A case for net neutrality

Net neutrality is imperative to keeping the internet as the best place to create, gather, and distribute information. The concept behind net neutrality is simple: no one should have any more access to internet bandwidth than anyone else. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, they equated internet access with waiting in a line, and properly described net neutrality as the idea that no one can skip in line.

The inability to skip ahead of anyone else on the internet has helped make the internet so great. Giant corporations have no more access to the web than a lowly blogger or once-a-week surfer, which means everyone's contributions equal. For the longest time, one of the biggest advocates of keeping the net available to everyone was Google.

However, the Wall Street Journal article I referenced earlier was actually discussing the unthinkable, Google is apparently turning away from net neutrality. The company is reportedly discussing having a "fast lane" line for Google's information with many internet providers. This unforeseen move deals what could be a fatal blow to net neutrality, and this simply can not happen.

Net neutrality must remain an important part of web culture. Without it, the internet becomes just another product, rather than a collaborative effort to enhance the the experience of everyone involved. Imagine if Wikipedia was not free to all, but instead the ability to edit a page was simply given to the highest bidder? Suddenly the section of Wal*Mart's page questioning their work practices is gone. Without warning, the NBC.com youtube channel may be able to load videos ten times faster than your youtube channel, and that wouldn't be so great if you wanted to spread your work to the world.

What makes the internet amazing is that anyone can share their information with anyone else, and no one has preference over anyone else. This has allowed it to become the largest repository of information in the entire world, and every single individual logged in has full access to it at all times. If we give in, and let Google abandon the net neutrality ideals that they once held so dear, we are in essence giving up what made the internet into the free form exchange of ideas that it is now. I urge anyone who reads this to take up the cause of net neutrality: tell your friends, tell your families, blog about it, put it on facebook, do whatever you can to make sure that the next time you get in line to log on, no one skips ahead of you.

PS- This isnt just a grassroots campagin, president elect Obama is an avid supporter of net neutrality. More information about this whole topic is available here:
www.savetheinternet.com

Why there is nothing bad about Christmas (even if you arent Christian)

Christmas, X-mas, Jesus' birthday, December 25th. Whatever you call it, everyone knows about Christmas. Most of America celebrates Christmas by putting up a tree covered in lights and ornaments, going to church, and distributing gifts to friends and family. It truly is a time of joy for everyone involved. But wait! Aren't there some people who are not Christian?

Of course, there are indeed lots of people who aren't Christian, and most of them shun Christmas, and dislike the general holiday cheer associated with it. I, however (being not Christian- I'm Jewish) see things in a different light than many of my fellow non-Christian brothers. I celebrate Hanukkah every year, and enjoy the celebration of the holiday. However, I also find time to enjoy Christmas, even thought I don't believe in any of the miracles that were supposed to have occurred on that fateful night in Jerusalem.

So, I present a simple guide for non-Christians to enjoying Christmas, while not being pretentious or mean. The first, and most important rule of enjoying Christmas, and the whole of the Christmas season is to embrace the happiness and cheer that all the Christians have. When you receive a "Merry Christmas" from the cashier at Target, or Wal*Mart, don't think of them with disdain for assuming you celebrate Christmas. simply enjoy what they are doing: being nice.

Regardless of religion or creed, life should be about helping yourself and others live the best, happiest and most productive lives possiblle. When you smile back at the Wal*Mart greeter and say "Merry Christmas" right back, the greeter is happy his wishes are well taken, and you are happy for making the greeter happy too, everyone ends up happier than they were before.

The second big rule is easy: love the lights! Christmas means lights, bright lights everywhere, and as a non-Christian, the best thing you can do is love the lights as much as everyone else does. While Christmas tree's and nativity scenes are inherintly Christian, no one can deny the beauty of it all. If you can look at a house adourned with lights of all shapes and colors, and simply smile, you will find the season to be much brighter for you and everyone else around.

The final rule is about the day itself: what to do on Christmas day. Jews have a storied tradition in America of going to the movies with their families on Christmas day. In fact many people, including many non-Jews and Christians, go to the movies on 'the big birthday.' For me, this is the best part of Christmas for a non-Christian. It's not the movie that I love, it's the family. Because the rest of the world is closed down on Christmas, it means everyone is basically forced to spend the day with their family. Even if you are a person who doesnt like Christmas, you can enjoy spending the day with your family. Also, movie studios know that we're coming, so the movies on Christmas day are always high quality.

So why is there nothing bad about Christmas? Because, even if you aren't a Christian, you can still enjoy the festive lights, the holiday cheer at Wal*Mart, and most of all, you can enjoy spending Christmas day with the people you love.

Why cumulative, note-free final exams suck.

Depending on the reader, I may really be preaching to the choir on this one, but here I go anyway...

Finals, the ever-important test of tests that kids as young as young as middle school age are forced to take. I, however, don't want to talk about middle school finals, or high school finals, lets talk about college finals. What is a final supposed to do? It's there to test the students knowledge of the material of course, but in some final exams, that really doesn't happen.

Certain teachers (and everybody has had one of them at some point in their learning career) feel that the best way to test is to make it a fully cumulative final exam, with no notes. If anyone actually reads this, they may be thinking that I am simply complaining because I have one of these types of exams myself. They would be wrong, though.

