Thursday 12 February 2009
Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin. The theory of evolution rocks!
Do companies really have the corporate will to green their IT?
Should CIOs get ready to add "energy czar" to their list of job roles?
McKinsey & Co., a management think tank, seems to believe as much. In a study presented last year at the Uptime Institute's Green Enterprise Computing Symposium, McKinsey called on companies to move accountability for facilities operations to the CIO and to appoint an internal energy czar to better focus on the true cost of data center ownership, which includes both equipment and facilities expenses------
With no takers willing to publicly sign on to McKinsey's challenge, Computerworld sought out companies -- including Google and Yahoo -- that are leading the charge to take control of data center energy costs. The conclusion: Corporate America is indeed thinking seriously about data center energy costs, but many companies aren't yet ready to commit to changes as sweeping as what McKinsey proposes.
Why does McKinsey advocate such a radical shift in responsibilities? Forrest points out several reasons behind the recommendation. First, data centers are usually the biggest users of energy in a corporation. Second, IT would be charged with developing and implementing the technology -- such as dashboards -- required to measure and monitor energy efficiency anyway.
And third, it's important that companies designate someone who can be held accountable for total data center costs and energy efficiency, he notes. Even in companies that have set up a "green champion," if that person isn't given the power and authority to deliver results, "it makes the job very limited," says Forrest. The company may trumpet a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent a year, for example, "but there's no means of tying that to any real executive action."
Microsoft offers free toll to calculate business carbon footprint.
Will they tar 'n' feather Danny in Corryong?
Wednesday 11 February 2009
"The Age" gets taken for a ride and creates serious michief along the way
The group calling for this jihad is supposedly currently active and going by the name Al-Ikhlas Islamic Network and it allegedly posts on the Internet, presumably on a forum website hosted out of Malaysia and written in three or possibly four languages.
The entire forest fire jihad plot was rehashed in January 2008 when WorldTribune ran with it again .
So low in fact that it is only ever mentioned by secondary sources.
It seems to be nothing more than a blustering website, which is sometimes not even online.
A situation which should have alerted The Age reporter to the fact that he might have been building with straw and, that this Internet forum was unlikely to be a group nor a credible threat.
Turnbull according to Turnbull [revisited]
In December 2004 Malcolm informed us that he had won the seat of Wentworth, posted his maiden speech and took the fight against a crematorium at Waverley Cemetery to Parliament among other things.
By November 2005 he was defending Israel, restating the case for tax reform, talking about sustainable cities, sending out news letters and helping his dogs launch a website during Pet Week.
Then in December 2006 Turnbull was found posting a National Press Club speech on the drought, writing about saving the Murray-Darling and water scarcity. His dogs have turned into hot canine bloggers.
When December 2007 rolled around the MP for Wentworth (still styling himself Minister for the Environment and Water Resources despite the Coalition election defeat) was firmly into Green House conferencing, communicating by Face Book, YouTube, MySpace and saving whales.
Now in Februaury 2009 one has to dodge a splash screen to enter Malcolm's website, he's added Twitter to his online communicating, he has launched another website Jobs for Australia, he proudly informs us all that he opposes the Rudd Government's second stimulus package and.............. his dogs still blog.
Waverley Cemetery doesn't have a crematorium to this day because council and the electorate were against the idea rather than because the Member for Wentworth opposed the idea.
The Murray-Darling isn't saved from environmental disaster and water is still scarce in the southern half of the continent.
These days Malcolm continues to defend Israel, talk about green house emissions, mention taxes, keep fairly silent on the plight of whales and...............his dogs still blog.
Not much to show for those years in government is it?
Turnbull cartoon from The Brisbane Times
Tuesday 10 February 2009
Religious fruitcake's attempt at 15 minutes of fame
The leader of Catch the Fire Ministries (CTFM), Pastor Danny Nalliah, has made a very bold bid to secure the title of Australian Fruitcake of the Year. Oops, correction, make that Fruitcake of the Century.
Nalliah said he was not surprised by the bush fires because he had a dream last October relating to consequences of the abortion laws passed in Victoria.
In a media release, in which he said "the bushfires are a result of the incendiary abortion laws which decimate life in the womb", Nalliah called upon "all Australian Bible-believing God-fearing Christians to repent and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ for His mercy and protection over Australia once again.
“Yesterday (Monday 9th February 2009), the front page of the Herald Sun newspaper reported “The Darkest hour for Victoria”. A few months ago the news media should have reported “The darkest hour for the unborn” but unfortunately the “Decriminalization of Abortion bill” went through parliament and was passed, thus making many people call Victoria ‘the baby killing state of Australia,’” Mr Nalliah said.
Breath-taking aint it!Previously, in a biography posted on CTFM's website, Nalliah claimed that he has seen "many blind, deaf, dump [sic], crippled people healed by the power of God ... (and) a dead girl who came back to life, when he prayed for her."
Nalliah has made himself available for interviews. He can be contacted on 03 9794 8211. Readers might care to give the Pastor a call and see what other ratbag ideas he has dreamt up.
Boy the Wonder Cat has moved to........Antarctica
Not being a mobile phone aficionado and having friends with spotty records when it comes to recharging theirs, I could see no reason why I should want to play with this new Google feature.
Then I had a thought. I could use Google to effect a digital house move for Boy the Wonder Cat.
He is now camped down in Antarctica for all the world to see, protesting against Japanese whaling in southern waters.
He is also patiently waiting for Google to update Latitude mapping so that he can move into the comfort of the Australian research station.
Care to join this intrepid little moggie?
Liberated penguins from Asymptotia