It’s interesting how sometimes obvious solutions can be novel in other domains. One example is using ice to cool a building. The premise of the system is this: it’s cheap to buy electricity at night, expensive during the day. Why not make ice at night (consumes a lot of electricity), and then use the ice to cool the building during the day (consumes little electricity), thereby saving money on cooling bills? Here’s a New York Times article on one such install in Manhattan. Interesting.

Today I was looking at GIS data that outlines the paths fiber optic cables take as they snake across the U.S. I found that this data is considered a secret (as a risk to so called critical infrastructure), and therefore redacted from U.S. DOJ filings, or made more general in terms of accuracy on individual transit vendors’ websites (usually in the ‘about’ section).

What I did find, however, is that given enough money, one *can* still buy this data. Some vendors, along with older maps, appear on the Atlas of Cyberspace site. Prices seemed to range from ~$3,000 for general data all the way up to $15,000 for the most accurate and extensive map. Interesting.

What’s more interesting is, 1) “where do they get their data?” and 2) “why can I still buy this if it’s supposedly a ’secret’ and a threat to national security?” It seems, once again, that availability of funds is being used as a way to filter out those who would “do bad” with this “sensitive” data, and those who want it for other more benign purposes. I want it for an art project. Terrorists may want it to “cripple the Internet”. Who do the vendors think has access to more funds–me or the terrorists?

I see these trucks from AT Systems in and around Pittsburgh almost daily. They have, on the side of them, the slogan: “AT Systems. The system is the solution.” Here’s a picture from Flickr (not mine, by the way).

The slogan got me thinking about security. I suppose in the security business, the one thing that is a “solution” is not to make it impossible to steal–for you can’t really (ever) do that. Instead, the solution is to provide a certain amount of “transparency” and documentation if/when theft does occur in order to catch the thief. I’m assuming that’s what their slogan refers to–the “system” or process of documentation/chain of responsibility they have being the solution to keeping valuables safe in the face of risk of theft.

So far my time at Banff is going well. My roommate is nice and the food’s pretty good. The place is beautiful–I have an awesome view out my window. We’ll get our own studio space and they have a library, a pool, exercise facilities, etc. Just like the University, really.

The town of Banff is also interesting. A typical tourist town. They have kitsch street names like “Beaver” and “Bear”. Pictures follow.

Of course, I found some infrastructure along the way, and had to take pictures of it. Notice the different fire hydrants–not sure if these are special in any way, or just the norm here. Maybe they are more resistant to freezing? Or built for the more rugged environment here? And the street signs are interesting, too. The “no stopping” sign is my favorite. Whoever did the information design on this one needs to go back to design school–it presumes you already know what a stop sign looks like. Which may or may not be a good assumption, but still: it’s a principle thing. Signs (especially road signs) should include a complete, understandable message in and of themselves–that’s the point of *good* communication, right?

Okay, so I’m going to break the rules a little bit and write about something in the past (and even set the date back!): the fact that I’m at the Banff Centre in Canada for an artist residency called Reference Check. That’ll setup the rest of what’s to come on this here blog.

Here’s some pictures of my trip:

The people in Canada are so happy. When I got to the airport, the staff pushing people in wheelchairs didn’t look like zombies like they did in Chicago. Go figure! And everything’s in metric–the rationalism is apparent already. Sigh. I want to move to Canada.