I’ve been employed with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for just shy of 20 years.  I’ve been a fully certified air traffic controller for over 17 years.

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the FAA (as well as the second year air traffic controllers have been working without a contract).

And I have never been as embarrassed of the agency I work for as I am as I write this…

And if you think that was bad, I couldn’t watch the entire video below either.  The speaker at the beginning is Ventris Gibson, a bigwig at FAA Headquarters in Washington.  According to her bio:

Ventris C. Gibson was appointed as the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Assistant Administrator for Human Resources Management on November 30, 2003.  Gibson advises and assists the Administrator in directing, coordinating, communicating and ensuring the quality of FAA human resources plans, programs and initiatives that ensure the safety and efficiency of the national airspace system.

It’s obvious however that even though she “advises and assists…in directing, coordinating, communicating and ensuring the quality of… programs and initiatives that ensure the safety…of the national airspace system” she’s not really all that familiar with the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) that investigates transportation accidents (including aviation accidents) and makes safety recommendations to the FAA as she repeatedly calls it the “NSTB” in the video.

Oh, yeah, and the “B-757″ and “B-767″s she talks about are made by Boeing, the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world and most people (including pilots and air traffic controllers) refer to them as “Boeing 757″ and “Boeing 767″s.  It’s nice to see managers high up in the FAA who are so knowledgeable about what the FAA does.

Normally I would say “thanks” to the weblog The Potomac Current and Undertow for these videos, but that would be like thanking someone for punching you in the gut, so I’ll just credit them instead.

I apologize in advance to anyone else who was offended or disturbed by the videos!

What happens when you have someone drink a lot of liquor and  then verbally recount a historical event?  You get “Drunk History” of course.

Here is the sober written version of Oney Judge’s story for those interested.

Drunk History Volume 1

Drunk History Volume 2

Drunk History Volume 2.5

I spent many hours this weekend trying to replace a 40G hard drive serving as a Windows XP boot drive in my wife’s computer with a 250G hard drive.  The drive was running out of free space but I didn’t want to spend the hours reinstalling all the applications and reconfiguring the PC.  So I had been putting off the project for some time, guessing that it would be a hassle, and the project lived up to my expectations.

Unfortunately I rediscovered/confirmed what others already know:  Windows XP doesn’t migrate easily from one hard drive to another.

The PC hardware configuration I was working with includes two IDE hard drives, and a single IDE DVD/CD-RW drive running on a SATA cable using a SATA to IDE converter, because the motherboard only supports two IDE drives.  It is admittedly a bit of a goofy setup, driven by the fact that I had lots of IDE hard drives and only IDE DVD/CD drives as well and the cheap motherboard limitations.

I first attempted to use an Ultimate Boot CD to copy the existing boot drive to the new drive.  This process would take about 45 minutes to boot off the CD and run DriveImage XML to copy the drive.  Although the drive copied properly and the files appeared to all have been on the new drive, I couldn’t get XP to boot off it.  So I tried rewriting the boot sectors with utilities on the Ultimate Boot CD without luck.

After I ran the TestDisk utility on the Ultimate Boot CD it told me the drive parameters were incorrect on the resulting drive.  After several attempts trying to copy the drive using the Ultimate Boot CD and its utilities with minor variations and many hours spent waiting for the reboot off the CD and the copy itself gave up on it.  I don’t know what the problem was, but clearly the DriveImage XML did odd things with the copy that prevented it from booting.

At one point I tried to boot off the Windows XP install CD to attempt to use the Windows XP Recovery console but got a fatal error almost immediately during the XP boot.  I suspected the SATA to IDE converter I had on the DVD/CD drive.  So I added another IDE DVD drive to the IDE cable using cable select jumper settings.  The XP Recovery console did nothing to help correct the problem regardless.

The next course of action was to follow the directions on the Winhlp page outlined here. I pulled the existing boot drive from the PC, hooked it up to a USB to IDE converter and copied all the files to my desktop.  Then I copied all the files to the new hard drive.  This process went without a hitch.

Unfortunately when I attempted to boot off the drive, I got a hardware configuration error message. So I went through the steps to rebuild the boot configuration using bootcfg using the Windows XP Recovery console again. I got the drive to boot, but when it got to the Windows “loading personal settings” screen it wouldn’t proceed further.

