Blue Penguin Report

By Red Sox Steve

2004 was a memorable year in every way: Since I go by the name "Red Sox" Steve, there is at least one reason I shouldn't need to mention. But, there are plenty of others: it was the year I met one of my best friends, and trusted adviser (Matty B!), started my job on Wall Street along with my bachelor's lifestyle, and began to understand my country as I never had before. It was also the year I got my first Manhattan apartment.

One of my sisters had already been living in Manhattan for 2 years, and, during that same time, I was working as a school teacher in Guyana. I had just arrived in the city, so the time she had under her belt meant she was an NYC veteran by comparison. She had a good job, a great social life, knew the city well, and was willing to introduce me to all her friends. Little more I could ask of her, really, so I took my cues from her willingly - I was grateful to have someone close to me introduce me to New York.

We saw a few places that summer of '04, and finally decided on one - it was conveniently located, newly renovated, and offered at the right price. For two kids who had grown up in a sprawling suburb, the place was tiny, but the convenience of living in Manhattan required a square footage trade-off we both wanted to make. We signed the lease, exchanged keys and money, and I got my first NYC apartment.

We were adults who had lived together as children and teenagers before going to separate cities to attend college, so our new situation took some getting used to. Early on, she traveled, switched jobs, and changed boyfriends. I was new to the city, had a steady office job in midtown, and an evolving and dynamic social life. We cooked our favorite foods, watched some of the same TV programs, and learned to get along as roommates through drunken nights out and occasional break-ups. Those were my earliest years in New York, and thinking back on them today, it seems like they happened during the Paleozoic era.

2007 was just a few months old when my sis decided the west coast was calling - she wanted to move to San Diego, and she wanted to go that summer. I was about to lose one of my most important tethers - she helped me get settled and adjusted, but now she decided 5 years in NYC was enough. She had plenty of friends who had come and gone - people initially attracted to the bright lights of the "Big Apple", but then decided it was time to move on. Some moved back to their hometown, some got married and moved to the distant edge of the solar system (what us city folk refer to as "New Jersey"), and others left the area for some place new - my sis was in the third category.

Initially, I was worried to be losing the only roommate I had since I got here. How could I ever live with an acquaintance or worse yet... a stranger? She was still here when I began my search for a new roommate, giving me some lead time to solve what seemed like a daunting problem. I tried everything I could think of, networking through friends of friends and putting an ad on craigslist were the two I came up with, and I just couldn't find anyone. Folks who showed an initial interest would waffle or disappear, and I was running out of time. I have a strong dislike for moving, and I was afraid that's what I would be faced with if I struggled to pay the bills.

I had probably shown her room to more than 20 people over a period of about 6 weeks, and likely corresponded with twice that many who had shown interest, yet I just couldn't find anyone enthusiastic about moving in. There is a silver lining in every cloud, and mine was channeled through my nearest and dearest, Matty B. "Why don't you put an ad in the short term section on craigslist?" Matt suggested. So I did. The details of the ad were as plain as rice cake - dimensions of the room, a vague description of the amenities, and of course some photos. To my initial surprise, although I raised the asking price from where it was, there was some interest. Off to a good start, I thought, but my skepticism remained: all I did was move my ad to the short term section on craigslist - would the outcome be any different? But it was.

Within a week I had a number of responses. I was looking for someone to move in as soon as possible, and one of the first people I corresponded with worked for a local art gallery. He was sponsoring a German artisan on a three month work visa and scrambling to find accommodation for her. I met him, and after he had a look at the room, he agreed to take it. In exchange for payment I gave him the keys, just like I've done hundreds of times since.

My first tenant arrived from Germany in fall 2007, and moved in. I had never met anyone from Germany before, never mind the fact she was an artisan with such a unique specialty: she restored antique picture frames, some as many as 400 years old. Having someone with such a unique background was in my apartment was fascinating. "Where else in my daily dealings would I run into a person like this?", I thought. Suffice it to say, it was interesting, unexpected, unique... and it was just the beginning.

She ended up taking the room for three months - our existence was pretty routine, but when she talked about her work, her life, Germany, or her impression of the U.S., I found it scintillating. I had never known restoring antique frames was an artistic specialty, so demanding, so intricate. Until I conversed with her, it was far beyond my life experience to ponder such things. She stayed comfortably for those few months, completed her assignment, and shortly before her departure, I started to look for another short-term renter. I found a Brazilian exchange student, here studying in NYC for the first time - another very unique, very kind person with a different background than people I was used to dealing with. After a few renters had come and gone, I began to realize my place was a pretty hot commodity. I kept raising the price because there were so many eager folks and eventually I found what economists call an "equilibrium price" which ensured a steady cash flow - my little enterprise was doing just fine.

After a few months of renting, what started to became so fascinating was the wide range of people who had been through my apartment - so many different backgrounds, professions, ethnicities, ages, and reasons for being here. I've never kept a catalog of the folks who have come through, and I didn't join facebook until about two years after I started renting (I've since looked up and befriended some of my former renters), so I won't be able to remember everybody, but here is a sampling of the folks who have stayed and a bit about them:

- the Scottish lawyer, author and anti-nuclear power activist, here in New York to meet a billionaire to close a book deal

- the American cameraman, here in New York to work on the Apprentice (keeping true to the show's confidentiality obligations, he didn't tell me who "The Donald" fired in advance!)

