That is all, for now. 🙂
“When I became convinced that the Universe is natural–that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world–not even in infinite space. I was free–free to think, to express my thoughts–free to live to my own ideal–free to live for myself and those I loved–free to use all my faculties, all my senses–free to spread imagination’s wings–free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope–free to judge and determine for myself–free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the “inspired” books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past–free from popes and priests–free from all the “called” and “set apart”–free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies–free from the fear of eternal pain–free from the winged monsters of the night–free from devils, ghosts, and gods. For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought–no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings–no chains for my limbs–no lashes for my back–no fires for my flesh–no master’s frown or threat–no following another’s steps- -no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.
And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain–for the freedom of labor and thought–to those who fell in the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound with chains–to those who proudly mounted scaffold’s stairs–to those whose bones were crushed, whose flesh was scarred and torn–to those by fire consumed–to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still. ”
–Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899)
Hey all (anyone?),
As you can tell I haven’t updated in a while. I’m working on some other web projects (in addition to starting a grad program) so I won’t have much time to update this blog. I’ll still renew my domain name and leave the page up, but you probably won’t see much from me for the next few months. Keep your bookmarks (like I said, anyone?) and check back later!
Cheers,
G
Keep an eye on Nanosolar over the next few years. They have just now started producing their solar film at a fraction (1/9th) of the cost of silicon “solar panels.” I can’t find any information about the conversion rate (most estimates are that the sun delivers ~277 watts per square feet down to the earth on a sunny day) of these panels, but considering how cheap they are to produce they sound promising even with at 10%.
Popular Science also reports that Google has invested in the company.
From the Celsias blog:
Their mission: to deliver cost-efficient solar electricity. The Nanosolar company was founded in 2002 and is working to build the world’s largest solar cell factory in California and the world’s largest panel-assembly factory in Germany. They have successfully created a solar coating that is the most cost-efficient solar energy source ever. Their PowerSheet cells contrast the current solar technology systems by reducing the cost of production from $3 a watt to a mere 30 cents per watt. This makes, for the first time in history, solar power cheaper than burning coal.
Way to promote alternative transportation, NY!
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On the evening of May 30, 2007, Ninth Precinct cops, led by Ninth Precinct Lieutenant Robert Corcoran, executed “Operation: Bike Raid” on East Sixth Street, between First and Second Avenues.
As cops with special metal cutting saws chewed through locks and chains on bikes locked to parking meters and streets signs, Sixth Street resident Robert Carnevale confronted them, having received a call from his girlfriend outside his apartment building. Carnevale quickly rang buzzers in buildings on his block to warn his neighbors that their bikes were being taken and then returned to the scene of the crime, taking photos of cops loading the dozen or so bikes they had just stolen into two unmarked dark blue vans with paneling over the side windows. (These vans can be seen regularly parked outside the Ninth Precinct on East Fifth Street.)
Here is an interesting op-ed published in the Christian Science Monitor calling for “The Next Trillion” to be spent on matters of significant social importance, such as clean energy and community development.
It’s an interesting thought experiment to consider what $1,000,000,000,000 could do for the health of planet and the wellbeing of its human communities. Just imagine if we had leaders with the guts and foresight (of course, they would have to be untethered by big money interests–a rarity) to develop a plan like this. What would our world look like?
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Economists project that the cost of the war in Iraq, when all is said and done, will come in at $1 trillion or more.
I say: Let’s do it again!
Let’s allocate another trillion dollars – but this time for the good of all humanity and all species. Let’s do it with the same moral urgency and vision that has made America great at so many critical junctures in history.
There’s an emergency and an opportunity out there that calls for The Next Trillion.
It’s about more than geopolitics and petrodollars. It’s about more than the science of climate change.
It’s about the need for global economic institutions to evolve in response to the social and environmental challenges of our time: growth in population, accelerating technological change, accelerating capital flows, growth in consumption, increasing pollution, widening wealth gaps.
-cut-
Here’s how The Next Trillion should be invested:
• $250 billion for clean energy and energy efficiency;
• $250 billion for carbon sequestration and bioremediation;
• $250 billion for sustainable food and forests; and
• $250 billion for community development.
From the 1976 movie Network.
Here’s a positive story for a change…
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ERIE, Pa. – Mike Batchelor invited the heads of 46 charities into his downtown office for one-on-one meetings to personally deliver the news. Nearby, on a small table, sat a box of tissues.
And then he proceeded: A donor had given a staggering $100 million to the Erie Community Foundation, and all of the charities would receive a share.
That was when the tears began to flow — and the mystery began — in this struggling old industrial city of 102,000 on Lake Erie, where the donor is known only as “Anonymous Friend.”
It’s been kind of a slow blogging week for me. I have been in Vegas attending the Blog World and New Media Expo and, ironically, haven’t posted much to my blog in the meantime. I’ve also been revamping my Save Otero website because we had some news come in and it was very difficult to make changes to the old site.
Here’s an interesting story from Bloomberg about how different national banks are taking steps to soften the impact of the falling dollar. What’s in store for the economy as we enter the typically “agressive” holiday season?
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Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — Central banks from Bogota to Mumbai are imposing foreign-exchange curbs to take control of their soaring currencies from traders dumping the dollar.
In Colombia, international investors buying stocks and bonds must leave a 40 percent deposit at Banco de la Republica for six months. The Reserve Bank of India created a bureaucratic thicket to curb speculation by foreign money managers. The Bank of Korea is investigating trading of currency forward contracts to limit gains in the won, now at a 10-year high.
Instead of using currency reserves or interest rates to influence foreign exchange markets, central banks and finance ministries are setting up obstacles to keep the falling dollar from threatening company profits and economic growth. The U.S. currency slumped 10 percent this year against its biggest trading partners, the steepest decline since 2003, while Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has reiterated that the U.S. supports a “strong” dollar.
“Central banks are struggling to find new ways to intervene against their currencies and some of the proposals simply can’t work,” said Mirza Baig, an analyst in Singapore at Deutsche Bank AG, the world’s biggest currency trader. Some plans are “truly bizarre,” he wrote in a report.
The U.S. hasn’t attempted to stop the decline as the worst housing slump in 16 years forced the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. The dollar has weakened 19 percent against the Canadian currency this year to a record 90.58 cents, and fell 18 percent versus Brazil’s real.
Read more…
Sidetracked 