#network speeds

[mapsontheweb]

China’s High Speed Railway network overlaid on the United States

[reasoningdaily]

Ars Technica: ISP admits lying to FCC about size of network to block funding to rivals

Ryan Grewell, who runs a small wireless Internet service provider in Ohio, last month received an email that confirmed some of his worst suspicions about cable companies.

Grewell, founder and general manager of Smart Way Communications, had heard from some of his customers that the Federal Communications Commission's new broadband map falsely claimed fiber Internet service was available at their homes from another company called Jefferson County Cable. Those customer reports spurred Grewell to submit a number of challenges to the FCC in an attempt to correct errors in Smart Way's service area.

One of Grewell's challenges elicited a response from Jefferson County Cable executive Bob Loveridge, who apparently thought Grewell was a resident at the challenged address rather than a competitor.

"You challenged that we do not have service at your residence and indeed we don't today," Loveridge wrote in a January 9 email that Grewell shared with Ars. "With our huge investment in upgrading our service to provide xgpon we reported to the BDC [Broadband Data Collection] that we have service at your residence so that they would not allocate addition [sic] broadband expansion money over [the] top of our private investment in our plant."

The email is reminiscent of our November 2022 article about a cable company accidentally telling a rival about its plan to block government grants to competitors.

Speaking to Ars in a phone interview, Grewell said, "This cable company happened to just say the quiet part out loud." He called it "a blatant attempt at blocking anyone else from getting funding in an area they intend to serve."

It's not clear when Jefferson County Cable plans to serve the area. Program rules do not allow ISPs to claim future coverage in their map submissions.

Jefferson County Cable ultimately admitted to the FCC that it filed incorrect data and was required to submit a correction. The challenge that the ISP conceded was for an address on State Route 43 in Bergholz, Ohio. The town is not one of the coverage areas listed on Jefferson County Cable's website.

While checking the FCC broadband map today, we confirmed that the address is no longer listed as having Jefferson County Cable service. But that one fix alone wouldn't prevent the company's grant-blocking strategy from working, because the FCC map still lists the company as serving the address right next door and others on the same road.

False data hurts ISPs seeking grants

False broadband data could hurt Smart Way directly because the ISP plans to apply for grants to upgrade its network. There have been over a million challenges submitted to the FCC nationwide, and it's unknown how many mistakes are on the map overall.

The new FCC map is supposed to show exactly which homes and businesses have access to Internet service and what types of service are available at each address. Using that data, the US government and states will decide how to allocate federal funding to projects that fill in broadband-availability gaps.

But the maps rely on Internet service providers to report where they offer service and are rife with errors that show ISPs claiming to serve more homes than they actually do. Nevada officials said they found more than 20,000 mistakes in their state alone. Vermont officials said the map is "missing or incorrectly lists the location of over 60,000 broadband-serviceable locations" and "lists service availability levels far beyond what the state has found through its mapping and what we are hearing about from residents."

If you'd like to submit challenges, you can search for reported broadband availability at specific addresses here and use that page to file challenges. In addition to the individual submissions, state governments and broadband-focused groups have been submitting bulk challenges.

Grewell said he submitted about a dozen challenges in late November, most of which pertained to addresses purportedly served by Jefferson County Cable. He said he filed the "challenges in areas that I knew there was no fiber-to-the-home whatsoever."

We haven't received a response to requests for comment from Loveridge or Jefferson County Cable. But Jefferson County Cable withdrew its coverage claim at the one address referenced in Loveridge's email after Grewell's challenge.

"The provider subject to your challenge has conceded the challenge and is required to submit a correction for the challenged location in the online portal within 30 days," the FCC told Grewell in an email notification on January 12.

Despite that one success, Grewell told us yesterday that he hasn't received responses for any of the other addresses he challenged. The successful challenge at one address also didn't trigger map updates to nearby homes, as previously mentioned.

[aquitainequeen]

Wildflower meadows are beautiful; so beautiful in fact that a village in Britain has found they act as natural speed traps from motorists slowing down to look at them.

The village of Long Newnton in Gloucestershire has a problem with fast moving through-traffic between nearby towns. Almost all drivers moving through areas they frequent will break posted speed limits, and neither a 30 mile per hour limit, nor warning signs made any difference.

Officials first planted flowers along the roadside during the pandemic to help improve biodiversity.

But they noticed that as well as attracting more wildlife, motorists also slowed down when they passed the flowers.

[rachelpedd]

Copperdale High School

A fun, happy high school for your and your Sims to enjoy! Celebrate prom, practice basketball, study in class, read a book under the tree, or catch up with friends in the cafeteria!

