Posts Tagged opinions
Rage Against the Cloud
I’ve posted previously about how much control third party and cloud computing services have over your information and how it will only get worse. Guess what: it just got worse.
For well over a year, I’ve imported the RSS feed from my blog to Facebook via the Notes application. This particular feature has been flaky in the past and now appears to be completely broken despite cries to fix it. I’m betting my bottom dollar that the poor implementation and maintenance of the blog import feature is deliberate on Facebook’s part: they want you to stay within their walled garden and keep all of your content solely within it.
Before last week, anything I posted on my blog would take up to three days to show up on Facebook. Occasionally, I would make several posts and they would all show up out of order several days later. To make posts show up immediately, I had to log in to Facebook and manually update the blog import. Several days is an eternity for a service that depends on real time information, especially when I get 20 or 30 wall posts every hour. Why should my blog posts be treated differently than wall posts? Google has real time search for the entire internet, but Facebook can’t keep up with a handful of RSS feeds for new blog posts? It’s obvious that Facebook could easily make an import feature that functions in real time and would allow you to import anything from anywhere. So why haven’t they done this?
Now, however, the Facebook blog import feature appears to be completely broken. After writing a blog post last week and then trying to manually import it, I got the following obtuse error from Facebook: “The blog/rss url you entered is not valid. “ I got no such errors from Feed Validator. I also thought it could be because I had upgraded to WordPress 3.0, but a discussion thread revealed that plenty of people with other blogging services were also having trouble importing to Facebook. After a week and a half, I have a hard time believing that Facebook would allow a bug like this to go ignored without some kind of acknowledgment or fix. What are they up to?
My guess is that Facebook deliberately broke the blog import feature, thinking that those who used it would just forget about it and start posting to Facebook directly. If true, it’s quite the subversive attempt to gain even more control over my information. I’m certainly not going to abandon my blog just because I can’t import it into Facebook. My guess is that the more restrictions like this that Facebook imposes, the more incentivized people will be to abandon their accounts. Changing privacy policies at the drop of a hat may not be enough to convince Facebook users to leave, but I’m betting that restricting users’ control of their own data will be the last straw.
More fun and games on Route 5
The Route 5 story continues, for this little gem appeared on Tuesday in the Virginia Gazette:
“Sooner or later, one of the bicyclists who refuse to use the bike path built along Route 5 is going to get hurt. This time of year the road is jammed with weekend motorcycle groups and other vehicles. Route 5 has a narrow shoulder that provides little room for cyclists when two vehicles are approaching/passing each other. Serious cyclists consider the bike path unsuitable, but that isn’t going to change the laws of physics when an inattentive driver spills his or her coffee while meeting an oncoming dump truck.”
I’ve heard that commercial driving schools emphasize “the laws of physics” by instilling in drivers that vehicles with greater mass have the de facto right of way. This seems to be an excuse to allow some people to drive like morons just because their vehicles are larger. It doesn’t matter whether you’re driving a semi or a tricycle, everyone has to take responsibility not to drive recklessly or hit anything. The above comment was quickly followed up today with:
“I promise to never ride along Route 5 again. Obviously people who drive that route should not be operating machinery, such as a car. Please do not go to the other side of the county since that’s where I live and have children. The thought of someone like the person who commented recently on a road anywhere near my children scares me.”
The problem is that most drivers are like the first commenter: they are more worried about “spilling his or her coffee” than driving safely. Everyone is too distracted by personal items like mobile phones, radios, and in-car DVD players to pay attention, so when something happens (a bike suddenly pops into view), they see it as a violation of their personal space. In driving a manual transmission, I find it impossible to do anything but drive, so maybe a resurgence in manuals will make things better. However, I really wonder if I’ll make it through my life without being involved in a serious car accident. Whether it be biking, running, walking, or driving, I experience more and more close calls every week and one of these days I might not be so lucky.
