Letters:

President should be judged on ability

This is in response to the Jan. 22 editorial column by the Exponent’s very own opinions editor entitled "Inaugural address lacks sincerity."

As tempting as it was to title this letter "Opinions editor lacks intelligence," I refrained. I understand that this is the United States and everybody has the right to his or her own opinion. I also understand everybody has the right to be an immature loser. Well, it is safe to say that the author of that column was exercising both of these rights to his fullest capabilities. Has America become that intolerant to not even give somebody a chance?

Today, we live in such a blind society, that we would not elect somebody unless they "seemed" like a president. It is sad to think that today a president like Abraham Lincoln would not be elected. Would the American people elect a president with the physical characteristics of Lincoln today? The best president in the history of the United States would not have been elected because of how he looked. Or take FDR for example. Would a candidate in a wheelchair actually get past the primaries in an election today?

It saddens me to think people are that unwilling to give things a chance today. History speaks for itself, so before we go around ripping apart a speech from a president 30 minutes into his term, I say give him a chance. But for those who refuse, much like that editor/author, go ahead and fill Bush’s speech with "humor" and a bunch of big words you got straight out of a Thesaurus. However, I think that if they wanted a speech by a Democrat at the inauguration, they would have asked the loser to speak.

Dan Lindberg
Freshman, School of Management

Single line results in sluggish server

In a recent article, Mr. Ksander said there is no evidence to back up the theory that "Purdue has shifted some of the traffic going through its servers and caused an overload…" Let's allow the students to decide for themselves.

Before Christmas break, ResNet had access to two Internet lines. One, the "regular" Internet line, has 45 megabits per second of bandwidth for student usage. The other, a research oriented Internet2 line, provided an additional 45 Mb/s of bandwidth connecting Purdue to over 180 universities. So, if you got a file from a computer at Stanford, it went across the Internet2 line; if you got a file from yahoo.com the information traversed the "regular" Internet line. The Internet2 line received an average of about 20 Mb/s of ResNet traffic, and the Internet line received an average of around 40.

Over Christmas break, the ResNet connection to the Internet2 line was severed, and all traffic was routed across the Internet line. (For all you geeks, run a trace route from your ResNet computer to Stanford.edu, then do the same on expert. See the difference?) Now, I'm no math major, but the last time I checked 20 Mb/s + 40 Mb/s is greater than the 45 Mb/s our current Internet line can handle. For the average ResNet user, this means Internet access is slow and unresponsive.

PUCC is surely in the middle of trying to remedy the problem (such as limiting upload speeds, hence making the Internet even slower). Truth be told, it will all end up coming down to three reasonable options: they can purchase an additional Internet line for ResNet usage, ban programs such as Napster (which use horrid amounts of bandwidth) or somehow convince the people in charge of the Internet2 line to let us back on it.

Ryan Riley
Freshman, Schools of Engineering

Jeff Turkstra
Freshman, Schools of Engineering

Purdue should leave service alone

Has the ResNet been insanely slow lately, or is it just me?

For all of you paying for ResNet service, it is your right to know that Purdue has made a few "changes" to our service. No, it is not a temporary problem, nor is PUCC having technical difficulties. Purdue has significantly reduced your ResNet speed. Permanently. Anyone in the Residence Halls, graduate housing and off-campus ADSL now experiences crawling internet access comparable to a 56K modem. Checking email, doing homework, let alone just plain surfing, has now become a chore. Prior to last week, ResNet subscribers accessed the rest of the world basically through two major high-speed links. Now we have only one. We used to share the second with research, but we now have no access to it. But what about all the TAs and graduate students with work and research to do, or professors using ResNet ADSL for the same reasons? And what about at night when there is no research? Nighttime is when ResNet needs that extra speed.

I do not understand — we pay good money for a fast connection, and now Purdue has decided to cut our connection speed in half. To PUCC, if you did not think anyone would experience slower connections, I suggest you ask around. Cut our bandwidth in half? Fine — cut the price in half.

I encourage everyone on the ResNet to speak out. Write in to the Exponent. Email ResNet. Get PSG involved. Get professors and other students involved. We should not be paying for bandwidth that we no longer use. We should not have been cut off in the first place. Put ResNet back the way it was.

Jenna Wehr
Sophomore, School of Science

Monday night exams will ease tension

President should be judged on ability

Single line results in sluggish server

Purdue should leave service alone

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Opinions editor:
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