1. RedHat changed an important part of their system with the upgrade from version 5 to 6. This affects CentOS which is the same thing, but rebranded.

I was updating one server to use CentOS 6, and ran into this issue of setting up the iDRAC for remote console use. In previous versions, I would add a line to the /etc/inittab file. This is now unused. RedHat is favoring the “Upstart” system developed by and for Ubuntu. It starts services on request, rather than all at once.

So here is how I set up my Dell PowerEdge R510 with CentOS 6 to use the iDRAC6.

Info was taken from the RedHat manual, the Dell iDRAC manual, and probably a bunch of other sites that I googled for.

These steps are by no means comprehensive or detailed. I barely even know what’s going on myself, but it seems to work. It’s kind of cool to see a system boot up in your terminal. It’s like your terminal turns into a monitor connected to the server.

Setting up the iDrac6

Edit BIOS

1. Boot the server.
2. Press to enter the BIOS setup utility during POST.
3. Scroll down and select Serial Communication by pressing <Enter>.
4. Set the Serial Communication screen options as follows:
• serial communication....On with serial redirection via com2
• NOTE: You can set serial communication to ‘On with serial redirection via com1′ as long as the serial port address field, serial device2, is set to com1, also.
• serial port address....Serial device1 = com1, serial device2 = com2
• external serial connector....Serial device 1
• failsafe baud rate....57600
• remote terminal type....vt100/vt220
• redirection after boot....Enabled
5. Save the changes and exit.

Edit iDRAC settings

1. Turn on or restart your system.
2. Press when prompted during POST. If your operating system begins to load before you press , allow the system to finish booting, and then restart your system and try again.
3. Configure the LOM.

1. Use the arrow keys to select LAN Parameters and press . NIC Selection is displayed.
2. Use the arrow keys to select one of the following NIC modes:
• Dedicated — Select this option to enable the remote access device to utilize the dedicated network interface available on the iDRAC6 Enterprise. This interface is not shared with the host operating system and routes the management traffic to a separate physical network, enabling it to be separated from the application traffic. This option is available only if an iDRAC6 Enterprise is installed in the system. After you install the iDRAC6 Enterprise card, ensure that you change the NIC Selection to Dedicated. This can be done either through the iDRAC6 Configuration Utility, the iDRAC6 Web Interface, or through RACADM.

• Configure the network controller LAN parameters to use DHCP or a Static IP address source.

1. Using the down-arrow key, select LAN Parameters, and press <Enter> .
2. Using the up-arrow and down-arrow keys, select IP Address Source.
3. Using the right-arrow and left-arrow keys, select DHCP, Auto Config or Static.
4. If you selected Static, configure the Ethernet IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway settings.
5. Press <Esc>.

• Press <Esc>.
• Select Save Changes and Exit.

Set up Linux OS (to do after OS is installed)

• Configuring Linux for Serial Console Redirection During Boot
• The following steps are specific to the Linux GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB). Similar changes would be necessary if you use a different boot loader.
• NOTE: When you configure the client VT100 emulation window, set the window or application that is displaying the redirected console to 25 rows x 80 columns to ensure proper text display; otherwise, some text screens may be garbled.

1. Make a copy of the /boot/grub/grub.conffile as follows:cp /boot/grub/grub.conf /boot/grub/grub.conf.orig
2. Edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf file as follows:

1. Locate the General Setting sections in the file and add the following two new lines:serial --unit=0 --speed=57600terminal --timeout=10 serial console
2. Append two options to the kernel line:kernel ............. console=ttyS1,57600 console=tty1
3. If the /etc/grub.conf contains a splashimage directive, comment it out.Sample File: /boot/grub/grub.conf
   #  grub.conf generated by anaconda
   #
   #  Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
   #  NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
   #  all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
   #  root (hd0,0)
   #  kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/Logical1/LogVol00
   #  initrd /initrd-version.img
   #boot=/dev/sda
   default=0
   timeout=5
   #splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
   #hiddenmenu
   serial –unit=1 –speed=57600
   terminal –timeout=5 console serialtitle CentOS (2.6.18-164.11.1.el5) SOL Redirection
   root (hd0,0)
   kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.11.1.el5 ro root=/dev/Logical1/LogVol00 console=tty1 console=ttyS1,57600
   initrd /initrd-2.6.18-164.11.1.el5.img
   title CentOS (2.6.18-164.el5)
   root (hd0,0)
   kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.el5 ro root=/dev/Logical1/LogVol00
   initrd /initrd-2.6.18-164.el5.img

Enabling Login to the Console After Boot

1. Create a new /etc/init/serial-ttyS1.conffile.Sample File: /etc/inittab
   #  This service maintains a getty on /dev/ttyS1.start on stopped rc RUNLEVEL=[2345]
   stop on starting runlevel [016]respawn
   exec /sbin/agetty -h -L 57600 ttyS1 vt102

Edit the file /etc/securetty

1. Make a copy of the /etc/securettyfile as follows:cp /etc/securetty /etc/securetty.orig
2. Edit the file /etc/securettyas follows:Add a new line with the name of the serial tty for COM2:ttyS1Sample File: /etc/securetty
   vc/1
   vc/2
   vc/3
   vc/4
   vc/5
   vc/6
   vc/7
   vc/8
   vc/9
   vc/10
   vc/11
   tty1
   tty2
   tty3
   tty4
   tty5
   tty6
   tty7
   tty8
   tty9
   tty10
   tty11
   *ttyS1*

Redirect the video output over ssh connections

Starting a Text Console Through SSH (Remote Access, SOL)

To connect to the managed system text console, open an iDRAC6 command prompt (displayed through an SSH session):

ssh root@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

and type:

console com2

Only one console com2 client is supported at a time. The console -h com2 command displays the contents of the serial history buffer before waiting for input from the keyboard or new characters from the serial port.

