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January 17, 2020

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text:
How can I undo a chain that is closed with a master link?

enter image description here

Inspired by comment from https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/a/39284/19705

  • Wouldn't that other answer also require an explanation how to open a master link when outside? The length of brake cable you mentioned there might do just that? – gschenk Mar 29 '17 at 20:58
  • For field repairs, a master link is useless unless you can remove the outer plates of a link, meaning you need a chain tool. – mattnz Mar 29 '17 at 23:26
  • @mattnz a master link is handy for repairs, I carry one in my on-bike tool kit. – Criggie Mar 30 '17 at 4:19
  • 1
    I'll note that a trick I use when reattaching a chain is to use a piece of stiff wire shaped into an elongated C to grasp the chain several links from the end and hold in place, leaving the ends slack. – Daniel R Hicks Mar 30 '17 at 12:13

When disconnected, a chain master link looks like this:

enter image description here

Opening this style requires pressure between the two pins, parallel to the length of the chain.

The proper tool is a special pair of pliers like this:

enter image description here

And in use look like this: enter image description here

  • 4
    Great answer. The bottom photo though seems to show the link being set (attached). The detaching motion is to grip the pliers and squeeze as you would normal pliers. – RoboKaren Mar 29 '17 at 20:17
  • @RoboKaren good spotting - I was only looking for a photo of the tool in use, positioned in a chain. – Criggie Mar 29 '17 at 22:22

I use a tool made out of a steel wire clotheshanger to squeeze the two pins together and open the link.

enter image description here

Also, that one hanger turned into three tools: the link opener, a tool to hold the ends of an open chain together, and one to hang the cleaned-and-drying chain from the tree over the driveway.

enter image description here

  • 1
    Great idea. I have a short length of brake or gear inner cable that I carry on-bike for the same purpose. Will try and add a photo. – Criggie Mar 29 '17 at 22:26
  • > short length of brake or gear inner cable .. That sounds nice and compact, I'll have to try that. Also, it's not something that would poke through the side of a container or bag. Also, unlike with my wire-hanger piece, you don't have to maintain a perpendicular orientation with the link to push the pins together. I guess I could add some kinks/Dremel some detents to trap the link if maintaining orientation became a problem. – compton Mar 30 '17 at 8:21
  • Note, I just learned if you have a SRAM Powerlink you still have to squeeze the two side plates together before you can slide the link apart, see bicycles.stackexchange.com/a/45973/28706 . It took me an hour of trying before I figured this out. I only added the master link late last year. I'm glad I learned this before I needed it on a ride. – compton Mar 30 '17 at 13:19
  • 2
    Great idea. If you put the link closer to the bend in the wire and squeeze from the outside you'd have extra leverage. – stib Mar 30 '17 at 23:38
  • Clever. I like this. – SurpriseDog Aug 31 '19 at 21:16

It is possible to open the link without the "special tool" that Criggie's answer uses.

The trick is to get the chain loose/slack so you can fold it back on itself such that the master link is at right angles to the two adjacent links. Then you use a regular pair of pliers, held at an odd angle (helps to contort your mouth as you do this), to apply pressure to the two plates in opposite directions.

  • 4
    You can also do it with your bare hands, if you try hard enough. – Philip Gibbons Mar 29 '17 at 20:36
  • 6
    @PhilipGibbons - Some of us don't have bear hands. – Daniel R Hicks Mar 29 '17 at 21:12
  • 16
    In addition to contorting your mouth I've found squinting with one eye helps as well for awkward tasks. – Erik Mar 29 '17 at 21:43
  • 6
    And sticking out your tongue at just the right angle – kabZX Mar 29 '17 at 21:46
  • 5
    Saying "nnnnnnng" is also helpful. – David Richerby Mar 30 '17 at 7:51

There are other sorts of master link too. If you have one like this then the outer plate needs to be driven or levered off. The pliers above won't help.

enter image description here

This answer could do with more info, feel free to edit.

I used one like this years ago. Putting a large flat blade screwdriver in the opening shown and twisting would open the right end enough to slide the plate to the left and remove it. Then the rest of the link could be removed by sliding the pins out of the chain. To reinstall push the pins through the other two links then slide the plate on from the left. A small flat blade screwdriver supplied enough force on the left end to do the job.

  • 1
    Actually, a pair of standard pliers will often do the job. The trick is to put one jaw on the split end of the plate and the other jaw on the pin at that end. The jaws of the pliers need to be relatively sharp, and not rounded over, in order to catch the end of the plate, however. – Daniel R Hicks Mar 29 '17 at 23:57
  • 1
    The other approach is to use a broad-bladed screwdriver on the split end, to drive it towards the other end. But then you don't have anything to hold the link steady, so it's trickier. – Daniel R Hicks Mar 29 '17 at 23:59
  • 1
    @RossMillikan - If you put a screwdriver in the slot and twist you risk "springing" the plate such that it will no longer fasten reliably. – Daniel R Hicks Mar 30 '17 at 0:00
  • @DanielRHicks: That makes sense to me. I never had any trouble, but didn't think about it. – Ross Millikan Mar 30 '17 at 0:05

[Updated after comments]

On a well maintained, clean chain you might be able to do this by hand.

If your chain is dirty, crusty and dry, you might not be able to open it by hand. Instead of buying the link tool above, you can use a pair of pliers as shown below:

Nose pliers for quick link

Full sequence here.Note that nose pliers / needle nose pliers are not necessary; any pliers will do where the jaw tip is narrow enough to sit on the pins of the chain.

Also note that some quick links are not meant to be re-used indefinitely.

  • I find this fails to generate sufficient leverage because you have to use the tips of the needlenose. @DanielRHicks ' answer above about a Z shaped pattern works better, expecially if you've been using it for a while. – Criggie Mar 29 '17 at 22:25
  • 2
    Looks like it even works on a grotty, badly maintained chain! – David Richerby Mar 30 '17 at 7:52

If you have a SRAM Powerlink as your master link, apparently you need to squeeze the two plates (if you stood over the bike, one on left side, one on right) toward each other for release, at which point it's easy to slide the two halves of the master link toward each other along the line of the chain and the link drops apart or can be coaxed open. It helps to remove chain tension from the master link first.

enter image description here

enter image description here

I used light pressure from needlenose pliers on the two sides, plus my wire tool from my other answer, to keep my hands clean, but apparently this is easy to do with fingers only.

This person has a video explaining:

KMC quick links can be removed by hand without any tools

This was mentioned at: https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/a/45960/34651 but I would like to make it a bit clearer.

It is easier with the tool of course, but if you are on the road, this works:

  • hold the quick link tightly in a Z shape between your thumb and index finger of your dominant hand (right in picture)
  • hold the chain with your other hand (left in picture)
  • pull hard on both sides of the chain with both hands while holding the Z in place with the dominant hand

Your hand position and direction of applied forces will be like this:

enter image description here

Here is a video showing what I just described:

Tested with: a KMC Z-51 / Z-8S - 6/7/8 speed chain: https://www.amazon.co.uk/KMC-Z-51-Z-8S-Speed-Silver/dp/B01I1GL49U

The master link on the left needs no tool to open.

enter image description here

Instead you hold the chain either side of the joiner, put both thumbs on the side plate, and bend the chain towards you.

This angles both pins and allows the clipon plate to clip off.

Down side is that you're putting sideways bending forces on links which may be bad for the chain.

If you have master link pliers, the link is trivially easy to remove. These are cheap and a worthwhile investment for any cyclist who does any kind of maintenance.

Without pliers its possible but some tricks can make it infinitely easier.

The key to making it easy is pinching the plates of the chain together. If you get this right, it will just fall apart. If you get a chance, try it on a brand new link and see how easy it is. These links can be damaged using brute force, and its entirely possible to hurt yourself using the wrong tools and high forces, so best to learn to do it right and not need force.

