The posts on this blog are provided "as is" with no warranties and confer no rights. The opinions expressed on this site are mine and mine alone, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer Quest Software or anyone else for that matter. All trademarks acknowledged.
Late last January, I think everybody was surprised when the stock of the RUD Grip chains were becoming depleted. Already certain models where out of stock and not available for purchase anywhere in the US or Canada.
The primary reason for the shortage was that RUD simply underestimated the huge demand for these chains. In preparing for the season, they had doubled the inventory that they had ordered the previous year and it still was not enough. While I am totally unaware of the numbers, I suspect that RUD is probably preparing again for another record sales of the popular GRIP 4×4 model.
To me, it is no surprise that these chains sell so well. Today, many auto parts stores stock their shelves up with tire cables. Sure they are convenient and inexpensive, but just consider the safety factor. Most people buy their chains hoping that they never have to use them. But just in case you do need to use them, wouldn’t you rather have a diamond patterned fairly thick chain then just some little cable with rollers on them? Also, wouldn’t you want to have something that is easy to install?
It is mid August right now and I just received word from the folks at the RUD warehouse in Hiawatha, Iowa that they now have in stock all models of the Grip 4×4. The timing couldn’t be better to me as I am already starting to get orders coming in online at http://tirechaindealer.com.
To those of you considering getting the Grip chains, buy early. Don’t wait until January to get your chains. You may be too late and once again stuck with those lousy cables that you didn’t want to buy anyways.
Okay, so I was installing an SSL certificate using Godaddy.com as the certificate provider. I followed their instructions for generating the key, creating the CSR and downloading and installing the certificate. Then I go to restart apache and apache will not restart with the following error:
Enter pass phrase:Apache:mod_ssl:Error: Private key not found.
On my Redhat machine, I am not even prompted to put in the password. It simply fails on me.
While it would be preferred to find a way to configure the passphrase into the startup files, I am not able to figure out how to do it. However, I do learn that you can eliminate the passphrase from the key file and this is what many on the internet recommend doing. This is the command to eliminate the passphrase.
# openssl rsa -in www.key -out new.key
Thanks MNX Solutions…it took me an over an hour to find you.
Today in Sunday School, the lesson was on the Book of Alma Chapter 32. In this chapter, Alma was speaking to the poor who had been kicked out of the synagogues and so they could not worship how they believed was correct. Alma taught the people that they did not have to be in the synagogue to worship, but that they could instead worship by calling on the Lord in their own homes or wherever else it is that they are at. The challenge to this group was that they did not know Christ. They did not know if they could believe in Christ. But they were willing to give it a try. After hearing this, Alma proceeded to compare the Word of the Lord to a seed.
If you plant the seed and do your part, giving it water, sunshine and proper care, the seed will grow. As the seed of faith begins to grow, you will feel it’s swellings in your heart. And you will see that it is a good seed. And as you continue to nourish your faith, it will continue to grow and become a tree springing up unto everlasting life.
The problem is that so many people are not willing to take the steps necessary for growing the seed. Because of pride, and the unwillingness to let go of the things of the world which are appealing to them, they choke off the seed so that it may never take root. They take away the nutrients necessary for the growth of the seed and therefore, their faith never prospers.
An example of this happened when Moses was leading the Israelites. The Israelites where at one time plagued with venomous snakes. Moses was told to lift has staff that had a symbol of a snake on it and all the Israelites had to do was to look at it and the venom from the snakes would have no effect on them. Yet many of them died because they simply would not look.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches some things that are not accepted by the mainstream Christian sects. First of all, it teaches of modern day prophets beginning with Joseph Smith. It has additional scriptures beginning with the Book of Mormon - scripture which complements the Bible giving a record of a people that were removed from Israel who lived with the teachings of Moses and later of Christ. The church comes with commandments given to Joseph Smith and later prophets that are either new or simply more heavily emphasized then many other Christian churches will teach.
The fact is, all it takes for someone to grow closer to God than they already are (or are not) is for a person to take the leap of faith. If one will investigate the words by reading the Book of Mormon and by making strides to practice the commandments which God has given to us, they will know if these things are from God or if they were simply something concocted by man. For God will let that person know through the Holy Ghost if the teachings by these prophets are or are not from him. And it is only through the Holy Ghost that the teachings of God can be made manifest to a person in a way that speaks to thier heart.
