Earlier this year, I heard some rumblings that Oregon was considering shifting their gas tax to a mileage based tax.  The idea is to maintain or increase state road revenue by charging “by the mile” instead of “by the gallon” as a measure to combat fuel usage reductions with more fuel efficient cars on the road.  I wrote it off at the time considering the technology to do so would be impractical for quite some time – but it would appear they’re now positioning some leverage against auto manufacturers to support this technology.

As has been the case for years now, going “green” will by no means be a less expensive alternative.  We have to pay more for organic foods, shell out more cash for “green” energy, and dish out more for seemingly any “green” option that’s available.  It would appear that the systems of taxation are right on top of this…they’ll figure out a way to make you pay, even if you’re using less.

The necessary technology behind the effort is alarming to me.  Somehow, fuel providers (and who knows whom else) must “download” data from one’s vehicle to determine how many miles had been driven since the last fuel up.  Theoretically, this information could be tied into GPS systems frequently found in today’s vehicles through safety technologies like OnStar, which also concerns me a great deal.  This means that interested parties could use this information to determine where your vehicle has been, not just how many miles had been driven.

With every technology, I am always aware of the potential results if such information were hackable, which will always be the case.  (If the Pentagon gets successfully hacked, an auto manufacturer has zero chance of a secure system.)  A techno-criminal could theoretically access this information and determine where your house was and your regular travel patterns could be assessed for when you were commonly away from home.

Even if we were assured that GPS data would not be tied into the download and that our government or hackers would never receive our personal driving habits, I ask the fundamental question of whether it’s good to have such technology that can track our vehicle usage over any period of time.  Why not show the real intent and create a separate (higher) tax for hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles?  The next challenge would be how to determine the difference between a gas guzzling rig vs. a fuel efficient model vehicle.  Simply have a different fuel tank mechanism that can tell the pump what kind of vehicle you have.  Outfitting fuel tanks and gas pumps to detect fuel efficient cars seems no more difficult than outfitting cars and pumps to be ready to download mileage data – and no personal information needs to be collected.

Anyhow, that’s what I know on this front.  Hope you’re feeling better informed!

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So, I’ve been keeping an eye on the alleged change to digital TV transmissions for the last several years.  My interest, considering I don’t really watch TV, comes more from being curious about how the market will handle the government declared transition to a digital TV format.  It occurred to me the other day that the deadline for this transition is a mere two months (or less) away.  If you’ve been following this, you’re aware that the supposed deadline has been pushed back at least a couple times due to readiness concerns.

Within the last year, I set up a media center PC and HDTV antenna that would be capable of receiving HD broadcasts.  I did this for the technical knowledge and the event of an emergency.  I’ve found that I am simply no longer able to watch television after over a decade without it – it insults my intelligence and I am no longer drawn in by it’s assault on cognitive thought.

The results of my HDTV experiment were astonishing to me, considering the deadline was nearly a year away at the time.  In Spokane, Washington – out of the dozen channels that were supposedly available “over the air” – I could only receive about 4 of them.  Now that I’ve moved to Missoula, MT and set up my HD rig…I was shocked to see that I can only receive 3 channels!  Both Fox and CBS cannot be received at my home.  The broadcast antennas were simply too far away for me to receive the signal for these channels.  CBS doesn’t even have a plan to broadcast off a nearer tower, whereas Fox will supposedly be broadcasting off the closer tower post-conversion.

Also, after getting the rig set up, it was apparent to me that much of the programming on the boob tube is still standard definition format.  I’ve read countless articles how news crews aren’t set up for HDTV broadcasts and it’s shocking to see that only a handful of broadcasts are actually in HD format.  Not just that, but I’m pretty certain that millions are still not set up to receive the new digital format.  Additionally, I noted that the digital broadcasts were volatile – it seemed fairly common in my limited experience that “down time” was a common theme.  It’s pretty clear that the market just isn’t ready for the conversion, despite the government’s whim on the matter.

