June 4, 2009

There were 3 posts published on June 4, 2009 (this is page 1 of 1).

Apple and its new datacenter

So it seems the state government has successfully lured Apple into building a new $1B datacenter here in North Carolina.

I was thinking about where that datacenter might wind up and the impact those many thousands of servers would have on the local utility grid. Then I thought of the perfect place: Badin, NC. If Apple moved to Badin, it can plug into the Yadkin River hydroelectric plant that ALCOA may be losing. The state wouldn’t have to give Apple a dime in tax breaks if it would’ve let them tap into cheap electricity from the dam. Electricity, you see, is by far the biggest cost to such a massive datacenter.

The problem with this scenario is that the reason the state is opposing ALCOA’s permit renewal is that the thousands of jobs once provided by the aluminum smelting plant are long gone. Turning dam operations over to an admittedly flashy and high-tech Apple would seem to be a savvy move on the face of it but the meager 50 full-time jobs Apple brings makes it a bit hypocritical in the face of the state’s complaint against ALCOA.

On the other hand, in tiny Badin (population 1,154) 50 jobs is 4% of its population and 8% of its workforce. And it is a economically-depressed area, which is an area the state’s incentives were designed to boost. Add in the contractor jobs and the associated vendor businesses that an Apple facility may bring and a modest little high-tech oasis could be created.

Spanish treasure .. or Native American treasure?

This deep-water shipwreck exploration company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, finds a sunken ship filled with millions of gold and silver coins. Spain argues that the ship, the Spanish naval vessel Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes and its contents belongs to them, and a U.S. judge has agreed.

I know international law says Spain owns the vessel. But the gold? Wasn’t that looted from the goldmines of the Incan and Mayan people? Shouldn’t their decendants have a stronger claim?

And what about the British, which sunk the Mercedes in 1804? Since it was their cannons made a reef out of the Mercedes wouldn’t they also have a claim?

It seems to me that all of this is simply a bunch of thieves fighting over loot none of them legally own. Perhaps it belongs beneath the waves after all.

Twenty years ago

In addition to it being Hallie’s birthday, today is also the 20th anniversary of the curshing of the Tienanmen Square protest. At the time of the protests I was in the Navy. My ship was in drydock so I had plenty of time to watch the events on CNN. It was stunning to watch these people bravely ask for their right to choose their destiny. It was so sad to watch the carnage that ensued, but now the country is safe for Starbucks, Apple Computer, and the thousands of other Western companies that have set up shop there.

My 2007 visit to Tienanmen Square has been on my mind today, too.