5 Reasons why Barclay’s Premier Soccer is worth watching

Posted on April 28, 2014 by bvanrysdam

#5: Introduction of the teams.

There’s no pyrotechnics or loud obnoxious music to get fans pumped up. Both teams enter the pitch side by side at the same time, often holding the hands of young soccer fan. The home team then walks calmly down the line and shakes the visiting team’s hands and officials.

#4: The fans

Soccer fans are notorious for being fanatical about their teams and with good reason; some of these teams have been playing over 150 years. It’s not unusual to see fans singing the team fight song throughout the entire game while cheering, moaning and flashing their team’s colors.

#3: There are no TV timeouts.

While there are plenty of times play is halted, you won’t be inundated with commercial after commercial. You will see little pop-up ads while play is taking place, but it never interferes with the pace or flow the match. Just make sure you visit the Loo prior to the opening whistle.

#2: Close enough is fine

It is interesting how, in the world of the NFL where every inch of yardage is scrutinized and debated, soccer players simply pick up a ball that went out of bounds and then take a few steps either way to throw the ball back in. The same thing occurs when a ref calls a foul. The ball is simply placed in the “area” where the foul occurred and play is continued. There is no replay to determine the exact spot of where the ball should be placed which adds to more delays and hence more advertisements to sit through.

#1: Relegation

As the season draws towards the end, all eyes are on the top and bottom of the standings. Not because the bottom three teams will be in a position to draft a good player, but because they will be kicked out of the league. Seeing as how the Houston Texans and Astros finished dead last last year, you have to believe they’re glad they don’t play in the Barclay’s Premier League.

FCC Changes Its Mind

Posted on April 24, 2014 by bvanrysdam

It appears the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has done an about face with its policy towards net neutrality according to reports in the Wall Street Journal.

The new plan would grant Internet service providers the ability to give websites favored treatment meaning they would have priority over other sites and deliver faster service.

The catch is the ISP’s would charge such sites fees for better access. Companies like Netflix could have to pay extra fees which would give their service greater bandwidth and thus a better user experience, but I’m sure you can guess who will pick up those extra costs.

Now the new proposal under consideration would ban the outright blockage of sites that are not willing, or able to pay for the faster access, but to many internet activists, that’s not good enough. There is a fear that ending net neutrality could stifle innovation and Internet startups from competing for page views and revenue.

If a gaming company could not afford to pay for the high speed access, interest may vanish among the gamers and the company might not be able to survive. And there are also concerns that companies like Comcast, the nation’s largest provider of high-speed internet service who also owns NBC-Universal and is trying to purchase Time Warner Cable, would really limit the number of options available to consumers.

None of this has been approved and it is expected that the FCC will vote on the new rules near the end of this year, but after the January ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, you can be sure your surfing experience will have a new feel.

Ain’t That A Kick In The Head?

Posted on April 23, 2014 by bvanrysdam

By now I’m sure you have seen the “selfie” video of Jared Frank, the 22 year old Canadian who was kicked in the head by a worker on passing train while traveling in Peru. Like most of you, I thought what an idiot until I learned that he could earn some big bucks for his viral video.

He has reportedly made a deal with a licensing company (Jukin Media) that could net the young man $30,000 to $250,000 in revenue. His original train kick video had accrued more than 23 million views and growing daily.

There was some debate if the video was real or staged, but like most things on the internet, it doesn’t seem to matter.

Flying the Unfriendly Skies

Posted on April 22, 2014 by bvanrysdam

In a report that should surprise no one, customer satisfaction with airlines remains low. That’s according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), who surveys roughly 70,000 customers about the various products and services they use.

What is interesting to note is that most passengers are generally pleased with the check-in process and booking, but rate in-flight service and lack of seat comfort as major factors to the dismal rating. Over-all, the airline industry scores 69 on the ACSI’s 100-point scale and remain among the lowest-scoring categories in the Index, beating only subscription TV service, social media and internet service providers.

JetBlue remains the highest-scoring airline with an ACSI rating of 79 barely edging out Southwest which came in at 78. Delta jumped up 4% from last year to increase to 71. US Airways and American Airlines also saw small gains and ended up tied at 66.

United has the dubious distinction of posting the lowest score among the major carriers , dropping 3% from last year to post a 60 with 30% of their passengers giving an ACSI score below 50. The report concluded that “the acquisition of Continental appears to play a role here—frequent and continual problems with reservations and refunds three years after the merger are problematic.”

“We’ve seen time and time again the negative impact mergers have on customer satisfaction. American Airlines may also see a slump in satisfaction as it combines operations with US Airways,” said Claes Fornell, ACSI chairman and founder through the ACSI website. “Southwest led the industry for 17 years until it merged with AirTran in 2011 and Delta is just now recovering from its 2008 merger with Northwest.”

The Magic of San Gimignano

Posted on March 18, 2014 by bvanrysdam

Exploring Tuscany is like searching for that perfect plate of pasta. You can become overwhelmed by so many places that you worry you missed something along the way. From Florence, to Sienna, to Pisa, the Old World charm and rustic countryside provides ample locations to eat; drink and soak up some incredible history. But, if you are interested in a one special place off the beaten path, go visit San Gimignano.

San Gimignano is a historic town that dates back to 63 B.C. Known as “The Manhattan of Italy,” San Gimignano boasted 72 towers in the 14th century when families displayed their power and wealth. When a family lost its influence, their towers would be removed by rivals. Today, only 13 towers remain, but that does not lessen the charm.

