Maplewood: A Problem with Policing

It is clear that the events of recent months have let loose all the ugly underpinnings of the US. From politics, to foreign policy, to local community awareness, I believe US citizens are being slapped in the face with reality. We are seeing the actual cost of keeping our lives in relative blissful comfort, in no uncertain terms. Many of the events that the majority of US citizens have felt free to ignore for decades are asserting themselves aggressively in the public view.

This past week, in my “idyllic” community – Maplewood, NJ, we have had a recent realization that has shaken many to their core. They have had to face the truth that the ugly specter of police brutality can rear its head in any and all communities.

Over a year ago, after Fourth of July festivities that the township sponsors, a number of young people of color were herded from the event and forced by police officers to cross township lines. Most of these young people were actually residents of South Orange or Maplewood (a combined community that takes pride in being welcoming to all people).

Damningly, these young people were not moved toward Millburn or Short Hills (neighboring, largely white communities), but toward Irvington that is a township with a high population of African-American residents. Irvington also has a curfew regulation that would have immediately put South Orange and Maplewood youth at risk for breaking local ordinances. No surprise, that.

Imagine if you owned a blue car and your local police directed only blue cars to a neighboring town where blue cars were outlawed? Nice. That’s what Maplewood police did, and they got violent with the young people along the way. And they were instructed to do so by the chief of police. Ahead of time.

And when I say “herded” I am not being hyperbolic. The teens were removed from our community using threats of force, and at least one child was pepper sprayed for resisting being removed from his own residential area and another was punched and kicked while being arrested for not complying with an illegal police directive. The last time I checked, asking only children or teenagers of color to leave an area was against the law. I’ll be checking with the ACLU on that, after writing this reaction. I will update this post with the results of my inquiry.

For your information, this was not just a random event. There are recordings of the Maplewood police chief instructing the police to be on the lookout for “invaders” from other townships and to get rid of them. The police were not responding to an event, they were creating one. They were explicitly told to seek outsiders by sight only. If you do not see that as overt racism, perhaps you have been jaded by the other news events of the past year.

The police escalated the situation, instead of de-escalating it (their job), and instead of announcing a requirement for IDs, or curfew related to the event. Even more distressing is that, if the police had announced their intention to take these measures, there would have been an uproar in our community about being required to have IDs to attend a public event. Or even just be out at night in the summer as a young person of color. And that uproar would have been justified.

There is no reason why the police officers could not have asked the young people for numbers of relatives to confirm addresses and, at most, escort the young people to their homes. That’s what police are supposed to do. They are not supposed to handcuff children for being loud.

So, the police chief actively made a preemptive decision to keep this policy quiet to avoid being told that he could not or should not do it. Are those the actions of a person looking out for the welfare of a community? Probably not.

For your personal comfort, even though there are both video and audio recordings of wrongdoing, the Essex County Prosecutor’s office found “insufficient evidence to warrant criminal prosecution.” Of course they didn’t. They rely on local police cooperation to get anything done. What happens when police forces stop helping county prosecutors because police are held to the same standards as every other community member? Well, nothing, I guess. As evidenced all over the country, for decades.

What is more striking to me is that a community group felt that asking for a resignation and a temporary suspension of pay for the police chief is an appropriate response to institutionally-backed police brutality. Really, to hell with state regulations designed to recitivize corrupt policing. Make them take the action to court, if they are willing. The whole process is backward.

It appears to me that picking a group of young people of color and requiring them to leave a township is actually racist and is in direct violation of civil liberties laws. And this event is only getting the traction it is getting because, after a year of waiting, the recorded video and audio recordings have been released to the public, per a formal request. How many more events like this have gone unrecorded?

I worked in management consulting for years, in finance. I have been around for numerous high-level audits. In fact, the company I worked for at the time was seeking an initial public offering (IPO) and had to justify their finances prior to going public. If an auditor catches one grievous error, I can guarantee you that many, if not hundreds, of grievous errors were missed. That’s how audits work – that catching one problem indicates a much higher level of hidden problems.

This is not an isolated incident as evidenced near the bottom of the article in the link below:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170802155430/https://villagegreennj.com/police-and-fire/video-reveals-maplewood-police-kicking-macing-teens-call-cimino-resign/

“We stand in solidarity with all those who were hurt and traumatized by the experience of being mistreated by the Maplewood Police after the July 5, 2016 fireworks and with those now witnessing this event on the released video. Racial disparities in police conduct cannot be tolerated here or anywhere. We intend to be a model integrated community that is welcoming not just to people who live here, but also to the people in our neighboring towns who visit and participate in all that we have to offer—parks, public events, and more. The culture among our police officers should be consistent with the culture of the community: inclusive and anti-racist…”

I have archived this web page simply because it was startling to me that a local paper would produce an article that intimated proof of wrongdoing by a local police force. I’d rather later edits not become a problem when this event is referred to, down the road.

Back on topic, the group The Community Coalition on Race has made it clear that this is not an isolated instance, and that the police chief has been tapped for this sort of behavior in the past. What I am incredibly thankful for is that no young people have had to die to encourage measurable action from the township.

And yes, I am being critical of my local government. New Jersey is possibly one of the most corrupt states in the union, in terms of government paybacks and regulatory inertia. It is so bad that almost all of the state legislators voted against more stringent corruption regulation. Here’s some edification, for you:

https://ivn.us/2017/03/09/new-jersey-elections-lifeblood-states-political-corruption/

That link above, by the way, is rife with links to actual issues in the state.

But, before community feathers get ruffled, it sounds like community members genuinely seek change. Unfortunately, the change they seek is always one step too short. After a conversation on Facebook with one of the members of the Maplewood Town Council with a Maplewood Town Council candidate, I found out that municipalities do not even have control over releasing a local police chief.

In NJ, you have to have the State’s Attorney General take action, in terms of firing a local police chief. Otherwise, you have to pay the chief to do nothing (while also paying an interim chief), and have to wait for the original chief to decide to retire or resign. That’s it. It is astonishing that this sort of regulation made it to state law and completely in character for the State of New Jersey.

I suppose that. in NJ, if your chief is being investigated for murder, with video & audio proof of complicity made public, you’ll have to wait on the State AG or a conviction to fire him. That’s simply incredible. Especially in an “At-will” state where any business can cite any reason at all to fire you as a private citizen.

So, what are we left with? Well, the police chief has been asked to resign. As far as I know, he’s still being paid. We have also hired an interim chief of police. By state regulation, that’s all we can do, other than to seek criminal court recourse, which our county prosecutor refuses to do. I wonder if they require proof in excess of video and audio in marijuana arrest cases? Jaywalking? Who knows?

I suspect that most community members don’t want to use a “nuclear” option and make this a case suitable for investigation by civil liberties groups. Get the ACLU involved? “Oh no, we don’t want to do that.” Maybe that level of action requires an actual child death and national coverage/embarrassment before we can accept that the worst of the US can happen right here in our home town. And yours.

