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		<title>Joe's Random Ramblings</title>
		<link>https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php?blog=8</link>
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			<title>Having been quiet</title>
			<link>https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2018/10/13/having-been-quiet?blog=8</link>
			<pubDate>Sun, 14 Oct 2018 04:46:00 +0000</pubDate>			<dc:creator>Joe</dc:creator>
			<category domain="main">General</category>			<guid isPermaLink="false">353@https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/</guid>
						<description>&lt;p&gt;I realize I haven&#039;t written anything on this blog for quite some time...&lt;br /&gt;
This mainly had to do with rather big changes in my life: After over 20 years in Southern California, I moved to Austin, Texas for a new job last year.&lt;br /&gt;
Lots of new technology to learn, and I am now getting immersed in functional programming with Scala.&lt;br /&gt;
I intend to post more about issues I come across on that journey.&lt;br /&gt;
And of course, I continue to be outdoors. No big mountains in central Texas, though. I have to travel to other states for that.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;item_footer&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2018/10/13/having-been-quiet?blog=8&quot;&gt;Original post&lt;/a&gt; blogged on &lt;a href=&quot;http://b2evolution.net/&quot;&gt;b2evolution&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I realize I haven't written anything on this blog for quite some time...<br />
This mainly had to do with rather big changes in my life: After over 20 years in Southern California, I moved to Austin, Texas for a new job last year.<br />
Lots of new technology to learn, and I am now getting immersed in functional programming with Scala.<br />
I intend to post more about issues I come across on that journey.<br />
And of course, I continue to be outdoors. No big mountains in central Texas, though. I have to travel to other states for that.</p>

<p><!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2018/10/13/having-been-quiet?blog=8">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div>]]></content:encoded>
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			<title>Trump is a spammer!</title>
			<link>https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2016/06/04/trump-is-a-spammer?blog=8</link>
			<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jun 2016 11:32:00 +0000</pubDate>			<dc:creator>Joe</dc:creator>
			<category domain="main">General</category>			<guid isPermaLink="false">352@https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/</guid>
						<description>&lt;p&gt;I haven&#039;t had political spam in quite a while, the last time was a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2010/12/01/more-political-spam-from-niki-tsongas?blog=8&quot;&gt;Dem Congressperson in Massachusetts&lt;/a&gt;, and a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2010/03/03/spammer-politician-loses-primary-electio?blog=8&quot;&gt;Republican judge in Texas&lt;/a&gt; who lost her primary race.&lt;br /&gt;
Now, the idiot and disgrace to every American Donald Trump has bought a spammer&#039;s email list and spammed me with a donation solicitation email. It showed up in my Yahoo email account, which I don&#039;t use, because it only gets spam. He used a recipient name which isn&#039;t my name, but has the same initials and last name (a person with the name lived in Albuquerque and apparently died earlier this year.)&lt;br /&gt;
I have seen spam using that name for a while in my Yahoo account.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, as with all the stuff this idiot Trump writes, it is big in simple words and very very small in actual substance. Actually, there is no substance at all. Trump is all simple, capitalized words and no substance.&lt;br /&gt;
Examples from that spam:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;We are going to start winning so much that you are going to get used to winning!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;We have a HUGE opportunity to win!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So, Trump bought an email list from a spammer. Which of course makes him a spammer as well.&lt;br /&gt;
Spammers like Donald Trump are the scum of the Earth! They are not even human!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;item_footer&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2016/06/04/trump-is-a-spammer?blog=8&quot;&gt;Original post&lt;/a&gt; blogged on &lt;a href=&quot;http://b2evolution.net/&quot;&gt;b2evolution&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I haven't had political spam in quite a while, the last time was a <a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2010/12/01/more-political-spam-from-niki-tsongas?blog=8">Dem Congressperson in Massachusetts</a>, and a <a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2010/03/03/spammer-politician-loses-primary-electio?blog=8">Republican judge in Texas</a> who lost her primary race.<br />
Now, the idiot and disgrace to every American Donald Trump has bought a spammer's email list and spammed me with a donation solicitation email. It showed up in my Yahoo email account, which I don't use, because it only gets spam. He used a recipient name which isn't my name, but has the same initials and last name (a person with the name lived in Albuquerque and apparently died earlier this year.)<br />
I have seen spam using that name for a while in my Yahoo account.<br />
Of course, as with all the stuff this idiot Trump writes, it is big in simple words and very very small in actual substance. Actually, there is no substance at all. Trump is all simple, capitalized words and no substance.<br />
Examples from that spam:</p>
<blockquote><p>We are going to start winning so much that you are going to get used to winning!</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>We have a HUGE opportunity to win!</p></blockquote>

