slashdot bits
- Fortune.com | Heroes of Manufacturing. What if you want an OS that never crashes? What if you have a device which you cannot afford to have crash? You use QNX.
- Slashdot | Weta Prepares to Render LOTR: ROTK.
Seven racks of IBM blade servers have been added to Weta's existing 15-rack server cluster to make up the largest Intel-based high- performance computer site in the world with more than 2000 linked processors.
What will this computing behemoth be doing? Rendering a movie. Great priorities, eh. Humans are fucking weird. - New York Times | A Mighty Wind - plans to build a huge wind farm in Nantucket Sound have the locals up in arms. This is too big for a dot point, so let's continue below....
It's a fight between needing sustainable energy, preserving natural wonders, and the basic "not in my back yard" attitude of the locals. The developer points out some of the benefits - Imagine tapping into this inexhaustible supply of energy right here in our own state, lowering the cost of electricity, decreasing pollution, reducing reliance on foreign fuel,'' Gordon said recently as he paced his company's boardroom in downtown Boston. ''We're feeding oil cartels whose whims move our economy and our armies. With wind, we can free ourselves from that.
The problem is the locals are rich and powerful. Really rich, really powerful. So they can afford to fight and fight hard: [Locals] tend to be vain about their environmental sensitivities, so you would think they'd cheer the coming of alternative energy. But supporting the construction of dozens of towering turbines visible from their beaches, boats and waterfront homes is a very different thing from avoiding tern nesting grounds or attending a lecture on shoreline erosion. Even before Gordon finished his analysis of the shoal's sands, a forceful and well-connected army of opposition had formed. ... Representative William Delahunt spearheaded an effort to protect the sound by advocating that it be declared a national marine sanctuary. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offered his name and voice to the struggle, despite the fact that the Natural Resources Defense Council, the environmental organization for which he is a senior attorney, is a strong advocate of offshore wind development. And the yacht-club set opened its checkbooks, donating money and stock to cover the $100,000-a-month bills for rent, three full-time salaries, television and radio time, two lobbyists and three law firms.
That's a lot of clout.
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