lexington | Hilary Baumann

Throttling, Netflix, Comcast and YOU

Throttling … yes it’s a word. Learn it. Know it. It can be a bad thing. And it’s a very possible thing for Lexington if TWC becomes Comcast.

Throttling can mean selectively slowing down service for one particular type of web traffic or source. Imagine if your ISP decided which sites you got to see quickly and which sites they wanted to slow down.

Example: Comcast throttled speeds of Netflix content so much that the streaming movies and tv shows were barely watchable. It was such a problem that making news this week was a deal where Netflix just paid in a roundabout way for that to stop being a problem. http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304834704579401071892041790-lMyQjAxMTA0MDIwMzEyNDMyWj

While some people are saying that this is simply paying Comcast to be part of Netflix’s CDN (content delivery network) which is a legit thing they could be paying for:
http://blog.streamingmedia.com/2014/02/media-botching-coverage-netflix-comcast-deal-getting-basics-wrong.html

Others see the payment as a round about way to get Comcast to stop punishing Netflix for being a competitor to cable tv: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57619353-93/netflix-reaches-streaming-traffic-agreement-with-comcast/

Either way you look at it, “the deal ends a dispute that saw average Netflix streaming speeds decline on the cable giant’s network by nearly 30 percent in the past couple of months.”

It’s six of one and half dozen of the other.

But I’m in agreement with the quote at the bottom of the CNET article:

“It is clear that residential ISPs should be in the business of charging their users for access the Internet, not of charging the rest of the Internet for access to their users.”

“Local first” or is it “local only” Lexington?

Lexington is welcoming artists from around the world and showcasing their art as part of the PRHBT festival. One piece in particular has garnered a LOT of attention partially due to it’s size as well as the week long project being out in the public. Eduardo Kobra from Sao Paulo, Brazil painted the entire backside of the Kentucky Theater.

It’s art so people will obviously disagree about whether or not it’s aesthetically pleasing (I like it but to each their own) but perhaps more importantly, people are criticizing Lexington officials over the promotion of artists that aren’t local. Really people?

I do think we need to get behind local artists but at the same time there’s still a whole lot of value in Lexington not being local artists exclusive.

Drawing attention to Lexington through an artist that is more nationally or globally known, maybe people who don’t live here will then come visit to see the artist they know and then be exposed to other local artists once they’re here? Just sayin’.

This is also why I have a hard time with the full tilt “buy local above all else” mentality. I’d lose a good chunk of my clients with my graphic & web design business if they were making choices based on where I live over what my skills are.

Would it really fair to an artist to make choices based solely on where they live over what their skills are?

It would be small minded. And don’t get me wrong, I’m all for buying local within reason but I’m NOT for taking that to an extreme. The world is so much bigger and better than that!

Flight

Flight
Electronic crop circles
Looking at cities as they go by, constellations on the earth

top 2 photos: flight from Lexington to Chicago in the morning on the way to Curacao. I’m not sure what cities I was looking at at the time.
bottom 2 photos: flight coming from Chicago back into Lexington as the sun set on the way back from Curacao. These two photos are of Lexington.

Storm’s a brewing –
cloudy sunset in Kentucky

It’s been very windy here. Nothing like the coast with Hurricane Sandy I’m sure but we’re getting gusts in the 40mph range and it looks like it might snow tonight.

LFUCG / Lexington KY Electronics Recycling

****** UPDATE ****** UPDATE ****** UPDATE ****** UPDATE ******

UPDATE AUGUST 2010: Someone recently mentioned to me that they changed where you enter the lot for the Electronics Recycling. It may now be from Versailles Road but I haven’t gone to check personally yet. It’s like they want to make this particularly hard. The website says “1306 Versailles Rd (old Furrows bldg).”
http://www.lexingtonky.gov/index.aspx?page=1766

Look for this sign to turn in off Versailles Road:

Versailles Road Government Campus

Then past the ATM (yes, past the ATM.) Past the gate and you’ll start seeing official looking Recycling center signs. Then you’ll see this less official sign:

And you’ll be pulling into the building where it will be unloaded.

UPDATE May 23 2011 Expanded hours:

Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Wednesdays: Noon to 4 p.m.
Saturdays: 8 a.m. to noon.

http://www.lexingtonky.gov/index.aspx?page=24&recordid=2477&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

For additional questions regarding recycling, call LEXCALL 859-425-2255

****** OLD INFO ****** OLD INFO ****** OLD INFO ****** OLD INFO ******

Monday, Tuesday, Saturday 8am – 12 noon
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 12 noon- 4pm
Drop-off entry off of Nancy Hanks Road, Lexington KY

I had some electronics that need to be recycled and remembered that the most recent trash pick-up flyer mentioned that the recycling center would be open year round instead of just quarterly. I went and looked it up on the web but it still says that it’s quarterly: http://www.lexingtonky.gov/index.aspx?page=814

I went to my fridge where I found the flyer to double check, sure enough it said beginning December 1st 2008 the recycling center would be open Monday – Friday 8am-4:30pm and Saturday 8am – noon.

Wastenot Electronics Recyling Lexington

The flyer was wrong, I went, they were closed and the sign outside read:

Monday, Tuesday, Saturday 8am – 12 noon
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 12 noon- 4pm

Lexington Electronics Recycling sign

Sorry about the bit of tree branch covering the sign – I took this quickly after my trip back to the recycling center in the afternoon.

Since the TV transition to digital is coming up in February, they really should update their website with accurate information and driving directions. I’m going to e-mail them but just in case they don’t update it, I’m posting the info here because I would rather see electronics recycled than have them go in the landfill.

Some other bits of useful information:

1) the mailing address may in fact be 1306 Versailles Road but where you actually go for drop off is down Red Mile Road, turn onto Nancy Hanks at it’s at the very end.
View Larger Map

2) when you’ve gone past the gate, it’s not the building in front of you but the second building. It can be confusing with all of those blue bins stacked up and signs that are semi-hidden behind things. I took another quick photo as I was leaving that afternoon.

E-waste Pull In area

—Update—
I did find one other link on the LFUCG website finally but it looks more like a press release but it does contain some info:
http://www.lexingtonky.gov/index.aspx?recordid=126&page=24
There is a good list of what they will accept under the second photo. However it doesn’t say what businesses are supposed to do. Sorry LFUCG, I’m going to use your electronics recycling for my business electronics anyway until I figure out what I’m technically supposed to do with it.

Another bit of news on the electronics recycling front for the entire state of Kentucky:
http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2009/02/11/electronic-recycling-program-passes-senate-panel/

Continue reading LFUCG / Lexington KY Electronics Recycling