blogs and articles
Earth Observation
ASTERRA
The purpose of these SEO blogs was to build search demand for a technology no one was searching for because they did not know it existed: satellite-based leak detection for underground water delivery networks. The strategy, devised VSSL Agency for their client ASTERRA, more than doubled impressions (up 266%) and search volume, (up 275%). Role: Senior Writer. Agency: VSSL Agency
“Road infrastructure planning dates to at least 4000 BCE, when engineered roads were planned and built by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, now Iraq. That makes roads and highways¹ one of the earliest examples of major infrastructure built to support and expand civilization. Sumerian road planning and building used precisely manufactured mud bricks set in place with an oozy, sticky form of petroleum called bitumen as a durable, water-resistant adhesive. The Sumerians were on to something. We still use bitumen today.”
“The dam was 218 feet high with a 736-foot-long crest and a notched spillway in the center. Its slender width of 22.2 feet, the thinnest arched dam of its height, made for an elegant appearance. Mr. Coyne was one of his era’s leading experts on concrete arch dams. Yet like the Dale Dyke Reservoir before it, the Malpasset Dam failed just as it was filled for the very first time. On December 2, 1959, five years after it first began to fill, Malpasset collapsed and killed 421 people. Damage was estimated at $68 million. “
“Ms. Evelyn Pruitt, a research geographer who studied coastal environments for the U.S. Office of Naval Research, is credited with introducing the term “remote sensing” in the 1950s. Today, remote sensing is part of the life of every human on the planet and of the planet itself. Weather, climate, earth movements, infrastructure, mapping, navigation, wildfires, drought, ocean temperatures, glaciers, and military actions are all observed and studied by some form of remote sensing technology using various wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum. “
“Brumadinho is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, in the country’s mineral-rich southwest. In 2019, “Dam I” at an iron ore mine about five miles outside the city collapsed. Dam I was a tailings dam, storing bi-products of mining. Tailings are mine waste, often a toxic slurry of dirt, water, and rocks, with metal and chemicals mixed in. With no place else to go, it’s expediently stored in earthen retaining structures called tailings dams situated near the mine. The dams themselves may be constructed from tailings.”
OT Cybersecurity
TXOne
Industrial (or Operational) Technology (OT) is as vulnerable to cyberattacks as Information Technology. These blogs were written to execute the SEO strategy developed by the VSSL Agency team for their client TXOne, whose technology secures industrial systems from cyberattacks. Role: Senior Writer. Agency: VSSL Agency
“Supply chains are hugely interdependent, and an attack on one company can reverberate across many industries and economies. A cyber strike that disrupted computer chip supplies would impact nearly every industry that uses electronics. A 2022 breach against tire supplier Bridgestone cost it millions of dollars in lost contracts. An attack against the pharmaceutical giant Merck in 2017 dangerously disrupted the supply of vaccines and therapeutics to hospitals and pharmacies, not to mention costing $1 billion+ in damages.”
“Consider the sort of OT environments HMIs are found in, including water and power utilities, manufacturing facilities, chemical production, oil and gas infrastructure, smart buildings, hospitals, and more. The HMIs in these environments offer bad actors a range of attack vectors through which they can enter and begin to wreak havoc, either financial, physical, or both.”
“Cyberattacks on the food and beverage (F&B) manufacturing sector have surged, mirroring trends seen across industrial control systems (ICS) and critical infrastructure. In recent years, F&B processors around the world have faced an array of cyber threats – from ransomware crippling production lines to hackers breaching industrial controls in ways that could threaten consumer safety.”
“Virtual patching is intended to augment existing security technologies and patch management policies. One of its most compelling advantages is the extra time it can buy security teams to assess a specific vulnerability and then test and apply a permanent patch. Virtual patching can help avoid unnecessary downtime, help maintain regulatory compliance, and provide security for legacy systems for which patches are no longer issued or are prohibitively expensive.”
Fitness and Workout
BigBackGrips.com
Larry Greenfield, the author of these articles, was a successful competitive bodybuilder, gym manager, and personal trainer whose own experience gave him the insights and background to write on fitness and working out. Role: Writer. Client: Big Back Grips (owned by the writer).
“Cell phones ruin workouts. So we’re always amused when people tell us how much they love Big Back Lifting Grips, “but I can’t carry them.” Yet somehow, they manage to go everywhere in the gym with their cell phone glued to their hand. What’s the difference between carrying Big Back Grips and a cell phone? Cell phones wreck workouts; Big Back Grips improve workouts.”
BBG: What about grip strength? A number of lifters tell us their main issue with using straps is they become a “crutch”.
Warren Willey, D.O.:”Lifting straps really do weaken your grip. They’re a crutch. I can pull a lot off the floor with a dead lift, do pull-ups until the cows come home, but I realized I was only doing a part of the work. I was hanging the weight from my straps, not holding it myself up.
“Latissimus dorsi translates from Latin as the ‘broadest muscle of the back’, and indeed it is. Your lats contribute mightily to the V-shaped back ideal you are probably pursuing. It is the larger, flat, dorso-lateral (back-side) muscle on the trunk, and behind (posterior to) the arm. The trapezius, another large back muscle that is essential to a well-developed back, partially covers the lat.”
“Knurled handles (pronounced “nerld”) are widely used because they’re easier to grip than the smooth handles. Of course, they’re painful and damaging. They tear at your skin and cause the kind of calluses that are prone to ripping open and leaving you more susceptible to infection and less capable of handling heavy weight. So you really want to protect your hands while lifting…”