Archives for November 2017

Why North Korea’s Latest Missile Test is its Most Dangerous

by crisanzai · Nov 30, 2017

North Korea just launched it’s most advanced nuclear capable ballistic missile (Hwasong-15) a few days ago and it’s one that’s capable of reaching the mainland United States. This is unprecedented as all of the previous missiles that were launched had a limited range and could at worst hit our allies in Guam and maybe the Hawaiian islands.

The real danger isn’t really the nuclear missile hitting the mainland US, but rather an EMP (Electromagnetic pulse) detonated far above the United States. Why would North Korea openly choose an EMP option rather than a direct nuclear attack? The reasons are simple, but two fold – First an EMP doesn’t need to be as accurate as a direct nuclear strike and it’s effects are more wide spread, Second an EMP blast high in the atmosphere is harder to stop. Most of our conventional missile deterrents are built for lower altitude strikes.

What an EMP could do (and there’s a lot of conflicting information out there) is destroy our communications and our power grid. It could destroy communications satellites in space and destroy low voltage communications on the ground (this includes ethernet and telephone lines). The way an EMP could destroy our power grid is by overloading power lines and transformers or overloading smaller connections to the larger grid that aren’t hardened against an EMP. Many power companies have hardened their primary lines against an EMP (as EMPs can be naturally occurring, albeit rare like the great solar storm of 1859) and even our government has hardened are nuclear facilities in case of such an event.

What can you do against an EMP? Well you really can’t do anything. I’ve read that you can make Faraday cages out of metal trash bins and you can even purchase commercially available ones on Amazon, but other than that you can’t really prepare for one. The best you can do is prepare for its aftermath. Have enough food, water, and tools to survive an extended period of time without power. Don’t panic and ride the storm out until infrastructure can be rebuilt.

Additional Reading:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/28/politics/north-korea-missile-launch/index.html

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HM/HM09/20171012/106467/HHRG-115-HM09-Wstate-PryP-20171012.pdf

Feature Image Courtesy of Nasa

Modifying the Pomodoro Technique for Collaborative Efforts

by crisanzai · Nov 28, 2017

Last week I wrote about the Pomodoro technique and the advantages and disadvantages of using it to maximize productivity. One of the disadvantages I noted was that this technique wasn’t that great for collaborating. Well with some modification I think you can definitely make this technique work in a collaborative environment. Here’s how I modified the technique:

Decide on what task you would like to collaborate on.
Set the pomodoro timer to 25 -50 minutes depending on how elaborate the task
Collaborate on the task
End work when the timer rings
Take a minute to talk about what action items you and your collaborator(s) agree upon working on in the next segment
Take a 5 – 10 minute break
Set the pomodoro timer to 25 minutes again
Work on individual action items (without distraction – we used headphones as a signal to focus on individual tasks)
Take a 5 – 10 minute break
Repeat steps 1 – 9
After 2 cycles, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), then repeat the cycle.

I met with a friend for a meeting on some side projects and scheduled an 8 hour block of time to complete all of our agenda items during the meeting, but by using the modified pomodoro technique we cut that time in half. (It may have just been a coincidence though, results may vary!). I plan on using this same technique on our next session and other collaborative efforts to see if it pans out, but I have to say the first time use results were quite dramatic.

The collaboration portion gave us enough time to bounce ideas off of each other, and the 25 minute “quiet” time after the collaboration session, allowed us to take action on some of the most important tasks. Because we worked off of an agenda that was prepared well ahead of time, it was easy to transition from session to session.

The agenda helped stave off wasted time and the 25 minutes of work with the 5 – 10 minute break was just enough time to get things done without having felt burned out. The 15 – 30 minute break after the two cycles was a great way to chill and have some fellowship time. I’ll keep you posted about how future collaboration efforts work and if any modifications would need to be made if you’re collaborating with more than one person.

The key here is that all parties must agree to applying the technique during the meeting, if not then it will just turn into a standard regular old meeting.

Thanks for reading!

