Saturday, May 27, 2006

8 meg connection... tasty!

I just got off the phone with Comcast, and after a cable modem reboot and a solemn promise to pay an extra ten bucks per month for service, my old 6 meg cable connection is now a shiny new 8 meg connection. I'm benchmarking at 8,600 kbps right now. For my trouble, they also double the upload speed, from a puny 356 kbps up to 712 kbps. I'm benchmarking 699 kbps right now.

Ahhh.... the joys of a phat pipe! (Bandwidth pipe, that is!)

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Bush on Technology

President Bush had this to say to recent college graduates about technology:

"Science offers the prospect of eventual cures for terrible diseases _ and temptations to manipulate life and violate human dignity," Bush said during commencement exercises at Oklahoma State University. "With the Internet, you can communicate instantly with someone halfway across the world _ and isolate yourself from your family and your neighbors."

That is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I've acquired and fostered more friendships online than I ever could face to face due to pure logistics. Even more importantly, I've kept in touch with face to face friends that I'd have lost touch with in the absence of technology. I probably talk to my mother MORE now (via email) than I did before she was online, due mainly to the fact that we work opposite schedules.

We sure do have an enlightened leader on our hands. Read the full article at the Washington Post.