sk33lz

301 Redirects in Nginx

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Below you can find a couple ways to create 301 redirects for your Nginx web server.

Non-WWW to WWW Rewrite

To create an Nginx 301 redirect from a non-www domain URL to the www domain URL, place the following code inside of a server {} code block in your site’s Nginx config file. Replace your_domain.com with your actual domain name.

if ($host = 'your_domain.com'; ) { rewrite ^/(.*)$ http://www.your_domain.com/$1 permanent; }

WWW to Non-WWW Rewrite

To create a Nginx 301 redirect from a www domain URL to the non-www domain URL, place the following code inside of the server {} code block in your site’s Nginx config file. Again, replace your_domain.com with your actual domain.

if ($host = 'www.your_domain.com'; ) { rewrite ^/(.*)$ http://your_domain.com/$1 permanent; }

Alternatively, you can place a new server {} code block inside of your site’s Nginx config file and create your Nginx 301 redirects like the following.

WWW to Non-WWW Rewrite

server { listen 80; server_name www.your_domain.com; rewrite ^/(.*) http://your_domain.com permanent; }

Non-WWW to WWW Rewrite

server { listen 80; server_name your_domain.com; rewrite ^/(.*) http://www.your_domain.com permanent; }

Bitcoin

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Bitcoin is an experimental new digital currency that enables instant payments to anyone, anywhere in the world. Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority: managing transactions and issuing money are carried out collectively by the network. Bitcoin is also the name of the open source software which enables the use of this currency. The abbreviation for Bitcoin is BTC. The smallest denomination which is currently 0.00000001 BTC is called a Satoshi, which is named after the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Bitcoin has no official central bank. Each Bitcoin Wallet is essentially a central bank of it’s' own able to transfer BItcoins to any other wallet on the network. All Bitcoins are transferred through a unique Bitcoin Address generated within your wallet. It is recommended to create a new Address for each transaction, or at least for each account you are transacting with. A label can be added to each Bitcoin Address, which makes it easy to identify where the transaction came from, otherwise, it’s very difficult to identify transactions. All Bitcoins are stored in a Bitcoin Wallet, which can be an appplication on your computer, smartphone, tablet, or even a 3rd-party hosted wallet service such as Coinbase. There are several other major online Bitcoin Wallets, or E-wallets, that are available right now. We list them below with other helpful Bitcoin websites.

There was even someone selling physical Bitcoin tokens called Casascius Coins at one point, which are equal to their amount in digital Bitcoin, and can be redeemed to your wallet.

Drupal & Nginx Reference

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Drupal and Nginx work great together. I have been using Nginx with PHP-FPM and previously PHP-CGI instead of Apache since 2011. I have grown to love the little engine that could. It has a much lower memory usage footprint, and responds much faster than Apache in my experience.

Here are some cool and useful settings for Nginx and Drupal that will help you on your way to running your Drupal website on an Nginx web server.

Drupal + Ubuntu + PHP-FPM + Nginx Configuration

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Get a Drupal site running on Ubuntu with PHP-FPM, and Nginx easily with the following help documentation.

Note: Replace yourdomain.com with your domain name.

Create the following Nginx config file in your /etc/nginx/sites-available folder using the following command.

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourdomain.com

Drupal Nginx Config File

The following Nginx config file works with Drupal 7, Ubuntu 14.04.1, PHP5-FPM 5.5.9, and Nginx 1.8.0.

server {
server_name yourdomain.com; ## <-- Your domain name.
root /var/www/yourdomain.com; ## <-- Your only path reference.
# Enable compression, this will help if you have for instance advagg‎ module
# by serving Gzip versions of the files.
gzip_static on;
location = /favicon.ico {
log_not_found off;
access_log off;
}
location = /robots.txt {
allow all;
log_not_found off;
access_log off;
}
# This matters if you use drush prior to 5.x
# After 5.x backups are stored outside the Drupal install.
#location = /backup {
# deny all;
#}
# Very rarely should these ever be accessed outside of your lan
location ~* \.(txt|log)$ {
allow 192.168.0.0/16;
deny all;
}
location ~ \..*/.*\.php$ {
return 403;
}
# No no for private
location ~ ^/sites/.*/private/ {
return 403;
}
# Block access to "hidden" files and directories whose names begin with a
# period. This includes directories used by version control systems such
# as Subversion or Git to store control files.
location ~ (^|/)\. {
return 403;
}
location / {
# This is cool because no php is touched for static content
try_files $uri @rewrite;
}
location @rewrite {
# You have 2 options here
# For D7 and above:
# Clean URLs are handled in drupal_environment_initialize().
rewrite ^ /index.php;
# For Drupal 6 and bwlow:
# Some modules enforce no slash (/) at the end of the URL
# Else this rewrite block wouldn't be needed (GlobalRedirect)
#rewrite ^/(.*)$ /index.php?q=$1;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
#NOTE: You should have "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0;" in php.ini
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $request_filename;
fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
fastcgi_pass unix:/tmp/php5-fpm.sock;
}
# Fighting with Styles? This little gem is amazing.
# This is for D6
#location ~ ^/sites/.*/files/imagecache/ {
# This is for D7 and D8
location ~ ^/sites/.*/files/styles/ {
try_files $uri @rewrite;
}
location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico)$ {
expires max;
log_not_found off;
}
}

Symlink a copy to your /etc/nginx/sites-enabled folder. Run the following command from in your /etc/nginx/sites-enabled folder.

ln -s ../sites-available/domain.com .

Nginx Config for Adaptive Image Styles Module

AIS: Adaptive Image Style Configuration

location = /modules/image/sample.png {
}
location / {
if ($request_uri ~ "^(.+)/files/styles/adaptive/(.+)"){
rewrite ^/(.+)/files/styles/adaptive/(.+)$ /$1/files/styles/%1/$2 redirect;
}
}

Disable SSL v3 for Nginx

Add the following line to your Nginx configuration to disable SSL v3 to protect against the POODLE SSL v3.0 vulnerability.

ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;

Helpful DNS Information

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

DNS, or Domain Name System, is one of the most important components of the Internet. It is the service of the web that converts an IP address to a hostname, allowing websites to have their easy to remember names like sk33lz.com. Without it, you would need to remember IP addresses for websites like you used to have to remember someone’s phone number. Thanks to smartphones we don’t need to do that anymore either.

The IPs used in the examples below are the actual IPv4 and IPv6 IPs of this website’s server.

IPv4 DNS Records

A Name Record

The A Name Record is probably the most common DNS record, as it is used to assign the TLD, Top Level Domain, and subdomains to an IPv4 IP address.

