HileThoughts

Except for certain political events, like the state of the union and conventions, we never watch things in real time. We record all of the TV we watch on the U-verse DVR (I cannot stay awake late enough to see the Daily Show) and when we watch movies, which I love but seldom get out to see, they come from Netflix.

We have access to Netflix streaming (via the Roku box) and subscribe to the three disks at a time plan. When Netflix first promulgated their price hike and new plan, the latter of which they have now greatly revised, we were concerned but made no plans to drop our services.  Netflix and other streaming services see the future as not including physical disks. But, based on my behavior these two serve different purposes and it would be a mistake to abandon one in favor of the other.

We use disks and streaming very differently. First, understand that all of the videos get on the list the same way (viz., good reviews, friends’ recommendations, interesting trailers at the beginning of the disks). We have over 100 films/shows on our list and add new ones all the time. However, the disk/streaming media choice is simply a matter of what is and is not available for streaming.

I think two concepts are needed to explain our viewing differences, aspirational selection and the tyranny of choice.

Aspirational selection is something I recently read about in article/blog/podcast. Essentially, when we put a movie on a list to watch in the future we do so because we think we should watch it. It is an aspirational choice. On the other hand, when choosing something to watch right now we look for something more entertaining or that fits our current mood. (Unfortunately, I cannot locate the original source.)

Given that our queue of 100 of movies will last 9-10 months new movie choices are clearly long term (We seldom rearrange them once they are added to the list – first in first out.) Our queue contains lots of foreign language films (with their shorter run lengths in theaters new ones open frequently, get good reviews, and are added to the list). Indeed, at one point a year ago when I was hungering for a move in English (we had not seen one in a few weeks) I raised my review standard for foreign language films to balance the list more evenly.

Generally this aspirational selection process works well. We see a wide variety of good films, lots of different perspectives, great actors and stories, many of which were not widely seen by the American movie going public.

The tyranny of choice is the second concept need to explain the differences in our disk/streaming viewing habits. The basic notion is that having a lot of choices does not make us any happier. Rather, as choices increase it becomes more difficult and our overall satisfaction decreases. When you have a choice of a few different cereals you choose the one you like best and are happy. When the cereal isle stretches 20+ yards you can never be sure if the flakes made from organic Kansas grown oats really stay more crisp those grown in Iowa.

The proliferation and popularity of reviews on web sites and in various publications (e.g., Consumer Reports, critics “best of” lists) is an offshoot of the tyranny of choice – we use these to reduce the number of items we need to choose between – making our choices easier and more satisfying.

With these two concepts in hand lets turn back to our behavior.

Disks. When we have time to watch a movie, we pull out the disks and make the quick and simple choice of one of the three. We always have the “best” movie to watch (from that limited selection) at any particular time. (When we have disks we feel a press to watch them first. I am my father’s son and need to get my money’s worth.) Because they were aspirationally selected, we see good films even if we would not have picked them out on that occasion from a larger selection. With the disks my better self guides our movie experiences.

Streaming. We go streaming when we have watched all of the disks in the house and want something more, when we want to save a disk for a special occasion, or when only one of us is going to watch. Here we are back to tyranny. We have many options and making a choice is always difficult. But it is clear that our more aspirational choices (e.g., the Czech film about a homosexual teacher in a small country town) are seldom selected. Rather we choose something easy to watch like a romantic comedy while others languish on the list. If time is short, we are finishing last season’s 30 Rock. If watching alone, Allison and I each choose something entertaining (I am making my  way through Battlestar Galactica and Allison is watching Mad Men). 

So disks and streaming give us two different watching experiences. Disks gives my better self a chance to select movies to be watched. Streaming hits our more immediate needs for entertainment and amusement  with something more lightweight. Disks give me a simple choice so I do not need to spend lots of time browsing for the “best.” Streaming gives us the flexibility to fill small time slots and personal tastes. Both are useful and enjoyable and the combination is a win-win for the consumer.

If we loose our disks, as Netflix and the delivery providers would like, consumers would loose something unique and special and Netflix would lose an advantage that it does not really seem to understand or appreciate.

I listened to a very interesting podcast yesterday with anthropologist David Graebar the author of the Debt the First 5,000 years. His thesis is that our common understanding that credit and money was invented to replace the barter system is backwards. Rather elaborate credit systems were used long before there was money.

While this is interesting what really grabbed my attention is his belief that we have forgotten one of the key features of those early credit systems – that, as the Lord’s prayer notes, debts should be “forgiven.”

He describes the common practice of debt forgiveness and that these early system were designed to protect the debtor from ruin (getting to the point were you needed to sell your family or yourself into slavery). Today’s systems have forgotten those lessons and instead focus on protecting the creditor. This leads, for example, to the growing disparity between the rich and the rest of us. One only needs to look at the AIG bailout to see the extreme shift in that direction.