I have read the Book of Mormon many times. I know that there is no way that I could be conviced that it is the work of man. The swellings in my heart that are the love of God is real. It is not just something made up or imagined. For there is no way that there could be such a consistency in the reading of his words and the strong presence of the feelings of the love of God if it were not from God. So many people do not want to read from the Book of Mormon because they have been told over and over not to touch it. Such an attitude is no different than the Isrealites’ unwillingness to look at the staff. I know that if you will take the leap of faith to just test it out, you will receive knowlege from God that it is truely his teachings. And what have you got to lose? If I am wrong, is your investigation in this going to hinder your progress in reaching the Kingdom of God? I think not. The church most certainly does not teach you to do anything contrary to the teachings in the Bible.
So I decided it is time to learn OpenBSD. I have had my head stuck under Windows and Red Hat Linux for some time. I knew eventually it would come to this. I have a need for a new firewall because I don’t want to pay Astaro for support and maintenance. So I have now installed OpenBSD on two machines and both times I ran into the same issue. I cannot ping outside of the Cox Communications subnet. I can ping items within the subnet such as the Gateway and my other firewall, but I cannot ping anything else including the external DNS server.
Setup
I am hooking my OpenBSD directly to the internet as it is intended to become a firewall. During the installation process, I configured one ethernet card for the external network, gave it an IP Address, and a subnet mask. But I could not see where to place the Gateway value.
The network settings given by the ISP were as follows (values changed to protect the innocent):
To look at my settings, I went to /etc/myhostname.fxp0 which was the name of the file for configuring the network card on this particular machine. This is what it should have looked like.
INET 81.147.68.133 255.255.255.128 NONE
Since I did not know where to put the Gateway, I originally tried variations such as replacing NONE with the gateway address. However, whenever I tested the network, I was still not able to access or ping the DNS or anything outside of the subnet.
Solution
The gateway needed to be added. The file for the gateway did not exist by default. To add the gateway, I had to create the following file:
/etc/mygate
Inside that file, I added the IP address of the Gateway.
After saving the file, I rebooted the machine and now my access to the external network works properly. I can fully access the internet.
What I finally figured out later is that the Gateway address is one of the parameters that you set during the installation. I must have left it blank while I was going through the installation process. However, they did not call it a gateway. They called it something else.
I was sitting in Priesthood meeting today and we had a discussion on this topic. Why does God give us commandments? Actually the topic started with “God wants us to read his scriptures so that we can learn of his commandments”. How could that be a good thing? Why would we want further commandments that restrict our actions.
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for the which despitefully use you and perscute you. Matthew 5:44
abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication (sex outside of marriage) Acts 15:20
In the early days of the church in the book of Acts 4:34-35 for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles feet and distribution was made unto every many according as he had need. Maybe he is not asking us to do this now, but you had better be willing to. Tithing will suffice for us today even though it is really a teaching from the old covenant and especially since we are not practicing “all things in common”.
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matthew 5:28 (no pornography)
Honor the Sabbath day ( already discussed )
Add teachings from later church leaders we will additionally get these:
No alcohol or tobacco
No coffee or tea
No harmful or dangerous drugs
So why does God give us these teachings? Is it to restrict us? To take away our fun? To keep us from expressing ourselves?
No. He does it to help us.
One of our primary purposes in coming to this earth was to show that we are worthy to enter into his kingdom. For no unclean thing can enter into the Kingdom of God. As we abstain from these practices as we are commanded, our bodies are made free from the effects of bondage.
Okay, so we have all violated these laws and many others in our past. As we confess our sins to our Father, submit ourselves to do his will, overcome our personal weaknesses and show complete obedience to his teachings, the atoning blood of the Saviour Jesus Christ, whose blood was spilt for us in the Garden of Gethsemene and later again while hanging on the Cross, will cleanse us of the impurities our bodies have experienced due to disobedience.
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Isaiah 1:18
I am thankful for the gift of the repentance. As I live my life correctly, the Holy Ghost is there letting me feel of God’s love. When I stray and miss, something which happens more often then I would like, he leaves me and I am left feeling dark, confused, and unsettled. Fortuneately, he has given us the process of repentance so that we may sincerely turn from sin and have our sins be made clean.