To exit the console type these three keys: <Ctrl ><Shift >\

The default (and maximum) size of the history buffer is 8192 characters. You can set this number to a smaller value using the command:

racadm config -g cfgSerial -o cfgSerialHistorySize < number >

We have a few legacy forums powered by the good software SMF (SimpleMachines Forum). Like many of the WordPress installs, it’s a pain and a security risk to keep these up-to-date when they are no longer needed as content creation platforms. So, once again I need to convert a web app into static HTML pages. This process proved a bit harder than converting WordPress to static HTML.

Step 1: Upgrade

The first thing to do is update to the latest version. This ensures that if you need to turn this back into a dynamic site, it should hopefully be compatible with whatever the latest version is at that time.

Step 2: Make it public

Next, we’ll need to make it public to guests, so that wget has access to the pages.

Go to the Admin->Features and Options page and check the “Allow guests to browse the forum” box, then click save. Now we have to change the permissions on each board separately. Or with a bit of MySQL magic, we can change them all at once using the CONCAT operator. Open of phpMyAdmin, or something else of your choice. Before we mess with the data, make a copy of the table, just in case we totally hose it.

Browse to the ‘boards’ table, and then to the SQL tab. We’re going to enter an SQL command that will pre-pend (that’s append but onto the front rather than the end) some data.

UPDATE boards SET member_groups=CONCAT('-1,', member_groups) WHERE 1

This will add a -1, to the beginning of each field, which makes the board viewable by guests. No need to log in, which means wget can scrape the pages and turn them into HTML.

Step 3: Edit Theme files

Now we get to play around with the theme files to get rid of forum specific items that we won’t need, like links to member info, the login, help, and search links, and anything else that we don’t want.

Here are some items to delete or alter, and the files I found them in for our home-made theme based off of an old default theme.

index.template.php

• Add a title
• Get rid of date stamp
• Get rid of the main menu (Home, Help, Search, Login, etc)

BoardIndex.template.php

• Search for ['member']['link'] and change it to ['member']['name'] This will take out all links to member profile pages.

Display.template.php

• Search for ['member']['link'] and change it to ['member']['name'] This will take out all links to member profile pages.
• Get rid of the drop down menu to select pages.

MessageIndex.template.php

• Search for ['member']['link'] and change it to ['member']['name'] This will take out all links to member profile pages.
• Delete the ‘Jump to’ drop-down box and the icons explaining post/board types

Step 4: Fix the URLs

As it stands, SMF has some pretty ugly URLs. There are a couple of mods that I could never get to work. But editing a file and adding an .htaccess file seems to do the trick.

Open the Sources/QueryString.php file and look for the line like this:

$scripturl = $boardurl . '/index.php';

and get rid of the /index.php

Now create a .htaccess file in the root of the forum (in the same folder as the Settings.php file). It should look similar to this:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /7tah/forum/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /7tah/forum/index.php [L]

Step 5: Wget it

Now we run wget on the command line to grab the pages.

wget --mirror -P static-forum -nH -np -p -k -E --cut-dirs=2 http://domain.com/path/forum/

All of the static HTML files will now be located in a directory called static-forum.

Step 6: Fix filenames

Some filenames will be a bit broken. Specifically the style.css has an extra “?fin11″ in the html files where the file is called. Also, it get’s name that way. So fix that by changing the name of the file to just style.css (it’s in your Theme directory). Then run this one-line command to search and replace throughout all of the static html files (run the command when you are in the static-forum directory.

find . -name '*.html' -type f -exec perl -pi -e 's/style.css%3Ffin11/style.css/g' {} \;

This will look for all of the references to the style.css%3Ffin11 file and change them to style.css. Then the pretty colors and formatting will work. Just for clarification, the %3F is code for a question mark. It shows up as such in the HTML source when viewing from a browser, but is displayed as such in the actual code.

Don’t forget to change the the actual name of the css file to style.css.

Step 7: Protect it

Depending on  your needs, you may want to password protect your new static forum with an htaccess account. The good peoples at Dynamic Drive have an helpful tool for making the two files necessary to make this happen. Just plug in your desired user name, password, and location of the htpasswd file, and then it’s copy and paste into those files on the server.

I change the last line of the htaccess file to require user username so that it works only with the given user, not any valid. But since it only pulls from the specified htpasswd file, it’s kind of pointless.

Step 8: Backup the old

It’s a good idea to make a backup of the database and site files before getting rid of them. I just make a mysqldump of the database, throw it in the forum folder, and then make a tar or zip file of that and put the file in the new static forum folder for safe keeping.

Step 9: That’s it.

Sit back and relax. Your forum is interactive no longer.