It is my most sincere hope that the Maplewood Town Council address the current problem to the best of their ability, but also become agents for change at the state and local level and make sure that Maplewood becomes a model for police reform that the rest of the nation can follow.

And to my fellow community members? I say, “Stop accepting incrementalism and work toward measurable change.” A young person’s life may depend on your efforts. Don’t get angry, get active.

CORRECTION: I have struck through inaccurate information in my post, above. I was under the impression that  Maplewood Town Council member had engaged me on Facebook. I later exchanged emails with an actual TC member, who was kind enough to correct me.

The Creeping Racket of United’s “Overbooking”

There once was a time when I could care less about what airline I took. I went to the first online booking site I could find, searched for the lowest price and packed my bags. I was not a frequent traveler by any means, at least not by airplane. I might squeeze in one trip a year when I had the money to do it. Frequently, my only yearly travel was to Bermuda, where I have close family.

And then I married my wife. She’s a travel nut. She’s been arranging international travel for herself and her family since she was around 12 years old. I’d really never met someone so versed in the intricacies of air travel as she was, or anyone who could sit down for a half an hour and find the best travel “deals.” Usually “deal” meant “cheap tickets” instead of “great experience.” In the beginning of our marriage, these flights were arranged using Continental Airlines.

You remember Continental, don’t you? Great service and meals even on short flights. Space for your carry-on, because no one was trying to avoid a checked-baggage fee. Those were the days.

For someone who had possibly traveled by airplane about five times his entire life at age forty, this sudden ramp-up in travel was jarring and anxiety-ridden. Most of my air travel had occurred prior to 9/11, so the additional security was confounding and honestly, frightening. This did nothing to engender me toward air travel. The jostle to get a seat, the crazed rush to get into the plane and shove overly-large baggage into an overly small space was bizarre and frustrating to me.

Well, just as we were getting married, United purchased Continental. Continental was struggling to stay competitive and the merger with United seemed to make sense, in a merger kind-of-way. For Continental’s customers, there was a heavy sigh of sadness as they realized that they would be forced to transfer their miles to possibly the worst airline they could imagine (maybe, just maybe, American Airlines was the definitive “worst”). They would now be nearly forced to continue to use an airline they’d actively avoided for years.

Why did people avoid United? As a premium airline (as compared to JetBlue or Southwest), United pioneered the “nickle-and-dime” approach to customer service. Once they caught wind that people accepted snacks-only flights on JetBlue, United followed suit. After the merger, United started charging for checked baggage. My wife maintained a United credit card account in large part to avoid this charge. United is now charging for the use of overhead bins. They have progressively made luggage an “extra” expense for travel, adding charges over and above their ticket prices for nearly anything you want to bring with you.

Come to think of it, I had never been asked to make a purchase on an airline prior to flying with United. The first time an air hostess approached me to buy food and snacks on a flight was supremely uncomfortable. But that was just the beginning.

I soon became prepared for the inevitable “overbooking” of our return flight home. I saw an article over the past fews days (possibly on Wired.com) where United only claimed less than a single percentage point of “overbooking.” I must be the unluckiest traveler in the world, because fully a third of our return flights home included a request to “volunteer” for a later flight. As a result, I pleaded with my wife to normally make arrangements to return home twenty four hours prior to the end of our time off to avoid arriving home the morning I needed to return to work.

Imagine, cutting your trip short to accommodate the business habits of your airline. That feels backward to me. Doesn’t it to you? And don’t misunderstand, I realize the business acumen behind overbooking. Any airline could lose loads of money averaging a few empty seats per flight. But due to no-shows? That line of reasoning makes no sense. The last time I checked, no-shows didn’t get refunds, so the airlines don’t lose money at all. This is assuming the no-show made no attempt at communication a week prior to travel. So, United still gets something from no-shows, whether its a fee for re-booking or the full price of the ticket. Or both.

And lets define “overbooking,” while we’re here. To be clear, the only definition of “overbooking” that I accept is for customer seats, period. Accommodating on-duty or off-duty employees does not count. An airline cannot call a fully booked flight “overbooked” because they want to transport off-duty employees on that full flight. Honestly, it should be illegal (from a consumer protection standpoint) for any airline to remove a paying customer to accommodate an employee that United wants to transport somewhere. This is simply a cost-saving/time-saving strategy, since United can certainly pay to transport their employees by other means without removing customers from flights. That’s a cost of business expense, not a required inconvenience to a paying customer.

United’s current policy creates an adversarial relationship between employees and customers. It’s evident on nearly every flight I take with them. Air hostesses berating customers for boarding too slowly, antagonistic announcements for overbooked flights and the like.

Most importantly, this policy puts a certain lie you’ve been told to the test. Overbooking is a business strategy used to reduce “losses” from no-shows. The problem is, by and large, United loses no money from no-shows – it’s an invalid argument. Have you ever not shown up for a flight and gotten a refund a week later? I didn’t think so. Not unless there were tragic circumstances involved. What is more likely is that you were given an additional charge for not showing up – a “re-booking fee.” So, to reiterate, no-shows – defined as ticketed customers who do not show up for their flights – actually make United more money. Now you know the real reason for overbooking.

United gets your original ticket price, plus a no-show fee and they get to fill the seat with another paying customer (or an off-duty employee, for whom they do not have to pay transportation costs). This is literally a racket, as in, the definition of “racketeering.” Yet United gets to present no-shows as a business loss to the public. A business loss that requires overbooking. Let me give you an example.

I am currently on a trip to visit Nashville. I chose to drive here and my wife made arrangements to fly here with my daughter a few months ago. The day my wife and daughter were to take their flight, she saw a weather report indicating heavy thunderstorms and tornado activity on her flight path, so she chose to drive with me, instead. A pretty typical no-show. Hers was just one valid reason out of many to not show up for a flight. And since there is no incentive to contact United, we did not contact them.

She was a no-show for a round-trip flight to/from Nashville. Not only will she never get her ticket price back, she will also not get a refund of the ticket for our five year-old. We can fairly assume that those seats were filled. So, United got a minimum of double the ticket price for my wife’s and daughter’s seats. Then they charged my wife a “re-booking fee” for her return flight, which they canceled but for which they gave my wife a credit. So, as a result of a “no-show,” United received the ticket price for two tickets that were never used and and additional fee for a ticket that was used. In addition, United probably filled the seats my wife and daughter didn’t use, with other paying customers or off-duty staff.

No-shows are not a loss. They’re a free-and-clear profit if the seats are filled. There is no justifiable need for “overbooking” based on no-shows. Even if the seats weren’t filled, they were paid for and most likely resulted in additional fee revenue.

Well, ok. There is one justification. More profits. More nickel-and-diming customers to make more profits. No wonder Continental couldn’t compete.

