My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on November 13, 2016

Surprise! At least that’s what I found out when I opened a couple virtual invoices from Amazon for my two AWS accounts (personal and business). After moving files for online web content to Amazon’s fast and reliable S3 cloud-based servers a couple years ago, I’ve been happily adding content regularly since then as the cost has been relatively miniscule … until recently?

Much of the content I’m using Amazon S3 for is audio and video, where speed is helpful and transfers  infrequent (especially older archival items). I’ve contemplating using their Glacier storage but have heard horror stories from people archiving data and then attempting to retrieve everything at one time (a no-no). It seems that uploading data and "parking it" is inexpensive, even for massive archives, BUT retrieving "more than the minimum per month" can be "bigly" expensive.

For me with the S3 storage, my last month invoice for both accounts jumped 200% in price … so I knew something wasn’t right. A quick ticket and reply indicated that access was way up, but no details. Unfortunately the "reports" are not intuitive or detailed enough for me and their advice was to check my "bucket" setting … which of course I have slowly opened up over time. Back to adding "Bucket Policies" and modifying "properties" again. Hopefully this will take care of things?

From Amazon Tech Assistance:

Thanks for following up with us regarding your issue with data transfer charges. I will keep your case locked to me, while you investigate, and will wait for further updates from you.

I’m sorry for the trouble this issue have caused you. In addition to the information that my colleague provided to you earlier, I wanted to mention some other resources, that I think you might find useful.

You can download usage reports from your billing console below to investigate, what kind of request may generate the traffic:

https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home#/reports/usage

You can select Amazon Simple Storage Service and download .csv hourly usage report for the previous billing cycle. By filtering the information, you can check which resource and which operation generates the most data transfer.

If you would like to prevent your instance from responding to requests, you may want to make sure your security groups are configured to block unsolicited inbound traffic to prevent unauthorized users from accessing your data. Here are
some tips for securing your instances against unwanted traffic:

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/using-network-security.html

The issue with data transfer may happen if you grant permissions to your bucket to either "Everyone" (anyone on the Internet, even someone who doesn’t have AWS account) or "Any Authenticated AWS User" (anyone who has an AWS account). You may want to review the permissions that you set up for your buckets:

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/manage-acls-using-console.html

I hope this helps, and I will look forward to hearing back from you.

Category: Archive, Blogs, Cloud, Computer, Technology | 1 Comment »
Tags: amazon s3, archiving, glacier, server, storage, webhosting, website

Posted By RichC on November 12, 2016

^{Photo credit: Xiaolong Guo}

Category: Photography, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: china, fisherman, photograph, photography

Posted By RichC on November 12, 2016

Have you ever wondered what ammo and its components look like internally? If so, check out the interesting and educational photos below. During a bit of free time at FOG (Finger of God) Firearms and Cartridge Company, our staff cut in half six popular hunting,… More »

Source: Cartridges Cut in Half: A Unique Look at 6 Popular Rounds | OutdoorHub

Category: Misc, Recreation | No Comments »
Tags: ammo, Cartridges, firearms, outdoorhub, shooting

Posted By RichC on November 11, 2016

A lot has changed in the 11 years that have passed since I posted on “First Man” Neil Armstrong … but after re-watching the 60 Minutes clip and pondering going “back to the moon and to Mars by 2018,” Armstrong would have been disappointed as a lot hasn’t changed.

Click for post from 11/11/2005

WHY the repost? I was reminded of this post partially due to looking at an old 2005 “Who is Max Peck” trivia post that has moved to the top ten in traffic for 2016. It is amazing to see old posts being resuscitated — who knows why … but maybe Bock is next … that’s a tease.)

Speaking of trivia, although I have never personally met Neil Armstrong (did meet John Glenn), I felt a kinship with him as he was a “local” boyhood hero. Instead of entertainers or sports starts, Neil Armstrong kept me at least a little more focus on school and developing an interest in aviation. We both grew up in western Ohio farm country, only a few towns apart, and eventually called Cincinnati home, his life was inspirational … of course every kid my age admired Apollo astronauts. But here’s the bit of trivia (in case my kids read it someday): I purchased my wife’s engagement ring from a jeweler who met me after business hours in the parking lot of the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio … although probably should have placed it on the moon rock before giving it to Brenda! (was going to try and incorporate some kind of “out of this world” wisecrack … but that would have just been corny).

Category: Blogs, History, Memories, Space | No Comments »
Tags: blog, first man, memories, moon, neil armstrong, space

Posted By RichC on November 10, 2016

A mockup weapon seen at a Ukrainian trade show appears to use a Raspberry Pi micro PC as the basis of a guidance system—probably not at all what the inventors of the hobby computer had in mind when they introduced their affordable wonder to the world.

The weapon was reportedly sighted at last month’s Bezpeka Security Trade Show, which showed off the latest in Ukrainian surveillance, intelligence, and military technologies. It appears to be part of a shoulder-fired, disposable rocket launcher …

Source: New Ukrainian Rocket Launcher Appears to Use Raspberry Pi

Category: Millitary, Raspberry Pi, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: missile, raspberry pi, rocket, russia, ukraine

Posted By RichC on November 10, 2016

When contemplating just how crazy men were when trying to fly in the era of the Wright brothers, you realize "some" are still testing the envelope when it comes to craziness and flight (or perhaps "stupidity and flight?")