Completely CC-free.

High School (Fully functional lot).

64 x 64 lot (Copperdale)

“bb.moveobjects on” will need to be input before placement.

Now available on The Gallery! Origin ID: RachelPedd.

Download (SimFileShare)

⭐ Please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi! ⭐

**  Thank you SO much to the EA Creator Network for allowing me early access to The Sims 4 High School Years! **

[coffyblak]

B.E.N sketch dump.

[alectoperdita]

admittedly this is "old man yells at clouds" energy, but I think it sucks that modern fandom often only conceives of community in the form of discord servers

[mynolia]

Watch my timelapses!

My 2023 timelapse:

My 2024 timelapse:

Look at the whole series here!

[presidentcarrot]

Spending my break productively by watching and rewatching Craig of the Creek obsessively

Anyways here's some of my fav Creek kids 🌿

[maltodekstryna]

I keep wondering how's that Him's shadow in Speed Demon actually has horns, even though Him doesn't have them

I DEMAND EXPLANATION

[cn-city-station]

Parking Lot (1999)

[raposarealm]

Today is release day for the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection!

WE MADE IT, FOLKS!!

Yes, I know we're celebrating the game's re-release, but I took a character from the anime for this event -- specifically, Oozono Yuriko, shown here in Cross Fusion. This piece is based on the final fight in episode 19 in Stream, taking place on the hospital roof. I... didn't know whether I could show other characters in the shot, so it's probably not as apparent, but for context, her opponent here not pictured was Bombman. Honestly, the whole scene is a lot shorter and less relevant than I thought (there's another unrelated fight in the same episode that kinda overshadows this one,) but it stuck in my memory regardless. [Insert a joke about my regular medical field-related rambles here.]

Yuriko isn't my favorite character, but she is still one I'm fond of, and one I feel gets picked on a little too much sometimes. Like a number of the anime cast, she kinda got the short end of the stick in terms of... everything, so I guess I'm doing my part to try to make up for that. Somehow.

This piece is super late, due to a number of issues; most notably, this month I've had problems both with chronic pain and mental health, and it's kinda hard to draw when you feel like you've been hit by a bus. The other issue was the good five or so drafts I had before landing on this particular composition, and the sheer amount of digital art and editing skills I had to learn very quickly. The sketch was drawn digitally here, but everything from the refined underdrawing to the coloring were done traditionally, with multiliners and alcohol markers. It's by far my largest piece in a couple years at least, possibly overall. (Yeah, I know it looks kinda simple, but inking buildings and other structures with a normal ruler is harder than it looks, I've learned.) There's a few errors here and there due to both exhaustion and expedience, but I think it's acceptable enough.

Here's to a new breath for the series, and here's to all the folks who've worked so hard on this collaboration!

Plug in, transmission!

[mapsontheweb]

Routes where high-speed rail would be faster than both car or airplane.

[feltcreature]

why are you BLUE

[prototypelq]

Just saw some coop DMC5 videos and hoooo boi I get it why the feature was not fully implemented in the game. Don't get me wrong, even just barebones coop where two players can play one entire level together with just enemy health buffed up like 5 times and double spawns would have been Nice To Have, but yeah making it actually fit well in game would require rearranging 80% of levels, enemy scaling and balancing and just, a ton more work. Plus AI reworking cause it clearly has no idea what to do with more than one player. Still would love for this feature to be actually implemented in game, no matter how barebones it would have been, it seems like a ton of fun.

It's hilarious how the players keep accidentally stealing each other's kills or messing combos by snatching demons to the other end of the arena. There is not even nearly enough space for three sparda idiots on the base game levels. Also I can't even see the Nero player over the lightshow the twins' are pulling off there.

Hilarious, absolutely unbalanced, enemies are just everest-level damage sponges, pure fun

[kazutoes]

Opening Line Patterns

Tagged by @kageyuuki!

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (or however many you have) posted fics and see if there's a pattern!

----

(faith) is all i hold: The clock reads a silent, unblinking 6:42am

baby blue eyes (stay by my side): The only sound filling the small suite was the click-clack of typing and the raging Cambridge wind outside.

straight, no chaser: There was a soft knock at the door.

you belong with me: Dustin Moskovitz had known he was straight since, like, twelve.

and you begin to wonder why you came: "A-Adel…"

breathe you in: The first thing he saw when he walked into Kirkland was that the dorm room was surprisingly empty, save for one person. He also saw that Mark was still sitting at his computer. Eduardo was here at noon. It was currently 11:37 pm.

you and me (to infinity): The pulse of the music thrummed in their bodies as they both ran upstairs, grins on their faces.

just like me: There was a soft knock on the door.

i picture you in the sun (wondering what went wrong): A breeze of cool November air drafted through the doors as X Racer stepped into the hospital's busy lobby, narrowly missing a nurse running alongside a doctor. He inhales a sharp breath before heading towards the reception desk, holding his wallet in one hand and his ID in the other.

we could run away (before the light of day): “Look out!”

