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After updating an iPhone, maybe it's stuck. Doesn't happen much, but it can happen. When it does, it's great if you've got a backup of your phone. And those traditional means of restarting, resetting, and restoring don't work any more. Or at least they do, but they've moved.
If you need to DFU or restore your device, starts by plugging the phone into a computer running iTunes. Then press and hold the power button down for 3 seconds and press the volume down button while you're holding that power button. Hold both down for about 10 seconds and let go of the power button, holding the volume down button for 5 more seconds.
This process is pretty specific and I've often had to do it 3-4 times to get it just right. If you see the Apple logo at boot, the device is just rebooting (and that's usually all I've needed). But if you really need it to go into restore or DFU-mode, you'll want to see the screen that says Plug Into iTunes. Once you see that, you are in restore mode. If you want to be in DFU mode, you'll want it right in the middle, where the screen is black.
krypted April 11th, 2017
Posted In: iPhone
Tags: dfu, haptic, iPad, iPhone 7, iPhone 7s, Mode, restore, taptic
I love answering a question with a question. Is asr still in OS X? Is NetInstall still in OS X Server? Can OS X still NetBoot? Does System Image Utility still work? The answer to all of these is yes. Therefore, the answer to "Is imaging dead" is clearly no. Is it on its way out, maybe. Debatable. Is it changing? Of course. When does Apple not evolve?
What have we seen recently? Well, the rhetoric would point to the fact that imaging is dying. That seems clear. And this is slowly coming out of people at Apple. The word imaging is becoming a bad thing. But, as a customer recently asked me, "what do you do when a hard drive fails and you need to get a system back up"? My answer, which of course was another question was "what do you do when that happens with an iPad?" The answer is that you Restore.
What is the difference between an Image and a Restore? Yes, I meant to capitalize both. Yes, I realize that's not grammatically correct. No, I don't care. It's my prose, back off. But back to the point. What is the difference between the two? Am Image can have things inserted into /Applications, /Library, and even /System (since it's not booted, it's not yet protected by SIP). An Image can have binaries and scripts automatically fire, that Apple didn't bake into the factory OS. On an iPad, when you Restore, you explode an .ipsw file onto disk that can't be altered and acts as an operating system.
The difference here is that one is altered, the other isn't. Additionally, iOS ripsaw files only contain drivers for the specific hardware for a given device (e.g. one for iPad Mini and another for iPhone 6). But, you have pre-flight and post-flight tasks you need to perform. Everyone understands that. Think about automation via profiles. You can run a script with a profile. You can apply a profile at first boot. You can install a package (the future of packages is IMHO more debatable than the future of images) and a .app with a profile. These might take a little more work than it does with a NetInstall and System Image Utility. But then, it might not. You'd be surprised what's easier and what's actually harder (for now) with this new workflow. Complexities are more logistical than technical.
So, Imaging is dead, long live Restoring? Arguably, any older workflows you have will be fine for some time. So any good article has a call to action somewhere. The call to action here is to try to subtly shift your deployment techniques. This involves implementing a DEP strategy where possible. This involves putting the final nails in the coffin of monolithic imaging. This involves moving to as thin an image as possible. This involves (I can't believe I'm saying this) de-emphasizing scripting in your deployment process. This also involves completing the move that you've hopefully started already, from MCX to profile or mdm-based management.
What else do you think this involves? Insert running commentary below!
krypted December 5th, 2015
Posted In: iPhone, Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Mac Security, Mass Deployment
Tags: dep, iMaging, ios, ipsw, MAC, MCX, restore, sip, System Image Utility, Workflow
Blueprints are a new option in Apple Configurator 2. Blueprints allow you setup a template of settings, options, apps, and restore data, and then apply those Blueprints on iOS devices. For example, if you have 1,000 iOS devices, you can create a Blueprint with a restore item, an enrollment profile, a default wallpaper, skip all of the activation steps, install 4 apps, and then enabling encrypted backups. The Blueprint will provide all of these features to any device that the Blueprint is applied to.
But then why not call it a group? Why call it a Blueprint? Because the word template is boring. And you're not dynamically making changes to devices over the air. Instead you're making changes to devices when you apply that Blueprint, or template to the device. And you're building a device out based on the items in the Blueprint, so not entirely a template. But whatever on semantics.
To get started, open Apple Configurator 2.
Click on the Blueprints button and click on Edit Blueprints.
Notice that when you're working on Blueprints, you'll always have a blue bar towards the bottom of the screen. Blueprints are tiled on the screen, although as you get more and more of them, you can view them in a list.
Right-click on the Blueprint. Here, you'll have a number of options. As you can see below, you can then Add Apps. For more on adding Apps, see this page.
You can also change the name of devices en masse, using variables, which I explore in this article.
For supervised devices, you can also use your Blueprints to change the wallpaper of devices, which I explore here.
Blueprints also support using Profiles that you save to your drive and then apply to the Blueprints.
Blueprints also support restoring saved backups onto devices, as I explore here.
For kiosk and single purpose systems, you can also enter into Single App Mode programmatically.
You can also configure automated enrollment, as described here. Overall, Blueprints make a great new option in Apple Configurator 2. These allow you to more easily save a collection of settings that were previously manually configured in Apple Configurator 1. Manually configuring settings left room for error, so Blueprints should keep that from happening.
krypted November 11th, 2015
Posted In: Apple Configurator, Mac OS X, Mass Deployment
Tags: Apple, Apple Configurator, backups, blueprints, Enrollment, ios, iPad, iPhone, mdm, profiles, restore, single app mode, supervision, wallpaper
One of the things that is awesome and sometimes frustrating about Apple Configurator is that when you do certain tasks, you end up updating the OS on devices. The reason this is awesome is that it allows you to centralize operations. The reason this can be frustrating is that if you're on a limited bandwidth connection, you may find that you can't do very basic tasks before downloading a large OS update. And if you've got a bunch of Apple Configurator workstations, and you are running a training session, this can get infinitely more annoying.
In these types of lab environments, you're in luck. If you have an ipsw (the iOS OS update file), you can copy the file from ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.configurator/Data/Library/Caches/com.apple.configurator/Firmware/ onto another machine. To copy them onto a USB drive called bananarama for example, use the following command:
cp -R ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.configurator/Data/Library/Caches/com.apple.configurator/Firmware/ /Volumes/bananarama/ipsws/
And once you've moved that drive, to then copy them back:
cp -R /Volumes/bananarama/ipsws/ ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.configurator/Data/Library/Caches/com.apple.configurator/Firmware/
krypted August 22nd, 2015
Posted In: Apple Configurator
Tags: Apple Configurator, backup, copy, downloading updates, ios, iPad, ipsw, MAC, restore
You can easily create a backup of an iOS device using Apple Configurator. Once you've created a backup, it can be restored onto a number of devices. This contains iOS data and data outside of the secure enclave. These backups allow you to restore an iOS device, add apps (not using the backup), set backgrounds, set app locations on the home screen, etc.
To do so, open Apple Configurator and then click on the Prepare icon.
At the Prepare screen, click into the Restore field and then click on the Create Backup button.
At the pop-up menu, select the device you're backing up (usually there's only one) and then click on the Create Backup button.
Then choose the location you'd like to place the backup file.
Click Save and the backup starts.
Once the backup is complete, you will have an iosdevicebackup file in the location you saved the file to. This is stored on the iOS device and can then be restored to other devices.
krypted August 15th, 2015
Posted In: Apple Configurator, iPhone
Tags: Apple Configurator, backup, create backup, ios, MAC, restore
You loved your Apple Watch. It was awesome. But then something happened. Maybe it got glitchy. Maybe it got weird. Maybe you want to sell it and so just want to get it back to factory defaults first. Well, either way it's easy. To reset your watch, open the Settings app.
Open the General app.
Tap Reset at the bottom of the list.
When prompted, tap Erase All Content and Settings on the Apple Watch.
Once done, unless you're getting rid of the watch, you'll want to pair it again. To do so, follow the instructions in this article: http://krypted.com/apple-watch/set-up-your-new-apple-watch. Or, you can restore your device by selecting a device to restore the backup from.
krypted May 12th, 2015
Posted In: Apple Watch
Tags: apple watch, Device, factory restore, reset, restore, restore from iCloud backup
The most important command for managing pretty much anything in Linux is vi. So if you only learn one command, learn that one. But if you want to learn another, the second most important command for managing Xen is then xm (well, once you've apt-gotten or yummied up the installation that is). The xm command has a number of easy verbs, each used for managing the Xen environment.
Virt-manager and virt-install can be used to manage and create virtual machines for use with Xen.
Virsh can also be of assistance:
krypted April 20th, 2013
Posted In: Ubuntu, Unix, VMware
Tags: console, destroy, restore, save, verbs, xen cheats, xm commands
My traditional interpretation of Apple's vision on how iOS devices are used is that everyone has an AppleID. That AppleID enables them to access their apps from any iOS device they own or Mac that they own. That AppleID enables them to access mail, contacts, calendars and even files through iCloud. That AppleID also allows users to remotely wipe their device through Find iPhone and track their friends iOS devices (as in social networking via breadcrumb tracking) through Find Friends. All of this "Just Works" in a consumer sense. And it even allows for a little sharing of content across devices you own. However, larger organizations need more. They need centralized management, content distribution and most other things you find that you rely on traditional desktop computers for.