- the German medical student, here to do an internship at a local hospital

- the Singaporean doctor with a strong British accent, here for a medical rotation

- the Chinese engineer, fresh from her Ivy league master's degree, here to find a job

- the Swiss/Italian couple visiting NYC for a couple of months, another person had stolen their security deposit so they needed a new, safer place to stay - the Estonian model, here for a fashion shoot

- the Italian business professor, here on a fellowship at NYU

- the Argentine sisters, one a student, the other a professional camerawoman for an Argentinean TV channel; they've since recommended me to about a dozen of their friends and acquaintances

- the Israeli software salesman who used to live in NYC, passing through from Las Vegas back to Tel Aviv

I had interesting people coming and going, and I was able to create a cash flow I hadn't experienced before, which changed everything for me. I no longer relied on such a huge portion of my salary, so I started stashing the extra funds away. Whenever I needed a tenant, I found one easily, ensuring I wouldn't have to dip into my pocket to make up for any losses. I started to see that this was both financially profitable and intellectually rewarding.

When I first arrived in NYC in 2004, I wanted to work in finance - I had the notion that it was a lucrative and prestigious profession which gave me the chance to work with some of the best and brightest (as an aside, I now wonder, "how could I have gotten that SO wrong?"). I found a job pretty easily in June of 2004, and started learning about business and finance at about the same time from my mentor, Matt (I am so used to calling him Matty B, but I'll just call him Matt so as to avoid confusion). Well, within just a couple of years, my understanding of how finance worked changed completely - learning and experience had asserted themselves.

Up to 2004, global investors became hooked on what were known as Mortgage-Backed Securities, and, in short, those securities and any prosperity derived from them were predicated on the perpetual rise in home prices. Through my job and my extensive discussions with Matt, (he and) I concluded that home prices rising in perpetuity was nonsense and, in fact, when that changed, home prices would drop, probably enough to cause widespread financial ruin.

I began to see my job very differently after coming to that conclusion, and saw home ownership less as a road to wealth and more as an outcropping of middle-class America's sense of entitlement. I'm a middle-class American kid from the suburbs - buying a home, thinking of it as an asset, and living in it until death is gospel to many I grew up with. On the other hand, renting is anathema, and renters are thought to be on the "cusp of adulthood" compared to their more mature, home owning brethren. My work and experience led me down an altogether different path where an asset is what an accountant thinks it is - something that generates cash, rather than drains it. I've counted enough "Benjamins" on my tiny kitchen table to conclude that my apartment is more of an asset than any home I've ever known.

You know the rest of the story - through the 2000s, gas and oil prices continued to rise, as did inflation and home prices, until late in 2008, when the house of cards finally gave way. Within months, I was out of a job, but I had already anticipated this - my apartment provided the cash flow I needed for my financial life to remain stable. Less than half a year after I lost my job, I started traveling. I went to South America, then India, then China. Each time I went away, Matt managed the comings and goings - I've been away for weeks at a time while he has been here to reliably direct traffic in my absence and has done a great job.

I began to see that I could easily rent the place while I'm gone - not just one room, but both of them, to unrelated people. And that's just what I did - I went to China for 6 weeks, South America for 3 weeks, India for a month, and with Matt's help, people came through just as easily as when I was here. One time, there was a Harvard Business School summer intern in one room, and a Nepalese couple in the other. A German doctor was living here with an Israeli fashion designer. A distressing financial crisis hit, I lost my job, but my life actually got BETTER.

In 2010, Matt, myself, and a few others, assumed responsibility for the care of a homebound elderly woman. While we were still learning how to care for her, her money ran out, and we found ourselves barely scraping by while we waited for financial support. Through this time, I was able to rent my place, keeping my bills paid. She unexpectedly passed away in June 2011, and my shoestring budget became even thinner while we unwound her affairs.

Since she passed, I've struggled financially, while things slowly worked themselves out. All the while, my apartment has been the bulwark of my income, as reliable as ever. I discovered an opportunity to make it even more lucrative when a handy friend of mine helped me build a comfortable sleeping space above my living room, where I slept. Construction on the new space, and some repairs I've made around the apartment meant more could be accommodated comfortably - the entire apartment is available to renters. Then, a few months ago, I became tired of the informality of craigslist, and started listing my place on a new website called airbnb. My relationship with airbnb has been great - for a very reasonable fee, they help me with things that craigslist doesn't, enabling the financial and lifestyle freedoms I've come to enjoy.

As my living situation changed, my life and understanding of this city changed. I've learned a little about wealth, housing, and even the global economy. I've learned about many different cultures and have made friends along the way. When I arrived in New York, I knew I had merely started a long journey to gain more knowledge and life experience, trying to keep myself flexible and open-minded. Now, almost a decade later, I couldn't be more grateful that such a tiny apartment has been such a huge resource in helping me along in my journey. If you'd like to visit New York, I'd be grateful if you inquired about staying at my place.

If you are interested, see below to inquire about a stay.

Here's one room:

Upper East Side private queen bed!