Conclusions:

awawawawwa im pretty bad with starts so it makes sense they arent Strong but they do the job at least . i have a penchant for using the for like. no reason lol

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii dunno who to tag on here bc the two writer friends i have on here are alr tagged so: @revolvingresidency @totalbrainrot @princewardo @nowhxreboy or any of my writer friends who wanna do it c:

[medea10]

Medea Rants - CARTOONS!!!

I’m taking a break from writing up anime reviews to talk about some news that dropped a few weeks ago that has my mind swarming with so much thought.

A few weeks ago, I’m scrolling through Twitter…I’m still not calling it by its other name and randomly came across this news about a new television channel coming. MeTV Toons. The minute-long video teased all of the old cartoons I used to love watching and still love watching.

The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, Top Cat, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Underdog, Wally Gator, 2 Stupid Dogs, Johnny Quest, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Magilla Gorilla, Speed Racer, Freakazoid, Snagglepuss, Looney Tunes, Popeye, Droopy, Betty Boop, and so, so, so, so, SOOOOOO MUCH MORE!

HISTORY ABOUT METV: Depending on where you live, you might get a combination of different channels in your cable package. MeTV, Antenna TV, Cozi, Catchy Comedy, Get TV, Rewind, etc. Ever since their existence I’ve been drawn to both MeTV and Catchy Comedy (formerly known as Decades). MeTV has been known to play programming ranging from the 1940s to the 1980s give-or-take. It’s like what TV Land used to be like before becoming the MASH and Raymond network. Me personally, I’m usually watching The Three Stooges or All in the Family.

In recent years, MeTV has decided to play cartoons. Not a lot, but enough to gain attention. Ever since they started this, every Saturday morning I’m up watching the cartoons. Because I’m still used to the Saturday morning cartoon setup before it died. Mostly, this consists of Popeye, Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, and Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes. On Sundays, they play The Flintstones and Jetsons. During the week, they also aired a show called, “Toon In With ME”. This was an hour-long program where the hosts would play the short cartoons I just mentioned above. I actually only watch this on rare occasions since it always airs when I’m heading off to work. Believe it or not, this program has been a huge hit. So, it’s no surprise that the hosts announced MeTV Toons on their program.

THE CONCEPT OF A 24/7 CARTOON CHANNEL: Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Y’all remember this, right? Back when Cartoon Network first started, it had all of the old cartoons from back in the day. But then, they started doing their own original programming. And that was okay, because we got Cartoon Planet and Space Ghost Coast to Coast out of the deal. Then we got original programming from the Cartoon, Cartoon era. And that was okay, because we got shows like Courage, Billy and Mandy, Powerpuff Girls, and Dexter out of the deal. But then, all of the older cartoons started disappearing and we get some mediocre cartoons out of the deal. Not okay! But also, we got things like Toonami and Adult Swim. So…I’m stuck here.

That’s when Boomerang came in! And that’s all I can tell you because I never got Boomerang in my cable package. BECAUSE XFINITY SUCKS! Apparently, in the early 2000s, all of those older cartoons I’ve mentioned before migrated to the Boomerang channel. It so would have been nice to watch that. I’m still disgruntled about that whole thing. Time passes and both of these channels are unrecognizable. Fast-forward to the 2010’s, Cartoon Network is playing some garbage called Teen Titans GO and Boomerang mostly plays…I don’t know. I just know it wasn’t the old cartoons. Just rehashes. I only came across it if it was playing in the breakroom at work since we had Dish there. Not going to complain that they were playing Pokemon and it just happened to have Tracey on that day.

YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE FROM MY TRACEY OBSESSION HERE! Think again.

Mwahahahaha!

Both channels have become shells of their former selves. And if you want to know the truth, I only watch Cartoon Network for Adult Swim and Toonami. That’s it!

