Working on the weekends...

[silveradept]

...sucks. To a significant degree. Oh, well, such is how things are. Six hour shift and I got through it, although I did have to buy some peanut M+Ms at the break to quell the hunger pangs.

Lots to do this week, too, although the intramural season finishes up this week. So it's semis tomorrow (and possibly a finals or two) for me. Good weather will hopefully follow us to our destination.

Also, I seem to have picked up another reader, likely through the benevolent journal of martizac, so would jokermage kindly stand up and introduce himself and the six degrees of separation that brought him here?

Net neutrality takes a blow, as the house passes the COPE bill after explicitly rejecting an amendment designed to protect net neutrality. The Senate will hopefully have a better ear to what their constituents want.

Repeat after me: I will not take laptops with classified information outside the workplace. I will not have that laptop stolen and expose sensitive data to thieves. And for $DEITY's sake, I will read and follow the manual on security procedures! This is the kind of damage that one person's stupidity can do. I hope it's recovered and that it hasn't been compromised yet.

Been a bit blah since I got back, mostly because I was reminded that I don't necessarily have a standby in town that I can just go hang out with, talk, game, whatever, get my social interaction with someone who I know can stay with me and enjoy the time together. Work takes a large amount of time, and that's good, but for the most part, I'm working with people 1.25 to 1.5 times my age. There's not enough people around in town to have regular outings of some sort (or rather, I don't hear about them), and so I'm just a little blue for not having a social group. Kind of funny. For as much as I'll wallflower in a group, I still want to have the group and have fun with the group. I'm an introverted extrovert or an extroverted introvert or something. No matter, no worry, no going insane. No, really. Could just be the full moon, too, and some part of my birth sign asserting itself with a vengeance. (Although, if that were true, that would be me more likely to shell up rather than want to go out.)

Had a bit of a discussion tonight with annaonthemoon as to which of the Hogwarts Houses I would get Sorted into. She thinks that I'd probably make it into Godric's house, where I'm fairly certain I'd be in Rowena's by virtue of not really being brave enough for Godric's house, but still being relatively bright. Ah, well, speculation. Although, the books have lionized Godric's house due to the presence of many main characters in it, so in the perspective, the Gryffindors are the heroes, Salazar's house villainous, and the other two houses competitors, but not really worth mentioning much except where they cross the paths of the other houses. Too bad that part of the world is being left behind (of course, some parts must to actually tell a story) and that it's likely to be speculation that makes up the contents of the other houses. Ah, well.

Comments

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Hey, if you think I'll get sorted into Gryffindor, I'm allowed to say you will too :-P Although, I do think you have a strong case for Ravenclaw as well.

As for social interaction...don't know what to say, other than Summers are rough in terms of people staying around campus. But i'll be crashing your abode in about a week and a half, and after I move you can poke me to hang out. *grins* and you'll probly eat more vegetarian food, too :p

My question on the laptop...why was that kind of information on a laptop to begin with?! I mean, that's like asking for trouble, isn't it?

And, I stll don't understand net neutrality.

[silveradept]

Net neutrailty works something like this: Right now, for Internet data to get from one place to another, it has to hop through other servers that have very little to do with the originating computer and the receiving computer. Those servers just get the traffic and route it along towards its destination, regardless of who or where the data comes from.

What this bill intends to do is make servers potentially aware of where and who that data and requests are coming from, and route the data based on the priority of the request, where "priority" could mean "Are these people our customers? If yes, give them high priority. If not, route the data when you feel like it, but don't give it any high priority." or "Have these people paid for the fast lane? If so, route it quickly, if not, route it when you feel like it." In some cases, it could go as far as "This data request is for a service owned by a competitor. Don't fill it, ever. But serve up our service speedily to them so they have to use ours."

Net neutrailty is the idea that regardless of the origin or the destination of a packet of data, it is routed with the same priority and speed of any other packet.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

What this bill intends to do is make servers potentially aware of where and who that data and requests are coming from, and route the data based on the priority of the request, where "priority" could mean "Are these people our customers? If yes, give them high priority. If not, route the data when you feel like it, but don't give it any high priority." or "Have these people paid for the fast lane? If so, route it quickly, if not, route it when you feel like it." In some cases, it could go as far as "This data request is for a service owned by a competitor. Don't fill it, ever. But serve up our service speedily to them so they have to use ours."

Ho....kay..that's just ridiculous. I mean, you've already got varying speeds of accessing data between regular modems, dsl, cable, T1/T3. What purpose does it serve to make people wait? I mean...what'sthe point in paying for a cable connection if you're going to get treated like you're on dial up on some sites? Makes NO SENSE whatsoever. Almost as bad as that stupid hoax email that kept going around about how the USPS was going to start charging for email to be sent.

