July 2006

Kent Newsome at Newsome.org recently did a post concerning lessons learned about blogging and some stuff he would do differently if he was starting his blog now. I’ve been blogging only since this past January and some of Kents’ points struck a cord with me.

I’d do a lot more reading blogs before I started writing one. I read a few blogs before I started blogging, but I didn’t really understand the process. I thought blogging was just an easier way to manage content on a personal home page. It’s a lot more than that. If I had known what I was doing when I started, I think I would have been accepted by the old school bloggers a lot sooner.

To my mind blogging is part art, part science, part luck, and more work then it often seems from the outside. I’m reading as many blogs as I have time for and trying to pick up small hints, techniques, and learned skills that I can make my own. I wish I had the time to read more. I’m amazed and have great respect for bloggers who have the ability to generate good to great content day after day.

I’d start traveling up the hill with other bloggers sooner. Starting a blog is still really hard. It’s so much easier when you’re doing it with some other folks.

My experience certainly agrees that starting a blog is hard. But it is also a work of love if your head is in the right place. I’ve found a few folks who have been generous with linking to me and my golden rule is to always give credit and links when due. If in doubt link and track-back. I’m very conscious of not wanting to be a leach of others content, Sorry Kent, I guess I am of yours in this post but I’m hoping to add some small value of my own.

I’d start out using Wordpress instead of Blogger…

I did lots of testing, reading, and comparison before I started blogging and I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I’ve been that I started with Wordpress. What I can make of Meandering Passage is only limited by my imagination and technical skill.

I’d get over my hang-ups about emailing other bloggers about a relevant post of mine…

I’m still not comfortable with doing this either. It’s got to be something about the way I was raised where you just don’t blow your own horn. But then if you won’t blow your own horn, how can you expect anyone else to. I need to work on this one.

I’d start out assuming a position of authority instead of typing my fingers off and waiting for people to realize that I am an authority.

It’s a very fine line between assuming a position and rightly deserving a position. I still believe that in many cases you have to put your time in. While doing so you are learning the trade and building your blogging reputation.

As I was writing this I was thinking that it’s a shame there’s not some sort of volunteer one-to-one blogger mentoring program available where an experienced, successful, professional blogger would take extra time for six months or so to help some sincere beginning blogger get an inside track…a “”Blogger Match”" so to speak. Or perhaps we could call it “Adopt A Blogger”…you know a Big Blogger program. ~grin~ Just a thought.

Technorati Tags: blogging

Ransomware’ Becoming a Serious Problem - BetaNews - Ed Oswald

It seems the newest type of malware that computer users need to be aware of is ransomware. Occurrences of ransomware have been reportedly on the rise. Ransomware is a virus or trojan which uses encryption to hold files at ransom.

Initially, those responsible used simple encryption to hold files at ransom. In more recent incarnations RSA encryption has appeared and hackers are using more complex ways of password-protecting and hiding corrupted files. Kaspersky says attackers and anti-malware companies are now locked in a cat-and-mouse battle, where researchers crack the code, and attackers respond back with more complex methods.

The most recent variant of the Gpcode ransom virus featured a 660-bit key, which researchers said could take as much as 30 years to break using a 2.2 GHz computer.

As these ransomlware programs become more sophisticated, future incarnations could be unbreakable forcing those infected to pay the ransoms necessary to unlock their files. So, it looks like on top of all the other types of viruses, trojan horses, and malware, we now need be concerned about the major headache of having our data held for ransom. Makes you wonder where, or if, this will ever end?

Technorati Tags: ransomware, virus, ransom

In a previous post I described upgrading my Linksys WRT54G router to DD-WRT V23 Firmware (VPN Version) which provided the features and capabilities of a $600+ router. This upgrade was performed without incident and has performed very well since. It’s allowed me to control my home traffic and establish a QOS that prevents P2P or on-line gaming traffic from interfering with normal http browsing.

This weekend I upgraded the Linksys WRT54G firmware from DD-WRT v23 (VPN) to DD-WRT-v23 SP1 (VPN) which added more features as well as increased performance and reliability.

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There’s a post on The Mind Mapping Software Weblog titled “The Gettysburg Address as a mind map” which features a mind map of the Gettysburg Address based on Peter Norvig’s PowerPoint of the Gettysburg Address. Personally, I’m glad Old Abe stuck to pencil and paper.

Technorati Tags: fun, mind mapping