Volume 27 • No 01 • 2004
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 …
• California approves new Calpine power plant. Calpine Corp. won state approval to build a 1,087 megawatt power plant near Fresno but has no immediate plans to go through with the project. San Jose based Calpine isn’t building any new power plants unless it has a contract to supply that electricity, Calpine spokeswoman Katherine Potter says. “It’s still fairly early in the development process,” Ms. Potter says. “We will need to find a buyer (for the electricity) before we will build.” This is the second Central California plant to be approved in the past five months. On Aug. 20, Calpine got state approval to build a 1,100 megawatt power plant in the Altamont Hills west of Tracy. Calpine also has no plans to construct that plant until or unless it can find a customer for that power, Ms. Potter says. Details Here
• A GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping team from the Yellowstone County Enhanced 911 emergency response program assigned GPS coordinates to Laurel … Details Here
• Charlotte’s Web Internet [Charlotte County, Florida] sites make county government more useful … The Web site for the county’s geographic information systems is available at www.ccgis.com
Details Here
In Technology …
• Security experts nix Internet voting plan. An Internet voting scheme called Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment may be dead, at least according to an independent report. The report was released by four whistle-blowing security experts hired by the Federal Voting Assistance Program to evaluate the program, also known as Serve. Serve is scheduled to become operational in time for 2004 primary elections beginning in February. Details Here.
• SCO to Congress: Linux hurts the U.S. The SCO Group Inc. has taken its fight with the Linux community to Capitol Hill. Earlier this month, the company sent the 535 members of the U.S. Congress a letter that called Linux and open–source software a threat to the security and economy of the U.S., SCO confirmed yesterday. The letter is dated Jan. 8 and was published on the Internet this week by an open–source lobbying organization called the Open Source and Industry Alliance (OSAIA). It states that the commoditizing influence of open-source software such as the Linux operating system is bad for the U.S. economy and argues that open-source also skirts export controls that govern commercial products.
Details Here
In Utilities …
• Power grid operators will work together. Operators of power grids in 22 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and parts of Canada will share information on operations in a bid to improve system reliability after Aug. 14’s record blackout. The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator Inc. and PJM Interconnection LLC filed their joint operating agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the organizations said in a statement. Details Here
• OPEC calls for halt to oil price surge. OPEC’s
president on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 appealed for high–flying oil markets to stabilize as signals grew that sustained price strength will make it hard
for the cartel to enact an expected supply cut next month. U.S. crude has
blazed to 10 month highs, topping $35 a barrel for the first time since the
Iraq war, on fears that freezing U.S weather will strain crude oil stocks
already at their lowest level since 1975. ities has delayed its post-war
production recovery. Details Here.
• Utilities balk at moving poles, decline to bury lines. Officials in Plantation, Lauderhill and Lauderdale Lakes want Florida Power & Light Co. and BellSouth to bury utility lines along State Road 7 to improve the road's appearance, but the companies are reluctant to pay for underground lines right now. State Road 7 was a commercial hub of Broward County in the 1970s, but since the real estate boom in west Broward began in the ’80s, the road has fallen on difficult times. Details Here.
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