Badger 2 Internet prices clueless

One of the follies of Badgernet 2 is the establishment of a fixed pricing system for Internet access. The state needs to take a market based approaches and demand pricing that reflects current market forces. For example, the state price schedule is:

Setting the bar at $75/Megabit shows the state's total lack a clue.

Compare this with market based prices at http://web.invisiblehand.net/ihn-bmr/200502.html

Press Release: AUTHOR TO SPEAK ABOUT EARTH DAY

April 22 will mark the 35th anniversary of Earth Day, founded by Wisconsin's Gaylord Nelson.

What began as a means to an end - a way to put the environment onto the nation's political agenda -- has grown to an international institution. In the year 2000, some 500 million people participated in Earth Day activities in 167 countries.

The story behind the first Earth Day is told in a political biography of Gaylord Nelson, published by the University of Wisconsin Press. It is titled, The Man From Clear Lake: Earth Day Founder Gaylord Nelson. The author, Bill Christofferson, is a former journalist who is now a Milwaukee-based political consultant.

Gaylord Nelson, now 88, is not able to do interviews himself because of health problems which have weakened his voice. Interviews with the author, Bill Christofferson, can be arranged by contacting Benson Gardner, UW Press Publicity Manager, at 608-263-0734 or publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu

In addition to private interviews, Christofferson also has talks scheduled during Earth Week in Milwauukee, Madison, Green Bay, and Stevens Point. His topic is, "Earth Day, the Environmental Ethic and the Legacy of Gaylord Nelson."

His schedule:

April 18: 7pm at the Brown County Library in Green Bay. Contact Sue Lagerman at lagerman_sm@co.brown.wi.us for more information.

April 19: 7pm at UW-Stevens Point in the Alumni Room of the University Center. For more information please contact Tessa Jilot at Tessa.D.Jilot@uwsp.edu

April 21: 7pm at the Urban Ecology Center, 1500 E. Park Place, Milwaukee. Call 414-965-8505 or email uec@urbanecologycenter.org for more information.

April 22: 7pm Barnes and Noble West, 7433 Mineral Point Road, Madison, WI 53717. Contact Sherry Klinkner at crm2720@bn.com or 608-827-0472. This event is a fundraiser for the UW Press's Gaylord Nelson Fund for Environmental Books.

All of the events are free and open to the public.

For more information about the book:
http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/books/2105.htm

MMSD may have lost 420 checks? ... and added to spam.

Not only may they have lost my check, but they violated my privacy by send my e-mail address out to 419 other people who may have had a check lost ... what gives?


From: KChapdelaine@mmsd.com
Subject: Rain Barrels
Date: April 11, 2005 6:03:14 PM CDT
To: (list of 420 names)


Please note that a number of checks for purchased rain barrels have been located; your check might be among them. These checks will be sent to the bank on Wednesday April 13th.


We apologize for any inconvenience.


If you have any concerns, please respond to this email as soon as possible!


Thank you.
__________________________________________________________________________

Badgernet contract or how SBC eats Wisconsin

I have been looking over some of the Badger net documentation and it looks to me like a stinky deal for the State.

For some background read http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/mar05/307419.asp

Generally JS may wish to be hush on Badgernet, since JS owned Norlight is a contractor.

Some points:

The UW System and Wiscnet had concerns about the contract, where is the Wiscnet side of the story?

The State could save money by building network down to Chicago. Most all the world's network providers are in Chicago. On the ISP price list SBC/Norlight will sell Badgernet Internet bandwidth for $75/megabit in large quantities. When a provider aggregates more than a gigabit of traffic you can find providers in Chicago willing to sell at sub $50/megabit and as low as $20/megabit.

We have a large state aggregator of IP traffic, it is called Wiscnet.

Badgernet eliminates market forces and makes SBC the preferred provider.

Investigative taxpayers need to follow the money.

http://ethics.state.wi.us/scripts/2003Session/LEOEL.asp?PrinID=2915

New City/County web portal good for IDCnet.com

Ask your nerdy friends what this all means.

In short:

The new web site takes traffic from the largest propable sources via some rather questionable routes.

We need a traffic exchange point in southeastern wisconsin where government and corporate networks can directly interconnect. Pick a room in a well connected building and just do it.

