Blog
The Server Debacle
Avid readers of my blog and fans of my other associated sites may have noticed that my site was down for almost nine hours today. I'm very sorry about that if you rely on any of my server's services. Believe me, I didn't like it any more than you did.
I figured out that I could get newer versions of software by using the apt-get command. I wasn't happy with the version selection inside the confines of my hosting company's distributions, so I changed my /etc/apt/sources.list to include the main Debian package repositories. Over lunch I performed a major upgrade of a bunch of that software.
During a couple of these updates, it asked me if I wanted to overwrite a file or two. I looked at the diffs of the files and it seemed to be harmless enough, and, well, the apts almost always work well and were coming directly from Debian. So, I loaded up the new file and finished upgrading. I figured it would be a good time to restart the machine just to make sure everything updated correctly That's when I realized it didn't go so well.
My server did not come back up. Luckily, my hosting company, 1&1, has this great tool called a Serial Console. Apparently they have all their machines in their large data center wired up to a big KVM switch that doesn't need to have Ethernet connectivity. So, I logged into the central console and could interact with my server as if I was right inside the data center. Geniuses!
I tried, but I just couldn't figure out why the Internet couldn't communicate. At that time I read something in the FAQ saying that under no terms should you mess with the routing or networking settings on your server because it probably wouldn't work anymore. Well, too late for that. I guess I'll have to find something else.
I called up their technical support, and they were as usual unhelpful. The guy said my server was down because I couldn't ping it and almost ignored the fact that I said I could see it running on the serial console just fine. He recommended another option, which is rebooting the machine over the network in a Debian recovery mode. He then said something about mounting a readable file system or some such crap. I knew I wasn't going to do that.
After a bit of thinking, I started doing some queries on Google. I searched a lot about 1and1 nameservers and was finding mostly the wrong stuff. Then I realized that I wanted the 1and1 dhcp information. There I found quickly that the 1and1 root servers need this weird routing configuration in /etc/network/interfaces:
up ip route add 10.255.255.1/32 dev eth0 up ip route add default via 10.255.255.1
Weird. Once I put those in there and refreshed the connection, all was well. Nice.
So I learned a bit, got frustrated a bit, and am still fairly happy with my hosting decision. I mean, when have you ever bought hosting services and ever been totally satisfied? And when do those support people know what they're talking about? As my dad says, "Never is a long time," but I think in this case it fits.
Measuring Your Web Visitors
Web analytics tools such as Google Analytics can provide a lot of useful information, but you have to dig through the data and know where to look. Of course, for large companies, there are the expensive, full-featured packages such as WebSideStory and WebTrends. I recently found this interview with Jim Sterne, who seems to be a leader in this field. I found some good ways to think about Analytics. Many people try to say that there's no way to get accurate information about your visitors, but he counters that you can discern changes in user behavior and figure out most of what is going on. If you're trying to market your own website, I would recommend giving this a read.
The Year 2007 Problem
I'd heard this mentioned a number of times, but it doesn't seem to be getting enough coverage. This Sunday, March 11th, starts Daylight Savings Time (DST) here in the United States. When I heard that, I thought to myself, "That's a bit earlier than past years, isn't it?" I always remember it being around the time of Easter.
As it turns out, Daylight Savings Time has been changed for the first time since 1966 by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Apparently some lobbyist convinced someone that it would be helpful to make DST a bit longer. (Long-time readers may remember that I blogged about this before it passed.) Sure enough, the idiots did this and now we could have some problems.
It seems my Debian server doesn't get the clue yet, although most sources online say that distributions from the last year or so should be patched correctly. Windows machines that have Automatic Update should be patched correctly. If you run some servers, you may want to check it out. It seems here's a good place to start.
ConceptShare: Web Collaboration for Designers
This tool might become the best friend of web designers and layout people from around the web. With ConceptShare, you can use their free, web-based collaboration tool for any design project you're working on. This short tour gives a quick look at what you could do with it. I bet some web development companies with clients in other states or countries could really use something like this instead of trying to talk about a design over the phone because you can highlight and draw basic outlines on the image itself as well as leave comments. Of course, it would work to collaborate with other graphics/media types as well as web design, but my focus is definitely web-related.
Server Upgrades
Just a quick note to people who are using any of the sites on my server. We just finished upgrading the Apache webserver. We also may do some playing around with it this afternoon. If you notice anything odd, feel free to contact me so i know it needs fixing.
The New Missionaries
My friends Rus, Nick, and Jon have given the next couple years of their lives to be missionaries. No, they're not in Africa or India. They're missionaries to a part of the city of Indianapolis in the state of Indiana, right here in the United States. Why? It's simple.
These men are not preaching some "you need to be saved or you'll go to hell" gospel. They're preaching the Gospel of life together in a Christian community. They're not trying to count the number of people they've brought to Christ, they're making friends to share life with in Christ. Just check this out:
Their brand new blog is a great place to learn more about what they're doing and what the People of Praise is bringing to the world. Of course, feel free to join the discussion there about what life in Christ really looks like.
For my friends in the People of Praise who want yet another easy way to get started with blogs, I've put together a current OPML file of all the blog feeds. Save this to your desktop and then import it into your feed reader such as Google Reader. The only downside is that this won't automatically update. However, I've included the feed of People of Praise member blogs with it so that you'll be notified of new blogs. Enjoy!
Update: Justin noted to me that this file does not include The Bunge. Don't miss it or you'll miss out, seriously.
James Cameron Found The Body of Jesus!?