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Here's the other:

Upper East Side private rm full bed

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Posted by Red Sox Steve at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Red Sox Steve

Right around the time I was a high school sophomore, I started to understand that it would be a good idea to think about my future. What did I want to do with my life? What did I want to study? What was I good at, and how could I apply my skills, knowledge and talents in a practical way? Suffice it to say that my sixteen year old brain did not spend as much time on these issues as more pressing matters like girls, cars and sports. My regrettable approach to my life (but, justifiable at the time) meant that others could easily sway me - I come from a multi-generational, Italian, working-class upbringing that lives in a tight-knit, small community and I'm the first-born son in my own nuclear family. As soon as I started to read well and bring home good grades, many told me I should become a doctor. And I believed them.

To me, the idea sounded great - for all I knew, doctors worked cushy hours, drove fancy cars, and relished in the type of prominence and esteem that mean so much to so many, especially in a small community. Little means more to many local parents than the ability to tell someone, "my son/daughter is a doctor." So, as I prepared for college, my chosen path was medicine - my parents encouraged me, therefore, to study science. After all, their poor, sometimes unpredictable, blue-collar upbringing required them to always pursue practical goals - they saw ability in me, and we all looked at each other and said, "a doctor. Why not?"

In high school, I got a decent education, what many would call "average" for America. As a result, I entered college a little more well-prepared than some, and not as well-prepared as others. My competitive instincts drove me early and often - my grades were good, my chances of getting into medical school were high and, above all, the continuous positive outcomes confirmed that I - with the financial support of a frugal mom and dad - was on the right track. Over 10 years ago.

There is no MD in my by-line, so you know the story doesn't end there. In fact, that's where it really begins. College was going well at the end of my sophomore year. I was learning a lot, building up a pretty decent medical school application, and the average high school graduate I was had morphed into someone on track to graduate with Latin honors. However, a plan I had at the time was thwarted - my university had options for those who wanted to apply for early acceptance to medical school (my parents and I said, "why wait?"), so I applied, and found out mid-summer of 1998 that I didn't get in. I wanted to continue to move forward, so in spite of this, I threw myself completely into the effort. That summer ended up being pretty good - It was my first in Boston: I had two jobs, studied, and enjoyed myself in the first big city I'd ever seen, visited, or lived in.

When I started my junior year in the fall, I saw no reason to slow down - I was halfway through, and wanted to make the most of my remaining time. So, I took on an undergraduate research project with the hopes of developing my resume and skills. I wanted to remain a competitive applicant for medical school, with the dream my parents and I had still weighing heavily on all my decisions. I concluded, mostly because of what my peers were doing, that getting more practical experience in chemistry (my chosen major) was probably a good idea.

To begin research as an undergraduate at my school, you have to first choose a professor who will lead you. With good grades on my transcript and myopic, but considerable, ambition fueling my desires, I sought out the most prominent organic chemistry professor at my university. This turned out to be an eye-opening experience. Prior to spending my time in an academic research lab, I was a student who sat in class my whole life - I passively absorbed data and regurgitated it for exams and lab sessions, lasting an hour or two at the most. This was different - there were graduate students in the lab, and they had been there for years working towards their Ph.D.s. The professor was responsible for allocating lab resources, guiding his students towards their dissertations, and - most important of all - continuing to bring prestige and funding to the chemistry department and university. Before I became a small part of a large lab, my goals were always front and center - my parents and teachers enabled my dreams unconditionally and supported me through ups and downs. The lab, however, was different, unfamiliar even; and like a sailor in uncharted waters, I didn't realize how unsettling it was until things got choppy.

The problems began within a few weeks - I learned how unhappy the graduate students were and realized that listening to them was unsatisfying; there were romantic affairs among lab members, adding another level of general unease to my time there, and, above all, I felt like these matters were too burdensome for me to continue. Work seemed to be secondary to the soap-opera like undercurrents that flowed through the lab. My first semester was, therefore, my last - I couldn't stomach the nonsense of it all. I saw no benefit to committing the rest of my undergraduate career to working around people like this! I resigned, made an official complaint to the department head about rumors I had heard (but couldn't substantiate), and felt like my hopes and dreams had come crashing down. My plan was a failure and so was I.

I felt like the rest of my time in college was spent fighting an 'uphill battle' - every decision now weighed a ton and it seemed that absolutely nothing was going in my favor. I had another year until graduation, though, and continued to push forward. I worked hard, but the gratification and positive third-party confirmation I previously associated with my efforts was gone. My parents grew anxious, further eroding my confidence, but any honest discussion of it all was swept under the rug - maybe if we acted like nothing was wrong, nothing would actually BE wrong. For the first time in my life, it seemed like the working-class pragmatism that had propelled me upward was starting to drag me down.

In the months that followed, I continued to work hard, but the future seemed more opaque than ever before. Graduation was looming, I had trouble focusing, and - again, for the first time - doubt replaced certainty when I thought of my future. I graduated on time in May 2000, but was tired, burned out, and doubted myself and my abilities - again, something that happened for the very first time. Within a matter of months, my desire to go to medical school had all but vanished, as gone as my undergraduate days, and I had no idea what to do. I found work, but had no understanding of how to leverage the experience - college was easy, but I found my post-college life much more challenging. Anxiety, depression, and a lousy diet led to weight gain, and I was in therapy - you guessed it - for the first time.