Your digital life is out of control
Nearly every website and blog has a Facebook fan page, and most of those use the Facebook API to insert a fan page frame at the bottom of their own site. The fan page frame lists the number of fans and the names and pictures of ten Facebook users that “like” the particular site or blog. I had always wondered if the 10 Facebook users in those frames were even real users at all. Yesterday, I found that’s not the case at all:
Out of 746,369 fans, the Facebook API randomly selected my fiance as one of the 10 lucky fans to have his or her name, picture, profile link, and fan status broadcasted to the world on a website other than Facebook itself. Or maybe it wasn’t random, but reloading the page selects a new set of 10 fans, and I don’t think I’ve ever looked at one of these before and noticed someone I knew. How many of these 746,369 fans are even aware that by “liking” PostSecret, this information can be accessible to anyone on the internet and not just from Facebook? Unclear and ever changing privacy policies are just one of several significant problems with the shift to trusting third parties for nearly all of your data.
Everyone is becoming increasingly reliant on social networking sites, cloud computing, webmail, software as a service, and content distribution platforms to handle their data. Fewer and fewer people are storing their data on their own computer and instead are forking it over to third parties in droves. Entrusting a third party with your data raises three chief concerns: reliability, privacy, and freedom. First, how can you be sure a third party web service will always provide you access to your data? Next, how can you be sure your data is protected by a third party according to its privacy policy? Lastly, can do do as you please with the data you have submitted to a third party? The answers to these questions are dubious at best, but there are some steps anyone can take to minimize the problems and regain control of your information.
Reliability
Gmail seems to have a lot more problems than it used to. There’s been several occasions in the last year where I could not log in to retrieve my mail because of some server-side problem. Furthermore, I’ve been getting that yellow “still working…” bar flashing across the top of the Gmail page quite a bit, making my mail experience all the more frustrating. It makes me wonder, what incentive does Google have to ensure the integrity of your mail? It’s a free service, so if Gmail goes down, it isn’t as if they are going to lose revenue due to paying customers pulling out. Indirectly, ad revenue will decrease, but there is no direct motivation for Google to provide you, the user, with your email 100 percent of the time.
Without direct control over my email, I’m more or less living in fear of a sudden and long lasting outage, unable to read, send, or receive email. What if Google, intentionally or not, decides to block access to my account? A similar incident occurred to one Google Groups user who was locked out for three years until finally getting in touch with a customer service rep from Google after upgrading his account to a paid service. With a direct incentive to provide reliable service, Google was able to quickly fix the problem in this case. As with most web service models, users are not the customer, advertisers are, so you get what you pay for.
Privacy
When users submit data to a third party on the internet, privacy is anything but assured. As evidenced by the latest Facebook scandal, privacy policies mean nothing and are changed at will. Information thought to be private is sold to advertisers or suddenly exposed to the internet as was done with Facebook users’ likes and fan affiliations. What would happen if Gmail decided to open users’ email accounts for all to read? Users don’t have much clout to stop such changes from happening, especially without providing a monetary incentive for third parties to keep their word. Incidents such as these show that third parties care little about users and their wishes as to how their data should be handled. Users themselves are probably the only ones that can be trusted with their own data, for third parties see user data only as a commodity that can be bought and sold.
The worst case imaginable is a third party with an ax to grind against one of its users, deliberately ignoring its privacy policies to turn users’ private information against them. Unfortunately, this happens quite frequently. In the Duke Lacrosse incident, an unnamed source, most likely a Duke employee with administrative access to students’ email accounts voluntarily turned over to police an inflammatory email written by one of the lacrosse team members. If a university cannot be trusted with keeping student emails private, than how can anyone expect a free web service to keep its word? Even Mark Zuckerberg himself has been accused of accessing private information stored by Facebook users.
Freedom
While privacy explores the misuse of user data by third parties, another aspect defines the lack of control users have over data they submit to third parties: freedom. While most social networking sites, webmail, and other web services assert that any user data stored on their services is still owned by the user, this seems to be anything but true. Handing over data to a third party effectively gives that third party complete control over how that data can be used. Anyone who has ever attempted to completely erase their Facebook profile can attest to how little control they have over their own information: it’s nearly impossible. Ever tried to export from Facebook your status updates, wall posts, news stories, and photos? That’s impossible, too.
