I try to stay away from politics as rule-of-thumb, but I find this interesting:

LATEST: Environment Minister David Benson-Pope has resigned from Cabinet after being found to have misled the public.

This wasn’t the first time that this minister was caught being ‘economical with the truth’ and looks like he got what was coming to him.

[Article on Stuff]

Since moving into the contracting/self-employed market, I’ve splashed out a bit on my home office setup. First I bought an HP Advanced Docking Station for my nx8220 notebook which provides full connectivity for audio, gigabit networking, DVI connector, plus a bunch of extra USB ports.

Then I invested in a new monitor to upgrade my 17inch Viewsonic CRT. I wanted to get as high resolution as possible, but the WUXGA (1920×1200) monitors were still priced out of my budget. So I went for a 20inch WSXGA+ HP screen which has 1680×1050 resolution. The first night I had the screen, I spent the night flying around the world in Google Earth!

To finish off my workstation setup I bought a Microsoft wireless laser desktop set which has all the new Vista compatible shortcut buttons, though I haven’t really used them yet – apart from the volume buttons.

Today I also bought myself a new chair, which replaces the broken one that I rescued from a tip two years ago! It’s amazing what a good office setup makes to productivity, I find that I can put a lot more work in when I’m in a comfortable environment.

Now I’m just looking for a new notebook, as we may need a second one in the near future. My requirements so far are:

• Must be compatible with my docking station – i.e. it must be an HP.
• Must have high resolution.
• Must have at least an Intel T7200 processor.
• Must have at least 1GB RAM, with a free slot.
• Must have dedicated graphics card with dedicated memory.

Some “nice to haves” are:

• 802.11 n (or draft-N?) wireless connectivity
• Must be reasonably mobile, i.e. no 17 inch monster displays on this notebook.
• 100GB or bigger SATA drive.
• Fingerprint reader, or other enhanced security.

Unfortunately, the current HP models that match my requirements are over $3000 which is getting steep, but there’s a bunch of new model just released in the USA which should bring the price down a bit when they reach NZ.

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for the last couple of weeks – Deb and I went to see “An Inconvenient Truth” (IMDB link) at the Penthouse Cinema in Brooklyn. The movie was Deb’s choice but I was so glad that I saw it.

It’s a really important film that everyone should go to see, it will really open your eyes. It’s a documentary that revolves around Al Gore’s campaign to highlight the serious issues with global warming. The film cuts between a slideshow that Al Gore is presenting and clips of him on the road, traveling around the word spreading his message.

The film hits home hard and Al’s presentation skills really gets the message across well. You’ll leave the cinema either feeling depressed or inspired – but either way you’ll know that changes need to happen. Here are a couple of environment-friendly links that I’ve come across in my quest to help out…

Personal Kyoto – this is a service only applicable to New York residents at the moment, but it’s so simple it should be relevant worldwide. You register with the site and give it your local electricity account number and they produce a chart showing your electricity usage and how it relates to the standards implied by the Kyoto Protocol. The idea is that you calculate what you need to do reduce your emissions in line with what the Kyoto Protocol would require.

Healthy Homes Check Up – more relevant to people in New Zealand, this is a series of questions designed to determine how energy efficient your home is. It then provides options for improvements, along with how much the improvements cost and what the payback period is.

What are you doing to help..?