Ulmer’s Home Page

Well, we’ll see how this works.

This is a test post so i can divine the post type in the database

Apparently there’s no good/easy uprade path from wordpress 2.0.something to whatever version this is… so I’ve been hacking on the database for a few hours. Almost there, though I haven’t copied over any images or custom CSS. Maybe this weekend.

This is a copy of the response I received from the TSA about my complaint.

Thank you for your e-mail.  
 
The Transportation Security Administration’s current security screening procedures require all carry-on luggage and accessible property be screened before passengers take them onboard an aircraft.  Regardless of whether an item is on the prohibited or permitted items list, the Transportation Security Officers (TSO’s) have discretion to prohibit an individual from carrying an item through the screening checkpoint or onboard an aircraft if the item poses a security threat.    
 
Therefore, TSA security screening personnel make the final decision on whether to permit items like a Tide pen into the sterile area of the airport.  Should you need additional assistance, feel free to contact us at toll free 866-289-9673.
 
Please visit our website at www.tsa.gov (http://www.tsa.gov/) for additional information about TSA.  We continue to add new information and encourage you to check the website frequently for updated information.  
 
We hope this information is helpful.
 
TSA Contact Center

This is the copy I received of the complaint I filed using the free wireless access from teh secure area of the Gainesville, FL (GNV) airport.

To: tsa-contactcenter@dhs.gov
Category: Complaints
Sub Category: All Other Complaints

Message:

While passing through security at the Gainesville Regional Airport (GNV), my Tide(R) pen was confiscated form by quart zipper-top bag by a TSA agent.

When Asked why, I was told that bleach was not allowed on the airplane. When I pointed out that the product does not contain bleach, I was told that all hazardous substances were not allowed. I asked what about the soap and water inside the Tide pen was hazardous, and was told to "get going".

I can understand an agent at a busy airport having a bad day - -but GNV is by no means busy, the TSA checkpoint was (over)-fully staffed, and there was no reason to confiscate my item.

It is very clear to me that the agent made a mistake and then didn’t want to admit to that mistake in front of his co-workers or a customer, there was very little that was professional about out interaction.

I have the right to understand why items are confiscated form me - particularly common items that I have flown with — form the same airport, with the same agent checking my bag — dozens of times.

Please educate your agents, and maybe start looking out for security rather than buys-work.

Regards,
Stephen Ulmer

Yet another example of idiocy provided by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA): While travelling from Gainesville, FL (GNV) to Atlanta, GA (ATL) on Delta airlines, my Tide Pen was confiscated.

Why am I angry about this? Well, I can tell you it’s not because of the $4 that my government has illegally confiscated — if that bothered me I’d make a FairTax reference. No, I’m angry because the reason that my Tide Pen was confiscated is because the dolt of a TSA agent arbitrarily decided tha the was going to take mine. That’s it. More you say?

So the agent looks at the items in my 1 qt. zipper-top bag, removes my Tide Pen, and then tells me that I can’t have that in the airport. When asked why, I was told that you can’t take bleach on an airplane. Well duh. So I pointed out that the confiscated product did not contain any bleach what-so-ever. I was then told that all hazardous substances were banned form airplanes. Okay. So i asked what about the product was hazardous, and if the rules had been change recently. That was when I was told to move along. So the guy who has probably just figured out that he is a federal employee has refused to answer my question.

While cro mangon man was pointedly ignoring me, I asked to speak to a supervisor. It was at this point he told me that I should move along or face arrest. For asking a question in a not-busy third-tier airport after having been deprived of my property? Arrest?

Had I been traveling under different circumstances, I might have called his bluff — I could do with owning where-ever this guy lives…

I recently took a job working for my University’s IBM Business Partner, e-TechServices.com

e-Tech has been performing services since their inception, but they recently decided to expand their business in that area. To accomplish this, they hired a Managing Principal for Services, a Practice Principal, and a Systems Engineer. I’m the System Engineer.

So what does that actually mean? I do services perform work, that is, I go on-site with the customer and make the solution work. Sometimes this means that I physically install the equipment, other times it means that I just configure it.  Most of the time, it means that I interact with the client and make sure that they understand how to use their new gear. A significant number of my first engagements have been teaching customers about equipment or software they already own.

After my last MythTV box died, Eli BenShoshan, a former coworker of mine, pointed me at LixSystems, LLC. They make small, ultra quiet media center computers that are Linux-friendly. These things totally rock! Mine came yesterday, just in time for me to work on it this weekend.

Since my last box was completely toasted, I just started my MythTV installation over from scratch — abandoning all of my previously recorded material. I started by trying to boo the Gentoo install-amd64-2006.1 ISO — no luck. Some significant Google-time paid off, though.  It turns out that the motherboard in my little system (an Asus M2NPV-VM) is missing a bug that some previous nVidia-based Asus boards exhibited. The work-around present in the Linux kernel created a race condition that caused the system to deadlock when booting. Whee!

So I used an older CD to boot, and just installed the 2006.1 stage3 tarball anyway. I wanted to use a 2.6.18 kernel, so I could use the 0.8 branch of IVTV. Before compiling, I applied a patch to circumvent the lack-of-bug problem with the nVidia chipset. Once I got the system to boot (and figured out how to compile a kernel that actually worked) the thing was up pretty quickly.

I’ve recently had bunches of hardware problems at home — every stinkin’ system that I own (except my Thinkpad) has an issue.

The one that ticks me off the most is my MythTV system. I built it myself, in an Antec Overture case with a Tyan dual Opteron board, running a single Opteron 246. The thing is beautiful, and served me well for almost a year.

The system disk started to have unrecoverable errors, so I was already looking at it pretty closely. I had started to move data around on the disk to avoid the bad area when the DVD+RW drive stopped working. That was too much of a coincidence — neither of these devices were near their MTBF — so I opened up the case and started to look around. Seeing nothing unusual, I tried to power it up again. Hmmm… Nothing.

So I did what any engineer would do: unplug it, reseat the components, examine it closely, and try it again. 

Holy crow! I can only describe the next sequence of events as "a catastrophic power supply failure". There was a very large arc, and a very small ball of plasma. Given this, I’m just going to assume that the entire system is compromised and start from scratch…

I listen almost exclusively to talk radio and music to which I’ve danced.  Of course there is the occasional southern rock band, or novelty record. Okay, lots of novelty records…but I digress.

WSKY, 97.3 FM, is a local News/Talk station in Gainesville, FL. Some of the local jocks had been using tunes by The Right Brothers as bumper music. Well one of them managed to get the the whole band (both of them) as guests on an afternoon show. They’re hilarious! In particular, you should listen to their song, "What About the Issues?" (free download)

They composed this song after getting several thousand emails, of which only two were interested in having an actual persuasive discussion — the rest were just as you might expect from the title. Their music seems to be varied in style: I would describe some of it as metal and some as country (go figure). These guys appear to be real musicians — not synthesizer pilots. They lyrics are what you might expect if Rush had had Neal Boortz writing their songs instead of Neil Pert — well, if Boortz had been introduced to them before Libertarianism had taken over his entire brain.

Come to think of it, I’d like to hear a collaboration by those two… 

Today I watched a lilly open. It didn’t take as long as I thought…