nop90.net

One of my favorite books is The conquest of Gaul
by the brilliant Julius Caesar. What does a book that is almost 2000 years old have to do with search engines and computing? you may ask . And again certain people (ironically the same people who seem to think that that unless you can directly monetize a new idea, it is worthless), will accuse me of just spouting useless nonsense, and possibly they may be right :). To be honest I find them very amusing.

Even Caesar from his earliest days was an ambitous man. He wanted to be the leader of Rome . The book was origionally a series of “news reports”, or dispatches that where sent to Rome, so that way people could see the great things he was doing (it is probably one of the earliest surviving forms of propaganda). So the book might now be 100% historically accurate, since it’s purpose was not so much to record history, but to show the world what a brilliant man Caesar was :). So what does the book offer, a rare glimpse into the workings of a brilliant mind. Always copy success, it is not a good idea to copy people that fail :).

The conquest of gaul was a campain that took place over a 7 year period, dispite lacking resources Caesar was successful. For Caesar did not just use military might to conquer, but he used politics, strategy and the latest scientific methods. All attacks that you must do, should be multipronged attacks. A good general is like the conductor of an orchestra. Alone each instrument of the orchestra just makes noise. But when the conductor coordinates the percussion, brass, wood wind, and string instruments together he can make this noise appear to be the voice of the gods. He does not play any instrument, possibly he may not even know how to play an instrument. He is the person that brings the individual instruments together and makes them act as one large instrument.

In the conquest of gaul, Caesars main instruments where his army, his in depth knowledge of local customs,beliefs and religion and his ability to apply science to solve practical problems. I will talk about each of these things and then show how it can be applied in other matters.

The army

I will not talk to much about the roman army. There are countless books about this subject. But these points are very important.

The roman legion was a well equipped, extremely mobile unit, highly organized,self sufficient and compared to other armies of the time period quite small. Mobility is extremely important I remember reading that a legion could be moved from Rome to any point on the frontier with 10-20 days. Even by modern standards this is impressive, look how long it takes USA to actually get ready to invade iraq. Also since legions where small they did not cost as much to maintain, if Caesar can do the same job with 10K men as opposed to 300K men, it does not take a military strategist to figger out who will win. How where they able to do this was organization.

What can we learn from this and apply to google ? For blackhat seo in the past the strategy was to make large dinosaur type sites that numbered millions of pages. Very little organization/strategy was involved (throwing shit against a wall, i believe is the terminology). And you would think that after seeing for 2 years because google’s algo has changed, that people would clue in that this does not work. But nope they are like the stupid barbarian hordes throwing themselves against the roman shield wall repeatedly. You would think after one such incident where they lose 100K+ guys in a day, and the romans lost 50, maybe they would clue in, gee this does not work too hot, maybe we should try something new. So in a nutshell have a plan, but the plan should not be set in stone, instead it should be able to adapt to new situations very rapidly. Google’s algo is now days changing almost daily, if you do not adapt you are dead.

Equipment is important. The roman legionares equipment consisted of a short killing sword, a shield, and a spear. But these tools most importantly where designed to be used in a variety of roles. Also they where crafted using the finest materials of the time period. Everything the legionare carried had a definite purpose, nothing was wasted.

You equipment should be the same. For example if you get a VPS/Server it should be able to be used in a variety of roles. Also you should purchase the best vps/server that you can afford with your budget (also the most expensive is not nessarily the best, research). It is no use buying $0.99 domains, if the registrar has a crappy interface that is very hard to use and wastes your time. You are better off to pay $1.50 and not waste your time with garbage. Common sense shit, but yet how many times have you seen people who purchase 100 x 0.99 domains, then complain that they are wasting XX hours trying to fix the mess. If your time is worth $20 per hour, then see which is more economical.

Also using the right tools for the right job. This deals with operating systems, computer languages etc. Research and see which is best tool for the job. A tool just because it is most popular does not mean it is the best tool.

