StepSix

I have for a long time argued the issue of net neutrality among my friends and family. Honestly most of them never understand what the hell I am talking about. But the issue is so important. And it will affect everyone even if they have no clue what it is.
Could you imagine a world without YouTube? Without Google? Without Myspace? What if those sites where blocked but your ISP offered similar services? Would you care?
What if your friend had a different ISP than you and both your ISP and his ISP blocked Myspace and offered their own solutions? Would you be angry? Would you be upset that you couldn’t connect with your friend over a social network? But your ISP has their own Myspace. You technically are not doing without. But if net neutrality is ignored by ISPs at large than that could become the situation. You wont technically be without anything but you would be limited you would not have the choice, or the freedom you have now.
But do you have choice and freedom now?
If you are a customer of Comcast, Bell Canada or Virgin the answer is no not really. Comcast blocks or slows bit torrent traffic, even if the content is legal. Bell Canada does the same, And Virgin is following suit and pushing it further.
It starts with Bit Torrent we can’t let it go any further. It must stop now. If we don’t put pressure on these large companies than soon other large companies will fallow suit and then the smaller companies will start ignoring net neutrality. We cant allow this to continue The market will NOT correct its self.
A majority of internet users are not aware enough to know when they are being roped in and it is scary because that majority will be the ones to tell the ISPs what is too far.
I would end this with some slogan about how it’s up to you to stop this. But I fear it has gone too far. And too many people are ignorant about the issue. So I will end this with my favorite closing words.
Good Night and Good Luck.

I haven’t been active on my blog in some time so I figure I might as well start a new series of posts about me and the things I like.

Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine about music. I really like music. I like a lot of it but everything has a reason.

There are a few things music must have to be “Good.” A unique sound, Interesting or meaningful lyrics, and a connection to a type, place or person.

The first two are easy. Almost every band I listen to sounds different from every other band I listen to. Lyrics: well that’s simple if they artist is a good writer they can write poetic lyrics that carry meaning. The last on the other hand is a lot harder, but the last rule has the ability to trump the first and second rules. Lets take the song “Automobile” by Eazy-E. I don’t usually listen to rap. I honestly think a majority of it (aside from the occasional remix of a rock song) is really lame and lacks taste. This song however, was introduced to me by my brother. It carries a connection to him and every time I hear it it reminds me of him and all the fun we have had hanging out together.

The connection a song has to something in your life is really an interesting thing. I would love to see what songs you guys enjoy because of these connections that you would not normally like.

Cheers!

If you have not yet noticed I have started using reCAPTCHA on StepSix I hope this stops spam hopefully before it begins and you will be helping transcribe books as you post comments. Please let me know if it causes you any problems.

For more information about reCAPTCHA and how it helps to digitize books please check out their website at: http://recaptcha.net/

So yesterday I was browsing TechCrunch when I stumbled upon a reference to Cambrian House. The description read:

Cambrian House is Web 2.0 community and crowdsourcing platform that enables individuals and firms to harness wisdom and participation of online crowds to filter, build and commercialize software ideas and businesses.

The idea sounded cool so I checked out the website. People submit ideas, the community reviews them and helps the person refine their idea then submitter asks for people from the community with select skills to help them bring their idea to life. The submitter pays the people for their help using ether cambros (equal to 1 us dollar) or royalty points. (you earn a portion of the companies profits)

A while ago I had a similar idea called Lancr (yeah I know not a great name) where as companies or people would post requests for help “Need new logo for my website” or “Need Login Page ASAP!” and other community members would bid on it. The winner would be selected by the request poster so they could choose someone with a good reputation and not just the lowest bid. While my idea wasn’t the same as Cambrian House it was similar and revolved around the idea of using the community to get things done. Lancr was though of back in 2006 as I was graduating high school I registered the domain and got a friend to help me build this monster. Needless to say it never came to be. I didn’t have the skill necessary and my friend got very busy shortly after words with his new job.

So as Cambian House has everything I wanted in Lancr (plus some) I submitted my idea in hopes that maybe I can get my idea to be a part of Cambian House or that I can build Lancr the way I always wanted.

Check out my idea on Cambian House and while your at it why not sign up

Welcome to StepSix this is a website I decided to start to chronicle the daily events of my life. In general it may be quite boring and while I have tried to start other blogs, most of which focused on single categories, I decided to create this one. StepSix will focus on everything I am interested in from music and television to work, school and attempts to reduce stress.