Paul's Journal

08/21/2009 14:09 #49588

The true speed of verizon FIOS
Category: internet

There is really no excuse for me to be such an idiot, I am a computer guy after all and I was bamboolzed by the verizon marketing gimmick. For some I thought 20/5 FIOS was 20MBps download by 5MBps upload. I couldn't understand why I was getting uploads speeds of only 500KBps for upload on the server. Turns out its 20 mbps/5 mbps. Notice the lowercase, it then read as bits where the bytes were. Read more about bits and bytes here

e.g. What they should say is that verizon high speed business FIOS is 2 MBps down by 0.5 MBps up but who wants to advertise in 0.5 when 20/5 sounds so much sexier.

Here you can see the results I am currently getting from speakeasy speedtests on the server:

Last Result:
Download Speed: 19397 kbps (2424.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 3049 kbps (381.1 KB/sec transfer rate

I mean I thought it was too good to be true. Now I am wonder if I ever even needed FIOS to begin with as the backups aren't that much faster than they would be dedicated with DSL or cable. I mean for a server its only the upload speed that matters.

Arghs.

tinypliny - 08/28/09 09:08
All cable companies lie at some level anyway. The best would be to rig up your own satellite dish and pay some super-provider for satellite based web access.

Its very reliable and the speeds are lightning fast until a meteorite takes out one of the transmitting satellites. Of course, the first impediment is actually building the dish yourself. They are incredibly costly otherwise.

jenks - 08/24/09 16:17
I asked the cable company here (comcast) about fios/fiberoptic networks, and they said it's all a gimmick... that ALL cable is (and has been) fiberoptic, and that fios is a scam by the 'phone' companies and is not faster than even basic cable internet.

Any truth to this?

fing - 08/21/09 15:25
Should I be ordering my own Fios now :) Don't forget you have superior on-site networking support. That probably does account for something :)

james - 08/21/09 14:24
I hate Verizon....

08/20/2009 22:57 #49583

Where have I been
Category: life

I have been so busy with work. It seems to somehow take up my entire life on most days. Lots of awesome stuff got done but mostly I am just tired right now.

The roof is going to start this or next week. There goes $20,000 - at last it isn't the $30,000 I thought it was going to be.

My work is making me use a blackberry because the iphone is too insecure

The upside is that he blackerry is for work only and comes with tethering which which means my iphone's battery will probably last longer.

I found this awesome ibm site that tracks visualizations. Its pretty neat.

08/20/2009 00:47 #49579

Mowing the lawn
Category: neighbors

It's 12:45am and that blur near the street is my neighbor who just started mowing his lawn. What the fuck?!

It's been going on for like 40 minutes, at first I thought it was a helicopter but then it just kept going.

tinypliny - 08/28/09 09:10
Hehehe, I think he might have realized after dinner that prospective buyers were coming to see the house early in the morning and the lawn looked untidy!

james - 08/20/09 10:23
I mean, that is what cops do. It isn't all murders and speeding tickets. But, it is your call.

lilho - 08/20/09 10:07
thats is so rude! i used to have neighbors that would put out so much trash on trash day that it would take the garbage men 20 min to load it all up and it would wake me up at 6 am... i hated them so much.

matthew - 08/20/09 10:01
Call the cops? Lol They have been really good neighbors, I think we can let it slide this time. Maybe he was letting off steam?

james - 08/20/09 09:43
According to subsection 293-4-K of the city charter you cannot mow your lawn between 9PM and 7AM.

Call the cops next time.

jbeatty - 08/20/09 07:32
That is just strange. That has got to be against some sort of noise ordinance.

08/18/2009 16:35 #49570

Damn pear blight

I am so freaking angry about this. It ruined almost every pear ;(. I
wonder if the insides will be okay?

tinypliny - 08/28/09 09:11
That's sad, you were looking forward to all those pears. I guess no pear party then...

paul - 08/18/09 23:50
No its totally blight. Its all over the leaves, in fact they have almost all fallen of prematurely. I read I can try and spray next year early ;( I guess this year pear trees were struck really hard in the area.

oda - 08/18/09 20:47
paul, i don't believe that is blight. blight usually is seen on stems and leaves. you would have many dead leaves and some gross white fungus on your stems. blight is very serious, and if in fact you do have blight, you probably need to cut down your tree.
although i am not a plant doctor, to me it looks like bacterial spots, in which case the pears will be fine, just don't eat those spots.

08/16/2009 20:23 #49552

Delaware park

Shakespeare in the park is jammin. There are so many people.

On another note, The water in Hoyt lake is fucking disgusting.
Normally I would say freaking but seriously the disgustingness really
deserved the upgrade.

There are so many cans and bottles jammed up in the weeds. Who throws
their garbage in the water. I think those people deserve to be tazered.

I wonder if there could be any hope in cleaning it up by making the
water flow better. I mean I have seen lakes in other city parks that
wernt so sick.

tinypliny - 08/28/09 09:14
Have you seen the unkempt Lake Erie near the canalside park (beyond the marina apartments and closer to Porter street) on the west side?

Its very similar and nausea-inducing. Someone should send those pictures to the mayor's office and show them how that portion of the waterfront is being completely ignored.

oda - 08/17/09 20:57
ah, shakespeare in the park... i streaked King Lear last year and got a big round of applause. great fun for all.

metalpeter - 08/17/09 19:45
I think one problem with that lake is that the water kinda just sits there. Yes it was cleaned up years ago so it wasn't as nasty. But I think since the river doesn't really flow much all the crap just piles up somewhere like that one back corner that was all gross.

lilho - 08/17/09 12:59
im all for the tazer.

vincent - 08/16/09 20:48
Not to mention the smell of that body of water. To me honestly I have to wonder why people rave so much about Delaware Park, when the lake smells like garbage dump cesspool. Do they just ignore the fact that it has been like that for years?