title: 'Sandboxing: Producing During Difficult Times' date: 2016-07-13 layout: post.jade

collection: blog

Yesterday I walked across the heart of Mexico City. As I walked I talked with and listened to Everett. As with many walks the two of us take, this one lasted longer than either participant anticipated. At one point I checked a parking meter and the clock said 15:30. I mentioned that it was one thirty.

Everett witnessed me check the time and said what do you mean 1:30? That clock said 15:30. It's three thirty!

I didn't notice the five. This is why Pair Linuxxing. Good thing I had no place to be.

In total, six hours walking, talking, wondering why I don't feel the urge to write. Let me append that. I feel the urge to write. And do. To a notebook. To a piece of paper. Less frequent is the urge to write and then publish to the web.

Tough, in essence, was Everett's response.

I've written since elementary school. I have been a writer since.

If writer I am, write I must.

Sandboxing

Now, I've just mentioned elementary school, but this isn't the elementary kind of sandbox. In fact, I don't remember spending much time in actual sandboxes when I was little. Not a huge sand fan.

Sandboxing is something web developers do to protect one part of a program from another. It's a reason to use a VPS. It's a reason to branch in Git. Sandboxing started so that nefarious ne'er do wells can't get their mitts on bits.

If sandboxing can be done with computer bits, it can be done with mental bits. Indeed, I belive it must be done with mental bits. Restrict access to some parts to protect the integrity of the whole system.

Commitment to Daily Body Practices

Sit daily. Eat well daily. Practice yoga daily. Walk around the city daily. Easy. Done.

Express Appreciation Daily

Here's another easy A. Express Appreciation Daily. Been doing so for years, so it's part of a daily routine that I believe leads to deeper connections with the things and people that matter. Part of sandboxing is focusing on what works, to the minimization of that which doesn't.

Acknowledge Difficulty, then Sandbox It

An application can do little harm if its access to the underlying operating system is appropriately restricted. Goldberg, et al

I've mentioned I use microloops to break bad habits. Adding sites that drain me to my hosts file keeps me from checking them. It's analagous to sandboxing: break bad habits so healthy ones can thrive.

Siempre es Mejor que Nunca

I'm experimenting with what can best be called 'forever' technologies. Writing to a cryptographically secure eventually consistent immutable log was at first terrifying.

Then I realized forever is better than never. In Spanish that's siempre es mejor que nunca. I could choose never to commit to the web again because someone might notice a fuckup. Nothing I can do to stop that. Only thing I can do is commit to the forever web knowing I could be paralyzed into never publishing again. Or I could write forever, fuckups and all.

I choose to write forever. Forever is better than never.

REMEMBER FOREVER & WORK FOR THE NOW.