My parents and siblings in 2008

My dad passed away kind of unexpectedly a few weeks ago. He was diagnosed with liver cancer (although he never drank a drop of alcohol) about two years ago. At that time he was given a year or two to live. For the past year or so, he was in and out of the hospital for treatments and other health issues. We thought his last trip to the hospital was just another one of those in and out visits. He got cellulitisin July, and that severely dehidrated his body, which

started to shut down his kidneys. By the beginning of August he was in the hospital again, and there was nothing they could do for him. All of his seven children and their families came back to Mesa, Arizona as quickly as we could. Unfortunately, my dad passed away the night before I got there. When I learned that he died, it was the first time I had really cried since I was a kid.

The funeral and everything went very well. The friends from my parents Ward were awesome and supplied us with ample and very yummy food, so that we didn’t have to worry about feeding the 28 or so people that were always at my parents house. I was asked to give the life sketch of my dad at the funeral. It was not all inclusive, or even all that detailed, but it expresses what my dad was: a simple, humble, loving father and husband, who tried to do what was right.

Here’s the life sketch:

Life Sketch of Carl Edwin Shepherd

Dad was born April 30, 1949 in Mesa, Arizona, to Max and Lois Shepherd.

He received his Eagle Scout award, graduated from Mesa High School, and served a mission to Southern Germany. His life “took a major change” after meeting a girl at a Church dance. After the first date he was “hooked for life”. Ed and Cathy were married on February 16^th, 1973.

He died August 8, 2011, in Mesa, Arizona. His father and a younger brother preceded him in death, and he left behind his mother, his wife, seven children and fourteen grandchildren.

In between those dates and events the world was forever changed by the life and love of the great man we honor and remember today.

Life Protected

My Dad’s life was protected, even from his earliest days. When he was still a baby, he was in his crib for a nap. His mother was visiting with a neighbor, when she felt the distinct impression to go check on him. She followed the impression and when she went to the crib, my dad’s head was wedged between the crib and mattress, and was already nearly strangled.

When two years old, he was putting on his sandals, and was bit by a scorpion. He was in convulsions by the time he got to the hospital, but was able to get treated and was only sick for several days.

Dad was protected in other ways as well. He had many experiences that helped him learn the truth and power of God, and the plan He had for my Dad. Once as boy, he was tempted to drink alcohol when he found a bottle of liquor on his way home from school. He purchased a Slurpee from the store, poured the liquor in and was about to take a drink when the cup flew from his hand. He felt impressed that if he ever took a drink he would never be able to put it down. This experience helped him live the Word of Wisdom through out his life.

As it says in D&C 89: 21, “And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.” On Dec 17, 1988, Dad’s arm got stuck in a lathe at work, and broke in four places above the elbow. “The Lord was watching over me that day,” he wrote in his journal, “because it would have been so easy for the lathe to have ripped my arm clear off or done far more damage than it did.”  Dad’s brother Paul, who worked at the same shop, remarked on how much of a miracle it was. The only way the machine would stop was for someone to push the off button. With Dad stuck in the lathe there was no time and he was in no position to have done it, but the machine stopped before any more damage could be done. The Lord was definitely there to help out. Charity recalled that it was a blessing in disguise for Dad to be home so much to help take care of Charity and get to know her better. Shortly after the accident, his father Max Shepherd, blessed him that he would “heal quicker than normal and that this would be a testament to his family because he had never used drugs, alcohol, tobacco and had kept his body clean.” Indeed, this was a testimony to his family. The destroying angel had passed him by on this and many other occasions. Even though Dad died of ill health, it was not the destroying angel that came to take him away but it was an angel of compassion and love.

Worthy Priesthood Holder

Three generations. Asher shares his grandpa's birthday.

Dad emulated scriptures in many ways. My Dad was a humble servant and worthy priesthood holder, and surely one of the chosen of God. One of the great scriptures detailing the rights and responsibilities of the priesthood is found in D&C 121: 40-44. “Hence many are called, but few are chosen. No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.” Of course I never needed reproving, but my siblings tell me this was my Dad’s way. J  Rarely would he yell, and then usually at the situation and not the individual. Ben remembers many times where Dad exemplified this eternal priesthood pattern, especially after Ben learned that our suburban was not only good for carrying people but for mud bogging, jumping out of retention basins, and all manner of shenanigans. After one such occasion the car would not start. My Dad found the problem, then asked Ben to come out to the car. Instead of yelling or getting mad, my Dad showed Ben how to clean the mud from the starter and get the car working again. He ended with his expression of love for Ben. Such was the pattern over and over again. Dad was quick with reprove, by story or explanation, and followed up with a show of love.

When Aaron was pre-school aged, he found a drill in the back yard that Dad had borrowed from our Grandpa. He started drilling holes in the dirt. After a few minutes Dad came out, asked him to stop, then went back inside. After he left, Aaron promptly forgot, and started drilling again. Dad came out and again asked him to stop. As soon as Dad went back inside, Aaron started drilling again. For the third time Dad came out. Aaron knew he was in trouble and expected it. Dad patiently picked up Aaron, brought him into the living room and sat him on the couch. He told Aaron he loved him, and then went back to what he was doing.

Dad reproved with sharpness at times, but always let us know that he loved us, and we know undeniably that his faithfulness is stronger than death.

Dad loved serving in the Church. He had many callings, but the ones he wrote most of were the ones where he got to serve others the most, such as being a Stake Missionary, a Teachers Quorum Advisor while my brother Aaron and I were Teachers, and the Stake calling to be in charge of our building. I have many fond memories of helping him get the Stake Center satellite and recording equipment ready for General Conference. Two special times were right before my mission and right after. I could tell my Dad honored and sustained the Prophet and Apostles by his dedicated service in the Church. He taught all of us boys the “right way” to help with chairs at any Church function. 10 in a row, all facing the same way, evenly stacked on each side of the cultural hall.