First clean the link to remove any dirt and grit from between the inner and outer plates so they can move closer together. If there is any dirt between the inner and outer plates, link removal becomes very hard. Next pinch the plates together. If you are lucky, the plates will slide apart easily. If not, wiggle them around while pinching them. You may need to use a pair of pointy nosed pliers as shown by @kabZX, especially with a dirty chain, but the trick is in the pinching the plates together.

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The Story of Binaural Journeys

Once upon a time, in a story full of sound and fury and….

Oh, sorry, wrong story.

Here’s what really happened:

So I’m at Manchester Acupuncture Studio, the acupuncture clinic that I frequent and love, laying there, with needles sticking out of various places on my legs and arms. I’d been there for maybe five minutes when I was struck with what I can only describe as an inspirational “clue-by-four.”

All of the sudden, I just knew what to create.

I knew I needed to create an audio program called Journey to the Spirit of Healing which would combine binaural beats for brainwave synchronization, Binaural Drumming and guided meditation.

I knew what needed to happen in the journey, what the structure of it would be, I was inspired. I was so excited I went home and immediately recorded the program that night.

Of course, once I finished the program, the question became how to tell people about it, and that was the beginning of the business.   I was inspired to create the Journey of Relaxation so people could experience how cool these journeys are, and more inspiration has led me to more journeys, some are available on this site, others were created for a specific person.

The best way to understand Binaural Journeys, really the only way, is to try one.

So click here to download the Journey of Relaxation

Or, please contact me if you have questions.


text:
Objective diameter:   80 mm
Magnification:   20x
Exit pupil:    4mm
Eye relief acc. to spec: 16mm // measured w. folded eyecup: 13.5mm
IPD: 56 – 74 mm
RFOV:  3.3 degrees =   58 m
True aperture:   80 mm (measured)
Length:   30 cm
Waterproof: yes
Weight (measured, with eyepiece cover and objective caps):   2731 g
Made in: China

This may currently be the best 20×80 binocular on the market. Of the roughly thirty binocular models in size 20×80 on the market in early 2018, it is the only one with an “ED APO” configuration. Another example of a high quality, relatively expensive, China-made bino competing successfully with well-known Japanese and other instruments.

The following is just a brief follow-up on the original review of the APM MS 20×80 ED, and of its smaller brother, the APM MS 20×70 ED.

A few key data (figures correspond to APM’s spec, except where stated “measured”):

APM MS 20×80 ED
Eye relief acc. to spec: 16mm // measured w. folded eyecup: 13.5mm
IPD: 57-74mm (measured)
RFOV: 3.3 degrees = 58m
AFOW: 66 degrees
True aperture: 80mm (measured)
Length: 30cm
Weight (measured, with eyepiece cover and objective caps): 2’731g

APM MS 20×70 ED
Eye relief acc. to spec: 16mm // measured w. folded eyecup: 15mm
IPD: 57-74mm (measured)
RFOV: 3.3 degrees = 58m
AFOW: 66 degrees
True aperture: 70mm (measured)
Length: 28.6cm
Weight (measured, with eyepiece cover and objective caps): 2’143g

This means the 70 is about half an inch shorter, but 1.3 pounds lighter than  the 80.

Unfortunately, weather conditions have still been less than ideal here lately; not only were there many more “cloudynights” than in other years during the same period, the cloudless sky was also overall not as dark and clear, and during the few nights it was, the moon was shining really bright. Take this into consideration when reading the following.

The performance of the APM 80 ED confirmed the initial positive impression. Bright, sharp image with little CA – off-axis sharpness fine for most of the field of view, except maybe the 10-15% furthest out.

The 70 has – not surprisingly – very similar image characteristics, I would rate the two equal in terms of edge sharpness.I got the impression, however, that the 80 shows a tad less CA. This may be due to the slightly larger exit pupil than in the 70, which may allow an easier eye placement behind the eyepiece, more than to anything else; hard to say. The difference is not great, but I think it is there. At night, this is of course not extremely important, since CA is only a real issue on bright objects such as the moon.

But also the 70 produces a very nice image of the moon. I usually check, when the phase is right, a few structures on the surface of the moon which I use when comparing large binos. Typical ones are Vallis Alpes (7.5 N / 7.0 E), best seen on nights 7-9 after new moon, or night 7 after full moon, and Rupes Recta (22.0 S / 7.7 W), seen best on nights 8-9 after new moon, or night 7 after full moon).

Although Vallis Alpes was easy to spot and well visible in both instruments, it seemed to me that it appeared just a little bit clearer and more distinct in the 80 than in the 70, but if the difference was not just my imagination but real, it was definitely not much.

It was slightly windy that night, and turbulence was high. But then, just for a moment, the wind stopped, and I saw Rupes recta in the APM 80, just for a short time, but clear. When I switched to the 70, I couldn’t identify it anymore, and later, things became again more blurred than earlier that night, and also the 80 did not show Rupes Recta anymore.

Up to now, I had only been able to identify Rupes Recta in 25×100, 28×110 or in my BTs, but never in a 20x binocular.
However, in 2008, there was a discussion here on CN (including at that time EdZ) as to what size instrument is required to identify Rupes Recta, see:

Reading this thread, I learned that Rupes Recta should in fact be accessible in a 20×80 bino, based on the experience of the other users in the quoted thread. This was new to me, but it meant that my spotting of the great wall was not pure imagination. It would be interesting to hear what other forum members think.

Despite the mediocre atmospheric conditions, I tried to observe some deep sky objects, such as M42 (Orion Nebula): Here, a difference in brightness between the 80 and the 70 was almost imperceptible; moreover, there seemed to be no clear difference between the two instruments in the amount of structure you can see in the nebula. After a while, I realized that some of the faint stars around M42, which are just barely visible in the 70, appear a bit more pronounced in the 80. But overall, there was no clear “advantage” of the 80 over the 70 when observing the nebula itself. This seems interesting since the 80 has 33 % more light gathering aperture, so you might expect to see more of a difference.
The same could be said for M31 (Andromeda). Also here, a really dark clear sky with low humidity and little light pollution might perhaps have revealed details in the 80 more clearly than in the 70. I just did not have these conditions, so I don’t really know.

M45 (Plejades), Mel 25 (Hyades) an M44 (Praesepe): overall a very similar impression. Crisp nice clusters, the 3.3 degree FOV in both instruments is just wide enough to give a beautiful image against the background sky; no discernible difference in the number of visible stars (overall impression, not counting).

For a another more detailed comparative review of the APM 20×80 ED, see:

scroll to posts # 1, 2, 3 and 24

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Phytotron Greenhouse Space Request Form

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The systems approach to biology will be the dominant theme in medicine

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Because all of biology is connected, one can often make a breakthrough with an organism that exaggerates a particular phenomenon, and later explore the generality

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Nothing in Biology makes sense except in the light of evolution

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Biology is now bigger than physics, as measured by the size of budgets, by the size of the workforce, or by the output of major discoveries; and biology is likely to remain the biggest part of science through the twenty-first century

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Nothing can be more incorrect than the assumption one sometimes meets with, that physics has one method, chemistry another, and biology a third

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text:
Translator Disclaimer
1 February 2008 Prairie Grasses as Hosts of the Northern Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)
Author Affiliations +

We evaluated 27 prairie grass species thought to be among those dominant 200 yr ago in the northern midwest as larval hosts of the northern corn rootworm, Diabrotica barberi Smith and Lawrence. Maize (Zea mays L.), spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) were included as controls for a total of 30 species. Twenty pots of each species were planted in a randomized complete block design. Each pot was infested 5 wk later with 20 neonate northern corn rootworm larvae. Two pots within each species and block were assigned an extraction date of 7 or 14 d after infestation. The remaining two pots from each block were used to monitor adult emergence. The percentage of larvae recovered, change in larval head capsule width, and change in average dry weights varied significantly among the grass species. The highest percentage of larvae was recovered from slender wheatgrass, Elymus trachycaulus (Link), and this was significantly greater than the percentage recovered from all other species including maize for the 14-d sample date. Several additional species were also relatively good hosts, in that the percentage of larvae recovered from these species was not significantly different from maize. The average dry weight of larvae recovered was significantly greater for larvae recovered from maize than for larvae recovered from all other species except slender wheatgrass, when the two samples dates were combined. Overall, adults were produced from only 6 of the 28 species evaluated, and no analysis was performed because of the low numbers. The results of this study are discussed in relation to the potential of alternate hosts of northern corn rootworm to serve as a bridge to survival on transgenic maize.

