Josh Benner

Author: the Josh Benner Blog

  • Skype having worldwide connection issues

    Skype, the popular person to person video communication site went down globally today. This is the first time since 2007 that this has occurred. In a blog post at around 4:00 est, Skype addressed the issue and stated that engineers are working to fix the problem but that it may take several hours to be completely resolved.

    For some, Skype is already working, but if there is someone with whom you wish to Skype, he or she might not currently have access to the service. Again, it could be several hours before everything is working properly.

    In the vast majority of instances, the site is still not working propperly as of 8:48pm e.s.t.

    Why is Skype down?

    The Skype blog post attempted to explain it:

    “Skype isn’t a network like a conventional phone or IM network – instead, it relies on millions of individual connections between computers and phones to keep things up and running. Some of these computers are what we call ‘supernodes’ – they act a bit like phone directories for Skype.”

    What does that mean? The response is a bit complicated to understand, so let me try to explain what I think is happening.

    If two people are communicating on Skype and the peer to peer relationship has been established across the network (according to “An experimental study of the Skype peer to peer VoIP system). Skype has various fail safes in case the initial connection between one or multiple parties is blocked (by something like a firewall).

    A supernode is created when nodes are in areas with extra bandwidth and that are public (according to the same peer to peer study).

    If you connect with someone on a regular basis and the two of you typically use the same computers, you are connecting by nodes. Supernodes are what finds the person when the node doesn’t work to immediately locate them, according to the Skype post.

    The Skype post continues:

    “Under normal circumstances, there are a large number of supernodes available. Unfortunately, today, many of them were taken offline by a problem affecting some versions of Skype.”

    Skype did not say why the supernodes are uncharacteristically failing today. To me, that’s the most interesting aspect of the entire situation! It is possibly too early to tell what has caused the problem.

    Ironically, Twitter also was temporarily slow this afternoon on the east coast and the slow down could have partially been a result of increased traffic from people who were not using Skype (many of whom undoubtedly using Twitter for the purposes of complaining about Skype not working).

    Click here for the official Skype blog post on today’s slowdown:

    http://bit.ly/gQw0hg

    For the really cool study I cited on how Skype’s person to person VoIP works, click here: http://bit.ly/giOpUW

    jrb

    questions or comments? Tweet me @bennernotes or email benner.joshua@gmail.com

  • MySpace: Finger lickin’ good

    I was checking my emails this morning, and THIS is what I get from Myspace.

    Wow.

    Creativity grade: A+

    I was overwhelmed by the originality of this email blast pertaining to their new push to get people to use their new mobile app. First I read the subject “Myspace Mobile, it’s what’s for dinner.” And then I open the email and it’s a picture of a table with cell phones on it.

    I feel like my response to the “Myspace it’s what’s for dinner” email was about the same as it would have been had I received an email this morning from broccoli saying “Broccoli, I’m what’s for dinner.”

    I would have thought, “This is sad. Broccoli is so removed from reality and so completely not relevant.”

    In all seriousness, I find it ironic that a company who was once king of social networking but is fading into obscurity would have a subject line that quotes a popular catch phrase from the 90s. It’s one thing that used to matter using another antiquated relic of popular culture.

    I argue that a more appropriate email would have been “Myspace: where’s the beef.”

    The app basically does the same sort of things that any other social networking site’s app does (it’s just coming after the big boys have already made apps that people, you know, use).

    I briefly considered getting the app, but I don’t remember my Myspace password.

    Don’t get me wrong, I know that I could easily reset it, but what’s the point? I noticed a change that Myspace made to the layouts. As many people will recall, Myspace pages used to say the date that the person last logged in. They took that down.

    Makes sense to get rid of. Myspace probably doesn’t want people to be profile hopping and noticing that no one has logged in in years.