Indepth knowledge of beliefs, customs, religion and superstitions

I do not like the title of this section. Maybe a proper title would be “know thy enemy”. In  Caesar’s book he talks indepth about the local customs of the gauls. How they live, thier religous practices and their politics. He also talks about how the various tribes ally with each other. He soon discovered that the foundation of the gauls where thier druids, and that they believed the oak tree to be sacred. Caesar of course came up with a plan of how to turn these beliefs against them and use them to his maximum advantage.

First he  forbid the practice of druids in the territory that he occupied. Then in a brilliant stroke any oak trees that his soldiers found he had his soldiers destroy, that way he was attacking the spirit of the people.

In the same manner with google find out what thier objectives as a company are. What are thier beliefs and how can they be used to exploit to maximum profit. You can do this by studying what sorts of sites does google rank. Also study the bios of the founders of google, and major key employees, from this you will see what types of beliefs they have.  Google propaganda is also a very good source. Remember most of the propaganda they spout is technical nonsense, but we are not after technology. No on the contrary, we are after what type of public face they want to show the world, and indirectly from this we can see what thier agenda is, and thier beliefs.

If is important not to get involved in “morality” discussions. In the case of Caesar he did not really care whether or not worshipping oak trees was good or bad, but this is just a weakness which can be exploited. On the same token how many times have you seen people arguing what google should be doing. Who gives a fuck what they should be doing.

This is a very broad area, it also is the most important. One day I will talk about this area in greater depth.

Application of science to solve problems

A great deal of his book deal with how he used mining techniques to do what appeared to be the impossible, and break a siege. Or how he would construct a double ring fortification in lighting speed, all because he used the latest methods available. He goes into an indepth discription of how he constructed a 2 lane wooden bridge accross the river rhine in only 10 days. Because the river was so swift, normal pilings where unable to be placed. His engineers believed it to be impossible to construct what he wished. Using ingenious techniques and materials on hand he personally came up with a solution. Unfortunately all we have left is just a few of his writings, but even from these glimpses we can see the brilliance of his mind and his thoughts.

I have talked about this before alot. But look at what materials you have on hand. Then think of how they can be exploited for maximum profit.

And like Caesar you if you wish to have a profitable campain with google you must combine these elements. Looking at what others have done is find, but you must strike out into virgin territory and do the impossible. Every piece of information you obtain, think how can it be used. Often at the time, certain information appears to be useless, but later on it can be the most valuable.

Hopefully one day I will have time to elaborate on these things and more.

Every morning when I get up I have a routine. First I fire up my laptop on the dining room table, then I check my numbers and see how I am doing from yesterday. My numbers are very important, coffee is brought to me, and no one is to talk to me until I have finished examining my numbers and drank my coffee. Also while I am checking my numbers, drinking my coffee, I also read on various boards new posting from the nite before, and I check the search engines to see how they are doing. As ussual I have digressed :), but I think it is helpful if you are able to do several things at once :). I have stated this before the most important things a blackhat can do are research (30% of your time should be spent doing this) and experimentation. Which bring me to what I want to talk about.

I can not find the origional source but the copy that i read was posted here

http://forums.seo.ph/showthread.php?t=2255

and it references to Mr Tan’s blog here

http://forums.seo.ph/showthread.php?t=2255  http://internetmarketingsingapore.com/blog/ 

The part that jumped out at me was his statement It’s difficult at the start, but your experience and failure will be the one thing that separates you from the pack.

When things are going good, it is pretty simple to run things, anyone can win, but it is how you deal with failure. Everyone has heard the great speeches of churchhill from WW2 when britians back was against the wall. Things looked pretty bleak at the start of the Battle of Britain. They has little resource, inferior aircraft, shortage of trained pilots and they where getting the stuffing knocked out of them. USA and the rest of the world thought it would be just a matter of time before they would be over run by the nazis. But despite these overwhelming odds, they found new ways to fight. And britain’s darkest hour when it was over became one of the brightest.