Along with Facebook, the iTunes/Apple content distribution system also provides an excellent case study of how third parties effectively have complete control over user data. As users invest more time, money, and more of their own content into such systems, the harder it is to switch to a competing system or quit altogether. Like Facebook, the Apple/iTunes model prevents data portability and forces users to stick with Apple products even if better products exist. Since users cannot move their purchased apps from one platform to another, they are forced to stick with Apple. To return to the Facebook analogy, Diaspora is billed as a completely open source and distributed social networking system. This social networking service could be argued as being “better” than Facebook, but lock-in will keep users on Facebook. There’s no way for Facebook users to export their friend lists, photos, and wall posts to Diaspora, so everyone will just stay on Facebook.
Any Solutions?
There aren’t really any clear cut solutions to this increasing dependence on third party web services. The best move is to decrease reliability on such third parties. I’ve tried running my own mail server, but outgoing email is blocked by my ISP in fear that I’m a spam relay. Downloading mail with a client is an option so at least I have copies on my own computer of everything I’ve sent and received in case Gmail were to go down. With respect to privacy, I’ve pretty much assumed that everything I post on the internet will be available to everyone, regardless of privacy controls. Anything I don’t want out there, I don’t post. To maintain at least some control over my own data, I host my own blog and ensure that I have a copy of everything I write and submit to sites like Facebook, Google Docs, and Dropbox. My guess is that as the internet evolves, and especially with the new and annoying “cloud computing” buzzword, this reliance on third parties is only going to become greater.
Windows 7 vs. Ubuntu 10.04
A few years ago, I was simultaneously running machines with OS X, Windows XP, and Linux. After giving up PC gaming and my Macbook started aging, I switched to Linux exclusively, since it had nearly everything I needed for school/work. I did however, keep a Windows XP partition on my laptop for PowerPoint presentations since I find Open Office to be seriously lacking. Using Linux almost exclusively worked pretty well for the last couple years and I managed never to have touched Windows Vista.
Since the release of Windows 7, I’ve heard plenty of good reviews about this latest Windows version and I decided to give it a try. A month ago, I installed it on my MSI netbook so I could travel lightweight and give a paper presentation using PowerPoint. Shortly thereafter, Ubuntu released its latest version into the wild and after using both Windows and Linux for about a month, I’ve been able to come up with some strong and weak points on both. Some of my comments apply to Windows and Linux in general and not just to these latest versions or distributions.
Windows 7
Pros
- A solid UI. I’m a real fan of the Aero theme, system fonts, and improved start menu. The taskbar really takes the cake by using icons and clustering multiple instances of the same program. Hovering over the taskbar gives a cool preview of each open window.
- Fast. My netbook with Windows 7 feels just as responsive as it did when it ran Linux. Boot times are a little slower, however.
- Robustness. I had no difficulty with the Windows 7 install on my netbook and Microsoft even provides a Windows 7 CD to USB image utility for netbooks. Unlike my Ubuntu experience, there aren’t any weird hacks to go through in order to get your display or wireless connection working correctly following a fresh install. Furthermore, I haven’t encountered any system crashes and Windows seems to keep any malfunctioning program from taking down the whole system.
- Good hardware support. I plug in a camera and it’s automatically recognized and drivers are installed from the internet. I plug in an external monitor or projector and the correct model is detected and my desktop is extended on to it with the correct resolution. It’s great for presentations since there isn’t much fiddling with the projector or Control Panel settings to get everything looking good.
- Software availability. Everything has a Windows version, even most open source software. I find that most developers put more effort into Windows versions since that’s what most people are running. For example, I’ve had fewer crashes and slowdowns with the Windows versions of Firefox and Skype. The Windows version of Skype is also much more polished than its Linux counterpart. Furthermore, many software programs are only available on Windows. MS Office, despite its incredible price tag, is still far superior to Open Office, and of course, only runs on Windows.