Perhaps the cable and satellite providers have the edge – from reports from my friends, there’s dozens of HD channels up and operational.  For me though, there’s just simply no way that I’m paying $50+ a month for something I’ll hardly use – and not just that, I’m offended that I would have to pay “extra” for HD programming.

This is the typical result of a government mandate being pushed on the market.  The market and individuals have to scramble and spend billions of dollars in new equipment to comply.  It’s no wonder that there’s some resistance and delays associated with it!  I’ll be really curious to see if the nation will be ready for this change next year.  I suspect that it won’t come without a slew of complaints once the old “analog” system is turned off.

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So, as you’ve probably noticed, I’ve changed some things around on my blog.  The most notable is probably the theme that I’ve used.  I did a fair amount of research on the themes available and decided to give a “premium” ($$$) theme a spin.  I must say, I am truly impressed with the options you get when one decides to spend a little money on their blog.  This theme is called “Thesis” and is available here.

What attracted me in particular to this theme were two things.  First, I loved the visual layout of it…it’s clean, flexible and extensible well beyond the free templates out there.  Second, it now allows me to easily take advantage of WordPress widgets, fully allowing me to leverage “Web 2.0″ features.

You might notice my new “Last.FM” plugin on the right which allows me to display my recently listened albums.  How kewl is that?  Very kewl, in my opinion.  And how about that featured video?  Excellent!   I’m currently investigating the options available to me, so you’ll be seeing some new things coming to my blog in coming months.  You should also see customizatons to the theme that will better suit my taste.

Overall, I hope you like the new look and features!

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I’ve been hearing about I2, or “Internet 2″ for several years now. Basically, the concept is a revolutionary redesign of the internet and it has been headed up by a consortium of universities, technology leaders, government officials and corporations. Critics fear that this somewhat obscure group could be responsible for regulatory acts over the internet in order to bring about systems of taxation, further surveillance and and greater control exercised over the global internet.

One arm of this has been the Net Neutrality legislation that has recently been discussed by congress. Essentially, net neutrality is the idea behind giving certain precedence to some websites over others, based on the ability of the service provider to pay the proper fees. So, for example, Google could afford to pay for massive usage and get fast speeds – whereas my site would be slow (or completely unavailable) because I am unwilling to pay or can’t afford such usage fees. This is bad stuff for the internet as it will completely favor large corporations and cause smaller, less-popular websites to suffer viewership because of such regulation.

Another branch of this is the technology aspects of Internet 2. There is great question over what this could encompass, however, concern is placed over what technologies would be allowed to exist over such a network. Most people think of the internet as “the web” – but it’s much larger than that. For example, IRC (internet relay chat) is a sub technology, like “the web,” that rides over the internet. Another example might be a voice-over-IP telephone connection. Little is truly known about what Internet 2 might actually look like from the technology perspective.

Now, I’ve been hearing “crying wolf” stories about the regulation of the internet so many times that I’ve almost become numb to it. However, just recently, another alarm has gone off on this front and I feel obliged to reveal it to you. Sources have uncovered what may be leaked information about some of the potential design aspects of this new internet technology, informally termed Internet 2.

Essentially, leaked information suggests that internet service providers may go to a “pay per view” model, as early as 2012, where users are charged based for their internet usage habits. Going even further, the information also suggests that a certain list of “approved sites” would be readily available for anyone to access, however, the millions of *other* websites out there would require pay-per-view type access accounts and/or a more costly tier of service to access them.

There is no doubt that a move like this would radically transform the look, feel and freedom of the internet. Many of the sites and things that we enjoy on the internet could be significantly threatened if a business model like this is allowed to come to fruition.

I’m still waiting for several independent sources to confirm this information and awaiting further investigation to be released, but this latest threat appears to be somewhat credible with the news that has been released so far.

This is bad stuff, folks. Please feel free to watch these videos to get some more information about the subject matter. There are also several web articles out there.