Traceroute to www.city.milwaukee.gov

From UWM

1 salmonbay-7-7 (129.89.7.7) 2 ms 1 ms 2 ms
2 space-needle-10-146 (129.89.10.146) 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms
3 UWMilwaukeeISP-ge0-0-0-301.core.wiscnet.net (216.56.1.193) 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms
4 r-doral-isp-a0-1-0-2.wiscnet.net (140.189.8.166) 2 ms 2 ms 3 ms
5 ge3-13.as.eqxchiil.aleron.net (205.198.16.157) 2 ms 3 ms 2 ms
6 p12-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.2.241) 4 ms 3 ms 3 ms
7 p12-0.core03.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.3.154) 3 ms 4 ms 4 ms
8 p4-0.ca02.mke01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.1.154) 181 ms 371 ms 10 ms
9 38.119.239.138 (38.119.239.138) 9 ms 6 ms 8 ms
10 ip-66-175-196-210.idcnet.com (66.175.196.210) 9 ms 8 ms 14 ms
11 County Firewall

Analysis:

1-2 UWM campus
3-4 Wiscnet backbone to Norlight colocation at Doral Plaza in Chicago
5 Hop to aleron at Equinix in Chaicago
6-8 Back up to Milwaukee on the cogent network
9 Unresolved ex PSI now Cogent interface to idcnet
10 idcs net (Milwaukee?)
11 County Firewall

Traceroute to www.city.milwaukee.gov

From SBC

traceroute to www.city.milwaukee.gov (204.194.251.40), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 adsl-68-78-82-30.dsl.milwwi.ameritech.net (68.78.82.30) 1.199 ms 0.602 ms 0.529 ms
2 adsl-68-78-83-254.dsl.milwwi.ameritech.net (68.78.83.254) 7.650 ms 9.399 ms 7.524 ms
3 dist1-vlan60.milwwi.ameritech.net (65.43.19.242) 8.324 ms 8.899 ms 8.541 ms
4 bb1-g1-0.milwwi.ameritech.net (65.43.19.99) 9.285 ms 8.689 ms 8.287 ms
5 bb1-p3-2.chcgil.ameritech.net (151.164.190.85) 10.773 ms 10.364 ms 11.225 ms
6 bb2-p11-0.chcgil.ameritech.net (151.164.191.182) 13.205 ms 11.738 ms 11.714 ms
7 bb1-p5-0.applwi.sbcglobal.net (151.164.191.94) 14.222 ms 15.746 ms 15.440 ms
8 ded1-fa0-0-0.applwi.ameritech.net (67.38.56.101) 15.943 ms 15.292 ms 15.407 ms
9 64.108.143.130 (64.108.143.130) 16.943 ms 18.175 ms 16.889 ms
10 backbone.f0-0.c7206-2.noc.apl.athenet.net (209.103.221.227) 17.690 ms 17.736 ms 17.615 ms
11 border1.wel.mke.athenet.net (209.103.211.78) 19.143 ms 18.917 ms 19.145 ms
12 209.103.211.82 (209.103.211.82) 62.535 ms 58.371 ms 60.712 ms
13 ip-66-175-196-210.idcnet.com (66.175.196.210) 62.761 ms 47.244 ms 43.508 ms
14 * * *

Analysis:

1-4 Bounce around Milwaukee on SBCs network.
4-5 Milwaukee broadway Central Office to Chicago Franklin Central Office.
5-7 Bounce around inside the Franklin Central Office then up to Appleton.
9 Unresolved interface facing athenet
10 Probably the athenet office in Appleton
11 Down to Milwaukee
12 Unresolved border router address facing idcnet
13 idcnet milwaukee
14 County Firewall