What you may also not understand is that United (and many other airlines) skirt federal law by convincing you to “volunteer” for a later flight if yours is overbooked. By federal law, if you lose your seat due to “overbooking” the airline is required to pay you up to four times your ticket price or roughly $1,400, which ever is the smaller amount. Airlines get around this by making it inconvenient for you to take your refund and book a separate flight (which is also likely to be overbooked). By inconveniencing you, they convince you to sign a waiver for a voucher that you may never use and which has provisos (blackout dates, voucher only good in the continental US, etc.). So, for the trouble of being removed from a pre-paid flight, United gets to offer you something of almost no value in return. By the way, if you do use the voucher, you’ll need to buy a return ticket from wherever you just went. Ooops. More profit.

At this point, it is no wonder that passengers no longer want to accommodate “volunteer” requests from airlines. The airlines, most certainly United, are making revenue at every interaction a passenger has with them. And they frequently yell at you or abuse you for that privilege. If you are not a frequent traveler, it may be fair for you to put this down to “first world problems,” and maybe that’s a fair criticism. But getting appropriate value and customer service is an expectation we should all have, no matter what that service is.

My advice? Just don’t fly United, or any other airline that does this. If these companies only listen to their pocketbooks, then speak the language they will hear. Before ever that poor man was forcibly ejected from a seat he paid for, in a blatant ploy for United to save a few bucks, this kind of abuse was one of the primary reasons I chose to take a twelve hour drive to Nashville, instead of a three hour flight.

Quiet Mutterings In Response to the First Week of Cheeto Prez

As the last week has come and gone, and I have had a little time to digest, many subjects for this next post floated by my mind. Most especially how distracting certain presidential actions can become, and how we as a nation (the US, but I could include many European nations as well) have become aflutter on social media and elsewhere, trying to get a grasp on what’s going on.

For those of you in this mental/emotional state, I can assure you, I have no advice. Neither am I above this kind of reaction. But I do think that I have learned to seek solid ground prior to letting my emotions get ahead of me. If I can take away anything from the recent social media maelstrom, it’s this – restore your faith with little things.

My daughter recently re-posted a message from Jenna Bush Hager on my Facebook feed. And the contents stopped me short. Not because I necessarily agree with the sentiments in George Bush’s post-9/11 address to the US, but because his daughter, who has insisted on being considered “independent” in politics, chose to resubmit this speech to the world.

I think the purpose of my daughter sharing this speech was to give heart to her liberal and left-leaning friends that even conservatives can see the good in Islam and that Muslims, as a group, are not terrorists or evil people.

I guess the problem that I have with this hopeful thinking is that this very same speech ushered in one of the most savagely anti-Muslim periods in our history. And I want to be very clear about that, because the subsequent “wars”, military actions and bombings of Muslim majority countries have continued for more than a decade with no real publicity. They have continued without stringent opposition from the US Congress, and have represented conflicts and vast amounts of human death and suffering in the name of “Regime Change.”

In point of fact, the “Yes we can” president expanded our drone bombing programs to seven countries that, coincidentally, The Cheeto in Chief seeks to further penalize I assume, for the simple fact of previously being bombed for several years. These are all countries that seek their own independence, on their terms, without foreign intervention – the literal definition of American Independence. They also happen to be Muslim majority. And that’s key.

Because George Bush’s speech was just faulted enough to create a solid neo-con and neo-lib opposition. Because, in point of fact, Islam is not a religion of peace. Neo-libs like Bill Maher love to point this out. But, as a Muslim revert in the US, what can I possibly mean with this inflammatory statement?

Well, it’s pretty simple. If you allow yourself a breath and take a moment to think, no religion is a “religion of peace.” No, folks, not even Buddhism. Buddhist monks are persecuting ethnic minority Muslims right now. Persecuting as in, “executing.” And these monks are not a splinter sect. They’ve just taken nationalism to it’s furthest extent. Much like the US is doing now.

Religion is about faith. Not politics. Even in Islam. Of course Bill Maher and others will push the Islamic exceptionalism argument your way, in trite comedic one-liners (a sort of 140 character-based message). But most Muslim majority governments prior to the 20th century were largely secular, possibly more so than the European “post-enlightenment” based governments were. But, I digress.

So Islam is not a religion of peace, any more or less so than any other religion I am aware of, except possibly Quakers. As you may have heard many times, “Islam” is an Arabic word derivative of “salaam” which means “peace.” More importantly, though, is that “Islam” specifically means “peaceful and willing submission to God.” How important is that distinction? It depends on how much understanding you really want to have.

What it has meant to me, for the majority of my life, is that there is no authority above God. That God’s word, as far as we can possibly understand it, as faulted, petty human beings, is the highest authority. How we deal with that understanding is our choice. Some of us (Muslims) try to force our understanding on others. This is what Daesh does. Some of us offer our understanding to others (not as evangelism or “Da’wah” / proselytizing) in the course of our daily actions. In other words, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” To me, that statement is fundamental to Islam, and one of my personally greatest faults – that being a Muslim is really just being a veritable example of the best in Islam to others. An example of Good in the world.

The point is, Islam is not the problem. Islam is foreign enough that I think most “westerners” and even western Muslims can’t really get a solid understanding of what Islam really means. It’s taken me nearly 30 years just to get this tiny modicum of understanding. But the basic message stays the same.

Protect your own, protect and support others in need. Give God his due and recognize the uniqueness of his messenger. Visit the birthplace of your beliefs at least once in your life. Islam literally boils down to “Respect yourself. Respect others equally. Respect the words of God.” There’s really not much foreign about that. But still, we bomb.

One of my friends recently said that there was more outrage against an immigration ban (sparking protests all over the US, Europe and elsewhere) than there has been about unconstitutional bombings of Muslim majority states for more than a decade. And I think this is true.

Don’t complain about refugees’ immigration status. Don’t get upset about refugee bans. No, don’t do either, unless you are willing to make a greater effort to stop creating refugees in the first place. That’s really what George Bush and the US has missed all along. I truly hope we will learn this lesson before Cheeto Prez and his sycophants destroy everything.

Welcome to Trump’s America (Be at Ease, It Was Always This Way)

I’m a liberal progressive with some conservative tendencies. If, in this new America, that offends or frightens you, you should move on. If you’re actually interested in dialog, then welcome.

To me this date – November 8th, 2016 – corresponds to the assassination of Kennedy as my mother described it to me. She even made a scrapbook that I can pull out one day, mouldering in some closet at her house.

In contrast to my mother, I did not lose a beloved President. What was assassinated today was my hope. My hope for my children and my grandchildren. In fact, I think I would actively advise my children not to have children of their own, at this point. Political contraceptive.

How bizarre, you think, “What’s this he’s going on about, then?”

You see, I’ve survived this America before. For years, children in the town where I grew up ganged up and beat me, calling me “nigger.” Does that offend you? The truth of it? How do you think it makes me feel? It felt like all of the children in my town were against me, but in truth it was only a few. Some even took me under their wings in a rather negligent way – “You’re not that kind of nigger”

And while they may not have been hard-core racists (I am here writing this, after all), they taught me all I needed to know about America. That for the most part, as a non-white man, at best I will only be tolerated by the vast majority of Americans. That no matter that I’ve served my country, educated myself and worked hard for nearly 40 years, I’m only just a nigger in America. Or a “damn Muslim.”