I Power Net Neutrality Analysis:

Click here to view the video!

Alex Jones Analysis:

Click here to view the video!

Click here to view the video!

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If you’ve spent any time on my blog, you’re probably aware of my anti-TV attitude. I’m a little disappointed in myself – I think I’ve found myself giving in to the YouTube kool-aid. Online video is hard to resist once they hook ya’…I can’t even tell you how many YouTube junkies are out there…but I know it’s a LOT. I feel like such a hypocrite. Hell, my blog is plastered with videos…admittedly, a lot of words, too…but still, I’m up to probably somewhere around 20 videos.

It’s times like this that I try to remember why I stopped watching TV in the first place back in 1997. 1) I wanted to explore it as a social experiment. 2) I hate advertising. 3) I found my quality of life and interests improved when not spending so much time watching TV. 4) Television wasn’t that good, anyways.

OK, then I compare those same reasons to YouTube and this is what I came up with. 1) YouTube is an interesting social experiment. 2) Not near as much advertising, but it’s still present. 3) I’ve enjoyed hearing & seeing “people” talk/teach/complain/etc and, in a way, it contributes to my quality of life 4) I’ve found a ton of kewl videos & if I don’t like it, I press the “Back” button and it’s gone.  (I do banish all thee who think dumb is the kewlest thing.  It is NOT kewl to be dumb.)  So, as you can see, I’ve managed to justify every single point. I’m wondering if I’m a hypocrite – to denounce television, yet to watch *television* on YouTube (albeit directed and on-topic) seems a little contradictory.

I don’t really have a problem with motion video – I’ve watched enough movies & documentaries to prove that. My issue is more with the ever increasing level of manipulation that a viewer subjects themselves to. With television, people are presented a “mainstream” that has nearly become the bar to which we live our lives. It’s authority over the average American has taken on unprecedented proportions – it’s almost as if they accept it as reality. When in fact, it is not.

I really don’t get this feeling from YouTube. It’s television clips, sure…but it’s also Vlogs (video blogs), DIY videos, educational videos, amazing video and many other things. Real stuff. You can dive in and really direct your viewing towards specific interests or just click through the vast array of video interconnectedness…and with the size of it, there is a substantial amount to choose from. I don’t feel like there’s some great big hand guiding my thoughts with the bombardment of many common ideas and zippy video editing. It’s just different than TV.

So, I think I’ll keep posting videos to my blog – ’cause hey, I like ‘em. And if I’m a hypocrite, that’s fine. I know enough to veer away from becoming a total YouTube junkie, so you can’t accuse me of that. I’ve also promised myself that I will continue to do text only blog entries as there should be moderation in all things. So, them’s the breaks with me, TV & online video.

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I see that a lot of bloggers put up a post about their computer gear. I gotta admit, I’ll check the specs of those bloggers…just to see what they’ve got under the hood. If you could care less about my uber-geekdom…well, there’s plenty else to see that’s far more interesting to read & you can just move right along.

When I was younger, one of my first jobs was building computers. Ever since then, I’ve been building my own computers by hand selecting each component and getting it all to work. Anymore, this is not the cheaper way to go if you just want a computer – in fact, it often costs more than a pre-built Dell or the like, even with the labor & profits involved. I just like knowing what I’ve got and the freedom of making hardware decisions.

I run three computers with two being “on” full-time…I’ve junked my older gear as it really was a waste of space. The first is my primary machine that sees the day-to-day. The second is my Linux-based Asterisk PBX that runs my telephone communications. Third, I run a file server (read: expensive network storage device) that is used to backup critical files as well as a secure backup of my extensive digital photography collection.

I’ve been resisting the urge to go quad core. I think I’m going to wait for octo-core (or whatever they come up with when they can put 8 cores on a CPU) as that’s gonna be one bad-a$$ CPU. Screw the gigahertz, I want multi-threaded, simultaneous, precision calculation. That’s gonna be like having your own freakin’ super-computer at your finger tips.