So I decided I would have to do a Windows XP Repair installation.  It would take more time to go through the entire Windows XP installation, but at least I wouldn’t have to reinstall all the apps.  At that point I had already spent hours copying, rebooting, etc., so what was another hour installing XP, give or take?

After the Windows XP installation had completed (and another hour or so had elapsed) the computer booted, but it appeared that the antivirus program was missing.  I was also getting some other oddball things going on, and realized that the boot drive was now designated as the E: drive.

I then mistakenly and foolishly decided that the cable select jumpers and cabling on the hard drive and DVD drive I had added had resulted in the drive letter change, so I went back to a master/slave drive jumper configuration and reinstalled Windows again.  This of course didn’t change anything, so after another hour of installing Windows XP, I still had an E: boot drive.

So I did a quick bit of research and found directions on how to change the drive designator in XP straight from the horses mouth, Microsoft.  I edited the registry, rebooted and discovered I was a horse’s ass for trusting Microsoft.  It turns out using this fix on XP boot drives will break XP.  Apparently although I had changed the drive letter, all the registry entries still referred to the E: drive which no longer existed.  I tried using Ultimate Boot CD to restore the original registry without success.  I was right back where I started from with a non-booting drive.

My initial online research appeared to indicate that it was impossible to re-designate the drive letter for any XP boot drive without a complete reinstall.

An XP Repair installation designates the first “free” drive letter in the existing registry to the boot drive.  Since XP uses drive hardware/serial IDs in the registry to assign drive letters both the old C: boot drive and the second hard drive (D:) had “squatter’s rights” on their drive letter designations.  No matter what the Repair installation would keep designating the new drive the first free drive letter (E:) regardless.

However I have found that if one searches online diligently enough one can find solutions to almost any computer problem.  I also felt that after the many hours I had already spent on the project that I was past the point of no return.  I would have a C: boot drive without a fresh OS install or die trying!

So I searched and read and read some more, and eventually found what appeared to be a solution suggested in a message thread by Pete here. He writes:

Here’s the workaround. (I just tested it successfully and I am back to C: for the
system partition.

Step 1: Make the regiustry changes as specified in the KB article, and exit regedit.

Step 2: ***BEFORE YOU REBOOT*** run XP setup. Select “upgrade”, and walk through
the steps. When the system reboots, it starts in setup mode. Go ahead and let the
setup run through completion (57 minutes in my case), and when you are done, you
will have your system back, configured properly. True, you’ll need to reapply service
pack 1a and any hotfixes, and change any drivers that you do not want to be MS drivers
(in my case I prefer the Promise controller drivers to Microsoft’s), but you will
be back in business.

Since this procedure made sense to me I pulled the new drive and re-copied all the files from the original drive again to make a clean start of it.  Then I booted into the XP Recovery console and used the bootcfg option again to get Windows booting again.

Once I got Windows XP up and running I once again edited the registry per Microsoft’s instructions.  However, before rebooting I ran the XP setup CD from within XP, selecting the “upgrade” option.

The XP setup ran and an hour later I had my existing XP installation running on a new larger boot drive, with the C: designator!  Pete, wherever you are, you are the man!

So after numerous hours of booting, rebooting and lots of cursing, I had discovered what I knew intuitively before I had even started.  Replacing a boot drive in Windows XP without a fresh install of the operating system is a pain in the butt.  The process itself isn’t difficult but the trial and error discovery of the proper steps to take was extremely time consuming given the limited information available on how to accomplish the task.

It’s embarrassing to think about how many hours I spent on this project.  But I’d like to believe that the many hours would have been exceeded by the reconfiguration and reinstallation of all the apps under a clean/new XP installation, but I’m not so sure that’s the case considering the way I muddled through this project…

But I did finally find a way to do it, as it turns out without even requiring any special utilities.  Under ideal conditions it will take at least 3-4 hours to do this one time.

Here are my time estimates:

1)  time to copy the original drive to the work PC (30 minutes per 40G copied)

2)  time to partition and format the new drive (1 hour+ per 250G)

3)  time to copy the files back to the new drive (30 minutes per 40G copied)

4)  time to boot Windows XP off CD and run Recovery console (15 minutes)

5)  time to boot into Windows XP (5 minutes)

6)  time to run Windows XP upgrade install from WIndows XP (1 hour)

Compare that to a fresh Windows XP install of 2 hours+ between hard drive format and installation itself, and the additional time to reinstall all your apps and configure the PC (2 hours+), and the fact that you won’t lose any documents or files, and I believe this is still a better way to go (as long as the XP installation you’re migrating is running good).