4 Things I Learned From Raising Ducks

by crisanzai · Nov 27, 2017

My wife and I purchased four ducks earlier this year in the spring at our local Tractor Supply store. We had no experience in raising ducks or farm animals of any kind, but decided to move forward anyways. Luckily we live in an area that is zoned for owning poultry and livestock (for personal use) and we wanted to dip our toes in a longer term goal/dream of having a fully off-grid property. There were several reasons we decided to go with ducks instead of chickens, primarily we went the duck route, because they are not as noisy and not as smelly (chicken feces has a distinct pungent odor). They also lay eggs (although not as many as chickens) and we thought that they were unique. How many people do you know that own ducks? Anyways since we bought 4 ducks, here are 4 things I learned from raising them!

1. Ducks are Messy!

Pictured above are the four adorable ducks we purchased. Don’t let their cute looks fool you! These are the messiest animals we have ever had the pleasure of raising and we’ve raised quite a few animals including rats (fancy and dumbo), rabbits, cockatiels, cats, dogs, and various fish. So what they don’t tell you (whoever “they” are) is that ducks require water to eat their food. Lots of water…

We kept our ducks in a bin and later when they got older a kiddie swimming pool. We filled their enclosure with pine chips and had to constantly give them water and change their pine chips out daily as they would splash water all over the place creating a huge soggy mess. We alleviated some of the mess by using a paint tray and a metal paint liner – and put the water at the end to filter out some of the debris they were tracking in their water.

2. Ducks Eat Plants

After a few months our ducks survived adolescence and reached adulthood. We could no longer keep them in the small makeshift enclosure we made for them, so we made them a larger one outside. As you can see in the photo above, there is not a spot of green inside of their enclosure aside from the bush next to their hutch. Ducks will devour just about any plant you put near them. Believe it or not the entire pen was filled with lush green grass and other plantlife (mostly weeds), now it’s like a barren desert. The ducks literally ate all of the grass. We now use straw and grass clippings to fill their enclosure with.

3. Ducks are Vulnerable

One of our ducks somehow injured their leg and was in quite a bit of pain. She was shivering and we had to quarantine her so she wouldn’t get hurt even more. My wife picked the duck up and wrapped her in a towel to warm our duck up, but noticed something unusual. The duck was crying, not wailing type crying, but tears were streaming down it’s face. It was quite the site. You may get really attached to your ducks, so be mindful of that if you want to raise them for meat.

On another note, ducks are easy prey. Once they are captured they do not struggle or make much noise, and unfortunately this vulnerability became the reason for two of our ducks demises. Unfortunately what we thought was a secure enclosure was not and a raccoon managed to sneak in and kill a few of our birds (on different nights). Raccoons are the duck’s nemesis and they will kill a duck by tearing it’s head off and eating it’s innards. It’s quite a gruesome site. We now have proper defenses against raccoons and other bandits, with a double enclosure system and we will be putting up an electric fence in the near future. Lesson learned, albeit at the cost of two our favored fowls lives.

4. Ducks take Time

If you think ducks are a set it and forget it poultry, you are sorely mistaken. Ducks require a lot of upkeep, especially if you don’t have a pond or small lake. Ducks require a lot of water, as mentioned earlier that’s how they digest and eat their food. You have to constantly change their water – at least once or twice daily as their water gets really disgusting. They defecate in their water as well as track dirt and do their general cleaning in it. Unlike chickens, you can’t just leave them for weeks at a time, you more than likely will have to have someone check in on them if you are on vacation or on an extended trip away.

Raising ducks has been a great learning experience and our little experiment of raising our four ducks will lead to our next adventure. Raising an additional 4 ducks next Spring. 3 duck egg producers and one for show (a crested duck) as well a goose to for additional poultry protection. Below is a photo of a crested duck!

Thanks for reading!

5 Things Friday 11.24.2017

by crisanzai · Nov 25, 2017

5 Things I Found Interesting 11.17.2017 Edition

It’s that time of the week again! Time to bring up 5 things I found interesting throughout the week. What will it be this week?! See below…

1. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Valerian was finally available for rent on Amazon and my wife and I settled down to watch Luc Besson’s latest flick Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. I give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars. The visual effects were out of this world on this film. I have to admit I take one star off, because some of the acting by the main characters were a bit dry (but I think that was intentional), and there were some unnecessary sequences in the film that I found were unnecessary (as they didn’t move the main story over). For example there’s a scene with an alien shapeshifter and alien king (no spoilers here – the entire film has over 1000 planets – and countless alien species in it). It definitely brought back memories of the Fifth Element with its visual effects and was very entertaining. I definitely recommend a view at least once.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239822/

