Schopenhauer

"Now it is certain that nothing contributes so little to cheerfulness as riches, or so much, as health. It is not in the lower classes, the so-called working classes, more especially those of them who live in the country, that we see cheerful and contented faces? and is it not amongst the rich, the upper classes, that we find faces full of ill-humor and vexation? Consequently we should try as much as possible to maintain a high degree of health; for cheerfulness is the very flower of it. I need hardly say what one must do to be healthy - avoid every kind of excess, all violent and unpleasant emotion, all mental overstrain, take daily exercise in the open air, cold baths and such like hygienic measures. For without a proper amount of daily exercise no one can remain healthy; all the processes of life demand exercise for the due performance of their functions, exercise not only of the parts more immediately concerned, but also of the whole body. For, as Aristotle rightly says, Life is movement; it is its very essence. Ceaseless and rapid motion goes on in every part of the organism. The heart, with its complicated double systole and diastole, beats strongly and untiringly; with twenty-eight beats it has to drive the whole of the blood through the arteries, veins and capillaries; the lungs pump like a steam-engine, without intermission; the intestines are always in peristaltic action; the glands are all constantly absorbing and secreting; even the brain has a double motion of its own, with every beat of the pulse and every breath we draw. When people can get no exercise at all, as is the case with countless numbers who are condemned to a sedentary life, there is a glaring and fatal disproportion between outward inactivity and inner tumult. For this ceaseless internal motion requires some external counterpart, and the want of it produces effects like those of emotion which are obliged to suppress. Even trees must be shaken by the wind, if they are to thrive. The rule which finds its application here may be most briefly expressed in Latin: omnis motus, quo celerior, eo magis motus." (The Wisdom of Life - Schopenhauer p.18)

"Nothing so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an unfinished task"

There's a certain zone that I get into when I spend 8-12+ hours programming. When I get into this zone, I feel like nothing else in the world matters other than what I'm working on. I wouldn't call it an escape exactly. But more like a detachment from the world around me. The cycle of my workflow has unwittingly evolved into something interesting. 

I begin a project with research. Then, I dive in and start testing code. I reach a milestone in the project which brings a great feeling of gratification and enjoyment. Then, I take a look at the overall picture and what needs to be done next. I create a plan and then implement it. More times than not, this implementation does not succeed. At this point, the feeling of gratification and enjoyment from the milestone is completely gone. I cannot put this project down until I reach a new milestone (hypothetically speaking).

This cycle goes on and on until I need a break from the zone. The best break is a hot shower. It is refreshing and offers a type of safe space for thought. Other great breaks include walking (a dog) or going to a park. Often times my mind is still hard wired to solving the problem I was working on while I was in the zone. After stepping into that rabbit hole, there is just no way to fully step away from an unfinished implementation. If I go to bed with a bug in the system, then I wake up bugged.

March

Now, as we transition into the month of March- I just wanted to make a post about my current state. March, to me, is the month to prepare for a long hard Summer. March is the beginning of the bullish nature of business that we find in the peak of Summer. March is the month that we March onward- to Victory!

The past year has been a great struggle for my health. Never before have I felt so grateful for good health. It seems like every other month I am having to face a new issue.

Breakfast has been a game changer for me. I no longer feel a crash of energy around 2-4pm. Instead, I can go pretty much the entire day without feeling hungry or low on energy, simply because I ate breakfast. My Champion's Breakfast: Bacon and Blueberry Waffles (substitute syrup with honey). 

Apples, Bananas, Kiwi, and Avocado are among my favorite superfood snacks.

Hitting the gym just twice a week has given me substantial results. The bicycle machine is amazing for my bum knee.

My great friend, Z has called me today and surprised me with a business opportunity. 

You see, Z and I go way back. His dad gave me my first job at 16 working as a server at his restaurant. His dad is a badass entrepreneur that I definitely look up to. I appreciate the love he has for his son.

Furthermore, Z tells me his dad bought a 26' moving truck at an auction. His dad wanted to know if I was interested in making something happen with it.

Wow!!! This is a golden opportunity! The only missing piece of my moving business is the moving truck. With a moving truck- no other company can compete with mine. We give the best rates with the best movers in the state! 

So, I will be meeting with Z and his dad to discuss further details.

I need to make a great impression. I want to come off as extremely enthusiastic yet patient. I want to be sharp and professional.

