Author Archives: Zach

Bandwidth or Latency? Which should you pay up for?

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For the final Rose Cafe of the year, we discussed how people pay for different internet services without really knowing the difference in what they are paying for. For instance, people see a higher bandwidth and believe it is reasonable to pay extra for the increased connection. However, they may not know exactly what they are paying for. There is also a factor to consider called latency. Latency is essentially a measure of the time it takes to get the message from one end of the connection to the other, whereas bandwidth is the amount of information you can send at a time. It is beneficial to be able to send larger amounts of information, but if it takes a long time to get the message through to the other end, then it may not be as worthwhile to pay higher. It made me realize that I need to be more aware of what I pay for in the future. As a student we have the luxury of being on Cornell’s WiFi, but eventually I am going to have to decide on an internet service provider on my own. I know from playing games online and streaming movies the perks of each, but I now know to be more cautious and calculated in my decision making process.

Another issue brought up in this conversation was the issue of net neutrality. Essentially this would mean that large companies such as Netflix cannot control how fast their service is distributed in comparison to other services. People have their own opinions, and both sides are very valid. On one hand, small businesses would have no chance in this market, but on the other hand a large corporation who can pay extra to have their service given priority should be allowed to pay for that advantage. My personal opinion on this subject would be to support the small business because it would hurt the market if these large companies were able to eliminate competition from the market by making it impossible to enter. Until their becomes a point where the competitive edge is a small enough advantage that it wouldn’t hurt small businesses, I believe net neutrality should be in effect. Soon enough, this will be the case as we rapidly approach the peak of what internet service we are physically capable to offer.

Claymaking

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The last time I molded clay was at summer camp when I was a kid, so you cannot believe how excited I was to let out my inner child and go mold clay. The event also provided a nice escape from the typical movie nights I had found myself attending out of necessity due to my schedule with work and class. We got a little history background about the role clay making has played in ancient civilizations and how it changed over time based on the resources available and the culture of the people who sculpted the figurines at the Johnson museum. We were given a block of clay to cut and mold, and were taught bonding techniques to piece the clay together with water. I found my lack of creativity present when given the freedom to turn this block into whatever I desire, so I went with my nerdy instinct and made a small clay model of a Mars rover similar to that of the designs made by my project team in the past. Had I known beforehand what material we were working with I like to believe I could have planned a more elaborate sculpture. Overall I found this activity to be rather relaxing, and a great change from my typical day of classwork and problem sets.

Trust in the Nuclear Era

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How do we trust one another as nations? Essentially we hold each other at gunpoint with a bunch of nukes and hope the other doesn’t pull the trigger first. Dr. Strangelove’s satirical presentation of how our nation operated during the Cold War similarly reflects the tensions in the current political world. With world leaders dropping bombs and declaring attacks on other countries, we have to ask ourselves at what point is it too much.

We are already at the point where we could easily bring about mutual destruction, so why tempt fate and continue feeding the aggression between nations. I have expressed in the past my own fault for not taking enough time to read up on current events, but I hear enough to know that we need to find a more peaceful solution rather than rely on our nation’s arsenal to protect us from other nuclear powers. I hope that the time never comes that we need to use this power, and as seen by the movie Dr. Strangelove, it would not end well for any party. It really makes you wonder how far our trust would go with other countries if we weren’t worried about their hands being on the trigger.

The Perfect Specimen

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Another movie set in the future, Gattaca tells the story of a man predetermined to die young who changes his fate by cheating the system. Vincent was born with a genetic defect that determined he would not live long enough, and therefore has been shorted on job opportunities and never has the chance to pursue his dreams of space travel. He instead used the DNA of a man named Jerome, who is essentially the perfect candidate for space travel. Through hard work and intensive trials, Vincent is able to beat the system and make his way into space.

This movie serves as an inspiration to those who have ever been told they aren’t good enough or can’t overcome their challenges. When we look at students with disabilities and how hard they work to overcome their disability and rise above what society believed was ever possible, that is when we can see how wrong a dystopian future such as that of which is presented in Gattaca would be. We should never judge someone’s success based on how they were born or where they come from. We should never hold someone back from pursuing their dreams, and I believe as a society we are getting even better at making it possible for anyone to achieve what they want to achieve in life.