Over the years, Apple has added tools for centralized control of devices. This started with ActiveSync compatibility and early forms of Mobile Device Management and has grown into a pretty robust, albeit disconnected, set of tools. Of these, Apple Configurator is the latest. Apple Configurator was released about a week ago and since, I've been trying to figure where it fits into the solutions architecture that surrounds iOS integrations. There are a number of other tools already available that can aid in the deployment and management of iOS devices, and Configurator is a great addition.
To me, there are 3 classes of management tools for iOS. These were roughly broken up into Over the Air (OTA), cradled (USB) and content management. Apple Configurator ends up fitting into all of these scenarios in some way. Let's start by looking at the traditional uses of these three and then look at how they are impacted by Apple Configurator.
Mobile Device Management
Over the Air tools, such as Profile Manager, allow for Mobile Device Management (MDM) without cradling, or syncing a devices. These tools allow you to configure policies via profiles. There is also a bit of App pushing built into most MDM solutions. Apple's Profile Manager can push applications written in-house, but no content from the App Store. 3rd party solutions, such as JAMF's Casper Suite, Absolute Manage MDM, AirWatch and about 15 others are able to push apps from the App Store as well, leveraging the Volume Purchasing Program (VPP) to issue apps to devices. However, when an app is pushed through one of these tools, the app becomes associated with the AppleID for the user who owns the device.
Note: While we use the term push, the user has to accept all App installations on the device.
For large environments, MDM is a must as it allows for centralized command and control. Pushing apps is one aspect of such control. Policies enforceable through MDM include disabling cameras, configuring passcode policies on devices (not pushing passcodes), disabling YouTube, silencing Siri, unstreaming photos, disabling iCloud Backup, forcing encrypted backups, disabling location services, controlling certificates, blocking pop-ups, controlling cookies, disabling access to the iTunes and App Stores, and controlling what kind of media can be accessed on devices.
Additionally, MDM can be used to push SSIDs for wireless networks (and their passwords/802.1x configuration information), setup mail, setup Exchange ActiveSync, configure VPN connections, configure access shared calendars (iCal shared files, CalDAV and Exchange), configure access to shared contacts (LDAP, CardDAV, Exchange and Exchange Global Address Lists), deploy Web Clips and manage certificates (either with cert files or via SCEP). In short, whether you're using the practically free Profile Manager from Apple, Mobile Iron, Casper, AirWatch, FileWave or one of the many other tools, there are a lot of things that MDM can configure on devices.
Reporting can also play a major role in how MDM tools are used. iOS Apps are owned by AppleIDs, not devices. MDM does not manage AppleIDs, but you can trigger fields in MDM databases to report back unauthorized AppleIDs being used. Reporting can also identify when devices join non-approved wireless networks (which cannot be blocked through MDM), identify devices that have been jailbroken (a major security concern for many organizations) and report on device use.
Because devices can fall outside of our control, MDM also plays an important role in being able to wipe and lock devices. While some of these types of features are available via Exchange, not all people use ActiveSync. Users and administrators alike can wipe, lock and de-enroll devices at will, potentially crippling what any device with an Enrollment Profile can do.
There are really 3 kinds of MDM tools: those that can push apps, those that can't and Apple's Profile Manager. The reason I put Profile Manager into its own class, is that it can push some kinds of apps, it's cheap ($49.99 one time as opposed to per device per month or per device per year billing) and it's great for some things. But Profile Manager should be used in very specific environments unless the price is the only decision making factor behind a tool. In larger environments, choosing a MDM solution is one of the most important aspects of managing mobile devices and the iOS platform is no different in that manner than other mobile platforms.
MDM has some limitations, though. A good MDM solution can manage the infrastructure side of device configuration. However, content requires a completely separate tool. Additonally, MDM is a completely opt-in experience. If a user wants, they can remove their device from the MDM solution at any time. Rather than a limitation, think about the opt-in experience this way: if a user removes themselves from MDM then all content that was given to them via MDM is then taken away, except that which they have moved to the local device. Therefore, if an administrator pushes an Exchange configuration then all content from that Exchange profile is forbidden fruit, removed alongside the de-enrollment.
MDM also works with Lion. Policies, centralized management, etc can be integrated with Lion. You can't do app distribution per se, but you can push out a policy to change where the dock is on the screen, add a printer to a Mac and configure a login hook through a Profile Manager-based policy. Many of the MDM providers have begun adding functionality to their tools to allow for Mac management as well as iOS and I would expect that to become the standard in years to come. iOS is a single-user device and OS X is a multi-user device, which completes that paradigm, but Apple has made it no secret that policy-based management for Mac OS X is moving to the realm MDM (even if that is enforced through a traditional lens of directory services based policy-based management).
Content Management
One of the unique aspects of the iOS platform is that it doesn't have a file system that is exposed to users. There's no /Volumes, no C: drive and no home folders. The devices don't log into a server, because there's no way to interpret a server connection. The file system that is exposed to iOS devices is through the lens of each application. Sandbox is a technology that limits each application's access in terms of memory, hard drive, etc. Each application can only communicate with resources outside of itself if there is an API to do so, APIs mostly reserved for Apple (e.g. photos, contacts, etc). Therefore, when you discuss content management from the perspective of building a large iOS solution, you're talking about apps.
The apps used for content management come in a few flavors. There are those that allow you to edit content and then there are those that allow you to read content. One way to look at this is through Safari. Sharepoint, WebDAV and various document management portals allow users to access data through the Safari browser on an iOS device. Safari will let you view various file types. But to edit the data, you would need to send it to an app, or copy it to the clipboard and access it in an app. Pages is an example of an app that can browse a file tree via WebDAV and edit content. However, planning how each type of file is accessed and what type of editing can be done on each file type or what type of resources need to be accessible can be difficult (e.g. there are a number of transitions in Keynote presentations that do not work in iOS).
Cradling Devices
Then there's iTunes. iTunes allows you to backup and restore devices, update devices, etc. iTunes allows you to drop content into each application. If you look into the ~/Library/Mobile Documents, you can drop content, edit default documents and other tasks that can be done through a command line, then perform a cradled sync to an app. If networking is built into an app then you don't have to plug a device into a computer. If an app can leverage iCloud, SMB or AFP then you can access data over the air. If you are trying to replace computers with iOS devices (a la post-PC) then you would need to plan each business task that needs to be performed and make sure not only that there is an app for that (or an app you build for that) but also make sure that you can round trip data from a shared repository and back to the network storage that the data resides on.
You can also access many of the benefits of MDM without having an OTA element. This can be done with iPhone Configuration Utility. iPhone Configuration Utility can configure the same policies available through Profile Manager but relies on either a cradled or email/web server/manual way of getting policies onto devices and updating. MDM automates this, but iPhone Configuration Utility is free and can be used as well. Additionally, profiles can be exported from Profile Manager and installed in the email/web server/manual way that iPhone Configuration Utility profiles are installed.
This is all probably starting to seem terribly complicated. Let's simplify it:
Basically, there's a few holes here. First, AppleIDs cannot be centrally managed. Second, you need to use gift cards or the Volume Purchasing Program (VPP) to distribute apps, and Third, even when you push an app to an AppleID, the app follows the AppleID to their next organization (which causes many organizations to treat apps like consumables). Fourth, synchronizing content is done primarily through iTunes, which only syncs a device at a time, making preparation of large numbers of systems terribly complicated.
Apple Configurator
Enter Apple Configurator, a free tool on the Mac App Store. This tool basically fixes all of the problems that we reference, but does so over USB. This means that Apple Configurator is not necessarily a replacement for MDM. In fact, you can deploy Trust and Entrollment profiles for MDM and automate the MDM enrollment for a device through Configurator. Instead, Apple Configurator is a tool that can either Prepare or Supervise an iOS deployment and do so in a manner that is easy enough that you don't need a firm background in IT to manage devices on a day-to-day basis.
Here is what Apple Configurator can do:
Apple Configurator has some caveats:
I see a number of uses for Apple Configurator. Some of these use cases include:
These can enhance practically every environment I've worked with. But unless it's a small environment (e.g. the labs), Apple Configurator isn't a replacement for the tools already in use in most cases. Instead, it just makes things better. Overall, Apple Configurator is a welcome addition to the bat belt that we all have for iOS management and deployment. Now that we've looked at the when/where of using it, let's look at the how.
There are two ways to use Apple Configurator. The first is to Prepare Devices. You would use this mode when you're going to perform the initial setup and configuration of devices but not when the devices won't be checking back into the computer running Apple Configurator routinely. Preparation settings do not persist. And while applications can be pushed through Preparation, updates for those applications will be tied to the AppleID that purchased the app.
The second is Supervise. Supervising devices is an option when preparing and allows you to have persistent changes to devices, to layer new settings the next time devices are plugged in, to add applications and the most intriguing aspect of iOS management here is reallocating VPP codes to new devices when a user or device is retired. Supervising devices also allows for assigning a given user to a device and thus pushing data into an application.
