Volume 26 • No 04 • 2003
ISSN 0742-468X • Since 1978
On-line Since 2000
Out of the Box
Editor's note: In “Out of the Box” we bring you news snippets that are not necessarily related specifically to GIS. These are items that come across my screen that help me understand our industry, by understanding the world around us. For the complete article just click “Details Here.” Think of it as thinking Out of the Box
In State and Local Government …
• School lunches still inadequate. The GAO claims that “School lunches are more healthful than a decade ago, but many schools still fall short of feeding children meals with the right amount of nutrients and not too much fat.” Details Here
•Seeking New Industry. Using Geographic Information System mapping software, commissioners
were able to locate several parcels that would be suitable With help from city officials involved with economic development and the county's planning and zoning department, commissioners put together a proposal with incentives and submitted it Monday, May 5. Details Here
• 911 ad angers county. A rift has opened between Grand Traverse County and state public safety officials over a newspaper advertisement that criticized the county's 911 surcharge proposal in the final days of the ill-fated campaign. Details Here
In Technology …
• Military Often Enlists Commercial Technology. As the United States invades Iraq, many of the information technologies used by the armed forces would have their origins in commercial rather than military initiatives–a shift from the way the American military traditionally developed the communications used to wage war. Details Here
• A serious security flaw in Microsoft's Passport service put more than just its 200 million customers’ accounts at risk of being hijacked--it also gave the software giant a public relations black eye and opened it up to some stiff fines. The flaw, in Passport’s password recovery mechanism, could have allowed an attacker to change the password on any account to which the username is known. The simplicity of the attack method and the high value of the data frequently stored in Passport accounts–names, addresses, birthdates and credit card numbers…combined to make the vulnerability critical. Details Here
• Sun Microsystems and Oracle plan to attend the first meeting to discuss a proposed Web services standard, despite their support of a rival specification. The participation of Sun and Oracle in the meeting gives hope to industry watchers that a compromise could be reached between two rival efforts
Details Here
• NEC to release mega-handheld. NEC plans to release the MobilePro 900 later this month, a handheld device that resembles a mininotebook but contains the technological guts of a PDA. The device is larger than most PDAs but smaller than a laptop computer at 9.69 by 5.05 by 1.19 inches Details Here
In Utilities …
• Homeland Security Secretary says utilities should be first to absorb costs of increased security … In address to NARUC Tom Ridge said utilities have a “fiduciary responsibility” to absorb the costs of increased security to protect the interests of their shareholders and that the utilities should be “the first group of folks we look to” … He added that at some point increased security costs may be transferred to ratepayer … With 85 percent of the nation’s critical infrastructure owned by the private sector, said Ridge, improving security will be a “shared responsibility” between government and industry. Details Here
• Top California power regulator touts grid master plan. California, for the
first time, is forging a single plan to guard against the blackouts and
price spikes that battered it during the 2000 – 2001 energy crisis, the
state's top regulator said. “California has aimed before to upgrade the
power system, but this is the first time that state agencies have committed
to work together on a single plan,” Michael Peevey, the new president of the
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), said in an interview with
Reuters. Peevey said California plans to cut consumer demand through
aggressive conservation programs, build up to 2,000 megawatts of new plant
capacity a year and add renewable energy to strengthen supplies – power for
2 million homes. California’s energy future, outlined in the plan drafted by
the CPUC and two other power agencies, also will feature small generating
plants in neighborhoods where the energy is used, a revamped power grid and
new pipelines to import natural gas.
Details Here
• PG&E Corp.’s top executives enjoyed a big year in 2002 even if the company did not.
According to a proxy statement filed Friday, the 12 highest-paid executives as a group got salaries of $6 million, bonuses of $2.9 million, and “long–term incentive” payments of $1.8 million. Toss in $18.2 million in miscellaneous payments, mostly to convert six executives’ existing pension benefits into tax–favored annuities, and the top dozen grossed a cool $29 million for the year.
Details Here
•Regulators from Pennsylvania and two other states have asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to override the Virginia legislature's attempt to block two key utilities from joining a multi-state electric grid effort. Details Here
• Venezuela makes one billion barrels oil discovery. Venezuela’s state oil
company has discovered two new oil fields with combined reserves of nearly 1
billion barrels of crude oil, a top executive with Petroleos de Venezuela SA
(PDVSA) said on Monday. Venezuela, which earlier this month created an
energy task force to cultivate closer contacts with the Bush administration,
disclosed the new discoveries at a news conference in Washington. Luis
Marin, chief operating officer of PDVSA, said test results confirmed the
oilfield discovery about two weeks ago. He declined to identify the location
of the new oilfields, or if they were offshore or on land. He described the
oil as light, high-quality crude. Marin also said the new fields were near
existing oil industry infrastructure, indicating they could be close to
active fields and the new crude could be quickly shipped to market by
pipelines already in place. Also, Venezuela is offering U.S. energy
companies Venezuelan oil to deliver to the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Details Here
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