Earth Hour invites one billion people in more than 2800 cities representing 83 countries to turn off their lights for one hour – tonight, Saturday, March 28 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm in their local time zone.

On this day, cities around the world, including Paris, Sydney, London, Cairo, New York, Los Angeles and Cape Town, will join together to demonstrate their commitment to energy conservation and sustainability.

Here’s how you can participate:

• All you have to do to Vote Earth is turn your lights out for one hour tonight, Saturday, March 28 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm local time, in your city. Your light switch is your vote!
• Set your computer’s power management and save up to $60 on your electricity bill and nearly half a ton of C02 over the next twelve months. Climate Savers Computing Initiative provides instructions on how you can save electricity all year long through efficient computing.
• Join Earth Connect and share your opinions about climate change through blogs, e-mails, and Twitter. The goal is to gather one billion words to present at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
• If you are affiliated with a college, help your university reduce its environmental impact by adopting green computing practices. Pledge to Power Down for the Planet and create a video to teach others about the importance of energy efficient computing in the fight against climate change.

Earth Hour is about more than dimming lights for sixty minutes; it’s about making a commitment to reduce energy consumption throughout the year.

As Google’s business grows, we want to make sure we minimize our impact on the Earth’s climate through responsible environmental practices every hour, every day.

Source: Google Earth Hour 2009

Earlier today Brain Slayer released DD-WRT version 23 Service Pack 2 with a ton of performance enhancements, added features and bug fixes.

I would say this is the most stable version of DD-WRT that I’ve run on my wireless router to date.

If you’re unfamiliar with DD-WRT, it’s a third party firmware for the Linksys WRT54G/GS/GL and various other 802.11g wireless routers based on a similar Broadcom reference design.

These routers run Linux from the factory, and as such, their source is released under the terms of the GPL.

So what is needed to run DD-WRT? Here’s a list of the basics to get you going:

1. A computer (Windows, Linux, Apple/Mac).
2. A broadband internet connection (DSL, Cable, or similar)
3. A Linksys version 1-4 WRT54G/GL/GS router or other supported router.
4. The DD-WRT firmware image from The DD-WRT Project.

For users with the WRT54G/GS version 5 or 6, you’ll need to use the micro build of DD-WRT, so if you’re going to be buying a new router be sure to try and find a version 1-4.

I suggest at least a version 2 because Linksys started using a faster processor in the version 2-4’s. The WRT54Gv7 is not supported by DD-WRT.

Where do I get a Linksys router you might be asking yourself? Well a Linksys router can be ordered directly from the internet via NewEgg, Amazon or even eBay.

Before you go flashing your router and turning it into a brick or door stop, be sure to read the included documentation with the DD-WRT distribution files.

If you need any help or advise, just ask me as I’ve flashed 100’s of these routers for myself, family, friends and clients without any issues.