Setting Up Apple Configurator
Apple Configurator is installed through the Mac App Store. When installed, you are presented with three options. The first (going from left to right) is to Prepare Devices.
Before we get started, we're going to add our AppleID. The computer running Apple Configurator needs to be able to connect to the App Store and it needs to have an AppleID associated with it if you're going to use VPP codes. So let's set that up before moving on. To do so, from Apple Configurator, click on the Apple Configurator menu and click on Preferences… From the Preferences menu, click on Set for the Apple ID and provide an AppleID (not the VPP Program Facilitator).
Then, when prompted, provide the credentials for your AppleID. If you have any problems with this, try Authorizing the computer in iTunes, if you can't do one it stands to reason you can't do the other and it's either an invalid AppleID or that the computer cannot communicate with Apple's servers (ports, DNS, Internet connectivity, etc might be the issue).
Also, let's configure the Lock Screen settings, which is what's displayed to users when you're supervising devices. If you have user pictures in Open Directory, this will show each user's photo at the lock screen (we will discuss device supervision later).
Using Apple Configurator to Prepare Devices
In this example, we're going to prepare some devices for deployment. Before we do anything, we're going to do a backup of the iOS device to use for testing. To do so, simply click Prepare Devices to bring up the main Apple Configurator screen and then click in the Restore field.
At the Restore menu, click Back Up…
Then choose the device to backup and click on Create Backup… to bring up the screen to select where to save your backup to (by default it should be your Documents but you can save them anywhere, like /iOSBackups). Click Save to make the first backup.
Notice how fast that went (assuming you didn't load it up with 10 Gigs of crap)? The reason is that we're not backing up iOS, just the data. This will become a little more obvious the first time we go to restore a device. In the meantime, if you look at your target directory, you'll see a file with the name you provided followed by .iosdevicebackup. If you aren't supervising you would need to delete these from the filesystem to remove them from the menu of available backups. If you are supervising then you'll have a menu to manage the backups. You can also use the Other option in the selection menu to browse to another location and select another backup (e.g. you're pulling them from other machines, etc.
Now that we have a backup, let's do some stuff to the device. Let's join the wireless network, change the wallpaper, create some contacts, make some notes and in general do some of those things that you might do on a base image of a computer, aside from of course configuring local admin (it's not a multi-user device), installing anti-virus (to date, AV companies for iOS are snake oil salesmen) and other things you might not do. But as with imaging, if you can do something in Profile Manager or Apple Configurator, let's reserve doing it there. In fact, I would probably try to set everything in Profile Manager or your MDM provider that you can (if you have one) and use Apple Configurator for as little as possible. That goes with imaging as well, do as much in directory services/managed preferences/profiles as you can and keep the image as simple as possible…
Anyway, once you have the device as you want it, make another backup. This is akin to baking an image with DeployStudio or System Image Utility. We can't asr them out yet, but we're in a much better place than we were.
Once you have a good backup, let's leverage Apple Configurator to tell the device erase, update to the latest version of iOS, restore our image, join the SSID of our enrollment network (let's consider this similar to a supplicant network in 802.1x). Then, let's add a profile that will throw a Web Clip to our MDM solution and even add a Trust Profile to cut down on the number of taps to enroll (and the confusion of tap here, tap there, etc). From the Prepare screen in Apple Configurator, click on Settings and type the naming convention for your devices (in this case we're going to call them krypted 1 and up) in the Name field. Then check the box for Number sequentially starting at 1 so it's going to name them from 1 to 1,000,000 (which is how many iPads my krypted company is going to end up writing off at the testing rate I'm on now). Leave Supervision set to OFF (we'll look at that later) and set the iOS field to Latest. Then, check the box for Erase all contents and settings and choose your image from the Restore menu.
Now for something that users of iPhone Configuration Utility, Profile Manager and Casper MDM will find familiar, click on the plus sign in the Profiles field and select Create New Profile. Here, we see what is the standard policy sheet (apologies to HIG if that's not what those are officially called but I've not been able to find the right term) and give it a name in the Name field. This is how it will appear in the Profiles section of Apple Configurator. Because you can deploy multiple profiles, I'm just going to configure the SSID and Web Clip and call it MDM Enrollment. Optionally, give it some notes, organization name, etc.
Click on Wi-Fi and then click on the Configure button. Here, enter the SSID of the deployment network (MDMEnroll in this example). We'll use the Hidden Network field to indicate the SSID is suppressed and we'll use the network type of WEP and throw the password into the Password field as well. Now, before we move on, notice that there's a plus and minus sign in the top right of the screen? You can deploy multiple of each, so if you have 10 wireless networks, 4 Email accounts, 9 VPN connections, 29 SSL Certs etc, you could deploy them all easily with multiple entries of each.
Scroll down in the sidebar a little and then click on Web Clips. Click on the Configure button. The Label is how the web clip's name will appear on the device. We're going to enter Enroll Here. In the URL field, provide the URL for your MDM server (e.g. When using a Profile Manager server called mdm.krypted.com the URL would be https://mdm.krypted.com/MyDevices). Not to get off topic, but did anyone else notice that Profile Manager in 10.7.3 now requires SSL certs? Anyway, you'll also choose whether the web clip should be Removable (I think it should if it's to enroll) and optionally choose an Icon. We'll skip that (if we were using a 3rd party tool, I'd throw their logo in here; otherwise I usually like to use the company logo. I also like enrollment links to be Full Screen.
Go ahead and click Save and you'll see MDM Enrollment listed in the Settings. If you notice, you can also click on the profile and then click on the export menu to export the profile or under the plus sign ("+") you can Import Profile…, which is how we'll bring in our Trust Profile from Profile Manager. From Profile Manager we already downloaded the Trust Profile. Now we're going to click on Import Profile… and browse to it on the desktop, clicking on Trust profile.mobileconfig (or whatever name yours may have). Click Open.
We could go a step further and actually enroll the device by exporting the enrollment profile as well, but again, I want each user to provide their username and password so I as an administrator don't have to go through and attach each device to a user in this scenario. I've been looking at importing devices and associating them with users via postgres, but that's going to be another 3am article, on another night…
Next, check the box for each profile and click on Apps. This is where things start getting kinda' cool. For this you're going to need some app ipas. Each app in iTunes is stored as an .ipa file. We're going to look at two different kinds of apps. The first is a free one and the second is a paid for app, both we'll pull from iTunes. To do so, open iTunes and click on an app (iBooks in our example) and click on Show in Finder.
Note: Not all app .ipas are called the same thing as the filename. If you Show in Finder from the contextual menu of an app in iTunes it will automatically highlight the correct app in the Finder when it opens a Finder screen.
From the Finder you can either copy the app to the machine running Apple Configurator or if you're using iTunes on that machine, you can go ahead and drag it to the Apple Configurator apps list. We're also going to add an App that we used a purchase code from the VPP store to buy. You'll get an error when you drag the paid app in (or browse to it if you so choose) that indicates the app is paid and in order to deploy it you'll need to use VPP codes. Once added, you'll notice it has an error indicator and the number 0 beside it.
Click on the numerical indicator beside the app name and you'll be able to import redemption codes. These are emailed to you when you buy apps through the Volume Purchasing Program. BTW, no drag and drop in this screen, use the Important Redemption Codes button to browse to the XLS files.
Using Apple Configurator to Supervise Devices
Now, supervising devices may seem more complicated, but it isn't. Back at the Prepare screen, we set Supervision to OFF. Change the iOS field to No Change. Now, let's turn it ON. When you do so, the iOS field automatically switches to Latest. This means that supervision is going to require updates (which is fine in my book as updates have yet to break a single app for me). Get all the same settings the same as they were previously.
Once you enable Supervision, click on Prepare in Apple Configurator and connect a device again. The device will then be imaged as with the same settings that you've given it from before. However, once it's done, you'll be able to click on the Supervise tab and see devices (Note: You supervise devices rather than users).
The subsequent Starts and Stops will now allow you to enable and disable profiles and apps on the fly, as well as restore backups, update devices and as you can see in this screen, reclaim those valuable VPP codes!
Do a Get Info on a device and you'll also see a bevy of information about that device.
You can also click on Assign, once you've enabled Supervision. Assigning devices requires directory services. When you click on Assign, click on the plus sign ("+") to add the first user. Type the first few letters of the users name and they should appear in the list. Click on them and they'll be added. You can then use the right panel to assign content to the apps that you assign to that user's devices.
Once added, the user will by default have no device. To assign a device to a user, use the Check Out box at the bottom of the screen and then match the users with the devices you want them to have.
The final piece of this application is to assign content to users. As I mentioned earlier in this article, the file system of an iOS device is through the lens of the applications that the device has installed. Therefore, we'll be associating files to applications. DRMd content is not distributed through Apple Configurator. So iBooks, etc, aren't applicable. The various third party applications can open and therefore host file types that they support, as with iTunes. From the Assign pane of Apple Configurator, click on a user and then click on the plus sign ("+") to add documents. At the Choose A Target Application screen, choose the application you'll be loading content into.
When you click Choose, you'll then be able to select files to use with that application.
