Rahul’s Ramblings

I hate going to the gym but after some stark realizations I’ve deemed it necessary to start adding some more exercise to my daily routine. I’ve tried forcing my self to go to the gym but it just doesn’t happen, so I’ve decided to sneak exercising. What I mean by sneak exercising is that I’m making my self walk longer distances than I need to just to get the walking in. Basically I do this by getting off a metro stop about a mile from where I work rather than getting off at the one in the building next door, also my building is massive and if I enter from the opposite side I walk 1/2 a mile to get to my office rather than entering from the closer entrance.

I was talking to a friend of mine today about life goals and pushing others to achieve. And somewhere in the middle the old teach a man to fish analogy came into my head. They say give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. But what if that man doesn’t want to fish, can’t fish or is just bad at it? At what point do you just say “have a good life” and hand him a fish?

I’ve come to realize that we generally surround our selves with like minded people because they help us achieve our goals. Realistically even if your friends don’t have the same goals as you do, simply having goals and trying desperatly to achieve them with little effect is better than not having any goals.

Yesterday I spent the day on Temple’s campus visiting friends and generally causing trouble. I had no real purpose for the trip but I just wanted to catch up with my friends before everyone left. It was a strange feeling being back on the campus. I hadn’t been there on a “regular” day in forever.

I mostly spent the day catching up with people at the ole Welcome Center. It was really weird to see all the new Owls working back there. When I came into the office there was only 1 person who knew me, everyone else was new which was a freaky experience. It was also strange how the office has evolved, with the kids I trained now on the top of the heap and trying to train others.

In talking with friends I found my self re-living a large part of my college experience, the feeling of being DONE as a senior and just wanting to leave, the massive stress of being a sophmore and trying to get yourself out of the slump, being a junior and trying to figure out what to do what with my life and how I would change the world.

It was also really fun just having lunch with an old friend, reminising, gossiping and bitching about life. Being in VA a lot of my friends are not really my direct friends but friends of my roommate. Now they are all great people but sometimes I do feel out of the loop and being back on my old campus made me feel back in the loop.

The only crappy part of the day was Amtrak. On the way up I was sitting alone and then in Deleware a guy got on the train and at like 9am cracked open a beer and began drinking. On the wasy back to DC my train was delayed 45minutes then I missed both metros.

The Murtaugh list is a list that is based on Sergeant Roger Murtaugh from the Lethal Weapon action movie series. I’m sure that most of you are familiar with the characters played by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. In the movies, Sergeant Murtaugh, who is just trying to make it to his retirement date has one of the most memorial lines throughout the franchise. ‘I’m too old for this shit” http://bit.ly/bT19Q

This list comes from the show How I Met Your Mother. In the episode Ted tells Barney he is too old to do some things which are on his Murtaugh List. In classic Barney style he attempts to do them all in a single weekend.

The following is my Murtaugh List:

1. Drink crappy beer/booze. (keystone, bud anything, coors, BEAST, Vlads, anything in a plastic bottle) I refuse to drink crap anymore just to get bombed, buy something good or don’t drink.
   
2. Pull an all nighter. I need sleep damnit, and if I don’t sleep I can’t accomplish things.
3. Cram into a cab with more than 4 people. Please stop sitting on my spleen, and let’s get 2 cabs.
4. Sleep in/on a tub, table, desk chair or other area not intended for sleeping. I’ll take a couch, bed, futon, or the floor with a blanket.
5. Not having any money. I mean I’m “broke” but I got myself a credit card.
6. Spend the day in sneakers if I’m not playing a sport.
7. Pay $5 to get into a party. For that matter I won’t pay to get into any party. I’ll bring a 6pack or a bottle of wine but I refuse to pay to get in. The only exception to this is a pre-planned dinner party where everyone chips in and gets food+drinks.
8. go to half-price appetizers at applebees
9. eat ramen or a bowl of cereal for lunch/dinner
   

over the past couple of weeks more of my friends have either been joining twitter or asking me about it. I’ve been tweeting for a little over 2years. My first tweet occured 11:04 AM Mar 27th, 2007.

A little background for those of you who don’t understand the point of twitter. It’s a means to communicate with people and a means to obtain information. If you check facebook every hour on the hour, then you’ll like twitter; however if you only check it once a week or month, then skip it.

I categorize the people I follow in 5  main groups:

1. Friends: these are my friends I use twitter to keep in touch with them and have conversations that don’t rrquire immediate feedback.

