Thanks for the recommendation, I will keep an eye out for that.
I wish that more of Vernor Vinge's work was available as an ebook, since this is out of print and the only used copies I see on the web are in Australia or the USA, but I'm in the UK, so the shipping is more than the book.
I applaud Google for taking these steps, but reading between the lines here's another way to look at this:
From the article: The solar array will be "... capable of generating 1.6 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power 1,000 California homes" however, "the company will rely on solar power to supply nearly a third of the electricity consumed by office workers at its roughly one-million-square-foot headquarters" (emphasis added).
The way I read that, the Google campus uses over 4.8 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power over 3,000 California homes, just for the offices, excluding the server farms and data centres.
Alternate energy sources are great and I'm all for them, but the only long term solution is to be smarter about energy use and use less of it. For example, I've recently replaced my home PC with one using a Pentium M motherboard and cut my PC power consumption in half. Similarly, turning off devices instead of putting them on standby, and taking other measures such as replacing lightbulbs with low-energy bulbs all helps reduce my personal energy consumption.
In a business context, how about turning off office lights at night or going for motion sensor solutions so you aren't lighting empty space? Encouraging employees to turn off workstations overnight, etc. I've no idea if Google does something along these lines already, this isn't an attack on them.
I don't see how the MS - Linux competition has anything whatsoever to do with Bill and Melissa's charitable work. I'm no fan of Microsoft and I do avoid using MS products wherever possible, but the comparsion here should be with other of the worlds wealthy. How do Larry Ellison's charitable contributions stack up, for example?
Not everything about Bill Gates is a Microsoft vs Linux issue.
Personally, I think that my use of free-as-in-beer alternatives to commercial products does increase my charitable donations because I have more disposable income available to me. In theory it means that Bill et al have less available to them to donate to their favourite charity, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over that.
In case you are wondering what to do with the money you saved from using free software, here are some of my preferred charities. Enjoy:
If I recall correctly, Michael Foale was onboard Mir when it sprung a leak due to a collision with an unmanned Progress supply rocket. They were testing a new automated docking system and it malfunctioned, causing the unmanned rocket to collide with Mir causing a significant leak. [wanders off to actual _read_ the article]
Yup, my memory is correct. The current situation is massively different from the previous one in which they had something like 30 minutes of breathable air left in the station and Michael Foale was already sitting in the escape capsule preparing it for launch / release, IIRC. Dragonfly: An Adventure of Survival in Outer Space is a well written book that describes the Mir program, including this incident.
You know, sailors have supersitions about "unlucky" crew and someone who is involved in too many incidents find that they are no longer welcome on board. Michael may ind himself in this situation after this.:-)
I know you specifically said "not VNC/RFB", but Alkit VNC may do what you want. It is a modified version of WinVNC that allows you to share a single window instead of the entire desktop.
I don't know what relationship (if any) it has to the modified version of TightVNC mentioned in another thread, but I've used it and it works.
It's been a while since I listened to a CD in a dedicated CD player. I still buy CDs, lots of them, but tend to play them on CD-ROM drives or rip them to MP3 and play them from disk or from a prtable MP3 player. I don't trade MP3s and don't intend to, but it makes no sense to me to shell out for a CD walkman or a home audio system when I already have a CD-ROM in front of me.
I have already come across music I wanted to buy but was unable to because it was copy-protected. As far as I am concerned, this copy-protected CD is as much use to me as a casette tape or vinyl record would be - none. I think an effort must be made to raise awareness that copy-protected CDs are a new media format which offers no advantage to the consumer and may require new players.
I have no intention of purchasing any product which I cannot use in my current equipment unless there is some advantage to me. That doesn't seem too complicated to understand, even for record companies.
You gotta love Maelstrom. A Windows port of a Linux port of a Macintosh port (of an arcade game?). I first played this on a very early PowerMac, then played the Linux version several years later, then finally played the Windows port this year.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks for the recommendation, I will keep an eye out for that.