- Games. Most of the latest AAA titles are available for Windows, a few might be available for Mac, and I’ve heard of only one or two released right off the bat for Linux. If you’re into PC gaming, Windows is the only way to go.
Cons
- Lack of a centralized software repository. This makes it a real pain to download and install software since I have to go to a separate website for each program I want to install, find the download page, and click through a bunch of installation dialogs. Even worse is that nearly every Windows program I install runs a background process on startup that constantly checks for updates and bogs down my system. Also because of this lack of a centralized repository, programs inconsistently install themselves in many different places.
- Difficult to configure system settings. The Control Panel is a real maze of links, buttons, and dialogs which are dumbed down at the highest level and utterly confusing once I drill down into specific settings. Some settings can’t even be accessed with the Control Panel: for example, I still find myself using msconfig.exe to remove unwanted startup items.
- Windows Update is still very intrusive. A large number of updates require me to reboot and will display a nag timer forcing me to do so. I really don’t like the OS to get in the way and nag at me. Some of the system updates take quite awhile to install and can bring my system to a crawl.
- Libraries. This feature, which wasn’t in XP, is similar to Unix symlinks. A library clusters together files and folders from several locations in the filesystem, making it unclear where the files are really located. I would prefer that all my music, movies, or PowerPoint slideshows be stored in a single location in the directory structure such that I can easily back everything up or find something via Windows Explorer. Windows seems to want you to not have any knowledge about its directory structure and instead rely on searches and libraries.
- Developer Tools. This is the exception to the software availability and quality rule. I’ve been using Eclipse for Linux and Windows and it works well enough on both platforms with plugins for Subversion and LaTeX editing. However, other tools such as a basic text editor, LaTeX compiler, and command line tools such as make are either lacking or nonexistent. I find it much easier to work with the command line than a GUI when creating plots with Gnuplot and documents with LaTeX. I can quickly switch from one thing to the next without clicking through a whole pile of menus and dialogs.
Ubuntu 10.04
Pros
- A centralized software repository. This is the main reason I like Debian and its variants so much. “apt-get install” will give me any program I want and provide automatic updates. Removal is just as easy.
- Fast boot times. On my 3 year old laptop, Ubuntu is up and running in 30 seconds or less from the moment I hit the power button.
- Easy to configure and control. Adjusting a system setting is easily performed from a GUI tool or from the command line. Configurations are stored in well documented text files as opposed to the nasty Windows Registry. It’s really easy to track down where a program’s install directory is located and tweak something.
- A customizable UI. The sheer number of themes available is astounding, with Compiz providing some really cool desktop visual effects that rivals anything Windows has to offer.
- Enthusiastic user base (support). I’ve found that tons other Linux enthusiasts are more than willing to help with problems on message boards and websites. For things I’ve had trouble with, a quick google search or message board post will return tons of answers with other people who had the exact same problem and had already solved it. With Windows issues, answers seem a lot more difficult to come by and the user base isn’t nearly as friendly.
- Developer Tools. Just about everything under the sun is readily available for developers in Linux, including a plethora of compilers, text editors, and command line tools. Working from the command line makes things a snap compared to painstakingly navigating through different dialogs and menus.
Cons
- New software versions take time to be added to the repository. For example, Firefox 3.6 has been out for months but was only recently included in the 10.04 Lucid Lynx release. Prior to that, I had to compile and install Firefox 3.6 from source.
- Installation headaches still persist. With every Ubuntu release, something doesn’t work post-install. With 10.04, it was my video drivers. During the upgrade process from 9.10, the installer whined about my video drivers and supposedly aborted the install. Upon rebooting my computer, however, it was clear that the install had not aborted and my display was completely messed up. After rebooting again, Ubuntu downloaded and installed the required video drivers automatically. Also, Ubuntu now tries on boot to mount a remote drive in my /etc/fstab for which I don’t have a saved key, halting the boot process until I manually override the mounting process.