    Sad. I thnk a lot of us liked having that “last login” back in 2007 as a badge of honor. And now it’s gone.

    jrb

  • Things I won’t watch this year: Heisman and NCAA title game

    The NCAA is the most legalistic entity that man has ever created, with the possible exception of the Sanhedrin. The fact that Cameron Newton is eligible is unconscionable. It was no surprise this weekend when Newton was awarded the Heisman Trophy, but i did not watch. Just as I will not be watching him play in the national championship game next month. Why? Because I’m not in the mood to watch auburn win knowing that the title will likely be stripped away from them in the future. If that happens, it is as if this game will have never happened, so what is the point of waisting my time now to see something that will have not have officially ever existed in the future?

    Did Newton have the best season of any player in the country? Absolutely. But in the same season when Reggie Bush became the first Heisman winner to return the award ever as a result of being ruled ineligible for the 2005 season, giving the Heisman to someone who has a high likelihood of later being ruled ineligible is highly irresponsible.

    But that’s not fair to Cam.

    Fair? Fair? This entire situation is completely unfair to the fans. College football is not a perfect mirror of the civil society, and I think organizations should be looked at from a more utilitarian view. In the NCAA, if an athlete’s family receives funds, the athlete is ineligible. Regardless of if the athlete knows.

    If Cam’s father, Cecil Newton took funds, Cam is ineligible. But that’s not fair either. No, it’s not fair, but it’s not worth the entire sport taking another major credibility hit for the sake of waiting until we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that he broke the rules when we do know that they attempted to break the rules.

    That’s the price you pay for trying to break the rules.

    The NCAA knows the Cecil Newton solicited money from Mississippi State. Mississippi State was originally Cameron Newton’s top choice after he left Florida, and his father wanted to get a six figure sum of money. Mississippi State wouldn’t pay.

    It’s interesting. It’s interesting that Mississippi State was Cam’s top choice but they wouldn’t pay, however Cam went to Auburn. If Cam’s father didn’t receive money after he solicited money from Mississippi State, but Mississippi State was Cam’s top choice, why is Cam at Auburn?

    Let’s recap:
    top choice: Mississippi State.
    Then your dad tries to get money from Mississippi State.
    Mississippi State says “no.”
    Newton goes to Auburn.
    If Mississippi State was your top choice and wouldn’t pay you, why wouldn’t you still go there?
    Could it be that Auburn boosters were willing to pay?

    I know Cam doesn’t know about what’s going on. But he also transferred away from Florida before the university could have an expulsion hearing for academic dishonesty. Newton said that he had transferred, not because of the fact he faced expulsion but because Tim Tebow was coming back.

    Interestingly he transferred before Tebow ever said he was returning for his senior year.

    The feel good part of the Cameron Newton story has, for a long time, been a story about a bond between father and son and how Cameron has said on multiple occasions that he had given his father the reigns of selecting where he would play football. However this weekend, Newton cont stayed he had decided himself.

    There was the stolen laptop.

    There is a history of times when we know he has lied, where he has done things that are shady, where we KNOW that his dad tried to get money, and where a church of which his father is pastor seemed to magically receive a donation in order to keep its doors open.

    But everything is on the up and up.

    It is not Worth further diminishing the NCAA for the sake of being “fair.”

    The NCAA has strict rules about families taking money and the rules are in place regardless of if the athlete knows. As I’ve said before on my website, this is the way it has to be. Otherwise, the athletes could play dumb, or even legitimately be unaware, but in either situation, the family’s could take bribes. As a result, the rules must be very strict and enforced across the board.

    If the NCAA keeps throwing away its credibility, it is going to get progressively harder to get back. If Cameron Newton and his father truly are innocent, I think the fact that they attempted to break the rules is enough to make him ineligible. Their original sin was when Cecil Newton initially attempted to break the rules. That action, and their previous histories give a lot of circumstances that bring their honesty into question and it is because of all of the controversy which they have brought upon themselves, that people should not have cast Heisman votes for Newton and why he should not be playing for a national championship.

    John Stewart Mill would be proud of me.

    jrb

    sources: some of the points in this article, I have heard made by local Columbus radio show host Scott Torgerson.

  • Waking up ready for Finals

    It’s very appropriate that as finals week at Bowling Green kicks off, I am awoken this morning by a recurring dream about failing out of school. This is a dream that I have had a few times since I graduated from BGSU (which will be two years ago next Monday).

