apple juice

larry lessig was being introduced by jon stewart on the daily show a few nights ago, and I declared out of nowhere to my wife that he’s one of my heroes. I don’t think I’ve ever declared that I had a hero, but here we go, mr. lessig, you’re my first!

his 2007 ted talk on laws that stifle creativity will give you the appropriate background on where we are today with SOPA, PIPA and the crazy place we are with copyright.

 

and here is his post on why he is not out front and center on the soap / pipa fight

The Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) is a foundational block upon which the Internet has been built and upon which its continued functioning critically depends; it is among a handful of protocols upon which almost every other protocol, and countless Internet applications, rely to operate smoothly.

Read more here: don’t break the internet – stanford law review

I wonder how many congress-people could explain how DNS works in less than a minute. This was mentioned in another blog post I linked to, but the willful anti-intellectualism displayed by our representatives is astounding.

I’m also seriously bothered that Senator Franken is a co-sponsor of PIPA. Unbelievable. Did he come out a little too strong on the side of net-neutrality, and now all of big media is breathing down his neck?

I just spoke to Senator Franken’s office – you can contact them here

The OpenCongress page will give you an idea of the supporters of this bill.

If you want to read more about this issue, the “Protect Innovation” website will give you a rundown.

emi: “dad, this swiper is not for little kids, because it is a choke-able.”

This bugs me:

Volvo is laying claim to the first production diesel plug-in hybrid title with the company’s new V60. The vehicle makes use of a five-cylinder 2.4-liter turbo diesel engine with 215 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque coupled to a six-speed automatic transmission as well as an electric motor good for up to 70 horsepower and 147 pound-feet of torque. The forced-induction internal combustion engine puts power to the front wheels while the electric motor feeds its grunt to the rear. An 11.2-kWh lithium-ion battery pack fields power storage duties, and Volvo says the V60 plug-in diesel hybrid can travel up to 32 miles on all-electric power with a single charge.

Why can’t we buy this car in America!

As with most plug-ins, charge times vary depending on the available current, but Volvo claims the V60 can top off its cells in as little as 3.5 hours on a 16-amp line. Interestingly enough, the vehicle allows the driver to chose between three drive modes. Pure mode relies on the electric motor as much as possible while Hybrid mode splits the difference between the diesel mill and the electric motor. Finally, Power mode calls on the full 285 horsepower and 362 pound-feet of torque for the most driving enjoyment. Volvo says the V60 diesel plug-in hybrid can kick up to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds in Power mode.

What? It goes 0-60 in 6.2 seconds? It’s a plug-in hybrid AWD diesel that can go 30 miles on electric only?

This is a must read if you are concerned about free speech and the internet.

Dear Congress, It’s No Longer OK To Not Know How the Internet Works

So it was as proponents of the Hollywood-funded bill curmudgeonly shot down all but two amendments proposed by its opponents, who fought to dramatically alter the document to preserve security and free speech on the net. But the chilling takeaway of this whole debacle was the irrefutable air of anti-intellectualism; that inescapable absurdity that we have members of Congress voting on a technical bill who do not posses any technical knowledge on the subject and do not find it imperative to recognize those who do.

This used to be funny, but now it’s really just terrifying. We’re dealing with legislation that will completely change the face of the internet and free speech for years to come. Yet here we are, still at the mercy of underachieving Congressional know-nothings that have more in common with the slacker students sitting in the back of math class than elected representatives. The fact that some of the people charged with representing us must be dragged kicking and screaming out of their complacency on such matters is no longer endearing — it’s just pathetic and sad.

I’ve blogged about this before, but it bears repeating. America is suffering compared to other countries with regards to internet access. We pay more for slower connections with fewer options thanks to our “free markets”.

Great op-ed in the New York Times about this new digital divide:

It doesn’t have to be this way, as a growing number of countries demonstrate. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranks America 12th among developed nations for wired Internet access, and it is safe to assume that high prices have played a role in lowering our standing. So America, the country that invented the Internet and still leads the world in telecommunications innovation, is lagging far behind in actual use of that technology.

The answer to this puzzle is regulatory policy. Over the last 10 years, we have deregulated high-speed Internet access in the hope that competition among providers would protect consumers. The result? We now have neither a functioning competitive market for high-speed wired Internet access nor government oversight.

Our family has CenturyLink (was Qwest) for our internet. I pay $60/month for 20mbps down/ 896kbps up

Comcast’s package is $58/month for roughly the same speed.

CenturyLink does not offer me a higher speed – Comcast does: 30mpbs for $68/month, 50mbps for $115/month or 105mbps for $200/month.

That’s basically my options.

There is the Minneapolis wifi, 6mbps for $30/month. Not fast enough for me…

Just for comparison – I looked up British Telecom… Looks like I could get 100mbps down / 15 mpbs up for $70 / month

Yeah, less than half the cost of the Comcast.

BT’s 40mbps down / 10 mbps up is $54 /month

So, I could get twice as fast download speeds and 10 times faster uploads for less money in the UK.