I’ve learned that most people will stand by as I am being abused, if they are not actively participating or egging the participants on. If they are particularly tolerant, they may just look on in fear or disgust.

Perhaps even less grace will be afforded my children. Will they have to hide their beliefs as Muslims? Will they disavow culture and upbringing in order to eke out survival as brown people in America? Or will they live a hidden, Anne Frank version of Islam – the kind that comes out from the crawlspace only when the coast is clear and candles are lit?

I watch as my liberal white friends shrug and say “Maybe next time.” Or “That was disappointing.” It’s ok, I’m used to it. Trump’s America is nothing new to me. It is only the horror I have been struggling against my entire life. I went into decades long debt to bankers to raise myself up, studied hard, did the right things. But here I stand today, solidly on square one.

Maybe I and my family will be registered as Muslims. He said that, you know. Yes, he did. And you supported him in it, because both Democrats and Republicans colluded to frighten you to death, so they could make more money and garner more individual power.

You want me to be outraged by Trey Goudy’s laughable and expensive crusade against Hillary? He’s only nearly every (white) man I ever knew for the first 15 years of my life. This is nothing new to me. I learned to laugh at the fear they tried to feed me. “Is that really the best you can do?”

The real problem is that I drank the juice. When Obama was elected president, I thought, “Well now, we’ve finally arrived.” Maybe the country really isn’t mostly racist after all. But now, you and I are faced with the plain truth. That bigoted aggression was only hiding, living and growing – festering under the skin, until Trump popped our collective boil.

And, in treating that festering boil with the worst kind of doctor, my hope has finally been lost. I don’t believe in you anymore, America. Harriet Tubman did. Frederick Douglass did. Susan B. Anthony did. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did. You may not believe it, but Malcolm X did too. How? He never left. He never gave up. He died fighting for what he believed in.

Not so much to believe in, really. Just the possibly – the hope – that there could be an America where lynchings, firebombings, extra-judicial killings, segregation and mass-shootings was not “a thing.” If you think about it, that’s really what America actually stands for – order and fairness for all its citizens, and beyond that, for all the world’s citizens. But hey, America, you can’t criticize other countries for being savage any more. You’re in the dirt with them, now.

Malcolm X is my hero. As is Gandhi. And Lincoln. All men who lost their lives fighting for basic human rights. But you know what? After three centuries of concerted effort, I’m pretty sure it’s ok to say, “Hey guys, this isn’t working.” I mean, my ancestors were slaves. But they were also the first Europeans to settle this land. I wonder which is worse?

So I can tell you, because I have been living this dichotomy for almost fifty years. There is the America we’d like to believe in. And there’s the America that actually exists.

So, what’s the point of all this navel-gazing? Well, America, you’ve forced my hand. Maybe, like Richard Wright, I could find solace in residence in another country. Or maybe I just give up.

I love watching the internets talk about how Trump will bring this country together when he has spent the last two years (and longer) tearing it apart. And he’s not completely to blame. The media never kept the candidates focused on hard questions. I still really have no idea of the specifics of either party’s platform for this election, except for the vigorous wagging of fingers. Literally the only candidates who offered solid policy solutions were hushed and pushed aside.

I can tell you that that I will not wait for my property to be seized, or my far distant family to be purified in nuclear fire, or to be encamped as the Jews and Japanese were (another Nazi Germany/America correlation).

So, all you pundits espousing “hope?” Yeah, not for me. I will not live to see my daughter imprisoned, or my son relegated to camp labor for the “good of America.” Hyperbole? No, it’s what Trump promised. He has the entire Congress and will probably have the Supreme Court as well. Newt Gingrich and Ted Cruz AND Michael Pence will have actual, almost completely unopposed power in this country.

Some of you really don’t see a problem. Here’s what I see. Women who die from septicemia trying to get illegal abortions (no more Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood). More police brutality and overreach (Trump promised nationwide stop-and-frisk – almost exclusively enforced on people of color). More black people being killed for no reason. The literal extinction of Native Americans (Trump and his cronies have got to make more money, after all), even more tens of thousands of Muslim lives destroyed all over the world in order to stop a few thousand extremists who pose no imminent danger to the US and nearly always only kill other Muslims.

But feel satisfied, America. You did good. You got what you wanted.

And to the inevitable liberal/progressive voices out there telling me to keep my chin up and keep protesting and being active in the government? I say, “Fuck you.” I’ve been doing that my entire life to laughs and derision. This was my reward.

Refugees and Conflicts Are Our Problem

Said as I wished to say it. I hope you’ll read, and like the original post.

If the US is truly going to stand for “truth” and “right” then we should stop supporting those who don’t.

TrueBoots

The last week’s news cycle has included crises of breathtaking magnitude: Congress has contended with the influx of tens of thousands of children from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, while the world has watched as Israel has pounded Gaza with missiles, killing Hamas militants, but also dozens of women, children, and other bystanders. Yet the responses I’ve seen in the mass media and on social media has been overwhelmingly about the “rightness” of Israel to destroy sites that have included a mosque, a center for the disabled, and a cafe where people were watching the World Cup; also, about the “illegality” of children fleeing the extreme violence and poverty of their home countries, and how expensive it is to feed, house, and otherwise help children in crisis–and so we talk about rapid deportations, not resolution or care. Hamas isn’t relenting, so people seem to feel that the murder of innocents is somehow justified…

View original post 1,081 more words

First reblog from collaboration – WoobieWookie tech blog

Here you go. My next actual post will come in a few days.

http://woobiewookie.blogspot.com/2014/05/moving-away-from-microsoft-i-have-and.html

One Year In

Time for some navel-gazing. In all honesty, I do a lot of it. Thankfully, I do not write a lot of it down.

I had a lot of big plans for this blog a year ago. Suddenly, a few weeks ago, I received the WordPress notification congratulating me on the first year. Had it really been that long? I guess so.

But I found time to write only nine times during the year. Most of those posts had come during the honeymoon period, where my excitement was high and I found time to write in almost any circumstance.

But life gets in the way. I determined not to start a daddy-blog (how tiresome), but fatherhood experiences overtook my day-to-day life and I rarely had more than fifteen minutes at a time to concentrate. Perhaps some people can write under those circumstances, but I cannot. As a result, many of my ideas were suspended.

I learned that reactionary writing was bad for me. There are many drafts sitting in the hopper, waiting patiently to be finished as I lost track of my points after my passion faded and I had time to think about what I was writing. Cathartic for me. Not much benefit to you.

I learned that I wrote best about the things I care about most. It is incredibly rewarding to know that my efforts are helping some of you. Really. And, if my post didn’t help, I hope I at least let you know that you are not the only one having these frustrations.

I am definitely looking forward to expanding my work in technology and have been negotiating a collaboration with an associate to start a new tech-only blog with a YouTube tie-in. As if there weren’t enough of those. But I am excited about it.

