting15 July 2026
Th@ts!s3cure: Why Complex Passwords Aren’t Strong Passwords
NIST’s 2025 guidelines dropped complexity rules: length beats symbols. A 2011 stick-figure comic was right all along — most password policies still aren’t.
From Red Bridge Cyber9 July 2026
Nobody Is Coming to Fix Your Website
In June 2026 the same 150 Australian small-business sites medianed A+ on technical SEO and F on security. The difference is what was on the launch checklist.
From Red Bridge Cyber2 July 2026
ASD Is Retiring the Essential Eight. Don't Wait Two Years to Fix the Basics.
ASD is retiring the Essential Eight, quietly admitting it was built for a world we've left. A founder's take: don't wait for the replacement — and don't assume it fits small business.
From Red Bridge Cyber2 July 2026
Big Budgets, F-Grade Basics: What Our 450-Domain Scan Found
We scanned 450 domains Australians rely on. Enterprise and government medianed an F on web security — same grade as small business. Budget didn’t buy basics.
From Red Bridge Cyber25 June 2026
The real reason your pen-tester didn’t find anything wrong
A clean penetration test report often proves the scope was wrong, not the business safe. With AU tests running $5k-$40k and the average breach now AUD $4.26M, here’s what to ask before you trust the result.
From Red Bridge Cyber18 June 2026
Why I built Red Bridge Cyber instead of joining another consultancy
Australia’s big cyber consultancies sell a $40k-a-year product that 95% of small businesses cannot buy. Here is the market gap I left a consulting career to fill, and the numbers behind it.
From Red Bridge Cyber17 June 2026
The Security Advice You’re Sold Is Sized for Someone Else
Most small business security advice is a shrunk-down enterprise plan built for staff you don’t employ. The ASD puts small-business cybercrime at $56,571 a year. Here’s the index-card version that actually fits.
From Red Bridge Cyber17 June 2026
A reply to the PwC cyber report — what they got right and what they missed about small business
PwC’s 2025 Digital Trust survey is solid for the ASX 200 and wrong for the corner clinic. Four findings that don’t translate to Australian small business, and the honest version that does.
From Red Bridge Cyber17 June 2026
The Scientific Method Is a Life Skill Nobody Puts on Their Resume
The scientific method isn't just for laboratories. It is a structured way of not fooling yourself — and one of the scarcest skills in any professional setting.
From ABC Training & Consulting15 June 2026
How Working in a Lab Trains You to Think Under Pressure
Pressure narrows thinking. The lab trains you to override that — methodically, repeatably, before the crisis arrives. A skill that follows you everywhere.
From ABC Training & Consulting15 May 2026
Why STEM Students Are Better at Spotting Nonsense
We are producing more confident, well-packaged nonsense than ever. STEM training builds the one skill that cuts through it — and most people don't realise they have it.
From ABC Training & Consulting15 Apr 2026
The Difference Between Knowing the Answer and Understanding the Problem
Most education trains you to find the right answer. STEM training teaches something harder - and more useful. The difference matters more than most people realise.
From ABC Training & Consulting14 Mar 2026
Why the Lab Is the Best Classroom for Real-World Problem Solving
Hands-on lab training builds the problem-solving skills no classroom can replicate. Here's what STEM students are quietly developing without realising it.
From ABC Training & Consulting14 Feb 2026
What a Physics Degree Taught Me About Everything Except Physics
A physics degree that was never used in a lab — but used every single day for thirty years. Adam Burgess on what science training really teaches you, and why it follows you everywhere.
From ABC Training & Consulting14 Jan 2026
The Real Reason Your Science Qualification Is Worth More Than You Think
Your science qualification will open a door. The thinking it builds will open most of the others. A physicist who never worked in a lab makes the case for what STEM training actually produces — and why it compounds across every job, every industry, and every decade of a career.
From ABC Training & Consulting14 Dec 2025