Long-distance power
Posted: April 22, 2012 Filed under: energy | Tags: energy Comments OffArs Technica is reporting on a plan to run a very high-voltage cable from Iceland to the UK or mainland Europe. The plan would deliver 5B kilowatt-hours per year from Iceland’s geothermal generating systems to a Europe that is seeking safer and more sustainable sources of energy. (Germany, in response to last year’s nuclear catastrophe, is closing down its nuclear reactors.)
Other long-distance power connections have been in place in Europe for a while, but this would be the world’s longest by far. Additional power transmission are envisioned, bringing solar power from North Africa to Europe.
The final construction schedule or costs haven’t been published yet. The feasibility study, the article notes, found no major issues. One concern that may have been overlooked, however, one that could cause problems for the UK’s bid to be the terminus of the Iceland cable.
This is the standard Iceland plug:
This is the standard UK socket:
More on kid safety
Posted: April 22, 2012 Filed under: wtf | Tags: paranoia, QR Codes, wormtown fleet Comments OffVictor Infante’s wrote poignantly in his Friday Pop Culture Notebook<[1] about Jeff Barnard. Jeff, as many of you remember, died a year-and-a-half ago, leaving not only silence where his voice had been, but also a drought of energy from the rest of us. Jeff worked hard and, in the process, got the rest of us to work hard.
It wasn’t about competition, but about conversation. You know how it is: a gathering of friends brings out the best of everyone. One good idea sparks a half-dozen more. Further, if someone provides an insight, you cannot not see it afterwards. The world has a lot of great people who can fill our lives with magic and a lot of others who seek to fill our lives with fear.
Among marketing types, there’s a hot trend with QR codes. These squared ink blots, Quick Response codes, provide your smartphone with detailed information about a website, contact information, or other something else of questionable utility. I have one on my business card, mostly as a conversation starter. It contains my contact information.
It was inevitable that someone would combine this marketing device with our fears. Toward that end, we now have SafetyTat. As we learn, if we turn our backs for even a moment, we can lose our kid, but a tattooed QR code can
n.b. Update: Victor send me a link to the article. Here’s a clip of it from the Telegram’s Friday e-Edition.
Click to enbiggen
Eight years of RoasterBoy
Posted: April 14, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blogging, family Comments OffToday we’ll see Suessical at the Hanover Theater. Lily is with us for a few days. Cassie and Tess will join us. After the show and meeting the cast backstage, we get a bite to eat and come back to our house.
It’s a day and a time that’s less serious and more important, about letting go and listening, about having a seven-year-old read The Lorax to me after breakfast.
This blog started because of change, losing a job and moving to something unexpected. I never expected how unexpected it could be. Here’s to more of it. Thanks for joining e safari.
New Internet Domains Deadline Looms
Posted: April 9, 2012 Filed under: CMO Site, domain names, icann, tld Comments OffBrands are scrambling to secure their own top-level Internet domains before the Thursday deadline for completing applications.
The new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) are a controversial proposal by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which governs domain names on the Internet, to vastly expand the number of top-level domains beyond the familiar .com, .net, .org, to include a wide variety of alternatives. Under the proposal, companies would be able to secure their own brands as gTLDs, and other gTLDs could be generic words.
Read the rest on my blog at TheCMOSite.com - New Internet Domains Deadline Looms
More on Easter
Posted: April 7, 2012 Filed under: more.on | Tags: easter, pogo, religion Comments Off
Music
We can be grateful that radio stations and retail music systems haven’t given us three months of Easter music in the run-up to the holiday. It would be pretty much Peter Cottontail or Handel’s Messiah.
Needing a set of tunes to fill the house while preparing our portion of a fine Easter dinner at Mike and Lynn’s, I put together this playlist.
| Name | Artist |
| Helter Skelter | U2 |
| Silver And Gold | U2 |
| Pride (In The Name Of Love) | U2 |
| When Love Comes To Town | U2 |
| The Wanderer | U2 |
| Walk On | U2 |
| Sunday Bloody Sunday | U2 |
| Bad | U2 |
| One | U2 |
| O Mary Don’t You Weep | Bruce Springsteen & The Sessions Band |
| Jacob’s Ladder | Bruce Springsteen & The Sessions Band |
Who says that this Easter?
The relationship between the Protestant churches and the early church is, as Facebook would suggest, complicated.
Not only is Easter a movable feast, not fixed to a date on the secular calendar, but there are different ways that the Eastern and Western churches determine the date. All trace their formulas to the decision of the Council of Nicea in 325. The meeting notes from that council haven’t survived, so the calculations are left to the reader. The major points of contention and imprecision are described pretty well in Wikipedia.