On with the specs…

Primary Computer:

This is my primary machine where I spend most of my computer time. It runs Windows XP Professional and has turned out to be a solid machine. It runs sweet & with the way I use computers (extreme multitasking), the dual monitors & dual core CPU have been an amazing plus for me. The hard drive space is seemingly infinite as well…clocking in at a massive 2.2 terabytes, storage is not a problem for me. It’s also a decent DVD duplicator with three DVD writers, which it can barely squeak by running all at once. This machine will likely be retired in a year or two and will become a dedicated Linux-based VMWare machine, thus the need for beefing up the RAM to 4GB and a configuration primed for hardware or software RAID.

(1) AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.3GHz Dual Core CPU
(1) ABIT AN8 32X Socket 939 nForce4 SLI Motherboard
(4) OCZ 1GB DDR400 (PC3200) RAM (Total 4GB)
(1) XFX GeForce 256MB 7300GT Video Card
(1) Western Digital 250GB SATA2 Hard Drive (OS & Programs)
(2) Seagate 500GB SATA2 Hard Drives
(1) Seagate 120GB USB Hard Drive
(1) Iomega 320GB USB Hard Drive
(1) Iomega 500GB USB Hard Drive
(1) Lite-On 16X IDE DVD Burner
(2) Lite-On 20X SATA2 DVD Burners
(1) Mitsumi 1.44MB Internal Floppy Drive
(1) Thermaltake Tsunami ATX Mid Tower Case
(1) Windows XP Professional
(2) Viewsonic 19″ Widescreen LCD Flatscreen Monitors (VA1912wb)

Future: Pretty much content with it now that all my upgrades are complete. Likely in it’s final configuration, minus an OS changeout for Linux when it’s repurposed as a VMWare server upon retirement.

Asterisk PBX Server:

This machine, retired from primary rather early due to a motherboard issue with running more than one stick of RAM, quietly runs full-time and provides me with mind-boggling communication capabilities. It’s seen several upgrades & changes to what is now it’s final configuration. It runs the open-source Asterisk “Voice Over IP” PBX software on top of CentOS Linux. Seeing as how I work with PBX’s (phone systems) for a living, it’s suitable that I would run one in my home & subject my friends to an auto attendant (IVR) with multiple options when they call me. It’s also paid for itself – for about $12 a month, I have four telephone numbers in three states, an 800 number, unlimited telephone lines, multiple telephone carriers for redundancy and the ability to control some ultra-cool phones. It’s been a sweet journey & Asterisk is just freakin’ kewl.

(1) AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 1.2Ghz Single Core CPU
(1) MSI K7T266 Pro2 Socket A Motherboard
(1) 1GB DDR266 (PC2100) RAM
(1) EVGA NVidia TNT2 32MB AGP Video Card
(1) Linksys 10/100 Network Card
(2) Seagate 80GB ATA133 IDE Hard Drives (Software RAID1)
(2) Lite-On 52X IDE CD-ROM Writers
(1) Mitsumi 1.44MB Internal Floppy Drive
(1) Beige ATX Mid-Tower Case w/ extra 80mm fans
(1) CentOS Linux 4.5 (Server style, no GUI)
(1) ProView 19″ Widescreen LCD Flatscreen Monitor (KVM switched w/ Backup Box)

Future: It’ll probably be replaced with an ultra cheap build using newer hardware when the motherboard or CPU dies. It suits it’s purpose just fine for now with the recent RAM upgrade to 1GB from 256MB and the configuration of software RAID with high-quality Seagate drives.

