Posts Tagged ‘world events’
Pigeons, the New Broadband
I thought my internet connection gets slow at time, but who knew the people in South Africa had it so bad. Apparently it is quicker to transmit your data via a homing pigeon rather than over your internet connection. I had moments back when I was dealing with Verizon DSL when I thought my broadband connection couldn’t possibly be any slower without being disconnected. Apparently if I lived in Johannesburg I’d be better off sending my data files via a homing pigeon than I would using my computer and broadband connection.
Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds — the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line.
That’s a pretty sad state of affairs. Though I still don’t think it will keep me from complaining about the lackluster internet in the US – especially when I compare it to many other countries who once upon a time we were on par (or ahead of) technologically speaking. We’ve been back sliding for awhile now and I’m not sure what it will take to catch up. However I will remain thankful I don’t have to resort to pigeons.
Tags: deep geek, world events
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Sep 10th, 2009
So it Goes.
I’m sure every news story and blog posting of Kurt Vonnegut’s passing has used the same subject, but it is fitting. While I first read Slaughter House Five in high school I wasn’t a fan of Vonnegut until college. I had caught the reading bug by high school, but anything that was required reading – well many high school teachers have this irritating way of sucking all the joy out of a book I might otherwise like. I read “Cat’s Craddle” in college at the prompting of several friends and that’s when I got hooked. His dry humor, his sarcasm, and his cynicism drew me in. He took a long hard look at the dark side of things, then turned them on their head. He used humor to show the absurdity of governments, corporations, and all the other institutions that we give our freedoms over to without a second glance. In the end he gave us the tools to look in to ourselves – to take the blinders off and really attempt to grasp the bigger picture. In this pursuit he left no stone unturned.
For me, his finest book was “God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater”. It shows the darkest side of mans corruption and love affair with all things material. Despite the depths of hypocrisy and cynicism that is exhibited, it leaves you feeling that underneath it all is a ray of hope, some chance that people can grow beyond themselves and the simple desires.
I haven’t read more recent works or essays of his, but if they even capture only a fraction of the power of his novels then I’ll have to check them out. The world has lost a true humanitarian, a source of wit, and someone who never flinched in the face of the truth.
God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut.
Tags: Literature, world events
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Apr 12th, 2007