Economics of IP Geolocation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geolocation_software

One application is marketing.

• Marketing needs to take these factors into consideration:
• Geographic region (is sex advertisement okay in China? what restaurants are near me? what's the sense of surfing equipment advertisement if I live in Colorado?)
• Organization (If you know I'm from USC, shouldn't you overwhelm me with USC fans' stuff?)
• Internet connection (I have broadband, offer me more fancy data-intensive application)

And IP address can be mapped to these factors by means

• RIR (ARIN, RIPE NCC, APNIC, LACNIC, AfriNIC)
• Weather websites (ZIP code, city)
• Google map (my default address...)
• Online Social Network (my current network, events' location)
• Any website you provided your address.

An IP address could be related to other information in your profile, like your age, your gender, you interests, you favourite musician, and based on these factors, your world will be further narrowed and personalized by marketers.
I guess the fundamental goal of these marketers is to gain this IP-to-Human mapping, if I know a.b.c.d is Claire, and I know Claire likes cakes, then I'm going to overwhelm her with all the fancy cakes near her apartment.

However, IP-to-Human mapping changes fast thanks to the dynamic addressing. The intermediate mappings in this IP-to-Human mapping are

• IP-to-Host (your desktop, laptop, iPhone)
• Host-to-Human
  

The dynamic addressing happens at IP-to-Host level. It changes quicker for Chinese DSL users (I guess? at least my dad shut down the modem quite often... but as Chinese get richer...), and slower for American cable modem users (I forgot the last time I shut down my modem...). But since more stuff are more mobile, I guess this IP-to-Host mapping's dynamics will keep increasing..

So the marketers have this headache with IP-to-Human mapping, however, people found IP-to-Geo is relatively more stable. So marketers don't care a.b.c.d is Claire, they just care a.b.c.d is someone living in Los Angeles, CA. And people living in LA like to party and surfing.. lol (obviously it doesn't apply for all, and they have better means to improve their knowledge about you..)

So... don't think there are so many great FREE services online... They know how to make money without your knowing. The more free services you use, the more exposed you are, and the more personalized your web is. Sometimes it's great though, I don't care live events in NYC. Sometimes it can be harmful, like my mentor once told me, the insurance company can decline to offer you plan because you searched too many times "AIDS".

Course plan

Probably I should get a taste of Marshall and Annenberg.

Marshall
--------------
BUAD 307: Marketing Fundamentals (4 units)
Develops a managerial viewpoint in planning and evaluating marketing decisions of the firm: products, pricing, channels, promotion, information processing, legal implications, and marketing in contemporary society.
Fall 2009
14800R Lecture 12:00-1:50pm Monday 184 of 188 Rex Kovacevich HOH EDI
14812R Lecture 12:00-1:50pm Wednesday 189 of 192 Ira Kalb HOH EDI
14824R Lecture 2:00-3:50pm Tuesday 196 of 199 Lars Perner HOH EDI
14836R Lecture 2:00-3:50pm Thursday 184 of 188 Marlene Morris Towns HOH EDI
Spring 2010
14800R Lecture 12:00-1:50pm Monday 7 of 190 Lars Perner HOH EDI
14812R Lecture 12:00-1:50pm Wednesday 4 of 190 Ira Kalb HOH EDI
14824R Lecture 12:00-1:50pm Tuesday 10 of 190 Rex Kovacevich HOH EDI
14836R Lecture 12:00-1:50pm Thursday 1 of 190 Marlene Morris Towns HOH EDI

Annenberg
-----------------
COMM 206: Communication and Culture (4 units)
Examines cultural institutions, ideologies, artifacts, and productions; role of culture in everyday life; cultural studies as methodology; culture and power.
Fall 2009
20340R Lecture 12:30-1:50pm TTh 192 of 198 Alison Trope ASC G26
Spring 2010
20388R Lecture 12:30-1:50pm TTh 8 of 200 Alison Trope ASC G26

COMM 371: Censorship and the Law: From the Press to Cyberspace (4 units)
The study of current and historical battles over the limits of free expression from press and public parks to television, movies, music and cyberspace.
Spring 2010
20572R Lecture 6:30-9:20pm Tuesday 4 of 90 Michael Overing ASC G26

Curse?