After the Apocalypse

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Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome is the the third film in the Mad Max series, so it has already been established that the world is post-apocalyptic. In this film, he meets with a group of hopeful children searching for a captain to pilot their salvaged plane and bring them back to the world before. Max has to take it upon himself to break the news to these children that the world they have been waiting to return to no longer exists. He instead brings them to Bartertown and works to overthrow the people in charge so that it is no longer a dog eat dog environment.

These post-apocalyptic movies always make me think about how people can change so quickly. I like to believe that they are a gross exaggeration of how humans would react, and that we would instead begin rebuilding rather than turn into savages. It also makes you appreciate the society we have formed. It is not perfect and in many places it is far below ideal, but at least we don’t have a universal terror. Even if these are just movies, I hope the thought of a fallout of this magnitude would deter the majority from allowing nuclear destruction to occur in the modern era.

Question Reality

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The Matrix has always been one of those classic movies that I tell myself I plan to see, yet never actually find the time to sit down and watch. And now that I finally have seen the Matrix, it made me think about the contrast between fantasy and reality. We all fantasize about living the perfect life, where everything goes right in the world, everything is good. The movie is based on this idea that the mass population lives inside a virtual reality, in a dream world where life is good. These few humans decide to fight back against the artificial intelligence running this program, and the main character Neo is given the choice to leave the Matrix and fight or stay and live in a fantasy.

When presented with this idea, we assume we would all make the heroic choice and follow Neo’s path. But honestly, when I really think about how life has unfolded I wonder how willing I would be to give up an artificial reality where things were normal again. I imagine with the buzz in VR technology these days, we aren’t too far away from full immersion in a virtual world. I don’t think it would get to the level of the matrix, but I can see people wanting to escape their reality and live in a virtual world. I look forward to seeing just how far our technology will take us, but I am confident it will never elevate to the level of the Matrix.

Brothers Forever

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The Rose Cafe this week was a brief talk with Professor Hill about life. He wanted us to think about life, what it means, and the choices we make. Part of life means going through ups and downs, feeling like everything is going for you one minute, and then having everything turn upside down the next. I will preface this post with the fact that my life is on a seemingly ongoing downward trend. Things have not gone well in quite a while. If you notice, all three of my posts have been submitted today, and they’re all from roughly a month ago. I would say things got in the way, and that’s true. Exams, project team, job, and so on and so forth. Shit happens. But a major reason for not having done these promptly is basically because I haven’t really felt up to it. I haven’t been very open to sharing lately and speaking up about my life or my opinions. But sometimes it helps to let it all out there.

Last May, one of my brothers, Aedan, was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a very rare form of cancer. From the beginning it had been a rough ride, and for a while we were optimistic that he would make it through. We had plans for the future. We had talked about traveling the world, taking time to be young and enjoy life. Things got worse and it became apparent that he may not be winning this battle. My entire winter break was spent in and out of the hospital visiting him, helping his family, and gathering friends to visit Aedan so that he never had to feel alone. January 1st was the last day I spoke to Aedan. It was a very active day for Aedan. Aedan followed politics religiously, so we organized a visit with Senator Cory Booker. I joked to the Senator that he is not as cool as when Calvin Prior from the Jets visited, but he was still up there. Cory was such an amazing guy, and I still can’t thank him enough for stopping by. Aedan was able to feel alive again, and the discussion with Senator Booker got him so excited. This visit left him very tired after, so my friend Joe and I decided to let him rest. We had to gather our things from his room quietly before we left, and as we were about to go, Aedan’s brother Liam whispered that we were heading home. Aedan woke up and struggled to raise his hand toward us. We held him one last time, as he told us he loved us and that he is so appreciative for everything we had done for him and his family. That was the last time we saw Aedan, as two days later his parents called to let us know he had passed away.

I have always cherished the friendships I have made over the years. Back home, the people closest to me in life are more than just friends, they are my family. These guys are my brothers. We have been through good times and bad with each other, and yet never in a million years could we have seen this coming. I can remember every night out, every school day, every rugby practice spent with Aedan. I remember every great memory we had together and I will always hold onto those memories. One recent memory was a conversation Aedan and I had while having breakfast at a local diner. We talked about life after cancer. He had planned to take some time before returning to school and travel. He wanted to see the world before getting stuck into the routine that our parents live through. He said how his whole perspective on life has changed from this disease. And mine did too. We’re so caught up in making sure we do anything and everything career oriented in pursuit of a job. We sacrifice our youth to prepare for a career. And while I understand the necessity of following the steps and finding a job, I also now realize that time is limited. Life is so short and I have no intention on missing a single moment. I never want to look back on life with regret that I wasn’t able to do what I want.

