TV on Demand and on the Computer

Yesterday I was watching TV when a show came on that I haven't seen in a long time. The show was "Home Improvement." I made a comment to my roommate about how it was a shame that they don't show as many reruns of it anymore and he quickly responded that he in fact watches it daily at noon on cable. I paused for a second to think why I had not seen in in so long yet it's on so frequently. Then it hit me. I do not watch TV anymore. The fact that I can just go to my computer and on demand have all the new episodes of my favorite shows along with reruns and now even movies, has rendered the television and cable for that matter, completely useless. Why I still pay to have cable TV, I have no idea.

This revolutionary thought that sprung on me got me thinking, how many people nation wide have zero desire to pay for TV anymore and simply get their fill on shows Via the web. Cable Networks must be starting to feel the effects of web sites like Hulu and Fancast. This thinking inspired me to do a little research. Turns out that cable channels are obviously aware of the threat and are trying to keep cable from becoming obsolete and loosing millions of dollars thanks to the internet. This is much like how the web hurt the music and the newspaper industries. Musics problem was the sharing of music through special web pages and networking sites, while the newspaper industry was hit hard when they began offering their stories online for free. Cable companies are now devising ways to give just enough online access to shows without giving up too much. It's a fine line that they must balance on so it will be very interesting to see how this story plays out over the next few years. Here's to hoping that it stays for a while longer though because being able to eliminate that cable bill would put some much needed extra cash in my wallet.

Here's a few links to web articles that might offer a little bit more insight into the topic:
http://www.physorg.com/news157829495.html

http://steadfastfinances.com/blog/2009/01/24/cable-bills-too-high-disconnect-renegotiate-better-rate-or-watch-tv-online/

My Intro to Net-Neutrality

Network Neutrality is a matter which I have absolutely zero experience in, yet some how I have been thrown head first into a group project based solely on why our country should be shifting towards it. My hope is that by the end of this project, through research, I can make the decision for my self, based on an unbiased opinion, whether or not this is good for the internet. As of now I understand the basis for the complaint, or in other words the definition which I found to be: in it's simplest, the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. Cut and dry it's hard to see why freedom of the web could be a bad thing but there is always catches and that's what I want to find. Why would it be bad? what effects could this have on businesses both large and small? How does this effect me and why do I care? Questions like these are undoubtedly going to be answered through the research I will do and the experience I will gain within the remaining weeks of this course.

Damn you Smokey the Bear

I was watching the news tonight when I saw a rather disturbing Smokey the Bear commercial. In this commercial a girl on a mountain bike rides up on two quad riders and warns them not to start their bikes do to them possibly starting a forest fire. The add basically implies that ATV's (all terrain vehicles) and forest fires are directly related. This is an absolutely ridiculous claim. For starters I would like to take some time to break down the facts of ATV's and forest fires. To be ridden on public land as in parks like in the commercial, ATV's must be equipped with a forestry service approved spark arrestor. Spark arrestors are designed to capture sparks from exiting the exhaust which could possibly ignite a fire and are proven to do just that. The first issue with the commercial is that unless the quads have after market or tampered exhaust that are not forestry approved, they are both equipped with proper spark arrestor systems from the factory, thus making them every bit as legal to be ridden in the park as the girls bike.

One thing this add did get me thinking about was how many fires have ever actually been caused by ATV's because I certainly have never hear of any. Through a brief Google News search I could find only two stories directly relating a forest fire to an ATV. One of these was about a farmer leaving his utility quad running next to a pile of brush on a hot and dry day(on private property). There is no saving stupid, nor is there any evidence that this quad had a properly maintained exhaust system with a forestry approved spark arrestor. This fire claimed 216 acres. The second case occurred in Manitoba Canada after an ATV rally and was much more devastating as 7400 acres were burnt. Officials say ATV's may have been the cause of the fire, though this cannot be proven. Statistically speaking it is more likely that a careless camper within the group of riders failed to properly maintain a safe campfire or did not properly dispose of a cigarette than the fire actually being caused by sparks from the exhaust of the vehicles.

The Fact of the matter is the promoters of this add are trying to categorize ATV's with the common fire starters like cigarettes, campfires and careless campers, hikers and picnickers. This is completely unfair to all ATV riders alike and is another example of bad P.R. towards the off road industry which is already hurting from every other environmental lie directed towards them. Its becoming more and more apparent that the anti-ATV population doesn't care whether or not they have lie. They will do whatever it takes to put an end to this highly misunderstood form of recreation and it's going to require all different kinds of off road riders coming together to fight back and save this incredible sport.

video link to the advertisement: http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-jul2308-smokey_bear_ads.834f8711.html

Here It Is

So here it is, the beginning of my career as a blogger. Since this is my first official blog post I thought I would take this time to tell a bit about why I'm here. For starters I've been recently reading more and more blogs and had been kinda fumbling the idea of starting my own but never really got to it. So what was the decision maker? My NMC 301 course here at the amazing school that is Oregon State University. One of the coolest parts about this course is the interaction that is involved in the assignments. Unbelievably this includes starting our own blog and even Twittering. So in a nutshell, that's why this blog came to be, but, that is by no means all that it will become. I plan on keeping up on this blog well after this course closes so keep up with me and maybe you can learn something or atleast get a little insight into my world.