Tuesday Trainspotting
Verizon Horizon. As most readers of this site know, I began using two different broadband connections over six months ago to have redundant access to the Internet. This was because, inter alia, I was nearing the completion of my Masters thesis and access was critical to my completing it.
Once I graduated, I re-evaluated the need to have two connections, one through RoadRunner cable modem and the other through Verizon ADSL modem. I eventually decided to terminate the RoadRunner service, even though RoadRunner was at least twice as fast, and sometimes three times faster than ADSL.
I did this because RoadRunner was so unreliable, at least in my area. The connection would go down almost every day, sometimes more than once in that day. When I would call for technical support, the earliest a technician could come out was in two weeks. So, for the past month or two I've been living with a "slow" 768kb/s ADSL connection that has gone done only once since I started service (although there has been intermittent problems with DNS).
Recently, Verizon lowered the cost of the service and, this is the important part, increased the speed to 1.5Mb/s! The trick is, you have to call Verizon tech support to request the service and, of course, your line has to be qualified to run at that speed. Otherwise, the cost is the same so it seems a no brainer to request the higher speed.
Having no brain, I called Verizon on Saturday and they say the upgrade will occur within five working days. I hope to report in a week or so that the change has occurred, but who knows?
In either case, if you are a Verizon ADSL residential user at 768k, you may want to look into this as I don't know of any downsides. YMMV.
Cleaning Windows or How to set-up Windows XP in 147 steps or less. DiveIntoMark decided to document some of the steps he takes when WindowsRot(tm) sets in and it's time to reinstall Windows (see the post here). Having said all of what he says, in my opinion, it's still easier and faster than doing the same in Linux due to the installation programs that work in Windows. Upgrading or installing a non-trivial application in Linux is a walk through a mine field. Not impossible, mind you, but make one mistake and it will ruin your whole day.
I'm still optimistic that Linux on the desktop will become a reality someday, it's just not today.
Common Market. I guess it was only a matter of time but here comes the American Action Market (see it here). The first parody of the ill-fated Policy Analysis Market mentioned here earlier this week. Some of what is on the site:
Some of the contracts traded on AAM will be based on objective data and observable events, as on a horse track, e.g.
- the next White House lie to break into the news
- the next country to which the White House will issue an ultimatum, and when
- the next foreign leader to move from the CIA payroll to White House "most wanted" list
- the lifespan of various DARPA projects, such as Total Information Awareness [site] and Babylon [site]
- the first White House staffer to resign in disgrace, and when
- the President's approval rating on the day before Saddam is captured or killed
Aloha!