Hopefully this accounting saves someone else from wasting all the time I spent on this endeavor figuring out how to accomplish the task (as well as my own the next time I try to do this).

And thanks again, Pete!

Here’s another story of crappy customer service; something I seem to be encountering more and more of lately…

My wife and I like the food at Don Pablo’s Restaurant.  Don Pablo’s is a chain that serves Tex-Mex style cuisine.

We discovered them a few years ago and dine there every few months or so.

Unfortunately their waiting staff tends to be hit or miss with some long delays occasionally on drinks and food.  Some of the restaurants are also very noisy when busy.

But none of those things are what I’ll be writing about in this entry.

Over a year ago we signed up for Don Pablo’s “Habaneros Club” membership.  The Habaneros Club is a Don Pablo’s marketing scheme in which one registers an email address and receives a free dip sampler platter initially and some other deals when dining at Don Pablo’s.  They in turn get an email address with which to spam their customers and an easy way to track customer visits when they use the membership card.

One of the attractive deals offered when I signed up for the Habeneros Club was free upgrades on the house margarita to Patron Silver Tequila.  I used that option every time we went to Don Pablo’s!

However, when we went to the restaurant last night for dinner, the server told me that the Habaneros Card was no longer any good for the Patron Tequila upgrade!  Apparently Don Pablo’s had quietly discontinued this option, but didn’t feel the need to let us know that (hey, how about an email since you have my email address?!).  It is notably still also mentioned in the “program rules” on their website.

Margarita Patrn Silver upgrades are only available for the Habaneros card member paying the bill and are not transferable or extendable to the other members of the cardholder party.  One Patrn Silver upgrade per member per visit.

Apparently the email is only used for advertising; not to let customers know of changes to the membership!

When one of the shift managers was walking around we called her over to ask her about the change to the Habaneros membership and what else the card was good for if not for the Patron drink upgrades.  She told us that we still got a $10 birthday “reward”/credit, a $10 one year anniversary “reward”/credit, and $10 for every tenth visit.  (The web site also lists “exclusive drink specials” although that wasn’t mentioned in our conversation; presumably that was the discontinued Patron upgrade).

So if we remembered to show the server our card we would still accrue points for these deals (although there was much less incentive for me to remember now that the drink upgrades were gone!).  The manager told us that we could get a printout of the status of our membership credits.  When the manager mentioned the one year anniversary credit I realized that it had probably been over a year since I had signed up for the Habaneros Club membership, so I asked the server for a printout.

When she brought the printout it showed a $10 anniversary reward, a $10 birthday reward and a $5 credit!  Notably however, she didn’t offer to use any of the rewards on our current bill, and even though I had used it during each visit previously for my Patron upgrade had never been advised that it had any credits on it.  Apparently I had to ask to discover my credits as they weren’t going to offer them to me (or tell me about them) otherwise!

Being of a suspicious nature, it makes me believe that Don Pablo’s isn’t really interested in having customers redeem the Habaneros Membership credits/rewards at all, even though that was their part of the agreement in the program.  After all, since they quietly changed the membership already, what’s to stop them from making the credits/rewards disappear after a year or even discontinue the program completely?

The Program Rules and Regulations state:

Don Pablo’s may cancel, modify or restrict or terminate the Habaneros Club program at any time without prior notification in its sole discretion.

Why then would I not want to use any credits or rewards on my card as soon as I could?  After all since I have no assurances that the program won’t change or terminate it makes sense to me that I use the credits as soon as I get them.  But Don Pablo’s apparently isn’t going make that easy.

Every time they scan the card they apparently can or do see the credit balances on the card, but to me it’s just a magnetic strip on a plastic card.  So wouldn’t it be reasonable to expect that after scanning the card they would let me know when I had credits and offer to let me use them?  Instead I have to ask for a printout for information they should be offering me without asking.  The birthday credit would have showed up on my birthday late last year and I had used the card several times since then but no one mentioned it.

