Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

Blog Software Update Reflections
March 05, 2024
blog Sn

Last night, I modified the blog software running this website. Now, it can load different streams of posts into separate loops on the same page display, allowing a chronological listing in the main section and a random listing of posts in the sidebar that changes with every page load. Impressively, this doesn’t affect site performance – a key goal of mine is maintaining the speed of a static site with static HTML files.

While reviewing the site and ensuring it functioned as intended, I read through some older articles and noticed they generally fall into three categories. The first category dates back to before Twitter, featuring one or two sentence posts with links to other sites – many of which are now dead or defunct, rendering these posts mostly irrelevant.

Reorganizing for Musical Habits
March 04, 2024
habits music

Taking inspiration from Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit, I made a grave error when rearranging the family room to move my music production gear for our Christmas tree. I relocated everything into the living room, now dubbed the music room, filled with production equipment, a grand piano, children’s orchestra instruments, and more. But we hardly enter that room, and since removing the tree, I haven’t returned my DJ table to its original spot.

Duhigg’s book mentions learning guitar by incorporating it into his daily routine. He’d pass the guitar on his way to getting coffee each morning, strumming for a bit. Five minutes a day can lead to improvement. However, I’m not progressing in music production since my equipment is in the music room – ironically not where I produce music.

Not a Taco Fan
February 27, 2024
tacos food preferences

I’ve got to admit, I’m not a fan of tacos. This revelation often surprises my coworkers and friends, as tacos are quite popular. In fact, they have a dedicated day called Taco Tuesday which, due to its catchy name, has become a weekly celebration. However, for me, it’s more of a dreaded occasion as I’m constantly bombarded with taco offers. Let me explain my aversion to tacos so you can understand my perspective.

It’s not that I dislike the ingredients of tacos; I enjoy tortillas, seasoned meat, lettuce, tomato, salsa, and even occasionally onion and cilantro. The taste of a generic Taco Bell taco isn’t terrible either. My issue lies in the messiness of eating tacos. I simply don’t enjoy consuming messy food.

Remote Team Communication Essentials
February 21, 2024
slack teams communication remote

Over nearly three decades of remote development work and team management, I’ve realized the importance of intentional communication for effective teamwork. Drawing from my experience with Rock River Star, a remote workplace must emulate aspects of a physical one. For instance, if a group of developers would typically exchange nerdy jokes or discuss football in person, their chosen remote communication platforms should support such casual interactions.

These seemingly inconsequential conversations actually serve a vital purpose: they foster human connection and facilitate work-related communication. Using chat applications like Slack, Teams, or HipChat for more than just addressing work questions helps build interpersonal relationships among team members. This foundation allows for better understanding and trust when tackling work issues.

The Raven Paradox in Cybersecurity
February 21, 2024
cybersecurity raven paradox raven logic security

I’ve been pondering the Raven Paradox lately, which is not only an intriguing logical thought experiment but could also potentially shed light on server vulnerability assessment issues. Let me first give you an overview of the Raven Paradox and see if we can find any connections.

Imagine a hypothesis stating that all ravens are black. Logically, if something is a raven, it must be black. Taking the contrapositive, if something isn’t black, then it isn’t a raven. So, when either statement is true or false, the other follows suit. Now, consider an obvious example like “my pet raven is black,” which supports the hypothesis that all ravens are black. However, applying this logic to the statement “this green apple is not black and not a raven” might lead you to believe that it also supports the idea that all ravens are black. And logically, it kind of does.