Examples

Primary Domain

The following entry can be set for the A Record on your primary domain name.

@ 10.10.10.10

Subdomain Domain

The following entry can be set for the A Record on your www subdomain.

www 10.10.10.10

Parts of the web are also evolving. Did you know we ran out of IPv4, 32-bit, IP addresses last year? Those are the ones that look like 123.123.123.123. The last free IP address block for IPv4 was depleted on September 24, 2015. That was a total of 4,294,967,296 IPs, 588,514,304 of which are reserved IPs, so we have gone through a total of 3,706,452,992 IPs since the inception of the Internet. This means that soon enough there will be no IPv4 IPs to assign to computers and devices around the world. Luckily, we have IPv6, a 64-bit IP address range, that has the possibility of theoretically allowing up to 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 IPs. It should be a while before we hit that theoretical maximum, so let’s see what we need to do to get ready for this changeover in terms of DNS.

IPv6 DNS Records

These DNS entries are specific to IPv6, or combined with IPv4 and IPv6.

AAAA Name Record

The AAAA Name Record is similar to an A Name Record, but maps an IPv6 IP address to a hostname instead. Typically you will assign this to @ or hostname of the A Name Record that corresponds to the IPv4 IP.

Examples

Primary Domain

The following entry can be set as the AAAA or IP6 record for your primary domain name.

@ 0:0:0:0:0:ffff:a0a:a0a

Subdomain Domain

The following entry can be set as the AAAA or IP6 record for your www subdomain.

www 0:0:0:0:0:ffff:a0a:a0a

IPv4 and IPv6 Combined SPF Record

Google recently started requiring SPF records to be assigned to mail server transactions on Gmail’s servers. This requires a specific TXT record in your DNS. Typically you would assign to @ or the A Name Record and AAAA Name Record you have assigned to the IPv4 and IPv6 IPs respectively.

@ v=spf1 a mx ip4:10.10.10.10 ip6:0:0:0:0:0:ffff:a0a:a0a ~all

Subdomain Domain

The following entry can be set as the AAAA or IP6 record for your www subdomain.

www v=spf1 a mx ip4:10.10.10.10 ip6:0:0:0:0:0:ffff:a0a:a0a ~all

DNS Tools

Git

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Git requires SSH key pair authentication to access remote repositories.

Generate a 2048-bit RSA Encrypted SSH key pair.

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048

Generate a 4096-bit RSA Encrypted SSH key pair.

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096

This should generate a file named id_rsa.pub in your /home/username/.ssh folder. You must copy this key and enter it into your user account for repository hosting services.

Display your Public Key.

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Sites such as Github, Unfuddle, and BitComet require your SSH Public Key to access their repositories. One you have added the key to your account you are ready to commit and clone repositories.

Check your current git identity.

git config -l

Identify yourself to git.

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email user@example.com

Example:

git config --global user.name "John Doe"
git config --global user.email john.doe@example.com

It is best to use your real name and your email address. That way people know commits are coming from you.

Initialize and create a new git repository.

git init

Add all files and folders to the local git repository.

git add *

Add a single file to your local git repository.

git add filename

Example:

git add readme.txt

Commit your changes to your local git repository.

git commit -m "explain your commit here."

Example:

git commit -m "initial commit"

Add a remote repository to your git repository.

git remote add remote-name git://example.com/username/repository-name.git

Example:

git remote add origin git://github.com/sk33lz/zenlike.git

Configure a branch on your remote repository as an upstream server.

git config remote.remote-name.push refs/heads/branch-name:refs/heads/branch-name

Example:

git config remote.origin.push refs/heads/master:refs/heads/master

Push your changes to your remote git repository.

git push -u remote-name branch-name

Example:

git push -u origin master

Clone a Git repository. (Read / Write)

git clone git@example.com:username/repository-name.git

Example:

git clone git@github.com:sk33lz/zenlike.git

Clone a Git repository . (Read Only)

git clone git://example.com:username/repository-name.git

Example:

git clone git://github.com/sk33lz/zenlike.git

Helpful MySQL Commands

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Secure MySQL after a new installation.

mysql_secure_installation

Create a MySQL server database.

mysqldump -uroot -p database-name > database.sql

Example:

mysqldump -uroot -p old_db > db1.sql

Enter your user password, in this case root, at the prompt. This command can also be ran with a database user with the right permissions. Take note of the greater than sign being used. Think of it as an arrow as to the direction that you want the data to flow. That is how I remember the difference in this command, as it’s easy to associate the two.

Import a MySQL server database dump.

mysql -uroot -p database-name < database.sql

Example:

mysql -uroot -p new_db < db1.sql

Again, enter your user password at the prompt to restore the database dump you made earlier. Notice that the greater than has changed to a less than symbol as the flow of data has changed to going into the database.

Disable innodb in MySQL 5.5+

ignore-builtin-innodb
default-storage-engine myisam

Disable innodb in MySQL 5.4 and below

skip-innodb

Helpful Ubuntu Shell Commands

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Below you will find a variety of common Linux commands. My distribution of choice is Ubuntu Server, so all commands will work on Ubuntu and Debian Linux.

Many of the following commands should work for other Linux distributions such as Redhat as well, although some commands are different.

Helpful Ubuntu Shell Commands

Make a tarball archive file with the following command.

tar -czvf tarball-name.tgz directory-name

Example:

tar -czvf archive.tgz archive

Extract a tarball archive file with the following command.

tar -xzvf file name

Example:

tar -xzvf archive.tgz

Truncate a file.

> /path/to/file/filename

Example: Truncate Mail for a certain user.

> /var/mail/username

Clear filesystem cache, dentries, and inodes.

echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

##Remove a Service from System Startup.

update-rc.d -f service name remove

Example:

update-rc.d -f nginx

Add a Service to System Startup

update-rc.d service name defaults

Example:

update-rc.d nginx defaults

Add a Service to Startup with a specific priority level

update-rc.d service name defaults priority level

Example:

update-rc.d nginx defaults 75

##Find all packages installed for a specific service

dpkg -l | grep service name

Example:

dpkg -l | grep maria

Remove specific packages installed for a service.

Some might remain after apt-get remove, or were installed differently.

apt-get purge service name

Example:

apt-get purge mariadb-server-5.5

Secure your Drupal files and folders with a few simple commands.

Thanks Greggles!