It reminded me that when I signed up for the Habaneros Club I had also bought a $25 gift card and received a free $25 rewards card that was good for $5 off our next 5 visits, which apparently expired six months after I first used it.  Unfortunately I had only used three of the $5 credits having forgotten about the card during a couple of our visits.  The magnetic strips on these cards hold information only the restaurant is privy to and chooses to withhold from the customer, which appears to be part of the grand scheme.

Of course that in turn brings up the whole issue of expiring store gift cards as well.

The Habaneros Club is obviously just another shameless marketing scheme that offers goodies without earnest good faith or overt effort on the restaurant’s part to inform the participants of, or otherwise allow them to use the credits accrued in the program.

Avergüence a usted, Don Pablo’s!  (As I don’t speak Spanish I used a computer translation, so I don’t claim it’s correct!)

I’ve been working since February on a program for our dog grooming business to replace the software that was in use when we bought the shop.

This weekend I finally committed to the new software and the wholesale discontinuation of the old software and PC.  We now have a standalone credit card processing unit and a check validation machine that we’ll use instead of the PC based credit card processing we were using.

Previously we were running the SQL customer database and a Point of Sale (POS) program called Biztracker.  Biztracker acted as a glorified cash register program and had credit card processing capability, but only through certain banks.  Unfortunately Biztracker also had some significant problems, including the fact that it didn’t report sales totals properly.

We realized we had a problem some time ago, and when we spoke to the company that supported the software we were told that we needed to upgrade the software to fix the problem and that they wanted money to do that.  It was at that time they also told us they would charge $75 per hour for tech support.  They had also branded the software with the previous business name and the previous owner’s cell phone number that printed on the receipts that they told us we could correct with a software upgrade.

The long and short of it was that if we threw more money at the problem it might get fixed.  However, as Kim didn’t like the software anyway we opted to not pay to “upgrade” the software.  Additionally the obscene tech support charge rate all helped push me towards developing our own software solution so that we weren’t blackmailed when it came time to upgrade and/or fix technical problems.

Writing my own program also ensured that we could have the functionality we wanted and be able to add new features at will.  Of course that also meant that I the sole source of technical support which was challenging considering I have my day job that conflicts with my availability.  Also the program development has been time consuming and ongoing since February.

When it came time to pay the quarterly state sales tax the problem with the Biztracker sales totals really became a problem and Kim was forced to tally the tax manually.  So much for computers making one’s life easier…  It was clear then that we needed a solution.

So I started working on adding basic point of sale functionality to my software that would track sales totals (properly of course) and give us other sales reporting as well.  That meant I had to figure out how to print receipts and control the cash drawer via the software, and the only place to test those functions was at the shop itself.  So I could write the code elsewhere, but ultimately I would have to be at the shop running the software on the POS computer itself to test the program which wasn’t at all convenient.

Last week I got the software to a point where I believed it could be used at the shop.  On Monday night we set up the new credit card machine.  Then we began running both the new software and the old software as a backup.  The idea was to make sure the new software did what we needed it to, and if it didn’t to revert back to the old software.  After a day it was clear that the new software worked fine.  However, since the old software was available some of the employees were using it instead the new program which meant the sales totals were split across the programs.

So it was obviously time to remove the Biztracker software and commit to the new program.  I decided this was an ideal time to replace the aged PCs that were running the server and POS computer with a single newer PC.

I spent a fair amount of the early weekend shifting around computer hardware at home to make a new server PC for the software at the dog grooming shop.  I wanted a PC with enough horsepower to run both the PostgreSQL server and my program, as well as any other programs that might be needed currently and in the future.  The new shop machine is a dual core Athlon 64 X2 5200+ with a mirrored RAID drive for the data.

I also took the opportunity to phase out some of the older PCs that I had running doing the weather processing and other server chores at home in the command center. The summertime is when I really start to notice all the heat generated from the numerous PCs in my little office.  I hadn’t really thought about it much, but there is quite a difference in in efficiencies between the older and newer processors, as the newer ones run a lot cooler (as well as a lot faster) drawing about half the wattage compared to older chips.

It was a project I had been putting off as it’s time intensive but the need for a new shop PC forced me into it.  I was able to combine a home file server and the weather station server into a single PC.  The new server PC also got a new Antec Earthwatts power supply that is more efficient and runs cooler than other power supplies.  I aspire to replace all the home PCs’ power supplies with Earthwatts power supplies and about half of them have been so equipped.