Dad’s love

Dad showed us love in so many ways. In a letter he wrote to Ben after his mission, he expressed the need for people to be shown love in different ways. “Consider the needs of each child separately, for just as adults are different, each child is different also. Each must be treated different. There are huggers and tell me but touch me nots. Some will learn from a lecture or a story, others need a more physical approach. Each needs to know that you truly love them for who they are, children of God on loan to two other children who have a few more minutes of experience.”

Even after getting up really early, and doing demanding physical work during the day, Dad would sing us to bed, or read us stories like the Hobbit and the Lord of the Ring trilogy.

Dad was so excited when Charity made the Cheerleading team. “Great!” he said, “I get to go to all the football games… to see you of course.”

Dad was always building stuff for us: a big fort in the back yard (he kept it a surprise by telling us it was a show case for his prize elk rack). He built a loft bed for our room (this was especially memorable for me, I even cried the day the family took it out). He built a couch to store our year supply, and an entertainment center out of a piano crate. He built rocking horses, and wooden guns.

Dad would make dinner everyday while Mom was giving piano lessons, and he would open the car door for Mom. On the occasions when he was home for breakfast, he would make pancakes or waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. These examples have become natural for his own sons, as they emulate his good example of service and love to his family.

More recently, when we would visit for Christmas, if ever we mentioned we needed something (like baby food), the next day there would be a month supply.

Remembrances

We’ll always remember you Dad. Your collection of suspenders. Your garden and other yard projects. Your collecting quarters. Trips to the desert for picnics and shooting guns, and your amazing knowledge of plant life, wildlife and geology. The vast amounts of seemingly trivial trivia. If only we could have convinced you to be on Jeopardy, Ken Jennings would have met his match. We’ll miss your wonderful tenor singing. We’ll miss your cooking. Most of all we’ll miss your love and companionship.

This is but a sad temporary parting, for our hope in eternal life and the beautiful plan of salvation made possible by our loving and merciful Savoir, allows us to hope for a better day, when we will all be reunited and have eternal life with God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ, whom we can all seek to emulate.

I recently did the 130 miles on Skyline Drive. This was the third year in a row to do this ride. It was lots of fun, and lots of pain. I purchased a brand new cyclo-cross bike and got it the day before the ride. That was a bad mistake. Take a bike that you’ve been on a few times…

I had a few troubles with the brakes and front derailleur, but all in all it was a great trip. We stayed overnight in Waynesboro.

We went 66.8 miles on Friday, from Hawkes Bill Gap to Waynesboro, and 65.3 back the next day, for a total of 132.1 miles. I averaged about 6 or 7 miles an hour, and as you can see from the elevation profile, that was usually the speed up the hills. I got up to 40 miles/hour on one of the down hills.

Highlights of the trip: much nicer bike to ride than previous years, seeing a bear, turkey, and deer, speaking German to a couple from Germany, being interviewed by a news lady (someone had driven off the side of a cliff on Skyline Drive the day before), surviving 130 miles!

I was definitely worn out by the end of the ride. I’ll have to be in much better shape next year.

Thanks to Don and Taylor, two good buddies for making the trip possible.

Since then, I’ve already been out on a quick 14 mile ride (in only one hour).

I’ve just spent too much time figuring this out. I’ve had to piece it together from many other sites.

I need to set up Trac .12 on CentOS 5, but want to do that without interfering with the current setup of Trac and Subversion on the system.

So in comes virtualenv. This allows you to create a virtual environment for python. Like a separate install. The beauty is, once this is set up you can install different versions of python packages (like Trac and Subversion) that don’t have to interact with each other.

To install virtualenv was pretty simple. With root permissions do

easy_install virtualenv

Now, as your normal user, you can install a virtual environment.

virtualenv --no-site-packages foo

This will create a new folder called foo with a virtual environment for python. It won’t reference any of the other installed python packages (like the old Trac version).

Now upgrade the Genshi package with

easy_install --upgrade Genshi

Then, to install Trac do

easy_install Trac==0.12

That’s the part that always hung me up. I would just do

easy_install Trac

which would cough up this ugly error:

Searching for trac
Reading http://pypi.python.org/simple/trac/
Reading http://trac.edgewall.org/
Reading http://trac.edgewall.org/wiki/TracDownload
Reading http://trac.edgewall.com/
Reading http://projects.edgewall.com/trac
Reading http://projects.edgewall.com/trac/wiki/TracDownload
Best match: Trac 0.12.2
Downloading ftp://ftp.edgewall.com/pub/trac/Trac-0.12.2.zip
Processing Trac-0.12.2.zip
Running setup.py -q bdist_egg --dist-dir trac-dir/trac/egg-dist-tmp-JmdQXW
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/ammon/foo/bin/easy_install", line 7, in ?
sys.exit(
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 1712, in main
with_ei_usage(lambda:
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 1700, in with_ei_u
sage
return f()
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 1716, in <lambda>
distclass=DistributionWithoutHelpCommands, **kw
File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/distutils/core.py", line 149, in setup
dist.run_commands()
File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/distutils/dist.py", line 946, in run_commands
self.run_command(cmd)
File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/distutils/dist.py", line 966, in run_command
cmd_obj.run()
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 211, in run
self.easy_install(spec, not self.no_deps)
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 446, in easy_insta
ll
return self.install_item(spec, dist.location, tmpdir, deps)
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 476, in install_it
em
dists = self.install_eggs(spec, download, tmpdir)
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 655, in install_eg
gs
return self.build_and_install(setup_script, setup_base)
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 930, in build_and_
install
self.run_setup(setup_script, setup_base, args)
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 919, in run_setup
run_setup(setup_script, args)
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/sandbox.py", line 61, in run_setup
DirectorySandbox(setup_dir).run(
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/sandbox.py", line 105, in run
return func()
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/sandbox.py", line 64, in <lambda>
{'__file__':setup_script, '__name__':'__main__'}
File "setup.py", line 110, in ?
File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/distutils/core.py", line 110, in setup
_setup_distribution = dist = klass(attrs)
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/dist.py", line 260, in __init__
self.fetch_build_eggs(attrs.pop('setup_requires'))
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/setuptools/dist.py", line 283, in fetch_build_eggs
for dist in working_set.resolve(
File "/home/ammon/foo/lib/python2.4/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c12dev_r88795-py2.4.egg/pkg_resources.py", line 569, in resolve
raise VersionConflict(dist,req) # XXX put more info here
pkg_resources.VersionConflict: (Genshi 0.6dev (/usr/local/lib/python2.4/site-packages/Genshi-0.6dev-py2.4-linux-x86_64.egg), Requirement.parse('Genshi
>=0.6'))

Notice the last line referencing a version conflict with the “old” Genshi at /usr/local/lib/python2.4/site-packages. That’s the system-wide default install. So making explicit that you want to install Trac==0.12 is the way to get it installed in a virtual environment.

Now I just need to figure out how to configure Trac and Subversion using this virtual environment, and copy over a live older version of each.

This post is cross-posted at my dissertation site.

I spent the day researching grants and reading about how to properly put together a proposal. I also spent a bit of time plotting out my todo list for this semester, creating a checklist of tasks and when they are due. I made the list in my Google Calendar, so it’s not available to be embedded on this site. I’ll have to work on finding a replacement or something.

One of the places I’ll be applying to for a research grant is the Social Science Research Council (http://www.ssrc.org). They happen to have a short paper on how to best write a proposal for their competitions, and being no dummy, I know I can apply these tips to all the proposals I write. So here are some tips from their paper, “On the Art of Writing Proposals.”

Purpose of Proposals is to Persuade

The main thing to realize when writing a proposal, is that you are trying to persuade the approval committee that your project is better than all the others. The trick is to do it in as short a space as possible—in the first paragraph, or at least the first page—while including all of the points the readers are looking for. In the end you want the readers to associate you with your project (Billy’s the guy researching blind Algerian water cave fish with telepathic properties), rather than other mundane tidbits (Jane is the gal from New York City, right?). It truly is an art.

What do they want?!

All scholarly projects require three basic merits: “conceptual innovation, methodological rigor, and rich, substantive content.” Additionally, the readers are going to be asking three questions that the proposal needs to answer:

• What are we going to learn?
• Why do we need to know?
• How do you prove it?

And this all needs to be done initially very clearly, succinctly, and as forcefully as possible in the shortest amount of text.

Let me be clear about this…

It’s important to keep in mind that the individuals in the approval committee come from varying disciplines. Therefore, the proposal needs to be clear, free of the jargon typical of your discipline, all the while explaining the boundary pushing or unique way your project approaches your field. Keep the focus of the proposal on the ideas and leave the technical aspects to an appendix. Make the first page explain as clearly as possible what the topic is about, and what the readers—essentially, what the granting committee—is going to learn from this.

So What!

This is the crux of the whole matter. Why in the world does anybody need to know about this? What’s the point? Who cares? Why?! This is sometimes the hardest part to figure out. I know it is for me. I continually mull this point over. Do I really have a convincing and compelling reason. It seems for the time being, for me, that my biggest compelling reason, my “so what?” is because it hasn’t been researched before. While that may be a valid reason, be careful. Others may conclude that there is adequate justification for there to be no scholarship in the first place. There are other aspects that make a research topic important and valid. “Turning points, crucial breakthroughs, central personages, fundamental institutions, and similar appeals to significance of of the object of research are sometimes effective, if argued rather than merely asserted.

Apply the topic to current political, economic or social debates. How is your research not only timely but currently urgent, such that it provides a new way to view current issues, or turn the direction of current understanding?

Also try to be fresh and appealing in your approach. Promote the apparent contradictions, extrapolate on puzzles, and catch the readers off guard with surprises. Take the less traveled path. If current trends lean towards one area of research, but your topic can gyrate towards a new and fresh approach, take it!

Oh Yeah? Prove it!

It is important for the proposal committee to know the methodology of your approach. Do not just tell them what you will discover, but how you intend to discover it. What types of sources, what means of debate, what technology will be employed? But don’t just list out your tasks and how you’ll do them, argue why this is the best course of action to achieve the results you intend to acquire. Because some readers may be from interdisciplinary fields, take the time to explain “what parts of your methodology are standard, and which are innovative.” Some ideas to cover:

• Activities you plan to undertake to collect information
• Techniques you will use to analyze the data
• Tests of validity you will apply
• Specify the archives, sources, and respondents

Finally, proposals should describe the end product. Will the grant help to complete a dissertation chapter, a book, a digital project? Be specific as to what the proposed outcome of this supported project will be.