<p>So, Trump bought an email list from a spammer. Which of course makes him a spammer as well.<br />
Spammers like Donald Trump are the scum of the Earth! They are not even human!</p>

<p><!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2016/06/04/trump-is-a-spammer?blog=8">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div>]]></content:encoded>
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			<title>Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim hike</title>
			<link>https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2016/04/27/grand-canyon-rim-to-rim?blog=8</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 28 Apr 2016 00:13:00 +0000</pubDate>			<dc:creator>Joe</dc:creator>
			<category domain="main">General</category>			<guid isPermaLink="false">351@https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/</guid>
						<description>&lt;p&gt;Over the last weekend I did my 3rd hike from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the North Rim and back to the South Rim.&lt;br /&gt;
They say the first time you don&#039;t know what it&#039;s like; if you do it a second time you are crazy.&lt;br /&gt;
What does doing it a 3rd time make me? I don&#039;t care, I still love it!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This certainly isn&#039;t for the faint of heart.&lt;br /&gt;
It is 46 miles, with over a mile in elevation change.&lt;br /&gt;
From the South Rim to the Colorado River it is 9 miles, from there up to the North Rim the North Kaibab Trail runs for 14 miles.&lt;br /&gt;
The elevation change from the South Rim to the Colorado is 1 mile. The elevation change to the North Rim is over 6000 feet.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The whole hike took me 4 1/2 days.&lt;br /&gt;
My itinerary and a couple of notes:&lt;br /&gt;
Day 1: Hike down Bright Angel trail to Bright Angel camp.&lt;br /&gt;
The unusual part: No water at the 1 1/2 and 3 mile resthouses. They say it&#039;s for winter only.&lt;br /&gt;
Day 2: Hike up the north side to Cottonwood.&lt;br /&gt;
Water there, and at Manzanita reststop (also at Roaring Springs, but didn&#039;t go there.)&lt;br /&gt;
Ribbon Fall was closed for a tribal ceremony, which was announced on flyers all over the place.&lt;br /&gt;
Day 3: Hike to the North Rim (YEAH!) and back to Cottonwood. 14 miles.&lt;br /&gt;
No water at Supai Tunnel for the winter, which is expected.&lt;br /&gt;
There was water at the North Kaibab Trailhead, but only a trickle came out of the faucet.&lt;br /&gt;
Day 4: Hike from Cottonwood to Indian Garden.&lt;br /&gt;
Had some rain on the hike. Reminder to pack a rain poncho.&lt;br /&gt;
When I got the permit, the rangers called this an &quot;agressive intinerary&quot;, because it is 11.5 miles or so. Of course, they only see hikes between campgrounds, not if a hike is a round trip which ends up at the same campground, like my day 3...&lt;br /&gt;
Day 5: Hike out.&lt;br /&gt;
Still cloudy, but no rain. Nice hiking weather.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;item_footer&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2016/04/27/grand-canyon-rim-to-rim?blog=8&quot;&gt;Original post&lt;/a&gt; blogged on &lt;a href=&quot;http://b2evolution.net/&quot;&gt;b2evolution&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Over the last weekend I did my 3rd hike from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the North Rim and back to the South Rim.<br />
They say the first time you don't know what it's like; if you do it a second time you are crazy.<br />
What does doing it a 3rd time make me? I don't care, I still love it!</p>

<p>This certainly isn't for the faint of heart.<br />
It is 46 miles, with over a mile in elevation change.<br />
From the South Rim to the Colorado River it is 9 miles, from there up to the North Rim the North Kaibab Trail runs for 14 miles.<br />
The elevation change from the South Rim to the Colorado is 1 mile. The elevation change to the North Rim is over 6000 feet.</p>