Unfortunately I was a little careless in my file backups prior to disassembling my PCs, and I failed to properly back up some configuration files for the programs I use to generate the weather forecast at elkoweather.  That meant the weather forecast was down for over a day while I struggled to get the dog grooming shop software up to snuff and figure out how to reconfigure the weather software.

I also lost my backyard weather camera in the switchover.  Amusingly enough it’s because I am running older webcam software that supports capture hardware using VfW drivers that the newer hardware in the new PC lacks.

Once I got the new shop PC up and running I installed and configured the PostgreSQL server at home and added other software that it would need with the fantasy that I would just plug it in at the shop, simply import the database data and go.

Since last week I had been cleaning up the program and adding some small extra features, but nothing that I thought would affect the functionality.  Kim also had a new dog breed list that she wanted imported into the SQL database.

Unfortunately once I got the PC installed at the shop it was obvious that it wasn’t my night and I had a variety of difficulties.  It took hours to correct the various problems and then do all the testing to be assured that the software would work for today’s business.

The two PCs that got replaced came home to be cleaned and salvaged for parts.  But first they both got vacuumed out, and it was disturbing to discover how much dog hair had “grown” inside both.

I was also able to fix the weather station software problems last night when I got home.

The development of the pet grooming software is ongoing, and once I get some of the point of sale features cleaned up I can start working on the user interface that currently (to put it nicely) lacks polish…

I ordered a Shop-Vac online through Sears last Friday.  I saw the listing on Slickdeals and thought it seemed like a good deal.  The order was processed and I got a confirmation email shortly thereafter that I printed out.

I planned to pick up the Shop-Vac at the nearest Sears store after the weekend.  On Monday I went straight from work to the store to pick it up.

The Sears pickup routine is to scan the bar code on the email printout at the kiosk.  Then they’re supposed to bring the item out to you.  This process is supposed to take five minutes or less, otherwise they claim they’ll give you a $5 coupon.  When the bar code is scanned a monitor overhead shows the time elapsed for processing the pickup.

However, my bar code wouldn’t process.  After waiting several minutes the pickup clerk came out and tried to scan the bar code again and pull up the order without success.  He then disappeared into the back for some time.  Notably though he put my order status in the “completed” mode before he even left and it showed about two and a half minutes had elapsed for the order to be processed.  Eventually another guy came out and told me the order had been canceled and wanted to know if I had canceled the order.  I told him I hadn’t.

They were confused.  The only information they had was that the order had been canceled at a certain register number, but no one knew where or who it was.

They then decided to go into the store and find the item and give me one off the shelf.  However, once inside the store they discovered that the Shop-Vac was priced at $99.99.  The store manager got involved and instructed one of the pickup clerks to call Sears.com and find out what was going on.  He guessed it was a pricing mistake.

So I waited some more.  After over twenty minutes had elapsed the manager came back to tell me that it was a pricing mistake and that Sears.com had apparently simply canceled the order.

I told him that I could accept that it was a pricing mistake but that I was unhappy about not having been informed in a timely manner, and having driven all the way up to the store and wasting my time to discover that they had screwed up.

When I asked why it had taken them over two days to cancel the order he said it was due to the Fourth of July weekend.

I asked him if the store was open that weekend and he said it was.  I told him that I had worked that weekend at my job, and the store had been open, but apparently the people who canceled my order had the weekend off.  How convenient for them, but inconvenient for me.

He also told me that the Sears stores weren’t Sears.com and that the stores were just the middlemen between the customers and Sears.com.  I certainly don’t see a delineation between the two on the website.  They’re presented as one and the same.

But that was the manager’s excuse.  It wasn’t the store’s fault.  It was Sears.com’s fault.

So I told the manager that since I wasn’t going to be compensated for my time and expense to get to the store and find out they had made a mistake that I wanted my $5 coupon.  It had been at least 30 minutes by this time and I still didn’t have my item.  He told me he wasn’t sure if they could even do that.

However, they did manage to to do this, and in fact gave me two of the $5 coupons.  However, once I got home to exasperate me even further I discovered that the coupons are redeemable at the Sears stores only and not usable online at Sears.com.  If they truly are different entities, why would the $5 coupons given at the pickup counter for Sears.com only be good in the Sears stores?!