Traceroute to www.city.milwaukee.gov

From Road Runner

traceroute to www.city.milwaukee.gov (204.194.251.40), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 ** RFC 1918 NAT **
2 ** RFC 1918 NAT **
3 srp1-0.milwwirtco-rtr1.wi.rr.com (24.160.224.241) 10.758 ms 18.122 ms 10.793 ms
4 so0-1-0.kscymol3-rtr1.kc.rr.com (24.94.160.17) 33.625 ms 43.678 ms 37.71 ms
5 so-4-0.hsa1.stlouis1.level3.net (63.208.56.5) 33.287 ms 34.001 ms 36.345 ms
6 ge-6-0-0.mp2.stlouis1.level3.net (64.159.0.69) 37.348 ms 35.796 ms 38.166 ms
7 ae-0-0.bbr1.chicago1.level3.net (64.159.1.33) 41.021 ms so-6-1-0.bbr2.chicago1.level3.net (64.159.0.58) 53.142 ms ae-0-0.bbr1.chicago1.level3.net (64.159.1.33) 41.408 ms
8 so-7-0-0.edge1.chicago1.level3.net (209.244.8.14) 37.616 ms so-6-0-0.edge1.chicago1.level3.net (209.244.8.10) 57.614 ms so-7-0-0.edge1.chicago1.level3.net (209.244.8.14) 93.069 ms
9 4.68.127.130 (4.68.127.130) 38.884 ms 48.232 ms 37.647 ms
10 p12-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.2.241) 42.209 ms 41.332 ms 42.499 ms
11 p12-0.core03.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.3.154) 38.151 ms 37.737 ms 37.609 ms
12 p4-0.ca02.mke01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.1.154) 49.592 ms 41.256 ms 63.596 ms
13 38.119.239.138 (38.119.239.138) 50.204 ms 50.993 ms 52.284 ms
14 ip-66-175-196-210.idcnet.com (66.175.196.210) 49.794 ms 58.065 ms 43.769 ms
15 County Firewall

Analysis:

1-2 internal network numbers of the network used for the traceroute
3-4 RoadRunner down to Kansas City
4-5 Off to Saint Louis via the Level 3 network (apparently RR wisconsin is not on the shinny new Time Warner ATDN network)
5-8 Bounce around level 3 until we get to Chicago
9 Unresolved private handoff between level 3 and cogent (don't tell anyone!)
10-12 Take cogent back up to Milwaukee
13-14 Same stuff we saw in our first two traces.

renoir:~ jtk$ whois -a 204.194.251.40

OrgName: Milwaukee County Gov't
OrgID: MCG-45
Address: 235 West Galena St. Suite 600
City: Milwaukee
StateProv: WI
PostalCode: 53212
Country: US

NetRange: 204.194.248.0 - 204.194.255.255
CIDR: 204.194.248.0/21
NetName: MILWCNTY-NET
NetHandle: NET-204-194-248-0-1
Parent: NET-204-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Assignment
NameServer: A.NS.ONLIGHT.COM
NameServer: B.NS.ONLIGHT.COM
NameServer: C.NS.ONLIGHT.COM
Comment:
RegDate:
Updated: 2002-11-20

NOCHandle: ZO26-ARIN
NOCName: Onlight, llc.
NOCPhone: +1-414-272-4477
NOCEmail: support@onlight.com

TechHandle: ZI95-ARIN
TechName: IMSD
TechPhone: +1-414-289-6654
TechEmail: RSLADKY@milwcnty.com

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2005-04-06 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.

Press Release: (CMC) CMC donates painting to MSOE

Milwaukee, WI…March 30, 2005…CMC Heartland Partners announces the donation of “Piggybacker,” a painting of its Bensenville yards to the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Man at Work: The Eckhart G. Grohmann Collection.

CMC Chief Executive Officer Lawrence S. Adelson said “We are happy that this painting of our Bensenville, Illinois facility has been accepted by the Man at Work: The Eckhart G. Grohmann Collection. It is an honor that this donation can join the other depictions of work at this fine institution.”

The painting is some four feet square and is painted in a corporate expressionist style. It shows heavy rail operations at the Milwaukee Road’s Bensenville, Illinois facility. The scene includes workers and enormous rail handling machinery, the “Piggybacker” of its title. The painting is signed “Miller `68”. It was commissioned for the Milwaukee Road’s headquarters in Milwaukee and hung for many years in the President’s office.

MSOE President Dr. Hermann Viets said, “We appreciate that CMC has shown the public spiritedness to bring this fine painting to our collection for our community to enjoy for years to come.”

Man at Work: The Eckhart G. Grohmann Collection was established by Dr. Eckhart G. Grohmann, Chairman and President of Aluminum Casting and Engineering Co. and an MSOE Board of Regents member. The collection has its origin in Grohmann’s childhood fascination with work. Anonymous German and Austrian artists produced many of the paintings in this collection, along with works by Lorenz, Mercker and Vangoyen. Piggybacker is one of the newer items in the collection, which has holdings dating to the 17th century.