The tech blogs I have written have been far and away the most popular, in terms of viewership. But the other subjects have engendered the most discussion. It puts me in a strange position. I feel that I should isolate my technology writing, for ease of access to my readers. We’ll see how it goes

I learned that I should write when I have the ideas, and then let my writing sit for a while. Coming back to my posts after a year is eye-opening. I am capable of much better writing, and some of my posts almost made me cringe. They feel almost…sophomoric. The sentence structure, the editing, the typos. I am better than that, I can assure you. And I will be better from this point forward.

I will not be rushing my posts any more. But I will be posting more regularly.
I  want to thank all of you. For reading. For valuable input. For your patience with me. I look forward to our next year together.

Fixing Suspend in Xubuntu on the Acer C720 – A Simplified Guide

I am posting this guide as a point-in-time assist after the release of Ubuntu 14.04, to help those looking to fix suspend in Xubuntu on their C720s (and any Chromebook with Haswell architecture or similar hardware). I will do my utmost to keep this updated, but keep in mind that this post is not my first priority. Please remember that messing about with your system instructions can create horrible problems, for which you are responsible – no one is forcing you to make these changes. If they are very intimidating to you, do not take these steps and stick with crouton or ChrUbuntu! If you have anything to add, please let me know. I welcome help and criticism as it helps all of us with our knowledge.   Things to keep in mind:

• I am not an experienced coder – I understand the instructions below because I have scripting/coding experience, but I am presenting this only to help those who have little to no experience.
• I am only one person, so have a little patience – I am doing this only as a service to help you, and cannot do much in the way of troubleshooting. If you are having problems, make sure to present them on the G+ post.
• As the Ubuntu kernel updates, (ie, 14.04.1) I will try to test if anything is broken – I may miss something, so let me know.

My article is derived from the following reddit post: http://www.reddit.com/r/chrubuntu/comments/1rsxkd/list_of_fixes_for_xubuntu_1310_on_the_acer_c720/ After you have followed the guide for installing Xubuntu, make sure to make corrections in order, as suggested in the reddit post. Specifically, you may have trouble with suspend (closing the lid will cause a lock-up requiring a cold start). Here is all the info you need: https://plus.google.com/113736371980021233804/posts/6CgQypQukMa However, after many responses and corrections, you may find the Google+ post by Pedro Larroy a bit confusing. Here’s a distilled version:

add the following to the kernel boot parameters in /etc/default/grub reload grub via update-grub

add_efi_memmap boot=local noresume noswap i915.modeset=1 tpm_tis.force=1 tpm_tis.interrupts=0 nmi_watchdog=panic,lapic

This fix was originally suggested for an earlier kernel – but it has been superseded/replaced by the following scripts, so you will have to make some fixes for Xubuntu 13.10 (stable) or Xubuntu 14.04 . Do not enter the lines above. Only use what I have posted in code below. After making the changes originally posted by Pedro, skip down to the Mike Lim response (I have added formatting to make it easier to read. Hopefully my formatting will work and terminal entries will appear properly):   1. Creating 05_Sound file under /etc/pm/sleep.d/

sudo gedit /etc/pm/sleep.d/05_sound

#####################
#!/bin/sh
# File: "/etc/pm/sleep.d/05_sound"
case "${1}" in
hibernate|suspend)
# Unbind ehci for preventing error
echo -n "0000:00:1d.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ehci-pci/unbind
# Unbind snd_hda_intel for sound
echo -n "0000:00:1b.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/snd_hda_intel/unbind
echo -n "0000:00:03.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/snd_hda_intel/unbind
sleep 1
;;
resume|thaw)
# Bind ehci for preventing error
echo -n "0000:00:1d.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ehci-pci/bind
# Bind snd_hda_intel for sound
echo -n "0000:00:1b.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/snd_hda_intel/bind
echo -n "0000:00:03.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/snd_hda_intel/bind
sleep 1
;;
esac
#################

sudo chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/05_sound

2. rc.local editing

sudo gedit /etc/rc.local

#############################
echo EHCI > /proc/acpi/wakeup
echo HDEF > /proc/acpi/wakeup
echo XHCI > /proc/acpi/wakeup
echo LID0 > /proc/acpi/wakeup
echo TPAD > /proc/acpi/wakeup
echo TSCR > /proc/acpi/wakeup
echo 300 > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness
rfkill block bluetooth
/etc/init.d/bluetooth stop
##############################

IMPORTANT: make sure that your script ends with “exit 0” – no quotes. Do not remove this line!   3. grub editing

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

######################################
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash tpm_tis.force=1"
######################################

4. update grub

sudo update-grub

sudo update-grub2

IMPORTANT – for those with little to no programming/scripting experience: Hash marks (#) represent “commenting out” – anything following the hash mark on a line will be ignored. Be aware that the comment lines are not necessary, but should be included. Comments help you keep track of what changes you’ve made. This should work perfectly for 13.10, but if you find you have trouble, go back to the G+ post and read through some of the issues. For instance, I keep bluetooth shut off, and have never had the bluetooth issues described in the responses. For those of you using 14.04, the following response from Jimmy Capizzi should addresses additional issues found with suspend. Again, make sure to update grub after you are finished:   1. create sound suspend file in /systemd

sudo mkdir /usr/lib/systemd/system-sleep/

sudo gedit /usr/lib/systemd/system-sleep/cros-sound-suspend.sh

#####################################################
#/usr/lib/systemd/system-sleep/cros-sound-suspend.sh
#!/bin/bash
case $1/$2 in
pre/*)
# Unbind ehci for preventing error
echo -n "0000:00:1d.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ehci-pci/unbind
# Unbind snd_hda_intel for sound
echo -n "0000:00:1b.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/snd_hda_intel/unbind
echo -n "0000:00:03.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/snd_hda_intel/unbind
;;
post/*)
# unBind ehci for preventing error
echo -n "0000:00:1d.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ehci-pci/unbind
# bind snd_hda_intel for sound
echo -n "0000:00:1b.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/snd_hda_intel/bind
echo -n "0000:00:03.0" | tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/snd_hda_intel/bind
;;
esac
#####################################################

Save the gedit file, and you are done. Restart your Chromebook and test suspend. Hopefully, this is helpful to you. It’s a lot to take in and digest through various links, but my intent is only to help clarify for beginners. I welcome all feedback! I really hope this helps simplify your Xubuntu installation on your Chromebook. Good luck!

EDIT (2014-06-11) – I have made a few formatting corrections to the code. I did not realize that I was getting leading spaces on the lines until I copied and pasted code from this article to a new Kubuntu installation on the C720. Also added a line to the Mike Lim fix (last bit of scripting) to make the appropriate directory (see comments for this article). I can confirm that, as of the writing of this edit, suspend works properly using Kubuntu 14.04 and the now current kernel, if you follow these steps. The ChruBuntu installation will default to Kubuntu 12.04 LTS, but I “upgraded” to 14.04 to avoid compiling random kernels.

