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Here we go again...

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Those are the powerful words that Maynard opens the last song of Tool's most recent album: 7empest -- Fear Inoculum. This album released in 2019 is the soundtrack for the entire year of 2020. So let's jump right in... It's been a hell of a year this 2020 CE. So many things to unpack, so many lies told, and so many millions dealing with the loss of a job, loss of their homes, or loss of loved ones - surreal isn't even a strong enough word to describe this mess we're experiencing in the US of A. At this point we've already seen over 150,000 deaths related to COVID-19 and symptoms like it, but we're reopening schools across the nation this fall! I could spend hours diving into any one of these topics, but if you've been living under a rock (and who hasn't envied it) since February, here's a rough catalog of the things that have happened. March 2020  COVID-19 became a household term thrown around 200 million+ households multiple times a day Tiger Ki...

What? ISPs are going to "stop" innovating?

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I laid this out in my last post , but I'll make it clear again - ISPs in the United States don't care about customer service, they don't care about innovation, they care about the bottom line ... that is all. In Ars Technica on Tuesday, they broke it down again . ISPs are making threats that if the FCC reclassifies internet service as a Title II common carrier service , they would stop "innovating". There is factual evidence that effectively shows ISPs stopped innovating a few years ago, and aren't making any substantial investments in infrastructure currently. Today is the day that the FCC votes on the proposal to decide if the new rules Tom Wheeler wrote up will take effect. If that's keeping internet as an "information service" or if they decide to push it into the public utility realm. Either way, there are plenty of folks who have spoken out to the FCC that what the ISPs are doing is wrong, and no matter how much money ISPs throw a...

Verizon FIOS isn't throttling data - they're simply not upgrading, and we don't care

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OK Verizon - I get it, you aren't slowing your customers' data speeds. At least not in the sense that you're prioritizing packets or providing preferential treatment to one data service over another. What you're doing is much worse. You're intentionally refusing to upgrade your trunks for your internet service to keep up with the demand imposed by customers that purchase services from companies like Netflix, YouTube. I see now what you're doing, and I'm not happy about it. I equate this issue to one simple problem for Verizon: poor customer service. It has nothing to do with bytes being categorized or handled differently in some way. Verizon isn't even intentionally reading the content of those packets we perceive as being slowed down. Verizon refuses to upgrade their network because they are being greedy. But you may ask - how are they being greedy? The Netflix's and YouTube's of the world are sending large amounts of data through Veriz...

Art Through Adversity

I might come back and do a timeline later. Here is O2D #7. Enjoy.

Dropping a Deuce

Conrad and I decided to try out my iMac's podcast recording capabilities last week. I didn't put any fancy music into it like Josh does, but thought it turned out pretty well. It was just the two of us, and it was fun to just chat about some things and pass the time. I hope you enjoy. 00:00 - Google + 15:00 - MySpace / GarageBand 19:15 - Independent Video Game Developers 21:00 - Amy Winehouse is dead / Drugs are bad m'kay 26:00 - Netflix pricing increase / video streaming 36:00 - Bandwidth and Comcast / Verizon sucks 42:00 - Phones - still in your house? 43:45 - News of the week judgements 59:00 - Media Consumption 60:00 - Buffy (spoiler alert) 64:00 - Quick vs. Questions

Google told me Happy Birthday!

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So apparently if you enter your birth-date into your Google profile, the Google homepage will tell you happy birthday!

Stroke the Furry Wall

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Here is episode 5, wherein our intrepid hosts are joined by two lazy bastards who should really join us more often. Show notes below. 1:10 intro 2:08 Regretful purchase 17:30 Green Lantern review 21:05 Green Lantern Movie and comic book spoilers 25:50 spoilers over 27:00 Rude movie viewers 39:45 Rude patron's Audio 43:00 FURRIES 46:00 Techincal difficulties 48:00 A special guest appears. It's not very effective. Then TV, Quick questions, and something about playing cake, for Corwin.