CMC Heartland Partners is a Chicago-based real estate partnership with properties primarily in the Upper Midwest. CMC Heartland is a subsidiary of Heartland Partners; L.P. CMC is the successor to the Milwaukee Road Railroad, founded in 1847.

Press Release: (AAPA) Outstanding Local PA Named

(Alexandria, VA) The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) has named Lt. Col. Joseph O. Streff, PA-C, of New Berlin, Wisconsin, the recipient of its 2005 Federal Service Physician Assistant of the Year Award. The award will be presented on May 27 at the AAPA's 33rd Annual Physician Assistant (PA) Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Streff has been a PA for 26 years and an employee of the Clement J. Zablocki Veteran's Affairs Medical Center for 14 years. In 2001, he was appointed the first PA Advisor to the Under Secretary for Health of the Department of Veterans Affairs, a position in which he addressed the multiple issues facing PAs in the Veterans Administration (VA).

Streff was responsible for more than 1,500 PAs working in 167 medical centers and 450 out-patient clinics. He undertook the development of new PA clinical guidelines, a communications network for PAs in the VA, recruitment and retention programs, and new personnel policies, all while continuing his clinical work in Wisconsin.

In February 2004, Streff, a member of the Wisconsin National Guard since 1981, was called to active duty to care for injured soldiers from the Army Reserves and National Guard who were returning from active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Understanding the need to have an advisor able to devote time to the diverse issues faced by PAs in the VA, Streff resigned his position to focus instead on providing medical care for the soldiers. In his recommendation letter, Thomas Zampieri, PA-C, executive director of the Veterans Affairs PA Association (VAPAA), wrote, "He placed the priority of PAs in the VA having a new window of opportunity at representation over his own career which was an outstanding act of dedication."

Sgt. Cengiz Kadiroglu, a solider currently entrusted to Streff's care, voiced admiration for Streff's medical service. "[He] has by far gone beyond the call of duty to make sure I was doing well. He is a true professional, is great in communicating, truly cares about his soldiers, is prompt in answering questions, very knowledgeable, and performs his over all duties with a great passion&Since day one, I knew that this officer was one of the best I have met in my eight plus years in the United States Army."

Streff is the recipient of the National Defense Service Medal for Operation Noble Eagle (2004) and Operation Desert Storm (1992), the Meritorious Service Medal (1998), the Army Outstanding Military Volunteer Medal (1997), and the Army Commendation Medal (1996). During the past 10 years, Streff has served as president of VAPAA twice and has filled various board positions.

The Federal Service Physician Assistant of the Year Award honors a PA who has demonstrated exemplary service to the PA profession within the federal services and has furthered the image of PAs within the setting of the uniformed services, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Public Health Service, or any other federal agencies.

Physician assistants are licensed health professionals who practice medicine as members of a team with their supervising physicians. PAs deliver a broad range of medical and surgical services to diverse populations in rural and urban settings.

AAPA is the only national organization to represent physician assistants in all medical and surgical specialties and work settings in the United States and federal services. Founded in 1968, the Academy works to promote quality, cost-effective health care, and the professional and personal growth of PAs. For more information about the Academy and the PA profession, visit the AAPA's Web site at www.aapa.org.

Patron Saint of the Internet

. . . the Vatican plans to dub St. Isidore of Seville the patron saint of computer users, technicians and the Internet . . .

from an article from the Washington Post about the Catholic church and new forms of communication.


John Paul II: The Message Matters Most

By Robert MacMillan
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Monday, April 4, 2005; 10:28 AM


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24759-2005Apr4.html

Vote No on Referenda

I sure plan to vote no on Tuesday's referendum questions. Scott Walker wants us to approve a pension borrowing plan that he has concocted. It is an "advisory" referendum. Walker should be a big boy and make his own decisions -- that's why we elected him. An "advisory" referendum is a weak ploy to appease the anti-tax zealots who would have every bit of government business come before the electorate.
The other referendum for four year terms for state constitutional officers (now two years) is unneeded. Why let these registers of deeds and others hide for an additional two years every election cycle?