This and That

Fly the friendly skies.

Pythias Brown, 48, of Maplewood, New Jersey, regularly sold the high-priced video cameras, laptop computers, and global positioning systems on eBay using the handle “alirla”, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Newark. Brown told investigators he began stealing the items in September 2007 while screening luggage at Newark Liberty International Airport.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/14/tsa_screener_theft/

It’s not the first time baggage screeners/handlers have been busted for stealing from passengers.

New York Times. August 12, 2004.
4 Baggage Screeners Arrested; TV Stars Were Among Victims

[PDF] Press Release December 7, 2007.
Jacksonville Airport Baggage Screener and Three Baggage Handlers Arrested for Thefts

Jan. 21, 2003.

With the signing of the act, airport security came under direct federal responsibility for the first time in airline history. Strict new requirements have been adopted to screen checked baggage. At airports, a new security force of federally-employed managers, supervisors, law enforcement officers and screeners is posted to check passengers and carry-on bags. TSA hired 23,000 baggage screeners and 33,000 passenger screeners to help shoulder the load.

http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/tsa-pr.cfm

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David Letterman Reacts to John McCain Suspending Campaign

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Robert Half Technology, a California-based staffing company that provides information technology professionals, asked 1,400 CIOs nationwide for the most unusual queries their help desks/technical support team had received.

Their responses included:

* “Why isn’t my wireless mouse connected to the computer?”
* “My laptop was run over by a truck. What should I do?”
* “Can you rearrange the keyboard alphabetically?”
* “How do I read my e-mail?”
* “My computer is telling me to press any key to continue. Where is the ‘any’ key?”
* “Can you reset the Internet for me?”
* “There are animal crackers in my CD-ROM drive.”
* “Can you build me a robot?”

Some end users called to report problems with mice — not the electronic kind — and other pests. To wit:

* “Can you get the mice out of the ceiling?”
* “A server went down, and I found a lizard had crawled into it and died.”
* “A skunk ate my cable.”

Other requests signal more trouble than just a technical glitch. Here are some examples:

* “How can I block e-mail from my manager?”
* “Can I open the bank safe using my computer?”
* “Can you install cable TV on my PC?”
* “Can you order joysticks so that we can play video games?”
* “I’d like to stop receiving e-mail on Fridays.”

Help desk professionals are known for lending a hand, but these end users took the concept too far:

* “Can you come and install my car stereo?”
* “Where can I locate dry ice?”
* “I’d like wireless computer access in my motor home.”
* “Can you fix my typewriter?”
* “How long does it take to bake a potato in a microwave?”
* “My daughter is locked in the bathroom, can you pick the lock?”
* “Can you tell me the weather forecast for next year?”
* “The elevator is broken.”
* “How do I wire a robotic turkey?”
* “Where can I get software to track UFOs?”
* “Can you repair my motorbike?”

Katherine Spencer Lee, the executive director of Robert Half Technology, said in the Press Release,
“These unusual requests highlight the need for technical support personnel to also demonstrate patience, empathy and a sense of humor,”

Be honest now, how many of you think that slot that pops out of the computer, (otherwise known as a CD Drive), is a nice convenience to hold your coffee cup.

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Lots of unhappy campers.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1701063&tstart=0

Update.
Apple reissued iTunes to fix the BSOD issue on Windows Vista due to iTunes buggy drivers. Article: TS2280

However there are now two different versions of software and drivers named version 8, the buggy one and the ‘update’ using older editions from July.

If you were one of those affected, you will need to uninstall iTunes and Apple Mobile Device Support, and reboot (restart the computer). Then re-download (75MB) and install the updated iTunes 8 installer.

Be sure to get the fresh download and don’t reinstall the iTunes8Setup or iTunes864Setup file, which caused the problem in the first place.

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Maybe not the one people have fought for over the centuries…

A council yesterday admitted using laws designed to track serious criminals to spy on a family for nearly three weeks to find out if they were lying about living in a school catchment area.

The council used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to draw up a list of the mother’s movements from February 13 to March 3, showing the times and exact routes of school runs with her children. She told the Bournemouth Echo that the record, shown to her by a school admissions manager, included detailed notes such as “female and three children enter target vehicle and drive off” and “curtains open and all lights on in premises”.

Council uses criminal law to spy on school place applicants

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VMware’s CEO, Paul Maritz, released a letter yesterday, apologizing to customers and explaining the problem.

Last night, we became aware of a code issue with the recently released update to ESX 3.5 and ESXi 3.5 (Update 2).

When the time clock in a server running ESX 3.5 or ESXi 3.5 Update 2 hits 12:00AM on August 12th, 2008, the released code causes the product license to expire. The problem has also occurred with a recent patch to ESX 3.5 or ESXi 3.5 Update 2. When an ESX or ESXi 3.5 server thinks its license has expired, the following can happen:

• Virtual machines that are powered off cannot be turned on;

• Virtual machines that have been suspended fail to leave suspend mode; and,

• Virtual machines cannot be migrated using VMotion.

The issue was caused by a piece of code that was mistakenly left enabled for the final release of Update 2. This piece of code was left over from the pre-release versions of Update 2 and was designed to ensure that customers are running on the supported generally available version of Update 2.

In remedying the situation, we’ve already released an express patch for those customers that have installed/upgraded to ESX or ESXi 3.5 Update 2. Within the next 24 hours, we also expect to issue a full replacement for Update 2, which should be used by customers who want to perform fresh installs of ESX or ESXi.

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Thesis 

One of my all time favorites by Chris Pearson was/is CopyBlogger. His themes are always a joy to work with.

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Perhaps another small business victim of Walmart’s low prices in a small town.

Now there is nowhere to take the baby hamsters, the birds, buy crickets and fish; no animal store to receive one on one service with friendly banter and hear pet stories that make your day.

Just an ugly box in town with employees who seem to want to go home.

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Having considered the expert in Experts Exchange to equate with picking up subscribers, I was interested in Corrine’s post at The Security Garden.

Bah! Experts Exchange = Scam Artists

Last week when I read Ed Bott’s Dear Google: Please take pay sites out of search results, I was pleased to see that I am not the only person who has been frustrated with finding that the search results link led to the Experts Exchange. I have always thought that the site is a sad joke.

Try searching the site or clicking on the Trial Membership link and learn that these scam artists are charging an outrageous fee for information provided/collected by other people.

Hmmm, food for thought. There is a wealth of knowledge and assistance available without having to pay for it, provided by forum volunteers, MVPs and Microsoft. Please see my links in the right hand column on the ‘Articles’ page.

Corrine’s complete article

Update: I was informed one doesn’t have to pay to see the answers, one just has to wade through all the advertisements and shady tactics to get a user to register. Ok but I’m simply looking for responses to a user’s problem by performing a Google search which brings up the links.

All comments and solutions are available to Premium Service Members only.

I tried to take a look at a HJT log attachment and received this message:

You must login to access the file you requested

Signin using your Experts-Exchange username and password.

Why would anyone bother to jump through all the hoops and ads when other free help sites have volunteer experts you can post to, or simply read their answers without all that?

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