My stubborn dad told me to wear red this year since it's the year of ox.
I never took it seriously.

Probably I should.
So I wouldn't get homeless in Florida,
So I wouldn't take the stupid class and meet someone's room mate.
So I wouldn't ask someone to pick me up at the airport.
So my car tire wouldn't deflate totally when I got back.
So I wouldn't fail to measure the duration of yellow light and get caught by camera.
So I wouldn't get this damn headache today because I'm stupid enough to still have some expectation.

Probably I shouldn't.
Otherwise I'll never learn the stuff you won't learn while travelling with others.
Otherwise I'll never learn how to fix a deflated tire.
Otherwise I'll never learn how to deal with a ticket.
Otherwise I'll never learn the ugly truth.

There is nothing you cannot get over with,
and the more you get over with,
the more ox you are.

Dad, isn't it right? =)

同类 -- Stephanie Sun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptUNbO8y_OY

雨后的城市 寂寞又狼狈
路边的座位 它空着在等谁
我拉住时间 它却不理会
有没有别人 跟我一样很想被安慰
风 停了又吹 我忽然想起谁
天 亮了又 黑 我过了好几岁
心 暖了又灰 世界 有时候孤单的很需要另一个同类
爱 收了又给 我们都不太完美
梦 作了又碎 我们有几次机会　 去追
我拉住时 间 它却不理会
有没有别人 跟我一样很想被安慰
啦啦...
风 停了又吹 我忽然想起谁
天 亮了又黑 我过了好几岁
心 暖了又灰 世界 有时候孤 单的很需要另一个同类
爱 收了又给 我们都不太完美
梦 作了又碎 我们有几次机会　 去追
不晓得为什么爱 又稀少又昂贵
云在半空中 被微风剪 碎
回忆也许美 可是正在飞走对不对

I'm so grateful for

Chengjie's help with my stupidity this morning.

I got into an emotional mood and slept too late last night.
And I woke up this morning, brushed my teeth, washed my face like a robot, then drove to ISI.

Usually I will check everything before I get off my car, but today, I guess the emotional mood and not-enough sleep made mine intelligence go down. So I locked my car key in the car with engine still on...

There is no backup key. So I was thinking, oh, fine, ~!@#$%^&*()_+
But I'm aware that saying dirty words, or being helpless can not open the door, so I decide to go to my office and search for help online.

When I got to the office, I saw Chengjie's office was open and he was there, so I asked him for advise. Chengjie told me no worry, Huang Zong had made the same mistakes for at least 2-3 times, what we need to do is just to call AAA and they would open the door without breaking the lock.

So AAA came after 15 mins, everything got fixed and I even made my class on time.

Thank you so much Chengjie, I owe you too much, dude.

Notes of Philippa Foot

In Virtues and Vices,

Almost any desire can lead a man to act unjustly, not even excluding the desire to help a friend or to save a life, whereas a cowardly act must be motivated by fear or a desire for safety, and an act of intemperance by a desire for pleasure, perhaps even for a particular range of pleasures such as those of eating or drinking or sex.

As with courage and temperance so with many other virtues: there is, for instance, a virtue of industriousness only because idleness is a temptation; and of humility only because men tend to think too well of themselves. Hope is a virtue because despair too is a temptation;

With virtues such as justice and charity it is a little different, because they correspond not to any particular desire or tendency that has to be kept in check but rather to a deficiency of motivation; and it is this that they must make good. If people were as much attached to the good of others as they are to their own good there would no more be a general virtue of benevolence than there is a general virtue of self-love. And if people cared about the rights of others as they care about their own rights no virtue of justice would be needed to look after the matter, and rules about such things as contracts and promises would only need to be made public, like the rules of a game that everyone was eager to play.

Aristotle on Women

Aristotle believed that women are colder than men and thus a lower form of life.

According to Aristotle, man rightly takes charge over woman, because he commands superior intelligence. This will also profit the women who depend on him. He compares this to the relationship between human beings and tame animals.