<p>The whole hike took me 4 1/2 days.<br />
My itinerary and a couple of notes:<br />
Day 1: Hike down Bright Angel trail to Bright Angel camp.<br />
The unusual part: No water at the 1 1/2 and 3 mile resthouses. They say it's for winter only.<br />
Day 2: Hike up the north side to Cottonwood.<br />
Water there, and at Manzanita reststop (also at Roaring Springs, but didn't go there.)<br />
Ribbon Fall was closed for a tribal ceremony, which was announced on flyers all over the place.<br />
Day 3: Hike to the North Rim (YEAH!) and back to Cottonwood. 14 miles.<br />
No water at Supai Tunnel for the winter, which is expected.<br />
There was water at the North Kaibab Trailhead, but only a trickle came out of the faucet.<br />
Day 4: Hike from Cottonwood to Indian Garden.<br />
Had some rain on the hike. Reminder to pack a rain poncho.<br />
When I got the permit, the rangers called this an "agressive intinerary", because it is 11.5 miles or so. Of course, they only see hikes between campgrounds, not if a hike is a round trip which ends up at the same campground, like my day 3...<br />
Day 5: Hike out.<br />
Still cloudy, but no rain. Nice hiking weather.</p>

<p><!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2016/04/27/grand-canyon-rim-to-rim?blog=8">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div>]]></content:encoded>
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			<title>Automatic Win10 Update Removal</title>
			<link>https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/11/27/automatic-win10-update-removal?blog=8</link>
			<pubDate>Sat, 28 Nov 2015 07:37:00 +0000</pubDate>			<dc:creator>Joe</dc:creator>
			<category domain="main">General</category>			<guid isPermaLink="false">350@https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/</guid>
						<description>&lt;p&gt;Today my laptop with Win7 on it asked me if I wanted to upgrade to Windows 10.&lt;br /&gt;
I clicked on &#039;No&#039; (actually, I was more like &quot;f-ing hell, NO!&quot;.)&lt;br /&gt;
But this POS update program started to download it anyway...&lt;br /&gt;
So, the first thing I did was to kill the process with Task Manager. I control what is downloaded, not Microsoft!&lt;br /&gt;
Next, I decided to get rid of that idiot program altogether.&lt;br /&gt;
It is called gwx.exe. GWX presumably stands for &quot;Get Windows 10&quot; (X being the Roman numeral for 10.)&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, simply deleting the file didn&#039;t work, since it is owned by TrustedInstaller, and even as Admin, it is not deletable.&lt;br /&gt;
But of course, there are always ways to get rid of things. Rebooting into Safe Mode, and then deleting it, would be one way.&lt;br /&gt;
A quick Google search resulted in a faster way. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/windows-7-to-10-gwx-how-to-remove.html&quot;&gt;This webpage&lt;/a&gt; explains it in detail. I like the nice touch at the end of the page &lt;img src=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/rsc/smilies/icon_wink.gif&quot; title=&quot;&amp;amp;#59;&amp;amp;#41;&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;amp;#59;&amp;amp;#41;&quot; class=&quot;middle&quot; width=&quot;15&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Microsoft still hasn&#039;t learned that this kind of stuff is a big no-no! Idiots!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;item_footer&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/11/27/automatic-win10-update-removal?blog=8&quot;&gt;Original post&lt;/a&gt; blogged on &lt;a href=&quot;http://b2evolution.net/&quot;&gt;b2evolution&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today my laptop with Win7 on it asked me if I wanted to upgrade to Windows 10.<br />
I clicked on 'No' (actually, I was more like "f-ing hell, NO!".)<br />
But this POS update program started to download it anyway...<br />
So, the first thing I did was to kill the process with Task Manager. I control what is downloaded, not Microsoft!<br />
Next, I decided to get rid of that idiot program altogether.<br />
It is called gwx.exe. GWX presumably stands for "Get Windows 10" (X being the Roman numeral for 10.)<br />
Of course, simply deleting the file didn't work, since it is owned by TrustedInstaller, and even as Admin, it is not deletable.<br />
But of course, there are always ways to get rid of things. Rebooting into Safe Mode, and then deleting it, would be one way.<br />
A quick Google search resulted in a faster way. <a href="http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/windows-7-to-10-gwx-how-to-remove.html">This webpage</a> explains it in detail. I like the nice touch at the end of the page <img src="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/rsc/smilies/icon_wink.gif" title="&amp;#59;&amp;#41;" alt="&amp;#59;&amp;#41;" class="middle" width="15" height="15" /><br />
Microsoft still hasn't learned that this kind of stuff is a big no-no! Idiots!</p>