2. News: I follow a number of blogs/bloggers and general news sites who tweet when they update, add a new post, or just tweet out info. I find this easier than reading RSS.

http://twitter.com/Foodimentary

http://twitter.com/gigaom

http://twitter.com/ruralbroadband

http://twitter.com/sepiamutiny

3. Corporate Help: when I need tech support or a have a question about my bill, I look for a twitter account first. this was pioneered by comcast but has expanded to a number of companies who not only assist customers but have also been known to give out discount codes.

http://twitter.com/Starbucks

http://twitter.com/ComcastCares

4. Celebrities: now there is a cavet to this, not all the celebrities are real. if i do find a real one and they continue to provide information, updates on projects, promote things i care about then i follow them. however if they start tweeting crap, i unfollow as in the case of @aplusk, he may have a million but he tweets garbage.

http://twitter.com/Jon_Favreau

http://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith

http://twitter.com/donttrythis

http://twitter.com/azizansari

5. fake celebrity/character accounts that make me laugh.

http://twitter.com/drtobiasfunke

http://twitter.com/CobraCommander

Now the main thing when dealing with twitter is this don’t add to the noise just add to the quality. By all means bitch and FML, and give random updates as to what you’re doing. But don’t forget to add content.

One of the biggest problems that face America today is one that few lawmakers are paying attention to: the lack of access to a true broadband connection. This may seem trivial; the failure to obtain a high-speed internet connection is a major barrier for many who do not live in the wealthier areas of major cities or suburbs. This inability causes users to be unable to truly benefit from the power of the internet. For some the problem is simply the lack of any internet connection at all, but for most, it is the inability to access a high-speed connection. Broadband connections allow users to not only surf the web but also download content at lightning fast speeds, view High Definition videos in real time, make internet-based calls, and participate in e-commerce.

Recent global rankings of America’s broadband availability and speed have placed the United States toward the middle of the pack. A comparison of the ranking over a number years shows that the US continues to decrease in rank. By comparison, most of the other G7 countries either have implemented, or are in the progress of developing, broadband implementation plans. In speed comparison, the United States has the second slowest speed of the G8 countries.

Obstacles

One of the major factors that inhibits the spreading of true high speed broadband is that the FCC still uses an antiquated definition of what can legally be called broadband. Currently they claim that any internet connection that provides users with a speed of at least 200kbps, [1] the OECD by contrast uses 256kbps as their minimum speed and most nations have surpassed this speed.[2] This problem is being mitigated in the current stimulus bill by forcing the FCC to come up with new definitions.

The other major problem is the lack of true data. The government, consumers and researchers currently lack a true map of connection speeds. The only available data comes directly from the ISP which tend to advertise peak speeds not average speeds. Additionally these speeds are often inflated or based on low usage periods. The 2008 Broadband Data Improvement Act instructed the FCC to do the following

“to compile a list of geographical areas that are not served by any provider of advanced telecommunications capability (high-speed, switched, broadband telecommunications capability that enables users to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications);”[3]

This is still going on and the stimulus plan has given the FCC the funds to develop a map which would allow the government to figure out where funding needs to be increased in order to achieve targeted speeds.

The short term growth is also a factor in dealing with broadband expansion. Public corporations must show quarterly growth in order to appease investors and continue to accrue capital. In order to develop a high speed network a company needs to spend billions. “Verizon’s $23 billion planned investment in the service, called FiOS, was met by a chorus of skeptics, both on Wall Street and among rivals.”[4] This was a risky bet on the part of Verizon and it will take over a decade to recoup these costs. Currently Verizon is rolling out this service but very slowly and with the current economic downturn, they appear to have even decreased their previous rollout plans.

The final issue in dealing with a national broadband network is that most localities set up favorable deals with one or two telecom companies to provide TV and internet service. In the best areas there are two companies “competing” with each other however, in most areas there is generally just a single telecom monopoly. During the late 1990s Congress tried to stem this problem by passing the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which allowed ISPs to use local phone lines. The act allowed ISPs to use the local phone and fiber (cable TV) lines that were owned by local phone companies in order to provide competition in the ISP market. The cable companies saw the future and did not want to have to share their cables. In 2005 the cable companies (via the National Cable & Telecommunications Association NCTA) argued in front of the Supreme Court that since their cables carried more than just telecommunications information they do not fall under the regulations setup by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Their opponents, smaller ISPs, claimed that the cable s were uses to transmit data just as the phone companies did and therefore constituted a telecommunications company. Unfortunately, for the consumer the NCTA prevailed and many local ISPs simply went out of business when standard speed went beyond what could be provided by telephone lines.

Pre-Conditions

There are two clear ways to solve this problem: first by enabling the market to find solutions or via government intrusion. In order for the market to find a solution to this problem first, the government must act in order to diminish information asymmetries and increase access rights. These actions must actually be taken prior to any true government intervention also but are necessary in order for the market to be able to act.

Prior to any action, the FCC needs to update its definition of high-speed access and make it congruent with global standards. This will force all ISPs to increase their speeds or stop calling their product high speed access. At minimum it should be raised to 13Gbit/s, currently the US average speed is 8.8Gbit/s. The current OECD average is 13Gbit/s with Japan in the lead at 93Gbit/s followed by France at 44Gbit/s.[5]

Additionally there needs to be a comprehensive map of current broadband lines and connections so that private industry or the government can determine where new lines needed to be added or upgraded. Currently this is going on and when completed soon.