- Software quality and robustness. Productivity software, such as Open Office, isn’t nearly as capable or as featureful as Microsoft Office. I’ve had trouble with Flash causing browser crashes and other programs crashing all on their own which run stably in Windows. I’ve had a heck of a time figuring out why some fonts are rendered terribly and look blurry in some programs, among other things. More effort should be placed on creating polished products in order for open source software to really take off.
- Lacking hardware support. This goes with the above bullet: I plug in an external monitor or projector and I still have to fidget with resolutions and positioning to get everything to work. Suspending to disk often borks the external monitor configuration and then I have to do it all over again.
In all, I can’t say that either the latest Windows or Linux versions are better. Windows provides a more robust and polished solution, while Linux gives more power and control to its users. I find Linux to be a better choice for development, but Windows is the clear winner for gaming. Both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.04 run reasonably fast — Windows 7 does quite well on my netbook, but Ubuntu clearly takes the cake with boot times. Until open source software takes quality up a notch and Windows provides a better development environment, I’ll probably be dual booting, running virtual machines, or using multiple computers with both operating systems.
What is it with Route 5 and angry drivers?
Over the last week, there was another round of fun letters to the editor in the Virginia Gazette:
It is annoying, as well as a safety hazard, for bicyclists to ride along Route 5 when taxpayers spent $1 million per mile to have a bike path constructed. Cannot James City have an ordinance that bicycling on Route 5 is prohibited on all sections where there is a parallel bike path?
Yesterday, there was this response:
In response to the person complaining about bicyclists along Route 5, I’m sorry to have offended you. I didn’t vote for the bike path boondoggle, so please don’t crucify me for not using it. I am a competitive cyclist and find that the folks using the bike path don’t pay attention to what is going on in front or behind them. Also, the path is narrow, and riding at speed along it would create high risk. Thus I ride Route 5, which does have enough room for both cyclists and road vehicles, at least for folks who are competent at driving. I have a right to use the road, so please don’t yell out your car window at me anymore. As with many of the topics in the Last Word, aren’t there better things to do with your time?
This wasn’t me, but I have a good idea as to who it is and I completely agree with their statement. While I haven’t been on Route 5/John Tyler in awhile, I have received plenty of grief from drivers in that area. It’s as if the bike path serves only to make them angrier.
W&M Logos and Mascots: Over for now?
This weekend, I wore my team-issued jacket to the Colonial Relays in support of everyone running. Like most of my team issued stuff, the jacket had the feathered logo, since the feathers weren’t banned until my last year of eligibility. At the meet, plenty of my old teammates who were still competing wore the same jacket, but with a different logo over the breast. Apparently, those on the track team caught wearing the old jacket or logo would get in big trouble. I miss the feathers, for they gave our school logo character that it now lacks. For the first four years of my life at William and Mary, the feathered logo worked swimmingly.
Unfortunately, in 2006, the school president at the time decided not to protest the NCAA’s ruling that the feathered logo was offensive. Without any prior complaints, the NCAA decided on its own to review the logo and the use of the word “Tribe”. I recall the local media interviewing the state recognized Native American tribes, finding that none of the tribes found the feathers or “Tribe” offensive. While the NCAA permitted “Tribe” to remain, it threatened sanctions if the feathers were not removed. The school president could have chosen to stand and fight the NCAA, but caved to the demands instead, leading to the featherless interim logo, and finally, in 2007, the design of the “WordArt” logo. A weak design begotten from weak leadership.
Also this week, the college athletics department announced the new mascot, hopefully ending several years of controversy which began with the logo. For a few years, there was Colonel Ebirt, a caricature of colonial attire, but it was retired soon after the logo brouhaha began. ”Tribe” is pretty ambiguous, and neither my teammates nor I cared that we were without a true mascot. ”Tribe” by itself seemed more to symbolize the members of the school better than any mascot could. Screaming it before the start of a race reminded me that I wouldn’t be alone in the suffering to come.
