Lately, I seem to be out of words myself. But the present attack strategy that the Clinton campaign is employing to blunt the ongoing Obama overthrow got me thinking about words. The average American speaks about 15,000 words per day. An average #2 pencil will produce around 45,000 words. The Oxford-English unabridged dictionary is filled with over 400,000 words.

So Obama is “full of words” – an interesting tactic. I tend to agree, he is full of words, but the sentences he’s making with those words are far more effective than what we’ve seen from Clinton or McCain. When you think about a leader, one of the most important traits is to be able to effectively and consistently communicate a shared end-state in a compelling and engaging manner. Provided that leader also is able to identify and motivate expert talent, that leader despite experience level, can be very effective.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

As the Gettysburg Address at merely 272 words demonstrates, a few well-placed words can change the world. Good luck with that attack tactic Hillary…we’ll see if it works out for you.

A little humor in the user generated content of the wiki at answers.com. Curiously, it’s not vinegar that kills people, it’s people drinking vinegar for birth control that kills people…How’s that for mixing metaphors?

Photo Credit: Unknown

You know you’ve got a serious ‘net addiction when the setup above graces your loo…We have a laptop house, but this is taking it a bit far I think!

Last week there were two interesting stories around power purchase agreements. In one, Western GeoPower backed out of its PPA with PGE and the Calpine/PGE PPA proposal.

First, the standard agreement of PGE attempting to satisfy their renewable portfolio standard requirements and Calpine looking to get a post-bankruptcy win, the two companies announced that a 175MW contract was underway and that they would be seeking regulatory approval on upgrades to Calpine’s geothermal footprint at the Geysers. This is a good sign on multiple fronts and we’re encouraged to see the two companies come to an agreement around the output from the Geysers.

The Western GeoPower example is a little more troubling in terms of setting precedents. On the one hand, as capitalists, it could be a “good thing” – on the other hand, it could prove to be destructive for future developers dealing with PGE and other large IOUs. Essentially, WGP worked to secure an agreement with PGE for 25.5MW as a pre-requisite of securing funding – during the negotiations, PGE was able to secure power at a pretty cheap rate relative to present prices. In an effort to cash in on the new found heat (pun intended though we know it’s bad…) we speculate that WGP has backed out of its commitment to secure a better deal for the power to be produced by its project. The official statement on why the deal was terminated had to do with a technicality about delayed approval of the project by CPUC.

This cancelation could have a chilling effect on future PPAs as IOUs could, and now probably will, attach significant penalties for withdraw from a contract to protect themselves from this sort of activity in the future.

Want to drive traffic to your site? Talk about porn…so in that spirit, I share this new take on the oldest amusement with you. Safe for work provided you don’t splut liquid into your computing equipment. As with many of these photos, original attribution is not possible (at least I can’t find it…if it’s yours, let me know…) My take: that’s one sexy Mac!