On the other hand, Aristotle gave equal weight to women's happiness as he did to men's, and commented in his Rhetoric that a society cannot be happy unless women are happy too. In places like Sparta where the lot of women are bad, live in every sort of intemperance and luxury, and unhappy, there can only be half-happiness in society.

So I wikied Sparta women..

1. Spartan women enjoyed a status, power, and respect that was unknown in the rest of the classical world.
2. It is estimated that women were the sole owners of at least 35% of all land and property in Sparta.
3. unlike Athenian women who wore heavy, concealing clothes and were rarely seen outside the house, Spartan women wore short dresses and went where they pleased

Aristotle Notes (from Wikipedia)

1. the Nutritive Soul (plants, animals and humans), the Perceptive Soul (animals and humans) and the Rational Soul (humans only). Thus, a human's function is to do what makes it human, to be good at what sets it apart from everything else: the ability to reason or logos.

2. Aristotle lists the following as moral virtues as habits which involve finding the correct mean between extreme options: courage, temperance (moderation), liberality (moderation in giving and taking money), magnificence (correctly dealing with great wealth or power), pride (claiming what is due to you), gentleness (moderation with respect to anger), agreeableness, truthfulness, and wit.

3. Courage is also explicitly connected with pain and pleasure in the sense that it is more painful to face that which frightens us and more pleasurable to flee.

4. Temperance is not self-indulgence or insensibility.

5. Aristotle states it is especially important to have honor since it is the greatest of the external goods and it is what great people think themselves most worthy.

6. Aristotle argues that friends can be viewed as second selves. Just as virtuous behaviour improves oneself, friends can improve each other.

7.Aristotle divides friendships into three types, that of utility, that of pleasure and that of the good. Two are inferior to the other because of the motive; friendships of utility and pleasure do not regard friends as people but what they can give in return.

• Friendships of utility - Buying merchandise
• Friendships of pleasure - share a hobby
• Friendships of good - enjoy each other's characters

I only make friends who

KEEP their promise.

One of the meaning of friends, to me, is RESPECTING each other.
We are EQUAL, no one is superior.

I like you, mostly is because you have certain characteristics I appreciate, either I already have or I am longing to have.
I'm willing to share that part of life with you, since I think we'll both enjoy it.
I know it's unfair that I'm the only person who decide what to share.
So you can SQUEEZE it, and we can agree on a smaller set with which we are both comfortable.

We'll agree on a LEVEL OF EXPECTATION of how much intersection of life to each other. It's okay for each side to give more if willing to, but only EXPECT that much. Only the expectation which cannot be satisfied causes pain.

We can also ADJUST the level of expectation, people change, I understand. But it should be fairly stable, otherwise what's the difference between instant promise and lie?

I'm willing to make friends, so I'll treat everyone I first met EQUALLY.
I'll be nice to you and get to know you.
We'll find out what we want to share and we'll agree on the level of expectation.

Once we agreed on the level of expectation.
Please DO what you say.
Please DO NOT fool me.
Please DO NOT make fake promise.
Please DO NOT raise the level of expectation if you only want more from me but not willing to give the equal amount.

I will try my best to trust you, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid.
If you lose my trust, believe me, it's going to be very difficult to gain it back.

Search engines in China

http://www.bullogger.com/blogs/garbledtext/archives/940.aspx

I am wondering where is the original version..

香港城市大学的教授ANDREW LIH说，大多数中国人抱有一种长远的眼光看问题。“中国人有五千年的历史，你现在封一 个网站，他们只会想，用不了多少时间，它自己就会回来的。”或者想想中国那些想方设法登陆维基百科全书的人。最近，伟基百科被全面封杀。这些人希望说服维 基的管理者能够建立一个中国政府允许的版本，禁掉那些在中国不合法的条目。他们说，这对于中国来说其实是好事，特别是那些边远地区学校。（到目前为止，维 基仍然表示不会创建一个审查过的版本）
Recently, wikipedia has been banned. Chinese people wish to persuade wiki managers to establish a Chinese-government-approved version. Actually this is a good thing for China, especially for schools in the countryside.

I think this makes a lot of sense, only criticizing Chinese government and stopping service is not an efficient way to go.