Why the US Faces Broadband Price Hikes

The flat-rate pricing model we’re all used to only works when users consume roughly equal amounts of bandwidth, but the adoption of P2P for non-stop use by a small number of people blows it out the window.

20% of drivers on our highways make up 80% of traffic at any given time. 20% of shoppers in a grocery store buy 80% of the products. 20% of water customers use 80% of our water resources.

The dull argument that the best consumers of a product, service, utility, etc., somehow spoil it or break the system for the rest of us is, and always has been, wrong.

These best consumers built these systems. The Internet wouldn't exist without feverish downloaders. Comcast certainly wouldn't have built their system to its current bandwidth capability without its extreme users' steadily increasing needs, and Comcast wouldn't have increased their capacity if all we do is send a few text emails and post on listservers.

McDonalds is never heard complaining that a few of their customers buy too many of their Happy Meals. These more active consumers built and sustain the enterprise. Should they limit the number of Happy Meals per-customer or charge more per-Happy Meal for those who consume more? Of course not.

Comcast and other providers provide a flat rate service, and until they change to a metered service, they must not chip away at the absolute notion of unlimited. They know that the minute they change to a metered service, their growth will stop dead in its tracks, defeating its plans to use increased bandwidth to resell content.

Our society's culture, economy, security, and communication infrastructure is growing rapidly to depend on the Internet. As this need grows, like electricity and water, the market will shape the Internet as a utility, open, free, and regulated. The underlying commerce and flow of ideas will make use of this resource, but ultimately it will be up to us as a nation and a world to keep it free.

welcome chrome

Yes, Chrome is fast, very, scary fast. Chrome has loaded all websites flawlessly. Pages sometimes look a little different - not better or worse, just different.

But - no Google Toolbar (where are my bookmarks?), Flash (no YouTube G?) EDIT - got Flash...

Gmail's still in beta after all these years. Google is the perfect example of a boyfriend who just can't commit.

LA Times Letter from the Editor - Shame

Letters to the Editor

There was a time when I believed in Obama and his mantra for change. I really can't say when I started questioning my support for him. Maybe it was when he reversed key primary positions upon winning the nomination. Maybe it was when he went with a Washington insider as his vice president. Maybe it was my Republican neighbor incessantly reminding me about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko and many others.

I wasn't impressed with Obama's European vacation either, but still thought I could vote for him. Not anymore. Thursday night's Denver rally was a big turnoff for many reasons. The only things missing from the rally were torchlights and Leni Riefenstahl to film it.

Ellie Levitas

Cypress

This letter - and, yes, it’s the only appropriate word – is bullshit.

Not the opinion (that’s fine, she/he is entitled) but the fact that the letter is an obvious lie. There is no Ellie Levitas who was once a magical Democrat who became an Obama opponent. Anyone who has read even a newspaper like the LA Times knows that the words and phrasing of his/her comments are straight from Townhall/Limbaugh/FOX/Rove, etc. Do a simple search (on the sources where people really get their news, not your newspaper) and anyone can find these words and phrases only coming from partisan hacks.

Please, LA Times, be more careful to separate opinion from diatribe.

Palin Pile-on

I hate to go for the easy target...

She really, really, doesn't have the experience to be president. You know it.

Her trooper scandal has legs.

She directed indicted Senator Stevens' PAC.

In a widely distributed video clip, she avows that she doesn't know what the Vice President does.

Her 17-year old daughter is pregnant, unmarried. The father of the child (OK, I'm not sure of the details of Alaska's statutory rape laws) is a rapist. (I don't believe the rumors that Palin's young baby is actully that of her then-16-year-old daughter)

Her choice by McCain seems to be a botched, compromised, choice by-committee. It really shows how poor McCain's judgement is, and how poor his leadership skills would be as president. This may, in fact, take down the candidacy.

Agreed, she has led a campaign for part-time mayorship, and governorship of one of the United States. She speaks clearly (but is too dull to know how to pronounce the word "nuclear..." do we need another president with that deficiency???). She walks the conservative walk in her personal life to all accounts.

Another Republican failure, and an American failure if ~ half of the U. S. continues to support this failing party.