Replace greg with your username.

cd /path_to_drupal_installation
chown -R greg:www-data .
find . -type d -exec chmod u=rwx,g=rx,o= '{}' \;
find . -type f -exec chmod u=rw,g=r,o= '{}' \;

Helpful Windows Shell Commands

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

7Zip Commands

Note: Copy the 7z.exe file to the folder you are working in.

7Zip all files in a folder to the .7z format.

FOR %i IN (*.*) DO 7z.exe a "%~ni.7z" "%i"

7Zip all files in a folder to the .zip format.

FOR %i IN (*.*) DO 7z.exe a -tzip "%~ni.zip" "%i"

Biofuels

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Biofuels are not a new type of fuel. They are the fuel of the future though, as we deal with global warming and to help reduce the dependency on foreign oil. We can use biofuels to bring back our breadbasket farming communities and help other countries start a legitimate export product. Many farmers are catching onto the trend and using biofuels to fuel their tractors and other farm equipment.

Bio-Diesel

Biodiesel is a mix of vegetable oil and petro-diesel. You can make it fairly easy with minimal byproduct, and it burns much cleaner than regular diesel fuel. It does require some minor chemistry skills for the titration of the fuel with lye. This process has a byproduct and can be bad for the environment if not processed and disposed of properly.

Ethanol

Ethanol is made from corn. It is a very clean burning fuel. Due to the demands for corn to make E85, corn prices have risen in the past few years. Hopefully they stay low enough for this fuel to catch on more.

LP Gas - Propane

LP Gas, or Propane Gas, is one of the more popular of the biofuels used today. It is a natural occurring gas that burns fairly clean and is also quite inexpensive. Propane is used in homes for heating and cooking. It is also used in some forklifts to power their engines. It is gaining popularity in vans and buses in larger cities like San Francisco and other green friendly cities. The SFO Airport has shuttle buses that use Natural Gas as their fuel in their fleet.

Straight Vegetable Oil Fuel

Straight Vegetable Oil fuel is just as it sounds, it is used cooking oil or fresh oil used for fuel in cars and homes. Reused or recycled vegetable oil can also be used in engines as it does not have to be pristine.

Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) Conversion Kits

Soon we will have svo conversion kits available to convert many of the popular models of diesel engines for cars and trucks from the top manufactures. We hope to satisfy ever customer with the best straight vegetable oil conversion kits at the lowest price. Make sure to check back soon for the best kit for your vehicle. You can email us with any requests for kits that are not displayed on the website. We will try to find all of the parts needed to setup you diesel engine for a veggie oil conversion.

Hydropower Energy

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Hydropower is energy that is created by the force of moving water. Hydroelectricity is currently the most well known usage of hydropower energy, although hydropower itself has been around for centuries. Before there was hydroelectricity, there was hydropower. Early uses of hydropower before electricty are irrigation, water mills, water wheels, textile machines, sawmills, dock cranes and lifts. These methods used water directly to move components of machines or mills. Another way of using hydropower to produce kinetic energy is to use a trompe to produce compressed air. This method allows for machinery to be powered by compressed air, which could be pumped to locations far away from the water source.

Pennsylvania is known for it’s many water based mills for making grains. In my town alone, there are several roads named after old mills that used to be on those roads. Pennsylvania’s early mills used hydropower to create the energy used to power their mill wheels and mill stones. In other parts of the country hydropower was used to extract minerals from the ground. The use of hydropower technologies lead to the use of steam power during the industrial revolution. While hydropower used to be used everywhere, it has evolved into mostly hydroelectricty and marine energy at this point.

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is currently the most widely used alternative energy and renewable energy source on the planet with over 777 GW installed worldwide. The reason for this may be that there is a very low output of greenhouse gases compared to fossil fuel power plants once the facility has been built. Hydroelectric power plants also produce no direct waste as compared to fossil fuel power plants. In 2006, 777GW was 20% of the whole world’s electricity usage, which accounted for 88% of the production of renewable resources.

Marine Energy

Marine energy or marine power is energy created by the ocean’s natural kinetic energy including waves, tides, salinity, and ocean temperature differences. Marine power and marine energy are also known as ocean power and ocean energy. There are 5 types of marine energy that have been indentified currently. The 5 types of marine energy are are Marine Current Power, Osmotic Power, Ocean Thermal Energy, Tidal Energy, and Wave Energy. We will look into these into more detail and provide more detailed descriptions for each very soon.

Solar Energy

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

The Sun is the most abundant alternative energy source that we have available on planet Earth. The Sun has been used by just about every species on Earth over time for various reasons. Sunlight can be used to dry wet things, warm a cold-blooded animal, and most importantly grow plants through a process called Photosynthesis. While there have been many uses for sunlight over time, there has now come a time in human history that we can start using the Sun’s energy to generate electricity. The process of generating Solar Power is a bit technical, which I will cover later, but for the most part, we are using an element called Silicon with a special coating to transfer the Sun’s energy into DC power. This means we can ultimately power our home, business, or vacation home with the Sun.

Sunlight is a seemingly infinite alternative energy source, but it is only available part of the day and sometimes not at all due to clouds, rain, snow, or fog. The availabity of direct sunlight on your property and regional weather patterns will affect how well solar power will work to generate electricity for you. I live in Pennsylvania and we have a lower than average amount of daily sunlight, so for me to really feel the benefits of Solar Power the system would need to be very large, or supplemented by another alternative energy source like a Wind Turbine. Learn more about Wind Turbines in my Wind Power guide. Outside of supplementing the system, additional power needs to be stored for later in batteries, or sent back to the grid. There are two main types of Solar Power systems; Off-Grid and Grid-Tie. The type of system that you want to use depends on your plans for how you want to use your Solar Energy.

Learn more about Solar Energy below.

Wind Energy

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Wind Energy is as old as the wind. Ok, jokes aside, it can be used in its pure form to turn a windmill for power or to sail boats on the ocean. Pennsylvania can be quite windy in some locations, so it is a viable option for some alternative energy. Learn more about Wind Energy here at Penn Alternative Fuels. Wind power is quickly becoming the preferred alternative energy and renewable energy source for creating electricity growing at a rate of 30% per year. There is currently over 198,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power being produced throughout the world, though most wind energy is being produced in the United States of America, Europe, and Asia.

Old Fashioned Windmills

In Pennsylvania, especially towards Lancaster County, windmills are basically a staple for any old farm. The Amish have used windmills to power their farms for over a century. The old fashioned windmill acts similar to a propeller on an airplane or boat, but in the reverse fashion. Instead of the engine powering the propeller, the propeller is used to drive a turbine which is used to generate power. An old fashioned windmill needs to be facing the direction of the wind to gain it’s full power, as it is mounted in a horizontal position. In some cases you lose out on some of the energy that you can harness from these types of windmills, as they do not always turn the correct direction on their own. Advancements in technology have brought about a new era in wind energy as it is much easier to track the direction of the wind and maneuver the windmill in the correct direction. Another advancement has brought about a whole new type of windmill all together.

