Internet Policy and You

I was reading this post from Susan Crawford's blog, and I thought I would pass along this brief explanation of why it is important to keep the business of carrying network packets separate from the business of providing services using those packets. If what I just said didn't make any sense, but you have an interest in the internet, do yourself a favor and read that explanation.

I realize there are many other worthy and worrisome things in the world, but technology policies happen to be something I watch closely and think are important to our lives. However, I'm also aware that I'm just as misinformed and opinionated as everybody else. So, I try not to indulge in expressing my opinion too often. It seems there is no shortage of people willing to do that without actually being edifying and without moving any discussions forward. Like I said, I try not to be that way myself, but I trust you'll forgive my indulgence...

I've been following the developments in the U.S. internet policies for a while now, and there is clear movement away from the policies and ideas that the internet was built on. Policies that led to an almost literal explosion of services. Policies that freed subscribers of internet services (i.e. you, me, and anybody with an internet connection) to not just choose any service they wanted to use that was available but to also create new services that didn't yet exist.

If you wanted to use Amazon, go for it! If you'd rather use Barnes & Noble, go for it! If you wanted to establish a used book store clearing house like Alibris, pay to connect to the internet, start up your business, and go! If you want to wear your heart on a blog, nobody is stopping you! Publish a webcomic, start a search service, provide an online feed reading service for all those blogs. And that's all just the tip of the iceberg of the possible services and ways to use the internet. I mean, I haven't talked about all the different ways people use to communicate and coordinate with one another using forums, and email, and any number of other things...

Besides being on the internet, what's the one thing all those services and tools have in common? You and I and the other parties involved didn't have to get advance permission from the network service providers (the entities that carry the packets). You pay for your connection, and you go. Regardless of who provides your internet connection, regardless of how you are connected, you can communicate with anybody else on the internet. You can use free services, or you can use paid services. You can communicate whatever you want (within the limits of the protocols and the law, of course). You can do all this, and all the while your service provider stays the hell out of the way.

Contrast that with how other networks work. Do you have a cell phone? What sort of services can you access with your cell phone? Only those that your cell phone service provider is willing to let you have. Do you have a cable television (or equivalent)? What sort of services can you access there? Only those services that your cable television provider is willing to let you have. If you had an idea for a new cell phone service, how would you go about implementing it? Well, first you'd probably have to approach the various cell phone providers and see if any of them are interested. If none of them are, too bad. If you have an idea for a new internet service, pay for your hosting service and go for it!

Additionally think about what several decades of monopoly on radio waves, phone service, and cable companies provided in terms of innovation of services, and compare it against what has happened on the internet since about the mid 90's. That's the difference I'm talking about. Closed networks versus open networks.

Another way to think about it, and I'm pretty sure I got this from Susan Crawford, is that closed networks, like your cell phone provider, are optimized for billing, while the internet was optimized for innovation. That isn't a flippant comment about "greedy corporations". It's simply an observable fact about the different intent of the design of these networks. An observation that raises the question: is it okay if all networks end up closed or, knowing what we know now, should we make an effort to keep at least one network open?

I don't know what will happen in the future. I'm not making any predictions, but if you don't want the internet to turn into just another cable or cell phone service or quietly languish while it is demoted to a second class service by the service providers, you may want to keep an eye on policy developments, not just here in the U.S., but wherever in the world you may be. And I'd recommend that you pay attention not only to your government policies but also to the policies of your service providers. Those are just as important.

---

P.S. Susan Crawford's blog is a good place to stay abreast of U.S. communications policies as well as international internet policies.

P.P.S. Believe it or not, I tried to limit my comments. I also considered ranting about how policies developed around the limits of technology circa 1920 have hampered innovative developments in the use of the radio spectrum, but that's another topic. However, it is related to internet policy. So, I'll refer you to this Wired article about the upcoming auction of the UHF spectrum. The part of the spectrum that is being vacated by TV broadcasters (a horrible use of spectrum in my opinion) as they move to so-called digital broadcasting. Actually, the first paragraph of that article brings up a good point about the devices we use to connect to networks that I didn't even touch on.

If I Were a Simpsons Character

I was visiting here and found out about the little create-an-avatar feature of the Simpsons Movie website. I decided to give it a shot, and this is what I came up with.



The only thing I added were the wire frame glasses. I thought about touching up some other things (like maybe a little more hair), but then I realized that this probably is how I would be rendered in the Simpsons world.

The funny thing is that I actually own a shirt similar to the one above. Only in the real world it is the mascot of the OpenBSD project.

Some Favorite Songs

Despite the advent of downloadable music tracks, I am still a fan of albums. However, in this post I want to highlight some favorite songs that I've heard in recent years that stand up very well all on their own. It's highly likely that you'd be able to find these songs on one of the music download services (you know my current favorite).

In no particular order:

1) "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" by Colin Hay from Men at Work fame. This is actually the song that made me decided to do a post like this. I've been listening to this song for a good long while now, and every time I hear it, it never fails to touch me. In fact, it's one of those rare songs that I try very hard not to interrupt once I've started to listen to it. It's a spare and intimate acoustic song with incredible sincerity. He's never explicit about what happened, and it is clear that he means what he says, but he's not singing to us. You have to hear it for yourself. If you go looking for this track, try to get the extended version from "Transcendental Highway" that's over 7 minutes long. There is a shorter track that contains the complete song, but the longer track has a little bonus ending that I really think adds something. [Update: Hmmm... Googling around for links and such has led me to discover that this song appears on the "Garden State" soundtrack. I haven't heard the soundtrack or watched the movie. So, I don't know what version of that song you'd get on that disc].

