Author: kiusau

Life is full of surprises. Still, you can quit at anytime, if you have grown weary of their outcome. For, after all, survival is but a first step; it is a primitive instinct that does not distinguish us, humans, from other animals. Accordingly, if it is all that you can achieve in life, do not be surprised that others treat you like an ordinary animal. Alas, if it is all there is left, and you have grown weary, it is good justification to depart. Before you go, however, look deep inside and determine if you are not the cause of your own demise. For, in the end, society owes you nothing, and even your parents are likely to forsake you, if you have not been grateful. Have you said thanks for all that you have received, and have you given in return for all that you have taken? John F. Kennedy once stated "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country". Obviously, he was not thinking of taxes, but the help that he would require to become an effective president. Little that is great can be achieved alone. Then too, it takes great leaders to motivate society and move it forward in a manner that will pave the way to a better tomorrow. The world is in need of good leaders. Maybe you are one of them in disguise. Indeed, no one owes you a living, but if people see you struggling they are apt to lend a hand. Just do not be afraid to reach out. And, do not quit, if nothing is given in return. For, many people simply do not care, and you must not let them get you down. You have a right to your own life and the pursuit of your own happiness, so do not be afraid to claim what is yours. Just do not take what belongs to others, if it not without their permission or obtained in fair competition. And, cry out when you have been cheated, but only if there is something to be gained from your cries, for few people like a cry-baby. Be judicious, strategic, and select your battles wisely. Do not waste your time with trivial injustices, for we all make errors, and we are all, therefore, subject to the injustice of others. It is the very thought of exercising my freedom of last resort that keeps me alive, for it is the comfort that I can put an end to my suffering at any time that allows me to endure enormous pain. It is what gives me the courage to fight for what is right without fear of losing. It is a powerful freedom that you should never surrender! Just do not make pain your goal, or you will surely finish a loser. Then too, never place pleasure over goodness and know to distinguish between the two. In liberty, Roddy

Cyber Attack

Although unfortunate on the one hand, it is perhaps a good omen on the other.  Grammar Captive is under cyber siege.  Certianly, it is not clearly understood whether the attack is against WordPress, and Grammar Captive is merely a source of collateral damage; or whether Grammar Captive is, indeed, the direct target. If it is the latter, then it is perhaps a compliment to Grammar Captive’s challenge to the world’s English language industry.

In any case, after the recent installation of the Matomo software, it was noticed that the subsequent placement of the opt-in/opt-out button for cookie-tracking on the Legal/Privacy panel of the Grammar Captive mainpage has led to strange behavior.  Proof of the button’s effectiveness only occurs after the appearance of an internal server error and page refresh.  Observance of this yet to be corrected, unwanted phenomenon led to an investigation that accidentally uncovered a likely attempt to crack the Grammar Captive WordPress password.

The evidence for this unfortunate attack was the many hundreds of hits within the space of a several minute interval on the Grammar Captive WordPress log-in page .  The source of the attack was traced to mainland China and the following domain was blocked:  60.223.252.6.

According to the Who Is? page of the APNIC list of registered domains the source of the attack came from the Shangxi Province.  China Unicom is the owner of the address and has been notified of the abuse.

The entire weekend was spent addressing this twin-problem and several more days will likely be required in an attempt to resolve the time and space issues resulting from the large amount of CPU time and memory that the Matomo software apparently requires  and appear to be the source of the button dysfunction.

Roddy

Privacy, Matomo, and Iubenda

Privacy is something that everyone can appreciate and unfortunately far too many violate.  We are especially vulnerable in this latter regard when we are exploring on the internet.  For it is there where so much information about our behavior, electronic equipment, whereabouts, interests,  inclinations, and time spent is collected without our knowledge.  From this data entire stories can be created about our person that may or may not be true depending on who is collecting the data and creating the story.

In contrast, without data collection it is difficult for service providers to tailor their services to their customers wants and needs.  Accordingly, please do not be surprised that a service provider would collect data about its users that they do not intentionally give.  Indeed, the very nature of human communication demands that more information is exchanged than is ever intentionally given.

What is more, data collection is a two-way street!  How, for example, can a service provider know that his freely offered information, instruction, or advice is not being used for criminal purposes?  He cannot!   In this light, if a user cannot trust the service provider whose data he collects, then why in the world would he be collecting the provider’s data in the first place?

In the end, it is not so much what data is exchanged and collected, but how this data is used.

Grammar Captive makes the assumption that most users do not mind that data about their person or behavior on a given site is collected, so long as it is stored securely and not used to their disbenefit.  And, in good faith Grammar Captive makes no attempt to disguise the nature of the data that it collects, how this data is used, and the purpose of its use — namely,  enhance the user’s experience and thus make Grammar Captive an attractive place for him to spend his time.