Vertical Windmills

Vertical windmills are a newer type of windmill that enables the windmill to be powered by wind from any direction. This is a huge advancement in wind energy technology as it can harness 100% of the wind’s energy and turn it into electricity. Because these windmills are mounted in a vertical position, their fins can catch the wind from any direction to power the turbine.

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

This particular type of wind turbine was developed by a company called WePower. WePower’s vision according to their website is, “About enabling communities, businesses and individuals to harness the power of wind as a source of natural, free, clean and renewable energy.”, which is a great motto.

Wind Farms

Wind farms are large groups of wind turbines in the same location used to create larger amounts of wind power. Many people may only know of the big wind turbines on the sides of mountains, but there are actually 2 types of wind farms; onshore and offshore. An onshore wind farm is located on dry land, while offsore wind farms are built in the ocean or on large bodies of water. The United States of America leads the way in terms of operational onshore wind farm capacity with 781.5 MW of power at the Roscoe Wind Farm, followed by the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center at 735.5 MW. The UK currently holds the largest offshore wind farm at Thanet Offshore Wind Project with a capacity of 300MW, followed by Horns Rev II in Denmark at 209 MW.

Onshore Wind Farms

The world’s first onshore wind farm was constructed in 1980 and consisted of 20 individual wind turbines rated at 30 KW each. The total capacity at the time was only around 600 KW. While that may not be much, there is currently a wind farm larger than the Roscoe Wind Farm’s 781.5 MW under construction. The Alta Wind Energy Center is also in the USA and is rated for 800 MW. China currently has proposed construction for the largest wind farm on the planet, the Gansu Wind Farm, with a 20,000 MW capacity. The United States of America may be the current leader, but other nations are realizing that alternative energy works and may be the world leaders in wind power soon enough.

Here are some of the largest onshore wind farms on the planet currently.

Roscoe Wind Farm, USA - 781.5 MW Capacity
Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, USA - 735.5 MW Capacity
Capricorn Ridge Wind Farm, USA - 662.5 MW Capacity
Fowler Ridge Wind Farm, USA - 599.8 MW Capacity
Sweetwater Wind Farm, USA - 585.3 MW Capacity
Buffalo Gap Wind Farm, USA - 523.3 MW Capacity
Dabancheng Wind Farm, China - 500 MW Capacity
Panther Creek Wind Farm, USA - 458 MW Capacity
Biglow Canyon Wind Farm, USA - 450 MW Capacity

Offshore Wind Farms

While the USA is the leader in onshore wind farming, Europe leads the way in offshore wind farming. The first offshore wind farm was built in Denmark in 1991. There are currently over 39 wind farms operating in Europe with locations in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom and Denmark seem to be leading the way in offshore wind farm technology, as they hold all the spots for the largest offshore wind farms. The combined operating capacity of all offshore wind farms in Europe is 2,396 MW. Europe has also set goals for itself for sustaining wind energy growth by setting goals for 40 GW to be installed by 2020 and 150 GW by 2030. This has led to more than 100 GW worth of offshore wind farms being proposed or under current development. There are currently no offshore wind farms in the United States, but some projects are under construction on the East Coast, Great Lakes, and Pacific Coast regions of the country.

Here are some of the largest offshore wind farms on the planet currently.

Thanet, United Kingdom - 300 MW
Horns Rev II, Denmark - 209 MW
Rødsand II, Denmark - 207 MW
Lynn and Inner Dowsing, United Kingdom - 194 MW
Robin Rigg (Solway Firth), United Kingdom - 180 MW
Gunfleet Sands, United Kingdom - 172 MW
Nysted (Rødsand I), Denmark - 166 MW

Windfarms in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has some great locations for wind farms. There are currently several wind farms operating in Pennsylvania. While none of them are the largest by far, it is great to see Pennsylvania doing their part in creating renweable energy alternatives to fossil fuels.

For more information about what is happening with wind farms in Pennsylvania, check out the following resources:

ActionPA.org

PAWindEnergyNow.org

For more information on wind farms in the USA, check out the American Wind Energy Association’s website.

Other Useful Commands

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

In this tutorial, I’ll share my top 10 tips for getting started with Academic:

Tip 1

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis posuere tellus ac convallis placerat. Proin tincidunt magna sed ex sollicitudin condimentum. Sed ac faucibus dolor, scelerisque sollicitudin nisi. Cras purus urna, suscipit quis sapien eu, pulvinar tempor diam. Quisque risus orci, mollis id ante sit amet, gravida egestas nisl. Sed ac tempus magna. Proin in dui enim. Donec condimentum, sem id dapibus fringilla, tellus enim condimentum arcu, nec volutpat est felis vel metus. Vestibulum sit amet erat at nulla eleifend gravida.

Nullam vel molestie justo. Curabitur vitae efficitur leo. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed pulvinar mauris dui, eget varius purus congue ac. Nulla euismod, lorem vel elementum dapibus, nunc justo porta mi, sed tempus est est vel tellus. Nam et enim eleifend, laoreet sem sit amet, elementum sem. Morbi ut leo congue, maximus velit ut, finibus arcu. In et libero cursus, rutrum risus non, molestie leo. Nullam congue quam et volutpat malesuada. Sed risus tortor, pulvinar et dictum nec, sodales non mi. Phasellus lacinia commodo laoreet. Nam mollis, erat in feugiat consectetur, purus eros egestas tellus, in auctor urna odio at nibh. Mauris imperdiet nisi ac magna convallis, at rhoncus ligula cursus.

Cras aliquam rhoncus ipsum, in hendrerit nunc mattis vitae. Duis vitae efficitur metus, ac tempus leo. Cras nec fringilla lacus. Quisque sit amet risus at ipsum pharetra commodo. Sed aliquam mauris at consequat eleifend. Praesent porta, augue sed viverra bibendum, neque ante euismod ante, in vehicula justo lorem ac eros. Suspendisse augue libero, venenatis eget tincidunt ut, malesuada at lorem. Donec vitae bibendum arcu. Aenean maximus nulla non pretium iaculis. Quisque imperdiet, nulla in pulvinar aliquet, velit quam ultrices quam, sit amet fringilla leo sem vel nunc. Mauris in lacinia lacus.

