Cool Blogs v 1.5

by ezs | May 31, 2006 | evilzenscientist, Uncategorized

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We’re working on the next round of improvements to Cool Blogs – and we are looking for feedback.

First we are looking to add ‘threaded comments’ – you know the kind of thing – nested comments so that relevant comments can be kept together.

The second piece we are looking to add is ratings for each post. This way you – our loyal readers – can do the right thing and vote with your mouse. More popular posts will be marked such. Maybe good bloggers can get T-Shirts… maybe the T-Shirts belong to the good comments…

The third piece we are working on is improved information about the Cool Bloggers themselves. Afterall – it would be interesting to read a little more about what these people actually do.

The final area we are working on is to aggregate posts from other Novell Cool Bloggers own Blogs. This is an interesting area of work; essentially Cool Blogs will become a centralised blog for lots of Novell people an their information and posts.

[Edit – I’ve also been asked about improved RSS – including Atom and better feed data – that’s on the list too.]

As always – comments welcome.

Written at: Draper, UT

TSA and shoes

by ezs | May 18, 2006 | evilzenscientist, Uncategorized

Some have called the TSA “Americas Gestapo”.

The shoe removal policy is certainly one area where they seem unaccountable, uncoordinated and when questioned undeniably rude.

Here is the word from the TSA – full policy here.

TSA Shoe Screening Policy

You are not required to remove your shoes before you enter the walk-through metal detector.

HOWEVER, TSA screeners may encourage you to remove them before entering the metal detector as many types of footwear will require additional screening even if the metal detector DOES NOT alarm.

Screeners will encourage you to remove the following footwear that is likely to require additional screening:

* Boots
* Platform shoes (including platform flip-flops)
* Footwear with a thick sole or heel (including athletic shoes)
* Footwear containing metal (including many dress shoes)

I travel with similar shoes on every trip – Doc Martens with almost zero metal in them. The heel and sole are less than one inch in height.

My experience is that there is no rhyme or reason on removing shoes. It seems that screening shoes is purely down to the whim of the individual TSA agent.

Just in the last month I have seen that it’s 50/50 whether shoe removal is required. My shoes have never been screened in Europe or Canada.

When you question the policy you get selected for ‘random screening’. That’s not random; that’s intimidation so that you always comply.

When I ask the TSA duty administrator for guidance on the shoe policy I get referred to the above information; this is patently being ignored. Most frequent travellers I talk to are getting screened and ‘invited’ to remove their shoes.

When I pressed further on this policy – I was told that although ‘shoe removal is not required, and that TSA agents cannot ask you to remove shoes’ – when you are ‘invited to remove shoes’ this clearly is an instruction. When invited and you decline you always get a full security search – 15 minutes of wasted time.

There are many, many frequent fliers questioning this mindless policy. Even as far back as 2003 this was noted as being inconsistent.