The new mascot, a griffin, was narrowed down from a possible six, but I’m sure just about any of the choices would inflame much of the student body. I bet the pug was included as a strawman so that anyone complaining would say, “at least it’s better than the pug.” I’m not sure how a griffin will fit in with “Tribe.” A tribe of griffins? As with the logo controversy, it’s more about change for the sake of change instead of leaving well enough alone. It reminds me of a great quote from Calvin and Hobbes: “A good compromise leaves everyone mad.”
More anti-cycling blowback
My last post got a bit of attention from the local cycling community, giving me the largest number of hits I’ve ever had on a single day. Since then, there’s been more letters to the editor about the surge in unfriendly drivers. One reads:
I don’t mind sharing the road with bicyclists, but it would be nice if they obeyed road rules. Ride single file as far right as possible, use hand signals and stop at stop signs. Motorists are not mind readers.
Though the author means well, this is also a boilerplate anti-cyclist argument: since cyclists don’t follow the law, they are a nuisance. In absolute terms, many more drivers exceed the speed limit and blow through stop signs and traffic lights, so it isn’t just a cycling problem. Otherwise, why all the traffic light cameras and speed cameras? I learned awhile ago that unless I want to die, I’ve got to stop at every light and even the stop signs. Stopping at stop signs gives me extra time to be sure no cross traffic is coming. Plenty of times I’ve been at an intersection with a hedge obstructing my view of the cross traffic and as soon as I peek around it, a car whips by.
As far as single file goes, if you ever ride in a group and you aren’t single file, prepare for motorists to unleash hell upon you, even if you move over. I recall at least one time I was on a ride with a friend when a car came up fast from behind and laid on the horn before I had a chance to get over. Virginia law states that any cyclists traveling more than two abreast must move over for approaching traffic, but it doesn’t outlaw two or more abreast altogether. Few people have patience, even out in the boonies:
While riding bicycles on the Capital Trail last weekend, a young motorist stopped to allow us to cross Greensprings Road. Unfortunately, the minivan behind him started blowing the horn as we crossed.
Returning to the first author, the “far right as possible” can be interpreted pretty loosely: riding on the edge of the road can be extremely dangerous, especially when it comes to trucks. Too many times I’ve had trucks pass within inches of me because they are not willing to pass in the oncoming lane. Whenever I hear a truck coming, I make sure to get out at least three or four feet into the lane to either force the truck to pass in the oncoming lane, to wait until the oncoming lane is clear, or to use as slack if the truck decides to pass within inches of me anyway (which is what usually happens). At every light and stop sign I always stop in the middle of the lane and never pass stopped traffic in the gutter. When I stop in the middle of the lane and queued behind other traffic at a light, other cars always see me and will stop behind me in line. Since I’m in the middle, they also won’t pass dangerously close to me until I am safely through the intersection and back up to speed.
Another letter proclaims:
I am a cyclist in greater Williamsburg and was riding along the Capital Trail last weekend when a woman walking her dog started yelling at me that I was riding too fast for the bike trail. When riding along Route 5 and Greensprings Road, I get yelled at by motorists telling me to get off the road and get on the bike trail. Where is a cyclist in the ‘Burg supposed to ride to make everyone happy?
This is exactly my argument with the last post: riding on a bike trail can be dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. I’d like to avoid getting clotheslined by someone walking their dog, nor do I want to hit someone at 20+ mph. The author makes a valid point: you’re screwed if you do and screwed if you don’t when it comes to bike paths.
The increase in grief is probably linked to the increase in the local population. Each time I return to the roads after a hiatus I see yet another section of woods torn down for development along my route. More traffic lights pop up along with widened roads. However, it’s good to see that people aren’t all road ragers, especially since many of them also own a bike.
Bike races and “my tax dollars”
Whenever I read “my tax dollars” in a letter to the editor, I know immediately that the writer cares nothing about the common good. Such an attitude is completely contrary to the whole purpose of taxes. In a recent issue of the Virginia Gazette, someone angrily wrote in about how a bike race completely disrupted their life, pillaging their time and money:
Why are bike races allowed along Lightfoot and Fenton Mill roads? Bicyclists were running at a break-neck 25 mph in a 55 mph zone.
