Jeff Skrysak

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titanium

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Articles & Writings

In an effort to pass on any wisdom I have accumulated in my short life, I have created this page. Hopefully the amount of wisdom here will grow. :-)
Links to other Articles

Essential Database Naming Conventions (and Style) by Justin Watt

GIMP Tutorials by the GIMP team

Foreign Languages in Web Pages by MIT

How to Endure Unemployment
Even though I haven't been unemployed during the bad economy we have had (2001 dot-bomb), I *have* been unemployed before and I have also learned some valuable lessons from other parts in my life. Honestly, a lot of the items in the list are just good habits in general, and the article itself should be called "How to live well, and defensively", but then that title wouldn't attract any readers.

How to Be a Good Employee
It sounds like a strange subject, but it is definitely important and is something that people commonly take for granted these days. Sadly, most people don't realize how valuable and rare a good employee is, nor how good it is to be one themselves, until they own their own business or are in charge of their own employees.

Products that are Built to Last
I am tired of things that break, have batteries that are not replaceable, or are cheap but end up being costly in the end ("lo barato sale caro"). This is my message to the world, consumers and companies alike. Stop the madness. Buy less and less often, but higher quality. Longevity, reliability, and the ability to repair. Demand it that way, build it that way, or I don't want it.

What is shared website hosting?
Many people want to host their own website, be it a personal site or one for a business, and they don't want to use a free website space. They'd rather have it look more professional and have it's own domain name such as www.skrysak.com instead of www.geocities.com/~skrysak/. In this kind of a situation, you must pay a company to host your website so it can be available on the internet for all to see and use.

Secure Website Login Programming with PHP & MySQL
This article lists the basic, and paranoid security measures I have learned and used in the past, pertaining to websites with user accounts, logins, and passwords. The type of person interested in such a topic should be a programmer making a website that requires a login and password for at least one person, using PHP, sessions/cookies and MySQL to store the account information.

My version of an emergency car kit
After reading books and recommendations about what to place in your car to prepare for an emergency, and being in enough emergencies myself, I decided to write down my own version and possibly help you clear through all of the irrelevant items. My list is not comprehensive, nothing is, and that's the point. You can't prepare for every situation imaginable, so let's be realistic and stick to the basics. I include photos of the items I am describing, their intended use, and where to buy them.

My emergency "grab and go bag" (aka 72 hour kit; EEK)
The pack I have made emphasizes water potability, protection from injury and the elements, and maintenance of health. I describe it and its elements in great detail in an attempt to help the reader understand the reason for each item included. Costs, descriptions and intended use of each item is written at length. It is my intention to go beyond the checklist or a short description of contents that most authors write, and cover the contents thoroughly enough so that it is well understood why you will need each piece of the kit.

My experiences with Self Defense (Avoidance, Krav Maga, etc..)
I wanted to relate my own personal experiences with certain self defense techniques, with avoidance and awareness being the primary technique, so that others may get a feeling for what I have seen and learned in the hopes that it may help them in their own quest.