BurningbirdI borrowed Jeff Schiller’s SVG election map, and added the appropriate “rep” class to Montana, and “dem” class to North Carolina, to preserve Missouri’s pristine undecided-to-the end status. Sure is simple to modify an SVG map.
Stuart Langridge’s purple map using the same basic map from Wikipedia, but shading the states based on the closeness of the vote. He also provides access to his Python script to generate the map.
Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
Two stories of interest this week.
The first story is about the FCC’s decision to open the so called “white space” spectrum, to allow for new wireless services. This is good news for those hoping for more competition in the broadband market, and has been long anticipated by companies such as Google, Dell, and other companies. The decision wasn’t without caveats. For instance, since wireless mics use the same spectrum, in larger cities, white space broadcast services cannot be located near stadiums or theaters.
This is about the only positive glimmer of news to those of us who also heard this week that AT&T is now testing broadband caps in the Reno, Nevada market. Broadband caps which will, most likely, be rolled out to the rest of the country early next year.
The caps are aggressive, too. For instance, Comcast set its cap at 250GB, but AT&T is looking at only 20GB for its lowest subscriber plan, and 80GB for its highest vanilla DSL account. You only get the 150GB cap the company mentions most frequently in the press releases, bundled in with the company’s Uverse services.
How will this impact on services such as Netflix’s WatchNow, which has also been so much in the news, recently? Especially with the new Netflix WatchNow HD offerings on XBox 360 and Tivo?
Netflix has stated that the broadband requirement for HD when using XBox is high—too high with these caps. Roku earlier stated that it wasn’t worried about caps but that was back when we were discussing Comcast’s 250GB limit, not the much smaller AT&T limits. Even with Roku’s efficient techniques, we’re looking at 1GB per hour for standard definition, probably 2-3GB for HD. This works out to about 1-2 hours of programming a night before hitting the broadband cap with AT&T, and that’s not including other internet usage.
The caps AT&T are setting are so aggressive, that the lower end accounts will have to be wary of even accessing sites that automatically run a lot of video. They’ll certainly want to pause before uploading a lot of photos, because uploads also figure into the broadband cap.
AT&T’s move is the first on the part of a DSL provider, but probably won’t be the last. It is a move that now ensures that entire markets have little or no choice when it comes to capped broadband access. Most people using AT&T are probably now wishing they lived in a Comcast region, because Comcast’s caps at least give one a fighting chance at video over the internet.
A few major players haven’t put caps on yet, including Verizon. However, it is only a matter of time before it, too, begins to cap. All of the major broadband providers provide entertainment services that directly compete with video over the internet—they’re not going to allow this competition to occur without fighting it tooth, nail, and byte.
The news of AT&T’s new caps is highly suspicious, coming on the tail of many new announcements about Hulu, Joost, and especially Netflix’s WatchNow. AT&T’s move can only be seen as saber rattling, in an attempt to foster uncertainty about broadband availability before the Christmas rush to buy Roku devices, or that new XBox 360. I don’t know why AT&T doesn’t just come out and say, don’t waste your time on these boxes—the only option you have is UVerse. Why not give into the force?
About the only thing that can save video over the internet now, is if the companies who are dependent on the concept fight back at the broadband suppliers, or if new broadband options open up in the white space spectrum. Even then, I’m not sure that the newer players to the broadband market wouldn’t begin already capped.
What do I plan on doing when I get hit with broadband caps? I plan on reading more. Access to books is the one thing the telecoms and entertainment companies can’t restrict.
More:
Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
The St. Louis Zoo is a favorite place of mine, but the web site for the Zoo doesn’t provide all the back stories to the animals. Or at least, not as many as I would like.
Happily, I spotted a story on the Amur Tiger cubs’ father, Khuntami by Dr. Jeffrey Bonner, in St. Louis Today—the latest in a year long series on the Zoo. I asked the St. Louis Today for links to the other articles, and the site was kind enough to link the others in.