[silveradept]

They think that if you get treated like dial-up on some sites, not because of the sites, but because your ISP says you get treated like dial-up because you're going to that site, you'll stick with their "preferred partners", the ones that they actually let load at the speed you paid for. Or that you'll have to go with their "preferred partners", because you can't access any competitor's services.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

If i get treated like I'm on dial-up on a website, my first complaint is going to be to the webmaster of THAT site, then to my ISP. If my ISP says it's because the website is owned by a competitor and they won't give my ISP users a high connection, all that would serve to do is get me to not use the website I was on.

[silveradept]

Which is the point. The telcoms want you to not use the sites that you get treated like dial-up on, and instead use the sites of their shiny premium partners where you get your full speed, so that they can keep you where they want you to be, and perhaps keep you there even though a competitor has a superior product, because of all the time you'll have invested in their partnership.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

but if you don't use the sites that are ran by their competitor, those sites will have less traffic and start to fail, which is something the competotor doesn't want to happen.

Besides which, isn't like half the internet run off Comcast anyway? :-P

[silveradept]

No, they do want the competitors to fail and gain a semi-monopolistic control over their own subscribers. And they can do it, too, by claiming that "if they don't like ours, they're perfectly free to switch to one of the competing ISPs and get their service instead", which will have it's own slow and block list. I somehow doubt that someone who uses, say, hotmail, Y! mail and Gmail all together will find an ISP package that will give them good speeds on all three.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

someone like me, you mean?

But really, i'd just kick my ISP in the butt if things started to get slow and I really don't tihkn I'd accept "oh, its owned by the competitor" as an excuse.

[silveradept]

Well, then, if you want unfettered Internet access, all you have to do is sign up for our "Information Superhighway" plan, at $150/month. Even then, you may still be subject to blackouts of those nasty competitor sites, of course.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I so have the type of disposeable income to go along with THAT.

Does anyone have that kind of disposeable income?

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* I'm pretty sure I'm a Ravenclaw. Though I suppose if Hermione could be a Griffindor, it's possible I'd make it there. but I'm betting "no." *grins*

Though speculating on your place within a work of fiction is a bit of an excersise in futility, really.

[silveradept]

Yeah, it is. Although it says something about the work of fiction that you're speculating about self-insertion.

[unspeakablevorn.livejournal.com]

I'm a ravenclaw. No doubt there.

[silveradept]

Wow, the Ravens are coming out of the woodwork.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more."

[jokermage.livejournal.com]

I received a treasure map from Lord Byron in the 19th Century. The map led to an alien cyro-chamber, where I was frozen until the Y2K bug caused the cyro's computer to let me out. Since then, I have been trying to find my modern day relatives. I have encountered some of them, but they always seem to die mysteriously shortly after. In the last few weeks, a demon from the future has been guiding me so I could prevent some future disaster. The demon instructed me to add you to my friends list.

Really though, your posts showed up on this thing (http://jokermage.livejournal.com/friendsfriends) and what you wrote looked interesting.

A more accurate description of my life can be found here (http://jokermage.livejournal.com/133269.html).

Cheers!

[jokermage.livejournal.com]

PS-

If I ain't a muggle, I'm a Ravenclaw.

[silveradept]

Ah. Well, welcome aboard. We'll try to stay interesting, but no guarantees on that.

[moltare.livejournal.com]

*puts on his robe and wizard hat*

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

yes, yes, you're Harry Potter :-P

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I'm amused by the overwhelming response of "I'm a Ravenclaw!" I really think that if I didn't get sorted into Gryffindor as you seem to think I will, that I'd wind up in Hufflepuff just based on the friendly/loyalty thing. I'm not quite smart enough for Ravenclaw, though I won't deny my intelligence. If i hadn't packed my books up, I'd look up Hermione's quote about how Books and Cleverness wasn't everything..which despite her being Gryffindor was a VERY Ravenclaw type of comment.

[we aren't even going to touch that comment on fiction.]

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I think I'd be sorted into Slytherin (What?) or possibly Gryffindor. Sure, I have a lot of booksmarts (and an uncanny ability to do well on tests) but this isn't a question of what you are, more of where you'll blossom best. I'd feel stifled where everyone else was studious. Instead, I think I'd grow the most with the somewhat competitive, do-everything-yourself attitude of the Slytherins. I also have a very strong sense of moral responsibility and a hefty dose of the damn-the-rules nature that seems to make an accomplished Gryffindor. Plus, both of those houses seem to favor risk over safety, something that I do quite regularly.

