"Fall seven times, stand up eight.” –  Japanese Proverb

Top Picks

The Next Meltdown: Credit-Card Debt
“The troubles sound familiar. Borrowers falling behind on their payments. Defaults rising. Huge swaths of loans souring. Investors getting burned. But forget the now-familiar tales of mortgages gone bad. The next horror for beaten-down financial firms is the $950 billion worth of outstanding credit-card debt—much of it toxic.”
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_42/b4104024799703.htm?campaign_id=rss_null

UN: Financial chills are ill wind for climate
“The financial turmoil rippling across the globe will set back efforts to fight climate change, drying up capital that could help poorer countries upgrade to clean energy technology, the U.N. climate chief said Thursday.”
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h9Aig8MMpIIx_cMN070lhZQRuMlQD93N53GG0

'Global response'
“President Bush on Saturday once again tried to reassure a nervous public that world leaders were working together to address what is unfolding as the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression.”
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/11/news/economy/bush_group_of_seven/index.htm?cnn=yes

IT Process Improvement / Quality Management

Accelerate your Green Initiative with Capacity Management
“Using capacity management as a focal point of your green strategy can help you optimize your IT services for power, cooling and space utilization. Capacity Management is comprised of the capacity planning, performance management and predictive modeling disciplines.”
http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2104

Saving electricity one data center at a time
“Hundreds of millions of users access our services through the web, and this traffic requires lots of computers. We strive to offer great Internet services while taking our energy use very seriously. That's why, nearly a decade ago, we started work to optimize the energy efficiency of our servers and later set out to build the most environmentally sustainable data centers possible. We now believe that Google-designed data centers are the most efficient in the world.”
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/saving-electricity-one-data-center-at.html
Google’s Guide to Green Data Centers:  http://www.google.com/corporate/datacenters/

Security and Risk Management

A Corporate Security Strategy for Coping with the Climate Crisis
“US military strategists, CIA analysts, international agency officials and Nobel Prize winning economists concur with the consensus of the world's scientific community: the Climate Crisis is a planetary security issue, as well as a national security issue for each of the one hundred ninety two countries that belong to the United Nations. But the Climate Crisis is also, by extension, a corporate security issue, as well as, yes, a cyber security issue.”
http://www.csoonline.com/article/451323/A_Corporate_Security_Strategy_for_Coping_with_the_Climate_Crisis
[ Thank you for sending this Julia! ]

IT security sector facing major upheaval in 2009
“A leading UK security authority has said that he believes that the next 18 months will see major structural upheaval in the infosec community.  Nick Coleman, a leading independent IT security consultant who now works with the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), was talking in Madrid at the ISSE 08 conference when he issued the stark warning about the future health of the sector.”
http://www.itpro.co.uk/606954/it-security-sector-facing-major-upheaval-in-2009

Public Invited to Download Free Security Awareness Materials Provided by Top Experts
“The materials are available on the new Cyber Exchange http://cyberexchange.isc2.org/ , an online security awareness resource center launched in support of the fifth annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month in October.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/public-invited-download-free-security/story.aspx?guid=%7B9504212A-47B7-4160-AD88-62CA1EDCF685%7D&dist=hppr

World Bank under cyberattack?
“The computer network used by the World Bank Group has suffered a series of at least six intrusions since mid-2007, according to a report.“
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10063522-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Fox News copy of the Memo:  http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/WorldBankDoc1.pdf

Healthcare / Bio-Informatics / Care Delivery Organizations (CDOs)

John McCain, Barack Obama on healthcare
“How workable are the presidential candidates' health reform plans? Here's a summary of their proposals and a list of online resources for more information.”
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-candidates-healthcare-intro13-2008oct13,0,7066440.story

Human Error / Safety / Environment

Over 7,000 species susceptible to climate change: Study
“More than 7,000 species in the world - 35 per cent of birds, 52 per cent of amphibians and 71 per cent of warm-water reef-building corals - are likely to be particularly susceptible to climate change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has said in a study.”
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Flora__Fauna/Over_7000_species_susceptible_to_climate_change_Study/articleshow/3583739.cms

Scientists Predict Global Warming Will Lead to Spread of Disease
“Health experts meeting at an international conference this week in Spain predict global warming could lead to the spread of more than a dozen infectious diseases into new regions of the world. If not addressed, the experts say, the development could impact both human and animal health. VOA's Jessica Berman reports.”
http://voanews.com/english/2008-10-08-voa12.cfm
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Pollution/Climate_change_Deadly_dozen_pathogens_expand/articleshow/3577027.cms

NASA Scientist Says Global Warming Danger Amounts to 'Planetary Emergency'
“Two decades after he first told legislators of the dangers of greenhouse gases and global warming, a key climate scientist repeats his message with even greater urgency. Director James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies made his comments at the National Press Club in Washington as he was honored for sounding the alarm over planetary climate change. VOA's Paul Sisco reports.”
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-08-voa27.cfm