This is a wonderful series, which I now see is also linked more prominently at the Zoo site. What I especially like about the series is that it focuses on the Zoo’s conservation efforts, rather than the “entertainment” items, so many other zoos feature so prominently. For instance, the Amur tiger cubs are winners with the public, true. How could they not be? What’s more important, though, is that the Amur tiger is one of the rarest cats in the world, and these five tiger cubs are especially critical for the program to save this endangered cat. The cubs’ father, Khuntami, was born in the wild, and orphaned as a cub. His genetic contribution to the Amur Tiger breeding program has been invaluable in the desperate attempt to save this beautiful cat.
But yeah, OK, they are cute little buggers.
I was expecting that Jay Nixon would be declared governor as soon as the polls closed yesterday, but I wasn’t expecting how quickly the Presidential race would be decided. I chose to watch movies, rather than fret over the state counts. I knew Obama won, though, as soon as I heard the fireworks outside.
Was I elated? Elation will come in time. I was relieved. Hugely relieved.
The US did good, and I’m grateful for those who voted for Obama. I was particularly pleased with his victory speech yesterday, because it set the tone for what’s to come: lots of hard work, sometimes disappointment, but above all, an openness and energy we haven’t seen in the White House in a long, long time. The American flag decal we used to have in the window and which we took down 8 years ago, has gone back up today.
I wish I could say that Missouri still maintains its bellwether status, but unfortunately, by the tiniest of margins, McCain beat Obama in this state. By how many votes? About the same number of votes that Ralph Nader won. Our state’s distinctiveness has been lost, but at least, the vote was close. For a state like Missouri, that says more than you might think.
I’m a little disappointed that Proposition M failed in St. Louis county. The metro system needed that money. Now, Metro service will be cut, probably drastically. Did we think this cheap gas would last forever?
I’m profoundly disappointed in California for passing Proposition 8—more so because the vote means that people who voted for Obama also voted for Proposition 8, and I’m disappointed in every one of you. Is this the Change you seek? I’m particularly disappointed to read that, from exit polls run by the LA Times, the majority of blacks in the LA area supported Proposition 8. Perhaps change should begin at home, for all of us.
The one positive thing we need to take away from the Proposition 8 vote is that at least it was close. Twenty years ago, it would have won by a landslide. We are changing. Not quickly, but take hope: we are changing.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m glad this election is over. Now, the real work starts.
I and my roommate went to the polls at 5:30 this morning, and there was already a line of about 20 people or so. By the time the voting opened at 6am, the line was about 100-200 people in length, and there was no room for cars. In fact, I can definitely say that voting at the Cure of Ars is going to be a problem today, and not just because the street to the place, Laclede Station Rd, will be closed from 10-1.
But, I’m done. I was prepared, though thankfully I brought all my various IDs today, because I was mistaken on what was acceptable. Actually, my bad, but I had a backup. I also thought I picked paper voting, but had the computer slip, which ended up being the longer line. Again, my bad, as I checked the wrong box. It was 6am.
This was my first time using the computer, and it was actually quite nice—created a paper trail that you could check as you voted. These machines are taking over, eventually we’re going to have to start trusting them. Besides, I had the computer slip, not the paper slip. Mustn’t screw with the slips. Democracy as we know it will fall if we screw around with the slips.
But I’m done. Done. Done. Done.
Now comes the waiting.
I miss the mechanical voting booths, where you pulled a lever and it closed a curtain. You flipped switches next to names, and when you were done, pulled another level that tallied your vote and opened the curtain.
Once that curtain was closed, the rest of the world was shut out. It was just you, the machine, the switches, and your vote. When you voted at one of these machines, you felt like you were participating in a ritual, not a pop quiz. There was something very satisfying at that moment when you pulled the lever the second time, and heard all the mechanical switching going on behind you, as the curtain swooshed open, readying the box for the next participant.
Now, you push a confirm button, and screen goes blue (an ominous color), and that’s it—move your butt, let someone else in.
And I didn’t even get an “I voted” sticker.