Isaac O. Oyediran, B. Wade French, Thomas L. Clark, Kenton E. Dashiell, and Bruce E. Hibbard "Prairie Grasses as Hosts of the Northern Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)," Environmental Entomology 37(1), 247-254, (1 February 2008).[247:PGAHOT]2.0.CO;2
Received: 1 September 2006; Accepted: 17 October 2007; Published: 1 February 2008

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Miller Tee

Is our love for solid basic still to prove? The Miller Tee is an easy-wearing, lightweight jersey tee crafted from a Cotton Polyester Blend for a soft look and feel. Featuring a ribbed neckline and capped sleeves, this style is cut to a relaxed fit making it the perfect staple to be tucked into your favourite denims. Fits true to size.

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What to Eat While Watching Your Favorite Shows

TV and Delivery Pairings

Whether you’re hunkered down for a long night of binging your favorite series or are excited to take in the latest episode of the hottest new show, you need sustenance! But not any old snack will do. Pair these delivery foods with the following programs for the ultimate viewing experience. Here is what to order for delivery when your favorite show is on.

The Bachelor™

Arie is a former race car driver, and that plays a large role on this season of ABC’s The Bachelor. So naturally, you’re going to want to nosh on the most popular foods at the track.

Pretzels with Cheese

Pretzel with cheese, chips and guac for delivery

Hot Dogs

The Good Place™

A group of people wake up one day to find themselves in the afterlife. And these delivery dishes are perfectly appropriate for eating in Hell… (or watching NBC’s The Good Place).

Fiery Shrimp Rolls

shrimp sushi rolls for delivery

Deviled Eggs

Order deviled eggs for delivery

This Is Us™

This emotional drama follows the triumph and heartbreak of four siblings and will surely make you sob uncontrollably. Comfort food is definitely in order when viewing NBC’s This Is Us.

Fried Chicken + Macaroni and Cheese

Fried chicken with sides for delivery

Alone Together™

In Freeform’s Alone Together, best friends Esther and Benji aren’t actually together, but they’re technically not alone either. In honor of never having to share your food, here are dinner ideas for one.

turkey club sandwich for delivery

Lo Mein

Order lo mein for delivery from Bite Squad

Grey’s Anatomy™

Here’s some anatomy for you—in the form of bones and organs. Dig into these foods while being sucked into everyone’s fave medical drama, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.

Chicken Wings

chicken wings for delivery form Bite Squad

Chopped Liver

You can order chopped liver for deliver

HBO’s Westworld takes place in a technologically advanced Wild West-themed amusement park, so it only makes sense to eat the same foods they did in the Wild West.

Beef (Cowboy Burger, specifically)

Get your favorite burger delivered

Steak & Eggs

Steak and eggs breakfast or brunch delivery

The Walking Dead™

In honor of AMC’s The Walking Dead—a post-apocalyptic horror show—we’ve looked up a couple of foods that would last forever in the post-apocalyptic world…

Baked Beans (+Ribs)

Ribs and beans for delivery

Rice (+Chicken Tikka Masala)

naan and chicken tikka masala

The Handmaid’s Tale™

In the Hulu series, The Handmaid’s Tale, handmaids are slaves and wives run the homes of the ruling elite. Will you choose to eat like a handmaid… or like a wife?

You an get hot oatmeal delivered

You can get cookies delivered from Bite Squad

Once Upon a Time™

ABC’s Once Upon a Time borrows elements and storylines from fairytales, and we’re sure you’ll recognize the movies we’ve pulled these fanciful foods from.

(Poisoned) Apple Pie

apple pie for delivery

Pumpkin (Carriage) Spice Cake

order dessert for delivery

Grace and Frankie™

In the Netflix series, Grace and Frankie, longtime frenemies move in together to cope with the fact that their husbands have left them for each other. So, who’s side are you on: Grace, the healthy cosmetics mogul; or Grace, the hippie art teacher with a case of the munchies?

French Fries

french fries

Now that you have a weekly lineup of all your favorite television shows, what will you order for delivery? Grab your remote and your Bite Squad app and snuggle in for a night-in of unparalleled viewing.

*All show names are registered trademarks of their respective owners, and are in no way associated or affiliated with Bite Squad.


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Bringing you the news that  REALLY matters

Jeff Sessions Slams Marijuana Legalization (Again)

The nation's top law enforcer is continuing to speak out against marijuana legalization, stating "I've never felt that we should legalize marijuana".

"It doesn't strike me that the country would be better if it's being sold on every street corner. We do know that legalization results in greater use," U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Wednesday.

While not giving a clear answer about the enforcement of federal prohibition laws in states that have changed their cannabis policies, Sessions, a longtime legalization opponent, said, "Federal law remains in effect."

Last week, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made fairly ominous comments about marijuana policy reform, adding that the Trump administration is still deciding whether or not to reverse Obama-era guidance that generally allows states to legalize cannabis without federal interference.

Under the so-called "Cole Memo," named after the former Obama Justice Department official who authored it in 2013, the federal government set out certain criteria that, if followed, would allow states to implement their own laws mostly without intervention. Those criteria concern areas like youth use, impaired driving and interstate trafficking.

On the campaign trail, then-candidate Donald Trump repeatedly pledged to respect state marijuana laws.

jeff sessions slams marijuana legalization again 01

But in April, Sessions directed a Justice Department task force to review the Obama administration memo and make recommendations for possible changes.

However, that panel did not provide Sessions with any ammunition to support a crackdown on states, according to the Associated Press, which reviewed excerpts of the task force's report to the attorney general.

Sessions' new comments came in response to a reporter's question following a San Diego press conference about large-scale Coast Guard seizures of cocaine and heroin.

In contrast to the attorney general's claims about marijuana use rates after prohibition is ended, a study released last week concluded that state legalization does not lead to greater cannabis consumption.

Article and image(s) from: Forbes

@ 2019 Biz420 Cannabis Network  - All Rights Reserved.


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Epi 330 Training For Different Situations

This week we talk about different training situations you might find yourself in and how to get the most of them.

  • Training while injured
  • Training for a tournament
  • Getting the most out of a tight schedule
  • Training when you are the best student in class
  • Training when you are the worst student in class
  • Training when you are on the road
  • Training with Joe

Quote of the week: “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

Article of the week: http://www.eatingwell.com/article/32715/9-simple-ways-to-be-a-better-cook/

Catch us next week for another episode of The BjjBrick Podcast

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunesStitcher radio, and Google Play Music for Andriod


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Santa Claus with Waldemar the Dachshund, small

Santa Claus with Waldemar the Dachshund, small
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Prices incl. VAT plus shipping costs

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  • BK6040
  • 9 cm
  • 0.1 kg
Product information

Santa Claus for dog lovers. Cute, red-nosed Santa Clauses have become a distinctive trademark of our brand. Who can resist the charm of these unmistakable figures, handcrafted from fine indigenous woods and designed with a twinkle and a sense of humour? The original figures are available in a wide variety of amusing designs and can be combined with various different trees. Our Santa Claus series, including the elks and reindeer, was awarded the 'Tradition und Form' design prize of the Association of Erzgebirge Master Craftsmen in 2004.


