So what banner ad do I see today when I hit up Slashdot? A Microsoft ad, but not just any, it's a link to their 'facts' about Windows and Linux.

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/facts/default.asp

Am I the only person who sees the irony in this, given the procilvities of the vast (or at least more vocal) majority of Slashdot?

Ok, for the past few days I get the occaisional popup ad on Slashdot. Why do I find that ironic? I know the site exists to make money, and as a good capitalist I have no qualms with that. I have to wonder if it's necessary for them to run popup ads though, especially given the sentiment against them in the Slashdot community. Hmmm.

I have been a big fan of alternative energy. It was obvious back in the 60's and 70's, that we would be where we are today. We have disagreement over wether pollution is causing problems (global heating, ozone hole, etc). Likewise, arguments locally about if we are currently fighting our war for Oil/Gas or for our Freedom. The main thing that would help, would be to make our country less dependant on other countries. That basically means the Middle East (for oil) and China (for production).

To minimize or remove oil dependancy, we will have to turn to alternative energy sources. That would basically come down to two main forms: electrical generation and Hydrogen production.

Personally, I believe that GM will see to it that H2 production will occur if they get their hywire to production. But it will be slow and spotty. Most likely, it will also be expensive as the producers will most likely be Oil/Gas companies that do not wish to change. In addition, the mechanics will not want to work on this for some time, even though it should be much easier to do.

So we are back looking at electrical generation. Most forms (wind and solar) are intermitent. This will require supplementing either with centralized generation or with some form of storage. Currently we use mostly centralized generation and minimal amounts of storage. Either way is very expensive.

But the one thing that seems to elude most people in the field is that you will not make wholesale conversion to different sources, storage, and useage in one clean sweep. To do so, would require huge changes in a system that does not reward big changes. So we have some alternative production today, but would like more. This requires boosting Normal generation or Storage.

Electrical storage must happen if alternatives are to take off. By de-centralizing storage, we would also be able to store energy for helping during the day, but also during times of crisis. Three good examples come to mind.

• 9/11
• The recent power outage
• Isabel.

In all three cases, Local area energy storage(LAES) would ahve enabled local supplements will the main units and lines were out. These would also allow for night time generation rather than building new plants.

An interesting one is the Sterling engine using high-temperature salts being developed by Beoing. It should be possible to build small units about an acre that would store energy for the local area. By then encouraging the creation of small companies (perhaps co-ops), we create a decentralized approach to energy storage. This prepares for the future use of alternatives as well as helps during times of crisis.

Ok, today I move my office for the second time in two months. We're moving just down the hall on the same floor in the same building.

This is on a campus of 3,000 people (HQ). We are moving 900 people this quarter! Can anyone out there say inefficiency!!!???

This is just a rant to get it off of my chest. Since part of my responsibility here is managing the IT techs, these moves cause us all kinds of headaches. Not to mention my personal inconvenience (and that of all the other people moving around).

So now I sit here, waiting for the movers to move my furniture. I'm not allowed to move anything myself except my laptop (safety rules).

This process of moving almost a third of the campus in three months time reminds me of those kid's puzzles with the numbers 1 through 15 on little plastic tiles, and one blank spot. You know the ones I'm talking about. Shuffle the pieces around until you get it right.

In a typical (for many corporations)showing of poor communication, nobody bothered to tell the higher ups how much this would all cost. Heh.

Ok, I'm done ranting now. It is my journal after all. This might not be a bad place to rant!

In other news, Fred Rodgers died this morning. I'm sure the Slashdot community will mourn his passing.

Seriously, I never really liked his show as a kid, but there is no denying how many lives he touched over the years. It was even bigger news here in Pittsburgh where he lived and worked. So long Fred, and thanks for all the puppets.

Aren't these journals just blogs? Then again, I guess Slashdot itself is a big huge blog. Most blogs are useless, as is this journal post.

I've never bothered to use this thing before (the journal). Perhaps I should start. There have been many times that I've thought of things that I would like to share with Slashdot that either don't get accepted as articles, or don't fit anywhere and would be woefully offtopic. In my journal, nothing is off topic ;)