The government needs to enact a new Telecommunications law, which would bring the cable companies under its regulatory purview and requiring that they share their cables. By enabling sharing of cables new smaller ISPs would be able to compete with existing large ISPs. If cables are not shared then natural monopolies occur and true competition cannot allow for innovation.

The following solutions are all predicated upon these pre-conditions being met.

Market Solution

If smaller ISPs are able to use the current lines that are in place all of the ISPs will be forced to engage in true competition which will lead to decreased prices. These new ISPs along with existing ISPs will be forced to find new customers and expand the current lines. In addition they will have to use better lines to increase performance.

Government Intervention

The best way to achieve true universal connectivity is via government intervention. The initial investment necessary in order to accomplish this goal is much greater than any corporation can handle. Additionally if one looks abroad to find other nations that have achieved this high level of penetration and speed they all had some form of government intervention. In Japan, the nation with the fastest speeds and largest penetration, the main ISP is Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation. The Japanese government owns at least 1/3 of the shares and allows the company to grow at a slower pace if necessary. Recently the Australian government in order to provide full broadband coverage to its nation has decided to simply start wiring the nation.

“This new National Broadband Network will:

• Connect 90 percent of all Australian homes, schools and workplaces with broadband services with speeds up to 100 megabits per second – 100 times faster than those currently used by many households and businesses
• Connect all other premises in Australia with next generation wireless and satellite technologies that will be deliver broadband speeds of 12 megabits per second”[6]

Both these nations have realized what the United States must do: directly invest in creating a national broadband network. The government must simply create multiple government corporation like it did when it created the Tennessee Valley Authority. Instead of creating a single national corporation mandated with providing service the government should create numerous regional corporations. These corporations should be charged with providing high-speed internet access and would be able to charge their customers for access. The main reason why multiple regional corporations are better than a single national company is that the geography and population density in America is too disparate for a single solution to work all across the nation. In the Midwest the company may find that WiMax is the best solution in sparsely population and generally flat Kansas, while the North East company may find it easier to simply provide Fiber to the Node and then cable to the house in the densely populated developments. These corporations would be preferable to having just a simple agency be in charge of the deployment since a corporation would be able to generate a profit. These profits could eventually offset government subsidies.

The other option is for the government to take the Japanese route and create public private partnerships where they are needed. To provide access to underserved areas and bring competition in to areas where a monopoly exists.

this isn’t really about anything, I just think it’s funny

Now I believe everyone has a right to say whatever they want in the proper forum. The first amendment protects this unequiqovically, I have the right to believe whatever you say is bullshit. Case in point:

that’s right fox news thinks Mr. Rogers is EVIL. I’m sorry if there was anyone who was the opposite of Evil, it’s Mr. Rogers. The guy once had his car stolen and it was returned with an appology note when the theives found out who owned the car.

According to a TV Guide piece on him, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, however, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town. Amazingly, within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard. It read, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”

–Mental Floss

Yesterday being April 1 there were dozen’s of Hoaxes going around the net. I fell for the fake re design of one my favorite sites Sepia Mutiny. One that a ton of people fell for is Car and Driver Magazine reporting that Obama ordered American car companies to stop sponsering NASCAR if they wanted to recieve any more funding from the federal government. Now this was only a joke, but I think it’s a good idea. Not just for the car companies but for any company recieving emergency funds from the ferdal government should stop paying for sponsorship of non-charitable organizations and events. Mind you all I’m a huge Mets fan and I think Citi should stop paying for naming rights to the field. Bank of America made the most news for spending $100 Million for their NFL Expeirence during the most recent Super Bowl.

According to Popular Mechanics being the primary sponsor of a NASCAR runs about $18million annually and according to Car and Driver it would save each company upwards of $250 Million per year.

U-Va. Closing Public Computer Labs

The Associated Press
Monday, March 23, 2009; 9:26 AM

The University of Virginia plans to close most of its public computer labs by summer 2011, citing a need to save money.

Mike McPherson, the university’s deputy chief information officer, said the university was planning to close many of the labs in coming years, but that the economic downturn has stepped up that effort. McPherson said the amount of money saved by closing the labs hasn’t been calculated.

A U.Va. report shows that 99 percent of the Class of 2012 brought their own laptop to school, though the university doesn’t require it.

I can sympathise with the administrators at UVA who need to find was to cut costs and still keep a high standard, closing the labs is a dumb idea. It is true that most people come into college with a laptop/desktop what they don’t always have is expensive software.  SPSS for instance costs upwards of $200.

Public labs are a great place for students to study and get together.The only real experience I have comes from spending hours of my live at the Temple University Tech Center.

Also one of the greatest features of the Tech Center was all of the additionall equipment they had: scanners, digital cameras, printers, copiers, a recording studio, editing suites. Plus all of the free software they provided.

Free printing was another major feature of the Lab, why make students lug a giant printr whe they will only use it a few times a semester?

A computer lab is also a great place to study, it’s generally louder than a library which I like since I can’t stand dead silence.

Additionally a public lab lets users try different operating sytems. I often used the Macs in the Tech Center in order to get familar with the operating system without having to go out and buy a mac.