Archive for November 28th, 2007


Hartford CT passes pro-immigrant policy

The resolution, which passed unanimously requests

that law enforcement officers in the city not “exert effort on behalf of federal agents to unearth undocumented residents” who live in Hartford.

From the resolution itself

RESOLVED, That the Mayor assist the Chief of the Hartford Police Department in developing policies that do not hinder the police from properly carrying out their duties in identifying criminal elements and assuring the public safety but to avoid becoming involved in immigration issues or asking the immigration status of individuals detained for other reasons.

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Google’s goal: Renewable energy cheaper than coal

Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, plans to invest first tens of millions, then hundreds of millions of dollars into R&D for renewable energy that will be cheaper than coal. They want to create breakthrough technology.

“We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers,” said Larry Page, Google Co-founder and President of Products. “We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal.”

“Our goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal.  We are optimistic this can be done in years, not decades.” (One gigawatt can power a city the size of San Francisco.)

Wow. There’s lots more too, read the press release. Let’s hope lots more foundations, businesses, and governments do the same. And hey, maybe even do it in an open source manner with everyone sharing information. After all, we all live on the same planet.

Tip: Ecogeek

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The fat lady hasn’t even walked onstage

The credit bubble is just starting to unwind, a credit-derivative insider says. And while U.S. borrowers are being blamed for the mess, they were really just pawns in a global game.

When asked if  we were in the third inning on this, insider Satyajit Das, author of a 4,200 page book on credit derivatives, just laughed, saying we’re still listening to the national anthem, the game hasn’t even started yet.

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