I stumbled into my science degree, with all the gusto of a drunk circus clown. I thought it was a means to an end, and that ultimately, all the sacrifice would be "worth it" when I became a doctor. The conversations I had with my parents leading up to my college graduation had been premised on the fact that I would go on to medical school, but, with that option off the table, I concluded that my knowledge and undergraduate degree left me with no appealing choices. Shortly thereafter, I stepped away from science, and worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer, living outside America... for the very first time. The demands I had to meet as a science major left me with no opportunity to satisfy my other curiosities. Two years living and working in a South American jungle were only the start of an experience that helped inform my perspective; what I learned while living there has since shaded every decision I've made. Stay tuned, because that story isn't too far away.

Posted by Red Sox Steve at 09:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise.

The reason is clear: We have an economy that increasingly rewards education and skills because of that education.

Come on people now! Smile on your brother. Everybody get together. Try to love one another right now.

When Rick Snyder (R) took office in Michigan he immediately cut spending on education and the film industry (we are a union business that trains their own) and offered HUGE incentives to big business. The film industry here, once a white boys club, increasingly embraced minorities and trained them. With a lack of support for the education of the inner city poor where can they possibly go but to lower income jobs? So apparently “Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses…” no longer applies in this country.

A 2009 study by Pew Research showed the drop in household wealth for Hispanics was a whopping 66%, while Blacks faired little better losing 53% of wealth over four years (2005-2009).

Click chart to enlarge

The percent of our revenue from business income is one of the lowest of any European and Asian society, those countries make closer to double the percent of GDP vs. the U.S.

SS = 865 Billion
Individual Income = 899 Billion
Corporate = 191 Billion

All of us came here from somewhere, the exception being native Indians, and benefited from the ideas in Emma Lazurus' (born of Portuguese Jews) poem.. And some very smart wealthy men (including the President) have said they would gladly pay higher taxes to keep this idea alive.

Click chart to enlarge

A Pew Center and CBO study named these as the main reason for a decline in U.S. financial standing:

▪ Revenue declines due to two recessions, separate from the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003: 28%
▪ Defense spending increases: 15%
▪ Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003: 13%
▪ Increases in net interest: 11%
▪ Other non-defense spending: 10%
▪ Other tax cuts: 8%
▪ Obama Stimulus: 6%
▪ Medicare Part D: 2%
• Other reasons: 7%

I opened my film business in 1991 hiring crews of up to 30, employing four, reps in the Midwest and New York plus summer interns, greatly improved a 6500 square foot studio, provided food for neighborhood down and outs and was bringing in business from all over the country. By 2005 most of the assets had been sold and what was once a high tech studio remained shuttered for over five years and the neighborhood declined.

This period represented a switch from a democrat in the Governor’s office to a Republican one, but was mostly under a Clinton presidency. Under Grandholm 2003-2011 the studio became a nursing school and the neighborhood thrived. Young creatives moved to Detroit started high tech businesses like mine and I had more offers to work feature films than I could handle.

I rode out the first recession, but saw the second one coming as the automotives continued to spend, not on the future, but on the cash cow, the SUV. Many of them now support the film industry and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is working to keep the city growing with a new incentive for employees to move downtown called “Live Detroit”.

From Crain’s Detroit Business:

“Here's how the incentives work: New homeowners can receive a $20,000 forgivable loan; new renters a $2,500 rental allowance (and $1,000 for the second year). In addition, existing renters will receive $1,000 for renewing a lease, and existing homeowners can receive matching funds of up to $5,000 for exterior improvements on projects of $10,000 or more.”

For me it’ll be back to high tech with the hope that the Republicans, who seem to always make a creative girls life miserable, will realize after the terrible news from Norway that some of the Tea Party types they have aligned with will ruin this economy and send its poor and its huddled masses packing.

These are the member countries of the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on the chart above.

Click here

Posted by M. Hannington at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Red Sox Steve
VagabondGuru.com

I spent October and November 2010 in China - I've seen the largest green energy project in the world (Three Gorges Dam), rode high-speed trains all around the country, and took the Middle Kingdom's impressive public transportation system in every city I visited. I didn't take pleasure cruises or use high-end travel services; I walked the streets and rode the subways and busses.

I see, I learn, I process and think. I do it all for my edification and yours - those willing to ponder the 22nd and 23rd centuries, at least.

How we produce renewable energy is essential to that future, and it's why I write about it today.

China and the United States are the two largest greenhouse gas producers in the world, together responsible for around 40% of global greenhouse gas production. This is the direct result of converting nonrenewable resources like coal, oil and natural gas into electricity. China and the US are also among the top four nations (Russia and India are the other two) holding 60% of global coal reserves. 70% of China's energy comes from burning coal, and in the US, 46%.¹

In absolute terms, we see more distinctions: Each year, the sum of human activity puts 37 billion tons of CO₂ in the earth's atmosphere; two decades ago, it was less than 25. On average, an American puts 25 tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere each year, and a Chinese person puts 8. America's per capita electricity use is 13.6 megawatt hours/year, while China's is less than 3.² China's total energy consumption as of 2009 is 2,234 Mtoe (Million "Tonnes of Oil Equivalent", energy produced from burning one ton of oil), while the United States consumed 2,201 Mtoe. The next closest was India with a distant 655.³

In both nations, non-renewable resources make up a huge percentage of energy production, and renewable resources, such as solar panels, make a small contribution - In each of China and the United States, solar panels make up less than 10% of energy production.