Then just dock the iOS device, sync and viola you've got content distribution over USB all handled. You can also add groups of devices and groups of users and distribute content to groups of users rather than to one at a time.
Apple Configurator is really a great tool when used in the right scenarios. In learning how it works and interacts I actually learned a lot about both iOS and Mac OS X that I didn't know before. I hope I did the tool justice with how easy it is to use. This is a fairly long article and it's probably more complicated than it needs to be in parts, but that's more my method of trying to figure out what it's doing than the tool being complicated. It's not hard to figure out at all. I am sure I could teach any non-technical iOS admin to use it in less than an hour.
My wish list includes logs and OTA. You can't use iPhone Configuration Utility while you're using Apple Configurator and therefore, you can's see up-to-the second logs about things like key bags to figure out why this isn't working or that. This makes it kinda' difficult to figure out why a profile doesn't get installed with an image if you're not using an AppleID with the tool or other weird little things like that. I'd love to see a little more logging. Obviously, if you could run this thing Over the Air then it would be nerd nirvana. I guess the OTA isn't as much as wish list for this tool, but features that could be imported into Profile Manager and other tools.
One of the more important aspects is the impact on AppleID use and app ownership. I started this off by saying "My traditional interpretation of Apple's vision on how iOS devices are used is that everyone has an AppleID." Well, when using this tool an AppleID is no longer necessary for app deployment.
Overall, we have a new, powerful tool in our arsenal that makes up the iOS administration ecosystem. I hope that I've managed to dispel a few rumors with this article and look at some great uses for where this tool should and should not be used. I also hope that no matter what, if you manage iOS devices, that you'll take a look at it. I expect you'll find it useful in some part of your management toolkit!
krypted March 15th, 2012
Posted In: iPhone, Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Mac Security, Mass Deployment
Tags: 802.1x, ActiveSync, AFP, API, Apple, Apple Configurator, AppleID, applications, apps, carddav, company, content management, cradle, deployment, devices, distribution, DRM, DUNS, education, encrypted backups, Exchange, iCloud, ios, iPad, iPhone, iphone configuration utility, ipod touch, itunes, LDAP, lock, management, mdm, mobile device management, mobility, ota, over the air, Prepare, reporting, restore, revoke apps, Safari, SCEP, schools, serial number, sharepoint, SMB, Supervise Devices, Trust Profile, UDID, volume purchasing program, vpn, vpp, Web Clip, webdav, wipe, Wireless
The 10.7.2 to 10.7.3 update for Lion Server has introduced a few issues in some environments that I've seen. It just so happens that the update corrects a lot of behavior with Lion Server while also introducing new features, so it's something you're gonna' need to do eventually. Therefore, before I update, I would strongly recommend backing up all of your services, your service data and Open Directory.
Once you've run the 10.7.3 update, there are a few things that I've seen happen. The first is that the web server won't start. If this happens, reset the web server back to factory default:
serveradmin command web:command=restoreFactorySettings
Once it's reset, you should be able to import any data that was backed up before and get things back to normal. The second is calendar data. On a few different systems I've seen users have to nuke iCal and then reimport data. To nuke and pave iCal, see this post: http://krypted.com/mac-os-x-server/nukepave-ical-server-in-lion-server. Once iCal Server has been restored to full working order (after the last step in that article) you can use psql to restore your data from the location of your backups (here called /backup/caldav.sql):
psql -U _postgres -d caldav -f /backup/caldav.sql
There's also a script located in /usr/share/caldavd/lib/python/calendarserver/tools
called fix
calendardata.py that can be used to scan and possibly fix any issues with the data itself. If that doesn't not work though, you may be starting over. The script does not give root execute permissions by default and so you will need to chmod it to provide execute and then run it.
If you nuke CalDAV and you nuke OD and then restore them both, the GeneratedUIDs can be mismatched. Use the Directory Editor in the new Directory Utility to browse users and attach the GeneratedUID back to the correct entry in CalDAV. To locate all of the entries in CalDAV, run:
psql -U _postgres caldav -c "select * from calendar_home"
If Profile Manager won't load it could be one of three issues (in the following order seemingly). The first is the web server, which the first command will fix. Another issue I've seen is that Open Directory gets a little messed up. The fix for this is to use Server Admin (not slapconfig) to burn OD down and set it back up. You can then promote replicas and finally restore the archive you did before upgrading the server. The third is to reset the Profile Manager database using wipeDB.sh:
sudo /usr/share/devicemgr/backend/wipeDB.sh
After wiping the data, you can re-run the setup in Server app for the Profile Manager service to restore an empty Profile Manager instance to working order. You can restore data into the empty Profile Manager database using the same commands I showed earlier for CalDAV, just use devicemgrd instead.
Note: I am pretty sure you need sudo for most every command I use on this site, but more specifically you need it with this stuff. So sudo is assumed if not explicitly stated.
Finally, be on the lookout for custom designs in the Wiki interface. OS updates are known to change things, but more specifically when things are not documented they can easily change. Hacking the pages nested within /usr/share/collabd is basically not supported any more. Each OS update to 10.7 has broken some of the hacks we've done to collabd, making me wonder whether it's a good idea any more…
Note2: I have had little issues running these updates in walled gardens. It's production data that is the problem. It seems that most of the issues are data driven (the opposite of data driven design is not devops driven design).
krypted March 6th, 2012
Posted In: Mac OS X Server
Tags: 10.7.3 upgrade problems, backup, caldav, Calendar Server, calendar_home, carddav, collard, GeneratedUID, GUID, Lion, lion server, profile manager, restore, wiki, wipedb.sh, won't start
I don't believe in upgrading major operating systems for servers in place. There, I said it. If I'm doing an upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion, I'm about 99.9% of the time going to do so with a clean install. Before I do so, I'm going to export all the data from my old server and when I'm done with the fresh, clean, loving installation, I'm going to import that data back into my server. Actually, before I import the data, I'm going to install all of the point releases, application updates and security patches. That's my process for production servers.
Open Directory isn't very different. I Archive and Restore servers as often as I reinstall, upgrade or even downgrade Open Directory Masters. I treat Replicas differently: mostly in that I don't treat them at all. Instead I clean install them and just re-promote them once my Master is back in place. If I have any schema extensions or other mods I'll just sync those myself prior to promotion. I trust my process, it's worked for me for more years than I care to admit.
Before You Upgrade
Archiving Open Directory data is a pretty straight forward process. Open Server Admin from /Applications/Server and then click on the Open Directory service. From here, Click on the Choose… button for Archive in: and select a location to store the Open Directory data. Then, click Archive and provide a password. Pretty easy so far.
Now, check your Kerberos Realm, IP address and hostname on the server. For the IP address, you can take screen shots of the Network System Preference pane, or pipe the output of ifconfig to a text file. For the hostname, I don't trust the GUI of OS X (no offense to the excellent UX developers employed at Apple). Therefore, use scutil for the names. Also, we'll want that Kerberos information. I usually just grab that from my Server Admin Open Directory screen. Finally, we're also going to get the OD policies using slapconfig again. In sequence, these commands would be:
ifconfig > ~/Desktop/mytextfile
scutil --get HostName >> ~/Desktop/mytextfile
scutil --get ComputerName >> ~/Desktop/mytextfile
scutil --get LocalHostName >> ~/Desktop/mytextfile
sudo slapconfig -getmasterconfig >> ~/Desktop/mytextfile
sudo slapconfig -getmacosxodpolicy >> ~/Desktop/mytextfile
Also, backup any certificates, custom service principals you may have installed or other service data or data data that is needed on the host, if any.
Once you've got all of the important stuff backed up and know what you're going to call the server moving forward, it's time to install the operating system. If the server came with a Lion operating system pre-installed, skip this part. Use a Lion computer to create a recovery partition using the Recovery Disk Assistant.
Once you have a valid recovery partition (on a thumb drive for now), boot to it on the server you are upgrading and wipe the system through Disk Utility. This step is probably pretty scary. And it should be. Make sure all your data is backed up before you do it. By the way, if you haven't copied the mytextfile then think long and hard about whether there's anything else missing before you start the reformat process on that drive (I seem to have to learn all of my lessons the hard way)… I also like to have a clone of the system as a back-out plan, just in case there are any problems with the upgrade. It adds a little latency but I've had to revert a few times with these upgrades, and having that clone sure beats pulling an all nighter…
Once wiped, Choose the Reinstall Lion option and install the operating system. Then install all available patches (10.7.3 or higher is very, very important, btw). Once installed, use the App Store to buy Lion Server and install it, but don't open it just yet.
Remember those commands from earlier. When possible, Open Directory upgrades the smoothest when the IP address and host name are the same. Therefore, look at your mytextfile. Setup the IP information the same as it was, verifying against ifconfig and then use the first host name from the scutil output to configure the HostName (using mdm.krypted.com as my example):
sudo scutil --set HostName mdm.krypted.com
Then the second host name:
sudo scutil --set ComputerName mdm.krypted.com
And finally, the third:
sudo scutil --set LocalHostName mdm
Now check changeip:
sudo changeip -checkhostname
If it gives you the all clear, you're ready to proceed. Next, download the Server Admin tools from Apple at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1488.