People often ask me what is my secret to success. And I think they are shocked when I tell them it is because of failure. 9/10 of my projects I start end in failure. But 1/10 end up making me $$$ :). Ironically most of the time the 1/10 are the projects that the experts tell me are stupid :). Most people when they fail either beat themselves up,just pack it in, or worse yet attempt to do the same thing over again. Insanity is repeating the same thing over again and expecting different results.

When I fail I attempt to analyse what went wrong.  But not in a fucking cry baby manner. I do not say stupid shit like, ohhhh if only google was not so mean, etc. Instead i try and look at what i did from an abstact manner. I look at what parts of my project did work, and they I try and see why did it fail. From the failure perspective I attempt to see what caused the demise. Then I try and think what can I change so if I repeat the project again it will be a success. If I think the project could still potentially be profitable (as in gain outwieghts risk) I will often repeat the project with new variables in place.

Another problem is that society in general has a taboo against failure. As a result people are scared to do anything for fear of failure, they then stick to the tried and true. When they are have to make a decision they will panic and then just make any stupid decision, instead of wieghting all thier options.

It is how you pick yourself up when after u fall down that shows what type of person you are. And that is what seperates the men from the boys.

I had to look up religion on webster to check exactly what it means.

Main Entry:

re·li·gion

Pronunciation:

\ri-?li-j?n\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English religioun, from Anglo-French religiun, Latin religion-, religio supernatural constraint, sanction, religious practice, perhaps from religare to restrain, tie back — more at rely

Date:

13th century

1 a: the state of a religious <a nun in her 20th year of religion> b (1): the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2): commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance2: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices3archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness4: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

— re·li·gion·less adjective

Probably a better definition would be a set of irrational beliefs which have absolutely no scientific /  logical basis. But then again webster could not have a definition like that since it would piss off too many people.

Religion in the programming world raises its ugly head time and time again, mainly in the threads to show why language X is better then language Y.

Ussually the reasons given are rather comical. Well more people use language X. Yah well 100 years ago most people rode arround in horse drawn buggies, does that mean that a buggy is better then a motor car ?

Or language X is very easy to learn. You can learn it in 24 hours. It has a simple syntax. Yepper that is a good reason to use language X. Shit how come  Mario Gabriele Andretti  do not drive a tricycle. It is much easier to learn how to drive a tricycle then it is operate a racing car.

It is best that you know many languages. Each language is better for certain tasks. PHP is good for web programming, but IMHO lacks when it comes to the properties that perl and python have when it comes to general purpose tasks.

Looking at quirky languages like lisp or scheme can teach you a lot. You learn a whole different perspective of doing things. One of the most narrow minded attitudes people have is if they can not see an immediate use for the knowledge, they consider it a total waste of time. It has been said that you should learn one new language a year. It is like an investment often you will not use this knowledge for many years but the investment will payoff 10 fold easy.

People often tell me, how much computers have changed in the last ____ years. The truth of the matter is that they have changed very little. Most of our so called modern programming languages have thier roots from fortran and lisp which are over 50 years old. The only thing that has changed is that computers are smaller and faster. The truth of the matter is that men like Bool, Turing, Babbage envisioned a machine that could crank out massive amounts of calculations, and most importantly could be programmed to solve the task at hand. All of us have them temptation to buy a book on programming since it is “new”, “modern” talks about the new language ______ . The truth of the matter is most algorithms where developed over 30 years ago.

We all have the natural tendency to think that what ever tools we are using are the best. I try to keep and open mind, but often my own prejudice sets me back. Just remember when you look at the merits of certain languages it is not a religion. The only hell you will experience is one of your own creation

I have touched upon how state of mind is very important to be successful in your ventures. A lot fo what I will talk about I stole from Richard Bandler who stole these ideas from someone else. Many people view Mr. Bandler as a bit of a charlatin etc. To a certain degree these allegations are true. But regardless you can get valuable information where ever you go.