As to the title of this post – Graebar talks about the language in the Lord’s prayer arguing that the lines referring to debt do address financial debt and not some more abstract conception.

However you feel about these ideas, this is an interesting listen. Give it a try. (link to the podcast)

Yesterday the St. Louis Post Dispatch carried a front page article Missouri lawmakers’ Facebook accounts hacked. It said in part:

Three Republican and one Democratic state House members, and one Republican staff member have reported that their Facebook have been hacked since the Jan. 5 start of the legislative session, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday.

It is unclear how the accounts were accessed, but it may have been over a free wireless network at the state House that visitors, staff members and lawmakers use. In instances in which Facebook accounts were accessed, the owner had used that network.

This sounds like the work of the Firefox add in Firesheep. Used on the sort of open network found at the capitol, that is one without any password required for use, it is able to “sniff” the wireless traffic and capture enough information to allow the attacker to impersonate the legitimate user – seeing and editing their pages. This works with sites like Facebook and Twitter and is drop dead simple for the attacker. All they need do is to install this free software and click on the user they wish to impersonate. This software is easily available has been downloaded by almost 1.2 million people.

Is if you do not what to let others pretend to be you what do you do:

• Never enter your username/password into a web site when you are connected to a Wi-Fi hotspots that does not require a WPA password. Even if that password is written on the wall you are protected.
• In those open Wi-Fi hotspots you can connect to sites that ALWAYS serve their pages in a protected mode (using https). However, many sites only encrypt the initial logon which is not a protection to this attack.
• Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which encrypts all of your web traffic regardless of the Wi-Fi hotspot to which you are connected.

The bottom line. It is dangerous out there. Be paranoid. Make sure you are very careful with which Wi-Fi network you consort.

Cross posted on my personal and professional blogs.

I needed to get the nib replaced on my Montblanc pen. Searching the internet I decided to try the official Montblanc site to find a center near me http://www.montblanc.com/3511.php . They have a lovely flash based system. To find out where to send my pen I had to:

• Click my continent from a lovely circling globe. that expanded and I had to
• Click on my country that expanded to a map of the US without any state border shown where I had to select a state.
• Clicking around the US resulted in no change until I noticed a small white dot in Texas. It turns out that the only state available for selection was Texas.
• Click on Texas - That opened a map of Texas and I was asked to choose a city. Finally I was learning, I found the single white dot and
• Click on Forth Worth opening information on the sole US service center.

Now that I had unearthed the needed information I tried to highlight the address to paste it onto a label so I could send my pen off and — you guessed it — the flash page does not support copy and paste. I had to retype the whole thing.

How could this have been done better? Well once I clicked on a continent they could have simply listed the three service centers in North America. One click instead of 5 and adding the ability to copy rather than having to retype the information. This might not have been as pretty but it would have been a heck of a lot more efficient saving me, the customer, time, frustration, and energy.

In working on this post I ran the flash system a few times. Evidently that was not anticipated and I received an error message as flash crashed. After that I decided to send my pen elsewhere for repair.

One final note, when I related this story to Allison she asked why in the world I would expect a fountain pen company to understand advanced web design. I am sure they think their design is “advanced” it is just advanced in a way that does not consider the user.

Cross posted on my personal and professional blogs.

We just returned from a cross-country trip to Yellowstone. As rest areas have been on my mind I decided to take a look at what a few other states had to offer.

Iowa – One of my favorites along I-94 were the signs for “Modern” rest areas. (These signs were generally right before a rest area that was basically a pull off with a few trash cans.) The “modern” rest areas had an entrance area with local information. The restrooms’ themselves were quite similar to Missouri except that they had real mirrors and, what was included in Missouri’s questionnaire as a possible “waste of $$$,” free wi-fi access. 

South Dakota – This was our first time in South Dakota. Their rest areas were staffed with friendly employees who were happy to provide information, directions, and advice. Each area had a stylized concrete teepee and was loaded with information on places to see and things to go in South Dakota. Most interesting, however, were the South Dakota CDs. A set of 4 CDs with information about the state for $20. Return them to another rest area or in the post paid envelope and receive a $15 refund. We listened to them across the state and, while they were occasionally repetitive and a bit to “advertisy” for our taste, we learn about the state in a way that would not have happened without them. Great idea! (All night I kept dreaming about the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota tribes – I had never heard of the latter.) We also stopped at a beautiful rest area on a tall hill over looking the Missouri river. In addition to the usual facilities there was a Lewis and Clark keel boat in which you could climb and a lovely small interpretative center about their trip. (To bad Missouri does not have any nice vistas, and relationship with Lewis and Clark, or anything about the state that they would be proud to share with visitors.)