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A new study associates drinking coffee with lower risk of early death. Research found longevity benefits associated with drinking coffee, no matter what type or how much you drink. Those who drink one cup a day lower their risk by 8% and those who drink 6-7 cups lower their risk by 16%.

Don’t Miss Out! Follow The D.L. Hughley Show on Twitter and Instagram & Keep Up On Facebook Too!

Also On Black America Web:
The Ten Most Interesting Little Known Black History Facts
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Inside Her Story: Living With HIV/AIDS

Black women are only 15% of the United States Population but they make up 60% of new HIV/AIDS cases. Jacque Reid goes Inside Her Story with LaDeia Joyce, motivational speaker and blogger who is living with HIV.

LaDeia was diagnosed with HIV 3 years ago after a routine STD/STI screening and recalls one of her immediate thoughts being, “who marries someone who is HIV positive?” She explains that as she googled “I’m HIV positive, now what,” she heard God say “I need you to be what it is that you’re looking for” but he allowed her time to sit with it. She heard him say “after a year I need you to do something.”

So, one year after her diagnosis she went public with it while sitting on a panel at a movie screening. Speaking about it publicly “was difficult but it was freeing.”

She created a blog to educate and help others called Positively Deia,  where you can learn more about her and her journey.

The message she wants all women to get is that “you need to take your sexual health,” into your own hands no matter if you’re married, single, in a monogamous relationship, or just “sexing,” regardless “his penis ain’t in your pocket” she says. Your health is your responsibility.

Also On Black America Web:
The Ten Most Interesting Little Known Black History Facts
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Gear Check Run

One week out from the Black Hills 50k, and I’m in my reluctant by necessary taper. Being mindful of the priorities (family, work, health), I know I’ve done as much as I could have in terms of training. Now it’s time to rest up and get ready for a great time on the trails next week. The one thing I know I can do is make sure I’m comfortable with my gear.

Trail running gear is about the perfect balance for me: not as overwhelming as, say, triathlon, but enough to keep things interesting. As a teenager I remember taking an annual pseudo-pilgrimage to REI with my dad to look for backpacking supplies. Trail running gives me a similar feeling – pure fun in trying to find ways to move quickly with the minimum necessary.

So today I went out for a relaxed 11 miler (1,293′ climbing) including the section of the Centennial Trail between Alkali TH and Old Stone Rd. Knowing that trying to add fitness would be at best a waste of time and at worst risking an injury, I tried to focus on the feel of everything. Fortunately, over the last few months through trial-and-error I figured out which shorts are best to stash my sunglasses, which shirt keeps my race vest from chafing, and of course, the best shoes for the task at hand. Sure, it’s consumerist, and this is one area of my life where I choose to indulge a bit.

As summer racing season kicks off in earnest over the next few weeks, here’s hoping all the runners out there are as happy and comfortable with their gear as I was today.

One thought on “Gear Check Run

  1. Can definitely relate. There definitely is a lot of trial and error when it comes to what works with the long distance running.

    All the best with your Black Hills 50k this weekend.

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The old app will continue to be available for a couple more weeks. Click here to download the app or search 'Black Junction Tv' in the Google Play Store.

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Copwatch | Cops Search for Shooting Suspect After Pursuit & Foot Bail at 4am

The Haze Of Our Lives™ "X"

San Diego Copwatch Nov. 14, 2019
City Heights, Mid-City San Diego

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Adam Bennett and Josh Hare

Adam Bennett (left) & Josh Hare (right)

On October 19, the Blanton will host a German beer tasting that explores the connection between German beer culture and the art in Imperial Augsburg: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, 1475-1540, the museum’s new exhibition. The event is co-presented with Edible Austin, and participating local breweries include Hops & Grain, Live Oak Brewing Company, Austin Beerworks, and Perdernales Brewing Company. To give you a sneak peek of what promises to be an awesome event, we’ve interviewed Adam Bennett, the Blanton’s manager of public programs, and Josh Hare, owner of Hops & Grain.

Austin is a big foodie town, an epicenter for craft brewing and an arts hub, so combining beer and art seems a natural pairing.

“We’re always looking for ways to connect the art on view at the Blanton to the Austin community, and one obvious connection for this exhibition is that contemporary brewers in Austin are making their beer in a similar way to what the brewers in Bavaria were doing 500 years ago” said Adam Bennett.

Brewery equipment“The food and art scene in Austin are perfectly positioned to include beer, and this encourages collaboration and consumption,” added Josh, whose mission is to enhance the sustainability of the planet, the community and culture through beer. Hops & Grain sells three beers year round that are available in cans and kegs. For the Blanton tasting, they’ll be bringing two of them: “Alteration,” and “The One They Call Zoe.” How are these beers linked to Germany? “Both beers are styles that mostly originated from regions in Germany,” explained Josh. “They are malt focused, balanced and clean.” The German brewing tradition is more structured and the German Purity Law still holds some control over production in Germany. “Breweries adhering to this do not add spices or ingredients outside of the four accepted ingredients—malt, hops, water and yeast,” said Josh.

Stack of barrelsAdam highlighted what attendees should expect to get out of the beer tasting: “First, that the art and history of Augsburg directly connect to our lives in Austin, second, that Germany is a very heterogeneous place, and third, that there are artisans in Austin and it’s worth thinking about how history and art can inform the creative decisions that we make in the present day whether we’re drawing, making music, designing clothes, making food or even beer.”

The beer tasting is currently at capacity, but folks can get on the wait-list by emailing Must be 21 or older to attend. For more information, please visit our website.

-Mary Parsamyan, Blanton PR & Marketing intern

One Response

  1. Chris says:

    Great article. Too bad I missed the German beer tasting. I'm from Holland (next to Germany) and we love German beer! 😉

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John J. Lewkowicz II purchases 405 Walnut Ave., Elgin

On Nov. 1, 2019, Terence J Oconnor sold their home at 405 Walnut Ave., Elgin to John J. Lewkowicz II for $186,000.

In 2018, the property tax paid for this property was $5,352.32, which is 2.88% of the sale price of the home.

In November 2019, eight properties sold in Elgin.

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Amazon Prime: Is it worth it?

Amazon just announced that the price for a yearly subscription to Amazon Prime is being raised to $120. With that in mind, I decided to do some rough math to see if Prime was still worth it for my wife and I.

We do order quite a bit of stuff from Amazon, on things like "dog stuff" (food, treats, bedding, etc.), consumer electronics and accessories (iPhone/iPad cases, Chromebooks, headphones), clothes, and even coffee.

First consideration: I don't consider Prime Video much of a benefit. Maybe I should reconsider that, but that's where I am at today. A friend says she uses Prime Video in lieu of Netflix. But, Netflix has all the Marvel TV shows and I'm really into those. Amazon doesn't have those. In fact, all I've really been excited about on Amazon Prime video is Bosch, the cop show based on the books of Michael Connelly. It's quite good, but it alone might not be enough to make me pay $120/year.

Second consideration: Two-day shipping is nice, but if I could save money, I'd settle for slower shipping. Even without Prime, any purchase of $25+ gets you free shipping. Just not two-day shipping. (And sometimes the two day shipping really means three or four day shipping. And a number of smaller products are "add-ons" which means you can't buy them unless your order as a minimum of $25 in non-"add-on" things first. Both of these poke holes in the myth of "get anything delivered in two days.")

Third consideration: We've signed up for the Amazon Store Credit Card. Since we have Amazon Prime, that gets us 5% off all (or most?) purchases. So the question becomes, do we still end up net ahead even after it comes time for us to pay $120 for the next year of Amazon Prime?