Suspendisse a tincidunt lacus. Curabitur at urna sagittis, dictum ante sit amet, euismod magna. Sed rutrum massa id tortor commodo, vitae elementum turpis tempus. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean purus turpis, venenatis a ullamcorper nec, tincidunt et massa. Integer posuere quam rutrum arcu vehicula imperdiet. Mauris ullamcorper quam vitae purus congue, quis euismod magna eleifend. Vestibulum semper vel augue eget tincidunt. Fusce eget justo sodales, dapibus odio eu, ultrices lorem. Duis condimentum lorem id eros commodo, in facilisis mauris scelerisque. Morbi sed auctor leo. Nullam volutpat a lacus quis pharetra. Nulla congue rutrum magna a ornare.

Aliquam in turpis accumsan, malesuada nibh ut, hendrerit justo. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Quisque sed erat nec justo posuere suscipit. Donec ut efficitur arcu, in malesuada neque. Nunc dignissim nisl massa, id vulputate nunc pretium nec. Quisque eget urna in risus suscipit ultricies. Pellentesque odio odio, tincidunt in eleifend sed, posuere a diam. Nam gravida nisl convallis semper elementum. Morbi vitae felis faucibus, vulputate orci placerat, aliquet nisi. Aliquam erat volutpat. Maecenas sagittis pulvinar purus, sed porta quam laoreet at.

Tip 2

Ubuntu Linux Troubleshooting

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Over the years I have ran into some odd issues setting up Ubuntu servers. I currently am running an Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS and an Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS server. Below you can find some helpful fixes for some Ubuntu bugs and configuration oddities.

Encrypted Home Directory

I ran into an issue installing an Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS server where after installation I was unable to connect to my server through SSH using SSH key authentication and no password authentication. Everything seemed to work, but when I moved my server down to my basement for the summer, I was unable to connect through SSH remotely. I found that I could login if I were to login on the server console. After some searching I found that an authorized_keys file in an Ubuntu Encrypted Home Directory will not work properly. To fix this issue, you have to move the authorized keys file outside of your Encrypted Home Directory. Then modify the following line in your /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to point to the unencrypted location.

AuthorizedKeysFile %h/.ssh/authorized_keys

Using Unity Scene Manager

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

The Unity Scene Manager was introduced in Unity 5.3 and changes the way that scenes are loaded in the game. Many, if not all of the old Application.LoadLevel function has been deprecated in Unity 5.3 for the new Scene Manager code. This guide will help upgrade C# code we found that was deprecated during this update related to scene loading and getting information such as the current loaded scene. The good thing is that everything that you currently have in your game is still going to work until you can get around to updating the deprecated code. It will just give you some annoying warnings with notices like the following:

Assets/Scripts/someScript.cs(10,12): warning CS0618: 'UnityEngine.Application.LoadLevel(string)' is obsolete: 'Use SceneManager.LoadScene'
Assets/Scripts/someScript.cs(20,22): warning CS0618: 'UnityEngine.Application.loadedLevelName' is obsolete: 'Use SceneManager to determine what scenes have been loaded'

I had quite a time trying to find the right code to use to fix these issues, as the documentation is pretty lacking so far. I figured I would need the information again probably, so I figured it would be helpful for other Unity developers getting these warnings since updating to Unity 5.3 also.

Let’s Clean Up Those Notices!

Add the Scene Manager Namespace

First we need to make sure any script files we are modifying to use the new Screen Manager functions have the proper using Directive namespace added. Add the following line of code to any C# scripts that you will be modifying to use Scene Manager.

using UnityEngine.SceneManagement;

Search and Replace Application.LoadLevel

Next we want to search and replace all instances of

Application.LoadLevel

with the following code:

SceneManager.LoadScene

You should end up with something like the following code after upgrading to use with Scene Manager:

SceneManager.LoadScene("Level1");

Search and Replace SceneManager.LoadScene(Application.loadedLevel);

Because we have already done a search and replace on SceneManager.LoadScene, we can use that to find and replace any instances of where we used to use Application.LoadLevel(Application.loadedLevel); with the new Scene Manager way of calling that function. Find and replace

SceneManager.LoadScene(Application.loadedLevel);

with the following code:

SceneManager.LoadScene(SceneManager.GetActiveScene().buildIndex);

Search and Replace Application.loadedLevelName

Finally we need to find and replace all the remaining Application.loadedLevelName functions with the new Scene Manager function. Find and replace

Application.loadedLevelName

with the following code:

SceneManager.GetActiveScene().name

Troubleshooting

I ran into a few issues that were mistakes on my end that I wanted to point out for others.

Don’t Forget the Namespace!

The functions will not work unless you add the Scene Manager namespace at the beginning of your C# script file.

using UnityEngine.SceneManagement;

Web Performance

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Performance has become a major factor of web development and application development for the modern web. According to Google, their search index algorithms use page load times as one of over 100 factors they use to rank their search engine results. Web developers that have already been focusing on server performance and faster page load times have the early advantage.

I work on optimizing web server performance and optimizing website performance as one of my responsibilities as the Systems Engineer at Zivtech in Center City, Philadelphia. Many of the tools I use are open source and free to use, but some might not be as easy to use as others. This section of my DevOps Resources will be focusing on how you can optimize your website for performance and if needed optimize your web server performance to help speed up your website.

Web Security

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Security is a big part of my job as a web developer and server administrator. There are constantly new security issues being found in all facets of computers, whether it be your desktop operating system, your network, or a server operating system. This section of my site will be focused on helping you secure your network, your server, and/or desktop to reduce the chances of you becoming a victim of a hacker, a virus, or malware. Knowing how to find security updates quickly as they are released, or installing them automatically is key to staying secure in today’s web.

What is Drupal?

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Drupal is a very powerful Content Management System, otherwise known as a CMS. It handles all of your website’s content and allows you to choose different ways of displaying that content to your viewers. One of the biggest advantages of using Drupal is that it is an Open Source CMS, so there are no licensing costs and the software itself is free of charge. The flexibility of the Drupal as a CMS framework is what has made it so popular with developers, while the community as a whole contributes back to Drupal’s overall growth.

What one might know of as a Plugin in Wordpress, is actually called a Module in Drupal. Drupal modules extend Drupal’s core functionality in every direction possible. Whether you are looking to build a professional business website, social networking community, an e-commerce store, a multimedia driven website, or just a personal blog, there is probably a module that does the job. The best part is, if there isn’t, you can code one yourself if you know PHP, or you can find someone who does custom Drupal module development and hire them to do it for you.

