Today marks the twenty-ninth anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident that occurred on 28 March 1979 at 4:00 am. This was the worst accident in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry, and not a single new nuclear power plant has been built in the United States since that date.
The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant was built in 1974 on a sandbar on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River, just 10 miles downstream from the state capitol in Harrisburg. In 1978, a second state-of-the-art reactor began operating on Three Mile Island, which was lauded for generating affordable and reliable energy in a time of energy crises. Now the Bush administration seeks to jump-start an industry that has been stagnant for almost three decades, one that the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) hasn’t improved since 1979.
Unfortunately, much of the Three Mile Island disaster was caused by human error, a problem that never can be quantified before or after an incident such as this. For more information about how this situation was handled (including information about the individuals who were affected by radiation), visit these links or search for more information with the keywords “Three Mile Island”:
Posted by Linda at 7:42 AM PDT
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We found a place where anyone can create his or her own custom Barack Obama logo and use it wherever and whenever. As Obama says, “we are the change we have been waiting for,” so you can change that button and add whatever you want to show support for two - that’s two - causes in one. That’s what Obama represents… he’s someone who wants all of us to participate in changing the world. And together, we can make this change, one logo at a time, two causes at a time…heck, life is short!
OpenDocument Format Logo
Creative Commons Logo
If you’re not happy with a simple button, then make a political statement with Obama in 30 Seconds. This is an ad contest created by MoveOn.org for all filmmakers, writers, directors, actors, editors, composers, graphic artists and animators. But, “no matter if you’re a total amateur or a total pro,” you can use your creativity to help Obama win and to put your work in the limelight.
Finally, did you know that you can create a blog for Obama? Just go to Obama’s Web site and look for the “my.barackobama.com” box in the far right column.
Posted by FA Editors at 11:56 AM PDT
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Via ODFalliance.org blog
Arguments are often made that having two internationally-approved standards for document formats would encourage choice. After all, isn’t competition good? South Africa’s Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ms. Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi addressed this issue from the perspective of governments in her opening address at the Idlelo 3 Conference currently underway in Dakar, Senegal:
“South Africa is amongst a growing number of National Governments who have adopted ODF over the past year…It is unfortunate that the leading vendor of office software, which enjoys considerable dominance in the market, chose not to participate and support ODF in its products, but rather to develop its own competing document standard which is now also awaiting judgement in the ISO process. If it is successful, it is difficult to see how consumers will benefit from these two overlapping ISO standards. I would like to appeal to vendors to listen to the demands of consumers as well as Free Software developers. Please work together to produce interoperable document standards. The proliferation of multiple standards in this space is confusing and costly.”
Continue reading at ODFalliance.org
Posted by FA Editors at 9:28 AM PDT
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I was shocked to learn this morning that Russell Shaw had died on 14 March 2008 in a hotel room on his way to cover the Emerging Technologies Conference and VON. Shaw was a fanatical blogger at the ZDNet family of publications. More than once he was kind enough to mention my writing with enthusiasm and kind words over the years, and I was, in turn, was a huge fan of his blog and of his writing in other publications.
Larry Dignan, Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic, stated this morning that it’s unclear how Russell died. The last word was that this 60-year-old man wasn’t feeling well and that he was going to try to “sleep it off [the unwell feeling]” before the conference. Shaw’s funeral will be held on Monday, 23 March, in Florida.
Stay tuned to ZDNet and Dignan’s column to learn more.
Posted by Linda at 11:12 AM PDT
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