Event Horizon

The Hunger Games & The Fragility of Civilization

The "Hunger Games" movie has dominated the box office for the last few weekends and it will be interesting to see if the trend holds this weekend. It's a great movie and a great book. What do The Hunger Games mean to me? It makes me think of the fragility of civilization. We tend to think that the world we live in is a given, that things are simply meant to be this way.  We forget that civilization is man-made. We forget that over the course of history most people have not lived in freedom or prosperity. We who are lucky enough to live in societies where individual freedom and liberty are valued, where there is access to education, health care, and an economic system that promises advancement should realize that these societies exist only because someone cared enough to create them and defend them. Even today, there are countries where the entire purpose of the government and all the institutions of society exist not for the benefit of the people, but to keep one person in power. Syria and North Korea spring to mind, but there are other examples. Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy joins Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984 in reminding us that civilization is both constructed and fragile and if it is to endure we must be willing to do our part to preserve and advance it and hand it off to the next generation.

Dear Netflix: What?

The Netflix price hike kicked in this month and I'd decided to keep both plans. When Netflix announced the price increase I was right there with everyone else voicing outrage on social networks. Because I was a customer long before the streaming option became available, I felt like Netflix had it wrong in the way they were framing the issue. I wasn't on an streaming plan with an occasional DVD rental, I was on a DVD plan with occasional streaming. I was also put off by the manner in which they announced it, seemingly without regard to their most loyal and long-standing customers. Price increase, fine, but grandfather in the existing user base, show your loyal customers that you appreciate their business. 

After calming down a bit I re-thought my position and now I'm not at all worried by this price increase. What changed my mind? I remembered why I joined Netflix in the first place. I previously rented movies from Blockbuster and would usually rent one or two movies a weekend at $4.25 per rental. So, conservatively, let's say I rented only one movie each weekend this month and turned them all in on time (avoiding late fees), I would have paid $17. And if I rented more than one movie over a weekend or incurred late fees that total would have been much more. And keep in mind that renting movies at that time meant driving to the video store (and hoping they had the movie I wanted in stock) and back again, an expense and hassle that Netflix service avoids. So, given all of that, the Netlfix price increase is still a savings and my membership still has value to me. So, all was forgiven.

Now, this week, the Netflix CEO announced that he knows he made a mistake with the two price plans and he was prepared to fix it - by splitting the two services into different businesses. Okaaay. Now I have to decide not only if I want to keep two services but if I want to keep two separate accounts, two ques, and two bills. Come on Netflix, ever heard of bundling? All the cool service providers are doing it.

I like renting DVDs and I still consider streaming a hit-or-miss option, as they are likely to not have what I'm looking for available on streaming. Just this last weekend, for example, I rented Source Code on DVD and it's not available yet on the streaming service. And I still buy the occasional DVD if it's something I want in my collection. Even if my DVD player died tomorrow I'd probably replace it. I think they are underestimating the staying power of the DVD.

Of course, their long-term strategy is sound, eventually the DVD will go the way of the VCR, but I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering if Netflix will still be around when that day arrives.

Remembering 9/11

So 9/11 has come around again. I'm feeling a mix of emotions as this anniversary is commemorated. I feel relief that there have been no new terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. This relief though is tempered by the knowledge that we need to remain vigilant. I also feel trepidation about the changes to our society that have resulted from the response to the attacks. I've never been in favor of changing our way of life, I feel that if we do that, they win. And finally, I feel a renewed sense of purpose, that we need to refocus and achieve a higher strategic vision and not get distracted. My general attitude right now can be called resolute and defiant, best represented by a man who so ably demonstrated those virtues with the famous V for Victory sign:

The End of the Space Age?