One of the things he often talks about is placebo effect and the power of the mind. Placebos are amazing things, every new medicine before it goes to market has to be tested against a placebo. One of the reasons Freud came up with modern phsyciatry is because his study of placebos. These things are amazing, in some cases even with terminal diseases such as cancer etc, they can cure these disease with rates as high as 30%. This is absolutely amazing, a sugar pill which does absolutely nothing can cure a deadly disease, and often better then real medicine. You would think that modern medicine would look into this :).

One of my favorite stories is about a man who had no money. All he had was just $10. His life was horrible, he had no job, absolutely no future. Where ever he looked all he saw was doom and gloom, and the world seemed to be out to get him. Anyway he was wandering around the market place, wondering what should he do. This merchant jumped out in front of him, holding in his hand is an old scruffy black tophat (kinda like the one abe lincold wore).

“Sir would you like to to buy this blackhat ?” the merchant cried.

“What that worn out old thing, you think I am a fool, all it is fit for is the rubbish heap”

“No sir, It is a magical blackhat”

Intriguged the man hesitated for a moment, and looked at the hat, but it did not look like anything special just old, worn out and black.

“When you put this magical blackhat on sir, every where you look you will see opportunity to make money. For you my friend only $25.”, the merchant continued.

“Ahh but I only have $10″

“No problem good sir, you give me $10 now, and then next month when the blackhat starts working for you you give me the other $15″

The man is desperate. He thinks what do I have to lose. All I have is $10, and that will not last me long. If the magical blackhat does not work then I will kill myself, and end this suffering.

They do thier exchange, and the man puts on the blackhat. Nothing really happens. Thinking he has been scammed he regardless wears the blackhat and goes to find a place to sleep. The next day he wakes up, he sees the blackhat sitting next to him, mocking him, ohhh how could i have been so foolish he cries to himself. I could have used that $10 to buy a bottle of booze and atleast I would have some comfort if only for a short time. Well what the fuck, I paid my $10, I will wear the stupid hat anyway.

He puts on the hat, and nothing happens again. He starts to wander arround the market place. I am going to prove that this stupid hat does not work. Stupid fucker ripping me off, I will prove him wrong and show him hat does not work. See I am going to wander arround the market place and I will see no money. Why look at that rubbish heap, all there is in it is old tin cans and other garbage. What can I do with the tin cans ? Well besides selling them to the metal dealer that is.

With in a short time he becomes one of the largest scrap metal / recycling dealers in the area. Soon he is able to buy a large house and many other things. Many times he went arround trying to find the merchant who sold him the blackhat to pay him the $15 he owed him, but the merchant had disappeared.

Many times he has been interviewed by newspaper reporters. One question they always ask is why does he always wear that scruffy old blackhat. They are alway perplexed when he replies back. “I owe all my fortune and success to this hat”.

How many times do you have a new idea, but instead of acting on it you ask your friends, so called experts etc. They ussually tell you, that it is a foolish idea. Or they point out the reasons why it will not work etc.

That why i hate so called experts, they always point out why things will not work, instead of looking for solution.

Or in life instead of looking at what you have, you waste your energies on looking at what you do not have. You always are saying stuff to yourself, like if only I had _______ then I would be able to do _______ . Or this will not work out because of ______. Well instead of looking at why things do not work, look at how you can get things to work. Take a self examination, make a list. Put on the list all of your assets, talents etc. If need be the list start very basic, like for me i did.

• laptop fairly good make
• pretty good internet connection
• ability to code in many languages
• ability to reverse engineer things
• good at playing strategy games like railroad tycoon, civilization, starcraft etc
• …… and so on, list everything you are good at, regardless how stupid it may seem.

Then start to make another list. This list will be of things you can do, with the assets you have listed above. Not the assets you wish you have. This list should be a on going thing. You will be surprised with what you can come up with. Remember list should only contain things that you can do with assets you have. If your idea involve coding, but you are not a good coder, do not put on list. (You can later make a list of goals, as in maybe learn how to be a coder ).