Renowned movie director and producer James Cameron has announced that his production company is going to show a documentary where they believe they found the bodies of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and a son of theirs. No doubt most, including even the writers/directors of the documentary, are still a bit skeptical, but hey, this will work well for getting big TV viewership. Too bad I don't watch TV. ;-)
This reminds me of an independent movie that was reviewed on my site a while back called The Body. Olivia Williams plays an archaeologist who believes she may have found the body of Jesus and Antonio Banderas plays a Roman Catholic priest from the Vatican who is there to investigate. It's a nice drama of what may happen if a supposed body was found. Many persons struggle with the idea that Jesus may have died and not risen, but in the end, it's still something that we just have to keep our faith in.
Underground Art - Literally
Well, I went through the last couple days worth of the front page on Digg and couldn't find any decent stuff to report on. However, I did find something that reminded me of a fun article I found a couple months ago. Check out this page of images of Metro Arts and Architecture. It's a lot of beautiful places in mostly underground subways. There's also some fun photos for the world metro traveler all around the Metro Bits site.
Of course, there's no way they mention everything cool about the subways. In Washington D.C. we went to a station that is a couple hundred feet underground. That was definitely the longest escalator I've ever seen! Another article I read via Digg said that every building in Paris is less than 1,600 feet away from a subway station. Crazy!
Also, an interesting thing are underground maps. One my favorites is this poster promoting an art show as well as the London Underground, which is shown in this post. They had a copy of the poster in the business building during college. I loved looking at it.
Google Apps for Business
For a while now some people have been trying the beta of Google Apps. Apparently it's out of Beta form now and in full-fledged action mode. The current system gives you Gmail, Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, Google Page Creator, and more with technical support as well. If you want to run your own domain without any administration, this may be the way to do it.
The big announcement is that Google has started selling Google Apps to large businesses for only $50 per user per year. Hypothetically, it could replace Outlook, Word, and Excel for corporations and reduce the need for an IT department that handles e-mail and complicated Exchange servers. It costs hundreds of dollars every time an employee upgrades to Office, plus even more to mange their e-mail.
But will major corporations sign up for it? Wired News talks about Google Apps and lays out the downsides and upsides. I think that it will be a couple years before most corporations find it a valuable replacement of half their IT department. Google has to continue to make web apps like Gmail and Google Docs and Spreadsheets have as many features as Outlook, Word, and Excel. (That is, if they ever can.) Who knows if they'll ever make it work, but it's an interesting idea of corporate data being accessible securely by a user at any computer equipped with a net connection and a web browser.
The State of the World
My Grandpa was talking about this and he said he got this from his brother, who is possibly the most knowledgeable man I know about business. It's an Open Letter to CEOs entitled What In The World Is Going On?: A Global Intelligence Briefing to CEOs. Apparently it's going around mostly by e-mail, but I did find a copy of it at a blog site.
I think it's definitely worth a read even if it is a bit long, and even if you're not a CEO. He covers four major problems in the world today and then offers some thoughts on the outcomes. Here's a couple of highlights:
1. The War in Iraq
[...]
Today, terrorism is the third attack on Western civilization by radical Islam. To deal with terrorism, the U.S. is doing two things. First, units of our armed forces are in 30 countries around the world hunting down terrorist groups and dealing with them. This gets very little publicity. Second we are taking military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. These are covered relentlessly by the media. People can argue about whether the war in Iraq is right or wrong. However, the underlying strategy behind the war is to use our military to remove the radicals from power and give the moderates a chance. Our hope is that, over time, the moderates will find a way to bring Islam forward into the 21st century. That’s what our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is all about.
[...]
2. The Emergence of China
In the last 20 years, China has moved 250 million people from the farms and villages into the cities. Their plan is to move another 300 million in the next 20 years. When you put that many people into the cities, you have to find work for them. That’s why China is addicted to manufacturing; they have to put all the relocated people to work. When we decide to manufacture something in the U.S., it’s based on market needs and the opportunity to make a profit. In China, they make the decision because they want the jobs, which is a very different calculation.
[...]
3. Shifting Demographics of Western Civilization
Most countries in the Western world have stopped breeding. For a civilization obsessed with sex, this is remarkable. Maintaining a steady population requires a birth rate of 2.1. In Western Europe, the birth rate currently stands at 1.5, or 30 percent below replacement. In 30 years there will be 70 to 80 million fewer Europeans than there are today. The current birth rate in Germany is 1.3. Italy and Spain are even lower at 1.2. At that rate, the working age population declines by 30 percent in 20 years, which has a huge impact on the economy.
[...]
4. Restructuring of American Business
The fourth major transformation involves a fundamental restructuring of American business. Today’s business environment is very complex and competitive. To succeed, you have to be the best, which means having the highest quality and lowest cost. Whatever your price point, you must have the best quality and lowest price. To be the best, you have to concentrate on one thing. You can’t be all things to all people and be the best.
These are only the layouts of the problems. He then goes on to present the implications of these problems to American and worldwide business and the world at large. I just love his final conclusion:
Ultimately, it’s an issue of culture. The only people who can hurt us are ourselves, by losing our culture. If we give up our Judeo-Christian culture, we become just like the Europeans. The culture war is the whole ballgame. If we lose it, there isn’t another America to pull us out.
Herbert Meyer, the author, served during the Reagan administration as special assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council. According to his bio, "Meyer is widely credited with being the first senior U.S. Government official to forecast the Soviet Union's collapse." Before reading the full document, I was thinking of mentioning that there may be some political bias, but I don't think that needs to be mentioned anymore. It seems like a well-supported, down-to-earth paper.