Remember when we used to review hotspots here?

McDonald's
1421 Prospect, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID:  attwifi or Wayport_Access


Well, it has been a while-hasn't it?-since one of us ventured out to a previously unvisited location to file a report.  And it's too bad that our urban core initiative of a couple of years ago sort of fizzled out.  Still just not that many hotspots where they're needed most.  Anyway, this was a location I'd been hoping to hit ever since Mickey D's joined the free world, given that it's (I think) the last restaurant they have in the, ahem, "traditional" inner city (east of Troost, west of I-435, south of Truman Road and north of 63rd-and if I've missed one or if one has opened recently that I didn't hear about, don't hesitate to let me know).

But enough of that.  I suppose my stubborn insistence on lugging a laptop rather than schlepping a smartphone or-horrors!-toting a tablet is catching up with me.  There is only a single pair of power outlets available in this whole place; it's right up against the west-facing front windows adjacent to the second table from the left as you come in-which means, of course, come in early in the day for the best screen readability if you'll need power.  However, that and the fact that it kind of looks like the Big Breakfast has shrunk a bit portion-wise since I last ordered one shouldn't deter you from making a visit-with less to eat, you'll be in and out faster and battery life might not be an issue. 

On the other hand, if you're lucky enough to score one of those outlets, maybe you should take advantage of their ongoing $1-for-any-size coffee promotion. 

Harlem Renaissance, 21st Century Edition

NYC Mayor's Office:  Harlem to become biggest Wi-Fi hotzone in USA.

Interesting, to say the least.  And it's not like the need isn't there, either.  I just hope it doesn't prove to be a crime magnet given that it's only going to be accessible outdoors.  People too scared to come out and use it won't benefit from it.  

You know, it might have been better to have made an effort to recruit either new or existing business owners to unwire and provide some safe indoor 24-hour venues-or at least locations open later than the public library branches which probably are taking the brunt of bridging the digital divide currently-in the covered neighborhoods, and perhaps this should be looked at anyway as a spur to economic development.  

In any event, here's hoping it works out in the end.  

I really didn't want my first post in such a long while to be such a downer...

...especially not at holiday time, but I came across this from out in California while researching another late-breaking report of someone else being investigated for accessing and/or possessing you-know-what and I thought I'd pass it on.  The "someone else" is an aide to a rather well-known elected official; I'll leave it to you to look that story up if you're interested since there's no indication as of yet that Wi-Fi is involved.

As for the incident in which Wi-Fi is involved, here we go again with the blanket pronouncement that the bad stuff definitely got onto the laptop over what the detective makes a point of stating was an open connection.  Care to back that up with some forensics, Detective?  After all, you did find more garbage when you searched the suspect's home; might it be at all possible that he had some of it on the laptop already before he arrived at the restaurant? 

Actually we should count our blessings that this piece of low-hanging fruit was brazen enough to do what he stands accused of doing in public-thus easily bringing his predation upon kids to what is hoped will be a permanent end. 

And though, to paraphrase Dickens, it may not be in keeping with the situation above, season's greetings to all regardless.

Remembrance and reflection: November 22, 1963

When your age is still in single digits, your priorities are different. 

My first priority, on that leaden, drizzly late autumn Friday would, under normal circumstances, have been to rush home after school and pick up the remaining copies of the coming week's edition of TV Guide I still had left to deliver to customers on my route (they hired kids to do that at four cents a copy back then; the new ones came out on Wednesday but some folks preferred you to bring theirs by a day or two later) and get them out, hopeful of avoiding that really scary black dog up the block that I was sure would devour me if I ever gave him half a chance.  Then back home, dinner, perhaps a late-night television movie if anything good was on, but off to bed right afterward so as not to miss the highlight of the week-"Fireball XL-5" on Channel 4 the next morning. 

Normal circumstances ended, however, about two hours earlier as we sat in the school auditorium watching the sixth-graders putting on a play-which I couldn't identify or describe for you now to save my life-when our principal strode onto the stage, stopped the performance and announced something I couldn't make out at first (microphones and amplification were reserved for very special occasions and this wasn't considered to be one).  Amid the resulting gasps from those sitting closer to the stage who had understood what he had said, I leaned over and asked a classmate who had heard the principal as well, and who filled me in: 

"President Kennedy's been shot!"

