“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
– Sun Tzu (potentially apocryphal)
Mobile Friendly Web Design
Is your site mobile friendly? Find out with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
XML Quadratic Blowup Attack
Yesterday, a vulnerability in WordPress and Drupal was announced. Both open source communities responded with patched versions of their software that should be updated immediately.
According to Mashable, “The vulnerability uses a well-known XML Quadratic Blowup Attack — and when executed, it can take down an entire website or server almost instantly.”
This issue underscores the importance of having a strategy for keeping your site’s systems patched and updated.
Some connected ponds of the Woonasquatucket watershed
Last night, I ventured out to see if I could canoe from Georgiaville Pond, to Capron Pond, to Stillwater Pond, finally to Stillwater Reservoir.
It looks like a great idea on the map but what the map shows as thinner streams are not boat-able. In between Georgiaville and Capron is a rocky stream and a waterfall. The north end of Capron pond is composed of 6″ water depth, 3′ mud and 4′ of weeds.
In short, it cannot be passed with a reasonable level of effort.
On Blog Starting
I seem to have good writing ideas/intentions while I am working on tasks with a high physical :mental effort ratio – you know, digging a hole, weeding the garden, etc. However, my interest in actually writing those things is very different when I have the opportunity to write. I think my apprehension of writing and subsequent procrastination and avoidance goes beyond laziness or having other things to do.
One factor is perceived value. I ask myself why I would write those thoughts. Would anyone read them? Do I measure value by quantity of readership? By search engine ranking? By comment quantity? By residual income?
Another factor is vulnerability. It seems that writing well about my endeavors involves being open with my readership. Everyone is different about this, but especially at the beginning stages, I feel that publishing my thoughts to the internet may lead to unwanted feedback. This deserves more thought. I think my intended audience is quite different from the real audience and I cannot control the audience in this medium.
A third factor is skill. Writing something that is to-be-published is quite different from writing a casual email message. How well do I communicate? Do I know how to use my blogging platform (e.g. what is a trackback)?
Anyway, for now I will do my best to occasionally write. I’ll try to tell myself that I am not blogging, but I am writing online and I will learn my way.