Freeman Dyson, I love you!
:…the rules of ”’Open Source sharing”’ will be extended from the exchange of software to the exchange of genes. Then the evolution of life will once again be communal, as it was in the good old days before separate species and intellectual property were invented.
[http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/30/1927205&from=rss Read more of this story] at [http://slashdot.org/ Shashdot].
Now that the world is heating up, so are the discussions and debates on reducing resources required for computing. Reduced power, reduced heating, sleeping and suspending processors and processes.
Effective and efficient handling of our computing needs at minimal resource consumption in the complete life cycle of a network of computers has become the focus of attention. I call this ”’conscious computing”’ across the board—and my dream is to have a ”’Conscious Computing Award”’ for those solutions, projects and companies that will startle our view in this area and provide unprecedented breakthroughs in the area of smart spiritual software.
I will start tracking ideas, initiatives, programs, projects and inspirational sources on this topic. Here are the first two:
#[http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/cpu/power-plays.ars Power Plays: How power consumption will shape the future of computing] on how Intel is using smart self-organizing principles on chip-level to maximize the performance/power ratio in favour of green or ”’conscious computing”’.
#Sun’s Jonathan Schwartz on [http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/size_matters Switching Subjects] to drastically simplify cabling and reducing power and cooling requirements in massive data centers in their ”’Project Magnum”’ and ”'[http://www.sun.com/servers/hpc/SunConstellationPreview.jsp Constellation System]”’. Good that Sun has ”’Andy Bechtolsheim”’ back on board. Do you know that [[Andy missed his plane and changed his name]]?
Using [[ScriptCloud for your tag cloud|ScriptCloud]]’s output, I created a tag cloud for the text in the [http://wiki.aardsource.org/Bus_Tour/Vision/Central_Station Aarde Vision Bus Tour]. Had to fiddle around with the style sheet a bit. The links do nothing, though. Here it is…
Here’s what I did:
#Include ScriptCloud’s tagline.css into style.css of weblog theme.
#Save all text into a plain and simple text file.
#Upload it to ScriptCloud.
#View generated tag cloud, and open HTML source.
#Copy just the tag cloud HTML and strip it from all the color settings.
#Paste result into body of blog entry.
Via [http://slashdot.org/ Slashdot]:
:[http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/19/2258242&from=rss Google Spends Money to Jump-Start Hybrid Car Development]: “slugo writes ‘Internet search giant Google (GOOG) hopes to speed the development of plug-in hybrid cars by giving away millions of dollars to people and companies that have what appear to be practical ways to get plug-in hybrid automobiles to market faster.
:’While many people don’t associate Google with energy, analysts say the fit isn’t all that unnatural. Renewable energy, unlike coal or nuclear, will likely come from thousands or tens of thousands of different locations. Analysts have long said that one of the big challenges will be managing that flow into and out of the nation’s electric grid, and that companies that manage the flow of information are well placed to handle that task.
:[http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/19/2258242&from=rss Read more of this story] at Slashdot.
[[One trillion euro for AardWagen]] may fuel this initiative.
How about rewarding ”’one trillion euro”’ for the first international precompetitive collaboration that produces a vehicle in ten years that improves rather than poverishes our Earth in each and every step of it’s lifecycle?
From original conception to design, manufacturing, use and destruction, AardWagen will make our environment better, more whole, embellish it, enrich it. This requires creative thought and action across the board and must shatter many political and economical barriers.
[[Google already Spends Money to Jump-Start Hybrid Car Development]]. Who’s next to join all powers in a single large worldwide fund to develop AardWagen in an open tournament.
Welcome to the [http://wiki.aardsource.org/ Vision Bus Tour] around Aarde’s Wiki. You are cordially invited to contribute, ask questions and even fix any errors you find on the way.
Enjoy the ride.
Creating a ”’brand new country”’ is a startling endeavour. And today is Earth Day. An excellent day to go public with my passion. I’m giving it my whole heart, soul, and mind.
Previously code-named [http://wiki.aardrock.com/LandONE LandONE], I’ve renamed it to ”’Aarde”’. I’ve started the [http://aardsource.org/ Aarde blog]—domainnames aarde.org and aarde.net are already taken, so I’ve opted for ”’AardSource”’ as name space—an inexhaustable and ever abundant well for everything Aarde. A Wiki for global collaboration will follow soon.
Some ask me, why the name ‘Aarde’? It’s really quite simple. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon was once asked how he came up with the name ”’Amazon”’. “Well, it’s the largest river on Earth and it starts with an A.”. (the latter having an excellent free marketing value—you’re always near the top of alphabetical lists). I’ve never forgotten his answer.
In the same spirit ”’Aarde”’:
*is the largest planet around that has life on it (as far as we know);
*starts with a double A;
*has a Dutch connection—my home country.
[http://martien.van.steenbergen.nl/love/ Love],
:Martien.
Sunday April 22 is Earth Day. An important day for AardRock and AardSource as well. A day to remember and mark in my calendar.