The town became important for its location for pilgrims who traveled to Rome, mainly from France. The detour to the port of Pisa made San Gimignano one of the most important transit and stopping sites for all travelers. Today San Gimignano is not an easy place to get to. There is no train station or major highway nearby. One must depend on the local bus service, or participate in an excursion. While I normally prefer to travel outside of groups, my excursion allowed for us to wander freely around the town with no guide or group to follow.

Entering the enormous Porta San Giovanni instantly takes one back in time. Streets made of brick house little shops that sell everything from a wide assortment of Tuscany food including wild boar, fine works of art and the ever prevalent tacky magnets. One can’t help but feel the aura of a fairy-tale town that has been witness to much over its history.

Every step you take in San Gimignano affords a brilliant photo opportunity. Whether it’s looking up at one its majestic towers, admiring a tiny church or gazing across the Tuscany landscape, one is grateful for the world of digital cameras and very large memory discs.

Thankfully, there is also plenty to eat and drink including a special local wine called Vernaccia di San Gimignano. The wine was first cited back in 1276, when the Commune of San Gimignano instilled a duty tax for imports and exports. Vernaccia has been enjoyed by many over the years including Pope Martin IV, Dante Alighieri as well as powerful governors like Ludovico il Moro and Lorenzo il Magnifico.

If your feet get tired, try resting in the Piazza della Cisterna and indulge in some Italian ice cream from Gelateria Dondoli (who boasts winning the Ice Cream World Championships in 2006-07 and 2008-09). You can enjoy your gelato while sitting on the cistern admiring the Torre del Diavolo, (the Devil’s Tower) whose story is that its owner, returning from a long journey, found it unexplainably higher which he ascribed as the work to the Devil.

Tuscany seems to be one of those places where one can never get enough, but if you are up for a little adventure, try spending some time in San Gimignano. You may just find it has the right ingredients to make your visit to Tuscany picture perfect.

Watch Where You Step!

Posted on March 3, 2014 by bvanrysdam

Cheryl and I participated in the Houston Rodeo 5k fun run over the weekend. Felt pretty good about my time and had fun. Great event and crazy fun to run down the parade route with all those people watching.

Flake-Gate

Posted on February 11, 2014 by bvanrysdam

The 2014 Winter Olympics are in full swing and already we’ve seen fantastic finishes, thrilling upsets and stories of perseverance and determination. Unfortunately, most of the social media world’s attention was focused on “Flake-gate”; the unfortunate malfunction which occurred during the opening ceremonies.

Some of the posts are goofy, others are mean spirited. There were even “reports” which claimed that the man responsible for the 2014 Winter Olympic ring failing to open at the Sochi Opening Ceremony had been found dead (and you know they can’t put anything on the internet that isn’t true).

Before we go off and laugh too hard, I would urge Houstonians to remember another notorious malfunction that took place, and ended up dominating a different sporting event. I speak of course about the infamous wardrobe malfunction that took place at Reliant Stadium during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. We all remember the event, but who remembers the game?

Many NFL fans and sports writers widely considered Super Bowl XXXVIII one of the better, if not the best Super Bowl. Sports Illustrated football guru and writer Peter King hailed it as the “Greatest Super Bowl of all time.” The game went back and forth in thrilling fashion and was finally decided on New England kicker Adam Vinatieri’s 41-yard field goal with four seconds left, yet it was Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s performance that people talked about afterwards.

So what will we remember from the 2014 Winter Olympics? The amazing stories of accomplishments, or a technical mishap? I think I’ll remember how, once again, a world can come together with different countries and cultures, compete with great sportsmanship and respect, and remind us that it is possible, if only for a few weeks, to believe that we more alike than we are different.

Net Neutrality Dealt Blow (Again)

Posted on January 15, 2014 by bvanrysdam

Your Internet experience could be very different after the most recent ruling on the issue of net neutrality. As CultureMap Houston reported back in 2010, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled against the Federal Communications Commission’s attempt to keep the flow of information on an equal access basis. The Federal Communications Commission had attempted to impose penalties based on Net neutrality principles and not regulations.

After that ruling the Federal Communications Commission went back and drew up regulations to address this issue, but those have also been shot down by the same court. They determined that companies that provide broadband services are not required to offer equal access to Internet content.

The ruling was based on a 2005 US Supreme Court decision that broadband services are not to be classified as telecommunications services and its infrastructure is not considered a public right of way.

So what does this mean to the average person? For one, this opens the door for broadband companies like Verizon, AT&T and others to charge access fees to Internet content providers like Google, Netflix and even CultureMap. They could also offer priority access through their networks, ensuring companies that provide streaming services don’t buffer when network congestion is like traffic on the west loop during rush hour.

All this will create additional expenses to those companies which will no doubt be passed along to you, the consumer. And it also opens the door to broadband providers blocking sites that refuse to pay the fees. Without regulation, you could wind up not being able to access sites because they don’t have an agreement with your Internet provider. (Much like the on-going fight over carriage fees between CSN Houston and cable providers.)

So do we rely on the government to create new laws to address Net Neutrality, or do we let the free market play out and let the chips fall where they may?

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Thomas Wheeler said in a statement that the commission “will consider all available options, including those for appeal, to ensure that these networks on which the Internet depends continue to provide a free and open platform for innovation and expression.” But, much like Don Quixote, the chairman may be tilting at windmills.