I was at this race last weekend: a lazy Saturday morning in the middle of nowhere couldn’t be a better time and place to have a bike race. It’s so unfortunate that the author was driving one of the three cars that travel those roads every day. The race was not a closed course, so I suppose the author/driver didn’t have the patience to quit speeding and drive carefully, especially with police around as escorts:
Who pays for those police cars? If the bicyclists pay for them, I hope there is a hefty fee to cover the gas and wear and tear on vehicles that my tax dollars bought.
The author of the above statement is living proof of why a police escort was needed in the first place. When I’ve been on the bike, I’ve been accosted countless times by people like this. Such a person sees the road as his or her personal space: all others must bow down before them. How dare cyclists use a road paid for with “my tax dollars.” It’s not like the cyclists don’t pay taxes, either. Indeed, the registration fee for the race probably included pay for the police, which is one of the reasons bike races and triathlons are so ridiculously expensive. Of course, the letter continues with the obligatory bike path comment:
Bicyclists cry for bike lanes then don’t use them, there’s a $50 million path to Richmond that they don’t use.
I’ve already visited on how “running at a break-neck 25 mph” on a bike path is extremely dangerous to pedestrians, but the author’s emphasis is less on safety and more towards the “$50 million.” In the end, the money arguments aren’t really about misuse of “my tax dollars,” but more about everyone else just being in the way. Can’t we all get along peacefully?
Running Shoes and Marketing Hype
Today, for the first time in years, I went to a brick and mortar running store and bought new shoes. Until this winter, I had been wearing the same make and model shoe for years. I wore the same shoe for most of my college running career and continued to wear it afterwards until I hurt my knee. Then, sometime after my knee surgery and before I started running again, the manufacturer discontinued the model.
I searched for a replacement, preferring to buy online since it’s easy to find the same shoe online for 30-40% less than in a brick and mortar store. From suggestions on Internet forums, I bought a similar shoe from an online retailer made by the same manufacturer. However, the new shoe felt like running in sandals compared to the discontinued model. It gave me no stability and very little cushioning in the forefoot.
Why do shoe companies insist on changing their shoe lineup every year? There isn’t a shoe model that either doesn’t get changed or discontinued on a yearly basis. The shoe that treated me well for so long was suddenly gone. I probably bought 15 or 20 pairs of that model, and what does the manufacturer do to reward me for my loyalty? They hang me out to dry.
There’s no functional reason to update, discontinue, or introduce new running shoes with such magnitude and frequency. Some research indicates people are better off without running shoes. However, shoes are generally made to accommodate a small handful of biomechanical differences in runners. With these differences identified, each manufacturer should make a shoe that successfully addresses these problems for most of the population and let things be. With the current cycle of drastic shoe changes, either running shoe technology is so terrible that the manufacturers are constantly scrambling to find shoes that work or human evolution is taking place at unprecedented levels.
Instead of producing something consistent and functional, shoe companies care more about generating marketing hype surrounding their products. They want consumers to crave the latest running shoe with its biodegradable materials, patented cushioning materials, and futuristic looks. I don’t care how many proprietary materials the shoe is made out of or what the shoe looks like, I only want it to keep me from getting injured. Every shoe I’ve ever bought goes from mostly white to a dirty, muddy mess in a matter of days, but as long as it keeps me in one piece, that’s all that really matters.
The constant shoe updates also force me to buy from a regular retail store since I have to try on several pairs to find a new one that works. Sizing changes from model to model, so I’m wary of buying a new pair without first trying it on. Retail stores mark up prices as much as 100% of what they paid the manufacturer, so it’s easy to find an online retailer who charges far less than the suggested retail price. Going to the store today, I’ve found that what was the $80 shoe five years ago is now the $100 shoe. Some shoes are nearly $200. All of them wear out in 300-400 miles, so what exactly is it that warrants the extra cost?
