Ruby/SSL:sslv3 alert handshake failure - ruby

Question

Please note I have reviewed as many of the articles on here about this issue and the sample/example code I am showing is one of a dozen variations I have tried based on my reading. So please don't RTFM or the like.
I am writing a simple ruby script to log in/logout of a web app. Unfortunately it is https, and in my attempts it seems like ssl is a much harder "easy programming" scenario than I thought.
I am running this script on a stock Kali installation. I am justing Ruby 1.9.1. The error I am getting is:
/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/net/http.rb:799:in `connect': SSL_connect returned=1 errno=0 state=SSLv3 read finished A: sslv3 alert handshake failure (OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError)
from /usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/net/http.rb:799:in `block in connect'
from /usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/timeout.rb:54:in `timeout'
from /usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/timeout.rb:99:in `timeout'
from /usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/net/http.rb:799:in `connect'
from /usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/net/http.rb:755:in `do_start'
from /usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/net/http.rb:744:in `start'
from ./capture_ids.rb:27:in `block in <main>'
from ./capture_ids.rb:18:in `each'
from ./capture_ids.rb:18:in `<main>'
Here is my ruby script:
#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require 'net/http'
require 'net/https'
require 'openssl'
puts OpenSSL::OPENSSL_VERSION
puts "SSL_CERT_FILE: %s" % OpenSSL::X509::DEFAULT_CERT_FILE
puts "SSL_CERT_DIR: %s" % OpenSSL::X509::DEFAULT_CERT_DIR
login_str = "https://192.168.0.251/~login_handler?UserName=foo&Password=bar"
logout_str = "https://192.168.0.251/~logout_handler?session_id="
seqids = Array.new
puts "Starting capture..."
puts "Staring loop..."
for num in 0..2 do
puts "doing iteration #{num}"
uri = URI.parse(login_str)
https = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
https.use_ssl = true
# https.cert_store = OpenSSL::X509::Store.new
# https.cert_store.set_default_paths
https.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE
req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri.path)
https.start {
res = https.request(req)
}
# puts "*********** Here is the response ***************"
# puts res
# puts "*********** End of response ********************"
start_pt = res.index("name=")
end_pt = res.index(" src=")
seq_id = res.slice(start_pt, end_pt)
puts "Sequence id is " + seq_id
seqids << seq_id
uri = URI.parse(logout_str)
https = Net::HTTP::new(uri.host, uri.port)
https.use_ssl = true
# https.cert_store = OpenSSL::X509::Store.new
# https.cert_store.set_default_paths
https.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri.path)
https.start {
https.request(req)
}
end
My SSL dir/certs are:
SSL_CERT_FILE: /usr/lib/ssl/cert.pem
SSL_CERT_DIR: /usr/lib/ssl/certs
And yes I have confirmed things are there. I also have tried to download new cert files and ca files and use them and put them in there.
What magic ju ju beads do I have to shake?