I reviewed the last twelve months of Amazon store card statements to see how much we've spent. That totals up to about $4793. Let's assume that is after the 5% savings, so for calculation's sake, let's bump that up to $5046. Five percent back on that would be about $252. We've paid $100 for the year of Prime, so that means that we've saved about $152. If we had paid $120 for a year of Amazon Prime, that would have reduced our savings to $132. Either way, for now, that's still money ahead.

Verdict: We're keeping Amazon Prime. Even with the price hike, it's still advantageous for my wife and I to continue to pay for and utilize Amazon Prime, assuming our purchasing patterns stay the same, or if we increase our Amazon spend. If our Amazon spend is going to decrease, it may not be worth it. We would basically have to spend $2400 on Amazon in a year to make Prime "pay for itself" in this way, and we'd have to spend more than that to get more than $120 back in a year.

Assuming I got the math right. I could be off by a hair, if the Prime card doesn't get you 5% off of every single thing. I try not to buy from non-Amazon vendors through their platform, so that might minimize the chances of that.

Pay your bill: If you don't pay your Amazon Store Credit Card bill off in full every month, all bets are off. This card has a 27% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) which is crazy high. This would eat up any 5% savings you'd be getting. If you need to buy things on credit from Amazon, use your lowest interest rate regular credit card.

HOWTO: Play Roku TV Audio through Apple AirPods

We have a cheapo 55" 4K Roku TV that I think we bought for $398 at Wally World last year. It works well. I'm happy with it. It gets the job done. It is cheap enough, though, that the remote does not have a headphone jack, like other Roku TVs or streaming boxes have, nor does it seem to have Bluetooth support. But I found out that even without that, you can use an iPhone to stream sound from the TV to headphones connected to the iPhone. In my case, fancy new Apple AirPods that I just bought.

Here's how to stream audio from the TV to a headset:
  1. Connect (or pair) the headset to your iPhone.
  2. Make sure your iPhone and TV are both on the same wifi network.
  3. Install the "Roku" app on your iPhone.
  4. Launch the Roku app and use it to connect to your Roku TV.
  5. Click on the "private listening" button (it looks like a headset).
  6. The TV's audio will now play through your phone. Which will now play through the headset you connected in step one.
The audio might be a few milliseconds delayed, but I got over that after a few minutes. This came in very handy as a workaround for my Roku not having Bluetooth support!

It also worked much better than pairing my AirPods directly to my Apple TV. The audio dropped periodically when I tried watching TV that way. Not sure why -- my Apple TV might not be the latest model, or it's possibly just a hair too far away for the AirPods to stay connected reliably.

That's the only issue I've had with the Apple AirPods. They work great otherwise, and they are miles ahead of any other bluetooth headsets or earbuds I've tried. So much easier to pair, charge and use.


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Create Repeating Content Control and VBA Macro in Aspose.Words for .NET 19.9

Aspose.Words for .NET logo

It is our pleasure to announce September release of Aspose.Words for .NET. We have included quite exciting features and enhancements in this release. Now, you can generate reports using LINQ Reporting with data sources like XML, JSON, and CSV. Working with VBA macro code, programmatically create repeating section content control, link custom document property to bookmark and many other features have been included in this release. let’s check out what this release offers and how to use newly introduced features.

Create Repeating Section Content Control

MS Word allows you to insert the repeating content control with XML mapping in Word document. You can insert repeating content control around entire paragraphs or table rows. We have added this feature in the latest release of Aspose.Words. A new enumeration type RepeatingSectionItem has been added in this release. Please read the following article for more detail.

Working with Repeating Section Content Control

LINQ Reporting with XML, JSON, and CSV Data Sources

As you know, LINQ Reporting Engine enables you to build reports using an extended set of reporting features. The engine enables you to reference business objects of your application in report templates. We have added XmlDataSource, JsonDataSource, and CsvDataSource classes in this release to use XML, JSON, and CSV as data sources to generate reports using LINQ Reporting. Please read the following articles for complete detail of this feature.

Accessing XML Data
Accessing JSON Data
Accessing CSV Data

Create and Modify VBA Macros

A new property VbaModule.SourceCode has been added in this release to get or set VBA project module source code. Following code example demonstrates how to modify VBA Macros using the VbaModule.SourceCode property.

Link Custom Document Property to Bookmark

MS Word allows you to link custom document property to a bookmark. In MS Word, you can check this option under document properties dialog. In this release, we have added LinkSource and IsLinkToContent properties in DocumentProperty class and a method AddLinkToContent in CustomDocumentProperties class. Following code example shows how to link custom document property to a bookmark.

Remove License.IsLicensed property

The License.IsLicensed obsolete property has been removed in order to increase anti-hacking resistance. Moreover, this property was useless because of the License.SetLicense method. This method throws an exception in case of a wrong license key.

Introduced SavePictureBullet option for MS Word 97 Document

We have added DocSaveOptions.SavePictureBullet property in this release to work with PictureBullet data. This option is provided for MS Word 97 which cannot work correctly with PictureBullet data. Please set this option to "false" to remove PictureBullet data.

We recommend you please check the release notes of Aspose.Words for .NET 19.9 for complete detail of API changes.

When time allows you can check Aspose.Words' API reference guide, examples at Github, talk about this release and other API related issues in our forum.


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Flat Lay Friday: Mad for Madeline

Happy Friday, you made it!  As a reward, you get another fabulous flat lay, this week with the BEARPAW Madeline in black!

madeline flat layscaled

Comfy and Stylin’

We’re keeping it simple today with an all black palette with a pop of color.  Black leggings keep you comfy and a sweatshirt with lace sleeves from Blu Pepper, a scarf from Raven + Lily and jewelry from Charming Charlie keeps you stylish.

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Views: 1730|Replies: 3

BP Caught Using Altered Photos [Copy link] 中文

Rank: 4

Post time 2010-7-21 08:28:47 |Display all floors
Is a picture worth more or less than a thousand words if it's digitally altered?

John Aravosis of AMERICAblog made an interesting find Monday night: A high-resolution image on BP's website of the troubled company's Houston-based Deepwater Horizon response command center had been altered.

The altered image was later removed by BP and replaced with what they say is the original (the altered image is above and the original is below). You'll notice that three underwater images were inserted onto screens to the right on a wall of video feeds in the altered image, where blank images exist on the screens in the original.

The photo flap inspired the usually staid Washington Post to quip, "Apparently BP is no more adept at doctoring photos than it is at plugging deep-sea oil leaks."

BP spokesman Scott Dean told the Post's Steven Mufson that there was no diabolical plot to photographically beef up the company's command center. Rather, he said, a BP photographer with completely benign intentions just slipped the images in.

"Normally we only use Photoshop for the typical purposes of color correction and cropping," Dean told the paper. "In this case they copied and pasted three ROV screen images in the original photo over three screens that were not running video feeds at the time."

He added, "We've instructed our post-production team to refrain from doing this in the future." ... e-of-command-center

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Post time 2010-7-23 02:22:11 |Display all floors
Haha, I bet if I replace "BP" with "China" you westerners would all be rushing to bash China.  Too bad it was BRITISH Petroleum who did it.

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Post time 2010-7-24 04:12:59 |Display all floors
Silence from western members....

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Post time 2010-7-29 18:08:15 |Display all floors

Reply #5 totothedog's post

Buy Dutch gas

BP are the ones who have been fueling the Islamic terrorists all along

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Freemarker Template Caching – Analyzing a Struts2 Performance Problem

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During the load tests of a project I noticed the overall response time going down rapidly when more and more users were accessing the application. The application was built using the Struts 2 Java framework, accessing the database via Hibernate. It was quite a simple application, so I was wondering why it was going down so fast. When looking at the AppDynamics monitoring, I realized quickly, that there has to be an issue with Freemarker, the templating engine you can use in Struts2:

All hot spots originate from freemarker.cache.URLTemplateLoader.getURL() which is the abstract definition of a method implemented by the Struts org.apache.struts2.views.freemarker.StrutsClassTemplateLoader.

