P2P Enegry, World Climate and Virtual Plagues

Mikael's party was great and just decided to update the blog before bed so here are a few bits and pieces.

A nice article on micro grids which are small local based energy generation schemes which are more similar to peer to peer distribution than the current monolithic distribution scheme commonly used. They offer a lot more flexibility with regard to reacting to flucating local demands and can offer great savings to users whilst being eco friendly. A nice article to accompany this topic is on A Low-Cost Energy Future.

A nasty toned article on American Climate Loonies who refuse to acknowledge scientific studies are showing that global warming is contributing to the changes in climate patterns. Maybe the loonies should read the Real Climate website which is run by climatologists. The Real Climate site discussions and articles take a science-based approach to climate issues.

On a interesting note, this week saw the first virtual plague.

Disasters, Governance and a Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber Dissidents

So it's been a mad week at work and things don't look like calming down anytime soon. Here are two quick picks for the weekend:

Firstly we have "Disasters and governance" which talks about the various Internet based website which have been created in response to the several of recent world disasters such as the Asian Tsunami and the Katrina Hurricane in the US. The second piece is "Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber Dissidents" which talks about a new handbook for bloggers and political activists. It talks about how to set up your own blog and how to use it whilst still preserving your personal digital anonymity. This book is definitely aimed at bloggers from countries or regimes which routinely censor or restrict the mainstream media. It also covers basic ethical and journalistic principles to improve your credibility as a blogger.

The other item of note is I'm intending to change the location of this blog and its system to a nice new Wordpress page over at nonado (see blogs.nonado.net) but it'll need some technical figuring out as I'm only going to move if I can get all my archives and comments. More to follow on this.

More on the Poetry Meme

Taking a leaf from Froodie.

The Naming of Cats

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
  It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
  Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey -
  All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
  Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter -
  But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
  A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
  Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
  Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum -
  Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
  And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover -
  But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
  The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
  Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
    His ineffable effable
    Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

- T. S. Eliot

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
London: Faber, 1939 (1962)

More on AJAX

Back to something that is finally breaking thru and reaching its "tipping point" AJAX.

So on OK-Cancel we've got the above cartoon and also a second refinement on what is AJAX by Jesse James Garrett who originally coined the term and in particular why it is important now.

For those new to the term or seeking a bit of an introduction ( part one & part two ) by XML.com. To be fair what you really should look at is Rails as that would be my suggestion.

Estonia a Tax Heaven ?

"Imagine a place with no tax accountants, where the annual return takes a businessman an hour to complete. Think how you could lead a country and design an economy just as you liked. Consider the joy of creating a tax system with no loopholes and exemptions, where everyone is treated the same.

When he became the prime minister of Estonia at the tender age of 32, Mart Laar saw this opportunity as a beautiful thing. The Soviet regime that once ruled his country had been overthrown, and he was starting with a clean slate – and the confidence that came from reading only one book on economics"

For more see the article at Stake Ventures

Fianna Fail on the run

Well seems that FF are on the run given the latest turn of events. According to the Red C poll in the Sunday Business Post, its FF down to 32 and FG up to 28 when you read the small print about voter preference and for likelyhood for actually voting.

Quoting from their actual polling results - "Voting intention results for this most recent Sunday Business Poll, excluding apathetic voters, makes very interesting reading for the main parties. Stripping out apathetic voters makes the race much closer with Fianna Fail obtaining the same level of support at 32%, but Fine Gael increasing their share of the vote to 28%, just 4% behind. Labour also holds on to the same share at 13% and this would put the FG/Labour coalition in a very strong position."

Poll - Methodology

Social Capital and Bertie

2005 © Irish Times by Martyn Turner.


Got the Madam at the IT to publish another one of my letters but it seems my point of view was shared by quite a few people if Martyn Turner's cartoon is anything to go by and yes I sent it in on Saturday so the fact they printed in Wednesday means that it is quite possible Martyn read it before doing his cartoon but I'll call it quits if he'll let me keep using his fantastic cartoons the odd time ;-)