Lest Blood Be Shed

New Hosting Site: Now With Happy Ending!

nospam@example.com (David) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:35:27 -0600

This past Monday I decided I needed to start moving my websites to a more permanent location. Before that time I hosted and maintained my own servers for both imagodirt.net and metaphysicalfarms.com. I've never dealt with a webhosting company before and so this was a new experience. I looked around and most sites seemed similar. I did some research, as much as I could, and was bombarded by fancy sales pitches and the like. I talked to a few sales reps via a web chat and I ended up settling on siteground.com. The sales rep was very nice and they offered to transfer my current website (they would do it) for free. The rep also showed me a demo of the interface I would have to interact with my sites. The thing that sold me in the demo was the ability to turn on ssh access.

Reality is always so much more muted than desire.

I purchased the service $84 for a year with a $10 discount for each domain. The total was $148/year. Not too bad for ssh access and ssl support I told myself... well when I logged in I discovered the horrid truth. I had no ssh access. I could only access my databases via some stupid web interface (pgsqlAdmin mysqlAdmin or some such nonsense). So, it takes them 3 days to transfer my site... apparently they NEED web interfaces to access databases and website files to do the transfer quickly. I sent them ftp logins and opened up the databases so they could use command line tools to dump the database. They were completely clueless on how to use postgres and I actually had to give them the commands to dump the database. Now, here comes the deal breaker. I can deal with incompetents in IT. I do every day. Google-Checkout, which I use for metaphysicalfarms.com to handle shopping carts, requires an authority signed SSLv2 certificate to handle callback and notifications between my website and the google. I purchased one such certificate and it had been working flawlessly. It cost me $30 for 2 years. I figured I wouldn't be able to use the cert at the new hosting site but when I was doing my research and talking to the sales rep they mentioned that there was a free shared ssl cert for all accounts. Come to find out the cert is self-signed and worthless. I'd have to pay an extra $75/year to get something that worked... or if I wanted to use my cert that I already had it would cost $60/year. Fuck That! I moved my sites back to where they had been happily and canceled my account (fortunately with my money back less setup fees).

There is happy news though. Determined to find what I wanted for a reasonable about of money, I went to searching the Internet again. I wasn't pulling any punches and I now knew some of the tricks the companies played to get you to make a purchase. I really just wanted a machine with power and internet. I could do the rest. Those were expensive. Starting @ $130/month, I didn't think I was going to get it. That is until I stumbled upon vpslink.com. They offered VPS (Virtual Private Servers) in which I had complete control! I could have root!!!! No one else was on the virtual machine but me! They offered almost every flavor of linux you could imagine. The pricing for such machines started @ $6/month!!!! Can you believe it?! I went with the $12.458333333/month package. I payed for my account and in 3 minutes I had a public IP address and a blank virtual HD. I logged into the website and selected to install Slackware 11.0. Another 3 minutes later I ssh'ed into my new vps. It took me only 9 hours to get the server up and running with my websites and ssl certs. I had to install mysql, pgsql, apache, php and then various libraries--usually downloading them at speeds I had never imagined possible (2.16M/s). In fact you are reading this post from my new hosting company. I love having root!!!! (for only 12/month)

Making Homemade Soap: Lavender and Lotus Blossom

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:32:15 -0600

This is a quick video to show the process I went through to create a very nice soap with lavender flowers embedded in it. The soap is made with milk (heavy whipping cream) and then palm oil, coconut oil, soybean oil and cocoa butter. I added Vitamin E, Peach coloring and Lotus Blossom fragrance after the soap reached trace.

Paul Among Jews and Gentiles

nospam@example.com (David) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:44:00 -0600

In this lecture I refute what Dr. Nichols and Dr. Egan say about Paul. Rather I claim their statements for what they are: modern interpretations developed in the evolution of Christian history. Highly influenced by the work of Martain Luther. After stripping away this interpretation we go back and look at what Paul might have really been talking about. Jews and Gentiles in the same church of Jesus christ worshiping in different ways. Enjoy.

The Gospel of Mark: Narrative Criticism of the Theme of Discipleship

nospam@example.com (David) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:00:00 -0600

I haven't been posting other stuff because I've been devoting all my time to these lectures and preaching. I finally found time to get these in digital format. Enjoy this lecture and more to come.

Let It Snow

nospam@example.com (David) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:05:40 -0600

Church was canceled yesterday because of the foot of snow we got. I took the chance to shovel the snow in my driveway. Enjoy the show... it has a surprise ending

How To Make Soap

nospam@example.com (David) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:53:32 -0600

To Follow is a step-by-step guide for making your own homemade soap. You can find full written instructions on my metaphysicalfarms.com website. Because of the 10minute restrictions on youtube.com I've had to break the video up into two parts. Enjoy making your own homemade soap!

Part 1

Part 2

Vlogs are Back

nospam@example.com (David) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:11:26 -0600

Nothing profound in this. I got a new computer and was testing out the recording abilities. Notice my spiffy glare-free glasses

Stolen Laptops and Thanksgiving

nospam@example.com (David) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 08:11:51 -0600

This isn't a video blog entry because the laptop with which I record my logs has been stolen. I've never had anything stolen from me (that I know of) within recent memory. The closest thing was a bike was stolen from me when I was 7 years old. The laptop was sitting in my office building at Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer Indiana (you'd think it would be safe there) and someone who has keys to the building walked upstairs and snatched my laptop. They also accidentally destroyed some power adapters when they tripped over them to get to my laptop. It's a really weird feeling I have right now. Remember that peace I talked about in my sermon. Well, I think I have it. I don't care that my laptop was stolen. I don't feel enraged. I don't feel scared. I don't feel violated. I don't feel any of the things that one would think I should feel in a situation like this. I actually feel guilty for not feeling angry. "So this is what it's like to love your enemy," I've been saying to myself as well. I've really been trying hard to detach myself from my "things" as I am hoping to sell them all. I guess it's working.