With the incorporation of Matomo into the Grammar Captive web application important decision had to be made about what data would be collected and what would not, and to this end Grammar Captive has updated its Iubenda legal advisory.  Please visit the Grammar Captive mainpage and look  for the subheading Legal/Privacy under the heading Other in the navigation bar.

Roddy

 

 

 

One Change, Many Modifications

Introducing a multiple language listing for the Seven Gates newsletter was a relatively easy task, making the necessary modifications for the files and pieces of code that depend on the same files and code that make the multiple language listing possible proved far more daunting.

In the short run, the benefit of a multi-lingual introductory newsletter may prove unworthy of its cost of implementation.  In the long run, however, I cannot help but believe that it was well worth the effort.  In any case, the worst of it is now water under the bridge, and I can at last begin the implementation of Matomo — Grammar Captive’s Google Analytics without Google.

Roddy

Language Selection

In order to sign up for a Grammar Captive account a user must enter his native tongue.  In his confirmation email is included this language.  When he confirms this information is sent to the database, and the user receives a copy of Seven Gates in his preferred language automatically.  Whereupon he can choose to subscribe, if he has not already, or even unsubscribe, if he changes his mind.

An introductory letter in your native tongue is likely to be more easily digested and encourage subscription or discourage unsubscription.  Once received, advanced users can select the English version with a simple click, if they so prefer.

The multilingual nature of Grammar Captive is an important selling point of the site, and now users will be able to select newsletters in the language of their choice.  This is the newest addition to the Grammar Captive mainpage.

At present there is only one alternative language — namely, Japanese;  this said, the technology is now in place for many more.

When you land on the page look for the word Archives under the heading Regular Updates / Weekly Newsletter in the navigation bar, or alternatively, perform a search in Japanese or English under the heading Search Grammar Captive.

Nearly a week has been lost due to a failed system upgrade, but we are nearly back on track.  Certainly the fundamentals for a mass mailing in multiple languages is now in place, and the long promised counter that replaces Google Analytics has already been installed.  What remains is coordinating the data bases for the mass mailing  and choosing what to count for Grammar Captive’s substitute for Google Analytics — namely, Matomo.

Roddy

日本人も国語で七棟の門を購読

小さな一歩でも、日本人は国語で文法キャプチッブの「Seven Gates」というニューズレターの初版を読めます。取り敢えず、国語初版は第一の版として、英語で書いたレターと一緒に同様のアーカイブに保管されています。アーカイブの第二ページにご覧ください。も少し初版だけではなく、全部の国語で書いたレターは自分のアーカイブに預かられます。

Roddy

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Grammar Captive has produced its first Japanese newsletter.  It is currently listed as Letter No. 1 on Page 2 in the newsletter archive.  In an effort to not to confuse readers, however, the creation of separate archives for different languages is now under way.  This will insure the integrity of the letter numbering, as well as uniformity in the formatting of different languages.

Hopefully, the last of two remaining development tasks before the new counter is initiated and podcast production begins!

Roddy

What Appears Small, Can Sometimes Be Very Big

While creating the Grammar Captive online search engines an important design flaw in the way many of the site’s forms were created was discovered. Users could submit their data by clicking on the button provided, but they could not submit it by depressing their ENTER/RETURN key.  In fact, when they depressed the key, the page would refresh and their data would vanish.  As many users would be discouraged by this outcome and fail to submit their data, and as many users are surely accustomed to submitting their data by this latter method, a solution had to be found.

After three days of experimentation users can now submit their data with the button or the key.  This success has led, however, to still another task:  fixing the design flaw for all of the other forms — another unwanted, but necessary delay.

A thankful, but weary developer.

Roddy

Three New Grammar Captive Search Engines

Users are no longer limited by the options provided by Grammar Captive for their selection of information. Users can now query the newsletter, podcast, and question-answer data tables using their own search information!

By way of example go to the Grammar Captive mainpage and click on Newsletters, Podcasts, or Q&A under the heading Search Grammar Captive in the navigation bar Having clicked enter the following italicized words or phrases:

  • Newsletters:  lorem ipsum
  • Podcasts:  podcast
  • Q&A: Frage

and watch what happens.  Please keep in mind that these selections are based on non-information included merely as a surrogate for real information that will be provided in the future.  For the moment, the focus is on the mechanics, not the substance.

Roddy

 

Database Preparation

As all of the substantive text related to Grammar Captive newsletters and podcasts is stored in rows and columns of several tables in the Grammar Captive database, the column definitions of these tables must be modified to accommodate natural language full-text search and match operations.  As this modification has now been achieved, I can begin writing the code that receives the user’s search request, matches it against the data contained in the various tables related to his request, and returns it in a user-friendly, readable format.

In the meantime a user interface for a new search engine has been added to the Grammar Captive mainpage.  Look under the heading Search Grammar Captive.  This engine will match the user’s search request with the Seven Gate’s weekly question-answer pairs.

Have a great day!

Roddy