Lets debug further and find out why this code is hanging: AppDynamics collected a few thread dumps for us, which reveal a few blocked threads on sun.misc.URLClassPath.getLoader().

Looking at the source code, this is synchronized on the URLClassPath instance.

private synchronized Loader getLoader(int index) {

I did not expect this to be a bottleneck, but it turned out that there are additional threads holding/wanting this lock for classloading. This however was paused by native code for memory allocation.

There is nothing wrong with the Freemarker/Struts way of loading the templates, however it does seem to create a lot of unnecessary access to resources.

Usually templates do not change often, so it would be great if there was some kind of caching facility. And indeed Freemarker offers something:

This is a setting you can pipe through a struts file called into the freemarker engine. According to the documentation, this takes a number of seconds a template has to be in the cache before it will be reloaded. So one should set this to a high value.

Struts folks also advise you to set a property called struts.freemarker.templatesCache to true, as they claim that the last modification cannot be obtained in a stable manner from the class path. However, as the last modification already worked well for my tested modern JDKs, I doubt this will bring further improvement.

Using the template_update_delay worked for the project, so I am fine with that, yet I still wonder why there should be a need at all to reload the files. Ok, if you hot-hack them, you need to reload them, but on real production systems, you should load them once. There is quite some code in freemarker.cache.TemplateCache which would not be required then.

While you are at tuning the Freemarker related code, you might want to provide a custom implementation of the class  org.apache.struts2.views.freemarker.FreemarkerManager, which is the connection between Struts2 and Freemarker. On closer look, it reveals to you that it tries to load the template twice from the file system before resorting to the classpath. This gives you some flexibility when developing your application, but comes with a price you might not want to pay.

After changing the “cache” setting, the HotSpots disappeared which gave the application more room to breathe. Classloader became a much less contested resource.

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SharePoint 2013 Service Pack 1 rereleased!

Author by Drew Madelung

As I mentioned in a previous post (Don't install SharePoint 2013 SP1 just yet...) Microsoft had taken down the ability to download service pack 1 for SharePoint Server 2013.  As of today (4/22) it has been rereleased by Microsoft and is available again to download.

Based on installation instructions in Bill Baer's Blog -

Customers with Service Pack 1 Deployed

For customers who have previously deployed Service Pack 1, download the updated Service Pack 1 and install over the existing Service Pack 1 running PSConfig or PSConfigUI immediately following.

Customers without Service Pack 1

For customers without Service Pack 1 deployed, download the updated Service Pack 1 package and deploy as per the KB documentation.

The KB articles are also different for the for the rereleased service pack.  Here is the updated link: KB 2880552 - SharePoint Server 2013 SP1

Drew Madelung

Technical Architect


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

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Tel 01522 811688
Freephone 0800 988 8366

Helping businesses increase revenue online

The Importance of Social Media for your Business

DBS Internet Marketing and Social Media in Lincolnshire can help you with all your social media needs for your business, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. This post provides some information about social media, why it is important to your business, and the different forms it can take.

Social media is a way of communicating with people and providing them with information whilst interacting with them at the same time through the internet. Key social media sites include the social networking site Facebook, the microblogging site Twitter, and the online video sharing site YouTube.

Many of our clients ask us if they really need to be on social media sites and if so what benefits can be gained from having a social media presence. Ultimately, social media is what you make of it. But if you are creative, then we feel that it can benefit you in the following ways.

Firstly it is a quick and easy way for you to communicate with your clients and likewise for them to communicate back with you. It is a far more efficient and easy way of having a dialogue than letter, telephone or email, as it allows you to communicate with a large number of clients or potential clients all at once just by posting a quick comment or status update, perhaps with a link to your website, which takes a matter of seconds.

Using social media can therefore help you to strengthen ties with your clients, as it encourages dialogue between you easily. It is also a good way of retaining clients who might otherwise have only used you as a one off. For example, if somebody has done business with a company and they are impressed with that work, they might try to find them on Facebook or Twitter in order to “like” them, and follow them to see if they have any interesting news or deals. This then means that because you are both connected and because you are regularly posting updates which they see, you are fresh in their mind if they require the service or product that you provide again.

It also means you can pass on news and offers to other people who are interested in your field. If friends of your friends see that they have “liked” you on Facebook or “+1ed” you on Google, they may choose to click on your page and look at what you have to offer. Therefore, social media is a good way of attracting new clients by spreading the word.

Being on social media sites also makes you look like a relatively “early adopter”. We feel that having a presence in social media has become somewhat similar to having a website in the early 2000s; whilst it is not essential to your business currently, more and more businesses are on social media and more and more people are using social media as an alternative to conventional search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Therefore, the expectation that you should have a presence is growing rather than shrinking – if people search for you on social media and find you are not on there now, they tend to wonder why. Just as it became essential for businesses to have a website, it is heading the same way with social media.

Therefore, it is better to join sooner rather than later, as if you choose not to be on sites like Facebook and Twitter then you will increasingly find yourself in the minority, and will probably find yourself having to play catch up in a few years when everyone else is on there. We feel that now is the time for companies to embrace social media if they haven’t already done so, and are here to help businesses make that leap.

To find out more about the different social media services that DBS Internet Marketing can set up for you, click through to the following pages:

Finally, for anyone who still isn’t sure, it is worth remembering that Facebook is the second most used website in the world, YouTube is the third most used website in the world, and Twitter is in the top ten most used websites in the world. Google is top of that list.
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All Big Things Start Small

Note: U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools recognizes schools, districts and postsecondary institutions that are 1) reducing environmental impact and costs; 2) improving health and wellness; and 3) teaching environmental education. To share innovative practices in these three ‘Pillars,’ the Department conducts an annual Green Strides Best Practices Tour of honorees.

Recently I was at Edgewood School in Prior Lake, Minn., where preschoolers were sitting on tiny tree stumps in an outdoor classroom custom-made just for them. They loved their little chairs and were completely engaged in the morning meeting with their teacher. Seeing these littlest ones learning so effectively in nature got me thinking about how one small initiative can grow into something much bigger.

Preschool students at Edgewood School have the option to enroll in Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools’ nature-based preschool. (Photo credit: Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools)

Preschool students at Edgewood School have the option to enroll in Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools’ nature-based preschool. (Photo credit: Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools)

The Environmental Education (EE) programs at Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools started out in just this way: one small effort at one school. Yet this year we found ourselves showcasing our districtwide EE programs during the recent Green Strides Best Practices Tour of Five Hawks and Jeffers Pond Elementary.

On any given day in Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, you will find teachers and students outside, certainly for recreational activities – but also for science, math, reading, even art. Environmental Education is embedded into nearly all curricular areas, districtwide.

Visitors often ask, “How did you make this happen in all of your schools?” The answer is, we started small. Five Hawks Elementary set the stage for EE programming with teachers who are passionate about helping students build critical thinking skills, fostering a love for the environment and getting students outdoors.

One of the first things they did was plan an annual Outdoor Learning Festival, where students do hands-on activities, taking water samples, studying leaf structure and entomology, and much more.

The success of that program got a lot of attention and led staff, parents and school board members to embed environmental education into our district’s Strategic Plan, which will guide the expansion of our environmental focus.

Now EE also takes place through Community Education classes and student clubs in grades 3-12. Yes, students choose to be part of EE outside of the school day! Students will tell you it’s “cool” to be in these clubs. In fact, students have to apply to be in the programs because there is so much interest. At the high school level, students can even earn a varsity letter for their participation in the EcoTeam club.

