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The US Rural Broadband Crisis
Ian Lamont writes "Rural US residents don't have the same kind of access to broadband services as those who live in urban or suburban areas. According to the federal government, just 17% of rural U.S. households subscribe to broadband service. But the problem is more than a conflict between Wall Street and small-town residents wanting to surf the 'Net or play Warcraft — the lack of broadband access prevents many businesses from growing and diversifying rural economies, as it's expensive or impossible to get broadband. From the article: 'Soon after moving to Gilsum, N.H. (population 811), [Kim] Rossey learned that he couldn't get broadband to support his Web programming business, TooCoolWebs. DSL wasn't available, and the local cable service provider wasn't interested in extending the cabling for its broadband service the three-tenths of a mile required to reach Rossey's house — even if he paid the full $7,000 cost. Rossey ended up signing a two-year, $450-per-month contract for a T1 line that delivers 1.44Mbit/sec. of bandwidth. He pays 10 times more than the cable provider would have charged and receives one quarter of the bandwidth.' The author also notes that larger businesses are being crimped, from a national call center to a national retailer which claims 17% of its store locations can't get broadband."
New Hampshire is sure known for their rednecks!
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Web programming business? Hmm...
They are, actually.
Remember, redneck!=Southerner.
Although there are a bunch of rednecks down South, that's only as a corollary to the fact that there are a bunch of rednecks everywhere.
Tags != Comments, and -1 (Troll) != -1 (I Would Respond Angrily To This Poster So They Must Be Trolling)
I encourage the use of malapropisms such as "should of," and the use of the word "less" when "fewer" is correct.
It's a class marker, like the distinction in American speakers between "drapes" (déclassé) and "curtains". When people use these expressions, they reveal themselves. It isn't a judgmental thing: our world needs working class and lower-middle class people. But it helps sort out who gets invited to which events.
Trying to get everyone on the same page for language usage reveals a delusional faith in egalitarianism.
I could probably download 1 or 2 gigs of porn before hitting my fap wall.
I encourage it in the way that I encourage rivals for a job post to dress like clowns and smell of wee.
Farmer Joe Smith should be worried: his crop is at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
I have spent a lot of time in upstate NY as well as the "pee dee" region of SC (AKA, the buckle of the bible belt). I can certainly attest to this: Southern rednecks are typically louder, and consume far more cheap beer and BBQ pork than any other rednecks. I can also say that no southern redneck can begin to compare to the levels backward society that is shared by most new england hicks. The NY breed in particular in many cases is not much more evolved than the inbred farmers of the early 1800s. Most New England hicks also work fields or other hard labor for a living, and endure harsher climate shifts, and thus are usually much tougher than they typical southern trailer hick variety.
In the south, for the most part, redneck is a lifestyle choice. In new england, it's much more of a lifestyle they're stuck with. Given access to cultured society, technology, and education, most NE hicks will willingly shed their status and quickly evolve. Most SC rednecks have such access, but continue to slide backwards due to apathy and low work ethic.
I would hesitate to cross either breed. In a knock down drag out fight between each other, I'd put my money on the NE breed any day. They may be somewhat single minded and simple, but they have much more drive!
(I state this jokingly of course, just in case a member of either breed reads this and fails to understand the sarcasm).
There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.