Global News / Business / Economics

The Stunning Collapse of Iceland
“To avert financial disaster, the country—which is a founding member of NATO—may turn to Russia for help. The Russian government has said it would consider lending Iceland $5.5 billion.”
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2008/gb2008109_947306.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article4925940.ece
http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollarRpt/idUSLC67015120081012

Credit Crisis: The Risk Hits Russia
“As the financial crisis spreads, Russians are suddenly discovering that their economy is shakier than many had cared to believe. Credit is increasingly tight, economic growth is slowing, and Russia's fragile financial markets have taken a beating.”
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_42/b4104000720341.htm?campaign_id=rss_null

Financial crisis: China comes hesitantly to the rescue
“The People’s Bank of China announced that it was ready to take part in ‘close co-operation’ with the West to ‘maintain stability of the global financial market’. Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, said that he was in ‘close co-ordination and communication’ with China about its holdings of US dollars.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3180158/Financial-crisis-China-comes-hesitantly-to-the-rescue.html

China prepares itself to be a responsible power
“China has become the center of East Asia thanks to its tenacious drive for reform and opening up over the past 30 years, and how to play its due role in the region is a major task China is charged with in the coming years, said a senior Japanese newsman in an interview with Xinhua.”
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/12/content_10183451.htm

US News / Business / Economics

The New Age of Frugality
“People who overconsumed during the past decade are now rejecting extravagant lifestyles. They're spending less, and more wisely. Some are getting their finances in order. Others are fearful of losing their jobs, shocked by investment losses, or hunkering down amid the general uncertainty.”
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_42/b4104054847273.htm?campaign_id=rss_null

U.S. air-traffic network outdated, costly
“The $35 billion plan would replace the current radar system with the kind of GPS technology that has become commonplace in cars and cell phones. Supporters say it would triple air traffic capacity, reduce delays by at least half, improve safety and curb greenhouse gas emissions.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/09/outdated.airways.ap/index.html?eref=rss_tech

The meltdown's silver lining - cheap oil
“As the world loses confidence in the foundations of its economic system, the silver lining may be that oil prices are about to get a whole lot cheaper.  In a new report Friday, Deutsche Bank uses a number of interesting yard sticks to suggest crude is currently way too expensive and may fall to the $60 a barrel range as the economy worsens.”
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/10/news/economy/oil_prices/index.htm?cnn=yes

The Sky Falls on Wall Street
“Stupefying. Dizzying. Deeply unsettling. The panic that swept the global financial markets in the past five business days, Oct. 6-10, will go down in history—either in its own right or possibly as a prelude to something worse.”
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/oct2008/db20081010_744839.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

Reports: Chrysler, GM discuss merger, acquisition
“The Wall Street Journal, citing people it described as familiar with the discussions, says Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm that owns 80.1 percent of Chrysler and 51 percent of GMAC Financial Services, proposed trading Chrysler's automotive operations to GM. The Journal says Cerberus would receive GM's remaining 49 percent stake in GMAC.”
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D93O2HVG0.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

Technology & Science

Flywheel 101
“Though batteries have been in use for much longer period of time as compared flywheels which are relatively newer on the horizon, yet their popularity is certainly on the rise due to several advantages they have to offer over conventional battery backed up UPS Systems.”
http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2109

How to Change the Attitude of Water Cooling in a Data Center
“Unless you have a sufficient knowledge about computer cooling techniques, the very mention of using water for cooling computers seems absurd and funny. But it is not a joke for this is a trend in electronic cooling that will grow particularly as higher density data centers are being developed and require a more efficient means of cooling. Of course for those of you who have been around long enough remember the days of water cooled mainframes.”
http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2090

Windation's urban machine inspired by ancient Persia
“Windation Energy Systems, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based start-up, has developed a wind appliance that looks more or less like the modern heating and cooling equipment you see on flat corporate building rooftops.  There's a 8-by-8-foot frame around a 10-foot-high cylinder. Wind blows in the top and is directed to the bottom where the wind turns a turbine to make up to 5 kilowatts of electricity. A single unit wouldn't generate enough power for an entire office building but could offset a significant portion, the company says.”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10062193-54.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=GreenTech

Russian space chief reassures US partners
“The ongoing global economic turmoil and increasingly strained ties between Moscow and Washington will not stand in the way of further space exploration, Russia's space agency chief said Saturday.”
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gVmXiJGB7S--M-E06nd_2DUW5sqQD93OCRE00

End Notes

The News is brought to you by George Spafford, Principal Consultant at Pepperweed Consulting, LLC.  Pepperweed is nationally recognized as a leader in IT Management Consulting.  For more information, check out our website at www.pepperweed.com or call 888-229-0145. Please let us know if you see stories you think should be included in the next issue of The News, and feel free to forward this email on to others.

 

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