We were directed back to our classrooms; our teacher had already managed to procure a radio, tuned to the old Mutual Broadcasting Network, by the time I returned.  We simply sat in stunned silence as the story unfolded:  the governor of Texas had also been wounded and was in serious condition…the president's condition was unknown…he had been shot in the head…the gun was a .30-30 rifle…a Secret Service man had also been killed (these last two items, of course, would later turn out to be false)...a Dallas police officer had been shot to death (this one was sadly true)…

Then the time rolled around for those of us who had begun studying instrumental music earlier that year to make our way to the gymnasium, where that class was held.  No practicing scales that day, though-a radio was set up there as well.  The official announcement that Kennedy had died was just being repeated as I reached the door.  Some of the older students began weighing in on what that would mean; if things went as they did with our school "elections" the loser-Nixon-would now be president.

I am almost ashamed, even today, to admit that this made perfect sense to me at that moment.  I had only a vague concept of who the president was and what he did; in those days you really didn't get into studying government and the Constitution before junior high.  Pretty much all I remembered of the election by then was the schoolyard ditty we repeated over and over-come on, how many of you recited it, too?  "Kennedy, Kennedy, he's our man!  Nixon go to the garbage can!"  Lyndon Johnson?  Who was he?

Once I got home I turned on the TV and decided to wait for the evening newspaper to arrive-does anyone else recall getting both the Kansas City Times in the morning and the Star in the afternoon on weekdays?-before finishing my TV Guide route.  "PRESIDENT IS SLAIN FROM AMBUSH" screamed the black banner headline, over a story printed completely in italics-something I don't remember the Star or Times ever doing again.  If memory serves, I didn't start out with my TV Guides until after dark, having watched Air Force One's arrival back in Washington and President Johnson's first, halting words to the nation, along with the steady stream of details from Dallas on Lee Harvey Oswald.

No "Fireball XL-5" that Saturday, of course, as the networks continued with their nonstop coverage after having done so throughout the night-something almost unprecedented at a time when most television stations around the country (and all three of them in Kansas City) regularly signed off for at least a few hours nightly.

We were in church on Sunday when Oswald was shot, so I didn't see that live.  The endless replays of the moment, however, were no less gruesome.

School was canceled on Monday so we could watch the funeral and burial.  One of my most enduring memories, alongside those of the somber cadence of the muffled drums as the cortege made its way to Arlington and the strains of what I later learned was the Navy Hymn-which still takes me back to that weekend whenever I hear it-was my mother hoping out loud that the lowering of the casket would not be shown, as that might be too much for her.  (It wasn't, at least not on NBC.)

I understand now that I really was too young then to get it.  Grasping the loss to the nation would come only with an understanding of how the government worked and the president's role in it.  Being able to relate to bereavement, however, would take much longer, as I would not experience a death in my family until after I had grown to adulthood.

So what to make of it all now?  I will not waste time addressing any of the conspiracy theories; there is nothing new to say for or against any of them and thus no one's mind will be changed.  Better, I think, to reflect on the world of half a century ago and how Kennedy perhaps helped start us on the path to where we are today.

On the day he died, a pre-recorded television message from him was supposed to be relayed to Japan-the nation his daughter, ironically, just became our ambassador to-via satellite.  Live satellite television is something we take for granted now, but the first live commercial broadcast from overseas was, I think, still a couple of years in the future.  It was Kennedy's push for technological advancement-in particular the race to the moon-that spurred the revolution in electronics that among other things, eventually transformed the black-and-white console television sets with their vacuum and cathode-ray tubes upon which we watched that caisson and heard those drums, into today's big-screen solid-state Internet-smart full color TVs that are really more computer than receiver.  It also ultimately led to the establishment of ARPANET, which evolved into the medium through which you now read these words, along with the myriad means by which that medium can now be accessed. 

In short, we should celebrate the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, as his family has long urged, rather than to continue commemorating and mourning his death.  Perhaps among the books and documentaries bound to be produced as the centennial of his birth on May 29, 2017 approaches will be several examining my premise above.  At least I hope so.