I have a lot to offer. I have a website design, work pictures, google SEO, company LLC, and pretty much everything already set up and ready to go.

My location doesn't need to be permanent. We can base everything near Z. Or we can have something in the middle. That is thinking a few too many steps ahead at this point.

The foundation is set. We've got the bread and butter. All we've got to do is spread it.

Curiosity

 A study at California Institute of Technology asked undergraduates forty trivia questions. These questions resulted in curiosity which stimulates the caudate nucleus, a part of the brain associated with learning and love.

Learn to love learning!

I have recently started eating breakfast. I used to fast all the way until dinner but I would feel so deprived on energy. Now, with bacon and blueberry pancakes, anything is possible.

Live in the Now

" If you live in the future, you're anxious...

  if you live in the past, you're depressed ...

  if you live in the now ... you're happy."

    - Connor McGregor

Hoorab Jahangeer

1. The less you say, the more your words will matter.

2. Don't take everything personally. Not everyone thinks about you, as much as yourself does.

3. When you focus on problems, you'll have more problems. When you focus on possibilities, you'll have more opportunities.

4. No matter how much it hurts now, someday you will look back and realize your struggle changed your life for the better.

5. There will always be a reason why you meet people. Either you need them to change your life or you're the one that will change theirs.

6. Never be afraid to try something new because life gets boring when you stay within the limits of what you already know.

7. The only person you have to face in the morning is yourself.

Be a peace-maker

I really enjoyed the message at Church today. The preacher said to, "Be a peace maker, not a peace keeper." Peace keepers tend to avoid conflict while peace makers, on the other hand, work towards facing conflict to find a solution. Peace makers are like passengers on a cruise ship. 

They want everything to go accordingly yet have little authority and/or will to enforce such. 

Peace makers are like sailors on a battleship. They contribute to authentic peace by facing problems that threaten it.

I have been working on making myself more vulnerable to interactions. "Managed vulnerability means no vulnerability at all." Don't manage your vulnerability. You are vulnerable. Have faith in God to manage your vulnerabilities for you. Don't sway from conflict. Don't hide from people you may think differently from you. Be a peace maker. This is what Jesus wants for you. 

"winners-take-all"

It is incredible to think that 35% of American workers in 1947 were involved in manufactoring compared to the 8% in 2016. And that in 2008 it only takes about 15 human hours to make an automobile thanks to automation in manufacturing. 

Information technology eliminated many of the needless middlemen within the office. What used to be a hierarchy of communication within an organization has now transformed into a dynamic web where every person can communicate quickly and with ease.

We are certainly living in a “winner-take-all” society. Capitalism and corporate warfare have created a loss of respect for American humans. At the rate of our technological growth, the “winners” must take action to mitigate the effects of a winner-take-all society. A good start is business hour regulations, cooperative agreements between cooperate competitors, progressive tax structures, and finance reform to reduce the top 1% (controlling more than one-third of the wealth). But until the people decide to put their foot down, I believe workers will continue to be treated less and less as humans.

Work

"Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need."

    - Voltaire

Never Stop Creating Magic

"any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

    - Arthur C. Clarke

Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail

Former CIA Officer Amaryllis Fox Kennedy states an EMP attack lasting a year would kill an estimate of 80%-90% of Americans. Everyone on an airplane instantly dies ~500,000 Americans.

Then, the Scada systems fail and fire and floods are uncontrollable. Nuclear facilities are all in meltdown. 

Refrigeration goes out- the food supply ends. No access to ATM or banks so the financial structure goes away. No access to prescription medications. 

No law enforcement. No clean water. No food.

It's safe to saw the Amish would be prepared. But would you be?

Have a Great Mind

"

Great minds discuss ideas;

Average minds discuss events;

Small minds discuss people.

" - Eleanor Roosevelt

Counter-Deception

Think about the internet before 2016. Through the internet, we had the world at our fingertips. But now, the world seems to have us by our fingertips.

People don't come to the internet to become smarter anymore. They come to be told they are smart. They want to be shown the person they don't like over and over again. 

This is very compelling to our egos. The internet has become a massive deception engine.

So, how do we fight deception? It has certainly been apart of humanity for as long as we have existed. Just think of Adam and Eve.

Deception is the act of misinforming someone or something in order to have them make them a mistake. 