Backup Computer:

This machine, my “old” primary and original Asterisk server, is running Ubuntu Linux and acts as secure network storage for my sensitive, unreproducable files as well as the secure backup of my growing digital photography collection. After reading “The Dam Book” by Peter Krough (BTW, DAM is Digital Asset Management or, in layman’s terms, understanding a massive digital photography collection), I was fully sold on protecting my collection of photos that I’ve accumulated (over 16,000 images at last count) since entering digital photography several years ago. The 250GB RAID configuration is enough to securely store my entire collection of photos as well as providing peace of mind protection for any other files I couldn’t bear losing in the event of a hard drive crash. With the operating system & critical files on seperate hard drives for ease of OS changes, this machine has seen several flavors of Linux over it’s life span, including Ubuntu, CentOS, Mandrake, SuSe and FedoraCore.

(1) AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 1.2Ghz Single Core CPU
(1) MSI KT3 Ultra Socket A Motherboard
(2) 1GB DDR333 (PC2700) RAM (Total 2GB)
(1) MSI NVidia GeForce FX 5600XT 128MB Video Card
(1) Seagate 80GB Hard Drive
(2) Seagate 250GB Hard Drives (Software RAID1)
(1) NEC 12X IDE DVD Burner
(1) Mitsumi 1.44MB Internal Floppy Drive
(1) ProView 19″ Widescreen LCD Flatscreen Monitor (KVM switched w/ Asterisk Box)
(1) Antec Black ATX Mid-Tower Case w/ extra 80mm fans
(1) Ubuntu Linux running Gnome GUI

Future: I’m going to do something far more sensible & purchase a multi-drive eSATA tower with RAID capabilities. They’re spendy now ($300-$500 without any drives) and I’d prefer a unit that’ll take 8 drives, providing four separate RAID1 configurations. We’ll see if the price of those puppies come down at all…then I’ll think about it.

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I found out about MySpace around a year ago…it’s kinda neat…makes a “blog” accessible to just about anybody and has tons and tons of readers. I know at least a handful of people that spend most of their net surfing hours there. I’ve toyed with the idea of starting a MySpace that links back to this blog, but I think I’ve decided against it. Permanently. Oh, and you won’t find any hyperlinks from my site to MySpace either.

For context, I run an open-source web-based blog application, called WordPress, that is installed on web server space that I rent from a company in Canada. (Yep, you’re connected to Canada, folks.) I’ve also purchased several domain names that all point to this web server, providing me the ability to simultaneously run multiple websites from the same server. I used to run a web server from my home (for free) but ultimately wanted to start working with online video…thus, to save my cable modem’s bandwidth, renting server space seemed the better way to go.

Anyway…back to the point. If I wanted mass traffic, MySpace might be the way to go. It certainly doesn’t lack readership and popularity…who doesn’t know about MySpace? (And if you found my website before you heard about MySpace, there’s also some other neat-o sites you need to know about called YouTube, Google and Wikipedia)

Of more concern, I’ve learned of disreputable MySpace censoring tactics. I don’t like the idea that I don’t own my blog and can’t post whatever it is that I see fit. Even if it is about the most important presidential candidate to run for Presidency. If you don’t believe me, just watch this video:

Click here to view the video!

That, and I’m typically not one to do something the easy way. Heck, even my mom has a MySpace, who (certainly no offense intended…just in case you’re reading…Hi Mom!) is not a technical wizard. I guess it’s pretty easy to do. Easy enough that nearly everyone I know has a MySpace. Geez…and here I am debating whether I will or I won’t have a MySpace. I could’ve had a MySpace set up in the time it’s taken me to write this post.

Last, but not least…the layout of MySpace, frankly, sucks. It’s just ugly, poorly laid out and what…just..what…is up with all the silly/ugly comments that people leave on people’s pages? Who has the patience to read through the heaps and heaps of pointless garbage that people “tag” onto your website? Who even wants those readers anyway? (If you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about…) I haven’t found a MySpace page that I like yet…it’s almost offensive to my eyes.

So, that’s why I don’t MySpace and why, for the foreseeable future, will not be found on MySpace. Just Google me, it’s kewler that way.

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