Blue Sky On Mars

Thoughts on Building Software Products

The world’s resources being used up

by Kevin Dangoor

A group of 1360 scientists report that two-thirds of world’s resources are being ‘used up’:

The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries – some of them world leaders in their fields – today warns that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure.

I have seen other warnings about human usage of freshwater. This is pretty scary stuff, and the United States is the worst abuser of them all. Our current administration does not just have its head in the sand on this one. They actively support those who gain financially from the exploitation of the Earth’s resources.

I’m a geek, not a Luddite. But, I’m a practical geek. I want this world to continue to exist after my retirement. I can’t imagine what it would be like for my daughter if we face the kind of freshwater shortage that is possible.

WordPress and gaming search engines

by Kevin Dangoor

I’ve got to agree with Ian on this one. It’s fine for an open source project to try to figure out how to bring in some money to support development. It’s another thing entirely to abuse search engine advertising to do it.

The decision of WordPress’ founder to use his PageRank to get revenue via advertising for completely unrelated topics was a very poor one that will certainly alienate his constituency.