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 just read Kate Lovelady’s (the Leader of the St. Louis Ethical Society) blog post discussing one of her new year’s resolutions to make sure her wishes to be an organ donor were recognized.

I checked the back of my license and saw that would not have helped - I would have to sign as well as two witnesses - that seems more dificult than it should be. While my family knows my wishes I decided to take Kate’s advise and visited this national site which has links to information from each of the various states.

Going to the Missouri link, I worked for a while and finally figured out how to register on the state’s web site. The usability of the site clearly has never been tested by watching real people try to walk through the process. They have managed to create a site that is well deigned to frustrate rather than help users. The ability to get to the pages is hidden, the text confusing, and trying to fill out the forms when you are able to get to them is counterintuitive. But, if you are persistent, you can in fact use it to register to make your wishes known.

So I did it - so can you. Find out how to register in your state and make your wishes known so that when you loose your life you can pass parts of it along to others in need.

I recently discussed the availability and presentation of St. Louis’ regional crime data. For the city of St. Louis, the Post Dispatch’s site STLtoday.com has the best graphic presentation of homicide data. An interactive bar chart that presents 4 years’ data. While it is colorful and does provide individual monthly data when the mouse hovers over bar - it is not at all clear what you can learn by looking at this graph. It is not easy to compare changes month by month, to look at trends across a year, or to see underlying patterns in monthly rates.

Rather than simply complain I thought I would try my hand at making the graph understandable.

First I tried a simple line graph. But the overlapping lines made it difficult to see individual patterns. There was no reference to what one might expect on average. So it did not improve the utility of the graph at all.

Next I tried each year paired with the average of all years. This allowed a variety of comparisons. 1) By comparing each year with the average it is easy to see when months have more or less than would be expected. So we can see that 2008 has been pretty much consistently higher each month. 2) It also allows us to see the pattern across the months - you are less likely to get murdered in January and February than any of the other months. 3) Additionally, it also allows us to predict that there will be a spike in rates in November of 2008 when that data becomes available.

Now following the suggestions of graphics visionary Edward Tufte I decided to see if we could further simplify the presentation - conveying the same information with less ink. I believe that the final graph does this by removing the extraneous lines and the vertical axis information. This has the advantage of focusing the viewers attention on the main points - examining the pattern of homicides across the year and differences between the years. It looses the interactive features of the original but it does deal with the fact that the original graph really did not provide any more information to the viewer than a simple table of numbers.

Are there other ways to graphically ring information out of this data? Let me know what you come up with.

NOTE: This entry is cross posted on both my personal and professional blogs.

Yesterday I spent a few wonderful hours riding bikes with my friend Tom. We left St. Louis in the dark for the two hour drive to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The drive south was lovely past wooded hills with a hint that they would soon break into the rich colors of fall. Fog clinging to the lowlands and. As we drove into Cape Girardeau we ran though dense fog which surprisingly cleared before we reached the river side starting point.

We were returning for our second ride of the Tour de Cape. Unlike last year’s heat, this year we had glorious weather. Perfect for a long ride in the country it was in the low 70s with a clear and sunny sky. It is a charity ride supporting "The Mississippi Valley Therapeutic Horsemanship, a non-profit program that provides children with disabilities therapy using horses."

We start with a short jaunt to get out of the city and into the lovely Missouri country side. Past farms and fields, up hills (one at least in the "killer" range for my abilities), through woods and past small streams. This ride has the feel of a community "hands on" event. Along with the usual fruit and drinks, the rest stops had home made cookies and the people helping out thanked us for supporting their work.

The high point on the first half (probably literally as well as figuratively) was a stop at the Cape Rock Park scenic overlook. Here Tom pulled out his fancy new 3G phone and we snapped each other’s photos. Note that being only 25 miles into the ride I still look, and felt, pretty fresh.

The second half of the ride started with a crossing of the lovely Bill Emerson bridge into Illinois. (I always get a thrill riding across a major river and being in St. Louis there are a number of opportunities to do so.) There the roads turned rough with fresh chip seal, one of bicycling’s banes, on alternating sides of the road. By this point  we are about 30 miles into the ride and my left knee is complaining pretty vigoriously.

After a long ride across the pleasantly flat flood plane with the end of season fields either tilled under or filled with dried plants, we climb into the hills and ride through some beautiful country side (as well as a few high speed limit highways to get us from one quiet road to another).

The final rest stop for us is at the Horseshoe Lake Fire Department at 44 miles into the ride. While the fresh grilled sausages smell great I learned my lesson last year and stuck with the easier to digest options. This was our furthest out point in Illinois and though Tom made some noises about doing a full hundred I was ready to get off of the bike.

Back across the flood plane, dodging the fresh chip seal once last time, and crossing back into Missouri Tom and I were happy to complete our metric century (62 miles) and finally get off of our bikes. This was my longest ride this year and I was pleased to be able to share the ride, the success, and the day with Tom.

This is my personal blog where I can share my thought and rants a little more freely than I do on my professional site. I don’t expect a lot of entries but I do hope that you will find those that I make interesting.