Re: From the crest of Olivet...

[ala]

"E Bmums" <e44...@rppkn.com> wrote in message
news:30b5c$4f89ca39$43548102$41...@reader.xsusenet.com...
>
> "From the crest of Olivet, Jesus looked upon Jerusalem. Fair and
> peaceful was the scene spread out before Him. It was the season of the
> Passover, and from all lands the children of Jacob had gathered there to
> celebrate the great national festival. In the midst of gardens and
> vineyards, and green slopes studded with pilgrims' tents, rose the
> terraced hills, the stately palaces, and massive bulwarks of Israel's
> capital. The daughter of Zion seemed in her pride to say, "I sit a
> queen, and shall see no sorrow;" as lovely then, and deeming herself as
> secure in Heaven's favor, as when, ages before, the royal minstrel sang,
> "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion,"
> "the city of the great King." Psalm 48:2. In full view were the
> magnificent buildings of the temple. The rays of the setting sun lighted
> up the snowy whiteness of its marble walls, and gleamed from golden gate
> and tower and pinnacle. "The perfection of beauty" it stood, the pride
> of the Jewish nation. What child of Israel could gaze upon the scene
> without a thrill of joy and admiration! But far other thoughts occupied
> the mind of Jesus. "When He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept
> over it." Luke 19:41. Amid the universal rejoicing of the triumphal
> entry, while palm branches waved, while glad hosannas awoke the echoes
> of the hills, and thousands of voices declared Him king, the world's
> Redeemer was overwhelmed with a sudden and mysterious sorrow. He, the
> Son of God, the Promised One of Israel, whose power had conquered death,
> and called its captives from the grave, was in tears, not of ordinary
> grief, but of intense, irrepressible agony."
>
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57416640-76/greenpeaces-clean-cloud-push-hey-theyve-got-a-point/?tag=mncol;1n

Greenpeace's clean cloud push: Hey, they've got a point
The activists' "Clean our Cloud" campaign may have stumbled, but Greenpeace
raised good questions about big tech companies and their influence on local
clean-power generation.

commentary In its trademark smashmouth style, Greenpeace this week took
cloud computing companies to task for using dirty energy -- and then came
under fire itself over its methods and assertions.
Whatever Greenpeace's shortcomings, though, its activists have a point.
In the latest event of its "Clean our Cloud" campaign, Greenpeace activists
yesterday rappelled off a building near Amazon and Microsoft offices and
attached a banner which reads "Amazon, Microsoft: How Clean is Your Cloud?"
Earlier, it released three videos that poke fun at Amazon, Apple, and
Microsoft by showing workers shoveling coal into a smoky fire behind scenes
of consumers using the companies' Web services. Sure, the cloud looks clean,
the videos suggest. But do you know where the power that makes it possible
comes from?
The campaign has been marred by an angry response from Apple, which claimed
that Greenpeace greatly overestimated the power usage of its latest data
center and discounted its reliance on renewable energy. Amazon, too, says
Greenpeace's numbers are inaccurate. The environmental watchdog group
continues to defend its analysis.



Narrowly speaking, this episode is about the tactics used by a single
activist organization. But it raises a broader -- and valid -- question:
what is the role of tech companies in making the power grid cleaner? Cloud
computing providers are large and sophisticated power consumers who could
arguably exert substantial influence over how electricity is generated
across the U.S.
True, tech companies arguably don't have much control over electric power
policy, which is largely set at the state level and, in the absence of a
national energy policy, by EPA regulations on coal power plants. Almost half
of all electricity in the U.S. comes from coal, which makes it very
difficult to avoid in most areas.