2) "Won't Give In" by the Finn Brothers. I was initially exposed to this song by issue #14 of Paste Magazine. It was actually in the DVD. So, I first heard this song by watching their video. Normally, I prefer to hear a song before watching a video because videos often have nothing to do with the song and can forever taint the experience. But in this case, I think the video compliments the song nicely. I don't know how other people will feel about the song, but there's a sentiment expressed in the chorus that resonates strongly with my own experience.

3) "Fisherman's Blues" by The Waterboys - An achy fiddle, a lamenting mandolin, and some full throated singing (and some great hollerin'). It's the only song that's ever made me feel, even for a moment, that I might want to be a fisherman. Anyway, it's a great song that absolutely revels in its tragic ways. The version I have came from the "Good Will Hunting" soundtrack, but it looks like the song was the title track for an album.

4) "Wish You Well" by Bernard Fanning. This was a another Paste Magazine introduction from issue #25. This song is a very upbeat and pumping and seems to be about forgiving and moving on despite being hurt and rejected. Who can't use a good theme song for times like that? Anyway, if you aren't smiling, bopping around, and singing along to the chorus while you listen to it, I would consider looking for your misplaced soul. You can hear a version of the song in the player on his myspace page.

5) "Song No. 6" by Ane Brun (with Ron Sexsmith). This song was also on the sampler CD for issue #25 of Paste Magzine (that was a particularly good issue). This is one of those rare, sweet love songs that don't make you cringe when you listen to it. I think that's partly because there is a duo singing to one another. So, the love isn't unrequited within the song. Also, it's not all coos and sighs, but has clever lyrics. It's good fun with just enough sincerity to make it legit. Neat! You can also hear this song on her myspace page.


This was fun for me. I might do this again. Maybe next time I'll try to make sure you can readily hear all the songs I'm talking about.

Sheldon

I obviously enjoy the occasional comic strip. However, I no longer get my comics in the traditional, printed form. All the strips I read are accessible via the web like God intended. In fact, most of the strips I read aren't even syndicated. There's one in particular that started out syndicated but has since gone independent. I think the strip has actually become better since that change. Maybe that's just a coincidence, but I like to think that with the creator firmly in control of his creation that his creativity has been let loose.

Anyway, the strip I'm talking about is Sheldon by Dave Kellett. In particular, if you are a Star Trek fan, check out this strip and the next one.

Hey! His site has a feed. So, if you already use a feed reader, you can just subscribe to his feed and never miss a day.

The Earth Nativist Movement

Just in case you thought this post was a joke, I provide you with photographic evidence that it is not. This is a picture of what my bumper used to look like. As you can see, it bears the mark of the previous owner's declaration of fealty to a hospital in New Mexico.



After some application of razor blades and rubbing alcohol, I managed to clear away the remains of that old sticker. In its place I give you the Earth Nativist Movement sticker.

Maybe I'm Amazed

I'm once again delivering stale music news, but just in case you hadn't heard, Paul McCartney (Sir Paul McCartney?) has a new album called "Memory Almost Full". I haven't listened to it yet. However, I already consider it notable for one reason. The album is available on emusic. It might also be available for download elsewhere, but emusic provides DRM free mp3s. If an "old" school dude like McCartney can get on board with providing his music in customer friendly formats, I think that's a positive sign for the music industry as a whole. Hopefully it will pan out monetarily for him.

Maybe this event is more psychologically significant than actually significant, but it just seems like an indicator of the way things are going in the music world. You know, finally giving customers what they want. Yay!

Fishy Things II

I'm sure you've been waiting for this with bated breath: more progress photos.

After working that clay into a form roughly like the stone, I proceeded to carve out something similar to what I have in mind for the final sculpture. This isn't exactly what I'm going for, but it is close enough. I seem to be drawn to the more stylized renderings. I don't know if it is because of time constaints or if it is just what I'm interested in. Probably both.


You'll notice the little blobs of my quick attempts at suggesting water plants on the sides of the fish. I'm thinking about doing that for two reasons. One, I want a solid base for the sculpture to stand up. (This may not be a big deal as the sculpture forms a pretty solid three point stand they way it curves.) Two, I'm a little worried about making the sculpture too thin towards the back end. I'm still pretty new at this stuff. So, we'll see what happens.


And in case you doubt my working method with the clay. Here's a picture of the fish along side all the clay that I removed in the process.


By the way, the clay I used above is a firm Klean Klay. It's the same clay I used while making the model for my bronze bas-relief. I pick this stuff up from Sculpture Depot since it's a short drive away.

The nice thing about this clay is you can work it easily, but it holds form very well. The down side is that it doesn't harden nor can you "bake" it in any fashion. I have used sculpey in the past, and I may return to it in the future. I mean, the Klean Klay models I've made hold up fine, but if you want to keep the model around for reference, like I do, and not simply make a mold or something out of it, you probably want a more durable form.

Anyway, after making the clay model, I of course worked on the stone.




I've just noticed that I may have been too close to the sculptures when I took the photos. They appear flatter in the images than the do in life. In my humble opinion, the fish form is really taking shape. It has a very pleasing curve at this point. I'm hoping to be able to keep that curve and accentuate it on the concave side. I'm also hoping to be able to accentuate it with a few other touches as I go.

I'm struggling a bit on the concave side as the grinder may not be the best tool to work on that side. In fact, the entire sculpture may not be ideal for just the grinder. I guess I'll see as I go.