EDIT (2014-08-12) – I have added the “sleep 1” statements from the G+ post referenced in this article to the “05_sound” script as suggested in the comment made by Michael Conner. I was aware of this fix when I originally wrote this post, but did not see much positive feedback on G+ (and it appeared to be superseded by later fixes), so I left it out of the original script. I can confirm that there are no more wonky responses to sleep/suspend regarding sound after minimal testing. Thanks to Michael for checking in and testing on his own!

My first technology review – the Acer C720 Chromebook

The Acer C720, newly arrived at my domicile.

First impressions.

Well packaged and clean – not overly packaged by any means – quick delivery from Amazon (3 days using Amazon Prime).

The box seemed much heavier than I expected it to be for just a Chromebook but, after opening the box, the additional weight was explained by the power brick.

Contents:

• Acer C720 Chromebook (covered in microfiber sleeve)

• power block and power cord

• Quick start guide and guidebook

Dead simple set-up. Power on, be astounded by start-up time and log in. Make sure you have the Chromebook plugged in to a wall outlet prior to starting. Even though the battery was at 100% on delivery, the C720 would not start without being plugged in.

First login was a minor test of patience, since the Chromebook was a bit slow to connect to my account and pick up my G+ account photo – have patience and wait for your photo to appear in the list of photos for your login.. Otherwise, extremely quick. My wife and I actually had comical faces of disbelief when we saw how quickly the C720 started from complete power-off.

The C720 has a clean and simple design. Nothing unfamiliar on cutting edge. There have been some complaints about the boring exterior but honestly, it’s a tool that doesn’t get in your way with a bunch of bells and whistles, and I appreciate that.

Bottom line? The C720 was so easy to set up, a 5 year-old could do it without trouble. Even Apple products are more complex to unbox and use for the very first time.

Build quality is good although the laptop seemed delicate to me, at first blush. I normally either carry iPads, Alienware laptops or Macbooks around, so I may be used to an extremely high build quality and a heavier overall design. However, there is very little flex when holding the C720 at angles and it feels lighter than our 4th gen iPad. Really, “featherlight” is not hyperbole for this notebook.

I have considered buying an LED light strip to attach to the Chromebook at night, since one of the primary reasons I got it was to use at night without disturbing my wife, but there is no backlight on the keyboard. For $250, I can search around for a janky solution that allows my wife to sleep and me to keep typing away.

The C720 did get hot enough for the fan to start running when I started using it on my lap. However, using it on a flat surface seems to have addressed the and it is cool to the touch, with just the ambient venting working to keep the intel chip cool. I would suggest keeping the vents on the underside of the C720 free from blockages. Use it on a lapdesk or hard surface, or be prepared for a bit of fan noise and heat.

Initially, I noticed some lag with a few tabs open and a flash game running in one tab. However, I have run a number of games since, with no noticeable lag. If you want to play games, probably a good idea to close all other tabs. Also, I believe that a number of background processes were taking over, since it was the first use of the Chromebook. After a month’s worth of use, I am nothing but impressed with the peppy performance of the C720.

Absolutely no operational noise, even while under load. When the fan kicked in, it was barely audible in a very quiet room. And from everything that I can see, you really have to put the processor under stress to get the fan to kick on or create any kind of noise.

Battery life is great, but not any more awesome than my wife’s Macbook Pro – it was definitely not 8 hours on the first use, and arrived fully charged. During my first session, I always had about 10 tabs open, a flash game running and Google Play Music running, and I was down to under 20% battery within about 5 hours. That’s actually very good in comparison to my 1 year old Alienware M14, whose battery would last roughly 3 hours under the same load.

When I was shopping for Chromebooks, I noticed that Plex was an app that was available for Chrome OS, but had no luck finding it in the Chrome Web Store prior to purchase. I was really pleased to see the Plex app was included under a special section of the Store, which only appears when you are using Chrome OS to navigate to the Chrome Store.

So you understand why I chose to get a Chromebook, and an Acer specifically, I will explain.

I have been seeking a better way to interact with the internet. I do almost all my news-gathering and reading via internet. I found that a touch interface was extremely frustrating for me to deal with if I wanted to type more than a few words. A tablet, even though the screen is larger than my phone, was even more uncomfortable to use for any kind of typing. So what did I think I needed? A light internet device with a reasonably small screen that was dead cheap. I don’t need to spend a bunch of $$ on yet another device. And I need a keyboard that is at least comfortable on which to type.

While the Microsoft Surface tablets have an add-on keyboard I have been disgusted by the Windows 8 interface, and the keyboards (unless you get an aftermarket full-size keyboard) are not much better than an on-screen keyboard. Ultrabooks? Too expensive and heavy. Macbook Air? Let’s not go there – I needed a tool, not a status symbol.

So I reviewed the Acer C720. If I was going to learn a new OS, why not one that was designed for the purposes I had in mind?

Much had been written about the “tinny” speakers included with this Chromebook, especially in comparison to the Chromebook 11 (HP). The speakers are really nothing to be amazed by, but output well for the music and movies I ran during my initial session with the C720. It is truly rare to find a laptop at any price point with really good speakers, and much less so with this price point. The speakers were certainly not bad and I felt no disappointment while using them.

Another key reviewer complaint was the “closed ecosystem.” Apple products basically boil down to the fact that everything I do MUST be Apple-oriented supported once I buy one of their devices. Breaking out of those restrictions is often extremely difficult or impossible. The reflexive argument may also be true with Google devices – with the C720 you may initially feel that you are restricted only to Google services, but it is a simple matter to have Ubuntu running in conjunction with the Chrome OS (which is a derivative of Linux anyway), switching between the two with just a few keystrokes. And Ubuntu opens me up to any regular desktop applications I may wish to use. I imagine that, as Chrome OS matures, there will be less need for even this type of simple work around, although I love messing with Ubuntu as a rule.

One thing you should be aware of is that the Chromebook’s simplicity can be an inconvenience as well. If you are like me, you rarely read manuals. I watched the few existing video reviews on the Acer C720, but none covered the actual use of the freebies that owning a Chromebook allows you. After a day a of use, I went into my Google Drive, only to find out that I had no increase in storage. Just logging into the C720 did not automatically give me access to the new services (Free GoGo, increased Google Drive storage, and two months of free Unlimited Google Play Music) My suggestion is to go straight to the “Get Started” app and review your options.

The entire contents of a delivered Acer C720

So let’s get down to the meat of the issue and address some of the pros and cons of this Chromebook.

Performance. From everything I can see the C720 is super-fast. Not new, out-of-the-box Windows 7 performance laptop fast. It’s actually faster than that. The C720 (as I have heard is true of all Chromebooks) starts up in less than 7 seconds. That is from the point you press the power button to the time you can login. And, in all honesty, I was stunned by how quickly the C720 starts up. The Haswell processor, 16 GB SSD and 4 GB of RAM work stunningly together with Chrome OS to give a truly flawless user experience. For those of you holding off on getting a Chromebook because you heard that early (or even existing models) were slow, you can rest easy. The C720 is always very fast – faster than my Alienware when browsing with Chrome.

