The Record Setting Continues

 We are still a couple weeks away from Memorial Day weekend and the price of gas continues to increase.

Gas Prices - Another Record

 Congratulations to the Biden Administration for another record set for gas prices.

Can't wait to see what the Memorial Day Holiday increase will be like!

Still thinking here at Doe Valley, only with less discretionary funds.

Stuck VM with XenServer 6.5

Stuck VM with XenServer 6.5

Recently one of our VM's would not shut down and would get "stuck" rendering it inoperable. The XenServer has been up for over 700 days and probably needs to be rebooted, but until we can schedule the downtime we needed to find a way to get the VM "unstuck." Below is what seemed to work.

From the Xenserver console command line:

 

xe task-list

xe task-cancel force=true uuid= <UUID from list above>

 

If that fails, restart the toolstack. (Highlight the Server then Server – Restart Toolstack)

The sever will disappear from Xencenter temporarily and will refresh automatically within 5 minutes. This can be done while other VM’s are running, no need to shut them down. (You can also use the command xe-toolstack-restart from the Xenserver console command line.)

As a last resort, shut down all VM’s and reboot the physical server. This may take hours as the server will probably enter a maintenance mode and scan the storage devices.

Hopefully this information will help someone with their stuck VM.

The Quest for the Perfect Shave Continues

Ten years after I started the quest for the perfect shave, it continues. Over the past few years I have focused on mainly using the Gillette Fusion 5 or ProGlide razors. They seemed to work the best and I get them on sale for about $2.00 a cartridge.

I did try out the Personna EasyFit 5 blade that is supposed to be comparable to the Gillette Fusion 5. It is not. The head is larger and does not give as close of a shave as the Gillette, nor does it last as long. The Fusion 5 is much better than the Personna EasyFit 5.

I also took a year to test out a variety of Double Edge Razor blades. Most of them were good and gave a close shave. A few blades really stood out like the Wilkinson Sword and the Astra Superior Platinum. 

While the Double Edge razor blades gave a close, cheap shave, they don't give you a quick shave. You need to take your time while shaving with a double edge blade. I realize many people will disagree with this statement and say that the double edge is actually faster than other razors. I guess that is a matter of opinion, but I found it took longer with a double edge razor.

I have decided to move, at least temporarily, to the "darkside" and try out an electric shaver. Look for a review of the Braun Series 7 shaver soon.

Still shaving here at Doe Valley

Gas Prices

May 4th, 2011 was the day that I paid $3.99 a gallon for 87 octane gasoline. This was the most I had ever paid for a gallon of gasoline. The president of the United States was Barack Obama and the Vice-President was Joe Biden.

After this the price of gas declined a little, but then about 10 months later in March of 2012, the price increased to $3.99 a gallon again, but didn't break the $4.00 mark (at least in my area).

Here we are about 10 years later in March of 2022, after relatively low inflation and stable gas prices for at least 4 years, the price of 87 octane shoots up to a new record of $4.29 a gallon.

For those of you who don't pay attention to the news, the current president is none other than Joe Biden who basically campaigned on no more drilling on federal lands, including offshore drilling. So there you have it, in the words of the Vice-President Kamala Harris the voters "got what they asked for."

Media Bias

We have heard a lot about media bias over the years. The media, of course, claims it doesn't exist and they are reporting the facts. 

Here's an article for you to read:

https://www.pennlive.com/coronavirus/2021/11/pas-school-mask-mandate-voided-by-divided-commonwealth-court.html

Below is the first paragraph of the article from Matt Miller:

"Pennsylvania’s requirement that teachers and school students and staff must wear masks to guard against COVID-19 is invalid because the official who issued it lacked authority to do so, a sharply divided Commonwealth Court ruled Wednesday."

A "sharply divided" court? As the article continues, nowhere does it mention that the court ruled 4-1 to invalidate the mandate. That doesn't sound like being a "sharply divided" court to me. Where are the rest of the facts?

I emailed the author to get his opinion on what sharply divided means. Needless to say, I have not received a response as of yet. Below is the email I sent.

I just finished reading your article titled, "Pa.’s school mask mandate voided by divided Commonwealth Court"

The first paragraph ends with "a sharply divided Commonwealth Court ruled Wednesday."

Wasn't the vote 4 to 1? How is a 4 to 1 vote sharply divided?

Sharply Divided at Doe Valley

Basic Bible Commentary: Genesis

 I started to read the Basic Bible Commentary series published by Abingdon Press. This is an older series from the late 1980’s that I have been wanting to read for a while. I started with Genesis which was wrote by Linda B. Hinton. She has a Masters of Theological Studies from Emory University. She wrote a few other commentary books in this series as well.

The first thing that caught me off guard was her explanation of Genesis 1, verses 26-27. (26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.)

On page 18 the author states, “The plural our may refer to God alone as an indication of divine majesty. Our may also refer to a heavenly council or court with which God talks over this significant part of the creation process."

Interesting. I am not sure where she is going with the heavenly council or court discussion, but all of the commentaries I have read refer to "our" as the trinity. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I understood this to be the case even before reading any commentaries.

The next thing that really stopped me in my tracks was on page 24. This is in reference to Genesis 3:1-13. (1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”).

The author states, "The serpent is not Satan or a symbol of evil or of death." Really? Let's jump ahead to Revelation 12:9,  "The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."

So the author claims the serpent is not Satan, but in God's own word it refers to the serpent as the devil or Satan. 

Again in Revelation 20:2,  "He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." Once again, God's word refers to the serpent as the devil or Satan.

I am not sure how valuable a commentary series will be if they can't even get the facts correct directly from the Bible. The author was clearly not comparing Scripture with Scripture in this instance.

Still reading here at Doe Valley.

Letter to Rep Struzzi

Below is an email that I sent to Representative Struzzi regarding the Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement law that will be implemented.



Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement

I can't imagine that this program will be upheld in the court system. There is no way to prove who was driving, so why should the owner of the car be penalized? Other states have done similar programs like this and the courts do not uphold the tickets.

Let's make no mistake about this program, it is not about saving lives, it is about making money.

Part of the reason why people speed through work zones is because they have traffic blocked off for months at a time when there is absolutely no work being done on the road.

A good example of this was 119 through Indiana (286 to 422) last summer. It was coned off for about 4 months and they only worked on it for maybe 2 weeks.

Make a law that says once they start a road project they need to work on it 24 hours a day until it is completed. 

Book Review: Figure Drawing for kids

Figure Drawing for kids by Angela Rizza

This book provides a nice overview for drawing figures. It starts with the basic shapes and then gets into some more detail of the figure. I would probably put the age range at 12+, but I'm sure there are talented younger kids that would appreciate and learn from this book as well.

Overall, this is a nice guide to help kids draw figures.

Note: this book was sent to me as a review copy from the publisher prior to its release date.

Book Review: Pocket Prayers

Pocket Prayers by Max Lucado with Andrea Lucado

This is a brief book by Max Lucado with prayers in it to help you grow closer to God. The subtitle to the book is: 40 Simple Prayers that Bring Peace and Rest. The book starts with a brief chapter about prayer and then has a prayer for the next 40 days. Each day there is also a Scripture that goes along with the prayer.

This is a quick book that will help you pray better. Ultimately, a prayer should be about praise, thanksgiving, and asking God for help for yourself and others. Following the examples in this book can lead you to a deeper, stronger relationship with God.