I wish that more of Vernor Vinge's work was available as an ebook, since this is out of print and the only used copies I see on the web are in Australia or the USA, but I'm in the UK, so the shipping is more than the book.
I applaud Google for taking these steps, but reading between the lines here's another way to look at this:
From the article: The solar array will be "... capable of generating 1.6 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power 1,000 California homes" however, "the company will rely on solar power to supply nearly a third of the electricity consumed by office workers at its roughly one-million-square-foot headquarters" (emphasis added).
The way I read that, the Google campus uses over 4.8 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power over 3,000 California homes, just for the offices, excluding the server farms and data centres.
Alternate energy sources are great and I'm all for them, but the only long term solution is to be smarter about energy use and use less of it. For example, I've recently replaced my home PC with one using a Pentium M motherboard and cut my PC power consumption in half. Similarly, turning off devices instead of putting them on standby, and taking other measures such as replacing lightbulbs with low-energy bulbs all helps reduce my personal energy consumption.
In a business context, how about turning off office lights at night or going for motion sensor solutions so you aren't lighting empty space? Encouraging employees to turn off workstations overnight, etc. I've no idea if Google does something along these lines already, this isn't an attack on them.
My 2 cents.
I don't see how the MS - Linux competition has anything whatsoever to do with Bill and Melissa's charitable work. I'm no fan of Microsoft and I do avoid using MS products wherever possible, but the comparsion here should be with other of the worlds wealthy. How do Larry Ellison's charitable contributions stack up, for example?
Not everything about Bill Gates is a Microsoft vs Linux issue.
Personally, I think that my use of free-as-in-beer alternatives to commercial products does increase my charitable donations because I have more disposable income available to me. In theory it means that Bill et al have less available to them to donate to their favourite charity, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over that.
In case you are wondering what to do with the money you saved from using free software, here are some of my preferred charities. Enjoy:
If I recall correctly, Michael Foale was onboard Mir when it sprung a leak due to a collision with an unmanned Progress supply rocket. They were testing a new automated docking system and it malfunctioned, causing the unmanned rocket to collide with Mir causing a significant leak. [wanders off to actual _read_ the article]
Yup, my memory is correct. The current situation is massively different from the previous one in which they had something like 30 minutes of breathable air left in the station and Michael Foale was already sitting in the escape capsule preparing it for launch / release, IIRC. Dragonfly: An Adventure of Survival in Outer Space is a well written book that describes the Mir program, including this incident.
You know, sailors have supersitions about "unlucky" crew and someone who is involved in too many incidents find that they are no longer welcome on board. Michael may ind himself in this situation after this. :-)
I know you specifically said "not VNC/RFB", but Alkit VNC may do what you want. It is a modified version of WinVNC that allows you to share a single window instead of the entire desktop.
I don't know what relationship (if any) it has to the modified version of TightVNC mentioned in another thread, but I've used it and it works.
It's been a while since I listened to a CD in a dedicated CD player. I still buy CDs, lots of them, but tend to play them on CD-ROM drives or rip them to MP3 and play them from disk or from a prtable MP3 player. I don't trade MP3s and don't intend to, but it makes no sense to me to shell out for a CD walkman or a home audio system when I already have a CD-ROM in front of me.
I have already come across music I wanted to buy but was unable to because it was copy-protected. As far as I am concerned, this copy-protected CD is as much use to me as a casette tape or vinyl record would be - none. I think an effort must be made to raise awareness that copy-protected CDs are a new media format which offers no advantage to the consumer and may require new players.
I have no intention of purchasing any product which I cannot use in my current equipment unless there is some advantage to me. That doesn't seem too complicated to understand, even for record companies.
You gotta love Maelstrom. A Windows port of a Linux port of a Macintosh port (of an arcade game?). I first played this on a very early PowerMac, then played the Linux version several years later, then finally played the Windows port this year.