Now, that is largely because there are practically no large background processes checking and rechecking the condition of the hardware and the OS prior to usability stage. This does not mean the a Chromebook is just a browser, or that you absolutely need the internet to work. Many apps, including browser-based apps can work fine by caching your information in the admittedly tiny hard drive and then syncing that work when you regain an internet connection. Be aware that Chrome OS does NOT support Java, so if you use Java a lot, you may not want to get a Chromebook.

Design. I love tech reporters that try to make something of nothing. When Lenovo continues to make severe black rectangles called laptops, they are praised for their adherence to traditional design. Acer? They get compared to a bubblegum Chromebook 11 by HP, which looks more like a child’s toy than a notebook. I like the svelte slate design of the C720. I equate HP’s attention-grabbing Chromebook 11 design to driving a jacked up, loud 4×4 or a cherry-red Ferrari. Someone’s compensating for something. I don’t need to make a fashion statement with the looks of my Chromebook. I just need to get my reading, writing and research done. And the C720 does that beautifully well.

Practicality. I have been using an Android smartphone for years now, and Google has slowly permeated my digital life. So, I store things on Google Drive instead of the C720 hard drive? No problem. Google + is my repository for photos? Ok. No way to use anything but Google services or web interfaces? That’ll take some getting used to. Chrome OS needs more apps and access to more games or streaming game services would go a long way. But, in all honesty, I am 90% satisfied with the current use cases the C720 does provide.

At home, I have a file/media server and it was strange to not have network share access directly through a network-dedicated interface. I actually had to use my server’s web interface to grab files from a shared folder. When every operating system I have used has some sort of file manager, using a web interface for file management felt a little strange. However, it was no less effective. Perhaps Google will improve this in some way, but I doubt it. Google’s play here is obviously to get you further tied into their internet services and I don’t think they could care less about your home designed cloud services.

The C720 has the best hardware in a bargain-basement Chromebook, hands-down. The Haswell processor, although a Celeron, has more than enough oomph for the tasks at hand. Flawless YouTube playback. Flawless Plex playback at 720p (1080 would be a waste on this screen), and tabs and apps snap open and closed, even after days of continuous use. As of the time of this writing, I have not yet shut down the C720 after two days of use and there is no lag or odd behavior. Try that with a new price-conscious Windows notebook or the lowest-end Macbook you can buy, and you won’t have the same experience.

The battery life is decent, but I would have to wait a few more weeks to really feel like I have a base understanding of how well it performs. I certainly think that battery life will not be a concern with the C720, but I am not sure I can really verify 7-8 hour operational times right now. Update – battery life is great until you start using browser windows with Flash or high refresh rates. If I avoided Flash, I would easily get more than 8 hours of use. Let’s just say that you will have no trouble using this notebook unplugged throughout an average day.

One interesting thing that has surprised me is the relative good build quality, considering the materials used. I can tell you that I have previously not had a good experience with Acer and consider them to be on par with the lowest levels of computer hardware retailers. I was somewhat nervous about getting the C720, and would not have bothered if other tech news outlets had not been universally positive regarding this model. It is as solid as you can expect a $250 notebook to be. And, as of this writing, I understand that the C720’s stiffest competition, the HP Chromebook 11, is actually being pulled from the shelves in Best Buy (just before the holiday shopping season) and being removed from Amazon’s listings due to issues with the charger.

The C720 is stiff and there is little to no flex when open or closed. The display is crisp and reasonably bright. It is no IPS display but, really, that would be overkill for a device like this until the technology is a little more commonplace (read, “cheaper”). The keyboard is surprisingly responsive and functional, and for someone like me who is a ham-handed typist, it is really comfortable. I have always been unhappy with chiclet keyboards, but this one works wonderfully. Although the USB 3.0 port has not yet been used, I appreciate having a fast i/o port in the case that I want to carry around a bunch of 1080p movies in my travels.

The bad. I think that, for many people, the C720 would be an ideal internet gateway. If all you really need to do is email, web surfing, light photo editing, light video composing and some light writing, this Chromebook is for you. However, if you want to get some work done via office suite, I think you will be very frustrated. Unlike Libre Office, Google Docs is really not ready for prime time. It literally took me a half an hour to learn how to convert an existing Libre Office spreadsheet file to Google Calc and then convert the resulting document to .xlxs format and .pdf. There is also a very limited library of apps/software available to use on Chrome OS, so you have to be prepared for that. It stuns me that Chrome OS has not really reached a true level of interoperability with other common office products in the time since its launch. There have been great improvements, no doubt. But these improvements seem to be going slowly. Especially considering Google is the driving force behind the OS.

Overall, the Acer C720 Chromebook is a fantastic little machine. It is light, functional, and has pretty comprehensive utility with a few caveats noted above. In the current field of players, I would suggest that unless you are a serious game player or need a supremely powerful PC/Mac for specific reasons, this is the device you should be getting for portability, dependability and ease of use. This would be a great gift for the holidays, to boot.

The Acer C720, up and running.

Processor: Graphics: Operating System: Display: Storage: Memory: Camera: Sound: Communications:Ports:Battery: Weight: Dimensions: Software Extras: Price:

Intel Celeron 2955U (1.40GHz, dual core) Intel HD (Haswell) graphics Chrome OS 11.6 inches (1366×768), 16:9 16GB 4GB DDR3 RAM Front-facing webcam Stereo speakers Dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0 Full-size HDMI USB 3.0, USB 2.0 SD card slot 3.5mm headphone/mic jack 36Wh, est. 8.5 hours of use 2.76 lbs 0.75 inches thick 100GB Google Drive cloud storage 30-day free trial Google Play Music All Access $249 currently on Amazon, $199 for 2GB of RAM

Getting Time Machine to Work With Windows Home Server 2011 (OSX 10.8.5 ONLY – Mavericks and subsequent updates break this)

 

---

 

EDIT:

2014-05-01 – backing up to WHS 2011 from current versions of OSX is just not feasible. I have not been able to determine a way to correct the current issues. For confirmation, please see the link below and also in the comments. We Got Served is one of my most trusted WHS resources.

http://www.wegotserved.com/2014/05/03/mailbag-can-back-mac-windows-home-server-2011/

---

 

For years now, I have avoided using Macs. My wife always gets a real kick out of my avoidance, since I seem to also deal well with Macs in general. She thinks there is no real reason not to use a Mac. Professionally, I had a few support cases with Mac desktops and laptops, and in our home, the lion’s share of devices are Apple devices.

I am also a terror about backing up data. Not only have I seen the losses myself, but I have watched them on nearly a daily basis at my previous job. Losing your favorite song/pictures/videos sucks. And so much of all of that is solely digital now.

So, in keeping with these philosophies, I make an effort to get the household Macs backed up to our home server. In the past, that was generally a pain to set up, but Apple has made it even harder with the recent 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion) update. It used to be that while using terminal, you could set a switch to have Time Machine recognize an “unsupported volume.” That is, anything that is not a Time Capsule. That was great because all you needed to do was create a backup volume and drop it in a share and select that volume in the Time Machine settings. Not super-easy, but not super-hard. With the new OS update, that switch no longer effectively works.