When your age is more than halfway to triple digits, your priorities are different.

A swing and a miss...

Had to go back out to Independence Center tonight to make an exchange, and just to be more than fair I did what I've never done before for any other failed hotspot since starting this blog.  After two unsuccessful attempts I gave it one last go.  Sad to say that for the third and final time it was a no-go.  After all, George Brett never got more than three strikes.  Of course, his claim to fame was that he only needed all of them every now and then.

Too bad there are so many businesses these days that don't take the examples set by genuine achievers like Brett to heart.  Oh sure, they pay lip service to buzzwords like "performance" and "excellence"-but the proof of the pudding is what happens when the rubber meets the road-or the pitch comes over the plate.

Sorry, Simon Malls.  You're out. 

Then again, there are those who DON'T learn from experience.

Remember my last sojourn out to Independence Center, the results of which were described in this post from more than a couple of years back?  If not, that's understandable.  One of my more underwhelming experiences, to understate matters.  Well, it just so happens I was out that way again earlier this evening and decided to stop in for a bit to see if things have changed. 

Sorry to say, they haven't.  OK, they've changed a little bit.  The login page loads maybe once every three to five tries, and even if anyone is stupid enough to put his or her real name and e-mail address into it (why do they even ask?), he or she still doesn't go anywhere-even with both cookies and Javascript enabled. 

Too bad.  They've added a "charging station" with a couple of pairs of power outlets in the seating area just inside the 39th Street entrance on the upper level.  It's a shame there's really not much use for them as things stand, except perhaps for smartphone, tablet or mobile hotspot users with a generous data plan. 

Come on, people.  This isn't something really hard like enrolling people for healthcare.  Once again, I refer you to Crown Center.  They make do without jumping customers through hoops.  Why can't you?

Eighth anniversary reflections

I'll have to admit to being a bit melancholy as I contemplate how different things are from how they were when I published this blog's first post this very evening in 2005.  I'm sure part of that is simply due to Wi-Fi's having been something new and exciting around town in those days, whether it was free and open or not.  Going months without posting, as I'm sure you've noticed I've done lately, was unthinkable then.  Well, the world has kept turning, of course, and booting up a laptop or powering on a tablet or smartphone and finding you've got free Internet without wires doesn't provide the joyusly electrifying jolt to the psyche it once did.  

And to be honest, my life has changed a bit since that night, too.  I just don't get out as often as I did before I got broadband at home; in fact, I now work from home about half the time.  Makes it a bit harder to keep up on where the latest local hotspots are popping up and whether or not they're play-for-pay, among other things.  

I did drop in again at a local fast-food establishment previously reviewed here this past Monday, though (got to take advantage of the Chiefs' sudden resurgence and grab those buy-one-get-one-free burgers, you know), and what I saw there late in the afternoon could have been either a sign of success or maybe just a little sad, depending on your outlook.  There was what I took to be a high-school student in the back hunched over a laptop and, I hope, digging into her homework, but even if she were simply tweeting or Facebooking the day away, so what?  She was there and taking advantage of a local business' efforts to bridge the digital divide, and rewarding those efforts with her patronage.  There was also, however, an older gentleman sitting up front, whom I passed on my way out.  I really didn't pay too much attention to what was on his screen, but the presence of a cable lock securing his computer to the base of the table was somewhat disheartening.  I pray that he was moved to this by caution rather than experience.  

In addition, I'm sure it probably doesn't help that many of our recent posts have been of the look-at-what-some-criminal-used-Wi-Fi-to-do type, and while I'd like to thank Macenstein for those (and feel free to put up more of them, Mac, if you find them interesting), it's just that those seem to be the kind of stories about Wi-Fi that make the news these days.  As an example, here's one from the Associated Press about how and where they caught the black-market drug website operator who's been in the headlines.   

In the end, it really doesn't matter.  Change is inevitable, and if the changes over the last eight years as well as those still to come mean fewer and less frequent posts, so be it.  Thanks once again to you, the reader, and rest assured that we aren't going anywhere, so don't you either.