Author Archives: David G Shrock

About David G Shrock

David G Shrock lives in the Pacific Northwest where he works as a software developer and writes science-fantasy fiction. Writing code, writing fiction, always writing even when riding his bike. Current projects include a Draco Torre novel.

Office Chess Game

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This game was played at the office where we made 2-5 moves per day at infrequent intervals during the month of April. It’s almost like playing chess by mail. The board sits at my desk giving me an advantage. This is the first time I’ve played the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defense opening. The Dragon Variation is familiar to me, and I became intrigued taking a different route. After the game, I looked up the opening in Modern Chess Openings 13 (DeFirmian and Korn, 1990) to learn more about. After the 6th move, we fall out of the main opening.

I played white. The game remained even, both sides taking a strong position in the middle, until the 16th move, shown below, where black castles. Stronger would have been to 16 … Nxe3 to weaken white’s hold over the middle.

Both sides made mistakes later in the game. Black’s move 23 … Bxg5? was an expensive exchange giving up control of the center. White mixed up the order of exchanges on moves 25 and 26 moving Queen first instead of the Rook. White had the advantage, and black resigned.

The difficulty about playing a single move at a time during the work day is forgetting what one was thinking about previously. Of course, the game is for fun. It’s nice to take the mind away from a challenging problem or the usual routine for a few minutes. My chess experience is primarily in solving puzzles, so it’s great to play a game as well.

Skyrim Action Screenshot Gallery

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A selection of action shots captured from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim featuring Reisha, a vampire mage.

All screen captures are unaltered at 2560×1440 resolution with the game using the high-resolution texture pack and a modified settings file pushing draw distance beyond the normal limits as noted in my earlier post, “Skyrim Distance Drawing.”

Learn more about Reisha and playing a mage in my post, “Skyrim Mage.”

Social Media: Passion and Proofreading

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Social media allows you to improve your brand by engaging with others. Staying connected with clients or reaching out to a new audience may mean writing newsletters, articles, brief posts, or profile summaries on sites. Even if your team commits a passionate effort into the finding the right words, forgetting to proofread risks damaging your marketing efforts.

Bad grammar risks destroying credibility and reputation.

Spotting too many mistakes, especially breaking simple rules like capitalizing the wrong letters, becomes distracting. The reader may believe the persons working for the brand do not care enough to write well and conclude they don’t care about quality or their clients. Imagine a Facebook post claiming quality services containing basic grammar errors, and the post refers potential clients to an overview page on the web where grammar mistakes abound. Poor grammar risks losing sales.

In the post, “Writing for Social Media: When Bad Grammar Happens to Good People” at GrammarChic.com the author states, “bad grammar not only hinders your social media marketing efforts, it has the ability to crush any credibility or authority you may have in your respective field” and simply, “no one wants to look like an idiot.”

Brad Hoover in “Good Grammar Should be Everyone’s Business” on Harvard Business Review writes about an informal study by his company, Grammarly, of LinkedIn profiles finding a correlation between good grammar and success.

Also on Harvard Business Review in “I Won’t Hire People Who Use Bad Grammar. Here’s Why.” Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, asserts that “good grammar is credibility, especially on the internet.” People judge others by their writing. Wiens’ observation is that people who make fewer mistakes in writing also make fewer mistakes in other work. Supporting his hiring practice he states, “programmers who pay attention to how they construct written language also tend to pay a lot more attention to how they code.” Also notice in the post Wiens mentions the basics like mistaking “to” for “too” or incorrectly using “it’s.”

Your post doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to show that you care.

When it comes to informal writing, readers are forgiving. A mistake in a brief post will likely go unnoticed. Forgiveness diminishes when errors outnumber sentences, or the message becomes difficult to understand. Proofreading a short newsletter may only take a minute. You know writing basics and how to find help. Your clients know this, too.

You are passionate about your brand. Show your passion by proofreading.

Two-step Verification for Apple ID

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Recently Apple began offering a new security option with two-step verification using a phone or registered Apple mobile device. Two-step verification means when making purchases or changing user information, a code is sent to the registered device to be used in addition to the normal password. This method improves security by adding a layer of protection. This is a welcome option those using an Apple ID for iTunes purchases or iCloud and have one or more mobile devices.

An Apple ID provides access to information and potentially dangerous abilities including remotely wiping out the contents of a device as one reporter learned after a hacker used social engineering to gain access to his account (Mashable.) If someone gains access to your Apple account, that person can make purchases and remote lock your devices. An intruder using social engineering and some detective work can potentially gain access to everything through your login or by calling Apple support for a password reset. Two-step verification helps protect against social engineering by replacing pass phrases along with an authentication code.

Using two-step verification with an Apple ID requires at least one device supporting SMS or the Find my iPhone app for iPhone or iPad using iCloud. This is the device that will receive a four-digit code after entering the normal password when purchasing or changing account information. As a backup if the device is lost, there is an authentication key. Learn more at support.apple.com.