Provided that the installation is good, the host names match up in scutil and the IP address is the same as it was, open the Server app for the first time (from /Applications). The server will install the various components that complete the installation. Once installed, click on the Next Steps drawer and verify that the host name is good. If it is, you should see a message similar to the one below.
Now promote your server. It's going to be tempting to use Server Admin or slapconfig. If you use slapconfig you will regret it unless you use the new options supplied by Apple. Why? Because the Server app gracefully creates SSL certificates used in directory services binding; certificates that are not created with the old style slapconfig commands. Given that I've not seen complete documentation for slapconfig (many of the options required for correct scripted promotion in Lion aren't actually in the man page), I'd just use the GUI for now (and if you don't like using a GUI, then I challenge you to build OpenLDAP, Kerberos and all the other components setup by the Server app from source – that might cure the CLI snobbiness we all have from time to time). Also, be careful with how you promote/demote – this article outlines some reasons not to use slapconfig -destroyldapserver any more.
From the Server app, click on Users in the Server sidebar. Here, you'll notice that all of the accounts that are listed are black busts of users. Groups are similar. So far, all users created are automatically local users. If that's not what you want, remove any of those accounts prior to continuing.
Click on Manage Network Accounts… to bring up the Configure Network Users and Groups wizard. Click Next at the introductory screen.
Then provide the Directory Administrator information (e.g. diradmin with a password of diradmin for the security conscious) and click on Next.
At the Organization Information enter the information you want on the SSL certificate that is automatically generated for Open Directory. This includes the Organization Name and Admin Email address (this might not be enough information for some SSL providers, but it's a good start) and click on Next.
At the Confirm Settings screen, verify your information is as intended and then click on Set Up. The Open Directory Master is created. Once created, all new users will have the same icon as the local users, with the exception of a globe to indicate they are network accounts. Now check your logs to make sure everything installed smoothly.
Importing Users, Groups and Computers
Provided that the host name and IP address are the same on your server, importing the data back into Open Directory couldn't be easier. Open Server Admin and then click on Open Directory and then on Archive in the top icon bar. Here, click on Choose and browse to the dmg you created when backing up the server. Click Restore and enter the password previously supplied. You can also import users from within the Server app.
Now that your users are back, it's time to make sure they're a member of the groups that provide access to services. These are hidden by default, so in the Server app, use the Show System Accounts option under the View menu or if you'd rather use Workgroup Manager use Show System Records under the View menu to see the groups. Each service has a different group name. For example, Profile Manager is the Profile Manager ACL (or com.apple.access_devicemanagement for the short name) group.
Add each user into the group that needs access to these services, click Save and you're ready to bind some clients!
Binding Clients
Binding clients can be done in a few different ways. You can use a script, a Profile, the Users & Groups System Preference pane or build binding into the imaging process. For the purpose of this example, we'll use the System Preference pane.
To get started, open up the System Preference pane and then click on Users & Groups. From here, click on Login Options and then unlock the lock in the lower left corner of the screen, providing a username and password when prompted.
Click on the Edit… button and then the plus sign ("+"). Then, enter the name of the Open Directory Master (the field will expand with options when you enter the host name.
It's probably best not to use the IP address at this point as the master will have an SSL certificate tied to the name. Click OK to accept the certificate (if it's self-signed) and then the system should finish binding. Once bound, I like to use either id or dscl to verify that directory accounts are properly resolving before I try logging in as an Open Directory user.
Provided everything works that's it. The devil is of course in the details. Good luck!
krypted February 15th, 2012
Posted In: Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Mac Security, Mass Deployment
Tags: archive, import users, lion server, Mac OS X Server, migrate from Snow Leopard to Lion Server, Open Directory, restore, SSL


text:
Yesterday was a holiday for the gothic-industrial rock world. Marilyn Manson released Born Villain, the absolutely irreverent, diabolical, and raunchy set of new jams. The album is just over an hour containing a mixed bag of volatile vocals, demonic sounds and a couple songs that fall short of Manson's antiglorious persona. The album isn't revolutionary, but is undeniably Manson through and through.
So here is a song-by-song review of the albums highest point and missed marks.
#1 "Hey, Cruel World…" begins the album with the usual recipe. Begin blending harmony and distortion, add some blasphemy, and then apply ample terrifying amounts of anger. Exactly what you'd expect to hear from Manson even three years later. Hey, Cruel World… Tour is still on going.
#2 "No Reflection" is the comeback single released in March. A truly great tune with some death metal influence while retaining its classic Manson-ness. The lyrical play-on-words express how clever the band can be even through such depravity. "No Reflection" also has a music video complete with witchcraft, destruction, and creepy bleeding women.
#3 "Pistol Whipped" is probably one of the funnest songs on the album, as revolting as that may seem. The song's violent and subliminally sexual themes are easy to beebop your headphones to.
#4 "Overneath the Path of Misery" opens with a strangely mesmerizing intro before crashing you out of the trance with unrelenting industrial riffs. The song has enough allusions to classical literature to cause the more heady listener to dive into the deeper meanings ad nauseum. With so much wicked emotion and rage packed vocals, there is more than enough hate to love here.
#5 "Slo-Mo-Tion" is exactly what it says it is; a slow motion song with emphasis on the lyrics. Very similar to Mechanical Animals. It also may be good for the casual listener who may not like the rash and brash screaming of Manson's other music.
#6 "The Gardener" is an interesting song. It is mostly spoken word with exception of the chorus. The lyrics sound more like an angsty teen's poetry: "I'm not man enough to be human, but I'm trying to fit in, and I'm learning to fake it." The palpable Manson themes of empty social interaction and individuality pervade the poetry though. It is a caustic reflection about how faking it will stop personal growth. A very different style than the rest of the album, but good none the less.
#7 "The Flowers of Evil" has a catchy chorus and a speedy background guitar. A feel good goth song about zombies, or vampires, or whatever nightmare creature Manson's mind conjured from the grave.
#8 "Children of Cain" has the best lyrics on the new album. Darkwave tones sinks deep into your eardrums while Manson chokes out blasphemous lyrics. "Watching monkey suicide, Sundays AIDS and church wine wash it away". Here is the anger every Manson fan has been waiting for. This song is the villainous resurrection of Antichrist Superstar almost 15 years ago.
#9 "Disengaged" cranks up the distortion. Turn this song up and fill your anger while yelling "It was regret, not an apology". Overall, a strong four out of five for this song.
#10 "Lay Down Your Goddamn Arms" is missing so much. Whether or not you agree with Manson's views, he has always been a type of social reformer through his controversial music. This song is just too blatant on theme, not to mention far too close to generic rock. The raspy power cords and bland lyrics could be performed by any rock band on any popular alternative rock station. Definitely more should be expected from the industrial artist.
#11 "Murders Are Getting Prettier Every Day" Its time to beat the hell out of your ear drums. Screeching and squealing police sirens mix with the sound of tortured guitar riffs and powerful drumming. This song gives new meaning to the word cacophony. This track has all the energy Manson fans have kept pent up for the past three years. You can completely empty your lung crying out the lyrics. Three words, Manson is back.
#12 "Born Villain" is that beautiful feel-bad music which has made the artist so popular. Slow and almost acoustic notes open the track. This type of dark sound just sinks right into the listener. "I don't ever want god to hear our screams, and mistake them for prayers." There is a much cleaner method to this track than typical of Manson's discography. "Born Villain" is an appropriate namesake to carry on Manson's career.
#13 "Breaking the Same Old Ground" is one of the album's best tracks. The mournful guitar playing background and the hypnotic whispering gives a very vintage Manson feel. The title itself "Breaking the Same Old Ground" almost gives a sense of Manson reflecting on his own work. This self-questioning through killer new tunes has always been a strong backbone for an artist who defies convention. Slightly reminiscent to "This Is The New S***" and the lyrics "Do we need it? No! Do we want it? Yeah!" This track is a reason to keep loving Manson.
#14 "You're So Vain" features Johnny Depp believe it or not. Manson takes and twist the popular 1970's pop song. Manson has long been known for his dark regurgitating of cover songs with a complete new emotion, for example "Halloween" from the Disney movie Nightmare Before Christmas or the ever popular "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics. Manson's "You're So Vain" is regrettably missing the unmatched genre splicing of his past cover songs. Johnny Depp barely makes any difference in the track and the clear marketing technique for his new movie Dark Shadows, cannot be ignored.
Overall the album is a good addition to Manson's 7 other studio albums. The band could have taken the musical composition further and some tracks were lacking in creativity. But Born Villain is a good album for any fans industrial collection.
Tags: album review, Blaze 1330, Born Villian, goth, Industrial, Marilyn Manson, new album
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012 at 3:39 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Discussion in 'Pacific Region' started by chris672, Dec 20, 2002.


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debugger woes with MathLink r12 on Windows: "The breakpoint will not currently be hit."
When I set a breakpoint in my MathLink C++ code and then run it in the
VS.NET 2003 debugger, a question mark appears in the left column over
the breakpoint icon (indicated by a red circle) and a tooltip appears which
"The breakpoint will not currently be hit.