Potomac Watch - WSJ.com

Potomac Watch - WSJ.com

"Democrats Offer Stealth LiberalismAugust 29, 2008; Page A15DenverThe Reagan revolution is dead! Just don't expect us to bet this election on it!If there's a theme that's emerged from this week's Democratic National Convention here, this is it. To listen to liberal pundits and party leaders (and Bill Clinton on stage Wednesday night) modern conservatism has had its run and is now kaput. Americans -- burdened by "inequality," soaring doctor bills, falling home prices -- are ready for a new Great Society. We are all progressives now."

I'll tell you one thing: modern conservatism was dead the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office.

Two 8-year runs of voodoo economics, resulting in two recessions, welfare for the wealthy, shrinking middle class incomes, a significant number of Americans without medical insurance or access to reasonable health care, etc., etc., etc., it should be obvious that it's time for a turn back to the center.

McCain/Palin

Yes, the end of the McCain candidacy.

A woman has run for the Vice Presidency before, and lost.

This will bring over as many as zero Hilary Clinton voters to the McCain ticket.

This woman has no experience or even exposure to national security or defense issues.

What qualifies her to be President? She'll be one "BOO" or melanoma away from the Oval Office, and it's irresponsible for McCain to ask her to join the ticket. He must have been turned down by quite a few qualified and experienced prospects.

As Gustav roars down on New Orleans Monday, the Republican convention will open in the Twin Cities with a wet whimper, and today's news adds nothing.

McCain and Space Shuttle - Aging, Creaky, and Wrong

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/27/mccain_calls_for_shuttle_extension/

Presidential contender John McCain and two other bigshot Republican senators have written to George Bush urging that NASA keep the Space Shuttle fleet alive beyond 2010. The politicians are concerned about US reliance on Russia for manned space transport in the early years of the next decade.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Senators McCain, Hutchison (Texas) and Vitter (Louisiana) wrote to the President on Monday.

"At a minimum, we request that you direct NASA to take no action for at least one year from now that would preclude the extended use of the space shuttle beyond 2010," the three men stated.

At present, NASA's plan is that the shuttle fleet would not fly beyond 2010...

NASA's Space Shuttle program has been a success, and has benefitted our nation and our world far beyond the investment we as taxpayers have made.

It is time to put this dated program out to pasture. And put the dated candidate out there with it. His judgement and understanding of this issue is obviously flawed and motivated only by the pork barrel politics of federal programs used to prop up partisan state elections.

John McCain is an Out-of Touch Elitist II

John McCain spends approximately a quarter of a million dollars a year on household help.

Barack Obama - Right on Iraq, Right for America

Condoleezza Rice says Iraq troop deal is close - Times Online: "US and Iraqi negotiators have been locked in discussions on the content of the accord since March, with the issue growing increasingly sensitive as a number of Iraqi leaders express their desire for a timeline for the exit of the remaining 144,000 US troops from their country."

Iraq, the American people, and Barack Obama are all calling for US withdrawl from Iraq.

He's right, and we must cast our votes for him so this continued occupation of Iraq will be stopped.

-John McCain is an Out-of Touch Elitist

McCain unsure how many houses he owns - Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen - Politico.com: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

'I think — I'll have my staff get to you,' McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. 'It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you.'

The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia,"

Above My Pay Grade

Conservatives and Christians alike resoundingly have a new outlook on Barack Obama after his appearance at the Saddleback Church in Orange County, CA.

When asked by Pastor Rick Warren "At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?," Senator Obama replied: "whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is above my pay grade."

The deep love and respect for God shown by Senator Obama touched the hearts and souls of Christians nationwide.

When asked the same question, Senator John McCain answered: "At the moment of conception." His answer was perceived by most at the event as short, to the point, and not supported by Science or the Christian Bible.

Neither the written Word of God in the Old Testament nor the words of Jesus Christ or his Apostles show any direct answer to this question.

The audience at Saddleback and watching on television and the Internet heard a question from Pastor Warren that was coded. The code translates to "if you support human life, and if you avow support to human rights, you have to support the total ban on abortion."

The informed members of this audience know that abortions have fallen worldwide since 1990, and in the U. S. at a slower rate since 2000 than for the previous decade. This rate of abortion has fallen worldwide, equally in places where it is legal and where it is illegal. They agree with Senator Obama that women don't make the decision to abort "casually," that they "wrestle" with it.

