Follow-Up

There are 521 posts filed in Follow-Up (this is page 47 of 53).

The BP oil disaster: we’re all responsible

SF Gate columnist Mark Morford nails the BP/Gulf disaster, pointing the finger ultimately back to us and our insatiable need for more oil. This is exactly how I was feeling about the disaster.

Morford writes:

I think the most disturbingly satisfying thrill of this entire event — and it is, in a way, a perverse thrill — comes from understanding, at a very core level, our shared responsibility, our co-creation of the foul demon currently unleashed.

What a thing we have created. What an extraordinary horror our rapacious need for cheap, endless energy hath unleashed; it’s a monster of a scale and proportion we can barely even fathom.

Because if you’re honest, no matter where you stand, no matter your politics, religion, income or mode of transport, you see this beast of creeping death and you understand: That is us. The spill may be many things, but more than anything else it is a giant, horrifying mirror.

Go read the rest. And then start thinking of where we go from here.

Sen. Hoyle’s anti-municipal broadband bill up for vote today

Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston)

Senator David Hoyle (D-Gaston) managed to get S.1209, his anti-competition broadband bill, scheduled for a Senate floor vote today after ramming it through the Senate Finance Committee yesterday. Though committee senators Joe Sam Queen,, William Purcell,, and Floyd McKissick were questioning the wisdom of the bill, Daniel Clodfelter called opposition to it “noise” and Hoyle openly rolled his eyes as Purcell explained that this bill will leave rural communities broadband wastelands. Presiding senator Clark Jenkins then cut off debate and quickly called for a vote, declaring it passed before anyone could object. Just when I thought I’ve seen stunning behavior in the North Carolina General Assembly something comes along that stuns me even more. There wasn’t one vote against this bill and plenty of lies told by Hoyle in support of it.

Hoyle also managed to put in an exemption for Google Fiber, though he clearly couldn’t explain what it was. This is the problem with me: when lawmakers regulate things they clearly don’t understand the result is bad law. The only experts Hoyle apparently consulted were the ones with checkbooks in their hands.

People tell me the days of back-room politics will soon be over but they’re apparently still alive and well. Hoyle can’t leave office fast enough for me. His idea of this being a “business-friendly” state means big business wins and citizens lose.

You can hear audio of yesterday’s meeting here.

BP gulf oil spill

I’ve been watching the live feed of the BP oil spill tonight and becoming very depressed. Those submersibles seem no match for the fury of the raging gusher. It makes me think that I’m only marginally less capable of plugging the leak than BP is.

Some experts estimate 39 million gallons have spilled at this point, with little chance of stopping it soon. Frankly I wonder when this leak will ever be brought under control.

The Gulf will never be the same in my lifetime, sad to say. If ever.

Sen. Hoyle tries to block municipal internet

Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston)

Remember the battles against the big telecoms in the state to keep the cities’ right to own and operate their own Internet service? It’s time for round three, courtesy of Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston). He’s pushing a bill, S.1209 (the so-called “No Nonvoted Debt for Competing System” Act), that will hamstring North Carolina municipal Internet projects into using only general obligation bonds. Not only will this hurt municipal Internet projects, it will prevent initiatives such as Google’s 1 Gb fiber Internet. Bye bye, Google Fiber!

Previous attempts by Time Warner Cable, AT&T, CenturyLink (Embarq), and others tried to make the case that municipal Internet should not use taxpayer money. Now they’re saying these systems should use only taxpayer money, not the revenue bonds that they currently use. I think it shows their real motive is to block competition, sewing up Internet for themselves. With governments sidelined, they will be free to impose caps on Internet service, killing competition from video services such as NetFlix. The public loses.
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Wow! Two in one day!

Looks like the money mule job market is picking up. That’s two job offers in one day! Who could believe it? And I’ve always wanted to work for a guy named Inaptitude! Where do I sign up?!?!?

From: inaptitude Dobson inaptitudebxwdobson@hotmail.com
To: sgarrid1@gmail.com
Subject: Job Opportunity. id 396VQ
Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 08:13:27 -0500

Hello,

Please, read this letter.
Gold Investments Incorporated company is looking for an individual for the courier clerk position. It is a remote/part-time/full-time position and it is home-based.

GII inc was founded by several Polish businessmen and is functioning since 2004 with its head branch based in Warsaw,the capital of Poland .

GII inc provides the dispatching service of a middleman among sellers and customers from all over the World. You will need to have a personal computer and internet access including printer/scanner to work with us.
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Mark Cuban swings and misses

I used to think Mark Cuban was a smart guy. If smarts were judged by the amount of money in one’s bank account, Cuban would be a genius. So I don’t understand how Cuban could think that cable will threaten NetFlix.

The other thing to note is the percentage of Netflix subscribers that already subscribe to a TV provider. Netflix has to be concerned that it will be easier for those people to give up Netflix if their TV provider expands their VOD offerings and allows for queuing of streams to a TV channel than it will to give up the TV provider.

Maybe Cuban is worried because he owns a cable TV station and depends on subscribers. Maybe his billion-dollar bank account has blinded him to the burden that a $100+ monthly cable bill presents to the average American. Cuban’s certainly got to keep his cable television masters happy or face his HDNet channels being dropped. To say that a working-class family would opt to choose an ever-escalating cable bill with horrible service over a $15/month, all you can watch NetFlix streaming account is unlikely to me, but I admit I don’t watch much TV.
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Stopping the leak vs. siphoning it

I find it telling that BP’s efforts to stem the massive Deepwater Horizon leak seem to be focused on siphoning the oil from the ruptured well rather than capping the well. BP’s priority seems to be getting the oil, not stopping it.

Also, NPR reported today that, based on analysis of BP’s video of the leak, the flow rate of the leak is closer to 70,000 barrels per day: far higher than initial official estimates. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez dumped 250,000 barrels of oil into Alaska’s Price William Sound. The BP/Deepwater Horizon disaster is pouring an Exxon Valdez-sized amount of oil into the Gulf every four days.

I’m sure glad my kids have gotten to see the Gulf before this disaster because they’ll probably have kids by the time it’s cleaned up. If ever.