<p><!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/11/27/automatic-win10-update-removal?blog=8">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div>]]></content:encoded>
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			<title>AT&#38;T's incompetent technicians</title>
			<link>https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/09/15/at-t-s-incompetent-technicians?blog=8</link>
			<pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2015 04:34:00 +0000</pubDate>			<dc:creator>Joe</dc:creator>
			<category domain="main">General</category>			<guid isPermaLink="false">349@https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/</guid>
						<description>&lt;p&gt;I&#039;ve written about my mis-adventures with AT&amp;amp;T &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2013/08/29/at-t-is-trying-really?blog=8&quot;&gt;before&lt;/a&gt; on this blog, but my recent episode tops it all...&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My U-Verse DSL Modem (a Motorola/Arris NVG589) started to reboot at random times, several times a day. This was on-and-off for a while, but in August, this was a daily occurrence.&lt;br /&gt;
Apparently, the modems reboot when they lose synchronization with the servers in the AT&amp;amp;T switch building. Shouldn&#039;t happen here, I&#039;m only 2000ft or so from the building.&lt;br /&gt;
Needless to say, this made Internet usage pretty much impossible. Downloads failed, watching video failed, browsing failed.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So, a technician came out, couldn&#039;t find anything, and left. A few hours later, the modem rebooted again, I called AT&amp;amp;T support, another technician was scheduled; lather, rinse, repeat...&lt;br /&gt;
The modem got replaced several times, which didn&#039;t improve anything, either.&lt;br /&gt;
Technicians were scheduled nearly daily to look at this.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;At one point, a technician moved my outside connection to a different hardware (they call it &quot;port&quot;.) That improved things a little bit (2 daily reboots instead of 4-5...) It also resulted in me being assigned a new IP address (that became important later in the month.)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Since this didn&#039;t get fixed, I decided to file a complaint with the FCC. That gave this issue much higher visibility. All of a sudden the technicians had pressure from their management.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, some technicians don&#039;t quite like that, and resist it...&lt;br /&gt;
BTW, getting calls from &quot;AT&amp;amp;T Office of the President&quot; is much nicer than having to call their tech support line all the time, and having to explain things over and over... (phone # and passcode for 2nd-tier support is a bit better.)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Towards the end of August, one technician claimed he couldn&#039;t find anything in the outside wiring, so he &quot;concluded&quot; that the problem had to be with the wiring inside the building. Very convenient, because that would mean it was no longer an AT&amp;amp;T problem, but a problem of the apartment management. I asked him for a written statement, but he said (not surprisingly) that AT&amp;amp;T doesn&#039;t do that... So I would have to take his word for it...&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Obviously, that guy didn&#039;t understand that I never just take somebody&#039;s word for it.&lt;br /&gt;
And very important, his own actions proved that the outside wiring was the problem: I said above that a technician earlier had moved my outside connection to different hardware. Now, this technician moved my connection back to the previous hardware. My proof of that is that I got the old IP address back. Since DHCP works by mapping MAC address (essentially a hardware serial #) to IP address, getting the old IP address means that the DHCP server saw the old MAC address.&lt;br /&gt;
Having all the log files from my Linux box is a good thing &lt;img src=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/rsc/smilies/icon_wink.gif&quot; title=&quot;&amp;amp;#59;&amp;amp;#41;&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;amp;#59;&amp;amp;#41;&quot; class=&quot;middle&quot; width=&quot;15&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Of course, things got worse again, 4-5 reboots in a day. Next day, another technician came out, also trying to claim that the inside wiring was the problem (&quot;I have been doing this for 20 years&quot;, yeah right...) I presented him with my proof that the outside wiring is the problem, he then left, saying he &quot;has to call his manager&quot;, and never returned... These guys don&#039;t like customers with a clue &lt;img src=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/rsc/smilies/icon_wink.gif&quot; title=&quot;&amp;amp;#59;&amp;amp;#41;&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;amp;#59;&amp;amp;#41;&quot; class=&quot;middle&quot; width=&quot;15&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I filed a second complaint with the FCC...&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;And then a miracle happened &lt;img src=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/rsc/smilies/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;&amp;amp;#58;&amp;amp;#41;&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;amp;#58;&amp;amp;#41;&quot; class=&quot;middle&quot; width=&quot;15&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
A few days later, a young technician came out, a guy who probably didn&#039;t yet have the &quot;f-you&quot; attitude of the older guys who are &quot;doing this for 20 years&quot;...&lt;br /&gt;
He spent 2-3 hours on the box at the curb and the box next to the building, put me on yet another hardware at the curb box, and a different line to the box at the building.&lt;br /&gt;
I admit I was skeptical, but lo-and-behold, the reboots stopped.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So, the problem was in the outside hardware and wiring all along, and most of the AT&amp;amp;T technicians are just completely incompetent and try to avoid doing the actual work of fixing problems.&lt;br /&gt;
Getting the one good guy is hit-or-miss (mostly miss.)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This episode took a whole month to resolve. And I think it would have not been resolved at all if I hadn&#039;t been persistent and hadn&#039;t filed an FCC complaint. Companies like AT&amp;amp;T don&#039;t fear anything more than having their incompetence made visible.&lt;br /&gt;
Incompetence, thy name is AT&amp;amp;T.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;item_footer&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/09/15/at-t-s-incompetent-technicians?blog=8&quot;&gt;Original post&lt;/a&gt; blogged on &lt;a href=&quot;http://b2evolution.net/&quot;&gt;b2evolution&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I've written about my mis-adventures with AT&amp;T <a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2013/08/29/at-t-is-trying-really?blog=8">before</a> on this blog, but my recent episode tops it all...</p>