China's economy has been growing for about 3 decades, and this growth can be traced back to market reforms initiated by Deng Xiaopeng in 1978. Thereafter, China's economic output grew quickly, steering millions away from the agrarian lifestyle they had known for generations. China started to become heavily dependent on the burning of minerals and fossil fuels; its yearly energy consumption has more than quadrupled since the 1980s. By the early 1990s, construction on the Three Gorges Dam had begun (oil prices were at a then record high), and China's commitment to renewable energy hasn't wavered since.

Today, China's fast growing economy is accompanied by some sobering public health statistics - 16 of the top 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China⁴, and cancer is one of the nation's leading causes of death.⁵ During my visits to cities as far north as Harbin and as far south as Guangzhou, it became typical to see a hazy skyline when viewing the cityscape - as if the sun wasn't shining brightly on even the clearest days.

By the start of the 21st century, construction on the Three Gorges Dam was proceeding apace, but was still more than a half decade from completion. The 18,200 MW it was forecast to produce would make a sizable dent in China's fossil fuel consumption, but more renewable sources were needed. Around that time, the Chinese turned to solar production in a big way.

The largest producer of solar panels anywhere in the world today is a company called Suntech, headquartered in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, just an hour's train ride from Shanghai. Let's have a glance at highlights taken from an article about the company⁶:

- Zhengrong Shi, CEO of Suntech, earned a Ph.D in solar power technology in the mid 1990s from Australia's University of New South Wales, and after working in Australia for a few years, returned to China in 2000, founding Suntech in 2001.
- Suntech's first factory opened in 2002, and has since cut solar panel production time significantly.
- In 2007, only 2% of global solar panel production came from China. In 2010, that number was 42%.
- Per Watt production costs have dropped from $3.20 in 2004 to $1.28 in 2010 for Chinese manufacturers.

According to the article and a related video⁷, the main component behind Suntech's solar panels is a molecule called "multicrystalline silicon". Multicrystalline silicon is a silver metal with an irregular crystal structure. In other words, the locations of, and distances between, silicon atoms is not uniform throughout the molecule; the irregularity lends itself to an unpredictable path for electron travel. Carrying this one step further, the unpredictability of an electron's path has ramifications in the efficiency of a solar panel's ability to convert incoming light to electric current. The movement of electrons through an irregular crystal structure is similar to telling a blindfolded person to navigate a maze without hitting a wall - very few make it all the way through.

Suntech's multicrystalline silicon technology has broken its own record for solar cell efficiency and is currently more than 17% efficient, the highest in the world. However, there is a technology being investigated at UNSW, which is discussed in the video interview: solar panels that use the PERL method. PERL stands for "Passivated Emitter and Rear Locally diffused". In an upgrade from widely used solar-cells that use doped silicon, and reflect light back out of the solar cell, PERL technology captures more of those escaping photons.

Here is a link to the white paper that contains the above schematic: PERL technology. The front edge of the solar panel is coated (industry term: "passivated") with an anti-reflective surface, preventing photons from bouncing back out of the solar panel once inside. The coating is a metal-oxide substance that can be one of two types: "SLAR" or "DLAR" - "Single-layer anti-reflective" or "Double-layer anti-reflective". According to Suntech's CEO, PERL technology has achieved 25% efficiency for about 20 years.

Until the last couple of years, when UNSW started collaboration with Suntech to commercialize PERL-based solar cells, PERL had no economic viability. One of the main obstacles was found in the panel production process. As stated in the video - the front (sun-facing side) of solar cells are coated with narrow metal lines that collect electrical charge. According to Dr. Stuart Wenham, Suntech's CTO, these narrow lines are actually too wide, reducing the amount of light retained, and thus reducing efficiency of the solar cell. Dr. Wenham concludes that the metal lines placed on solar cells must be one-sixth (from 120 microns wide to 20 microns wide) as wide as they currently are to effectively use the highly efficient PERL technology and make it commercially viable.

According to a 2009 whitepaper released by Suntech ⁸, they have successfully changed some of the processes and materials associated with PERL production and have "whittled" the width of the metal lines down to 25 microns, as compared to 20 microns in PERL solar cells; these lines are spaced less than 1mm apart, which is exactly the spacing found in PERL solar cells. As a result, Suntech has achieved greater than 18% efficiency⁹ (verified by an outside source) and has been marketing the new solar cells under the trademark "Pluto".

China and America continue to be - far and away - the largest energy consumers on earth, and are consequently its biggest polluters as well. Over the last couple of decades as the Chinese economy has grown rapidly, the Chinese have evidenced a commitment to renewable energy through massive projects like the Three Gorges Dam. Companies like Suntech fit perfectly under this umbrella - they mass produce solar cells and continue to add layers of understanding and improvement to solar cell technology, pulling in well-understood research and attempting to commercialize it. The concepts I've discussed above are merely the beginning of the renewable energy revolution mankind needs to meet the energy requirements of the future.