Now that MeTV is doing its own 24/7 cartoon channel, I have so many thoughts in my head. Hopes and dreams, crushing reality thoughts, worry, and so much more. Most of all, I just want to actually see it with my own eyes. I don’t want to relive being 12 years old and seeing my favorite shows plucked off the air and put on a channel that I don’t even get. That’s not cool. I’m too old to be going through emotions I felt at the start of puberty. So, Xfinity! Do a sister a favor and hand over the goods. And MeTV, learn from the past mistakes of Boomerang and Cartoon Network. No original programming! Unless it’s something like Toon in With ME, none of that! Leave that shit to Cartoon Network and Max. And Teen Titans in any capacity must be BANNED! It’s for the greater good.

With that said, here are some scattered thoughts I have with the upcoming MeTV Toons channel.

UNDERDOG: I want to see Underdog. Plain and simple. Not that shitty-ass, bull-shit, pile of Taco Bell toilet leave-behinds movie that Disney made back in 2007. I. WANT. UNDERDOG. The show! Wally Cox saying, “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here”. THAT! I WANT THAT! I want to see Underdog, Sweet Polly Purebread, Riff Raff, Mooch, Tap-Tap the Chisler, Batty Man, O.J. Squeeze, Rudy Guiliani’s doppleganger Simon Barsinister, Cad, I want to see everyone!

…

I ain’t fucking around here. Put Underdog on and LEAVE IT THERE ON THE SCHEDULE. Don’t be fucking with me and having it on for one day and then I never see it again. PLAY IT!

Sorry to get so postal here. But Underdog is my all-time favorite older cartoon. And as you can see by my collection of goodies here, I am a fan.

TIME-STAMP: Seeing all of these old cartoons finally getting a home, you have to ask what’s the cut off of how old the cartoon must be? I seriously would have been fine with them cutting things off at 1989. But then I see surprising entries like 2 Stupid Dogs, Freakazoid, and the cartoon series based off the movie that was based off the comic, The Mask. Wow, that certainly takes me back. Okay, perfect! All of the cartoons played here don’t go past the millennium threshold. This, I can live with. But then…

Xiaolin Showdown too?! Okay, this one was obviously not made in the 90s as it ran on KidsWB from 2003 to 2006. I’m a little excited as it does make me optimistic for more KidsWB programs. But it does make me a little suspicious seeing this one red herring. Nothing against the show at all, I just don’t trust any program after 1999 when you’re seeing the line-up I’m seeing. If it were me, the cut-off time should be this.

This is Christopher Walken dancing in the Fatboy Slim video Weapon of Choice. When this came out should be the cut-off point for any cartoon made to be put on this channel. With Xiaolin Showdown being the exception.

MOVIES: A good idea that Cartoon Network used to do on Saturday nights was play movies. Believe it or not, there are good cartoon movies that were made by people not affiliated with the Disney corporation. Why not do so here? A lot of Don Bluth’s movies used to play like An American Tail, Thumbalina, and Secret of NIHM used to play. Let’s do it here! How about some trippy-ass 60s and 70s movies like Gay Pur-ree and Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure?! A Boy Named Charlie Brown! Yes, do it! MeTV plays that one and Snoopy Come Home during Christmas time, this would be perfect. Hell, add the other two Charlie Brown movies here too. The Chipmunk Adventure! Yes, please!

A lot of the cartoons already on the docket for MeTV Toons have movies. The Jetsons have their own movie. Just stop before you see The Jetsons with the WWE. Tom and Jerry had a movie come out in the 90s. It was weird, but it was at least original. Just stop before you see Tom and Jerry crashing movie classics. Scooby Doo has a plethora of movies. I know the Boo Brothers and the Ghoul School movie has Scrappy Doo, but those were still solid features. Just stop when you see any movie that aired after Y2K. The Flintstones had many that have been made between the 60s and the 90s. This includes a musical, a cross-over, a wedding, and even Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm becoming parents. Seeing all the pictures on the MeTV Toons website put up Fred and Bamm-Bamm from the Christmas Carol movie. So, that gives me hope. Again, just don’t play anything made after 2000.

While you’re at it, try and see if you can get the rights to play The Brave Little Toaster. I promised I wouldn’t bring up anything Disney here, but this movie is very much a Disney film and yet, five years later is still not on Disney+. That’s a fucking crime. Somebody needs to play that classic.

ANIME ON METV TOONS: With this announcement, we saw one of the characters prominently featured in the teasers was Speed Racer. That is definitely an anime despite what we all thought back in the day when we first saw it. Should MeTV stop right there and just keep it with Speed Racer? Believe it or not, I say yes. Shocking, yes. There are so many anime series that could be added to MeTV Toons to bring back other kinds of nostalgia. MeTV Toons is playing shows that came from the KidsWB time. What played back then? Pokemon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Yu-Gi-Oh! There are shows from FOX Kids time too. What was a show that played there? Digimon! And let’s not forget the Toonami classics like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Gundam, and Tenchi Muyo. Would love the fuck out of that, but would also feel like it’d be too much and also hard to get as some of the anime companies are hard to negotiate with. Plus, Cartoon Network is actually bringing DBZ and Sailor Moon back.