Obama's one mistake with this answer was not answering on a political and ethical level. On that level, his answer would be "At birth. Before birth, the baby is part of the mother and the mother's human rights to carry the child to full term or not must be respected and supported."

Faced with his perception of this question as softball, John McCain answered with a simplisttic, irrelevant war cry.

Faced with the politcally conservative encoding of the question, his interpretation and answer were thoughtful and reflective.

Democrats and Drilling - WSJ.com

Democrats and Drilling - WSJ.com

the anticarbon Speaker lampooned drilling as "a hoax on the American people," while Barack Obama called it "another Washington gimmick." Now the Democratic Presidential candidate has also said he might be willing to change his mind and tolerate the exploitation of domestic energy resources. The good news for converts like Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Obama is that they have immediate opportunities to quiet Republicans and other skeptics and prove their new pro-drilling bona fides.
...

the Democratic choice is between sticking with an anticarbon theology that opposes all new drilling, or siding with American consumers who want more energy supplies so they don't have to pay $4 for gas and blow their family budget to keep the lights on

How can such a respected newspaper print such baldfaced lies an obfuscation disguised as journalism?

I'll keep this simple.

The oil industry makes money when the price of oil goes up, and when the price of oil goes down. This is shown as these companys' profits hit new records each quarter (nothing wrong with turning a profit).

The Department of Energy, today and when describing George H. W. Bush's Executive Ban on Offshore Drilling in 1990 project that approximately 75-80 billion barrels of oil could be recovered from offshore and Alaskan resources.

The areas banned by this order contain between 1% and 7% of oil recoverable in U. S. waters. That leaves a lot of area already leased by the oil companies that has not been developed, even as we give huge tax credits and incentives on the federal level for them to explore for new oil.

Let's see the oil companies exploit their current leases first. Let's see them do so in a safe and clean manner. Then, let's consider less Federal regulation.

80 billion barrels of oil pumped here do not go directly into U. S. refineries to be sold to U. S. gas stations, increasing supply to lower cost. This crude oil goes into the worldwide market - this much extra supply would reduce the price of crude oil today by about fifty cents a day. Half a dollar.

Its effect on the price of crude in the 12-14 years before these new offshore/ANWAR wells can start delivering can't be predicted. It's effect on the price of gasoline at the pump would be minimal today, a few cents per gallon, and future price can't be predicted.

This ban was put in place by Republican President Bush in 1990 because the potential environmental costs far outweigh the negligible effect on gasoline prices, then and now. Congress, in 1982 under Republican President Reagan placed into the Department of Energy's appropriations the same ban on offshore drilling, for the same reasons. Current President Bush recinded his father's ban, but Congress rightly has left their ban on the books.

When John McCain takes a breath and spews "Drill Here and Drill Now," he gets a reaction from an ignorant faction of the public. Let's be smarter. Let's not be fooled.

Whether Congress recinds, partially or wholly, the Federal restrictions, State and Local governments will have much say in this. The potentially devestating effects on the local environment and economy of accidents and ongoing use of offshore drilling and pumping can be far too costly for any local governemnt to afford.

For this reason, the Federal government has every right and obligation to have the final say on reasonable restrictions. All else is short-term political pandering.

knowledge and belief

I know that gravity exists, because I fall every time I jump.

I believe in gravity, since there is no completely convincing scientific explaination, every time I want to jump.

>Illegal Downloading Drops Among Youth

Washington, DC (May 24, 2007)--The results of a recent nationwide survey released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) show that illegal downloading of digital copyrighted works by youth (ages 8 to 18) has dropped by 24 percent in the last three years. The survey, first conducted in 2004, indicated that 60 percent of survey participants reported downloading software, music, movies, or games without paying for it; in 2006, the percentage of those who downloaded without paying dropped to 43 percent; and in 2007, the percentage decreased to 36 percent. Youth report that parental oversight is a significant motivator and key influencing factor in their online behavior.

...
Business Software Alliance
www.bsa.org

OK...

The RIAA reports that sales of CDs are down about 24% over the last three years, and now this industry survey concludes that infringing downloads are down 24%...

Did you know that the music industry's biggest year was also the biggest year for (original) Napster?