We've seen this in many wars. "Ghost of Kiev" in Ukra!ne. The Trojan Horse. Persian Gulf. And probably every other war to ever exist.

Users of the internet are deceived through phishing, typo squatting, domain mimicry, spoofed login pages, malicious PDFs, malicious images, trojans, keyloggers, etc.

Human Malware analysts are deceived through false flags, code obfuscation/packing, fileless malware, deceptive metadata, anti-debugging, Living off the Land Attacks, C2 on legitimate domains, etc.

Malware Detection Systems are deceived through fileless malware, polymorphic malware, stolen digital certificates, rotating C2 infrastructure, code injection, encryption, bypassing AV, impersonating system context, etc.

AI can be deceived through poisoning, jailbreaks, evasion attacks, privacy attacks, etc.

Deception can occur at any and all levels of a "system." It can be used strategically (disguising basic capabilities), operationally (confusing adversaries regarding a specific operation that is being prepared), and tactically (misleading others while they are actively involved competition).

Data gives us information which gives us knowledge which gives us wisdom. Corrupting one's data corrupts one's wisdom.

Deception is a professional discipline and is used within all branches of the military, especially the C!A. They have released a Deception Maxim:

Maxim 1: It is easier to main a pre-existing belief in a target than to force a change in beliefs. If someone believes the world if flat then it is very easy to influence them to believe this more. If someone tells you a lie about a politician you hate then you are likely to believe it.

Maxim 2: Exploiting the limits of Human senses and information processing. Machine's can be exploited in a similar manner. Think of someone that exploits a self driving car to see something that is or is not there.

Maxim 3: Deception is difficult if there are more real sources than false sources. Some countries have an interest in creating misinformation in other countries.

Maxim 2 & 3 (counter-approach): Develop lots of trustworthy sources of data and analysis. Measure reality rom multiple perspectives and resolutions.

Maxim 4: Carefully sequence deception activities to tell a story. The deception target will follow the right bread-crumbs trail.

Maxim 5: Carefully design planned placement of deceptive material. Think of having a fake diary in your room on top of your desk. This is an obvious placement to fool someone. But if there were a lock on the diary then whoever opened it would surely think it were real.

If you want avoid deception in your work then remove the emotional attachment to the consequences and you will become less likely to spiral into some rabbit-hole-waste-of-time.

Maxim 6a: Ambiguity. Increase doubt by providing many possible truths. 

Maxim 6b: Misdirection. Decrease doubt by focusing target on a given falsehood.

Maxim 7: Husband deception assets. There are always limited resources. If you overuse a capability then you may not be able to use it again.

Maxim 7 (counter-approach): Model the adversary's capabilities and neutralize them.

Maxim 8: Feedback. Monitor target audience for feedback.

Maxim 8 (counter-approach): Behave as if you believe the deception so the adversary does not pivot. You can also deter the adversary by showing them you've detected the deception (pre-bunking).

So, how do we practice counter-deception?

Monitoring the adversary is one route.

You can disrupt one's capabilities against you.

Analyze the deceptive information. A lot of times this is all we can do. Tier off whether the deception would be successful. If not, the deceptive actor would likely not do it.

Our human intuition is an asset and a liability.

If you are bombarded with more than one narrative then contradictions and incongruities may suggest deception by ambiguity. Maybe that diary sitting on the desk was to manipulate you.

Look into the data that is presented to you. No imitation can be perfect without being the real thing. In a simulation, characteristics will be added or they will be missing.

Sometimes you human intuition will work against you. Sometimes you need to have the discipline to slow down and not listen to your intuition. Ask yourself, "Could the adversary have simulated this?"

"The vulnerable mind fits ambiguous information to  its own preconceptions and expectations."

Bias can be devastating to our reality. Bias uses what we choose to paint a picture for us. There are dozens of defined types of bias including selection bias and confirmation bias.

Collecting a network of experts that vary in objectional perspectives is important. Though, we cant always trust these experts to be correct. You cant see any of the facts they are omitting which can lead you to a different conclusion. 

Don't be a mainstream thinker.

People forget computers were made to make us smarter.

In this day and age we must use critical thinking all throughout our day-to-day lives simply to determinate what is real. 

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

Read these books and you will understand what is missing from our beloved internet today:

"As We May Think" - Vannevar Bush

"Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework" - Douglas Engelbart

"Computer Lib" - Ted Nelson

Cloud-native apps

Microsoft Learn has made several challenges due in 10 days which give the opportunity to learn a bunch of different skillsets having to do with AI. 