Or the simpler way is just to buy a magical blackhat

A long time ago I was talking to a right wing christian. He was explaining to me about his religion etc. He told me I should read the bible etc. I told him I had read the bible many times. Some where in the conversation he found out I was a programmer. He then made the statement. “You would not understand about faith/miracles, computers are logical”.

I then tried to explain that computers are anything but logical, in order to be a good programmer you have to have a lot of faith. The simplest computer is nothing more then a toggle switch, it contains 2 states, off/on , 0/1 etc. If you attach a clock to that switch you have a computer. A very simple computer. You line up 32 of those switches you can store your telephone number. But when you have millions of these switches it becomes extremely complex.

With something like a Fibonacci series it is not possible for me to calculate the next number in the series unless I know the previous number. So unless I know the previous 99 states I can not determine the 100th state. The same principles can be used to create pseudo random generators etc.

Your PC probably has components from over 1000 manufactures. Its operating system has millions of lines of code, that has been written by 100s of people. The applications well …. . And somehow all of this functions and works together 99.9% of the time. As a programmer you will use API constantly to communicate to the OS, other apps etc. It is like a black box. I give it stuff and magically it will give me what I want back. I do not know the inner workings of this black box, just this is what happens. And the right wing christian accused me of not having any faith, or believing in miracles. It is a miracle computers even operate

There are very few books on actually how to program. Most of the books are just abbreviation of some programming languages specification manual, ussualy full of poorly written code examples. And then some drivel about how to use function XXXXX, often with incorrect information. Again here we can draw lessons from the bible :). In the story of jesus and the centurion, because the centurion is important man initially he sends one of his servants to go talk to jesus. But then the centurion knows that these servants will probably fuck it up. So he decides he better go talk to jesus himself, find out what the true story is :). And so the same in coding, even the API sometimes lies, always if in doubt look at the source code if possible. The source never lies

As king solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun. And so the same hold true today. All ideas are just old ideas recast with new wrappers. People used to ask me at parties what I do for a living. Being the prankster that I am I would reply I am a magician. And then I would tell them (i stole this from some book i read a long time ago, and forget which one).

I create objects at will, I make them appear and disappear :).

I have been accused of never leaving concrete examples, and so I shall

A good example is the internet.

On the simplest levels it is nothing besides a bunch of electrical pulses going allong a wire (0/1).

But on a hardware level for sake of organization these pulses are put into “packets”.

But these packets do not really exist, they are just something router/hardway guys invented.

But for the programmer these packets are a pain in the ass, and hard to work with, it is much better for them to view the packets as a “stream”. As in the internet is like a water pipe, and when i turn on the tap (socket) data flows out, and when i turn if off the data stops.

And so you may ask, which way is the best to envision the internet. Should it be views as a stream or packets. (Like the arguements is light a wave or a particle ).

And light, the answer depends on what you are doing.

If you are designing an application that does not do real time, (example an irc type chat proggie, email etc) then the stream answer is the correct one.

But lets say you are doing a real time app. (example VOIP) when fractions of a second make a difference, and you have to deal with the latency of the packet. Then you need to use the packet analogy.

When i had to do voip work, i would picture then internet in my head as a road, along the road where vehicals, like cars, trucks, buses etc. And all of these vehicals where going to all sorts of different places. Sometimes there where accidents (net work collisions) bus runs into a car :). At the intersection of these roads are like policemen (routers), these policemen send the cars to the proper place. But sometimes the policemen are taking nappy time :).

When i had to make like none real time apps i picture the net as an oil refinery with like thousands of pipes. Big pipes, little pipes. And connecting the pipes are all sorts of valves etc. Or sometimes a rivers (depending how I feel).

Each application you make you make different type of picture in your head, depending on what you need to do.

Well i guess looking at it, my concrete example was not so concrete after all :).