So how is it that most Protestant denominations appear to accept the Roman church’s designation that a) Easter should happen on a Sunday and b) independently from Passover, upon which the Easter stories are based? (A few Christian groups, such as the Seventh-Day Adventists and Worldwide Church of God, have different views about Easter observances.) The quarrels among Christians seems less about the conclusion – when and how Easter should be observed – than about who makes the decision. Lutherans can observe Easter today not because the Bishop of Rome says so, but because they arrived at the same conclusion without being told.
Of course, we’re reached the point that it’s not likely that any major denomination is going to devote time and energy revisiting the fixation of the dates for Easter, or Christmas, for that matter. There’s plenty to do with the way things are.
Best Laid Eggs of Mice Nor Men
Innovation & Agility in Boston
Posted: April 7, 2012 Filed under: agility, business agility, UBM TechWeb Comments OffThe Boston area is using the rich set of programs at the area’s educational institutions, a deep bench of entrepreneurs, young and otherwise, and a little help from the state (mostly in the form of simplified regulations) to launch and support high-tech, bio-medical, and social startups.
Read the rest in my Business Agility blog post, Innovation & Agility in Boston
Before buying talent management system, consider talent lifecycle
Posted: April 4, 2012 Filed under: HR, talent management software, tech target Comments OffAt their most basic, talent management systems must address four integrated functions: recruiting, onboarding, performance and development, and compensation.
Read the rest of my TechTarget article at Before buying talent management system, consider talent lifecycle
Talent management system can help attract and nurture “human capital”
Posted: April 4, 2012 Filed under: HR, human resources, talent management software, tech target Comments OffTalent management software provides an integrated set of IT tools for human resources that span the range of employee services. A talent management system can bring a unified perspective that lets companies find good people, bring them in, then train, guide, and compensate them.
Read the rest of my TechTarget article on Talent management system can help attract and nurture “human capital”
Crime in suburbia
Posted: April 1, 2012 Filed under: crime in suburbia, holden, paxton, princeton, rutland, sterling Comments OffFrom The Landmark (subscription required):
[Editor's note: there were 15 suspicious items this week.]
Holden
Monday, Match 19
6:04 a.m. Child’s bicycle on sidewalk, Bullard St.
1:03 p.m. Person turned in small dog at station, Main St.
1:33 p.m. Caller concerned that person in large white truck is dumping furniture at end of Fisher Rd.
Tuesday, March 20
3:20 p.m. Police check on suspicious incident, Shrewsbury St.
5:24 p.m. Police out with three youths walking across traffic, Main St.
6:40 p.m. Police out with group of kids. All set, fishing, Quinapoxet St.
10:13 p.m. Police out with two kids in parking lot, Reservoir St.
Wednesday, March 21
12:15 a.m. Caller reports beeping noise, Rondeau Rd., Jefferson
11:47 a.m. Suspicious vehicle at different houses with driver taking pictures and writing notes, Jennifer Dr.
Thursday, March 22
3:59 p.m. Police check on male on railroad tracks behind business, Main St.
Friday, March23
12:49 p.m. Suspicious incident, neighbor calling in alarm, Basswood Cir.
6:11 p.m. Caller reports hawk in middle of Main St., obstructing traffic
8:08 p.m. Female, appears to be runner, limping and carrying shoe, Main/Salisbury Sts.
9:38 p.m. Caller reports group of teens appear to be intoxicated, Britney Dr.
Saturday, March 24
12:16 a.m. Police out with four individuals, Shrewsbury St.
10:06 a.m. Missing manhole cover, Reservoir St.
1:46 p.m. Advise kids of no-trespassing sign and skateboarding near Dumpsters, Jamieson Rd.
5:54 p.m. Group of 15 kids entering woods, Nichols St. Arrest three juveniles on disturbing the peace and assault charges
8:29 p.m. Two suspicious vehicles, Holden Hills Country Club
9:09 p.m. Caller reports female left vehicle and urinated, Main St.
Sunday, March 25
9:52 a.m. Person at station with emails saying he won a large sum of money, Main St.
3:39 p.m. Youths gathering in area of Nichols St.
Paxton
Monday, March19
5:17 p.m. Large bear on property, Suomi St.
6:50 p.m. Vehicles parked on access road where fire dept. is conducting training, Illigs Pond, West St.
8:38 p.m. Suspicious male on Pleasant St.; he’s walking to a Camp St. residence
Tuesday, March 20
3:07 p.m. Television dumped on side of Suomi St. near Marshall St.
Wednesday, March 21
11:30 a.m. Black Lab loose near Crowningshield Dr.
6:07 p.m. General contractor in lobby requesting police escort to retrieve his tools at residence where he was fired by homeowner
8:27 p.m. Large black bear in yard, Holden Rd.
Thursday, March 22
7:44 p.m. Bear in backyard, Marshall St.
Saturday, March 24
8:43 a.m. Black and chocolate Labradors missing, Sanford Rd.
