The What and Why

Tradeskill For starters, this website was created on Friday, June 3, 2022 and built in GitHub Pages. Why?

• The platform doubles as a form of "simultaenous cross-training" in minimally keeping me immersed in the various, familiar aspects of the software development life cycle and release management processes, even when all I'm doing is rambling on in a blog post about things no one else probably cares about.
• Free static website hosting

Tradeskill Security The first thing I did when deciding what initial page to drop as my home page: I knew I wanted to use Bootstrap as a frontend framework for styling and handling responsive design, but opted to pair it with some starter HTML markup from HTML5 Boilerplate instead. And after making a few preferred adjustments to the markup and selectively offloading bandwidth optimization concerns to a CDN using Subresource Integrity, I had something I was satisfied with (both inside and out). Why?

• I wanted to distance myself from the rather irritating and prolific "cookie-cut" experience that copy-and-paste produces.
• HTML5 is a standard that didn't originate with Bootstrap.
• I am more interested in things being done properly, consistently, and to the greatest degree of quality and semantic correctness possible (it's somewhat of an obsesssion of mine, you could say).
• To the extent that Bootstrap, jQuery, and the endless list of other opinionated frameworks help me to achieve my personal goals, I'll use them on an as-needed basis. But at the point where they begin to obstruct me from reaching those goals, then may be the time to reconsider other options. As we say in software engineering, "...tools for the job."
• Besides keeping large libraries out of my code repository (which I will likely never modify except to update them to the latest version), third-party Content Delivery Networks (or CDNs) bring infrastructure I simply don't have. I consider them "safe enough" to use when paired with "best effort" measures (i.e. SRI, except for when it's not supported) for mitigating asset compromises, etc.

Tradeskill Privacy I am not using Google Analytics on this website. Why?

• I'm mostly interested in summary statistics showing unique page views for a given time period and after reconfiguring my DNS for this new website, I noticed I was already getting that information with Cloudflare Web Analytics; a product which the company (Cloudflare) provides the following assertion in their Privacy First policy there:

  We also don't "fingerprint" individuals via their IP address, User Agent string, or any other data for the purpose of displaying analytics. Our analytics are non-invasive and respect the privacy of your visitors.

Tradeskill I'm handcrafting most, if not all, of this website by hand. Why?

• Besides being vicariously inspired by Robert Nystrom's website and book Crafting Interpreters through one of my employees at work, handcrafting enables me to design, architect, orchestrate, create, and ultimately materialize the ideas and goals I have about what I'd like to accomplish with this website, both in function and execution.
• It also enables me to more naturally deploy things like custom attributes (i.e. nofollow link type to signify that the linked resource "is not endorsed by the author of this one, ... has no control over it, ... is a bad example or if there is commercial relationship between the two") as I'm writing them out, vs. having to remember to go back and fix them after I've already deployed the rest of the website.
• Did I mention, this website was carefully crafted to not rely on any JavaScript? 0-script. How's that for "low code?"

Tradeskill Legal Speaking of handcrafted things, this might reasonably be a good time to disclose and apologize in advance to my friends and fellow professionals overseas who might be getting blocked trying to access other parts of this website. Why?

• As a cryptography enthusiast (more on this later), parts of this website may be subject to U.S. Export Regulations and are therefore being restricted to U.S. and Canada residents only at this time.
• Also, because it matters and you should care. So, please take a moment to review your legal obligations when using this website in the Legal section of this website.

Tradeskill I'm not writing very detailed commit messages at this time. Why?

• There are times when I've almost written an entire press release for a single, admittedly large commit, as a personal accountability measure. However, going back to the introduction of this website; while I would love to impress you with an endless stream of well-written commit messages every time I change a line on this website, right now that's simply not my main focus.

Tradeskill Veracity At this time, I am only editing this website via GitHub's web interface. Why?

• Besides the convenience of a portable IDE (device-agnostic, OS-agnostic, network-agnostic, etc.), I'm asserting authenticity of every change to this website via Vigilant Mode whereby you can go back into the change history of this repository and see that every commit is signed by me.
• I have also added my other current PGP key to my account for future use, with the following fingerprint: F30FF4FC936584574EE3251833688C2EDC08CD38 (more on this later).

Tradeskill Security I use multifactor authentication for everything and unwieldy passwords that I commit to muscle memory. Why?

• Being the amateur cybersecurity enthusiast I was some years back, I discovered a series of unrecognized login attempts as I went to review my Gmail sign-in history (as per "protocol," you know). Normally, I sit, point, and laugh at the feeble attempts that all get shoved to the curb, but on this particular day, I was the one getting shoved to the curb: "Successful login from Germany (blocked)." Somehow, Google knew enough to block successful logins based on geographical location (or something, I don't exactly know), but I knew enough to know that wouldn't last long and proceeded to turn on multifactor as a more deliberate countermeasure. I also knew at that point that someone else had successfully derived my 8-12 character password I was using around that time; and now that also needed to be rotated.

