Kinda late in posting this, but it’s cute nonetheless.

In terms of Latency:

Internet Health Report

Thanks mialber.

Broadband Reports takes a look, and, via GigaOm, finds the correct answer:

The real reason carriers are limiting services and charging more is to maintain control of what people can do on their networks.

That was easy. Changing that? Well…

I do not cosider this a positive development. From DemocracyNow!:

Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations

Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.

Try not to get yourself ‘considered dangerous’.

Past, present and future, reality is shaped by our ability to communicate with each other. While in the past our national (and international) infrastructure has been built to withstand or recover from some harsh and unexpected events, such as natural disasters, there is a significant weakness in our system of thought on these matters: pandemics. So the FCC and Big Telco had a little talk about just that.

I want to write/think more on this, but workload doesn’t really permit currently. I’d love to hear other’s thoughts.

Listen.

Music from around the world, but the website is based in France.

I am currently using it to listen to Beck’s new album, Modern Guilt.

Sample!

Discover Beck!

About Deezer [official site]

Read this whole thing if you need to start understanding what’s happening in the financial markets and another reason to be anti-McCain.

Just read below if you want the kicked-in-the-genitals part:

How big did this market become? Here’s business correspondent Bob Moon and host Kai Ryssdal on American Public Media’s Marketplace from back in the spring.

BOB MOON: OK, I’m about to unload some numbers on you here, so I’ll speak slowly so you can follow this.

The value of the entire U.S. Treasuries market: $4.5 trillion.

The value of the entire mortgage market: $7 trillion.

The size of the U.S. stock market: $22 trillion.

OK, you ready?

The size of the credit default swap market last year: $45 trillion.

KAI RYSSDAL: That’s a lot of money, Bob.

As in three times the whole US gross domestic product, Bob. And the truth is that Moon probably underestimated. The unregulated and poorly reported credit default swaps may have actually passed $70 trillion last year, or about $5 trillion more than the GDP of the entire world.

What Freedom of Religion Can Bring You.

Snake Handling Pentecostals

I throw up a little every time I hear that intro…or Billy Ray’s voice for that matter.

via Camp Counselor Tom. This too (woo!).

Because accountability is for suckers.

Campy Counselor Tom sends this find:

Rock Me Diabeetus

NOTE – Unsure why, but the vid gives me a bit-o-trouble in Firefox. IE seems to work. It rules in Lynx. UPDT – Turns out its the VLC plugin giving me issues. I guess it interferes with Flash in FF. UPDT 2 – That’s not all the problem I guess, its still doing it even with the plugin removed. Ugh.

There’s also many more Brimley vids in the “related videos”. I personally like this one.