There are also some great Drupal themes being made these days. Originally, most contributed Drupal themes were very dull and almost too mechanical for anyone to want to use the default or most contributed themes, but that was mainly due to the fact that it was still a hard CMS to theme back in Drupal 5. Advancements in the core technology of Drupal 6 have allowed for Drupal 6 to introduce a whole new set of themers and therefore more quality Drupal 6 themes to the Drupal community. Many of these new Drupal 6 themes are more reminiscent to what you might see on a Wordpress website, so things are definitely coming around in the design world of Drupal as well as the Drupal website development world.

The Drupal 7 release has has it’s fair share of problems, but one thing is for certain, Drupal 7 themes have the potential to be amazing with the new advancements in Drupal core in the theme layer. Building upon the advancements in Drupal 6, Drupal 7 allows themers and even non-themers to harness the power of a Drupal theme to it’s fullest. Modules like the Sweaver module allow those with absolutely no Drupal theming experience to dive right into a Drupal theme from the Drupal API and start changing it to suit your needs. If that isn’t powerful, I am not sure what is. In Drupal 6, the most powerful theme related tool in the Drupal UI was probably the CSS Injector module.

It is quite evident that there are many reasons to why you should use Drupal, but you don’t have to take my word for it, visit Drupal.org and hang out for a bit. Take a look at some of the demonstration videos and demo website available, along with checking out some of the modules and how they function through their demo sites and you make the decision for yourself. You should quickly catch on to why Drupal is definitely my CMS of choice.

Drupal Hosting

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Drupal hosting is the most important aspect of a Drupal website outside of the actual development process. I have evolved in my hosting of Drupal sites from shared hosting in the beginning to VPS hosting at this point, so I have plenty of stories to tell for each type of service available. All of my reviews are unpaid and written upon my full evaluation of the service. Some hosting services have been provided free hosting accounts in order to provide ability to review their service without me having to pay for it, so apparently my opinion counts at this point. Drupal hosting reviews where hosting accounts were provided and not purchased will be attributed at the end of the review if applicable.

Drush

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Drush is the Drupal Shell utility. It allows Drupal developers to control many aspects of a Drupal installation through command line commands. Drush allows for easy installation of new projects on a Drupal site, including downloading and enabling the projects on the site. Drush also allows for easy installation of 3rd party libraries into the sites/all/libraries folder. Outside of core Drupal related functions, Drush also has become popular with contributed module developers, many of which now include Drush commands with their modules. There are also a growing list of Drush specific modules that add additional functionality to Drush at it’s core. Because of this, Drush has become one of the most powerful tools that a Drupal developer can have in their toolbox outside of Drupal itself.

I will be cataloging various aspects of Drush in this section, including Drush commands, Drush modules, and useful Drush information.

Drush Commands

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Drush has a ton of commands and commands differ depending on what version of Drupal or Drush you are using. I am not going to list all Drush Commands here, as there are actually better resources for that. Instead, I will be focusing on Drush commands that are used most often and will be most helpful for Drupal developers just getting started with Drush.

Drush Download

The drush download command allows you to download a project up to Drupal 7 using the command line.

Note: The drush download command is deprecated in Drupal 8. Drupal 8 projects are handled using Composer instead.

drush dl project_name

Drush Enable

The drush enable command allows you to enable a project such as a module or theme on a Drupal website using the command line.

drush en project_name

Drush Disable

The drush disable command allows you to disable a project such as a module or theme on a Drupal website using the command line.

Note: Drupal 8 sites must use the drush uninstall command instead, as modules cannot be disabled in Drupal 8, they must be uninstalled.

drush disable project_name

Drush Uninstall

The drush uninstall command allows you to disable a project such as a module or theme on a Drupal website using the command line.

drush uninstall project_name

Fractals in Nature

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

By definition, Fractals are imaginary numbers. It is quite interesting that imaginary numbers might actually be what make up much of natures true beauty.

Fractals in Nature Photos

Nature Photos

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Nature Photos

Underwater Photos

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Underwater marine life is always beautiful sight, although not many people venture into the sea with their cameras. We have rounded up a ton of great underwater photography shots for you to feast your eyes on. Enjoy!

Fractals in Nature Photos

Agentrical

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Agentrical is one of the business websites I actively manage.

Arbor Web Dev

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Arbor Web Dev is one of the business websites I manage and maintain.

Small Business Web Dev

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Small Business Web Dev is one of the client-focused business websites in my portfolio.

The Great Migration Back to Static HTML

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 01:00:00 +0000

I have been building, maintaining, and supporting Drupal websites for the last 15 years. I have applied hundreds of Drupal security updates for client websites and my own personal websites over that time, including both Drupalgeddons. Drupal 8 introduced the usage of Composer to manage Drupal’s files instead of Drush, or Drupal Console, due to it’s new dependency injection system. Drupal Core also now has a timed release schedule which forces updates for minor versions as previous releases now. These changes add a ton of additional overhead to keeping smaller Drupal websites secure. This is not as much of an issue with large organizations with development teams and CI/CD infrastrure in place to test changes, but running a personal website with Drupal is not how it used to be.

I used to be able to run a few drush commands and I could update each of my sites in a matter of minutes. I also did not have to worry about updating a site unless there was an actua security update for Core or a Contrib module. Now that the release cycle is forced, there are constantly updates to the codebase that can break functionality due to I have since been migrating all my personal websites off of Drupal for Jamstack static site generators like Hugo and Jekyll to reduce the overhead of maintaining them. Today that process is one step closer to finally being completed, as my site now runs on Hugo.

The ultimate goal with this migration has been to reduce the additional overhead and required hardware resources for maintaining Drupal websites outside of work. I just do not make enough content updates to most of my personal websites to justify the additional overhead that Drupal 8 and 9 require for local development and hosting.

A Jamstack site provides an extra level of security to your website compared to Drupal, or any MySQL+PHP CMS, as they don’t actually run either PHP or MySQL, which is usually the main attack vector for a Drupal website. I have tried several different Jamstack projects, but Hugo and Jekyll are the ones that I prefer.

Ultimately I think Hugo is the better solution as it generates the static site in a fraction of the time that Jeyll does, so I will be moving all the sites I migrated to Jekyll to Hugo in the near future.

About Sk33lz

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Fractal Software & Tools

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Freeware Fractal Generator Software

There are many free fractal generators out there and we will be showcasing the top rated programs available. The free fractal generators we have found range from DOS based applications to Unix based programs. Many free fractal software programs are usually good for one aspect or another of generating fractals and some can be used in conjunction with others. Fractint for example can generate fractals and formulas that can then be used in other fractal applications. Make sure to check out all of the great free fractal software we have found around the internet. You can easily search for them on Google and find the download.