2. Gerber Suspension Multi-Tool

While everyone was up early this morning trying to get black Friday deals. My wife and I decided to finish some long overdue projects at the house. While I was picking up supplies for a flooring project, I found this little gem on sale. What I like about this multi-tool aside from the price (about $20 on Amazon or Homedepot – where I picked this up), the Gerber Suspension has a lot of things going for it. It has needle-nose pliers (where many multi-tools have block point pliers), both a serrated and straight blade, scissors that are pretty decent, and a variety of other standard multi-tool additions (Phillips head, flat head, woodsaw, etc…). What I like about it the most is the locking mechanism for each tool, which prevent each tool from accidentally closing on you. All the accessory tools aside from the pliers are available on the outside part of the tool (meaning you don’t have to open the Gerber to access them). The cons are that the knife blades and saw blades are pretty small for a multi-tool of this size, the Phillips head is a little flat, and I would have personally preferred that a file would have been included (those things come in handy).

3. Net Neutrality – An Opposing View

This is a take basically against keeping Net Neutrality and I wholly disagree with it. The broadcaster though knows how to make a solid valid argument, but his argument is not sound. He makes a lot of assumptions based on the past and basically builds a historian’s fallacy. Basically, saying because nothing happened in the past, and things improved, the future without net neutrality will essentially be the same. You should always hear both sides of an argument to understand what is true. Learning about the oppositions view will either make your reasoning stronger, or find holes in it.

4. Parasitic Worms Found In North Korean Defector

This was super weird when I first read it. A North Korean soldier dramatically makes it across the border and gets shot multiple times, while doctors treat the soldier, they found HUGE worms inside of his intestines. One of them which typically are only found in dogs. The largest worms were over 10 inches long! Imaging having that living inside of you. You hear stories of malnutrition and disease from 3rd world countries, but actually seeing the parasitic worms taken out of a person makes it a bit real. You can’t really see disease – you can see the effects of disease, but not the disease itself (unless you of course are looking at them microscopically). Seeing those worms really provokes a visceral feeling.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/22/health/north-korea-defector-parasites-health/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2017/11/22/health/north-korea-defector-parasites-health/index.html

5. Plotograph In Photoshop!?

My co-worker showed me this video, and I have yet to try it. However I’m going to experiment with it soon! I think moving images are the future of photography. I mean still images will still be around (no pun intended), but the technology for Cinemagraphs, Gifs, and the like are only going to increase. I first found out about this technology 3 or 4 years ago at Photoshop World, and now you can do it with a single photograph. Trust me (well don’t trust me, I’m terrible at predicting things – I thought twitter was a passing fad, but rather believe me?) when I say that the technology is coming for movable images to be viable. I’m talking about flexible e-paper with full color spectrum capabilities and digital displays for billboards and the like. It’s not some weird thing from a sci-fi novel. The technology is here, it’s just too expensive right now, but don’t worry the Law of Anzai – wait long enough and things get cheaper, until they don’t (think antiques).

Things I’m Thankful For! Happy Thanksgiving

by crisanzai · Nov 23, 2017

This is going to be a gratitude list

First and foremost I’m thankful for God that he would allow us to have personal relationship with him and that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)

I’m thankful for my Amazing wife Annette, who puts up with my craziness and who’s an awesome mother for my child.

I’m thankful for my 3 year old daughter who made me realize that the heart can expand to allow more love to enter. She’s rambunctious, hard headed, curious, and always so darn happy! I love that turd.

I’m thankful for my Church family, who’s help me greatly dealing with my extreme social anxiety and who’ve been a consistent force of good for the last 5 years – lifeuc.org

I’m thankful for living in a country that allows me attend Church and have a freedom of speech to write these blogs.

I’m thankful for Net Neutrality, which allows me as a potential entrepreneur have a fair playing field for broadcasting my business ideas and business enterprises.

I’m thankful for a job that allows me to try and experience new things. Especially in the field of project management. I’m also thankful that this job is Christ centered and has a mission that I can easily align myself with which is to “Positively impacting the lives of others”.

I’m thankful that I have a home and I’m able to support my family on a single income. I just don’t know how dual income families with small children do it, they have a lot of grit!

I’m thankful for this year in general. It’s been one big learning experience, whether it’s from work, photography, church, or even homesteading projects. Owning ducks was definitely a first and a great learning experience.