When I got home I discovered that Sears had sent me this email that morning:

Dear Sears.com Customer,

Thank you for shopping at Sears.com. Unfortunately, the email@email.com#10153 store was unable to fulfill your order #XXXXXXXX / salescheck #XXXXXXXXXXX. As a result, your order was cancelled. Please accept our apology for this inconvenience.

YOUR PERSONAL ORDER INFORMATION
===============================
Item #: 00917768000
16 gal. Wet-Dry Vac, 6 Peak hp with Blower Port

There’s no mention of a pricing mistake in the email, which shows that they’re dodging responsibility for their screw-up too and being dishonest about it.  It’s only, “Sorry, we canceled your order.  Have a nice day.”

So I fired off an email to complain.

The response was as frustrating as the rest of their handling of the affair.

Thank you for contacting Sears regarding order number XXXXXXXX.

We apologize for the difficulties that you have experienced with your
cancellation. It is our goal at Sears to make every shopping experience
a great one from start to finish. Obviously we did not meet that goal in
your situation. We again apologize for any inconvenience that this may
have caused you.

At Sears we value you as a customer and we value your business. If you
have additional questions or comments please contact us. Sears uses
customer feedback in the review and planning of current and future
policies, procedures and website enhancements. Thank you again for
taking the time to contact us.

Thank you for choosing Sears and have a great day.

Look for Great Ideas throughout the store and find Sears exclusive
innovations from great brands like Sony, Kenmore, NordicTrack, Craftsman
and Reebok.

Christina V.
Sears Customer Care
1-800-349-4358

It’s another, “Sorry, we screwed up; have a nice day” email and with an advertisement at the end to boot!  And there’s still notably no acknowledgment that they made a mistake.

Unbelievable!

Customer service is truly dead.  I doubt that I’ll do business with Sears or Sears.com in the near future because of this.  If they can’t even figure out a reasonable way of compensating me for my time resolving a mistake they made I won’t give them any of my business.

I guess my only satisfaction is going to be my publishing this recounting of the affair.

Oh, and “Have a nice day, Sears.”

(P.S.  This occurred at the Sears store at Burnsville Center in Burnsville, Minnesota.)

We were talking at work and I was surprised to hear that there were many unfamiliar with the term “viral video.”  A viral video is a video that is put online and becomes so popular that word of it spreads like a virus and lots of people watch it and talk about it around the water cooler.

Some of the viral videos such as the Star Wars Kid spawn ripoffs in commercial television (I had seen the knock-off on the series “Arrested Development” before seeing the original).

I have my favorite videos, some of which are viral.  As noted in this post the Technoviking is one of my favorites.

While we were talking Rob reminded me of some others that were good, and I’ll post them here for your perusal.

An older video (started in 2006), the Chad Vader series was a great spoof of Darth Vader of Star Wars fame.  I believe they made eight of the videos and you should watch them in sequence.

Chad Vader Episode One

Chad Vader Episode Two

Chad Vader Episode Three

Chad Vader Episode Four

Chad Vader Episode Five

Chad Vader Episode Six

Chad Vader Episode Seven

Chad Vader Episode Eight

There are other Chad Vader videos as well, but if they’re not from the Blame Society they’re probably just ripoffs so don’t fall for any lame imitations.

Here is a crazy bride cutting off her hair.  I don’t know if it’s real or not (who carries scissors to a hotel before a wedding?), but it’s entertaining!

Then there’s Jonathon the Zombie.  Guess what he likes?

A collection of photos about failures, cleverly called “Fail”.

Finally, here’s the Jimmy Dean Sausage clip.  It doesn’t have as many views as some of the others I posted, and It’s not really a video but an audio recording.  Again, I don’t know if it’s real or not but who cares?  It’s still funny!

And last but not least (and for Kevin) check out this video.

I’m sure there’s some I forgot but those are the ones I can think of (and find) offhand.

Caution:  This entry contains obscenities, so those sensitive readers should stop now!

One of my favorite online viral videos is still the Techno Viking video.  The first time I watched it I was just trying to figure out what was going on!  It’s a video that can’t be explained; you just have to watch it.