End with the Beginning in mind…

And begin with the ending in mind, of course. It takes a long time to write a decent proposal. Start early. Give yourself several weeks, or months if possible. Write a first draft and set it aside for a day. Then revise and set aside again. Ask others to take a look at it. Revise it again. Make sure your opening paragraph is succinct, to the point, and effective.

The closing of your proposal should reference the beginning. If you mentioned a story or a specific and compelling reason for the research, reference it again. The effect is to try and tie it all up in a neat little package.

Now, get back to work!

Well, that all sounds really good. Now if I can just apply it to my proposals!

I have now achieved a major milestone in my academic career. I passed the oral exam in October, and the dissertation prospectus and presentation in December. With that I am now advanced to candidacy, meaning all that I have left to do is the dissertation research and writing! To go along with this announcement is the launching of the website that I will be doing in connection with my dissertation.

On the first day of this year (2011), I was visiting some museums in D.C. when I noticed the piece of the Berlin Wall in the Reagan Building with some very appropriate graffiti for me!

As part of my Duty To God study, I have been studying about gratitude. The Church has a nice site dedicated to the topic of gratitude (http://lds.org/topic/gratitude/) which provides some nice resources. I actually independently found all of the talks listed under the “Articles” section, and read those and based my notes off of those talks.

The biggest impression I have had about gratitude, is that it is not just something done occasionally, but it is a way of life. You may think of people having a cheery disposition, or of being a pessimist or optimist. The same can be said of gratitude. It can be a defining characteristic of an individual’s nature. We need to develop an attitude of gratitude. We need to put ourselves in a frame of mind, in a state of being, that we are grateful.

Well, easier said than done. How do we go about turning ourselves into a being of gratitude? Here are some thoughts from several talks.

Thomas S. Monson, "An Attitude of Gratitude", Ensign, February 2002.

There is a lot wrong and bad in the world, but there is also so much that is right and good. “We can lift ourselves, and others as well,” says President Monson, “when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude.” Gratitude is among the noblest of virtues. Gratitude is what helps us focus on the good.

Often when gratitude is spoken of, the story of the ten lepers who came to Jesus to be healed, and only one returned to give thanks, is referenced. Certainly the nine lepers felt gratitude. But it was the one who made an effort to show his gratitude who was “made whole”. The nine were physically healed, but the one who showed gratitude was healed both body and spirit. There is a sense from this scripture that when we physically do more that is righteous, then we are blessed more. Also this story points out that gratitude is not just a feeling, but a feeling that moves to action in order to be complete.

Henry B. Eyring says that gratitude is a “change in our very natures”. It is not just a thing to do, it is a way to be. We become a different person when we focus on gratitude. The Holy Ghost fills us with perfect love. He fills us up with the best stuff as we choose to let go  of the bad stuff within us.

Elder Henry B. Eyring, "Remembrance and Gratitude", Ensign, November 1989.

Elder Eyring relates the story of Orderville, the town that was founded to live the United Order. He tells how they forgot their poor and meager beginnings, and states that this is a problem we must solve, too. “We so easily forget that we came into this life with nothing. Whatever we get soon seems our natural right, not a gift. And we forget the giver. Then our gaze shifts from what we have been given to what we don’t have yet.” Remembering God as the giver of all that we have and remembering our past trials and poverty help us to have gratitude. We need to focus on what we have already, and not on what we don’t have.”Remembrance is the seed of gratitude which is the seed of generosity.” Every week we can take the sacrament, and in that action we covenant to “always remember [Jesus Christ].” As Eyring says, “gratitude for the remission of sins is the seed of charity.”

James E. Faust relates similar ideas about gratitude in his 1990 General Conference talk “Gratitude as a Saving Principle“. Gratitude is a way of life, it’s more than a thing to do, it’s a way to be. “As with all commandments, gratitude is a description of a successful mode of living.” You can be happy or optimistic by “nature”, it is said. You can also be grateful. And it’s something that can be learned and cultivated. Being happy and optimistic are habitual traits, meaning you become that way by always acting that way. The same is true with gratitude.

Robert D. Hales explains how gratitude is related to repentance in a 1992 General Conference talk entitled “Gratitude for the Goodness of God“. He applies gratitude to repentance again and again. They seem to be in some kind of relationship. He says that our faith and repentance are based on the goodness of God and Christ and their forgiveness when we show thankfulness to them. “Gratitude is also the foundation upon which repentance is built…. Gratitude is a state of appreciation.” Gratitude leads to humility because we are focused on what others have done for us, rather than on our own selfish desires. Expressing gratitude brings peace to our souls, “a peace which allows us to not canker our souls for what we don’t have.” When we have gratitude, we don’t qualify that with what we had in the past or hope for in the future. We should not base our gratitude upon past possessions or hoped for desires in the future, but gratitude should be independent of all other requirements and qualifications.

Google has some interesting additions to their search results. You can now see ‘Related Searches’, a ‘Wonder wheel’, and a ‘Timeline’. I think the timeline may have been there for a while. It was for Google News, at least.

Anyhow, while checking the RSS feeds today, I noticed the Google doodle for today is about Veterans Day. I clicked the ‘Timeline’ to see what it had to offer. You first see a timeline with the number of web pages referencing the search result for a particular time. What first caught my eye were two large spikes in the timeline corresponding to 1919 and 1954. Second was a much larger result after 1984, and an increasingly greater result through 2009, with a drastic drop in 2010 (probably because it’s today and people are still posting about it).