But if they do put Pokemon on the schedule, I won’t be mad about that.

ADULT PROGRAMMING: I’m not saying to go full-on Adult Swim. Also, no on Squidbillies. I just like this picture. But some adult programming wouldn’t hurt. Excluded would have to be anything owned by Disney/FOX or Paramount. So, as much as I love shows like Daria and The Simpsons, NO! With that said, there are several shows worthy enough to be given a new home. Let’s start with Duckman! No? How about The Critic? If not that, how about Bob and Margaret? Nobody has seen this show for 20 years. Let’s make this happen. How about the short-lived cartoons that aired in the late 90s/early 2000s? The Oblongs, Baby Blues, Mission Hill, and…I hesitate even saying this one, Dilbert. Hesitation because the creator of Dilbert is a bit of a fuck-hole. But the show is okay! Let’s not go too far with adult animation. Fritz the Cat would be too far. And don’t even think about Ren & Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon. That’s a war crime in and of itself!

CONTROVERSIAL CARTOONS: Make no mistake about it, there are some cartoons that if made today would be cancelled by all kinds of groups. I’m kind of standing in this fork in the road wondering if it should air or not. Obviously the infamous “Banned Eleven” from Looney Tunes should remain that way and for good reason. But…two cartoons do come to mind and why people would find issue with it. First, is Johnny Bravo. You realize that Cartoon Network is doing it’s Checkered Past block and not once did it put Johnny Bravo on there. I think it’s the fact that he’s a womanizer. Like a human Pepe Le Pew! I can see MeTV Toons carrying Johnny Bravo as their parent channel does play Pepe Le Pew cartoons. The other cartoon I’ll mention might not get a warm welcome.

And it’s Batfink! The superhero bat with wings of steel. He’s Batfink! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I loved watching Batfink when it used to air on the short-lived Nickelodeon show, Weinerville. There’s just one itty-bitty, little, tiny thing…okay, it’s a fucking big crater. Batfink’s assistant, Karate. Yeah, that’s a collar-tug. Just look at him. Just listen to him. I can hear every anus clamp shut with this. The good thing about channels like Catchy and MeTV, they do put up disclaimers if they’re about to play something that could be seen as offensive.

HOPES FOR THE LOST MEDIA: I know I have a lot of treasured classics on VHS. Damn shame my old TV/VCR died last year. If you’re wondering how old I am, I’m this old.

I am (this) Disney Black-Diamond logo old. Moving on!

Seeing that this channel is actually bringing The Mask to it’s line-up gives me hope for other pieces of lost media from back in the day. Shows that aren’t on a streaming service, shows that never got a DVD release, and shows you can only find through old VHS copies. From Cartoon Network, there’s Cartoon Planet and all of the cartoons played on O Canada and What A Cartoon Show. From KidsWB, it would be a lot of the short-lived series like Detention, Histeria, and Generation O. And as for FOX Kids, there’s Life With Louie, Peter Pan & the Pirates, and Eek! The Cat.

Hey Medea, aren’t you forgetting the bad side to this? Angela Anaconda ring a bell?

Oh shit. That’s right. We also do run the risk of seeing things like Mega Babies and Angela Anaconda again. I guess this is a take the good with the bad.

AND FINALLY, SHOWS THAT WOULD BE AWESOME TO SEE AGAIN: Yes, what the website has given us has so many twists and surprises. So, I’m going to list off all the cartoons I didn’t see on the teaser and website. Here’s hoping they’ll get another chance to be seen.

The Tick Batman Beyond Time Squad Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law Count Duckula Gerald McBoing-Boing Dudley Do-Right The Banana Splits Bobby’s World Madeline Pee Wee’s Playhouse Camp Candy Static Shock Tennessee Tuxedo Earthworm Jim The Addams Family Hong Kong Phooey The Littles Space Ghost Coast to Coast/Cartoon Planet Life With Louie Alvin and the Chipmunks Sabrina the Animated Series Every property of Charlie Brown and Snoopy (fuck Apple TV+) Gumby Inch High Private Eye The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog/Sonic Underground Commander McBragg

I think I got everything out of my system. Will all of my hopes and wishes come true with the upcoming MeTV Toons. Hell no! But it’ll be nice if one or two of these happen.