Of course the Break.com description also adds to my enjoyment of the video, which can be seen on many other video sharing sites (and in various other remixes/edits).  It says:  “This guy is like the Pied Piper of drugged up ecstasy e-tards. Remember, Technoviking does not dance to the music, the music dances to Technoviking!”

A lot of people wonder what this video is all about but few actually check into it.  I’m one of those few who had to know more.

It apparently was taped during a parade held yearly in Berlin, Germany, called the “Fuckparade“, short for “Fuck the Love Parade”.  The “Love Parade” started in 1989 in Berlin and is now held in many places worldwide.  According to Wikipedia the “Fuckparade” started in 1997 as a response to the commercialization of the “Love Parade”.

The Techno Viking was in the 2000 “Fuckparade”.

Amazingly enough however, I can’t seem to find out who the Techno Viking is, any other follow-ups to or any more recent information about what became of the Techno Viking.  The mystery of who the Techno Viking really is is the subject of many online discussions.

However I was able to find the music from the video although I wasn’t able to determine its title or band.

There are some assertions online that his name is Hans Shlepkopper and that he is a shopkeeper either in Germany or Norway but there doesn’t appear to be anything to support that claim.

Apparently the original video was produced by German media artist and film maker, Matthias Fritsch before it hit the online community.  His description of the project content reads, “Real or set up? The camera as a voyeur in an extraordinary situation and level of intimacy. A fragment of the Berlin Fuck Parade, the anti-parade in response to the Love Parade.  Reality is stranger than fiction and more bizarre than any art imaginable.”

You may have seen Matt’s videos online already if you’ve been paying attention, but if you haven’t I’ll mention it here.

Apparently Matt was traveling in 2003 when his friend suggested that he videotape himself doing this goofy dance.  He began videotaping himself in various places around the world and creating online videos.

Eventually he even got a sponsor to pay for his travels!

Up til recently the videos only featured Matt dancing, but the last trip Matt invited people to dance with him.  Seeing him in the various places around the world doing his dance was cool, but his latest video shows what a great ambassador fun and humor can be the world over.

Here’s his latest video:

To see more of Matt’s videos (as well as hi-def versions thereof) visit his website here.

In the quest to find a way to play multi-player PC games over the Internet that only support LAN connections we discovered a free Virtual Private Networking (VPN) utility called Hamachi.

Hamachi creates a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that makes it look like the other PCs connected to it are on a local area network (LAN) instead of the Internet.  Even though the Internet is one big network a lot of games only query the local network for other games running to connect to.  Hamachi (theoretically) gives your PC the illusion that other PCs that are connected to each other running Hamachi and connected via the Internet are actually connected to your PC on a local network.

One of our group was having problems connecting to some of our game servers via Hamachi.  Matt and I spent hours debugging the problem, changing network settings, removing Norton Antivirus (as we suspected it of creating having some firewall setting or otherwise blocking the connection) and eventually running out of ideas on how to fix the problem, when Matt discovered a setting in Hamachi itself that was preventing it from connecting to some games.  So much for using a methodical and comprehensive debugging technique…

The Hamachi setting that was the culprit was found in Hamachi Preferences | Security.  For some reason even though ours had defaulted to off, the problem PC had the setting “Block vulnerable Microsoft Windows services” checked on.  Once that was turned off, the problem was solved.  It’s a mystery as to how this setting got turned on however as it was the same on both his notebook and desktop.

Anyway, long story short (yup, I know, too late), if you’re running Hamachi and having connection problems make sure this setting is off.  Hamachi is no panacea as it still has some issues with certain games but it works amazingly well for a lot of games and can breathe new life into older games that have LAN but no Internet capability.

Also, in the course of our debugging, we discovered a new network connection was appearing after running the XP network setup wizard.  It was creating a connection called “Linux IGD”.  Some apparently have connectivity problems once this connection is created.

The Linux IGD is a Linux Internet Gateway Device.  The connection comes from a UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) router or modem using Linux as an operating system.  When you run the XP network setup wizard it detects the Linux IGD and adds it.

To remove it, go to the Windows XP Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs; select Add/Remove Windows Components (on the left side of the Add or Remove Programs window) ; double click Networking Services (or highlight it and click the Details button) and uncheck the Internet Gateway Device Discovery and Control Client.  This will remove the Linux IGD.