As a follow-on to my first post about Amazon Lightsail, here’s some additional information that I’ve discovered…
Dec 06
LetsEncrypt certbot and Lightsail
Although not directly supported, it’s quite possible to use the LetsEncrypt certbot client on Amazon Lightsail Linux.
First of all … what is LetsEncrypt?
Let’s Encrypt is a free service that offers basic SSL certificates any web site. The certificates are good for 90 days but can be renewed indefinitely. With the proper software, the installation & renewal of the certificates can be fully automated.
There are a few things to be aware of and workarounds that need to be done.
First, download the certbot-auto client itself…
Feb 01
Amazon Lightsail
Ha! I’ll be you thought this blog was dead.
Well, truth be told, it was pretty close … but you never know when inspiration will strike.
So a little while ago I had a hardware failure on one my servers. This incident has given me the incentive to try and move some of the servers I host to other machines … where I don’t have to worry about the hardware end of things.
To that end, I started looking at hosting providers. One of the providers I’m looking at is Amazon Lightsail.
Amazon Lightsail provides micro instances of their AWS compute service at very good prices.
A 512mb / 20gb Linux instance only costs $5 / month and the first month is free.
So I’ve been playing around with that and like it a lot.
I’ve currently got a handful of sites moved over to Lightsail.
I have encountered a few gotcha’s though …
Dec 31
Cycling Plans
Well, it’s the last day of 2014 and I’m already planning rides for 2015.
Here’s a rundown of the rides I’m planning on doing next year …
- North Shore Century
- Tour de Cure
Arlington 500- Harmon 100
- Bike The Drive
- Udder Century
- Apple Cider Century
A bit ambitious? Maybe.
My goal is to ride 2500 miles in 2015, so I’ll need some long distance rides.
Dec 20
Mailbait Threats
Back in October of 2012 I devised a way of blocking abuse of my mailing list server by detecting mailbait abusers (mailbait.info offers a ‘service’ to fill your, or someone else, mailbox with unwanted mailing list subscriptions). In June of 2013 I refined the technique.
Basically I detected if someone was visiting the mailing list subscribe page from mailbait.info and sent them to a special page that also annoyed them by popping up hundreds of javascript alerts about not spamming people.
Regardless of the popups, people still try to use mailbait to involuntarily subscribe people to my lists (well, try at least, my lists require a closed loop confirmation system).
Today I received the following threat from a mailbait.info user ..
.
I’m inclined to ignore the ‘warning’ … but I find it somewhat satisfying that my approach has annoyed someone sufficiently.
As an added measure, I’ve updated my system security mechanism to block any IP that attempts to use the mailbait service more than once.
Mar 18
Haters gonna Hate
I really don’t understand some people … why is someone else’s success a reason to send hate mail?
Recently, the Diabetes Daily blog published a piece about Deven Pearson … a Type 2 diabetic that lost 160 lbs and got his diabetes well under control.
Soon after the article was posted, Deven started getting hate mail.
Mar 01
Road Cycling in Maui
OK, first and foremost, this isn’t going to be an in-depth, expert, evaluation of road cycling on Maui … it’s just my impressions and opinions. If you want something more, I suggest you take a look at Tom Meloy’s very nice writeup from a few years ago.
On a recent vacation to Maui, I decided to rent a bike and try some cycling. I did, and here’s what I found…
Continue reading
Jan 27
Business / Social Connections
First, a caveat … I’m by no means an expert on social media or ‘business’ social media.
I’m just going to tell you some observations I’ve made over the past few weeks.
Lately I’ve been getting requests to connect, on LinkedIn, from people I’ve never met … and have no idea who they are.
Dec 03
Viiiiva Heart Rate Monitor
One of the things I like to do when I’m cycling, is keep track of various statistics related to my ride.
This includes things like speed, cadence (how fast I’m peddling), and heart rate.
To do this, I have a number of sensors that connect to my bike computer (Garmin Edge 810). The sensors communicate with the bike computer using a low power communication mechanism called ANT+.
There are, however, some advantages of being able to track the sensor data on my iPhone in the various fitness apps (Strava, Endomondo, iBiker, etc). The problem is that the iPhone needs an adapter to receive the ANT+ signal. It’s not a big adapter, roughly the size of a charging cable connector. In addition, the adapter is currently only available for iPhone 4S’s and earlier … it uses the 30 pin connector. There are no ANT+ adapters for iPhone 5’s & newer (which use the lightning connector).
iPhone 4S’s & newer do have a variation of Bluetooth called “Bluetooth Smart” … also known as Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE). SOME fitness sensors support BTLE, but very few support both BTLE and ANT+.
This is where the 4iiii Viiiiva Heart Rate Monitor comes in. It functions as a heart rate monitor with both ANT+ and BTLE communication. In addition, it can act as a BRIDGE between other ANT+ sensors and feed the data via BTLE.
Sep 23
North Shore Century 2013
I rode another metric century!
Steve and I did the 62 mile route in the Evanston Bike’s North Shore Century.
It was a fun ride and well run … although there were a few gripes (that I won’t go into). There are a few take aways for me in relation to the Tour de Cure.
Continue reading
I'm riding a 615 miles (yes, six hundred and fifteen) miles in multiple Tour de Cure events to raise money for diabetes research, education, and advocacy. Sponsor me by visiting Diabetes Sucks!. Any amount is appreciated.
See where I get my donations from ... visit my interactive map (it's a geeky thing).
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