Keep the authentication code in a very safe place away from your devices such as in a safe or locked cabinet. If your registered device is lost, remove it from the list of registered devices as soon as possible.

 

Writing progress

Status

Taking advantage of time and state of mind, I have been working on my novel. I’ve written over 27,000 words in the last two weeks which feels slow since my brain likes to charge ahead.

Standing Tall for Desk Work

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In my 2010 post, “Get Off Your Butt,” I addressed the problem of working at a desk for long hours increasing risk of heart problems, obesity, and general fatigue. After four years at a desk job, I had realized that commuting to work on a bicycle was not enough to compensate for eight or more hours sitting at a desk. From my original post:

“Study Finds that Sitting May Increase Risk of Disease” (2007) stating, “Only 28 percent of Americans are getting the minimal amount of recommended exercise” and “exercising, even for an hour a day, was not sufficient to reverse the effect [of physical inactivity.]“

After two years of using a standing desk (a drafting table), I now realize how detrimental to my health hours of sitting had been the previous four years. Standing for part of the work day has helped recover much of my health. I’ve also noticed that when I’m trying to solve difficult problems, my brain prefers it when I stand. Humans think better on their feet. Of course standing in one place for too long isn’t good, either, so I upgraded my office with a GeekDesk.

GeekDesk at standing position

The purple light against the wall helps reduce eyestrain (like a lamp on the desk.) Light sources above or behind create reflections on the monitor, so I positioned my desk with the window to my left and my lamp is on my right. On cloudy days, I turn on the purple light behind the monitor.

My desk, GeekDesk Max, set at the standing height is nice when I just want to quickly do something on the computer. I don’t have to bother with sitting. When I’m writing stories, writing software, or working on something challenging I prefer to stand. If I’m doing something more relaxed or need to switch positions, I touch the button on the GeekDesk controller to lower the desk. The movement is smooth, and takes about six seconds to reach the programmed height.

GeekDesk at sitting position

The GeekDesk controller has up and down buttons plus four memory positions. I’ve set my sitting and standing heights perfect for proper ergonomic keyboard touch typing. Switching positions is nice. It’s good for the body, and for the brain as well.

GeekDesk controller

The GeekDesk is a sturdy, stable design. Smaller frames are available, and GeekDesk offers the frame only for those that already have a suitable top—a wood desktop able to take self-drilling screws. Assembling the desk took only a few minutes. I ended up attaching my cable modem to the frame so could use a shorter cable.

Modem attached to frame

The frame includes cables (disconnected in photo below) running through the brace with plenty of room to run wires for devices. The top comes with three ports for wires to cross underneath keeping the top less cluttered.

GeekDesk frame without top

Now, it’s time to stand up and write.

Brief review of The Mockingjay

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Found over at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/438285131

A fast, fun read. There are some beautiful moments with splendid descriptions, and we get to learn more details about the past. There’s too much indecision, which didn’t seem to fit the Katniss I met in the first book, or at least too much time spent on her indecisions. This could be part of her breaking, but other characters still showed strong loyalty and behaved as if she was still the decisive person as always. The ending re-unites the beginning with a common theme told in many stories, but the journey getting there gives us a strong perspective from the within-it’s also a theme worth exploring.

I like the poetry between the song, her father’s memory, the war, her sister, and Peeta all tied together with pieces from the first two books told in beautiful segments. After the hardship of the games, the war, we’re left with a bit of hope. For me, the trilogy is about the journey, and I enjoyed taking it with Katniss.

Password Tips

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Thanks to pre-built software, password cracking keeps getting easier, and many users still don’t care. Even if you have nothing worth stealing, using strong passwords prevents attackers from social engineering to get something that is worth taking. Attackers can glean parts of secret information from different sites, or hints from your Facebook profile, to get something valuable. Sophisticated tools also make it easier to use the simple passwords to crack other passwords. See “Why passwords have never been weaker—and crackers have never been stronger” at Ars Technica and take a look at some of the worst passwords in “10 of the worst passwords exposed by LinkedIn hack.”

Password dumping—public display of encrypted (and later possibly cracked) lists—has become more common allowing both security professionals and thieves learn more about password habits. Thieves may automate re-using your name-password login on other sites. A short list of recent dumps from Ars:

What these dumps reveal is that many users still choose simple passwords, a real word usually with a capital letter at the beginning and ending in a number. Cracking software try this pattern first starting with the most popular. Slightly tougher passwords use a real word with two or more capitals somewhere in the middle broken by a number or two. Better, play the license plate game to make a memorable password.

Tips

  • length should be at least 8 characters
  • use one or more capital letters in the middle
  • use numbers, but not just at the end
  • use at least one symbol if site allows
  • use a password generator
  • never use same password twice

Passwords are easier to remember if you type them every time instead letting your browser remember for you. Also, you may try a secure password organizer to store passwords (and other info) like 1Password available for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.