No executable code is currently loaded at this location."
What's up with this? Why isn't the VS debugger setting a valid breakpoint
in my source code? It's as if the .pdb file is corrupt or something, since
the debugger can't find the source code.
A Google search for this error turned up other people having similar
problems for their *managed* C++, C# and VB.NET projects, but I could find
no one who had the problem for *unmanaged* C++ code (which is what my
MathLink project is).
I whittled my VS project down to the simplest "Hello World" example
and put it here (only 90 kb), hoping that some of you Windows MathLink gurus
could help:
I also put a screen shot of my VS screen here so that you can see that VS
claims that it loaded the symbols for my project even though the breakpoint
is invalid:
Did something change in MathLink r12 (the version which came with my
Mathematica 5 installation)? I never had this problem with VS.NET 2002 +
Mathematica 4.2 + MathLink v3r9. Thank you for your help.
Warmest regards, Matt
Matthew D. Langston, Ph.D.
GLAST, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center


text:
Culture and Society
Love Test - Will You Dump Her Because She Is Taller?
CD Mohatta
Let us take an example of a couple. The girl is taller than the man. They are both in deep love. They like each other and they want to be together. But conventions say that man should be taller than the girl. What should they do?
It is because of this belief that girl should be shorter than the boy, that both will be repeatedly taunted by their friends and family. They will be told that it all looks awkward. They will be obliquely advised to separate. The world never lets two lovers live in peace. The world always enters where it has no business. But the trouble is that we cannot go away and stay on a remote island. We have to live in the society and suffer.
If his pair marries, this fact will be pointed out by others and noticed for their lifetime. Even unknown people who have no business will look at them with surprise. That is the reality. In this scenario, what should they do? Should they separate?
Some may opine that they should separate. In my opinion, they should never. As far as they are comfortable with each other, love each other and like each other, they should ignore all the innuendos and stay together. Society has its collective reasoning that has developed over centuries. One of this is that since man is dominant, he should be taller. But society changes with time and conventions change with place. What is not acceptable in one country is welcome in other. Apart from all this reasoning, the central fact is love for each other. Till that remains, the couple should continue life together.
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Shadow People and Sleep Paralysis
By Stuff They Don't Want You to Know via YouTube
Since the dawn of civilization, nightmares have haunted the human mind. But what are they, exactly? Why do some people think they're more than hallucinations? Listen in to learn about the superstition and science surrounding sleep paralysis.
11 Years of Research Found Zero Evidence Mobile Phones Cause Cancer
By Victoria Turk via Motherboard
Well, isn't that a relief? In case you were still worried that little box you hold in very close proximity to your head almost all day every day was quietly warping your brain tissue, you can relax. A lengthy programme of research into the possible health risks of mobile phones has found that, surprise surprise, there's no evidence of any adverse effects.
The research was conducted by the UK-based Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research programme, and was funded by the government and the telecommunications industry to the tune of £13.6 million ($22 million). It involved projects over 11 years (taken together with a previous report in 2007), which resulted in 60 peer-reviewed papers. This thing is pretty comprehensive.
If all that work into an issue many would regard as little more than superstition and technophobia seems a little over the top, we have to remember that back when the project was started, landlines and fax machines were still a thing. MTHR chairman David Coggon, a professor of occupational and environmental medicine at Southampton University, acknowledged this in a release announcing the report: "When the MTHR programme was first set up, there were many scientific uncertainties about possible health risks from mobile phones and related technology."
He went on to effectively sum up the 50-page report in a sentence: "This independent programme is now complete, and despite exhaustive research, we have found no evidence of risks to health from the radio waves produced by mobile phones or their base stations."
While that result might not be unexpected, it at least helps quash some of the conspiracy theories and is more satisfying than previous studies that came to that annoyingly common catch-all conclusion of "more research needed."
Specifically, the programme included projects that debunked rumours like "base stations give pregnant women's future kids cancer" and . . .
Demonic texting
by Gordon Bonnet via Skeptophilia
It's an increasingly technological world out there, and it's to be expected that computers and all of their associated trappings are even infiltrating the world of wacko superstition.
About a year ago, we had a new iPhone app for hunting ghosts, called the "Spirit Story Box." Early this year, there was even a report of a fundamentalist preacher who was doing exorcisms… via Skype. So I suppose it's not surprising that if humans now can use technology to contact supernatural entities of various sorts, the supernatural entities can turn the tables and use our technology against us.
At least, that's the claim of a Roman Catholic priest from Jaroslaw, Poland, named Father Marian Rajchel. According to a story in Metro, Rajchel is a trained exorcist, whatever that means. Which brings up a question: how do you train an exorcist? It's not like there's any way to practice your skills, sort of like working on the dummy dude when you're learning to perform CPR. Do they show instructional videos, using simulations with actors? Do they start the exorcist with something easier, like expelling the forces of evil from, say, a stuffed toy, and then they gradually work their way up to pets and finally to humans? (If exorcists work on pets, I have a cat that one of those guys should really take a look at. Being around this cat, whose name is Geronimo, is almost enough to make me believe in Satan Incarnate. Sometimes Geronimo will sit there for no obvious reason, staring at me with his big yellow eyes, all the while wearing an expression that says, "I will disembowel you while you sleep, puny mortal.")
But I digress.
Father Rajchel was called a while back to perform an exorcism on a young girl, and the exorcism was successful (at least according to him). The girl, understandably, is much better for having her soul freed from a Minion of the Lord of Evil. But the Minion itself apparently was pissed at Rajchel for prying it away from its host, and has turned its attention not on its former victim, but on the unfortunate priest himself.
Apparently such a thing is not unprecedented. According to an article about exorcism over at Ghost Village, being an exorcist is not without its risks:
[John] Zaffis [founder of the Paranormal and Demonology Research Society of New England] said, "You don't know what the outcome of the exorcism is going to be – it's very strong, it's very powerful. You don't know if that person's going to gain an enormous amount of strength, what is going to come through that individual, and being involved, you will also end up paying a price."
Many times the demon will try to attack and attach itself to the priest or minister administering the exorcism. According to Father Martin's book, the exorcist may get physically hurt by an out-of-control victim, could literally lose his sanity, and even death is possible.
So there you are, then. Rajchel, hopefully, knew what he was getting into. But I haven't yet told you how the demon is getting even with Father Rajchel:
It's sending him evil text messages on his cellphone.
James Randi's Response to a Catholic Priest
Via randi.org written by JREF Staff
We get mail: a Catholic Priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago recently sent a veritable love letter to Randi for his decades of good work exposing supernatural fraudsters. It ends with an appeal for JREF staff to convert to Catholicism immediately. He included two objects with the letter:
- An "Image of the Divine Mercy" (which we are told Jesus gave to St. Faustina Kowalska in pre-WWII Poland) and
- a medal that he says the Blessed Mother gave to St. Catherine Laboure in LaSallette, France in 1832.
The priest's big point: "The Lord created the you without your consent, but he will not save you without your consent."
Especially interesting was the talk of Randi's age and how right now is surely the best time for him to finally convert: "Mr. Randi, you doubt so much that I know you must want to believe!"
He also provides some helpful instruction: "Go into a nearby Catholic Church, sit before the Tabernacle (which Catholics believe the Risen Lord Jesus IS Truly, Really, Substantially Present in the Eucharist Host) and open your heart, saying "Lord Jesus, if You are real, give me the grace to believe." Then we are told we can "enter into the Divine Life of the Blessed Trinity!"
Our question is Since when have Catholics become so evangelizing?
We thought you might enjoy reading Randi's response:
Via Skeptic's Dictionary for Kids
In a nutshell: Superstitions are beliefs about the power of things to bring about good or bad when there's no logical or scientific evidence for the belief.
A superstition is a belief that something can cause good or bad to happen when there's no scientific or logical reason for believing it.
It seems that everybody is superstitious about something. Ask anyone if they would wear a sweater worn by somebody who has done the worst evil thing you can imagine. Even though there is no rational or logical reason for believing that an evil person's sweater would feel any different from any other sweater, most people don't want to even come near the sweater of someone they think is evil.
Even grownups who think they are not superstitious will get chills or a good feeling when they touch something that belonged to someone they greatly admire. There is no logical or scientific reason why anything touched by anyone you admire should have any special effect on you. Yet, people will go to great lengths to get an autograph or to visit the home where someone they think is great was born or used to live.
The world does not divide up into the ones who are superstitious and the ones who are not superstitious. We're all superstitious, but not always about the same things. We might laugh when we read about people who used to beat their drums to make the moon give back the sun during an eclipse. But they'd probably laugh at us for trying to touch a rock star or for buying clothes with the name of some singer sewed into them.
Many superstitions start by observing some things that happen by coincidence. You forgot to wash your socks before a baseball game and then you hit a home run. From now on you don't wash your socks before you play a game. You wore your blue sweater to school on the day you aced a test. Now the sweater is your "lucky sweater" and you wear it whenever you have a test. Instead of accepting that things happen by coincidence, we make one the cause of the other. If you stop to think about it, you know there's no logical reason dirty socks should help a baseball player hit a baseball. Wearing a sweater can't substitute for studying for a test.