Anyhow, using this timeline from Google allows to ask three questions and dig into the history of Veterans Day. The answers can be pulled from the links provided by clicking on the timeline for the year of interest.

1. Why the spike at 1918-1919? Well, as it turns out this was the first time Veterans Day occurred. It was set apart as a national holiday on November 11, 1918, to mark the end of World War I, which ended on that date. It was originally named Armistice Day.

2. Why the spike at 1954? In 1953 the town of Emporia, Kansas named their yearly parade the “Veterans’ Day Parade” in honor of all the veterans in their town. A bill introduced by that state’s congressman led to renaming the national holiday to Veterans’ Day!

3. Why the increased interest in 1984? This one was a surprise. On November 11, 1984, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated and accepted by President Ronald Reagan as a United States memorial. There’s even a link to a newspaper article.

Each year also shows an interesting little bump in May, which corresponds with Memorial Day in that month.

There’s no data in for November 2010, so it will be interesting to see if the trend continues and there are more pages for Veterans’ Day in 2010 than there was in 2009.

Do you see any other bumps or bulges in the timeline? What happened there to spark interest in Veterans’ Day?

This is an essay I wrote for a Directed Readings course in Fall 2009, with Marion Deshmukh.

The Sonderweg of German History

Before 1940s there was a positive Sonderweg thesis that promoted favorably the differences of Germany from other Western nations.[1] This is similar to what every nation does, showing their best side, why they are better or, in a good sense, different than other nations.  These are typical self-promotion tactics that help one feel good with ones’ self, and to help others see the virtues they would like them to see.  This thesis is more appropriately termed the “German divergence from the West” in English.  Sonderweg was mainly a derogatory term used by its critics.

After 1940, the positive Sonderweg was no longer developed or used.  A critical Sonderweg took the place of the positive reflection of German history, with the new one attempting to answer one prominent question; How did Germany produce a society and political atmosphere where National Socialism could come to power?  Proponents of this Sonderweg thesis have been Ernst Fraenkel, Hans Rosenberg, George Mosse, Fritz Stern, Karl-Dietrich Bracher, Gerhard A.  Ritter, Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Heinrich August Winkler, Helmut Plessner, Leonard Krieger, Kurt Sontheimer, John Maynard Keynes, Fritz Fischer, Wolfgang Mommsen.[2]

Those who argued for a critical Sonderweg put forth the following points for seeing Germany’s special path to National Socialism.

• Sonderweg proponents were cautious about asserting a “necessary relationship between long-term developments in German History and the triumph of National Socialism,” but in the end were specifically looking for peculiarities in German politics that hindered a liberal democracy from developing.[3]
• Germany had a relatively late attempt at creating a nation state.  France and the United States of America formed, or attempted to form, a nation in the late eighteenth century.  It was nearly one hundred years, finally in 1871, that Germany was able to form a federal government.
• Sonderweg proponents hearken back to the Kaiserreich government’s oppressive practices that limited parliament and caused what parties that did form to be rigid and fragmented.
• German defeat in World War I is seen as an important part of the German Sonderweg.  The devastating defeat in the First World War left German confidence in tatters.  Coupled with the limiting and demeaning restrictions of the Versailles Treaty, Germany seemed anxious to prove to themselves and Europeans that they were a nation of worth.  The defeat also led Germany into a new phase of government different, full parliamentary constitution with no monarchy or empire.
• Germany’s political culture tended to be conservative.  This made it difficult for liberal parties to be effective.
• The “Junkers-the large agrarian landowners east of the Elbe River” (similar to the English gentry) retained much of their power.  Whereas other nations had developed a parliament with representative leaders, much of Germany’s power still lay with landed aristocrats.
• Bismarck’s forming the nation-state with “Blut und Eisen”–”blood and iron” which put emphasis on the military, and left them unchecked by parliament.  This gave a militaristic approach to German government that lasted through the Weimar Republic and into National Socialism.
• The unbourgeois-ness of the bourgeoisie.  They never really revolted against the aristocratic society and political culture.  There was no middle class of people to rise up in rebellion as there were in other Western states.  As a result Germany was left without a tradition of successful revolutions and a history of top-down reforms.  Combined with pressure from the peasants, the middle classes were politically weak.
• Germany experienced a strange mixture of social and economic modernization and industrialization and capitalism on one hand, but maintained the old power relations, pre-industrial institutions, and cultures.  It was an odd combination of old powers, cultures and organizations in charge of new social and economic conditions and ways of production.
• All of these “long-term patterns” came to a head with the “short-term factors” of 1920s and 1930s, and help to explain the collapse of the Weimar Republic and rise of National Socialism.[4]

“In a nutshell, the critical Sonderweg thesis claimed to indentify long-term structures and processes that, under the influence of numerous other factors (from the consequences of defeat in World War I through the class conflicts of the 1920s to the peculiarities of Adolf Hitler’s personality), contributed to the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the triumph of National Socialism”.[5]

Historians opposed or critical of the Sonderweg have based their critiques partly on methodology.  Opponents to the Sonderweg thesis have been Thomas Nipperdey, David Blackbourn, Geoff Eley, Ernst Nolte, Jürgen Kocka, François Furet,Friedrich Meinecke.