Tradeskill Veracity I'm currently writing a reference (now available) documenting the various processes I've had to use in independently verifying the authenticity of signing keys and the identity of their owners. Why?

• Because high risk environments are within only a few clicks of highly skilled attackers; and can only be defended by high quality professionals who understand the non-negotiable duty of due diligence.
• To streamline ID verification for those who trust me (see also Building your web of trust in Chapter 4 of The GNU Privacy Handbook).

Humor I crack the best jokes known to mankind in public forum, as often as the opportunity allows (which is not many). Why?

• Because I often find them very relevant, clever, and funny; even when no one else does. I'm like the mischievous kid who knows how to make the teacher laugh at something they probably shouldn't be laughing at. It is always a race to see who can come up with the last pun...-ish...-ment.
• Also, because my kids ask for them. And when your kids ask you for a dad joke, you know you got something going for you in life (even if all that is is dad jokes). You could say, it's what separates the dads from the men.

Work I sometimes start my day at 2:30 AM, even when work doesn't start until 7 AM. Why?

• Because it is biologically impossible for engineers to get a good night's rest when the unicorn still hasn't revealed itself after the 4 hours spent looking at the same 5 lines of code (and when you try to help the situation, it only results in more things breaking). It's like a rain dance or ritual gone horribly wrong.
• It also seems to be the only time I can get some quiet around here (except for when you have a refridgerator on its way out, filling the air with high engine idling noises)

Work I am the proud owner of a GTRACING Racing gaming chair (the one with the footrest). Why?

• Besides enraging my middle with jealousy (what? he's got the rocker with bluetooth speakers so I don't see what the issue is...), the hard dining room chairs were killing my back after 2 hours of work.
• Also, it's a convertible bed comfortable enough to sleep in (see 2:30 AM reference).

Work You may find, on occasion, commits made during the workday. Why?

• It's called a company policy that provides for flex time during a 40-hour workweek
• Another common/recurring example is me starting early (see also 2:30 AM reference)
• Another common/recurring example is me staying late
• Another common/recurring example is me working at night
• Another common/recurring example is me working on my Fridays off during the Summer
• Another common/recurring example is me working part of my weekends when I should be resting (like all day on a given Saturday)
• Another reason is stress management
• Another reason is knowing when to recognize stopping points and taking breaks before starting on another unit of work that's going to imprison me for the next 4 hours
• Another reason is because I have a working relationship with my boss that provides for seasonal changes to my work schedule as needed
• Another reason is personal accountability
• Another reason is trust

Privacy I'm not big into social media. Why?

• Besides normally being a monumental waste of time and capital source of noise, I find a lot of the overcrowded, overstated, mind-numbing, and explicitly disparaging competition to be rather quite nauseating.
• I also deleted a Facebook account I wasn't really using for anything; once upon a long, long time ago (like, permanently and irrevocably deleted it). A few months later, I get a "We've missed you!" email from Facebook. "Click on this link to login!" I thought, "Login to what? My account I already deleted?" No, it was I who was the misinformed party. You figure out the rest. These were the days before GDPR (but it's probably still this way).

Life I'm not too big into overnight camping or hiking. Why?

• Unplanned 🔥 wildfires (esp. while you're sleeping)
• Unplanned widowmakers falling on you (also while you're sleeping)
• Unplanned bear attacks; oh, not to mention: cougars, javelinas, mountain lions, tigers, cheetahs, wooly mammoths, Smallfoots, Bigfoots, Some-as-big-as-your-head-foots, Some-as-small-as-your-big-foot, pranksters, and muggers; all attacking you at the very same time, while you're sleeping, walking, or sleepwalking.
• And while I'm okay with getting a little lost in the woods, I'm not okay with seeing beer cans left on the ground: particularly the ones you find off the beaten path, out in the middle of nowhere (i.e. there is someone else out here besides me...*snap*...wait, what was that sound?!?!

Life (I think I'm going to keep filling out this section with more entries over time. Why?)

• Because it's been strangely therapeutic writing all these out and felt very natural and effortless pumping out a lot of content this way.
• Also, because I hope it gives you a better idea as to who I am, what things I care about (conversely, what things I care about measurably less...wow, that sounded a little too diplomatic), and what to expect in the weeks and months to come.

Contact Information

Scan the QR code below to download my latest vCard:

PGP Information

My current PGP key used for signing is as described below:

• Fingerprint: F30F F4FC 9365 8457 4EE3 2518 3368 8C2E DC08 CD38
• Download: mattborja.dev
• Download: github.com
• Download: pgp.re
• Download: keybase.io (profile)
• Download: keys.openpgp.org
• Download: keyserver.ubuntu.com
• Download: keyserver.pgp.com
• Download: pgp.mit.edu

^⭐ Interested in how I verify PGP key owners? See my Book of Verifications.