<p>My U-Verse DSL Modem (a Motorola/Arris NVG589) started to reboot at random times, several times a day. This was on-and-off for a while, but in August, this was a daily occurrence.<br />
Apparently, the modems reboot when they lose synchronization with the servers in the AT&amp;T switch building. Shouldn't happen here, I'm only 2000ft or so from the building.<br />
Needless to say, this made Internet usage pretty much impossible. Downloads failed, watching video failed, browsing failed.</p>

<p>So, a technician came out, couldn't find anything, and left. A few hours later, the modem rebooted again, I called AT&amp;T support, another technician was scheduled; lather, rinse, repeat...<br />
The modem got replaced several times, which didn't improve anything, either.<br />
Technicians were scheduled nearly daily to look at this.</p>

<p>At one point, a technician moved my outside connection to a different hardware (they call it "port".) That improved things a little bit (2 daily reboots instead of 4-5...) It also resulted in me being assigned a new IP address (that became important later in the month.)</p>

<p>Since this didn't get fixed, I decided to file a complaint with the FCC. That gave this issue much higher visibility. All of a sudden the technicians had pressure from their management.<br />
Of course, some technicians don't quite like that, and resist it...<br />
BTW, getting calls from "AT&amp;T Office of the President" is much nicer than having to call their tech support line all the time, and having to explain things over and over... (phone # and passcode for 2nd-tier support is a bit better.)</p>

<p>Towards the end of August, one technician claimed he couldn't find anything in the outside wiring, so he "concluded" that the problem had to be with the wiring inside the building. Very convenient, because that would mean it was no longer an AT&amp;T problem, but a problem of the apartment management. I asked him for a written statement, but he said (not surprisingly) that AT&amp;T doesn't do that... So I would have to take his word for it...</p>

<p>Obviously, that guy didn't understand that I never just take somebody's word for it.<br />
And very important, his own actions proved that the outside wiring was the problem: I said above that a technician earlier had moved my outside connection to different hardware. Now, this technician moved my connection back to the previous hardware. My proof of that is that I got the old IP address back. Since DHCP works by mapping MAC address (essentially a hardware serial #) to IP address, getting the old IP address means that the DHCP server saw the old MAC address.<br />
Having all the log files from my Linux box is a good thing <img src="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/rsc/smilies/icon_wink.gif" title="&amp;#59;&amp;#41;" alt="&amp;#59;&amp;#41;" class="middle" width="15" height="15" /></p>

<p>Of course, things got worse again, 4-5 reboots in a day. Next day, another technician came out, also trying to claim that the inside wiring was the problem ("I have been doing this for 20 years", yeah right...) I presented him with my proof that the outside wiring is the problem, he then left, saying he "has to call his manager", and never returned... These guys don't like customers with a clue <img src="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/rsc/smilies/icon_wink.gif" title="&amp;#59;&amp;#41;" alt="&amp;#59;&amp;#41;" class="middle" width="15" height="15" /><br />
I filed a second complaint with the FCC...</p>