There are several reasons why I have a problem with this.

One, Apple’s classic closed system. I hate it. It’s one of the reasons I prefer not to use Macs. Don’t get me wrong, Macs are spectacular machines, that are insanely easy to use. Provided you use them exactly the way Apple wants you to. I just don’t like that kind of restriction and am always looking for the next best way to hack something.

Two, we are getting to a point where smart households will really have a technical “Admin.” With streaming services, even retail customers are no longer just individuals – they are households with lots of devices that need to be interoperable. Can I listen to the family owned music on all my devices? Movies? Pictures? Sure. But if I have one Apple product (computer), now all my devices have to be Apple products. Can you see the steam rising out of my ears?

Three, I hate being forced to use specific products or services to do the things I want to do. I shouldn’t have to pay a premium for an external hard drive just because it has the catchy name “Time Capsule.” If I want to use a server for backups, then I should be allowed to do so.

Four, backing up to a network share is pretty standard practice. There is absolutely no reason an automated backup to a home server should be restricted, except that Apple feels it adds a level of complexity to support calls. And I am really bothered when someone tries to keep things so simple for themselves that they interfere with my best practices.

So, I have been using a Windows Home Server to stream all our data to whatever device (client) is a part of our household. Want to walk around with your Kindle and watch Star Wars? No problem. Same movie on the iPad? No problem.

But I don’t kid myself. My wife wouldn’t backup a thing if the back up wasn’t automatic. My daughter has so much data that saving individual files to our home server would literally take half her day. That’s what makes Time Machine so valuable. You turn it on and let it do the work. But the recent update killed that functionality for networked backup. Sort of. Now you have to take a different step.

These instructions:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2011/05/05/guide-backing-up-your-mac-to-whs-2011-with-time-machine/

were my backup bible for the longest time. However, OS X updates have killed a lot of what the author has outlined in the post. Here are my corrected instructions, which should help with any networked backup volume. Before you start, make sure you have a strong WiFi connection, or are preferably connected to your home network via ethernet cable.

***PLEASE NOTE*** I cannot be responsible for the actions you choose to take by following my tutorial. I cannot be there to guide you or advise you while you do this. I have made the utmost effort to provide clear instructions, but any time you make changes to your Mac via terminal, you are taking the risk of breaking something. I have tested this only with WHS 2011 but have seen that the same commands work with a NAS during my research. I cannot guarantee this will work for you. I cannot be held responsible for risks you take. -end disclaimer***

1. Make sure you have an account on your home server or NAS for the person using the Mac. The server account username and password should match the username and password for the Mac. This just reduces complexity and keeps things simple for the user. The Mac user account should also have admin privileges on their Mac.

2. Your server should have a top-level shared directory (folder) named “MacBackups” or similar – no spaces between words in the name. Make sure the account in #1 above has read/write access to that share.

3. Mount the share on your Mac. The way to do this for Windows Home Server 2011 is to click on the “Shared Folders” shortcut in the WHS Launchpad. After entering the appropriate password, you will be asked to select which drives to mount (each shared folder is a “drive”). Select your MacBackup folder. If you are using a NAS or different server software, research how to mount a network volume on OS X.

3. In the Spotlight search, type “terminal” and hit “Return”. Type the following command into the terminal:

sudo defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

It is suggested that you copy/paste the command into terminal, to avoid typos, then hit “Return”. Because you are using the temporary super user “sudo,” the Mac user will need to enter their password. This command allows Time Machine to recognize the drive you will mount later in this tutorial. Please be aware that, because we are using “unsupported volumes” it is possible to corrupt your backup if you lose network connectivity or interrupt the backup in any way. This means you shouldn’t close the lid to your Macbook while the Time Machine Backup is running.

4. Leave your terminal window open and go to System Preferences >> Sharing and confirm your computer name (found at the top of the window) has no spaces in it. If there are spaces, remove them or replace them with hyphens. Copy the computer name and paste it into a text editor document (Notes is fine).

5. Go back to the terminal and type the following:

ifconfig en0 | grep ether

This will toss out your ethernet MAC address. Copy/paste this information to your Notes document on a new line and remove the colons. The MAC address should be alphanumeric only.

6. Create a sparse bundle image for Time Machine to use as a backup image. You should do this in terminal by copy/pasting the following command. You will need to replace the information in brackets “{}” with specific information that I will describe below. Copy/paste this command to your Notes document with your computer name and MAC address on a separate line. Do not copy/paste the line below into terminal!

hdiutil create -size {100g} -fs HFS+J -volname "{username}TimeMachine" {NAME_XXXXXXXXXXXX}.sparsebundle

{100g} – this is the maximum size in GB of the backup file. You should replace this with the largest amount of backup space you think the user will need, e.g. “500g” is half a terabyte. My daughter might need that much space, but my wife would need a fraction of that.

{username} – the Mac username. If the person’s login is “Tim” then the volname would be “TimTimeMachine” – no spaces, otherwise your sparse bundle image will not mount properly. Honestly, you can name this pretty much anything you want, but I suggest you stick to the naming model I have used, especially if you have more than one Mac in the house that needs networked Time Machine backups.

{NAME_XXXXXXXXXXXX} – “NAME” is replaced by the Mac computer name and the  twelve Xs represent your MAC address. Replace those placeholders with the correct information. It should look something like “Tims-Mac-mini_002d881f0d33.sparsebundle”

Once you have confirmed these edits in your Notes document, copy/paste into terminal and hit “Return”

This will create a sparse bundle image file in your Mac user’s Home folder.

7. Copy paste this file into your server backup directory (the one you mounted in step #3). Once the file is copied, delete the original file in the Home folder. Now, double-click the sparse bundle image to mount it.

Time Machine will only recognize the sparse bundle (backup image) if it is mounted. To confirm that it is mounted, type the following commands into terminal (hitting “Return” after each):

cd /Volumes

ls

This will list your mounted volumes. Your Time Machine file should be listed.

8. One last step in terminal. Copy/paste the following command into terminal, but make the changes indicated below before hitting “Return”:

sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/{backup image name}

So your command would look something like “sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/TimsTimeMachine”

Now click on the Time Machine icon at the top of the screen, select “Open Time Machine Preferences…” and confirm that the backup was set up properly. You may have to turn on Time Machine. Do the initial backup (I would suggest over LAN, if you can) and confirm everything goes well.

After each restart, the user will have to mount the MacBackup share and the Time Machine file inside – they should do this immediately after they get to the OS X desktop. Again, advise the user that they should wait until the Time Machine backup stops before closing the lid on their Macbook or shutting down. By default, Backups run every half hour on Mountain Lion. Unfortunately, Apple has made this process a bit of a pain to handle, especially for the folks who would typically have a Mac. If your Macs are usually just on your network, I would set a login item for the backup directory and file mounting process. If not, coach the person on mounting the necessary items themselves.

I hope this helps those who would like to set up Time Machine with a server or NAS and please let me know if you have anything to add, or if you think I have corrections to make or if you just want to say “hi.”