Software Title	OS Compatiblity	Description
Fractint	Windows & Linux	FractInt is the most popular and probably most respected out of all of the IBM Compatible based fractal generators and fractal software programs available. It is also used in many high schools, colleges, and universities to teach the fundamentals of fractals. It is speculated that FractInt is one of the oldest active and supported software projects to date.
Gnofract 4D	Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OSX	Gnofract 4D is a newer breed of free fractal generator software, as it has a nice polished UI, is very fast using multithreading technology, and is open source. Windows users, don’t fret, you can still use Gnofract 4D if you setup a virtual OS using Virtual Box or another virtualization program.
Fractal Explorer	Windows	Fractal Explorer is one of the few freeware programs that allows AVI fractal zoom movies to be created. It also has many formulas and variations of the most well known fractal sets. As a bonus, it includes variations of Iterated Function Systems (IFS) and 3D Strange Attractors.
Chaoscope	Windows & Linux	A 3D strange attractors program capable of rendering FractInt MAP files. Chaoscope now has 11 different attractors along with 5 different rendering methods available.
Fractalus	Windows	Fractalus also allows for fractal zoom movie creation and also has a slideshow feature. It is another one of the high resolution fractal generators available.
Tiera-Zon	Windows	Another one of the more popular fractal software generators available, Tiera-Zon was created to bring fractals to life in 24-bit true color. This software was written by Stephen C. Ferguson in C++ and is therefore only available for the Windows OS.
ChaosPro	Windows	ChaosPro is another 24-bit masterpiece. This program allows you to create 3D renderings of fractals and allows files from both FractInt and Ultrafractal. It is a great tool to have when you combine them all together.
GIMP	Windows, MacOS, Linux	The GNU Image Manipulation Program not only is a great image editing tool, but it doubles as a fractal generator with certain plugins that are available. You can create many of the most popular sets along with some strange attractors.
Apophysis	Windows	Apophysis is a windows application made in delphi for creating, editing and rendering fractal flames. Fractal flame is an extension on the IFS fractal.
Kalles Fraktaler 2	Windows	Kalles Fraktaler 2 makes it’s mark on the fractal software scene with faster zoom rendering capabilities at deeper zoom levels. The Kallas Fraktaler website says up to 100 times faster, which is impressive.
XaoS	Windows, MacOS, Linux	XaoS is an interactive fractal zoomer that allows continuous zooming in or out of fractals in a fluid, continuous motion. XaoS is a power fractal explorer with several fractal types included, as well as various rendering tools to generate fractals. There is also some great animated tutorials to get you started.
FRAX Lite	iOS	A free version of FRAX to try that has limited features.
JWildfire	Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android	JWildfire is a java-based, free, and user-friendly image-processing software, mostly known for its sophisticated flame-fractal-generator.
Mandelbulber	Windows, MacOS, Linux	Maldelbulber is a three-dimensional fractal generator that generates fractals that with a bulb shape, hence the name Mandelbulber.
Mandelbulb 3D	Windows & MacOS	Mandelbulb 3D is a free software application created for 3D fractal imaging. It is similar to the Mandelbulber program as it allows you to generate and explore Mandelbulb fractals.
Electric Sheep	Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS	Electric Sheep is not a fractal generator, but it belongs on this list as it uses fractals to generate art. Electric Sheep is a collaborative artwork founded by Scott Draves, where computers use distributed computing to generate variations of artwork known as sheep that morph into different artistic visuals on the screen as a screensaver.

Commercial Fractal Generator Software

There are also several great fractal generator applications that cost money. Usually these programs allow much more functionality and may include updated formulas and features. Many of the commercial fractal generators have cool features like the ability to create zoom movies or add effects and filters to your fractal design. Others allow you to export PSD files for use in Photoshop and other image editing programs like GIMP. This opens up the design for more customization but diverts from the beauty of the original fractal usually. By far the most impressive feature of the commercial generators is the ability to create zoom movies. These movies are an intense look into the heart of a fractal by zooming in and capturing the frames as you go. Fair warning that these files can become very large as you zoom further. I saw a zoom movie once that was over 1 hour long which must have taken up a considerable amount of hard drive space at the time it was produced. Check out some of the great commercial fractal software that is available today.

Software Title	OS Compatiblity	Description
Ultra Fractal	Windows & MacOS	Currently the top commercial fractal generator, Ultra Fractal is in it’s 6th version, and has lots of cool features and templates to get you started on making some awesome fractals.
Chaotica	Windows, MacOS, Linux	Chaotica is a next-generation fractal art application, designed for both novices and professional artists. Chaotica provides a wide range of tools to allow for generating fractals for HD wallpapers, high quality animations, and even large images for large prints and posters. Chaotica also has a free version, but generated fractals and animations are limited in size and quality. The Chaotica Studio version has no limitations.
FRAX	iOS	FRAX is an app for the iOS that can be used on iPhones and iPads to full explore fractals in a new and exciting way using the gestures and gyros on the iPhone and iPad to control the exploration. It’s truly a unique experience that no other tool provides today. FRAX is available on the App Store and also has a free version to try that I have added to the Freeware list above.
XenoDream	Windows	Xenodream is a unique 3D graphics program that caters for everything from casual play to serious creativity. XenoDream uses simple UI controls instead of equations and formula editing for ease of use.
Jux		Jux is a fractal explorer for 2D Julia and Mandelbrot sets. It includes a variety of formulas and lighting effects. It also uses only UI controls instead of equations and forumlas.

Fractals

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

History of Fractals

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Fractals - The Beginning

The history of fractals dates back to 1975, when Fractals were discovered by Benoît Mandelbrot. Well, maybe not discovered, but finally put into words. He explained them as being geometric shapes that when divided into parts, each part would be a smaller replica of the whole shape. He came up with the term “Fractal” as the new scientific term for this mathematical expression. The word is actually an adaptation of the Latin word fractus. The latin word fractus means “broken” or “fractured”. The concepts behind fractals had been around for centuries but it was not until Mandelbrot had his realization that these great mathematical masterpieces were discovered. Fractals can also be found in nature, which is where Benoît’s first research began. His investigational report, “How Long Is the Coast of Britain? Statistical Self-Similarity and Fractional Dimension”, was the first step in his eventual discovery of fractals.