<p>And then a miracle happened <img src="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/rsc/smilies/icon_smile.gif" title="&amp;#58;&amp;#41;" alt="&amp;#58;&amp;#41;" class="middle" width="15" height="15" /><br />
A few days later, a young technician came out, a guy who probably didn't yet have the "f-you" attitude of the older guys who are "doing this for 20 years"...<br />
He spent 2-3 hours on the box at the curb and the box next to the building, put me on yet another hardware at the curb box, and a different line to the box at the building.<br />
I admit I was skeptical, but lo-and-behold, the reboots stopped.</p>

<p>So, the problem was in the outside hardware and wiring all along, and most of the AT&amp;T technicians are just completely incompetent and try to avoid doing the actual work of fixing problems.<br />
Getting the one good guy is hit-or-miss (mostly miss.)</p>

<p>This episode took a whole month to resolve. And I think it would have not been resolved at all if I hadn't been persistent and hadn't filed an FCC complaint. Companies like AT&amp;T don't fear anything more than having their incompetence made visible.<br />
Incompetence, thy name is AT&amp;T.</p>

<p><!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/09/15/at-t-s-incompetent-technicians?blog=8">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div>]]></content:encoded>
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			<title>NAS box upgrade</title>
			<link>https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/09/03/nas-box-upgrade?blog=8</link>
			<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2015 11:59:00 +0000</pubDate>			<dc:creator>Joe</dc:creator>
			<category domain="alt">General</category>
<category domain="main">Open Source</category>
<category domain="alt">Linux</category>			<guid isPermaLink="false">348@https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/</guid>
						<description>&lt;p&gt;I&#039;ve had a NAS (Network Attached Storage) box for years. I&#039;ve been using a 1-TB RAID 1 setup for it. That 1 TB got used up. 99% full.&lt;br /&gt;
Since the manufacturer, D-Link, doesn&#039;t sell this particular model anymore, they haven&#039;t updated the firmware in years. Their firmware limits the disk size to 2 TB.&lt;br /&gt;
I thought I&#039;d have to buy a new NAS device to be future-safe for bigger storage media.&lt;br /&gt;
But, I recently became aware of an Open Source firmware for these D-Link NAS boxes, called &lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/altfirmware/&quot;&gt;Alt-F&lt;/a&gt;. Alt-F supports disks up to 4 TB.&lt;br /&gt;
I installed ALt-F on my D-Link NAS last weekend. It worked without problems right out of the box.&lt;br /&gt;
So, on Monday, I ordered 2 4-TB SATA drives to put in the NAS. They arrived today. Put them into the box, selecting RAID1, and off we go.&lt;br /&gt;
I am right now transferring data from my 1 TB drive to the new 4 TB disk array, having connected one of the 1 TB disks to my Linux box.&lt;br /&gt;
I initially had some minor issues with mounting the old drive, because it&#039;s one disk out of a Linux Software RAID.&lt;br /&gt;
As it turns out, Linux detects the drive as a RAID drive, and creates a /dev/mdx entry, but doesn&#039;t really tell you about it. And it doesn&#039;t let you mount it, either, because it&#039;s only one disk from the RAID.&lt;br /&gt;
The technical desciption:&lt;br /&gt;
After googling a bit, I found that a &#039;cat /proc/mdstat&#039; shows you if Linux detected the drive. If I close the /dev/md127 device that Linux gave me on bootup, with mdadm -S /dev/md127, I can then use mdadm --assemble --force on the device, and then I can mount it normally as an ext3 partition. That was all I needed to be able to copy files from the old drive to the new drives in the NAS. Even with a GBit network connection, it takes a while to transfer 1 TB...&lt;br /&gt;
This is what df reports right now:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;pre&gt;
Filesystem                    Type            1M-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/md0                      ext3              936374M 918270M    18104M  99% /mnt/hd
192.168.2.110:/mnt/md0/       nfs              3754944M  57527M  3697401M   2% /mnt/nas
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;item_footer&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/09/03/nas-box-upgrade?blog=8&quot;&gt;Original post&lt;/a&gt; blogged on &lt;a href=&quot;http://b2evolution.net/&quot;&gt;b2evolution&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I've had a NAS (Network Attached Storage) box for years. I've been using a 1-TB RAID 1 setup for it. That 1 TB got used up. 99% full.<br />
Since the manufacturer, D-Link, doesn't sell this particular model anymore, they haven't updated the firmware in years. Their firmware limits the disk size to 2 TB.<br />
I thought I'd have to buy a new NAS device to be future-safe for bigger storage media.<br />
But, I recently became aware of an Open Source firmware for these D-Link NAS boxes, called <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/altfirmware/">Alt-F</a>. Alt-F supports disks up to 4 TB.<br />
I installed ALt-F on my D-Link NAS last weekend. It worked without problems right out of the box.<br />
So, on Monday, I ordered 2 4-TB SATA drives to put in the NAS. They arrived today. Put them into the box, selecting RAID1, and off we go.<br />
I am right now transferring data from my 1 TB drive to the new 4 TB disk array, having connected one of the 1 TB disks to my Linux box.<br />
I initially had some minor issues with mounting the old drive, because it's one disk out of a Linux Software RAID.<br />
As it turns out, Linux detects the drive as a RAID drive, and creates a /dev/mdx entry, but doesn't really tell you about it. And it doesn't let you mount it, either, because it's only one disk from the RAID.<br />
The technical desciption:<br />
After googling a bit, I found that a 'cat /proc/mdstat' shows you if Linux detected the drive. If I close the /dev/md127 device that Linux gave me on bootup, with mdadm -S /dev/md127, I can then use mdadm --assemble --force on the device, and then I can mount it normally as an ext3 partition. That was all I needed to be able to copy files from the old drive to the new drives in the NAS. Even with a GBit network connection, it takes a while to transfer 1 TB...<br />
This is what df reports right now:</p>
<pre>
Filesystem                    Type            1M-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/md0                      ext3              936374M 918270M    18104M  99% /mnt/hd
192.168.2.110:/mnt/md0/       nfs              3754944M  57527M  3697401M   2% /mnt/nas
</pre>

