Brute Force

July 23, 2014 by • Issues, Life, Thoughts •

I have always had nice thoughts about how good it would be to have your own website and run it. The only thing is that Brute force was not one of those thoughts.

The idea of having an address where your voice could be heard and you could share those things that have added value to you and are still adding value to you was just exhilarating.

There are a lot of people out there who are ready to encourage you to take the plunge and even give you ideas on how to quickly setup your very own shop to display your talent.

The one thing that is not mentioned during this wooing stage is the danger that lurks out there in the name of spammers and phishers and all the other names that people who attack websites with malicious intents are called.

There are bad people out there and they want to take over your website to display their wares from infection for other systems, stealing of important information and selling of products that do more damage than good.

Brute force is someone or some computer run by someone trying to gain access to your website by trying different usernames that are common and rapidly trying different passwords that are equally common to gain access to the website so that it can be injected with code and will compromise the integrity of the website. These attacks are usually made from some IP address to the website of interest.

I have only two questions I hope you can answer for me
First how do they determine which website to attack that is what attracts them to the website.
Second, who provides the IP addresses that are used for these attacks or are they weaknesses inherent in my host service provider?

 

Blurbing

June 21, 2014 by • Photography •

Blurbing

I will call the art of make your pictures into book Blurbing. Now I am talking about the photo book and self-publishing service Blurb. The service is the first I have used to print my pictures into a book format. There are a lot of other services that allow you make photo books as well. I came across the service when I installed Lightroom 4 and Adobe introduced the Book module.
Since I manage my photography with the app, it made sense to step out of my comfort zone and do something wonderful with some of my pictures and the new functionality built into the app and that is what I did.

The module is actually quite each to use, all it takes is for you to choose the pictures of interest and make sure they are selected when you get to the module and choose from the multiple page set-up to make the book of your dreams.

Now the Blurb service is not limited to Lightroom in any way rather the service offers you a number of ways to upload your pictures and arrange them your own way. Once your book has been arranged the way you want it, you just upload it to your account on their website and it awaits your next instruction. As soon as you have made your payment, they will let you know how long it will take to produce your book and from my experience, you may even get it earlier than the time they give but I guess it makes sense to plan according to their information.
The only limitation to using the service is your imagination (assuming that you are okay with their price structure).
It is really a good way of making your pictures into books and preserving the memory recorded therein.

Now as a disclaimer, I have not been paid or commissioned in anyway to write for Blurb. I am just expressing my opinion about a fair service that I have used and enjoy.

Using the Web

June 20, 2014 by • Life •

Using the Web

I am not starting this post by talking about how long I have been using the web. It’s focus is on the wonderful people around the world who out of a desire to teach, instruct, make clearer and inform the rest of us by their writing even if they don’t know us spend a lot of time and effort creating those things we read online and make using the web what it is. That’s what I am celebrating today.

I know that many people write judiciously because they have a desire to impart knowledge and I also know that a lot more write because they are paid to do so, whatever the motivation, those people that create these content are the ones that make it a thing of joy to launch our browsers and point the address bar to some favorite webpage or blog or news site.

Running a Blog

I have tried to maintain this blog for some two years now trying to write a post each month as a minimum and I know that I can do better than I am doing once I focus on the area of interest and strength.

That has been the greatest challenge one so great that last month came and went and I did not write a single post.

Since I have the experience of running a site and the challenges that come with it, I know that those that generate content every day either just have so much to say that they can spew out a thousand words every day or they have support from other people who help move over the lean times though this is for those websites that are run by individuals.

Now this is not just to lament but to express some of the things I have been learning and hope to put into practice as time moves on. I have been looking at the websites I visit regularly to have a feel for the work they are doing from the back-end/ preparation perspective, to the tools they use to minimize distraction and maximize writing time.

Some automate everything such that once the content is created and proof-read, the posting process is seamless and easy that end result make the effort a simple one.

I have been learning to use some of those tools and trying to improve my process but it seems that I still go back to the “mechanical” way of doing things every time I take a break from the process.

I still hope for the time I will be able to post new content four times a month as starters but I will not despise the days of small beginnings. Not yet, especially when I consider everything.

 

Biblical Wisdom

April 29, 2014 by • Life • Tags: , , •

I have been thinking a lot about biblical wisdom in the last few weeks. It is something that is different from wisdom as we use it. Most of the time we apply wisdom to get out of some situation that affects us directly or indirectly. This helps us achieve some goal we have set or overcome some difficulty that comes our way.
The one thing it does not do is expose the motive of our heart. Such wisdom when applied may be laudable, it may look selfless but it does not tell the onlooker the true motive behind the execution.

This is where biblical wisdom is different. Biblical wisdom often uses syncrisis to arrive at its conclusion. It contrasts opposite themes or ideas and at times proposes the outcome of either. This pattern then advises the recipient to choose the proper action and therefore proper outcome.

Here the individual is told to choose between the wife of his youth and the adulterer, to be satisfied by her breasts rather than the fragrance of her whose door leads to the place of death.

In this pattern, the presence of godly wisdom is established. The choice of a particular outcome shows the heart of the one choosing. It just does not put up situations where there is room for manipulation it reveals to all that hear it the clear motive behind the action.

This when applied to our speech reveals to us what is behind our actions. We can self-assess and know how near or far we are when it comes to conforming to the nature of God.

James 1:5 tells us how to get wisdom. Wisdom is personalized in the book of Proverbs and Christ is revealed as the wisdom of God.

Oh the depth of the of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgment and how inscrutable his ways!

Soli Deo Gloria

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