Just a few months after going through such a traumatic experience, I received a note from my friend Gianni’s girlfriend that he had been diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The doctors have told him they are confident that with aggressive treatment, he could be in remission by the end of the summer. I have known Gianni since we were in elementary school. We have spent countless times at the park playing soccer, going out to Six Flags, or even times driving me to school. To now see another of my close friends struggle through cancer is so heartbreaking, and I am struggling to find the words to describe how upset I am. Seeing this happen again just furthers my belief that now is the time to live. We never know what struggles life is going to put us through. We never know how unfair or cruel life can be, and we can’t always control it. But we can control some things. We can choose to make life worthwhile. We can choose to be adventurous, to be spontaneous and live our lives with no fear or regret. Things have been hard, and they will continue to get harder in the coming months. While it won’t be easy for us, we are brothers and we will always have each other for support. Brothers Forever is a slogan our high school uses to remember that no matter where we are in our lives, our brothers, even those not with us anymore, will always be with us. It resonates so much now more than ever for me and my friends, as we are going to have to be strong again for another of our brothers, Gianni, as he goes through treatment.

I hope that people can read this and understand that life is meant to be lived. Don’t worry about little things. Don’t get caught up about unimportant/insignificant worries. Focus on the bigger picture and moving forward. Push through the struggles sent your way. Enjoy life.

Trump Talk — Again

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This week’s Rose Cafe with Professor Peter Enns was spent discussion Trump’s first weeks in office, and was supposed to be an open discussion to voice our opinions regarding everyone’s favorite president. This “open discussion” became a safe space for liberal students to voice their opinions. On the other hand, and while I’m no fan of the guy by any means, I can’t imagine anyone in that room being a fan of President Trump and feeling free to speak up. If I were a Trump supporter, I would fear being ridiculed by the rest of the students.

Aside from the clear bias in the room, the other reason I believe it was only two or three students speaking up (in a room of roughly 20) is that the rest of the students may not have felt comfortable enough with their political knowledge to comment on recent presidential actions. I know for a fact that I have not kept up to date with current events revolving our government, and while that is my own shortcoming, I do believe I am not alone. It is not right, and we should know what is happening in our country and keep updated on how it is being run, but people don’t always have time to follow political news. I think in the future if a similar event is to be run, it may be more beneficial to break into smaller groups to discuss. In this setting, I personally would have been more comfortable with sharing my limited understanding, and it would not have been as much of a listening session and more of an actual discussion with peers. Nonetheless, this Rose Cafe did allow me to get a quick update on Trump’s policies and how he has spent the beginning of his term.

Why watch the Superbowl?

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I was born a Jets fan. My dad was a Jets fan. His dad was a Jets fan. That being said, I KNOW what it means to lose. We do it pretty well (but hey at least we’re not the Browns).  But one thing about being a Jets fan is the inherent hatred we have for Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Patriots. Now I went into this playoff series knowing full well the Pats would make it to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a question. I decided to start watching NFC games to determine which team I had to rally behind in hope to defeat the Patriots. For the longest time I believed Dallas would take it home, as they rightfully deserved a championship this season. When they lost to Green Bay, it was back to being up in the air.  Then when I heard the Falcons would face the Pats, I admittedly thought Matt Ryan wouldn’t be able to pull out the W.

Watching the Falcons dominate the first half was actually a thrilling surprise, especially getting to see my roommate’s (a Pats fan) reaction to the game.  Then Brady happened. As always that guy finds a way to win. Regardless of the outcome, the Super Bowl this year was one exciting game to watch. And one thing I learned this week is just how sad it is that people at this school don’t appreciate one of the biggest sports events of the year. People not only do not watch the Super Bowl, but they also don’t see any reason to. If not only to watch the commercials, I believe the Super Bowl is one of those events that people should at least watch once. It is the culmination of hard work and two triumphant teams battling it out for the championship. I hope that in years to come, the current trend of NFL viewers decreasing will change and people will come to realize how beautiful a sport football is.