Wyoming – Wyoming has miles and miles of miles and miles Two of the rest stops we saw were actually on two lane highways – something I have not seen in the east. One stop we did make over looked a wind farm. The buildings were squat and low. An information sign pointed out that the winds reach up to 70 miles an hour so that seemed pretty reasonable to me. I wondered what a wind farm looked like with 70 mile an hour winds – and was glad I was not there to find out.

Nebraska – Their rest areas, at least the one I visited and another I drove by, are two part affairs. One building with the facilities (the one were we stopped had some broken fixtures) and the other with local information.  They did have one of the more interesting signs asking folks not to wash dishes in the drinking fountain.

It was ironic that during our vacation, as we were conducting our random and unscientific (though biologically based) survey, we happened across an article in USA Today about states closing their rest areas. Fortunately we did not run into any shuttered facilities.

Based on our experiences it seems to me that states can make a positive impression on rest area users. They can share their history, strengths, and natural features. How could any state not want to make the best impression possible on their highway visitors. And perhaps, by so doing, having them linger or even better making them want to come back for an extended stay.

I have been spending an inordinate amount of  time on Missouri’s Interstates, 44 and 70, driving back and forth across the state. Today I stopped by a rest area on 44 East near Rolla. Outside was a rather interesting opportunity – a “Rest Area Report Card.” So I grabbed one to give them some feedback. As I looked at the card, however, there was not enough room to tell them what I think and, in honor of the summer travel season, thought I would expand on my thoughts just a bit.

First, being a man of a certain age, I need to stop frequently as I drive long distances. This has provided me with a good range of experience with rest areas in various states. For example, in Paducah Kentucky  the rest area is built into Whitehaven a small antebellum mansion. Along the same highway (Interstate 24) the rest area at the Tennessee border is built into a beautiful original log cabin. Even when there are no historic sites handy, Illinois, Kentucky, and other states have build lovely modern facilities that are pleasing to the senses. 

So what about Missouri’s rest areas? Well, contrary to the title, they were probably not really built in the 50’s. However, they all seem to have tumbled out of some sort of time warp (like being in a White Castle at 2:30am) being build a wonderfully solid ceramic blocks that I remember from in my grade school restrooms.

Inside the only thing they have going for them is that they can be easily washed down with a fire hose. While it didn’t have an offensive aroma, I did make me what to get out as quickly as possible while touching as little as possible.  My favorite architectural detail are the mirrors – some sort of shiny metal. Evidently, the state is thoughtfully protecting us from seven years of bad luck if we were to break a real mirror. As a whole, it would not be out of place in a prison.

The rest of the area is quite acceptable. The grounds, parking, eating areas, etc. It is really only the restrooms that are an embarrassment to the state.

Back to the report card. there was one set of “you have to be from Missouri to understand” question response options. For such questions as “Would you like Tourist Info” The responses are “Yes,” “No,” or “Waste of $$.” Clearly what people think who stop in our rest areas must be “My, Missouri must be a great state because the sure don’t waste their $$ on frivolous services that would make their rest areas more pleasing to the visitor.”

So for my short evaluation – bulldoze the restrooms and build something that people will be pleased to visit rather than feeling as though they were visiting a local prison.

In March, Daniel Everett spoke about endangered languages at a Long Now seminar (audio, summary). In 1977 Everett, then a Christian missionary, went to work with the Pirahã tribe in the center of the Amazon.  A tribe that

numbers only 360, spread in small groups over 300 miles. An exceptionally cheerful people, they live with a focus on immediacy, empiricism, and physical rigor that has shaped their unique language (Brand, 2009)

What I found most astonishing was that they have no creation stories or myths. While this would seem to be fertile ground for a missionary it actually had the opposite effect. The ultimate empiricists, the Pirahã  believe only what they can see, what their elders have seen, or what others have told them that they have seen. When unable to provide evidence for his god the Pirahã lost interest in discussing it further. Moreover, in that failed effort Everett lost his faith as well. During his presentation he tells a rather charming story about this experience which he evidently expands in his book Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle.

I had always thought that all peoples had creation stories, that all peoples had created one or more gods. It is most refreshing to know that is evidently not the case.

I have long decried the foolishness of our litigious society. This week I was offered the opportunity to benefit from such a suit.

I received an official postcard offering me money because I had a first generation iPod nano. First I was slightly irritated. The day before I had talked to the repair center where I sent my recently broken nano. The cost of repair, $125, the cost of a replacement $133. So I told them to pitch my old unit. Not wanting to completely forgo the offer I read further and fond that in fact I did not need to actually have the nano. Great – free money!

So I settled in to read the fine print. All that I was required to do was to agree to the following statement.