I watched the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis Friday with a mix of pride and sadness. Pride at this amazing accomplishment that we have come to take for granted. Sadness at the impending end of the American manned space program. I'm not sure we really understand what we are giving up and that really bothers me. I write a blog for a professional association and wrote the following to honor and lament the U.S. manned space program:

 

As you may have heard, the space shuttle Atlantis will launch tomorrow for the last time. This launch will conclude the shuttle program and quite possibly, the U.S. manned space program, at least in the way we have come to think about it. If NASA is ending the shuttle program you would think that a new program with a new space vehicle would be ready to begin, sadly though, that's not the case, as John Glenn points out in his recent criticism of NASA. Up until last year, NASA did have a plan for continuing the American advance into space, it was called the Constellation Program, and it envisioned a fleet of new launch and crew vehicles that would not only send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), but also to the Moon to establish a small outpost. This was part of a comprehensive "Vision for Space Exploration" that would have replaced our halting and stumbling expansion into the solar system with a methodical step-by-step plan to move humans permanently into space. Unfortunately, this plan did not mesh well with new political and budget realities and was ended by President Obama.

Part of me likes to think that the American people haven't quite some to terms with the fact that their trailblazing national space program is ending and they will rise up and demand a halt to this sad development. Still waiting...

Of course, it's not true to say that the U.S. manned space program is ending, President Obama has allocated millions of dollars to private companies building the next generation of what he calls a "space taxi service" that will take both civilians and astronauts to low-Earth orbit. SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Boeing, Orbital Sciences, and Sierra Nevada are among the private companies testing prototypes and hoping to lead the next expansion into space. And even if they are not quite there yet, our astronauts will still be able to get to the ISS on a Soyuz capsule thanks to the Russians (guess we need to stay on their good side!). I wonder though if it was a false choice between a national manned space program and a civilian taxi service? Maybe we could have done both at the same time? And as appealing as a next generation space taxi service sounds to some, it raises the question: When has a taxi service ever led the way in exploration and discovery?

NASA has long-term plans, of course, landing on an asteroid or a Martian moon have been discussed as possible future missions. My fear is that these would be stunt missions and nothing like the methodical plan to get out into space to stay that the Constellation program represented. And in the meantime, an entire generation of astronauts, space scientists, engineers, designers, and contractors are being retired. What happens when that knowledge-base and skill-set is lost? You know, it really is rocket science. I hope that the politicians are including start-up costs into their future budgets because we won't be sending humans beyond low-Earth orbit in a taxi anytime soon.

As we watch shuttle Atlantis soar into space one last time, let's reflect with pride on an American space program that was once the envy and inspiration of the world. Let's be thankful for our astronaut corps and the NASA personnel that made it possible. And, finally, let's hope that the American people will demand of their government a space program that fully reflects our national pride, our goals, and our hopes for a brighter future.

Image Credit: IEEE Spectrum

 

I'm proud of NASA and the amazing legacy that the shuttle program represents and as Friday's launch proves, NASA still has the right stuff. I hope that we will, in time, again take up the challenge of manned spaceflight as an expression of national will and destiny, and not merely as a budget item that can be eliminated to save a few dollars. I will remain a supporter of the U.S. space program even though it's clear that the next human to step onto the Moon will not be an American. I hope that even if America sits out a few decades of spaceflight, we have the skill and ingenuity to make up for it...if we choose to.

Verizon Customer Responds to Promotional Offer

You may have heard that Verizon will start selling the iPhone 4 tonight to existing subscribers. Verizon sent an e-mail (above) to all current subscribers inviting them to upgrade to the iPhone 4 but there's a catch that you should be aware of. The offer only applies if you qualify for an upgrade. When I checked my upgrade status on the Verizon website I found that I won't be eligible to upgrade until May. I called Verizon to ask if they could help reconcile the confusing information I was getting from them. They explained that I'm still able to upgrade now at the unsubsidized retail rate (that would be close to $700) but that I'll have to wait until May to upgrade to an iPhone using my "New Every Two" credit. I thanked them for their very generous offer and let them know that I'll pass for now.

So, this promotion is a bit misleading, only a small subset of Verizon Wireless subscribers will be able to upgrade this week, not all subscribers as the media has reported. This is a perplexing business move, it would seem to undercut momentum for the phone going forward. But, hey, if they want to discourage a buyer whose only months away from upgrading, I guess that's their call. It gives me time to explore my options.

Update: 2/4/11: Here is the answer to why Verizon opened the pre-order to only a subset of current subscribers and not all, they knew they had a suppy problem: CNN - Verizon iPhone 4 pre-orders sold out: Verizon is no longer accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 4. The demand for Verizon iPhone was very strong as it took less than a day for the pre-orders to sell out.