Net Neutrality

I started to write a blog post about the rejection of the "Net Neutrality" amendment to the COPE act but as I started to research some more, I found it to be a pretty dense topic. It is important too. In reading the Slashdot thread on the topic, I found this post that contained the response of someone's congressperson. In it is a key bit of the telco industry position:

The problem is that over the next couple of years, large Internet sites are planning to offer high-definition video services, which will use large amounts of bandwidth and clog the pipelines of the Internet. Telephone and cable companies want to be able to charge for such large amounts of bandwidth; otherwise, they will have to pass the costs on to the consumer.

This line of argument has some serious weaknesses but I'm concerned that people who take action based on calls like Google's are ignoring the opposing opinion instead of engaging it. Worse still are the absolutist claims like, "anything less than this amendment would be a loss for freedom and innovation on the Internet." In fact, there is other legislation with nearly identical language in the works.

I can't say I'm crying about how things are turning out. I would probably most fit into the "support neutrality in theory but think it is too early to codify" camp. The telco industry moves to remove FCC policy regarding neutrality are not an encouraging development but I don't see a feasible way for the telephone companies to put their "charge Google" monetization plan in place. The ZDNet article linked above is particularly lame as it casts the issue in Democrat and Republican terms even though the prime mover of the FCC's neutrality policy was Republican and noted serial censor Michael Powell.

Another interesting quote from the congressperson's reply was this:

Rest assured that as we move through this process, I will continue to listen to the opinions of the experts and my constituents. I appreciate your comments and hope to receive them in the future.

Probably a key problem in grassroots activism is that constituents aren't seen as experts.

You can't leave everything to markets...

I tend not to watch or enjoy Rocketboom, but I did enjoy Amanda Congdon’s interview of George Soros

I agree very much with the following:

markets are very good [at] allocating resources among competing private needs, but they don’t take care of common needs, like, preserving the market itself; that requires governmental action…

Beep Beep.

Me tooting my own horn.
Dunno how it happened., but the Houston Chronicle featured my blog on the opinions page yesterday. Brain Salve is on the left. I didn't even submit it or anything. I just went off, ya know, like I do...and then I saw the spike in the web traffic.
Oh well. just stoked. Thought I'd share.

http://www.chron.com/news/opinion/

UPDATE: They took it down after only one day. If that was my fifteen minutes, I'm gonna be really upset 'cause that wasn't even my best trick! No, that requires jell-o.

Anyway, if you were so inclined.
Here's the post...
www.brainsalve.blogspot.com

World Cup Alternatives

Check out these two international soccer tournaments:

The Homeless World Cup

Wild Cup

I think Texas should field a Wild Cup team. It is a state that retains certain trappings of nationhood. And Texas has no seat in the U.N., so it should qualify on technical grounds. And who knew The Vatican had a national soccer team.

When I lived in NYC I was headed out to the burbs one weekend with friends and friends-of-friends and learned that one of the girls in the car had coached the U.S. homeless soccer team. Needless to say, it dominated the conversation. The year she coached they played the tournament in Austria (if memory serves). She said that getting passports was tough for some of the players, but some of the players not only had passports, but had traveled to Austria previously. She also said that keeping track of the players once in Austria was an issue since they wanted to spend their time hanging out in parks and actually sleeping in them instead of in the hotels that had been booked.

Barça

On August 9 FC Barcelona is playing a match in Houston against a TBD opponent. (A team from Mexico) Right now tickets are only available to Dynamo season ticket holders. When they go on sale to the general public I am planning to buy some. Anybody else want to go?

Zedonk!

I was reading up on Donkeys this morning. I came across this factoid:

The offspring of a zebra-donkey cross is called a zonkey, zebroid, zebrass, or zedonk

via wikipedia

Anyhow, I would like to have a burro someday.

The Roots

Caught The Roots at Stubb’s last night. Best funk-rock show I have seen in a while. The guitar player (?? Kirk Douglas ??) was out of control; He sang the Jill Scott vocals on “You got me” and then laid into this insane fret board adventure that busted me up like a tidal wave.

Another highlight: Questlove leading a cover of one of my favorite Michael Jackson tracks, “Smooth Criminal”.