We certainly have to monetize file trades of all kinds. This shouldn't misdirect us from the fact that the RIAA is the biggest, evilest enemy of the music industry, and that the music industry will continue to change dramatically with or without them.

George W. Bush: You Stink and so does the Dollar

Strive to be a better president, so we can have an economy that is good for the rest of us.

My MBAs can't afford a home

UCLA instructor gets a lecture as tenants take protest to class - Los Angeles Times: "My MBAs can't afford a home"

Bla, bla, bla

Eric Sussman seems to have forfeited his right to claim membership in the human race.

To place this so-called plight of his precious MBA students anywhere near the reality that his tenants live in should keep him from having any contact or control with anyone trying to live in L.A. on a small or average income.

He has earned a seven-figure equity profit from his investment in this building. If he isn't an idiot, he earns a significant monthly profit from rents after expenses.

This slumlord should be made to live in this building for a year, and to live on the average pay of his tenants, before he can dismiss them as sub-human.

In Defense of Barry Bonds

OK, professional athletes can be fat, overpaid, entitled pussies, and their fanboys can be self-hating morons who worship at an empty alter.

Barry Bonds is on the juice. He can't come out and say it, but it's the truth. Babe Ruth was on a different kind of juice, and Hank Aaron was a skilled and persistent athlete, but Bonds has enhanced his athleticism with man-made concoctions. I'm sure Bonds also wears shoes better than my black-on-black Converse All Star Hi Tops when he plays baseball, and I'm sure he wears a batters glove better than a sandlot slugger would own.

Barry Bonds grew to a stature that has allowed him to learn how to connect a bat to a ball - a task some say is the most difficult in sport - a recipient of a lucky sperm that actually took advantage of what he was born-into (unlike, for example the chimp who is in the White House right now, born on third, thinking he hit a triple...). I'm sure that hitting a ball is pretty much the only thing he has done with passion through his life - he's had a rough family life, and doesn't speak to his team mates, reporters, etc. (the juice ain't good for social skills). No amount of juice will automatically make you hyper-muscular - I'm sure he crafts and shapes his stature with exercise.

If Bonds didn't juice, he would probably still connect with as many balls. He just probably wouldn't hit them as far. He wouldn't have had as many home runs, but he would have had more base hits, and he would have had to run more, and he would have exposed himself to more injury and body wear-and-tear. Just a different kind of success.

Who has enabled his success? Us. Baseball fans, whether we overtly support juicing or not. Modern professional baseball is nothing but big entertainment business, make no mistake about that. We vote with our dollars, even in times of somewhat declining support for professional baseball, and enable these talented and lucky prima donnas to earn their astronomical salaries.

If we really didn't want our athletes to enhance their performance, we would vote with our wallets by not purchasing things from baseball broadcasts' sponsors, we wouldn't buy overpriced licensed merchandise and then use our bodies as billboards for MLB products, and we wouldn't buy tickets. But we do spend this money, enough to keep a few team owners and athletes in mind-numbing wealth.

We need to admit that players put man-made concoctions in their bodies. Some of these substances are prescribed, sanctioned and legal, and some are not.

I propose that we simply do monthly blood testing for performance-enhancing drugs, post the results in the media and on every program at every game, and let us as consumers decide whom we will support. Maybe we'll decide to support athletes who are not juicing. Maybe we will choose to eschew athletes and support educators or independent musicians. But maybe we will chose to support athletes according to their results - after all, these drugs hurt no one but the one taking them - in the context of the limits and possibilities of their game.

Go A-Rod! With some luck and persistence, you may someday make Bonds a footnote, an asterisk, a good hitter.

...oh and another thing

red light, flashing red light stop sign...STOP! Stop your car. Look it up in the dictionary if you don't know the word. If you come to a complete stop, you will actually get to your destination quicker. If you come to a complete stop, everyone else will know who stopped first.

And when you stop, don't open your door. Not to litter, spit, or puke. I'm sorry, but I've seen each of these this year. What's the matter with you? Keep it in your car.

And when the light turns green, go. Just go. Don't leadfoot it. Just go, and we'll all get where we're going.

And when the light turns yellow, stop if you can, and clear the intersection if you can't. This isn't rocket science.

That's probably not all...