It is indeed finals week at Indiana University, but luckily for me, none of my finals were like that. The fact is, if you tell students they need to have a an equal knowledge of what they learned in day one and what they learned last week, students will simply cram, and not learn. Yes, students should understand the material every day, but the best way to test that is by having questions that test comprehension of the courses main ideas. The best students are not the ones who can memorize the material the best- as is tested in many overly-large and note-less final exams- they are the students who can understand the concepts behind the material. 2+2=4 means nothing, if you can't break down and understand each of its components.

So, to all those out there in the world of academia: stop trying to shove your finals full of worthless questions! If you want to test all the material, give your students some notes for crying out loud. The real world does not demand of us an encyclopedic knowledge of introductory psychology, and our bosses will most likely never ask us how many apples Cindy has, if her number is the derivative of the number of apples Billy has. Its nice to understand the ideas and concepts, but the occasion where we wont have access to information, especially in a subject we did not specialize in (and therefore probably aren't working in) is so rare, that we just don't need to be tested in that manner.

Hard times: Honda kills the NSX

Everyone remembers the original NSX, Honda's answer to the super-cars of the early 90's that turned out to be so good, that it continued to turn heads until 2005. The mid-engine, V6 powered NSX was a work of genius from Honda- truly it was ahead of its time. The NSX was less powerful and less expensive than its rivals, yet it was still able to pass Ferraris on the track with ease (maybe combining the cars is the solution.)

Over the past few years since the original NSX's demise, spy photographers began to see Honda hard at work on a new NSX. The new Honda was to be a bonafide monster, powered by an all new V10, producing somewhere around 560 HP. Many experts expect the car to bear a resemblance to the Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept of a few auto shows ago. I have personally been excited for this car since the first news came around a few years ago, but today, there is bad news for the future of this still-in-development super-car.

The recent hard times havn't just effected the automakers in Detroit, In fact- in is a sign of how prudent and intelligent the head honchos at Honda really are- Honda has been ahead of the curve in making their business more lean to help cope with the economic crisis. Just a few weeks ago, in an unprecedented announcement, Honda pulled out of Formula 1, and then out of the AMA motorbike racing series. Now another cost cutting measure (reportedly the first news coming from the CEO himself, Takeo Fukui) is on the table: Honda has now officially confirmed that the NSX is dead. It's a sad day for Honda lovers like myself, we've lost a brother, a brother who never got to see the light of day.

Autoblog, an auto enthusiast site, is quick to point out that just because development on the almost-ready-for-production NSX has been halted, that doesnt mean the project cant be picked up when the hard times pass. I am acually fairly confident that, when the time is right, the NSX will return to the production track, but for now, the NSX's halted development serves as a chilling reminder that the times are a' changin.

A case for Woot.com (as if it needed one)

Woot.com, at its heart, is everything that I'm all about. Woot is quirky, Woot takes unique advantage of the internet, and uses humor to speak to an entire generation of tech savvy consumers. For those who don't already know and love the flashing lights that signify a Woot-Off, Woot.com is an online shopping website that takes the idea of "one deal per day" to the extreme. One product is offered per day- usually a good deal, but not a tremendous deal- but it is the descriptions that win me over. Every product comes with a custom-written description of the product, often using absurd comedic situations to describe what you can buy and how you can use it. The description alone is worth the cost of admission.

At midnight central time each night, Woot updates to the next days product, on occasions where a product is very desirable, they may sell out in a few hours, or even a few minutes in cases such as a Woot-Off.

There is really no reason that everyone should not check this site every day. There is no cost to sign up and shipping is five dollars flat no matter the items price. If you like that days item, you simply hit the "I want one" button. If not, you move on. It's too easy really: great tech deals, simple and friendly service and product introductions that feel like they're written by Conan O'Brien's and his staff.

In addition, Woot is a classic case study for how to successfully expand from their original product. Check out successful branch outs Shirt.Woot.com and Wine.Woot.com for some great deals on user-designed graphic tees and deals on good quality wines and cheeses.

The Tesla Roadster electrifies Top Gear

"Say good-bye to dial-up, and say hello to the era of broadband motoring." Everyone's favorite English auto pundit never fails to disappoint, and with lines like that one, Jezza's review of the famed Tesla Roadster is no exception. It's safe to say most people know about the Tesla, but for the few people who have been sitting under a rock for the past two years, its worth giving a bit of info.

The Tesla Roadster is an all electric sports car. The brainchild of a former Silicon Valley millionaire, Tesla Motors (who plan to put out an all electric sedan as well) has made their roadster a nice combination of top-of-the-line electric car technology, and a quality off-the-shelf body from a Lotus Elise.

The combination is potent in a straight line, where its merits as an all electric car means it has maximum torque all the time. However, it lacks finesse in the corners, where the batteries weight it down. Is this car the future of motoring? Jeremy Clarkson and the boys over at Top Gear seem to think there is at least a chance that is true (though I would check out James May's look at the Honda FCX Clarity for the real future of automobiles.) Check out the video below.