[silveradept]

Makes sense. I don't quite have the risk-taking attitude for either of those houses, then. So I'd probably get put in Ravenclaw and not look up from my books until I graduated or something.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Random:

the sorting hat's songs (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/hogwarts/sorting_hat.html) - or at least, two of them. Intersting how in the second song it mentiones Helga "taking who was left", which kind of does attach that stigma of not amounting to anything to the Hufflepuff's.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) *thinks* Out of curiosity, did you have a similar desire to be part of/with a group before reaching/hitting puberty?

[silveradept]

Likely not, but that was because I had books and games and family around to play with rather than needing people. I still did social things a lot of the time, but I wasn't quite as pressured with the need for acceptance, no.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) Hm. What exactly has changed, besides physical state?

[silveradept]

The rules of the game. Where before, one had reassurances and believed that being smart was a positive, not a handicap, at that point, one finally realized that it really didn't matter how smart (or stupid) you were, what mattered was your popularity. Never had much of that through the adolescent times - had to make do with the self-reassurance that popularity didn't matter and the small circle of friends I had.

At university, you have a social group formed through your courses, but the ones of my undergraduate are slipping away and the graduate school ones, while they may last a bit longer, most of the graduate students are elsewhere. With no real cohesive social group, once again it seems like losing the popularity war, but this time, it's just people not being around.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) 'what mattered was your popularity'--mattered for what? If popularity, it begs the question. If something else--career success, for example--then circumstances can be called into question.

...why do you post so many links, and how can you be sure of their authenticity? I'm sorry, you've certainly been asked this before, but all but fragmentary knowledge concerning the matter has been lost.

[silveradept]

Social success, N. If you wanted to have socially successful interactions, you had to have enough popularity to be respected by the members of X clique. Those who didn't meet the grade usually formed their own outcast cliques and waged war using the "purity" of their clique and ideals as cannon fodder.

Myself, I never really settled in the "social" camp, but I had links to all sorts of cliques - I fancied myslef one of the bright outcasts, shunned socially but always handy when someone needed homework help, the curve-wrecker, "the one who tries too hard", et cetera.

As for the links, caveat emptor. While I may strive for accuracy and authenticity, I will include jhoke articles to make a point, or something unconfirmed for the possible discussions it could start. There is no warranty of authenticity, express or implied, in the links that I have. Peruse at your own risk.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) 'social success', as you describe it--did your desire for it remain unchanged throughout your life?

Interesting.

[silveradept]

As I said before, it didn't really become more of a priority until the secondary school years, and now here at u8niversity, it's becoming more of a priority, but that's mostly because I don't have any of th epeople from back home still here and having a social group is a good idea for a lot of other reasons, like finding work recommendations and housing and such.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) Hmm.

Commenting on you Comic...

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

*Snort* I love how you poke fun at yourself when you write/draw.

Re: Commenting on you Comic...

[silveradept]

One of the few jokes that's always accurate and timely.

Re: Commenting on you Comic...

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

awwww. *hugs*

[shenalia.livejournal.com]

Restraining... urge... to kill... Congress...

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

Surprising or not, I think this does represent the will of the people so to speak.

The options as presented are: unrestricted internet which is getting more and more bogged down by videos such that prices are going to be on the rise or restricted high speed internet that will be less expensive. Most of us (myself included) would much prefer to pay slightly more for universally unrestricted internet access, but for a large (and internet-unheard) segment of the population, they just want to get access to an e-mail address and maybe a few entertainment things at a much lower cost. These are the people whom the congressmen are speaking for.

[silveradept]

I suppose you're right. The people who don't really want to explore or utilize the Internet's full powers would probably be okay with the reduced tier... although one would think that was the driving force behind AOL - giving the featureset that the masses want for inexpensive, and not to worry too much about the world outside. I don't know whether AOL is thriving of declining, though, so I can't say heads or tails about whether that idea works.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

My mom's had her AOL account since I was 14! My original MinnieFay is even there, though I've long since forgotten the password.

[shenalia.livejournal.com]

I fail to see how this will bring about a decline of prices for people like us at all.

[silveradept]

I doubt it will for us. For those people who only want those limited functions, though, they might get a price break. Or their functions might become "basic service", and the rest of us can expect a proctology exam.

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

The reverse, my good sir. The problem that this is addressing is that these ISPs are paying for network maintainence for the traffic through their networks that doesn't belong to their customers. Now that there are so many videos online, there is more and more bandwidth running through these ISPs and bogging down their servers which isn't paid for by their customers. So to pay for this extra bandwidth, they can either: charge their small customer base more and more OR limit outside traffic. The extension of the latter is that if every ISP did the same thing, the internet will segment... but remain relatively cheap... something the congressmen decided was probably the choice that the majority of Americans wanted.