Running shoes shouldn’t be any different than a household appliance. Shoes should be something that do their job faithfully and can be replaced at the end of their lifespan with a model that performs exactly the same way.
Quotes of the week v.2
Here’s some more stuff that piqued my interest over the past week. While I find most comments on the internet to be extremely immature, the Slashdot moderation system really makes the good comments float to the top, producing a lot of good insight. I have to say that whoever came up with the Slashdot moderation system had a real stroke of genius.
Executive Compensation
Slashdot recently covered a story of a Sun employee commenting on the golden parachutes received by executives as their failing company was acquired by Oracle. Debates ensued in the story comments as to whether or not greed and apathy drives executives to place little effort into keeping their businesses afloat, completely disregarding the interests of employees and even shareholders. It reminds me of this Ambrose Bierce quote which I remember being narrated by Leonard Nimoy in Civilization IV:
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
One of the commenters of the story gave a blunt analogy:
To make it easier to understand and to make a more basic explanation, let’s replace “money” with “food”. Let’s say that the executive in charge of Sun has a machine that makes food for thousands of people. He runs the machine so poorly that it breaks down, and thousands of people no longer have access to the food it provides. In the process of breaking the machine, he manages to engineer it so that the very last time he runs the machine, it makes enough food to feed him, his family and his friends’ families for a couple hundred years if they manage the food he created properly.
It sure seems that executives certainly have the opportunity to obtain massive individual profit with little responsibility. Hopefully, for each story like this, there are hundreds of executives that run their companies well and think about their employees when making decisions.
Show me your papers…
In another Slashdot story, users commented on the heavy-handedness of Verizon blocking internet access to a popular website. Verizon alleged that a denial of service attack originated from the domain of the blocked site, which prompted comments that such attacks could be construed as terrorism and must be thwarted by corporations and governments. While I can’t really argue against the actions of Verizon or governmental involvement in stopping DDoS attacks, one commenter posted the following in response to increased governmental involvement on the internet:
When I was a kid it was popular to point to various things in the USSR like the inability to travel freely without “showing your papers” as evidence of totalitarian oppression. Here in 2010 “showing your papers” is as American as apple pie!
Oddly, I agree with the concept of this statement but not necessarily in the context of the internet. Air travel comes readily to mind. Nothing screams “show me your papers” more than flying. International travel is even worse, with arriving travelers powerless to stop searches of their computers and other electronic devices. What was once fun is now excruciating now that I’ve got to remove my shoes, take half of my stuff out of suitcases and into plastic bins, shuffle through metal detectors, and fumble for my ticket and ID. It really dampens my enthusiasm about going to Sweden in April.
Lowering the bar in Virginia schools
Virginia legislators have been desperate to get more Virginians into their public universities, even at the expense of revenue and quality of the student body. In the article, one legislator commented that he knew of several students with 4.0 GPAs that were denied entry to Virginia public universities. Well, when you loosen the grading scales in primary and secondary schools, there are going to be more students with higher GPAs.
I find it amusing that at one end, Virginia Beach students are whining that the grading scales are too strict and prevent them from gaining admittance to college. At the other end are complaints that too many 4.0 students are not admitted to Virginia colleges. Instead of high school students working harder to get into school or doing something that sets themselves apart from other 4.0 students, the prevailing wisdom is to just lower the bar. Fortunately, it appears as though the attempts to force 75 percent in-state enrollment is halted for now.
Those condescending liberals…
A piece written by a UVA politics professor argues that liberals are much more condescending than their conservative counterparts:
American liberals, to a degree far surpassing conservatives, appear committed to the proposition that their views are correct, self-evident, and based on fact and reason, while conservative positions are not just wrong but illegitimate, ideological and unworthy of serious consideration.
From postings on the internet, musings from friends, and from stuff I’ve heard around my college campus, I agree that liberals seem to be increasingly intolerant of any dissenting opinions. Everyone just drinks the Kool-Aid and can’t reason independently of news columnists or political party leaders. Nobody tries to understand all sides of an argument and understand the reasoning of the opposition.
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