L. A. Freeway Drivers: LISTEN UP!

geez...why should I have to say this stuff?

• Use your turn signals - here's the procedure:
  
  
  • When you need to change lanes, put your turn signal on!
  
  
  
  
  • let the directional signal blink for five seconds
  
  
  
  
  • look left, look right (no matter what direction you are turning)
  
  
  
  
  • change lanes if and when it's safe
  
  
  
  
  • Don't expect other drivers to have keen intuition, ESP, or even for them to be looking at you. They're doing their makeup, eating a Kit Kat, watching and episode of Wife Swap, or reading People magazine on their PDA. They're not looking at you. This means you have to do everything in your power to get their attention, plan ahead, and do things safely.
  
  

• RESPECT other peoples' turn signals! If they are ahead of you in either adjacent lane and they turn on their signal, they want to change lanes! Don't close that gap - you are so not worth more than they are. I don't care what kind of car you drive or what kind of car they drive. I don't care if you or they have a fish on the back bumper, or if you're practicing your gang signs because you never learned how to spell, if you see their signal, defer.


• Pick a lane and stay in it and travel the speed of traffic! If you are in the #1 lane (the fast lane, duh), you will probably be driving faster than the other lanes to your right. The same goes for middle lanes. The same goes for the right lane - people need to exit once in a while, don't waste their time and make them use more fuel and spew more poison into the air just because you feel like doing 45 MPH in the right lane on the 405.

• A safe distance from the car ahead of you is one car length for every ten miles per hour - you can figure this out by finding a fixed object like a sign or fence post on the left, start counting one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, etc., when the car ahead of you passes, and when you pass the same marker at ten-one-thousand, if the roads aren't wet you are probably driving at a safe distance from the vehicle ahead of you.

• We all know that driving a safe distance from the car ahead of you is virtually impossible on the L. A. freeways because someone will inevitably close that safe gap by merging, without putting down the Us Weekly, at a rate of speed just a little slower that yours, without using their signal. But keep trying.


• If you see a gap in another lane, analyze it to make sure that it is unreasonable, not just the proper distance between cars. You are actually slowing thousands of drivers by closing this gap, and you will have gained precisely one car length - congratulations, Lucy.

• Don't slow other drivers! Don't close the gap, do keep up with the speed of traffic in your lane, and especially, when the traffic slows, don't speed up, stop speed up, stop speed up, stop...pick a speed, and stick to it. Unless there is an accident in your lane or a really, really stupid driver (OK that's most of you), there is a speed that traffic will travel, even if it's idle speed (the speed at which your car goes with your foot off the pedals). Your speeding-up and slowing-down
causes a ripple effect in the traffic behind you - each car that slows causes ten to slow behind them (with residual effect on adjacent lanes), and each of these slowed cars causes ten more to slow, causing exponential slowing, the main problem on the freeways - we actually have enough road to handle the cars we have, if people drive properly.

• Don't drive distracted - driving on the L. A. Freeways is probably the most difficult and dangerous thing you will do all day. Starting in July, 2008, you could get a $20-50 fine for holding a cell phone to your ear - get a headset for $3. Learn your directions before, so you won't have to stay glued to your map or GPS device. Put enough Linkin Park and Modest Mouse in your iPod so the music lasts the whole trip without your attention.

Every day, I encounter at least three situations in my 21-mile-each-way commute that puts me in mortal danger. Having been hit twice (totalled once) in the last few months puts me, let's say, on edge.

Oh, and let's make drivers ed mandatory for all highschool students wanting to get a license, provided free in school, as it was when I was growing up (many moons ago, in a state far, far, away, before Prop 13 in CA...). And make obtaining a licence for anyone a high bar to hurdle - this will be tough on immigrants, but the concentration of people in L. A. from many places in the world where the only requirement for obtaining a drivers licence is a pulse is a big reason why we see so much shitty driving.

Oh, and since auto insurance is mandatory (as it should be)

• Insure the driver, not the car. Who cares what we drive and where we park it - cars don't kill people, people kill people


• Make auto insurance No Fault. Spread costs around and insurance companies will spend the same amount of money they do now. Leave fault to law enforcement. Don't let insurance companies raise rates or cancel people simply because these drivers have had some bad luck.

I could go on...and I probably will...