Q: What would need to go into an assessment tool for a virtualization initiative? A: Typical factors may include: current CPU load per server what’s running on each server current hardware of each server expected percentage increase in usage OS usage – homogenous or heterogeneous new hardware or re-use current hardware storage needs vendor for …
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Category:ideas
mid-term travel needs
Since I can’t register on Kevin’s blog, I’m replying here 🙂 He asked about where to find “mini” packages of laundry needs. Here’s what I do, I hit the dollar store if I’m going to be somewhere more than a few days – $3 and I have detergent, bleach, and fabric softener.
driving into the cloud?
From a news story I saw today on RIM acquiring QNX, this quote jumped-out at me: “RIM’s acquisition of QNX could open the door for tighter integration between Blackberry devices and car computers, a capability that could be important as cars begin to drive into the cloud.” I wonder what folks would think if car …
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removing the emergency of poverty
Seth Godin has a cool write-up on the Acumen Fund, and what they’re doing to help the 40% of the world that ekes-by on $2 a day or less – http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/08/patient-capital-markets-that-work-and-ending-the-endless-emergency-of-poverty.html.
generating power
I’ve been reading recently abour various “unusual” power-generation methods. One of those that I’ve seen mentioned in several places is the solar updraft tower. After having read about that, I wonder why more industrial steam stacks don’t utilize something similar: if you’re throwing away the steam, couldn’t you put a VAWT or other energy-capturing device …
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the. killer. business!
I’ve figured out what to do with the more than 6 billion people who will need to be buried after they’ve passed-on. And how to make a handsome profit on the whole operation, too. That’s right: subscription burials! Good morning, and welcome to DeathEx, your friendly, local, death experts. We provide a full-service, personalized, and …
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whale farming
Some people think I have too much free time on my hands. Last night during Good Eats I made a comment about whales. Specifically, why don’t we farm them? We farm catfish, salmon, tilapia, alligators, deer, bison, shrimp, and more. So why not whales? Obviously, some varieties would take a lot of room… but how …
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999 business ideas – free for the taking
Have fun: http://www.sixmonthmba.com/2009/02/999ideas.html
disingenuity
I read this Reuters story today on Americans being against helping Detroit’s Big Three. This is the self-same America that just authorized $700 billion (with a “B”!) dollars to bail-out struggling financial services companies. Now $25 billion is too much to help keep hundreds of thousands of jobs around? That seems to be a double …
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an experiment
Even though I am outraged at the unjustified spike in fuel prices yesterday and today, I had to buy gas. All of the gas stations near me (around the 54/55 junction) are out of regular. Several were totally out of fuel. One, Crown, was not out of fuel, but they were out of regular. They’re …
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comment to rush
I emailed the Rush Limbaugh show Friday, and proffered the following: What if John McCain picked Sarah Palin because he’s planning to retire before his term is up, and this is a masterful plan to pull the biggest political coup d’etat, a la femme? If McCain/Palin get elected and McCain retires/resigns, Republicans will have the …
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digital radio recording
Figures, what I thought was a new idea isn’t. I love my DVR, but would likewise love a Digital Radio Recorder so I could pause and rewind ‘live’ radio. With a bit of Googling, I found the Shark (see here). The only improvement I could see would be to get something like this into a …
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what’s your business strategy?
There only seem to be about two strategies that work: you can try for growth (like most companies seem to do), or you can try for the niche that will consistently pay for your product. I don’t know if there are other models out there that work, but these two do. The growth, aka ‘monopoly’, …
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queuing the next generation
Like many people, I work for an under-staffed segment of a remarkably under-staffed company. Before transitioning to professional services, I worked for support, and they are even more under-staffed. I see a simple solution to this problem, but the company is too short-sighted to implement anything like this, sadly. Problem: We need new people. Desperately. …
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preparing for change (part the second)
As with knowledge capture, so must any successful organization pursue training. Training need not be formal. It can be self-paced, on-the-job, as-you-go, or formal. I know that I have learned the most about the product I support not from formal training, but from actually supporting it. Part of that is because we have had a …
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if i ran the zoo…
…or, more accurately, the apartment complex. I was talking to a couple friends this past weekend, and told them I’d like to offer a per-minute lease on an apartment. It turns out that $0.02 per minute is $864/30-day month. For another penny a minute I’d include all utilities. Ok, so it’s a little off the …
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sloshing dessert
So, I was sitting at Cold Stone in Chapel Hill with a buddy of mine Saturday evening, enjoying my mint and peanut butter ice cream with pineapple and coconut mix-ins, when I piped-up with “this would be so much better with rum”. Then it hit me: I need to open a bar and ice cream …
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screen… but for x
I’m sure most Linux sys admins are familair with screen – it’s a virtual terminal multiplexer that allows single logins to be ‘detached’, then resumed later. This is fantastic because it means what you’re doing can survive connection failures, you can share it with other users, etc. Windows has a similar tool called ‘Remote Desktop’, …
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i know why search is broken
Search is broken. Google, Yahoo, Ask, Alta-Vista, and on, and on the list goes. Hundreds of companies, thousands of individuals. I know why search is broken, and I know what needs to be fixed. Now to figure out the how of fixing. When you’re looking for information, you search on keywords. Google’s been nice enough …
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a flying ‘bus’
Public transit is an interesting concept, and as I’ve written about before, is not a panacea. However, I’m wondering if it might be reasonable to apply the concept to flying. Bear with me a minute here. Let’s say you fly – maybe a lot, maybe not a lot, but when you do, you pretty much …
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the future of interfaces
Apple recently introduced a convergent device that is a media player (iPod), cell phone, wifi device, and widget player (mini OS X) – I’m going to call it the iCon (since the current name is under trademark dispute). There’s one whole walloping button. Everything else is done via hand motions. Want to zoom in on …
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it’s not my problem
Security, air quality, water potability, land use, and the list goes on and on. When any one thing is too big to be one person’s problem, it becomes a problem for the populace, and once it’s everyone’s problem, it’s no one’s problem. Securing airports is too complicated for one person to do, so a committee …
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a kinder, gentler HRT
As much fun as it would be to be a part of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, what I’m thinking about now is a Hurricane Response Team. Any church, charitable group, or even a business that wanted to engender some positive community goodwill could assemble a disaster team – volunteers and equipment that could be …
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beware the fury of a patient man
John Dryden was right. A single, dedicated man is nearly impossible to stop. And one who waits a long time before exacting revenge is even harder – the target never knows that it’s coming. I took an introduction to terrorism class during the spring 2000 semester at Hudson Valley Community College. The class served as …
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dating sites
I’ve noticed (for a while now) that most dating and matching sites are all pay based. What I want to know is why? Yahoo! Personals, for example, requires a monthly subscription fee to use it for more than browsing. eHarmony is famous for allowing free scanning, but they charge a (seemingly high) monthly rate. Match.com …
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