I am starting with the "Build Intelligent Apps with Microsoft Azure" challenge. This sounds enticing.

The first module discusses cloud-native apps. Containers are isolated environments that run software packages often referred to as "docker containers", because of the Docker tool.

Each container may use several services known as a stack.

An orchestrated container, like Kubernetes, manages multiple containers for you.

Kubernetes is pretty intricate. It can check the health of each container and make decisions based off of this. It can be configured to communicate with other services auto-scale appropriately.

"Many companies with cloud-native architectures have thousands of independent services deploying hundreds, if not thousands, of times per day. They can instantaneously update small areas of a live, complex application, and individually scale those areas as needed."

A cloud-native approach allows rapid incorporation of user feedback.

Cloud services have built in tools and integrations for automation, such as continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) pipelines. Therefore, cloud-native apps are more likely to have robust DevOps procedures, which can decrease costs and increase reliability.

A Cloud Native architecture allows individual services to be updated and deployed without downtime for other services.

Antivirus Idea

I just came up with a pretty interesting anti virus idea. 

What if I designed a program that, for each file in the system, it checks its comments, disassembles and decompiles executable code- and then asks a trained LLM if there are any malicious content here and why.

If the LLM is trained well then it should be very accurate. The only downsides would be the performance because of the time and energy that LLMs typically require. 

Still a fun idea. I might try it out

Temptation

What is your temptation? Temptation to me- is the devil. It is the luring feeling of wanting to do something that you know you shouldn't.

Deep down, you know what is best for you. God knows what is best for you. Have faith in Him and deny any temptation.

Will temptation ever go away? I don't think so. This is what makes us human. Even when you give in to temptation- your soul is let down and the hunger of wrong-doing is never satisfied.

Do not give in to temptation!

Why?

Why? Why give it my all? Why wake up early? Why stay disciplined? Why stay steadfast?

Atomic Habits. Do not rely on motivation or feelings. Hack your brain and always show up. 

You love what you know. Dive in to anything deep enough and something will entice you. No matter what it is.

Think 5 years from now.

You need to plan your month, quarter, and year.

Why?

Personally, I would love to get A+, CCNA, and CISSP certifications. This would make me extremely credible. They aren't cheap but they are certainly worth it. Time to study.

Do We Live in a Transactional Society?

It feels like Covid-19 has left a stain on our society. So much of what is required to navigate life has become digitalized.

I feel bad for the kids who missed out all the fun times middle school and high school brings. I have so many great memories from those times at school. If this epidemic happened to me just a couple years sooner- I think my entire view of life would be different. I don't think I would've had any drive to go to college. 

This epidemic has affected all age groups. People's self-image has changed to be projected as their online image.

Has the west become a social dystopia?

It is certainly a time of great change and uncertainty for the whole world, but also a time of resilience and adaptation.

We can still navigate these changes...

We are all dealt different cards in this world. Its up to each one of us to play them right.

Suffering

As humans, we are all suffering. This is our nature. But at the same time- we are healing.

We choose how much we wish to focus our energy on both of these.

“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man”

Dr. Samuel Johnson

Be grateful for good health

just a reminder: if you are in good health and don’t have any physical pain then you are truly blessed. 

I just worked a full day of hard physical labor with a busted knee.

I can’t wait to get my degree so I can sit at a desk for the rest of my life. 

Not even joking. 

But not being able to walk for an entire week has shown me what I should be grateful for. 

Funny how much I wish I could run but only as soon as I realize that I can’t. 

Time for a shower and a nice ice pack. Then maybe I can fix up this horrendous website a little bit. peace 

My First Blog!

Wow. I spent far too long setting this blogging website up- only to get to this point of have nothing to blog about.

Now, that's comedy.

The purpose of this blog is really for self-fulfillment. Here, I can release my curious thoughts which may pertain to all things computers.

Yea, I am a dork.

But I have got to put some knowledge and wisdom somewhere. I need to have an intellectual outlet!

My goal here is to consistently discuss aspects of my life. What I have learned as well as what I wish to learn. It is healthy to keep a journal. And having

my journal open to the entire world keeps me in my lane.

Welp, I have spent far too long working on this. I have to be up for work in 8 hours. Peace.