Today all six of our elementary schools host an Outdoor Learning Festival each year, like the one we showcased on the Green Strides Tour. But beyond the Festivals, EE is truly “embedded” into our curriculum throughout the school day, every day. We have become the first district-wide E-STEM schools in the state of Minnesota.

Throughout all of this, our Strategic Plan has been our guide. We are grateful to the many innovative teachers who have made E-STEM a reality and for the students who are such enthusiastic learners. On the days I witness programs like the one at Edgewood, I am reminded that all big things start out small.

Dr. Sue Ann Gruver is the Superintendent of Schools for Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools in Minnesota

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Saturday, March 28, 2009

EJBCA 3.8.2 released

"This is a minor release adding improvements and bugfixes
- Add street and pseudonym DN attributes.
- OCSP improvements, RFC 5019, nextUpdate, support for requests using GET, improved configuration and error handling.
- Correct coding of optional Issuing Distribution Point in CRLs.
- Possible to publish userPassword in LDAP.
- A few minor fixes."
Check out the change-log for all the details.

A pretty cool feature that hides behind the "RFC 5019" improvement is that you can now cache OCSP responses. If you use HTTP GET you will be able to use simple network components like a HTTP/1.1 cache (Apache httpd config included in the docs) for caching and load-balancing between your responders. I'd love to see someone try this out on a massive scale and report back to me with some statistics.. =)

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Monday, October 8, 2018

Keep track of certificate issuance using Graylog (and pretty dashboards)

Running an EJBCA based PKI can be a very boring task, usually everything just works. One complaint that we get is that it just works so stably, that the operations staff forgets what to be done when something happens.

Apart from being boring to run, a question that i asked now and then is to get reports or displays of issued certificates, with different flavor sand slices of reporting. As EJBCA is open, you can find all needed information in the database, or in the audit logs. The question is of course how to aggregate information across cluster nodes, and how to process it in a nice way.

One answer to this is to use a central log system, which can process logs from all nodes in a cluster, or even from different segments, like Issuing CAs, OCSP responders, RAs etc.

Using the Open Source Log Collection and Analysis tool Graylog, we can do all this. For those familiar with other similar tools such as Splunk, it works quite similarly, and EJBCA users currently successfully use both Splunk and Graylog in production. Some buzzwords for this are Log Aggregation, Central Log Analysis, SIEM, etc.

So what can it look like?
Example EJBCA Dashbord on Graylog

A Little Background on Logs

An EJBCA PKI system has the following types of logs:
  • Security Audit Log: Used for PKI auditors to audit important security PKI events that the system performs.
  • System Log: Used to monitor daily operations in the system, debug and track down errors etc.
  • Transaction Log: Used for accounting of specific functions, mainly validation (OCSP).
The Security Audit Log constrains greatly what it logs (defined by EJBCA's Security Target), and does not log any other events. Events pertinent to log are ones such as "Certificate issued", "Certificate Profile edited", "Administrator accessed resource", etc. One of the most important aspects to consider is that the Security Audit log does not log things that do not happen. Things that do not happen are for example invalid requests that the system rejects, because the PKI system did not perform any important auditable event.

The System Log, on the other hand, logs all events that are interesting to monitor, such as rejecting invalid requests, reading profiles etc.

Full information of EJBCA logging can be found in the documentation.

Integrating with Graylog

The easiest integration, that I found, was to simply send logs using Syslog from EJBCA to Graylog. Assuming you have EJBCA running, and Graylog running (I used the AWS AMI to get up and running in no-time) it is easy to start sending logs to Graylog.

Configuring Syslog Sending and Receiving

I used Syslog-TCP, which is not enabled by default in Graylog, nor in JBoss/WildFly (where EJBCA runs).

Enabling Syslog TCP Input in Graylog

To enable using syslog TCP input in Graylog, do the following:
  1. Go to the Graylog Web Console and select System > Input.
  2. Select Syslog TCP in the Select Input list menu and click Launch new input.

Configuring EJBCA Logging

On the EJBCA server, configure JBoss/WildFly to send messages to Graylog with syslog TCP. This is done by adding the following section in the logging subsystem in the JBoss/WildFly standalone.xml:

<custom-handler name="SYSLOGTCP" class="org.jboss.logmanager.handlers.SyslogHandler" module="org.jboss.logmanager">
    <level name="INFO"/>
    <encoding value="ISO-8859-1"/>
        <pattern-formatter pattern="%-5p [%c] (%t) %s%E%n"/>
      <property name="appName" value="WildFly"/>
      <property name="facility" value="LOCAL_USE_5"/>
      <property name="serverHostname" value=""/>
      <property name="hostname" value="-"/>
      <property name="port" value="514"/>
      <property name="syslogType" value="RFC5424"/>
      <property name="protocol" value="TCP"/>
      <property name="messageDelimiter" value="-"/>
      <property name="useMessageDelimiter" value="true"/>

You also need to configure the root-logger to use the new handler, this will start sending the same logs to syslog. Add the new handler by modifying the root-loggers section in standalone.xml:

    <level name="INFO"/>
        <handler name="CONSOLE"/>
        <handler name="FILE"/>
        <handler name="SYSLOGTCP"/>

Send some log items by performing an action in the EJBCA Admin UI, for example saving a certificate profile.

Configuring Graylog

Configuring Graylog involves a few tasks:
  • Creating Exctractors
  • Making some Searches
  • Adding searches to a Dashboard

Create Graylog Extractors

Graylog Extractors are used to extract fields, that can be used in queries in Graylog, from the log stream. You can create Extractors for your log input under System > Input in the Graylog Web Console.
You can analyze log items and create the extractors you need. In our example, the following extractors are created:
  • RADN: An administrators DN who issued a certificate, for example 'CN=RA Admin,O=PrimeKey,C=SE'
    • Extractor type: Split & Index
    • Split by: ;
    • Target index: 6
  • EVENT: The event that happened, for example 'CERT_CREATION'
    • Extractor type: Split & Index
    • Split by: ;
    • Target index: 2
  • CERTPROFILE: the certificate profile a certificate was issued for, for example 'certprofile=346136222'
    • Extractor type: Split & Index
    • Split by: ;
    • Target index: 11
You can edit and create extractors of many different types, the above are simple examples.

After the extractors have been created, go to EJBCA and make some actions, to log something you want to visualize. Such as running a stresstest to issue a bunch of certificate, by different RAs.

Add and Visualize Searches on a Dashboard

The following provides examples of search result information that you can add to your dashboard.

Examples of search result information to visualize:
  • CERT_CREATION last day
    • Search in the last 1 day
    • Click Add count to dashboard
  • CERT_REVOKED last day
    • Search in the last 1 day
    • Click Add count to dashboard
  • Certs issued by SuperAdmin all time
    • Search in all messages
    • Click Add count to dashboard
  • Certs per RA
    • Search in all messages
    • Select RADN and click to expand, click Quick values, and then Add to dashboard when you see the graph.
  • Certs issued per day
    • Search in the last 30 days
    • Select Day in the Histogram and then click Add to dashboard
  • Exceptions last week
    • Search in the last 7 days
    • Exception
    • Select Hour in the Histogram and then click Add to dashboard

You can now go to your dashboard and rearrange the widgets using Unlock/Edit.

Tomas Gustavsson

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Even though we live in a digital age with virtual reality and artificial intelligence, some "old school" marketing tactics are still in the game. Specifically, I'm talking about email marketing. Based on 2018 data, email marketing is still ranked as the most effective marketing channel, beating out social media, SEO, and affiliate marketing. This is because people use email more than other platforms.