Sources:
1, 2. "Dirty Coal, Clean Future", Atlantic Monthly, December 2010
3. http://yearbook.enerdata.net/
4. China's View of Climate Change by Ying Ma, Policy Review, June & July 2010
5. http://www.earth-policy.org/data_center/C21
6. "Solar's Great Leap Forward", Technology Review, July/August 2010
7. http://technologyreview.com/video/?vid=581
8, 9. http://am.suntech-power.com/images/stories/pdf/other/pluto_whitepaper.pdf

Posted by Red Sox Steve at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

'Lets get this right, or I am gonna start smackin!'

- 'Anonymous'

In 1993, I began writing 'The Blue Penguin Report', I was 29. I wrote about finance, markets, currencies, macro-political trends, first in a mailer,. then an e-mail.

In 1997, I built a website, called 'The Ice Flow', which was the home for the BPR and other financial musings, but my personal life intervened. BPR was a blog before the blog was born.

In 2000, I stopped writing about finance exclusively and began writing politics, trying to keep the US from slipping into the path it took that November.

In 2003, New Hampshire Girl and I moved back to Manhattan, to live and breathe with others who walked the Earth aware.

In 2004, I met Steven, a brilliant scientist and world citizen, whose smarts and work ethic inspired me to try again. I downloaded my brain and experience into his big mind and shook him vigorously to insure a good flow and no backwater developments.

In 2007, I started writing a daily Sports Blog for the Sporting News that got me used to the daily cycle of sports and allowed me to stretch my non-fiction skills into less serious topic areas. The column was 'The Magic Carpet. and my persona, Vagabond Guru.

I met Mary there, and she, Steven and I created Vagabond Guru, the Website.

Mary developed a bad case of non-specific, non-displaced kookiness and vigorous shaking only seemed to exacerbate the problem, but she is so fucking creative, wonderful and devoted, that her presence became even more vital, even as she reaches into the annoying bag for a Gaylord Perry pitch and slimed all over the sweet delicate virgin sensibilities of Steven. (poor dear).

Somewhere in there we met Bethie, and brought Brian into our midst, and all sorts of stuff resulted, the upshot of which, Brian the magnificent human being, human beatbox, impressionist, encyclopedia of porn, comedy and sports trivia, noted stalker of anchor women and early season 'Biggest Loser' casualties brought his charm, humor, perspective and vision to VG.

So we have four talented, diverse, types who communicate rather well.

Photographic portfolios from Brian, B-Ri's NYC, Tales from the Door *(and behind the boiler)...

Animation, Illustration, lifestyle columns from Miss Mary...

Science and travel from Stevie B...

Sports, Politics, Economics, Lifestyle from Guru...

Promotion by Lisa Lindo.

Merchandising.

Video humor, reporting, erotica...

Shirts and cups ordered and on-site by July 1 is the goal for the merchandise, I will make a deal with Lisa, I am going to give Brian equity to bring him on par as an owner, he is forever, as are the other two, only way out is pine crate, but you aint dead!

Change the world, generate eyeballs, sell goods, become strong in your gifts and subjects, impress bitches (boys) and studs (girls) or both (Guru), compose viral video that will sicken the mainstream but thrill the fetishist! Bottle urine, bag panties, write pamphlets, get breast implants in your pants and penile implants in your shirt!

You can do anything. I believe in you, all of you.

Posted by Staff at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Red Sox Steve
VagabondGuru.com

Chongqing

After a day and a half, I had seen quite a few of the sites in Chongqing, which were all in Yuzhong. As I stared at a city map, though, I knew I had only seen a small part of this massive metropolis. With an eye toward my trip to the dam, I knew I didn't have to leave Yuzhong to catch the boat. I wanted to see as much of this area as possible, so I hopped in a cable car that took me over the Yangtze River.

As the car started away, I had to do a double take. On both sides of the river, running up and down its shores, I saw a city more massive than I could have conceived (of course, I hadn't yet visited Shanghai...). Before I boarded, I thought I understood the scale and makeup of Chongqing - I compared Yuzhong to Manhattan; both have rivers running along either side which eventually converge. Taking my logic a step further, the outlying areas would be reminiscent of Jersey City, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, flatter with more space, fading away in the distance. I was dead wrong. Instead, I saw massive buildings rising up in all directions, a handful of bridges stretching from bank to bank of the bending rivers, and water-borne traffic off into the horizon. Highways ran in every direction through available gaps in skyscraper construction and a network of tunnels weaved through the mountainous urban terrain.

Chongqing is a frenetically busy place and, like many of the other cities I had visited, there were plans for expansion - Chongqing already has two train stations, but now there were plans to extend the subway and build additional universities and technical centers. Sometimes, when visiting a large city in the western world, one can compare the population to a small country. In this case, the massive municipality of Chongqing, with over 30 million people, is more like a medium-sized one.

Before leaving the city, there was one last thing I had to do. Up to this point, I had eaten excellent Chinese food in city after city. I learned what Chinese breakfast was all about in Changchun, regrettably missed the Peking Duck in Beijing (rookie mistake!), but I sampled some great food in Xi'an and Haerbin as well. The Lonely Planet couldn't stress this one dish enough - a fiery blend of meats and vegetables with a side of rice in case things get out of control. In Chinese it's written: 火鍋, which is pronounced ("huǒ guō"). The literal translation is "fire pot".