    I dream that it is my last semester of college and it’s finals week. In the dream, I realize that I have a class which I have neglected going to for the entire semester. Considering I kept putting off going to the class and it is now finals week, I am completely clueless as to the course’s content and I realize that I am not at all prepared for the examination. There is nothing I can do.

    I am going to fail the class and since it is my last semester, failing the class means that I am not going to graduate.

    I have had different reactions to this dream in the past. There have been times where I have gone an entire day in a panicked mood without knowing why, then ultimately realizing that I’m stressed out from the dream because a part of me thinks I’m not going to graduate (despite the fact that I already have graduated). In the dream, I always wake up before I have the opportunity to contact the professor.

    I know that I’m not the only person to have ever had this dream. I actually mentioned it to a coworker this morning who said he’s experienced the same thing. I have also heard it referenced on TV. I think it might have something to do with anxiety over unfinished business. Maybe it’s my subconscious telling me to stop procrastinating on my graduate school applications. Or maybe it’s my subconscious punishing me for all of the classes I skipped.

    This is the only recurring dream I’ve ever had. I feel like it happens to me a couple times a year.

    To all of my friends at BGSU who actually are taking finals this week, good luck!

    Roll Along! jrb

  • Rant – the NCAA, Cam Newton, and favoritism

    As a fan of sports, I am absolutely appalled by the NCAA announcement this afternoon as it relates to Auburn quarterback Cam Newton. For the last several weeks, Cam Newton has been maligned in a scandal alleging that while he was being recruited, his father was seeking substantial sums of money from the programs which Cam Newton was considering.

    I believe that the NCAA has made a snap judgement because they prefer Auburn playing in the national championship game next month over Texas Christian. Why? Auburn will draw better ratings and an Auburn – Oregon national championship game will make more money for the NCAA than a TCU title game.

    If information comes to light at a later point that Newton did actively break the rules, the NCAA would then have to punish someone whom they had already declared is eligible. This is troublesome because they claim to have already investigated the matter. Especially curious is this considering that the NCAA ruled Newton ineligible two days ago, revisited the issue yesterday and today says “Actually…he’s eligible.”

    How the NCAA, which is notorious for working at a snail’s pace investigated and ruled an ineligible player eligible in the course of a day is pretty amazing. I don’t understand how one day, they have sufficient evidence to declare an athlete ineligible, and then the next day, somehow the thing which rendered him ineligible doesn’t matter.

    Did the NCAA re-investiage and say “Oh. Wait a minute. The thing that we said was against the rules…actually that’s allowed, so he’s eligible?”

    This thinking is completely devoid of integrity. Is Newton innocent? No. Because his father is guilty of violating the rules and that makes Cam guilty too. That is the way it has always been. That’s the way it has to be. If family could accept money as long as the student athlete is unaware of it occurring, if that were actually allowed by the NCAA, it would open the flood gates to relatives and other close associates taking money.

    The SEC bylaws section 14.01.3.2 states:

    “If at any time before or after matriculation in a member institution a student-athlete or any member of his/her family receives or agrees to receive, directly or indirectly, any aid or assistance beyond or in addition to that permitted by the Bylaws of this Conference (except such aid or assistance as such student-athlete may receive from those persons on whom the student is naturally or legally dependent for support), such student- athlete shall be ineligible for competition in any intercollegiate sport within the Conference for the remainder of his/her college career.”

    The NCAA does acknowledge that his father did in fact try to solicit money in order for Cam to sign with Mississippi State. So even though it’s a rule that family can’t take money, and even though it says the athlete will be ineligible, and even though the NCAA acknowledges that the older Newton solicited money, they rule Cam eligible. How in the world does that make any sense?

    If you are honestly looking at this, how can you look to the NCAA with any credibility any time they sanction a program for rules violations? I feel like the NCAA is basically giving Newton a pass because he’s the star quarterback for the number one team in the country because they feel like the immediate product is better with him.

    It’s shameful.

    If the Tide could have just hung on to their lead on Friday, none of this would matter.

    jrb