Many athletes are superstitious. They'll wear twisted ropes around their necks or rubber bands with holograms around their wrists. Why? Not because they think they look good in them, but because they think the ropes and rubber bands can improve their playing. Not likely, you might think. But, if the player really believes his necklace or bracelet helps him, it might relax him and put him in a good mood. Maybe he plays better when he's relaxed and in a good mood. So, magic jewelry might help some people sometimes, but only because of their superstition!
Some superstitions are due to magical thinking. Believing that something evil stays in the sweater of an evil person is type of magical thinking. Thinking that things that look alike share some sort of magical connection is also magical thinking. Just because a plant looks like a kidney doesn't mean it will be good medicine for kidney problems.
Some people think that if they make a doll to stand for some person they can help or hurt the person by helping or hurting the doll. Some people think you can help a person by doing acupuncture on a doll that stands in for the person. Some think that you can make a person feel it if you stick a pin in a doll that stands in for the person. These are examples of more magical thinking.
Magical thinking seems to be based on a belief that there is some sort of energy or essence that things can magically transfer to other things.
What is Numerology?
Via Stuff They Don't Want You to Know – YouTube
Do numbers have some sort of intangible, mystical properties? What exactly is numerology, and why do people put so much stock in it, even today? Listen in to learn more about superstition and the origins of numerology.
Thirteen Common (But Silly) Superstitions
via Discovery News
- One study found that superstitions can sometimes work
- The make a wish on a turkey bone saying dates back to first-century Romans.
- The word friggatriskaidekaphobics describes those afraid of Friday the 13th.
If you are spooked by Friday the 13th, you're in for a whammy of a year. And it would come as no surprise if many among us hold at least some fear of freaky Friday, as we humans are a superstitious lot.
Many superstitions stem from the same human trait that causes us to believe in monsters and ghosts: When our brains can't explain something, we make stuff up. In fact, a 2010 study found that superstitions can sometimes work, because believing in something can improve performance on a task.
Here, then, are 13 of the most common superstitions.
13. Beginner's luck
Usually grumbled by an expert who just lost a game to a novice, "beginner's luck" is the idea that newbies are unusually likely to win when they try out a sport, game or activity for the first time.
Beginners might come out ahead in some cases because the novice is less stressed out about winning. Too much anxiety, after all, can hamper performance. Or it could just be a statistical fluke, especially in chance-based gambling games.
Or, like many superstitions, a belief in beginner's luck might arise because of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is a psychological phenomenon in which people are more likely to remember events that fit their worldview. If you believe you're going to win because you're a beginner, you're more likely to remember all the times you were right — "and forget the times you ended up in last place.
12. Find a penny, pick it up . . .
And all day long, you'll have good luck. This little ditty may arise because finding money is lucky in and of itself. But it might also be a spin-off of another old rhyme, "See a pin, pick it up/ and all day long you'll have good luck/ See a pin, let it lay/ and your luck will pass y."
11. Don't walk under that ladder!
Frankly, this superstition is pretty practical. Who wants to be responsible for stumbling and knocking a carpenter off his perch? But one theory holds that this superstition arises from a Christian belief in the Holy Trinity: Since a ladder leaning against a wall forms a triangle, "breaking" that triangle was blasphemous.
Then again, another popular theory is that a fear of walking under a ladder has to do with its resemblance to a medieval gallows. We're sticking with the safety-first explanation for this one.
10. Black cats crossing your path
As companion animals for humans for thousands of years, cats play all sorts of mythological roles. In ancient Egypt, cats were revered; today, Americans collectively keep more than 81 million cats as pets.
So why keep a black cat out of your path? Most likely, this superstition arises from old beliefs in witches and their animal familiars, which were often said to take the form of domestic animals like cats.
9. A rabbit's foot will bring you luck
Talismans and amulets are a time-honored way of fending off evil; consider the crosses and garlic that are supposed to keep vampires at bay. Rabbit feet as talismans may hark back to early Celtic tribes in Britain. They may also arise from hoodoo, a form of African-American folk magic and superstition that blends Native American, European and African tradition. [Rumor or Reality: The Creatures of Cryptozoology]
8. Bad luck comes in threes
Remember confirmation bias? The belief that bad luck comes in threes is a classic example. A couple things go wrong, and believers may start to look for the next bit of bad luck. A lost shoe might be forgotten one day, but seen as the third in a series of bad breaks the next.
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- Friday the 13th: Superstition, Magic and Mental Illness (livescience.com)
- Friday the 13th: the Top 10 Superstitions (gonedigging.co.uk)
- Superstition (ljanning11.wordpress.com)
- Today Is "Friday the 13th" : FACTS and MYTHS (darcxed.wordpress.com)
- Why Does Friday the 13th Scare Us So Much? (news.nationalgeographic.com)
- Superstitions and why you should (maybe) believe them (gentwenty.com)
- Bon Appetit: 21 Weird Food Superstitions (huffingtonpost.com)
- Bad-Luck Busters: Friday the 13th With an Anti-Superstition Society (life.time.com)
via The Skeptic s Dictionary – Skepdic.com
"The superstitious man is to the rogue what the slave is to the tyrant." —Voltaire
A superstition is a false belief based on ignorance (e.g., if we don't beat the drums during an eclipse, the evil demon won't return the sun to the sky), fear of the unknown (e.g., if we don't chop up this chicken in just the right way and burn it according to tradition while uttering just the right incantations then the rain won't come and our crops won't grow and we'll starve), trust in magic (e.g., if I put spit or dirt on my beautiful child who has been praised, the effects of the evil eye will be averted), trust in chance (if I open this book randomly and let my finger fall to any word that word will guide my future actions), or some other false conception of causation (e.g., homeopathy, therapeutic touch, vitalism, creationism, or that I'll have good luck if I carry a rabbit's foot or bad luck if a black cat crosses my path).
The indiscriminate power of nature is obvious. For as long as humans have been making sounds and instruments, magical methods have been created in the attempt to control the forces of nature and the life and death matters of daily existence. Good and evil befall us without rhyme or reason. We imagine spirits or intelligible forces causing our good and bad fortune. We invent ways to placate them or direct them. Many of the superstitions we developed seemed to work because we didn't know how to properly evaluate them. There are many instances of selective thinking that might lead to a superstitious belief that something is good or bad luck, for example. The "curse of Pele" exemplifies this kind of superstition. According to one website devoted to the legend of the Hawaiian goddess Pele:
It is well known to locals on the island of Hawaii, that there is a curse upon those who take one of Pele's lava rocks. It is said that he who takes a lava rock, is taking something from Pele and shall receive bad luck because of it. In the old days people were said to die from the curse, but now you only receive bad luck.
Every day, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park receives several rocks from people who took them home from the park and are returning them because of the bad luck they've had since taking the rocks. Many of these people think there is a causal connection between their taking the rocks and their perceived bad luck because their bad luck came after they took the rocks. Of course, their perceived bad luck may have happened even if they hadn't taken any rocks from the park. Or they may not have paid much attention to the "bad luck" had they not heard there was a curse associated with taking the rocks. Such people may . . .
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- #homeopathy – The Skeptic's Dictionary – Skepdic.com (matteorossinifano.wordpress.com)
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- Do traditional Chinese death beliefs increase superstition and anxiety about death? (secularnewsdaily.com)
A Time for Reflection: Mirrors in Folklore and Superstition
By Josh Sanofsky via Who Forted? Magazine
Since mankind first saw its own reflection, we have been fascinated by surfaces that cast our image back to us. Possibly because of that fascination, there is an incredibly wide variety of superstitions, myths and urban legends surrounding mirrors specifically and reflective bodies in general.
Everyone has heard, for example, that breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck. This superstition dates back to the Romans, who believed that life renewed itself every seven years, and that breaking a mirror would thus cause damage to the soul it was reflecting at the time for that duration.
That's the bad news. The good news is that there are a number of folk remedies for relieving the seven years of bad luck. Early American slaves believed that the bad luck could be washed away by immersing the pieces of the broken mirror in south-flowing water for seven hours. Another tale says that the seven years of bad luck may be kept from taking effect by grinding the shards of the mirror into a fine powder so that they no longer reflect any images at all. Still another says that putting the broken pieces in a bag and burying it will accomplish the same thing.
Mirrors were often used in magical and psychic rituals for scrying – remotely viewing another person or place – and communicating. They could also be used in magical rituals of divination – fortune telling and reading of the future. This was known as catoptromancy or enoptromancy, and was described in an ancient Greek text as being performed by lowering a mirror on a thread until
Keep Reading: A Time for Reflection: Mirrors in Folklore and Superstition | Who Forted? Magazine.
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13 Strange Things That Happened on Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th is synonymous with bad luck and superstitions — so much so that some people flat-out refuse to fly, make business deals or get married on this fateful day.