I'll never forget the first time I went into a hotpot restaurant - I was starving and wanted to give it a chance. I couldn't read any chinese, and I at least thought I knew how to pronounce a few simple words like chicken, beef, pork, vegetables and beer. The waitress handed me the menu, comprised entirely of Chinese characters; I couldn't read it, so I did my best to build an order on the few words I knew.

Weeks before, my teacher Ren, and her cousins from Changchun, taught me how to ask for spice. "la" is the word for spice. If you want something very spicy, you could simply say, "hen la"; a little spicy, "yi dian die la"; without spice, "bu la"; spice on the side in a small bowl, "yi dian die wan la". I wanted the oil filled wok to have a little fire to it and add spice as I wished, so I asked for "yi dian die la" and "yi dian die wan la". I tried to tell the waitress (pretty sure I was flubbing it) that no matter what she put in front of me, I would eat it. The next thing I knew, I had a 40 oz. bottle of Tsingtao an arm's length away, and a wok full of spicy red oil with mysterious contents was placed on the cooking range in the center of my table.

Then, she brought over plates of raw meat and raw vegetables, and I carefully dropped them in the hot oil. The meat was thinly sliced and the vegetables were chopped, so I knew they would cook quickly. I watched excitedly as the entire pot bubbled and the food soaked up the oil and spices. I dipped my chopsticks into the oil, and pulled up an oily, hot, reddened mass of meat and vegetables. I could smell the spices and saw some peppercorns stuck to my food, so I ate slowly, keeping one hand by my beer.

I started to get the hang of it, and my eating became more bold. The portions I grabbed became bigger, and with the increased intake of spice, I took more gulps of beer. I knew the combination wasn't the healthiest, mostly because I was coughing and I could feel my face turning red. The taste was excellent, but the after-effects were tough on my stomach. I couldn't get enough though - the fiery spice, the Chinese beer, and the exotic sensation of eating a regional dish over 1,000 years old, made this an experience I would want to have again and again.

Fortunately, the only climactic event was that I enjoyed everything I ate. From here, though, the best thing to do was hop on the subway and head back to my hostel. Sleeping off a meal like this close to a bathroom was the most advisable idea. Over the next 4 days, I would eat hotpot twice more - good for the taste buds, but rough on pretty much everything else.

One more thing I want to tell you about took place before I left.

I made my way to another hotpot restaurant (they are everywhere), but this time I had help ordering. The restaurant was less than half full, and, because westerners are so rare in Chongqing, I could feel the curious stares on me as I entered. I was in the middle of ordering (again, not having much luck), when - lo and behold! - another foreigner came over to my table and asked me if he could help translate my order to the waitress. I was grateful to have someone who could do a better job of ordering than I could, and invited Sebastien (a German) and his Chinese girlfriend, Sally, to sit down with me.

I appreciated the company, and Sebastien's helpful gesture, and from there we took the conversation straight to a global level. They both live and work in Chongqing. Sebastien works at one of the many Marriott Hotels dotted around the country, and has been here for a few years now. Sally, who speaks perfect english with a Chinese accent, works for Proctor and Gamble. Sebastien works in a "front of the house" capacity, dealing directly with incoming guests. By this time, I had seen the massive globally branded hotels (many, if not all, are somewhere in Manhattan), and had been around the hustle and bustle of the city enough to ask him a single question: "where do most of the guests come from?" His answer: China, Europe, India, South America, North America, Japan, Singapore, London, New York, Buenos Aires, Russia, and the Middle East. Basically, everywhere! He also told me that although Marriott has about 60 hotels dotted around China, there are plans to build about 60 more.

The conversation went on - I laughed when he told me his American boss informed him he had to brush up on his English if he wanted a promotion; as if his native German, good English and fairly good Chinese weren't enough already. Now, looking back, maybe they weren't.

I turned to Sally, who, although she was about 25, was aware of the "financial crisis in America", as she called it. Comparing that to what westerners call it ("the global financial crisis") tells you all you need to know about the economy in China. Sally, along with every student in China, has taken mandatory English classes in school. A small portion of the more than 100 million students in China have even taken extra English classes through private companies. Why? When she told me, the answer couldn't have been more simple: "you can get a better job if you speak English and Chinese."

She came off as articulate, confident, and aggressive and it surprised me how much she knew about America. She discussed the US Presidential Campaign of 2008, and we talked about the financial crisis and its impact on the United States and China. She told me a little about her job - part of her duties are to communicate with P&G headquarters back in Cincinnati about once a month because she oversees the distribution of P&G goods to local convenience store chains. The P&G business model is a metaphor for the economic relationship between America and China: P&G in America finances Chinese manufacturing of P&G goods for distribution to the growing Chinese consumer market, as well as to America; you can come to your own conclusion about the relative number of jobs created in Chongqing vs. Cincinnati.

I got lucky - not only was I able to have tasty hotpot again, I got to speak to a pair of people who, in a small way, represent the shifting sands of the global economy. Sebastien, a young foreigner, has begun his career in China, having almost no work experience in his home country. The company he works for has plans for massive expansion in the local market, and no shortage of opportunity for him in particular. He can't find this in Europe. Sally represents the most modern generation China has ever produced - an unmarried bi-lingual, college-educated woman who works for a major multi-national corporation in one of China's largest cities. When you hear folks talking about the "global competition for talent", Sebastian and Sally are some of the participants in the game.