Recently for Quest Software, we changed the domain name of one of the communities. It was a fairly new community that had plans to become one of the most prolific communities for Quest Software. Prior to the name change, the site already had the Google Page Rank of 3/10 showing up in the Google Toolbar. Not long thereafter, the new URL was showing up with a Page Rank of 0/10. I was quite ashamed as I was the one who recommended the change to the shorter URL. I felt that I had damaged the site. Then someone from outside of the communities pointed out that my redirects where not 301 redirects, they were 302 redirects.
In a nutshell, a 301 redirect is a permenant redirect. A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect. The new domain name recieved a 302 redirect from the original domain name and hence a penalty in Google probably for being duplicate content of an existing domain. The original domain name was simply being considered as temporarily offline.
So I dug in and figured out that the redirects I had set up in IIS did not have the “a permanent redirection for this resource” box checked. Problem solved? At least now I have the redirect set up properly.
It still took another 6 weeks or so for the page rank in the toolbar to change. It remained showing up in the toolbar with a ranking of 0/10 throughout this time. Then finally on July 31, it changed to a ranking of 4/10.
So I have been looking for a solution so that all of the family photos I have taken over the years could be backed up on a server and viewed when desired. I also thought it would be good to make the photos available to all family members who want them. I also thought it would be good to have a place for all extended family members to share their photos if they choose to do so. So I did some research on the internet and found this software package called Gallery2.
Gallery 2 is a php based software package which is perfect for my Linux / Apache webserver configuration. Installation was simple. Adding albums and photos was simple. Changing my header to make it look like the rest of my blog was simple as well.
The software appears to have a lot of functionality that I will never use. But that is okay. All I care about is the basics which it does very well.
In less than one week, I was able to install the software and upload and organize all of my family photos taken over the past 5 years. Go ahead and check it out. Just click on the link in the left navigation called Family Photos.
I have mentioned before that I have two kids, Desiree and Luke. Most every Sunday, I get them to church along with myself. But I find that simply attending church is not enough-and I think that most staunch Christians would agree with that concept. To me, the challenge is to always keep the spirit of God burning strongly within. When you are living your life in accordance with his will submitting yourself to him in thought and deed and action, he will be there with you showering his love on you in a way that is very personal. Do you feel God’s love? Do you feel his presence within you? Only you as an individual can answer that question.
I worry for my children in that right now they are young but will not always be. Especially when they get into thier teenaged years, they will then be thinking for themselves. I want them to experience the love of God while they are young so that as they grow older, they will not depart from his ways. And if his ways are foreign to them, then they will have no reason to give themselves to him.
At my church, there has been a lot of encouragement that we read the scriptures together with our children. I started with the childrens’ versions. Now I have moved to the real deal. On normal nights, I get the children to their room about 8:00 pm, we open up the scriptures, and read from them. Quite often, I will read about two chapters and intend to stop; however, I will have a ten year old beg me to continue. I know the reason and she will tell you. She feels the Spirit of God burn from within while the words of the pages are being read.
I encourage everyone to read the scriptures with thier children. Although they are young, they know more then others may give them credit. Also, you will benefit yourself as the Lord blesses you for taking the time to acknowlege him, learn of his teachings, and for teaching your children his ways.
Michelle and I have now made three videos designed to help people see exactly what it takes to install tire chains by RUD. Why tire chains by RUD? That is because we are the owners of a tire chain website called Tire Chain Dealer which sells RUD tire Chains.
Grip 4×4
The first movie we made was with our Honda Ridgeline where we installed the Grip 4×4 chains. Now, keep in mind, this movie was made in June in Southern California. Rest assured, there is no snow or ice in this video. Nevertheless, it is always recommended that you try on your tire chains before you really need them.
I want to say don’t be confused about the ease of installation. These chains go on quickly once you know what you are doing. It took me over ten minutes to figure it out the first time just following the instructions. But now that I have gotten it down, well now it takes about 2 minutes to install.
Also, I like the diamond pattern of these chains which by all means has got to be better traction than the traditional ladder style of chains. Many people like to point out how the diamond shape gives better sideways traction so you won’t slide so much sideways during turns or on slanted roads.
One or Two Sets
You will also find a lot of websites out there trying to sell you on the need to have two sets, one for the back and one for the front. Sure it is nice to have two sets; however, the need truly depends on your environment. Most people use them only for emergencies when trying to get to the slopes or to their vacation spot and in most cases the one set of chains is all that is needed. My initial belief was that there would be two cases where having two sets ought to be seriously considered. If you have a 4 wheel drive vehicle and you desire to take advantage of your 4 wheel drive functionality, then having a second set would be beneficial. Also, if you have a rear wheel drive vehicle, you may want two sets as well, the rear so you can move and the front so you can steer. However, it is very important that you check your owners manual before buying that second set. For example, my owners manual for the Honda Ridgeline states as follows:
Mount tire chains on your tires when required by driving conditions or local laws. Install them only on the front tires. Do not use chains on the rear tires.