Category: Aviation | No Comments »
Tags: crazy, experimental, flight, flying, Photos, wright brothers

Posted By RichC on November 9, 2016

America woke up battered and bruised from what was the likely the nastiest election for president in my lifetime. I suspect most around the country are just glad it is over even if their candidate did not win. As seems to be the forced optimism after every election, leaders will say: “it is now time to heal our country; let us all unite in our commonalities; it is time to put aside the divisive rhetoric; we must roll up our sleeves to move our nation forward.” Just word to most of us, but helpful just the same.

Hillary Clinton started the process this morning by delivering a painful (to her and her supporters) concession speech and will be followed by President Obama putting out the diplomatic olive branch tomorrow by hosting President-Elect Donald J. Trump at the Whitehouse. The peaceful transfer of power is surely one thing all Americans can take pride in.

The counting continues after most conclude Trump adding Wisconsin gives him the current 279 electoral votes and that pushed him over the 270 mark, although likely there will be a few more votes to add to the count (as of lunch on Wed., Nov 9, 2016). The down ballot victories for control of the House and Senate were also positive for a Republican president, giving him a unique opportunity to move his populous agenda (details?) forward without the added resistance from what could have been resistance if Democrats controlled congress. That said, the Republicans have lost seats and many in the senate and congress are not necessarily 100% onboard with President-Elect Donald Trump … so our new president would be wise to move swiftly and make the most of his honeymoon come January 2017 (if there is one?)

Category: News, Politics | 1 Comment »
Tags: clinton, election, government, president, results, trump

Posted By RichC on November 9, 2016

They won’t call it, but it is all but a shoe in for America’s next president … Donald J. Trump. Since both Clinton and Trump are in NYC, here’s the current New York Times website front page. Good night all and hold on for a wild financial market ride tomorrow.

Category: News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: clinton, election, president, trump

Posted By RichC on November 8, 2016

Besides being distracted on Tuesday watching the general election news, a call from my son Taylor brought me back to reality. I scrapped my afternoon plans and drove down to Clermont County where he works to "try a second time" to make a temporary repair (the first one was Sunday night). There is a ridiculously fragile  BMW E60 upper radiator "tube" (the part between the hoses in the parts photo below) and it failed for a second time.

He was in downtown Cincinnati for a Planners meeting and when he drove back to his office in Batavia he noticed a loss of coolant again. The low cool light came on, but he did make it back to his office without overheating or the evil red engine light (not really sure his car has that?) Whew!

This time I came prepared with a couple options and additional coolant. One thought was to use a copper icemaker line and the other to try and reseat a brass tube back in the "egg shell" like plastic pipe that runs along the top of the radiator (who designed this thing? They should be fired!) Thankfully the repaired tube still works even if it is about 2" shorter since there are flexible rubber hoses on each end. I’m still not confident in the temporary fix, but Taylor confirmed it held for his drive home from work. Hopefully he can get an order into Amazon or to another German Auto Parts store for his BMW 528i — a quick look has them priced between $30 -$60 … genuine BMW parts being at the top end (seeing the poor original quality, I’d be tempted to give the aftermarket part a try!.)

Category: Automotive, BMW, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: 528i, BMW, family, part, quality, radiator, repair, taylor

Posted By RichC on November 8, 2016

The highlight of this past weekend was in getting together with the Oostra family on a sunny and beautiful Sunday afternoon where Katelyn and Drew had a “Baby Oostra” reveal party. A popular trend nowadays is for young couples to make the gender reveal “an event” … and creativity seems to be the key.

A lot has change in the 27 years since Brenda had Taylor (our youngest) and with modern medicine and improved ultrasounds the gender does not have to be a “mystery.” Although the purpose of an ultrasound is to monitor a baby’s progress as well as issues that could pose a concern, the by product is knowing the baby’s gender. Katelyn mentioned that her doctor was looking at organs, and counting things like the “number of chambers in the baby’s heart.” Other internal organs also included those only found in girls and others only in boys (as I recall, the later “sometimes” could be used to detect the gender 30 years ago).

They opted to share their mystery with all of us at the same time and neither knew (so they say) and a company filled a balloon with the correct confetti as a way for all to be surprised. As if this wasn’t creative enough, Drew opted to have his brother Tyler “drone” the balloon and shower the confetti over their heads in his parent’s backyard — Sunday in northwestern Ohio could not have been nicer. As the exciting “reveal” neared, Tyler’s first swipe at the balloon missed … adding to the suspense. Finally the gender was revealed … you will have to watch to find out.

A big thank you to Barb and Randy for having us up to Toledo for the party and for the terrific brunch. Great food, great conversation and an all-around fun afternoon. It was great to see everybody too.

 
*** As usual, click for larger photos.

Category: Personal, Photos, Video | 1 Comment »
Tags: baby, drew, drone, katelyn, oostra, reveal, toledo, video, youtube