As many as 21 million people in the United States are fearful of Friday the 13th, according to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, N.C., which estimates that $800 million to $900 million is lost in business every Friday the 13th because of fears of the doomed day. [Top 10 Phobias]
But is there really a reason to be so apprehensive of a day that's technically just like any other? Of course not, scientists say. You can pick out any date on the calendar or any day in history and find some weird stuff that's happened. For fun, we've rounded up 13 events — some tragic, some just plain strange — that happened on a Friday the 13th: 13 Strange Things That Happened on Friday the 13th | LifesLittleMysteries.com.
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- Friday 13th – Just Another Day? (learningmadefun.typepad.com)
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Is Friday the 13th Really Unlucky? • Friday the 13th and Bad Luck
The number 13 is synonymous with bad luck. It's considered unlucky to have 13 guests at a dinner party, many buildings don't have a 13th floor and most people avoid getting married or buying a house on a day marked by this dreaded number. Particularly superstitious folks even avoid driving on Friday the 13th.
But is there any statistical proof to support the notion that Friday the 13th — or even just the number 13 itself — is unlucky?
"No data exists, and will never exist, to confirm that the number 13 is an unlucky number," said Igor Radun of the Human Factors and Safety Behavior Group at the University of Helsinki's Institute of Behavioural Sciences in Finland. "There is no reason to believe that any number would be lucky or unlucky."
Keep Reading: Statistically Speaking, Is Friday the 13th Really Unlucky? | Friday the 13th and Bad Luck | Superstitions | LifesLittleMysteries.com.
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- Fear factor: It's Friday the 13th again (content.usatoday.com)
- 13 Freaky Facts About Friday the 13th (sott.net)
- Responding to lucky and unlucky numbers (bbc.co.uk)
- Friday, The 13th ! (shreyathinks.wordpress.com)
- Adopt a Black Cat for $13 This Friday the 13th (laist.com)
Did Cold Weather Cause the Salem Witch Trials?
By Natalie Wolchover via LiveScience
Historical records indicate that, worldwide, witch hunts occur more often during cold periods, possibly because people look for scapegoats to blame for crop failures and general economic hardship. Fitting the pattern, scholars argue that cold weather may have spurred the infamous Salem witch trials in 1692.
The theory, first laid out by the economist Emily Oster in her senior thesis at Harvard University eight years ago, holds that the most active era of witchcraft trials in Europe coincided with a 400- year period of lower-than-average temperature known to climatologists as the "little ice age."Oster, now an associate professor of economics at the University of Chicago, showed that as the climate varied from year to year during this cold period, lower temperatures correlated with higher numbers of witchcraft accusations.
Keep Reading: Did Cold Weather Cause the Salem Witch Trials? | Weather Patterns & Witchcraft Accusations | Bizarre News | LiveScience.
Related articles
- 10 Tests For Guilt at the Salem Witch Trials (illuminutti.com)
- 10 Tests For Guilt at the Salem Witch Trials (listverse.com)


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Proudly display your name and theirs with this customized lanyard.
100GSM Jumbo grocery custom tote bags are heavyweight and designed to replace your disposable paper and plastic shopping bags.
A promotional sling bag that can easily be carried on one shoulder.
Includes a 65 pages of recycled paper in this hot promotional jotter with pen.
The Light Bulb Promotional Jar Opener is a bright idea for your next promotion.
Nothing generates awareness for your cause or event like awareness event promotional products from ePromos. From awareness bracelets and ribbons to stickers and magnets, we have the perfect awareness promos for you.


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Bermuda packs an awful lot of beauty into its 21 square miles.
With seven championship-quality golf courses, 181 named islands and innumerable pristine beaches, Bermuda is a fantastic holiday destination.
But don't just take our word for it; see for yourself with this exclusive gallery of some of the best Bermuda has to offer.
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Hard to believe, based on the current temperatures we've been having, but, it is still Winter! That's all about to change this Saturday, March 20th - the first day of Spring! Or as we refer to it at the Library - The Very Hungry Caterpillar Day! This classic children's book written by Eric Carle is now in it's 47th year of publication! A favorite of children and adults of all ages, it is the perfect story about the changes the season of Spring can bring! A very hungry little caterpillar eats his way through a variety of foods, becomes a very big caterpillar, forms his cocoon, sleeps for 2 weeks and emerges a beautiful butterfly! After enjoying this book with your child, have fun on the official Eric Carle website with games and book related activities! Happy Spring!
Today is the official first day of Spring and the 46th anniversary of the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle! While you are enjoying what we hope to be some beautiful Texas Spring like weather, please take a moment to share this classic book with your child along with the many fabulous Eric Carle books we have at the Library. If you can't make it to the Library, access the official Eric Carle website for fun and educational stories, games and activities! Happy Spring!
Eric Carle's books for children are known world wide. Today, June 25th, is his Birthday so I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you.
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Tossed Salad Recipe
To speed up the preparation of this salad even more, you can slice the vegetables when you have time, either early in the day or the night before.
- 5 cups torn mixed greens
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- 1 cup sliced radishes
- 1 cup sliced red onion
- 1/4 cup bacon bits
- 2/3 cup canola oil
- 1/3 cup cider vinegar
- 1-1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1. In a salad bowl, toss the first five ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Yield: 6 servings.
Nutritional Facts
1 cup: 257 calories, 25g fat (3g saturated fat), 3mg cholesterol, 660mg sodium, 6g carbohydrate (3g sugars, 2g fiber), 3g protein.
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Factory Five Racing Spec Racer
An enticing new way to go racing on the cheap.
Although we didn't have the pleasure of building the car ourselves, after driving it, we were impressed. The car felt solid, not flexy, as we expected. There was enough legroom for a six-foot test driver. The pedals were a bit tight but not unmanageable. Shifting is via a forward-facing lever, as in an original Cobra, and it moved through the H-pattern with satisfying crispness.
The manual steering was stiff and hard to turn at low speeds, but it lightened up when the pace quickened. We could feel cornering forces build through the wheel, and there wasn't any excess play. Dave Smith says they tried using the Mustang's power-steering gear and found it made the car too twitchy.
The FFR car was quick, scooting to 60 mph in a Corvette-comparable 4.8 seconds and clearing the quarter-mile in 13.6 seconds at 99 mph. The spec racer is the benefactor of Mustang pieces that were designed for a heavier car. Mustangs of the donor vintage weigh roughly 3200 pounds. The spec racer weighs only 2305 pounds, with about 55 percent of the weight on the rear axle. So brakes that would overheat in the heavier Mustang haul the spec racer down from 70 mph in 181 feet with little fade.
After breezing through our testing regime and posting 1.01 g on the skidpad, the thought of racing one of these became a no-brainer. We could push the car confidently, and it never threatened to spin. Neutral was the word of the day. Sign us up!
The Factory Five Racing Challenge Series is sanctioned by the National Auto Sport Association. In its debut year, the races were all held at the new Virginia International Raceway and Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia. For 2001, a series in northern California and one in the Southwest are planned as well.
Racing the car shouldn't wound the wallet too badly, as much of the running gear (hubs, bearings, and brakes) is proven durable Mustang stuff. More important, the rules were written to ensure parity. Chief among them is an engine-claiming rule that allows officials to inspect the engine and confiscate it if it's anything other than a stock Mustang V-8. Tires will be the biggest cost, as the mandated Kumho DOT-legal racing tires are about $600 a set. Entry fees are about $100 per weekend.
As of this writing, FFR has shipped 17 spec-racer kits. The first race in Virginia had a field of five cars, and we're sure the sight of Cobras dicing it up on the track was well worth seeing.
Factory Five Racing, 18 Kendrick Road, Wareham, Massachusetts 02571; 508- 291-3443; www.factoryfive.com.
Unequal-length control arms and manual steering rack (right) are provided by FFR. Simple dash with classic gauges looks cool, but you'll want to add a more accurate tach.
Old Mustangs have a new purpose: Add one FFR kit, one Ford Mustang. Start wrenching. Drive.


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When these baby otters first came out to play they gave their keepers at an aquarium in Cheshire a big surprise!
These cute cubs have white fur, unlike their mother. Experts think they are the first to be born in captivity in the UK.
Otters normally have brown fur. Scientists think they have a rare condition which makes their fur white.


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Jeff Biggers has interviews with Wendell Berry, Stanley Sturgill, Teri Blanton, and many others from last weekend's sit-in in the Kentucky Governor's offices to protest mountaintop removal coal mining in Kentucky.
Author Wendell Berry and 13 other environmental activists emerged from the state Capitol on Monday, Feb. 14 to roars of approval and applause, ending their four-day occupation of Gov. Steve Beshear's outer office.
The protesters joined several hundred people on the Capitol steps for the "I Love Mountains" rally, an annual event held to promote "stream saver" legislation that effectively would end mountaintop removal coal mining in Eastern Kentucky. Previous bills died for lack of action; similarly, this year's bills are languishing in committee.
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The credits for this production have not yet been completed or verified.
Jolson's 59th Street Theatre, (4/02/1923 - 4/14/1923)
Category: Musical, Comedy, Revival, Broadway
Description: A musical in three acts
Setting: The piano store; the music room of the Marshall estate; 9th Avenue; Madame Lucy's salon; the Palais Royale; outside the marquee tent; the Italian garden.
music by Harry Tierney; lyrics by Joseph McCarthy