Categories
Internet

Comcast adding caps

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

According to DSLReports, Comcast is instituting a cap on its broadband customers. The cap will be 250GB a month, with one “freebie” month, where you can go over this amount without repercussion.

As caps go, this is one of the more reasonable. However, I expect to see other broadband companies following suit since one of the major players has now made a cap move. Eventually, this will most likely end up in front of the FCC, Congress, or court, as these companies will be forced to provide detailed operation information in order to assess whether they really have a congestion problem, or if their actions are anti-trust. This will also lead to questions about how much these companies reinvest profits back into infrastructure.

I also don’t see how caps are going to overcome problems with congestion, because people could use most of their bandwidth allotment during peak times. Wasn’t that the purpose of caps? To reduce congestion?

Categories
Technology Web

How to Install IE8 beta 2: First, find chicken to sacrifice, wait till midnight

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I have Windows XP SP3 installed on my Dell I was therefore more than a little taken back about the instructions to follow to install IE8 beta 2:

  • Uninstall Windows XP SP3
  • Uninstall IE8 Beta1
  • Re- install Windows XP SP3
  • Install IE8 Beta2

If you don’t follow this path, you’ll have permanently installed IE8 on the machine. You know, you can’t make up stuff like this.

Categories
Weather

Fill your tanks now

Fill your gas tanks now, because Gustav is coming to town.

According to Dr. Jeff Masters at Wunderground, Haiti is going to get hammered, and no matter what computer model wins out in the end, the oil and gas production in the Gulf Coast is going to get disrupted.

The especially worrisome part of Gustav is that a couple of the more reliable models show Gustav hitting between Houston and New Orleans as a strong, category 3+ hurricane. Just a guestimate at this time, we’ll probably know more in a couple of days. There’s also a chance it could go as far south as Mexico, though I think we’re better planning on it hitting the US.

Categories
Political

Upstaged by a hurricane

I’m not going to write much about politics. I know how I’m going to vote and if you live in the States, it’s unlikely I’ll change your mind about how you’ll vote. I will say, just once, that I was also a Hilary Clinton supporter; one who has gladly switched my vote to Obama, because I have no interest in four years with a hot headed, war mongering, corporate kiss butt, otherwise know as McCain. Good lord, this country can’t afford a man like McCain.

If you’re a Clinton supporter who is thinking of switching to McCain, in some kind of a snit, then I have to ask: do you even bother to read the platforms for both candidates? Or are you the type who votes based on hair style and personality, rather than issues? Because I can’t understand any Democrat having enough of a hissy fit to actually switch from Obama to McCain. Obama and Clinton were more alike than not. Obama and McCain are worlds apart.

Anyway, back to not writing about politics. One of the stories this week is about the Republicans rather sleazy approach to invading the Democratic convention. So much for McCain being a leader for “change”, eh? I find the whole thing tacky, as I find McCain reaching out to Clinton supporters to be rather sad. Is it a case of us white folks have to stick together, or something? Sure comes across that way.

However, what goes around comes around. If the sad, worst case scenario happens with Gustav next week, it will make landfall about the same time as the Republican convention starting, and will most likely re-awaken old angers about Katrina. Katrina, where the differences between white and black were never more apparent, or more devastating.

If Gustav does follow the worst case scenario, we don’t have to send Democrats to disrupt the Republican convention, because nature will do the job for us. Gustav is a reminder of the threats this country really faces, and how, a few years ago, Americans were let down by an Administration whose focus, then and today, rests thousands of miles away, rather than our own backyards. A timely reminder of what’s at stake for the Democrats, too. What’s at stake, and what’s important.

Categories
Technology

The Banana Test

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

From Chip’s Quips a test to see your programming language preference:

Here’s a quick and easy test to determine what programming language best suits your personality.

There’s a very tall palm tree, and four animals happen to pass by: a chimpanzee, a lion, a giraffe, and a squirrel.

They decide to have a competition to see who is the fastest one to get a banana off the tree.

Which one won? Think of your answer before you read on…

Actually, what you don’t see in the animal lineup that Sterling has provided, is a rhinoceros heading straight for the tree at full ramming speed. It skewers the lion with its horn, steps on and squishes the squirrel, pushes aside the giraffe, and knocks the chimp from the tree when it hits—the force of which also knocks the banana down.

Except that the rhino decided, right in the middle of its headlong run, that it really doesn’t like bananas. However, it had built up too much momentum to be able to stop in time to save the lion, the chimp, the squirrel, the giraffe, the banana, and the tree. Poor tree.

And that makes me JavaScript ECMAScript.