Dec 20, 2010
Power.
Power to the People.
Not Power to the Machines.
Anyone who has seen the Terminator movies knows 2 things:
#1- Our current governor is the greatest cyborg killer that will ever be created.
#2- If we let the machines get too powerful, they will end up taking over the planet and hunting humans for sport.
Personally, I'd like to avoid that ever happening. (you decide whether or not I am referring to both items.)
So it is up to us to keep the machines from being too powerful. And we do that by destroying the machines whenever we can. Here's some photographic evidence of our work. This server is going to that great colo rack in the sky, and I couldn't be happier.
When the machines take over, Paul will be their first target.
Let me translate all of that nonsense into something better.
We're consolidating services. We're getting rid of servers. We're buying new, highly efficient servers. We're making the world a better place for our offspring (who may actually be our fathers, but that's Terminator 3, and things really went downhill with that one).
The University spends tons, and tons of money on electricity. Much of it goes to computers, and servers. We've made it a priority to reduce the number of servers we run, and to reduce the overall power load they require.
We're going to take a lot of servers offline in the next two months. Some will be replaced by faster/more efficient servers. But our overall power draw will be less than it is now.
That's the entire message of this post. We're working to reduce our energy consumption by making better use of the servers we have.
But really, don't be standing near Paul when the robot overlords descend upon us to extract their revenge...he's got silicon on his hands, and they won't like that.
Next week: an analysis of your office chair and the Maximum Overdrive effect.