October 03 - October 09: Nearly the end of the season

My ARIN fellowship program is progressing well and I’m getting deeper into some of the topics on the mailing list. Internet governance is an interesting topic and it’s interesting to see that some of the discussions are purely procedural and others deeply technical. I’m more comfortable with the technical discussions, but I’m getting there when it comes to the procedural ones. I think this type always takes a bit more time to get up-to-speed with, and to understand the nuances. I’m hoping to contribute in the near future.

I’m up-to-date on the UNCTAD training and will finish the penultimate module early this week. I’m going to need to, to give me space to work on a new project that I have been offered. I cannot say anything about it yet (NDA, ’n stuff). But I will when I’m able to.

The Atlantic has calmed a little after a frenetic September with a number of storms that passed well north of us. Although we did get a number of days with the outer bands causing power cuts and torrential rain. Last week was a week with nothing but rain! The new threats are most likely to start in the Gulf of Mexico, but there’s still time for the Atlantic to produce something. I’ll be glad when this hurricane season is over.

That’s pretty much it, aside me starting some new teaching positions. It’s a job I really enjoy and I take a lot of pleasure from it.

Reading

I’ve been accumulating a list of books I’ve purchased to be read sometime. However, it is always difficult to actually get around to reading them all, so I thought I’d compile the list as an aid to help me start reading them. I’m interested in a number of different topics, and I try to read books that are not necessarily in my wheelhouse but at least challenge me intellectually. Here goes:

I’ll leave you to look for these at your favourite retailer, online or otherwise. Where there are links, they are available as Open Access.

Of note

Last night, I decided to diagram my home network with the view to looking at an eventual upgrade in the future, once FttH is available in my area, as I’m on an old DSL circuit that provides barely adequate broadband for an exorbitant (for what its worth) cost. In doing so, I noticed that I had unintentionally constricted one-half of the network by making everything go through a small-capacity Wi-Fi router in Wi-Fi access point mode. Drawing out the diagram —using MindNode if you’re interested— highlighted immediately what was a potential problem that pretty much explains why I’ve been having crappy wifi on that side of the house. I suspect the box just couldn’t reliably handle all the ins and outs at the same time. Fixing that has steadied the network so far. There are some weird things going on still, but I put that down to Apple’s kit, creating and adding network IP addresses ad hoc. Wireshark would seem to confirm this when I look at the MAC address constructor origins, although a couple are made up on-the-fly MAC addresses. I’ll dig a little deeper in the future. For now, I’m content with a more stable network.

In other news, the attacks in Palestine/Israel are deeply worrying. This is a deeply complex issue that cannot, and should not, be discussed over a short form of micro-blogging services that are renowned for a binary view of the world. I’d implore you not to post, particularly if it’s a topic that is your opinion on something you clearly don’t know about or understand, rather than a detailed analysis from a seasoned expert. I think we need a little time to properly assess the situation and understand what is going on. Be polite and be mindful of the fact that there are many actors around the world that will pounce on this situation to push their agenda, both good and bad.

That’s all I’ll say on the matter until I understand it better.

Have a good week.

Matthew Cowen @matthewcowen