<p><!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/09/03/nas-box-upgrade?blog=8">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div>]]></content:encoded>
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			<title>Germanwings crash</title>
			<link>https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/03/27/germanwings-crash?blog=8</link>
			<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2015 10:49:00 +0000</pubDate>			<dc:creator>Joe</dc:creator>
			<category domain="main">General</category>			<guid isPermaLink="false">347@https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/</guid>
						<description>&lt;p&gt;It&#039;s a tragedy, of course.&lt;br /&gt;
As a pilot, there is not much more to say about it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Except This:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessinsider.com/veteran-pilot-on-crash-coverage-i-have-cringed-at-the-utter-misrepresentation-of-aviation-facts-2015-3&quot;&gt;I have cringed at the utter misrepresentation of aviation facts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
Shame on &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; the news organizations out there. &lt;strong&gt;Not one&lt;/strong&gt; of them got it right!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;What a bunch of idiots!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;item_footer&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/03/27/germanwings-crash?blog=8&quot;&gt;Original post&lt;/a&gt; blogged on &lt;a href=&quot;http://b2evolution.net/&quot;&gt;b2evolution&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It's a tragedy, of course.<br />
As a pilot, there is not much more to say about it.<br />
<strong><em>Except This:</em></strong><br />
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/veteran-pilot-on-crash-coverage-i-have-cringed-at-the-utter-misrepresentation-of-aviation-facts-2015-3">I have cringed at the utter misrepresentation of aviation facts</a>.<br />
Shame on <strong>all</strong> the news organizations out there. <strong>Not one</strong> of them got it right!<br />
<strong>What a bunch of idiots!</strong></p>



