Another One Bites the Dust

Updates

Later, 2:10 p.m.: I can't believe no one has called me on this one yet. The WSJ failed to mention that this company below was a start-up under Governor Mitt Romney's administration. The Boston Globe spelled this out very, very nicely. When I posted this, I had not yet read the Boston Globe. A link to the story in the Washington Post. Evergeen Solar and Beacon Power, also under Romney's tenure, went bankrupt, story here.


Again, I don't know why folks think I am against solar power. I am not. I love solar power as much as anyone. As noted below;  I invest in solar power. It has its niche. But anyone who suggests that it's the answer to our energy problem globally is, in fact, quite wrong. The numbers don't add up.

I simply want all energy sources to play by the same environmental rules worldwide.

Original Post

At the risk of offending 75% of my readers, this was too good to simply be an update elsewhere.

From the print copy, WSJ, page B7, "another one bites the dust."

Solar-power company Konarka Technologies Inc collapsed into bankruptcy after spending tens of millions of investor dollars and government grant money to research and manufacture thin strips of sunlight-absorbing sheeting.

Data points:

• Lowell, Massachussets
• debts topped more than $10 million
• the collapse is blamed on inability to find additional money 

"To find additional money"? Okay.

I am an investor in solar just to clear the air. But the video was too good to pass up.



Another One Bites The Dust, QueenFolks who have not listened to Queen before may appreciate the video below.

Speaking of grants, from the WSJ, pA19: George Washington University is getting $1.9 million (grant from the Obama administration) for a project to reduce health care costs by $1.7 million. The best and the brightest.

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A Note for the Granddaughters

I discovered Queen when the Air Force sent me to a remote air base in northern England for several months, and then sent me back numerous times over the course of a couple of years. You have no idea how tired I had become by then of traveling and being away from the family. I've talked about this before. This was where I started my aggressive reading program again.

On the first trip to this remote site, I was "stuck" with BBC on a television that barely carried one grainy station. Interestingly, the first "show" I saw was a Queen concert. Awesome. Queen became, perhaps, my favorite rock group.

Freddie was an incredibly generous person from all that I have read.

It's coincidental that the Queen is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee this year. Yesterday, someone wrote to say that Norwegians consistently poll as one of the happiest in the world. That may be, but there is something about the British (English, Scots, Irish, et al) that make them very attractive. I understand why Henry James gave up his US citizenship to become a British citizen.


Killer Queen, QueenSomething tells me the other Queen enjoyed this.

By the way, Brian May, on the far right in the still above, is an astrophysicist. From wiki:

May earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in 2007 and is currently the Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. 

A "rock star" comes to mind. I will have to mention this to my older granddaughter.

Speaking of which, there is a nice piece in today's Boston Globe in which a 13-year-old semi-finalist in the National Spelling Bee is interviewed. It turns out that when the questions turned to other interests she was asked about Justin Bieber ("pleaaasseee"); she said her favorite music was the Beatles. That surprised the interviewer, noting the young age of the teenage. At the end of the interview, the young girl was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. Her reply: "Happy." Like Lennon said, she told the reporter.