I’m thankful for compounding interest (enough said about that lol).

I’m thankful that our country is rich enough that I can get any type of produce, meat, fish, food from across the world for a relatively low price

I’m thankful to be debt free. I know of many people struggling with debt and I was in the same boat too a few years back, but we buckled down and paid it off through God’s provision.

I’m thankful for my parents – we don’t always get along, but they are good people and have the best intentions! I’m also thankful for my extended family as well.

I’m thankful for my pets, they are awesome and are a great stress reliever. They entertain and delight everyday!

I’m thankful for 2017 and look forward to 2018! Exciting times ahead!

And… I’m thankful for you fellow readers! You are the best in my eyes for reading my thoughts!

Save Net Neutrality

by crisanzai · Nov 22, 2017

You may have noticed a banner when entering this site. I encourage you to contact congress and take action against the move to kill Net Neutrality.

This post is going to be short and simple. I’m by no means a political activist or social justice warrior, but this issue will affect everyone who uses the internet in the United States… which practically speaking is everyone. Please watch and share the video and the website link posted below.

https://www.battleforthenet.com/

The Pomodoro Technique

by crisanzai · Nov 21, 2017

A few weeks back I wrote about how effective time blocking could be. I typically only have a few opportunities to time block per week (due to the nature of my job) and I try to maximize that time to get all of my lagging projects finished.

One of my co-workers sent me an email about how a software vendor we use maximized their work time and increased efficiency using the Pomodoro Technique. In the 1980s a student by the name of Francesco Cirillo developed this technique, and I am seriously surprised I haven’t heard about it until recently. The basic gist of the technique (copied from wikipedia) follows s below:

Decide on the task to be done.
Set the pomodoro timer (traditionally to 25 minutes).^[1]
Work on the task.
End work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper.^[5]
If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 2.
After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1.

The Pomodoro timer is basically a tomato shaped kitchen timer (which basically what the technique is named after) See pic below:

With the magic of technology you don’t even need a kitchen timer anymore. There are several apps available as well as this nifty tool dedicated to making the Pomodoro technique a lot easier to implement called Tomato Timer. https://tomato-timer.com/

Pros

I’ve only gotten a chance to use this technique once, but it seems to be very fruitful. The structure lends well to time blocking and the scheduled breaks are a great reprieve from mental strain. The timer feature also is quite motivating. I actually want to do more in that 25 minute time slot to “earn” the 5 minute breaks between the 25 minute time slots. Maybe it’s some sort of psychological trick, or some weird connection to Parkinson’s law (work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion), but it seems to work on me.

The 5 minute breaks in between is great to clear the mind and switch context if working on a series of tasks or different projects, and enough time to settle and re-evaluate if you are working on a larger project that you have chunked out. The 20 minute break is even better as it allows you to relax – knowing that you’ve done your best to maximize the 4 other 25 minute chunks of time (or 1 hour and 40 minutes of work plus 15 minutes of downtime).

Cons

While this is great for individual projects, this technique doesn’t play well with the intricacies of collaboration. This becomes more apparent when you are collaborating with multiple people on a single project. I feel like the 25 minute time limit is too short for collaborative efforts, so moving forward I’ll only apply this technique to activities or tasks that I would individually be responsible for completing.

You have to be secure in your number 1 step – meaning you need to know exactly what task you want to get done in the 25 minute Pomodoro. If you deviate from the task it can and will mess up your “Pomodoro flow” which is a term that I totally made up. This takes a lot of discipline to accomplish as there are so many distractions and interruptions that can happen. As Jim Collins states in Good to Great “A culture of discipline is not just about action. It is about getting disciplined people…who engage in disciplined thought and…who then take disciplined action.” You must have in you a culture of discipline for the Pomodoro Technique to work, or at least try to strive for discipline.

Another shortfall that I personally found using this technique is the fact that it doesn’t lend itself to short tasks. What I find helpful is to line up shorter tasks consecutively (if you have a laundry list of them like I usually do), and knock them out until the 25 minutes is up. However the technique itself seems to be geared for single overarching tasks rather than smaller process tasks that may take only 5 – 10 minutes to complete.

Overall I enjoy using the Pomodoro technique and will continue to use it and modify the use of it until I find a better way.

What time management/task management techniques do you use to get your projects done?

Thanks for reading!