<p><!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/03/27/germanwings-crash?blog=8">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div>]]></content:encoded>
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			<title>Flag controversy at UCI</title>
			<link>https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/03/09/flag-conteroversy-at-uci?blog=8</link>
			<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2015 09:56:00 +0000</pubDate>			<dc:creator>Joe</dc:creator>
			<category domain="external">Miscellaneous</category>
<category domain="external">Miscellaneous</category>
<category domain="main">General</category>
<category domain="alt">Miscellaneous</category>			<guid isPermaLink="false">346@https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/</guid>
						<description>&lt;p&gt;The recent hubbub about banning all flags from a small portion of the UCI campus, not surprisingly, brought out all the xenophobic, racist, and ignorant trolls in the country.&lt;br /&gt;
These idiots obviously have never attended a university.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;And not surprisingly, a state Senator (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Nguyen&quot;&gt;Janet Nguyen&lt;/a&gt;, a Republican, predictably) couldn&#039;t resist exploiting this issue for political grandstanding. She said she would sponsor an amendment to the CA Constitution to prevent such banning of the US flag.&lt;br /&gt;
As a politician, she really should know that the US Constitution prohibits such an amendment. I am sure she has heard of the 1st. Amendment. If not, she would obviously be unqualified for any public office.&lt;br /&gt;
She obviously just hopes that her constituents are sheep who don&#039;t know nor care about the US Constitution. In other words, Mrs. Nguyen is anti-American! Shame on her!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The students exercised their Constitutional rights to free speech. They should be applauded, not condemned.&lt;br /&gt;
But in Republican-controlled Orange County (where the racist &quot;Minutemen&quot; originated), even the UCI Chancellor caves in to racists and xenophobes. Shame on Chancellor Gillman!&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, current UCI Chancellor Gillman isn&#039;t the first UCI Chancellor to cave in to the Republican donors of Orange County. Former &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/uci_a_backwater_community_college?blog=6&quot;&gt;Chancellor Drake did the same&lt;/a&gt; when he rescinded the appointment of the first Dean of the UCI Law School (he reverted course later.) That was the beginning of the end of Chancellor Drake. I hope that the current display of a lack of a spine is the beginning of the end for Chancellor Gillman!&lt;br /&gt;
UCI needs a real Chancellor, one who stands up for the students, one who supports the students, not these spineless appointees!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1t1ZhPZN2ohzgARuXwQUCwbB3YXNPgXGZQMI8heUYZnQ/viewform&quot;&gt;resolution out to support the students&lt;/a&gt;. I signed it and I urge everybody to sign it as a voice against racism, xenophobia and bigotry!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;item_footer&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/03/09/flag-conteroversy-at-uci?blog=8&quot;&gt;Original post&lt;/a&gt; blogged on &lt;a href=&quot;http://b2evolution.net/&quot;&gt;b2evolution&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The recent hubbub about banning all flags from a small portion of the UCI campus, not surprisingly, brought out all the xenophobic, racist, and ignorant trolls in the country.<br />
These idiots obviously have never attended a university.</p>

<p>And not surprisingly, a state Senator (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Nguyen">Janet Nguyen</a>, a Republican, predictably) couldn't resist exploiting this issue for political grandstanding. She said she would sponsor an amendment to the CA Constitution to prevent such banning of the US flag.<br />
As a politician, she really should know that the US Constitution prohibits such an amendment. I am sure she has heard of the 1st. Amendment. If not, she would obviously be unqualified for any public office.<br />
She obviously just hopes that her constituents are sheep who don't know nor care about the US Constitution. In other words, Mrs. Nguyen is anti-American! Shame on her!</p>

<p>The students exercised their Constitutional rights to free speech. They should be applauded, not condemned.<br />
But in Republican-controlled Orange County (where the racist "Minutemen" originated), even the UCI Chancellor caves in to racists and xenophobes. Shame on Chancellor Gillman!<br />
Of course, current UCI Chancellor Gillman isn't the first UCI Chancellor to cave in to the Republican donors of Orange County. Former <a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/uci_a_backwater_community_college?blog=6">Chancellor Drake did the same</a> when he rescinded the appointment of the first Dean of the UCI Law School (he reverted course later.) That was the beginning of the end of Chancellor Drake. I hope that the current display of a lack of a spine is the beginning of the end for Chancellor Gillman!<br />
UCI needs a real Chancellor, one who stands up for the students, one who supports the students, not these spineless appointees!</p>

<p>There is a <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1t1ZhPZN2ohzgARuXwQUCwbB3YXNPgXGZQMI8heUYZnQ/viewform">resolution out to support the students</a>. I signed it and I urge everybody to sign it as a voice against racism, xenophobia and bigotry!</p>

<p><!-- Creative Commons License NEWSTYLE license:by-sa nation:3.0/us display:thin --></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="https://www.feise.com/~jfeise/blogs/index.php/2015/03/09/flag-conteroversy-at-uci?blog=8">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div>]]></content:encoded>
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