Mandlebrot Fractals

Mandlebrot fractals were discovered first, so they were the most well known fractals. Benoît is now known as the “father” of fractal geometry, so they remain the most popular today. Their shape is similar to a turtle with many legs and very large head. There are programs available that allow you to layer several “brots” as they are called normally as a single image. This creates a great spectacle for the eyes as fractals converge together to create amazing designs. Known as “brots” in the fractal community, you will find many designs in our Mandlebrot fractal gallery.

Julia Fractals

Julia Fractals were discovered by Gaston Julia and praised by Mandlebrot after his discovery. Julia’s principle’s were close to the findings of another great mathematician of that era, Pierre Fatou. They spent a great deal of time working together to come up with what is known as the, Generalized Fatou Julia theorem. Motiv Designs is a big fan of Juilia fractals and will be showing you just how interesting fractal art can be with the Julia set. Check back frequently for updates to the Julia fractals gallery.

Newton Fractals

Newton Fractals were derived from “Isaac Newton’s method”. They create a totally different look than most fractal sets. Newton fractals are just proof that Isaac Newton was a great mathematician for his time. We highlight many Newton fractals in our gallery. They have a very crisp and clean look to their geometric shape. Keep your eyes peeled for new additions to the Newton fractals gallery.

Photography

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

DevOps for Drupal and Other Web Applications

Fri, 26 Jul 2019 13:00:00 +0000

Click on the Video button above to view on YouTube.com.

DevOps for Drupal and Other Web Applications

Fri, 10 May 2019 14:15:00 +0000

Click on the Video button above to view on YouTube.com.

Automate Your Accessibility Testing with Probo.CI

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Click on the Video button above to view on YouTube.com.

Continuous Collaboration in LAMP Applications with Probo.CI

Thu, 10 May 2018 14:45:00 +0000

Click on the Video button above to view on YouTube.com.

Drupal Themes

Wed, 27 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I contributed several Drupal themes for Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 to Drupal.org. I never got around to upgrading them to Drupal 8, but I hope to get around to upgrading them to Drupal 9 at some point.

1st Project - Wedding Bells Drupal Theme
2nd Project - Alpine Drupal Theme
3rd Project - Designer Relief Drupal Theme
4th Project - Glassical Drupal Theme
5th Project - Basic Presentation Drupal Theme
6th Project - Urban View Drupal Theme
7th Project - Fluid Baseline Grid Theme Drupal Theme
8th Project - SkeletonCraft Drupal Theme

Generative Art

Wed, 27 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I have been generating fractals since at least 1999, and I have been interested in other forms of generative art since then. Generative art has become popular over the last few years, as some of the most popular NFTs like the CryptoPunks have used software to generate a limited set of unique artworks. As a software developer generating fractals with software like Ultra Fractal I was immediately intrigued by this new NFT phenomenon of limited sets of generative art being created with software.

I am continually working on new experiments with software to generate art. I have mainly been using fractal generators like Ultra Fractal for generating fractals, but some of the assets I have seen available as NFTs started to help form some ideas. I ultimately started researching the best ways to create generative art developed in the Python coding language to allow for a great deal of control of the parameters of the art I generate. The Python software is also supported natively on most operating systems, so the scripts can be used on most devices.

Space Jawns

Wed, 27 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Space Jawns is a classic style space shooter game series that I am developing in C# for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android currently. It’s a development project I started after seeing the stale state of the Steam games library during the Christmas sale of 2014. I noticed just about every game available was available for purchase for “early access”. In my day, games were put out in Alpha and Beta releases to get the bugs out and to get the community’s feedback. Some of the companies who have sold their games for early access have not followed through with completing them, essentially stealing people’s money. This made me wonder how hard it is to actually make a video game if so many peopl were making half games and not finishing them. This is when I found the Unity 3D Editor and the rest is history.

Space Jawns now has it’s own website and a dedicated team of testers in it’s Alpha release. Space Jawns is free to play in both Alpha and Beta releases, as well as through the Version 1 release up to Level 10. After that you will have to buy your pilot’s license to continue to the higher levels and bosses.

Fractal Art

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

sk33lz

301 Redirects in Nginx

Non-WWW to WWW Rewrite

WWW to Non-WWW Rewrite

WWW to Non-WWW Rewrite

Non-WWW to WWW Rewrite

Bitcoin

Drupal & Nginx Reference

Drupal + Ubuntu + PHP-FPM + Nginx Configuration

Drupal Nginx Config File

Nginx Config for Adaptive Image Styles Module

Disable SSL v3 for Nginx

Helpful DNS Information

IPv4 DNS Records

A Name Record

Examples

IPv6 DNS Records

AAAA Name Record

Examples

IPv4 and IPv6 Combined SPF Record

DNS Tools

Git

Generate a 2048-bit RSA Encrypted SSH key pair.

Generate a 4096-bit RSA Encrypted SSH key pair.

Display your Public Key.

Check your current git identity.

Identify yourself to git.

Initialize and create a new git repository.

Add all files and folders to the local git repository.

Add a single file to your local git repository.

Commit your changes to your local git repository.

Add a remote repository to your git repository.

Configure a branch on your remote repository as an upstream server.

Push your changes to your remote git repository.

Clone a Git repository. (Read / Write)

Clone a Git repository . (Read Only)

Helpful MySQL Commands

Secure MySQL after a new installation.

Create a MySQL server database.

Disable innodb in MySQL 5.5+

Disable innodb in MySQL 5.4 and below

Helpful Ubuntu Shell Commands

Helpful Ubuntu Shell Commands

Extract a tarball archive file with the following command.

Truncate a file.

Clear filesystem cache, dentries, and inodes.

Add a Service to System Startup

Add a Service to Startup with a specific priority level

Remove specific packages installed for a service.

Drupal Related Shell Commands

Secure your Drupal files and folders with a few simple commands.

Helpful Windows Shell Commands

7Zip Commands

7Zip all files in a folder to the .7z format.

7Zip all files in a folder to the .zip format.

Biofuels

Bio-Diesel

Ethanol

LP Gas - Propane

Straight Vegetable Oil Fuel

Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) Conversion Kits

Hydropower Energy

Hydroelectricity

Marine Energy

Solar Energy

Wind Energy

Old Fashioned Windmills

Vertical Windmills

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Wind Farms

Onshore Wind Farms

Offshore Wind Farms

Windfarms in Pennsylvania

Other Useful Commands

Tip 1

Tip 2

Ubuntu Linux Troubleshooting

Encrypted Home Directory

Using Unity Scene Manager

Let’s Clean Up Those Notices!