2:34 p.m. Officer requested to Pleasant St. residence. Neighbor cut down trees and homeowner wants to file charges
Sunday, March25
8:32 p.m. Suspicious vehicle with lights on in front of Paxton Market
Princeton
Monday, March 19
12:18 p.m. Complaint about barking dog, Worcester Rd.
4:33 p.m. Kids in canoe on private pond, Bullard Rd.
5:15 p.m. Caller wants to speak to animal control officer regarding neighbor’s dog, Dowds Ln.
Tuesday, March 20
4:28 p.m. Person locked behind gate, Mountain Rd.
Wednesday, March 21
4:50 p.m. Person locked behind gate, Mountain Rd.
Thursday, March 22
6:16 p.m. Two dogs in yard, Worcester Rd.
7:20 p.m. Police assist person hitchhiking to business in Sterling
Friday, March 23
10:55 a.m. Police assist person locked out of vehicle, Mountain Rd.
2:14 p.m. Suspicious male came to door investigating voices from building, Brooks Station Rd.
6:00 p.m. Boy Scouts touring station, Town Hall Dr.
Saturday, March 24
10:37 a.m. Turkey struck and in roadway, Rte. 140 N
1:22 p.m. Eight chickens missing, Rocky Pond Rd.
6:21 p.m. Suspicious vehicle parked in driveway, Coal Kiln Rd.
10:48 p.m. Suspicious vehicle, Worcester Rd.
Sunday, March 25
11:39 p.m. Two suspicious vehicles in parking lot, Brooks Station Rd.
Rutland
Monday, March 19
10:52 a.m. White dog running loose in traffic, Edson Ave.
5:57 p.m. Three male juveniles walking down River Rd., smashing bottles
6:47 p.m. Person wants to speak with officer regarding kids shooting compound bows close to his home, Watson Ln.
8:38 p.m. Female reports being attacked by family member, Skyline Dr. Arrest: B
Tuesday, March 20
6:43 a.m. Suspicious van parked on Watson Ln.
6:25 p.m. Young male running out of house, Sassawanna Rd, heading to Pommogussett
Wednesday, March 21
10:55 a.m. Suspicious vehicle in neighborhood, Sycamore Dr.
3:15 p.m. Suspicious vehicle in area, Britney Dr.
4:27 p.m. Report of horse and buggy on roadway dropping feces, Lowry Ln.
7:11 p.m. Elderly male, possibly intoxicated, walking on Juniper Ln.
8:40 p.m. Suspicious male standing in front of Community Center, Glenwood Rd.
Thursday, March 22
7:32 p.m. Request for animal control officer for dog in accident vehicle
7:57 p.m. Paxton PD reports unknown disturbance, Miles Rd. Arrst: —
Friday, March 23
7:52 a.m. Person wants to pick up dog held after accident, Main St.
9:20 a.m. People dumping Christmas tree and other yard waste in open space, Central Tree Estates
9:40 a.m. Live ammunition found, Miles Rd.
Saturday, March 24
7:36 p.m. Two young males on side of road trying to flag people down, E. County Rd.
Sunday, March 25
4:41 p.m. Complaint about horse wagon obstructing traffic, Glenwood Rd.
Sterling
Monday, March 19
10:54 a.m. Stray dog at house all morning, Crowley Rd.
1:32 p.m. Suspicious activity, Pikes Hill Rd.
Tuesday, March 20
11:25 a.m. Caller reports receiving recorded message saying he could win $1,000, Pineview Rd.
11:32 a.m. Complaint about barking dogs, Redstone Pl.
2:31 p.m. Animal control officer to check on raccoon, on roof and attempting to climb tree, Campground Rd.
3:54 p.m. Caller reports someone brought a yellow Lab to her house, thinking it was her dog, Greenland Rd.
6:44 p.m. Male at station with mail believed to be fraudulent, regarding airline tickets won in exchange for small payment, Kendall Hill Rd.
Wednesday, March 21
3:26 p.m. Police off with giant snapping turtle in middle of Worcester Rd.
3:50 p.m. Caller found leg bone that could be human, Waushacum Ave.
Thursday, March 22
3:11 p.m. Vehicles parked in no-parking zone, kids walking away wearing bathing suits, Heywood Rd.
Friday, March 23
3:32 p.m. Woman called a number of times by person who says she owes him $1,200 for magazines she never ordered, Fox Run Rd.
4:38 p.m. Caller reports septic seepage, Campground Rd.
Saturday, March 24
7:40 a.m. Person slumped over the wheel in parking lot, Leominster Rd.
11:55 p.m. Full-grown black bear by back door, Still River Rd. Dog barked, yelped, then silent – unknown if dog attacked by the bear
Sunday, March 25
2:22 a.m. Suspicious vehicle. Person vomiting out rear door, Waushacum Ave.
12:32 p.m. Report that person drives down culde sac, lets dog out to leave fecal matter in area, then leaves, Mellon Hollow Rd.