As promised, the podcast for episode number 10 of IT Insight has been published earlier today. Get it while it is still hot!

When I look at my server stats it is clear that episode 7 of IT Insight is by far the most popular. It was also the only one not available in English. This has now been fixed. After all, I had to keep myself busy during the nine hour flight back from Sao Paulo.

After a very long hiatus, I have finally started working on a new episode of IT Insight. I am currently attending an IBM technical sales manager meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil and since the weather is terrible and there isn’t much to do around the hotel I decided to work on a presentation on a subject I really care about, the environment.

Few probably know that Data Centers in the U.S. currently consume 1.5% of the electric energy produced in the country. If Data Centers become greener by reducing energy consumption and recycling e-waste, it can mean a big difference. As technologists we have to understand what can and needs to be done in order to reach those objectives.

I have already published the slides, but I will record and publish the podcast episode once I get back home, probably this week-end.

Over the years I have seen countless TV shows in which a smart detective tried to find ways to sidestep diplomatic immunity in order to send behind bars foreigners who committed a crime on US soil. It seems therefore that Americans value accountability. If you do a crime, you do the time is a popular motto in the U.S.

Now we see the President of the United states pardoning a convicted criminal that helped his administration destroy a political opponent who was just trying to say the truth. Conservative representatives seem to be very happy with this move. However I cannot imagine the American people backing such an outrageous decision.

Who really believes that the sentence was too harsh? Thousands have died because of pre-war lies spread by the President and his entourage. Valerie Plame’s life and career was deliberately destroyed by Lewis Libby. This was proven by the case’s prosecutor and a jury declared him guilty despite countless attempts by his political friends to cast a positive light on this sinister character.

At this point it is clear that George W. Bush has lost any moral authority he had left. However, this scandal goes way beyond the Presidency. The political right has always claimed the ownership of the words morality and decency. It is evident that we must all hope that these values can be found elsewhere, because when it comes to the Republicans, the facts have proven that they see them simply as empty words.