Yes my nano did have scratches. The shiny backing was no longer pristine. As a mirror it was not as distortion free as the day I took it out of the box. Yet did this scratching “impair my use or enjoyment of my iPod nano?”

It is an audio device! In using it I listen to the podcasts it contained (never did use it much for music recordings). So no, the scratching did not impact my listening. What about my enjoyment. Well I suppose that if I thought of is as “my precious” and spent my time stroking its immaculate features my enjoyment would have lessened. But my enjoyment was based on using it at the grocery, while waking the dogs, while cutting the lawn, while driving to Jefferson City, …. So that was a no as well.

I did consider that by not checking the box I was enabling other members of the class to get my portion of the settlement $s. By so doing I would increase the reward to people who file foolish law suits. But even that seemed like a cop out.

So, call me foolish, but in the end I could not bring myself to check that box. What would you have done?

On a recent vacation I was finishing Simon Schama’s three volume History of Britain. Near the end I came across this passage from H.G. Wells’ Outline of History (yes that H.G. Wells):

War is a horrible thing, and constantly more horrible and dreadful, so that unless it is ended it will certainly end human society…There are people who seem to imaging that a world order and one universal law of justice would end human adventure. It would but begin it…Hitherto man has been living in a slum. amidst quarrels, revenges, vanities, shames and taints, hot desires and urgent appetites. He has scarcely tasted sweet air yet the great freedoms of the world that science has enlarged for him. (p. 435; Schama, Simon. History of Britain Vol. III, The fate of the empire 17776-2000)

Though there seems to be an argument that we are actually facing much less violence than ever before (for example here and here), the risks still seem large.

Wells’ words caused me to pause for a moment and think about all of the money, all of the time, all of the energy, and all of the lives that are squandered on war. Just sit for a minute and entertain a thought experiment. Imagine for a moment the world with all of the money, time, energy, and lives currently wasted in war were rather spent in the pursuit of making the world a better place. Oh, what a wonderful world it would be.

In a recent NY Times op-ed piece Nicholas Krustof calls public education funding Our greatest national shame 15 Feb.

Education is critical. Without it people have no chance in the modern world. Without it the modern world has no chance. Yet in the city of St. Louis we have a public educational system is at its best shameful.

One Friday in February our Leadership St. Louis class focused on the St. Louis city public schools. Starting with a visit to Vashon High School, housed in beautiful new building which in 2002 replaced it’s dilapidated  previous location.

I had not been in a public high school for many years, though I remember mine quite vividly. An two story plain rectangle of a building. Long strait halls lined with lockers. Between classes there was crowded seemingly chaotic activity in the halls, slamming lockers, and a general hubbub. During classes there were full rooms and the purposeful murmur of activity behind each door. Vashon was quite different - cool architecture, small classes, and very quiet. The later was particularly notable. Class changes were almost eerily quiet with few students in the halls. No banging lockers. No horseplay. No masses of students in the halls. Classes were very small though, even then, there were students that were not engaged or even attending to the instructor. 

(It was interesting for me to see one of the students in class texting. This form of partial attention is clearly a poor idea wen trying to learn. However, I had had a conversation a couple of weeks earlier with a woman training medical students at SLU. She to was lamenting the fact that SLU medical students engaged in the same behaviors during their classes.)

Part of the difference was size. My high school class was larger than the whole student body at Vashon. But I later found out that, in addition to being relatively small, the school has about a 40% absence rate - so the school and classes were empty because few of the enrolled students were actually present.

The principle, teachers, and students we met were justifiably proud of the advances the school has made. It has a history of problems and of being in the paper because of violence and other school problems. The students with whom we spoke were focused on getting out of school and getting into college. They had applied to, and been accepted by, multiple colleges and reported that they were going to be able to get funds to attend.

The student leaders we met with were all women. When asked, they quickly volunteered that there was also a male leader and there was hope that, this year for the first time in many years, they would have a male class valedictorian.

Our tour of the school was lead by a teacher and 5 ROTC students. I am not exactly sure why we needed 5 students to take time from their classes to lead us around the building. They were polite and would answer direct questions but for the most part kept pretty quiet. We saw neatly kept classrooms (all behind locked doors) and spent a very few minutes in classes with real teachers and students. We visited the well appointed day care center (for the young children of students and staff). Saw the gym, which held the most life in the school, and a dry swimming pool (for the lack of an instructor).

In addition to our school experience we met with the new superintendent and one of the special board members - since the district has been taken over by the state because of its loss of accreditation.

At the end of the day I walked away feeling a little sad and believing that, while the presentations put the best possible face on the situation and that there are positive stories and educated students coming out of these schools, for a much to large proportion of students we are failing. We are failing and that will drag down both these individual students and our society.