I don't travel to the other side of the earth to see the proverbial "largest ball of twine." I don't spend twelve hours in an airplane seat or 36 hours sharing a train compartment with 5 other people to be able to say tell my friends I was in this place or that one, and I don't need to go to every country around the globe. I went to China to learn as much as possible about what's going on there, and how China and the Chinese people fit into the global landscape.

It's clear that China will soon overtake the United States as the world's largest economy, challenging every economic assumption we have ever made in the west, and overturning those that are wrong. The Chinese are deliberate and focused on building a better life for all who live within their borders, and, like every other young, powerful nation that has ever existed, they are committed to doing it their own way. Looking back, sitting in my living room here in New York, I couldn't believe the "success" of my trip to Chongqing, mainly because I learned so much.

Posted by Red Sox Steve at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Red Sox Steve
VagabondGuru.com

Chongqing

China (a/k/a the "People's Republic of China" or "PRC") controls 22 provinces. Each province has a capital, and the 22 provinces together don't make up the entire country - included in the PRC are separate entities called "autonomous regions", "special administrative regions", and "municipalities". There are 5 autonomous regions (Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Ningxia, and Guangxi), 2 special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau), and 4 municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing). To add further fuel to the bureaucratic fire, in 2005, the government via the "Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People's Republic of China" initiated urban reforms, one of which was to promote the concept of five "National Central Cities": Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Chongqing.

I knew before I left America that I would go to Beijing and Shanghai, I thought it likely that I would go to Guangzhou, and unlikely that I would go to Tianjin. I didn't find Chongqing as interesting, but knew I could get on a Yangtze River cruise from there, and - for some reason - the Lonely Planet talked up this strange dish called "hotpot", so I figured it was worth spending a couple of days there.

I reached Chongqing by overnight train from Xi'an on a damp and overcast morning. I did my best to decipher the Lonely Planet map, but foolishly did not stay at a hostel recommended in its pages. I boarded a public bus from the train station to get to the hostel, but because of the city's layout and misty darkness, I had no idea where I was going. I thought it wise to get off the bus and resorted to an old trick I used a bunch of times already - after I got in a taxi, I called the hostel and asked them to speak directly to the cab driver. Chinese-Chinese discussion would solve the problem more quickly than me serving as a translator. The taxi driver seemed to understand the directions, and as we started down the massive, windy highway, it quickly became apparent that I had lost all sense of orientation; this was the first city I'd visited that wasn't flat!

After I got settled in to my hotel, which was in the central district of Yuzhong and overlooked the Yangtze River, I immediately headed to the nearest bus stop - I wanted to get to the Three Gorges Dam museum. I made a short climb up a long hill, and did my best to decipher the signage at the bus stop - numerous busses stop there, with arabic numerals clearly indicating the bus route above the windshield. I wanted to see how many stops I needed to pass before I got close to the museum, but my bus arrived too quickly, so I just hopped aboard. Of course, though, I couldn't tell when my stop was coming up. I looked in my Lonely Planet, and found the pinyin pronunciation for the museum ("sanxia bowuguan") and asked a woman sitting next to me. When my stop came up, this very kind woman grabbed me by the arm and led me up a long curved hill toward the impressively designed museum's facade. I would experience hospitality and the kindness of strangers again and again.

I spent some time exploring the museum, eagerly anticipating my upcoming trip to the Three Gorges Dam. I spent the rest of that day searching for good restaurants, wandering around the city, and exploring the main shopping area, near what is known as the Liberation Monument. The area surrounding the monument is one of the main tourist centers in Chongqing - there are huge hotels like the Marriott and the Intercontinental within walking distance, the subway/tram system stops here, and massive construction projects are going on nearby. This is the part of Chongqing that says to foreigners: "open for business."

The next morning, I got on the subway right by my hotel - I was headed to the other side of the downtown area, and this was the easiest way to get around; I could avoid the windy roads and hills that were so confusing the day before. I was headed to the Stilwell Museum. General Joseph Stilwell, the museum's namesake, was the commander of US forces in the China-Burma-India theater and Chang Kaishek's chief of staff in 1942. The museum is his former home and guest house for VIPs of the Kuomintang.

The Stilwell Museum was tough to find (again, winding hilly streets and passageways made the journey from the subway confusing), but it was a hidden gem. Photos and storyboards inside trace over the history from 1940s China to the present, and US involvement in the area during that time. There are also photos that tell the story of commercial transactions that have taken place in China since then - companies like Coca-Cola signed major deals in Chongqing decades after the end of WWII. Stilwell's family lived there with him for a time, and in many photos, Stilwell is the only westerner posing with local Chinese. He studied Chinese, and immersed himself in Chinese culture as best he could while commanding a US fighting force with influence all the way to Delhi. The place had special meaning for me because my paternal grandfather fought with the US Army in Burma during WWII; he certainly would have recognized Stilwell's name, if he didn't serve under him directly. Stilwell's presence there and his desire to learn Chinese was memorialized after his death - five decades after Stilwell departed Chongqing, the Chongqing Stilwell Foreign Language School was founded in the city.

(to be continued...)

Posted by Red Sox Steve at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)