What is Email Marketing

If you have never heard of email marketing, you might be wondering what that is and how this applies to you as a small business owner. In short, email marketing is the use of email to promote products and/or services. Data shows that 85% of adult internet users in the US use email more than other platforms. This means that as a business you have an easy and free way to promote your services and products to users.

However, don't get this strategic marketing tactic confused with the spam emails that flood your inbox. Those are the bad side of email marketing and you really don't want to go down that path. At its best, email marketing is a way for businesses to keep their customers informed and tailor your marketing strategies to your loyal customers.

Advantages of Email Marketing

Aside from some of the previous points I discussed, email marketing is cheap and easy to use. If you are a small business, this will save you a decent amount of money in your advertising costs. Email marketing is also really easy to set up and manage, which again makes it great for small businesses. It can also be an effective way to inform your customers of upcoming events, important information, and special events.

Building Your Mailing List

Building your mailing list is going to be the first thing you need to do. There are a few ways to go about doing this in a non "sales-y" way.

Build a Signup Sheet

You can have a signup sheet at your register or even add a virtual one at online checkout or on your website.

Invite People to "Join the Club"

You can have something that advertises your loyalty program and the benefits you get from it. That will require an email to sign up with, which can be used for your email list. Customers are more likely to give you their email if they know it will give them rewards or special offers.

Organize a Giveaway

You can do this either at your physical location or online if you don't have a location. Let's say you run a restaurant, you can have a giveaway for one free meal for a small family. If you have an online store you can advertise it on your website or through your social media. The way they enter the giveaway is their email address.

Reward Your Email List

You can offer special rewards for people that are signed up to your email list. This is slightly different than customers being signed up for your loyalty program.

Get Employees Involved

If you have ever been to any store, you've most likely been asked once or twice for your email address during check out. Employees are typically doing this to get you added to their loyalty program, but it also works for an email list.

Offer Freebies

Chances are you've probably signed up for an email list without even realizing it. Companies tend to give away free discounts or products, but the catch is that you have to enter your email address. This is completely legal, as long as you comply with marketing laws and clearly state somewhere that it's for email subscribers.

Segment Your Lists

Segmentation is the practice of splitting up your email lists into more targeted groups. An example of a segmented list would be your customer list, newsletter subscribers, and daily email list. Here is a breakdown of the difference between each of them.

Customer List

Your customer list is the people who have actually bought your product or actively pay for whatever service you provide. These differ from customer leads because people on your leads list haven't made a purchase, but instead are going to be receiving some sort of sales pitch.

Newsletter Subscribers

Your newsletter subscribers are neither buyers or leads. They are people who solely signed up to receive general information, deals, updates, and special offers.

Daily/Weekly/Monthly Email List
These are people that opt-in to receive emails either every day, week, or month.

It's important to give people a chance to choose which categories they're in, because at the end of the day, they're the ones receiving the content. With segmentation, you can also send follow up emails to people who didn't open an email, or to those that showed an interest in the first one.

Create Valuable Content

Now that you've set up your mailing list and done more research on email marketing, you'll want to make sure the content you're distributing has value. Think about it this way, your customers are trusting you with their personal information and will not appreciate being flooded with pointless emails. You will want to make sure you have a clear marketing strategy and stick to it.

Understanding Analytics

Once you've started sending out your valuable content to your customers, it's time to learn about your analytics. All of the analytics that is provided is important but you really want to focus on these main three: open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribes. Let's take a deeper dive into what each of these are.

Open Rate

Your open rate is exactly what it sounds like. It shows how many people open your emails. It’s based on a single invisible tracking pixel that loads when someone clicks on your message.

Open rates a great way to see how well the relationship with your customers are going. If you have a high open rate, your customers are excited to see what content you're putting out. A low open rate means  you have a lot of unengaged subscribers and it's time to reflect on the value of the content you're putting out.

Click Through Rate (CTR)

Your click-through rate is showing how many people clicked on a link in your email. If you don't have any links in your email, this data won't be applicable to scenarios like that.

If your click-through rate is low, it means your message is not targeted enough or simply not valuable enough for your readers to click on. This means focusing on your email copy and providing useful information to your subscribers.

Unsubscribe Rate

Finally, your unsubscribe rate is another straight forward piece of data. It's showing how many people are unsubscribing from your email list. If your unsubscribe rate is higher than your opt-in (sign up) rate, then you have some serious work to do. This means your emails have gotten to the point where they offer no value to your loyal readers. If this is the case for you, try to examine when people are leaving and take action based on those leaks.

You will be able to determine what the problem is by looking at unsubscribe rates after certain types of emails are sent out. Are people unsubscribing after marketing messages? Are they leaving right at the beginning of a marketing campaign? Looking at all of this data is going to help make your email marketing the best it can be.

Closing Thoughts

Email marketing is a very useful tool for businesses of any size. It's important to remember when taking advantage of email marketing you need to have valuable content and something your customers want to read about.


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http://www.goldenspiralmarketing.com Golden Spiral Wed May 15 16:22:50 2019
Read Time: 2 Minutes News

2015: A Year of Growth for Golden Spiral

I remember our planning meetings leading to this year. We were in the middle of the busiest month in our agency’s history and wondering how we would manage all the work we had going. It was exciting but we all knew things would need to change to keep pace.

In 2015, we were ambitious. We set our goals and together decided to risk believing we could achieve them. A year later, we have doubled our staff, substantially increased our capacity and competency—and we are planning another aggressive year of growth in 2016.

Here are some highlights:

We Expanded Our Team

We started the year exceptionally strong—lots of great work and a team that was pedaling hard to keep up. Our first addition was Justin Covington, our Project Manager, who worked quickly to help bring order to our world. He was followed quickly by Andy Wells, our Technology Director, who has brought a wealth of robust programming aptitude that has enabled us to serve our clients, not only with creating their websites, but with engineering their online products as well.

Steve Citerin joined us mid-year as our Account Director and helped us sustain a level of client service that we take great pride in. We also brought on Lane Harbin as our Content and Editorial Strategist. She helps us continue to frame brilliant market focused narratives and create content that engages and entices the market.

We hired designer Kyoko Eng to bring her fine-tuned design aesthetic to our client and agency projects. Finally, Seth Whiting graced us with his mad programming skills and rounded out the 2015 roster when he joined us this Fall to fill out our development team.

The best part about all of these new additions is that each new person has added to a superlative group that makes Golden Spiral a delightful place to show up to work in the morning.

We Moved Offices

To facilitate this growth, we needed to find a new home. We were fortunate to land in a beautiful spot in the ultra hip 12 South neighborhood. Our new office meets our needs, affording us great meeting space, ample parking, room to grow and restaurants, coffee shops and other great amenities in easy walking distance.

We Prioritized Company Culture with a Retreat

Once we had everyone onboard, we forced ourselves to get away for a couple of days on a company retreat where we were able to spend some time focused on refining our processes, honing our objectives and having some serious fun together. Our culture has never been stronger and we are working hard to keep that trend alive and well.

We Celebrated New Clients & New Projects

I can’t say enough about the wonderful people and companies we had the opportunity to serve this year. In addition to our exceptional group of existing clients, 2015 saw the dawn of many great relationships that we are excited to bring into the new year.

A sincere thank you to all our clients who have helped make 2015 an exceptional year for Golden Spiral:

360 View

Arbor Healthcare

Allure Technology

Be Music and Entertainment

Centric Architecture

Digital Reasoning

Enroll For Life

The Family Center

G Major

John Bouchard & Sons Co.

Norris Architecture

The Nashville Technology Council

Ntrepid Corp.

Provident Leadership

Quality Industries

Six String Country

Tennessee Orthopedic Alliance

XOEye Technologies

John Farkas

John Farkas

CEO/Storyteller John founded Golden Spiral to help companies uncover a market-focused story that will transform the way people see their world.