Thats enough convincing for me. My Honda Ridgline is 4 wheel drive and I only need one set…not two.
Tire Cables
The next movie that I made was with the flimsy tire cables. Tire Cables are cheap. They retail for about $30 plus. I remember the first time I saw tire cables, I just kind of chuckled and felt nervous for the person wearing them. I just wanted to ask him, “Are you really safe with those things?” After thinking about it, I could see how tire cables could be useful for someone living in the city that wants to get home right after or during a big storm. They certainly beat not having anything at all, and they are not as hard on the asphalt. But still, after trying on the Grip and seeing how easy it is for them to go on, unless you are really pinching your pennies, I would not buy the cables. You should get the Grip model instead.
Now if you do go with the tire cables anyways, I do recommend you put a pair of gloves into the box for when you do need to install your cables. In the movie, I installed them using my bare hands in 80 degree weather. It was hard on my hands to pull up the cable to secure it into the securing device. I really had to yank on it. Now just imagine if this were 10 degree weather and you didn’t have gloves on. I am quite confident that there will be some profanity coming out of your mouth on that day.
Compact Grip
The last movie we made was the compact grip. These chains are very similar to the Grip 4×4 except that they are made for smaller tires. The chains are virtually the same - except I ran into one significant difference. Comparatively, the tensioning chain of the Compact Grip ran a lot longer than did the tensioning chain for the Grip 4×4. With the Grip 4×4, I simply ran the tensioning chain through the yellow loop and hooked it onto the blue chain across the tire. With the compact Grip, I had to route the yellow tensioning chain through two yellow loops and then around blue chain to continue taking out the slack.
Rudmatic, Classic V, Kantenspur, or German RUDs
Why are there so many names? I don’t know. I know I got confused when first learning about these. I will just call these the Rudmatic Classics. The Rudmatic name is typically for the passenger vehicles and the Classic V is for Trucks and SUVs. They are virtually the same thing, just sized differently for your vehicle type and tire size. These are the chains that originally put RUD on the map.
The Rudmatic is sometimes called German Ruds because they are actually manufactured in Germany using high grade Chromium Alloy Steel which is a much higher grade metal than you are going to find in other chains. Not only will these chains last a long life, these chains don’t take up as much room because the chain is smaller making it attractive to vehicles whose front tires set uncomfortably close to the suspension bar. One example of this is the Land Rover LR3. Just place your hand behind the top of the front wheel and you will know what I mean. You can barely squeeze your hand behind the wheel. They make this chain for both small and very large vehicles including buses.
Centrax
The last Tire Chain style I want to mention here is the Centrax. Now I have not personally used this tire chain yet, I could see how this one would be attractive to professionals. The only chain that is easier to hook on would be the rotogrip which just requires flipping a switch. The centrax simply snaps onto an adapter that is prefitted onto a lugnut. Fit the chain to the outer portion of the tire, snap the center attachment into the lugnut fitting, and clamp down on the center latch. When you start driving, the chain pulls itself onto the wheel. It is pretty cool.
Now for me, someone who wear jeans to work, the Centrax would not be appealing. However, if I were wearing a suit to work every day, I certainly would not want to be doing a lot of bending over and fitting tire chains on the dirtiest part of my car just before giving some big presentation. That is who the Centrax caters to. If getting dirty is just not an option, and you can afford these superior chains, then by all means, you will be grateful for the advancements made by RUD here.
Rud makes chains for multiple uses. We not only have chains for cars, trucks, and SUVs, we also have chains for industrial equipment, tractors, and ATVs, buses, graders and more. If you don’t see the chains you are looking for on the site, then don’t hesitate to call us to see if they do indeed have exactly what it is that you need - (949) 429-8730.
Go have some fun in the snow. We will see you there!!!
Ran into this issue where the section on the main page called Recently Updated was not updating.
The solution was to go into Administration -> Content Indexing and Rebuild the Index.
The official instructions for Confluence is that if that does not work, then remove the <confluence-home>/index directory, restart the application server and then rebuild the index.