If I'm really honest I need to give credit to part of this peace being due to the to the full system (everything on the machine) backup that was done by the new Mac OS X - Leopard that I had installed the day it came out. So, I can recover everything up to Monday at 9am. In that time I generated only 3 new documents which I can recreate. The Jasper Co. Sheriff is conducting interviews and the number of people that had access to the machine is very limited. I know of only 6 people it could have been plus any janitorial staff (but I don't think janitorial was involved).

On this thanksgiving day, I am thankful that I don't give a shit about my stolen laptop!

Peace Beyond All Understanding

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 16:26:56 -0600

I spent way too much time on takes for this. This is the only one that fit into youtube's specifications Damn glare on my glasses!

Tanakh Reading: Isaiah 65:17-25
Psalm Reading: Isaiah 12:1-6
Epistle Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Gospel Reading: Luke 21:5-19

The text of the sermon can be found here

Lost in Mistranslation: Retranslating Genesis 1:1-3

nospam@example.com (David) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:29:42 -0600

Taken from a Core 3 lecture I gave the sophomores at Saint Joseph's College about the two creation stories. You can find the entire lecture here

Broadening the Circle of Love

nospam@example.com (David) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:34:33 -0600

I think I'm going to be doing video blogs too Let's see how this works

Openwrt (kamikaze)/Asterisk on a Netgear WGT634U

nospam@example.com (David) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:34:13 -0500

The most common problem with the Linksys WRT GS running openwrt and asterisk is the size limitation. A major drawback is the lack of being able to save voicemail to the box itself. The Netgear WGT634U is the solution (with its phat usb interface). This entry will be a step-by-step install howto for putting kamikaze openwrt onto the netgear wgt643u. The openwrt install from the wiki is here

Openwrt

What you will need:

A computer with a serial/usb2serial interface (running a kermit like program)

A serial to 4 pin serial cable (I snip off the end of a samsung data cable and splice it onto a floppy power cable)

A Netgear WGT634U

small flathead screwdriver

tftp server

usb jump/flash drive

Continue reading "Openwrt (kamikaze)/Asterisk on a Netgear WGT634U"

Sell it all

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 18:50:36 -0500

I'm planning on making a big move in May and as such I've begun preparing to sell most if not all of my stuff. I've already made $300 selling my books on amazon (less the $95 spent on shipping). I want to get rid of everything. Everything! Sell Sell Sell! Now, life doesn't happen in a vacuum and the Jesus Moment of the week was me deciding to stay in Rensselaer for the next two semester (and not move to Lafayette and save $200-$300 a month). I just couldn't bring myself to benefit myself personally at the cost of hurting others (through my polluting). I wasn't sure about the decision until today's readings: Hosea 11:1-11; Psalm 107:1-9, 43; Colossians 3:1-11 & Luke 12:13-21.

"Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot" Imagine that you woke up one morning and you discovered you had no birth-certificate, no driver's license, no proof you own your home. No-thing that identifies you as you. Who are you? What is your identity? Are we merely the sum of our possessions or are we something more? Are we the sum of our retirement accounts or do we have something inherently human that makes us.. us?

It's hard to make such a claim in a society that values materials, fame, unreasoned pleasure (see Cicero), or wealth. Everywhere around us we are constantly told that the reason we do things is to get better things. What would happen if no one could own anything anymore. How would we define our society and identity?

Open For Business

nospam@example.com (David) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:25:00 -0500

So, I've been spending some time playing with making soap and meditation pillows. Well, with all of this stuff I thought I would actually sell it. I've created a website to do so. I've named my business "Metaphysical Farms" and what's really cool about the site is that you can design your own soap and I'll make it. I've been able to connect the site to google-checkout as well as paypal. I'm still working on the design and layout of the site as well as updating the pictures. I'd really like to know what you think! What suggestions!

I'm also looking for people that want to sell hippie stuff too. My mom has these awesome homemade garden planters she has been selling that I'll be listing and Levi has a friend that is wanting to sell some oils or something like that. Do you have anything?!

Here it is: http://www.metaphysicalfarms.com/

Vacation Bible School

nospam@example.com (David) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:23:18 -0500

Recently, I was asked to play a flying squirrel puppet named Skyler for a vacation bible school (VBS) program in Rensselaer. It is a joint effort by the Presbyterian church and the First Christian church. The theme has lots to do with lifting off, hot air balloons, and flying squirrels. Each night has a different focus. So far they have taught about trust and listening (to God). Now, the reason I'm writing this entry about VBS is not so much to inform you about the inner workings of such a program but rather an observation I made last night while listening to my side-kick 'Scoop' improvise on 'why' we should trust God, listen to God, etc. His reason was to make your life always joyful and happy; to live a life without pain or suffering; to get a place in heaven. The only thing I could do to rebut this obviously 'prosperity gospel' reasoning was to grimace the face of my squirrel puppet—unbeknownst to Scoop. I can understand all the reasoning behind giving this explanation to children but I have such a revulsion to this overly-developed deficient theology that I couldn't help but feeling I was helping further the destructive consumer-individualized quagmire of our society.

So I leave you with this question asked by a child... it so simple and yet most of us don't ask it because we've been told not to: 'Why should we trust God?' My favorite was when the child, after getting his answer that I cringed at, responded back, 'You're confusing me.'