Their opposition consists of the following points:

• There are several historical continuities to be seen in German history.  For example the Kaiserreich is also a prehistory of the Federal Republic of Germany.  This line of reasoning suggests that as National Socialism fades farther into the past, it becomes less of a clear case that the collapse of the Weimar Republic led to National Socialism.  Supporting a Sonderweg assumes there is a “normal path” that Germany could have taken.  To define what a “normal” path is, is much to subjective a “value judgment,” and the belief in the superiority of “the West”.[6]
• A research in Bielefeld has shown that the aristocratic influence (or dominance) over the middle class was no greater in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Germany than in other western European nations.  International comparisons have shown, contrary to Sonderweg hypothesis, that the educated German middle class was “strong and clearly contoured”.[7] It was a widespread European trait for the bourgeois to turn from liberalism in nineteenth century.
• The Kaiserreich did show signs of modernism.  It was “full of modern dynamism, for example in the areas of science and scholarship, art and culture”.[8]
• Intensive recent research seems to point to National Socialism as a modern phenomenon, rather than the results of past traditions.

Some core aspects of the Sonderweg have been supported, though, through recent research in three ways:

1.     Three of the basic developmental problems of modern societies showed themselves at the same time only in Germany.  1) Formation of the nation-state, 2) decision to have a constitution (parliament) or no, 3) issues with society brought by industrialization.  Other countries dealt with these individually, that is, with generations, or at least decades, of time in between to iron out difficulties.[9]

2.     While issues with the middle class, the bourgeoisie, cannot be discounted, they did have less of an effect on Germany society than in other European countries.[10]

3.     Germany had a “bureaucratic tradition” of a strong authoritarian state.  Such power in the hands of the state blocked parliament from functioning, provided effective services to the people, and weakened middle class liberalism.  When a democratic government finally did have power, after World War I in the form of the Weimar Republic, the inability of the leaders to provide a stable economy and society meant Germans were eager, or at least willing, to go back to a strong authoritarian state.  Important to realize, though, is that the rise of National Socialism should be seen separate from the fall of the Weimar Republic.  National Socialism was too new to have broken apart the Weimar Republic; it merely picked up the pieces.

With the Federal Republic the Sonderweg ended for West Germany.  It became a “normal” western nation.  East Germany, continued the Sonderweg, much altered of course, until its collapse in 1989-90.[11]

Sonderweg Bibliography

Proponents

Bracher, Karl Dietrich, ed. Deutscher Sonderweg, Mythos Oder Realität? München: R. Oldenbourg, 1982.

Browning, Christopher R. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. 1st ed. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998.

Fischer, Fritz. Griff Nach Der Weltmacht: Die Kriegszielpolitik Des Kaiserlichen Deutschland 1914-18. 2nd ed. Düsseldorf: Droste, 1962.

Fritzsche, Peter. Germans into Nazis. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1998.

Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah. Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. 1st ed. New York: Knopf, 1996.

Kocka, Jurgen. “Asymmetrical Historical Comparison: The Case of the German Sonderweg.” History and Theory 38, no. 1 (February 1999): 40-50.

Krieger, Leonard. The German Idea of Freedom; History of a Political Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Pr, 1972.

Mommsen, Hans. Alternative Zu Hitler: Studien Zur Geschichte Des Deutschen Widerstandes. München: Beck, 2000.

Mommsen, Hans, ed. The Third Reich Between Vision and Reality: New Perspectives on German History, 1918-1945. German historical perspectives v.12. Oxford: Berg, 2001.

Mosse, George L. The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich. New York: Schocken Books, 1981.

Plessner, Helmuth. Die Verspätete Nation; Über Die Politische Verführbarkeit Bürgerlichen Geistes. 2nd ed. Stuttgart]: W. Kohlhammer, 1959.

Rosenberg, Hans. Bureaucracy, Aristocracy, and Autocracy: The Prussian Experience, 1660-1815. Boston: Beacon Press, 1968.

Sontheimer, Kurt. Antidemokratisches Denken in Der Weimarer Republik; Die Politischen Ideen Des Deutschen Nationalismus Zwischen 1918 Und 1933. München: Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, 1962.

Stern, Fritz Richard. The Politics of Cultural Despair: A Study in the Rise of the Germanic Ideology. California library reprint series. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974.

Wehler, Hans Ulrich. The German Empire, 1871-1918. Providence, RI: Berg Publishers, 1993.

Winkler, Heinrich August. Germany: The Long Road West. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Opponents

Blackbourn, David, and Geoff Eley. The Peculiarities of German History: Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press, 1984.

Furet, François. Unanswered Questions: Nazi Germany and the Genocide of the Jews. 1st ed. New York: Schocken Books, 1989.

Kocka, Jurgen. “Asymmetrical Historical Comparison: The Case of the German Sonderweg.” History and Theory 38, no. 1 (February 1999): 40-50.

Meinecke, Friedrich. The German Catastrophe: Reflections and Recollections. Boston: Beacon Press, 1963.

Nolte, Ernst. Die Weimarer Republik: Demokratie Zwischen Lenin Und Hitler. München: Herbig, 2006.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid., 42.

[5] Ibid., 43.

[6] Ibid., 44.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid., 45.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid., 46.

[11] Ibid., 47.

There are also some good lecture notes here: http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/133c/133cPrevYears/133c06/133c06l04SpecialPath.htm