I’ve found it! Nirvana!

Sunday I showed up a little less than an hour before an international flight at SFO. I should have been worried, right? Wrong! First off, the United web check-in program is brilliant. As mentioned in a prior entry, Fly Clear is also brilliant. The combination of the two programs? Priceless. I was at the gate after having dropped of my luggage and breezed through the security line with 15 minutes to spare.

As Kevin mentioned recently, you have to wonder about people who share secrets, but hey, you were going to find out anyway. I can’t imagine flying the “old way” – too much hassle and too much time wasting…

In December, 2006, Return to the Age of Sail, we first reported on SkySails. The concept is simple, use an enormous kite-sail in conjunction with conventional propulsion to reduce the fuel requirement for cargo ships. Rather than investing in masts and extensive rigging, the SkySails approach is to fly a kite sail (which resembles a modern parachute in design) up to a kilometer above the ship. At this height, wind speed is substantially higher yielding better wind power results.

In the maiden voyage of nearly 12,000 nautical miles, the reported performance was an aid of 20% resulting in a net savings of about 2.5 tons of fuel and more than $1,000 a day. This is our favorite kind of green project, it produces a good environmental benefit along with a strong tangible economic benefit.

Here’s the core question: Is Raser a legitimate geothermal developer or a company chasing the latest hot trend pumping out news to prop up valuation?

There has been some spirited discussion inside our shop about which is the “real” Raser, and as a team, we’ve really taken a “wait and see” attitude. One side of the argument goes: this is a company that has entered the geothermal developer space with both feet. The company has acquired development rights on nearly 12,000 acres, has now inked a PPA for 21MW, has secured funding for 155MW of construction, has drilled a well and hit resource, and has secured a deal with a supplier for the harvest technology needed to convert geothermal resource into electricity. If that’s not the profile of a “real” geothermal developer, then what is?

The other argument centers around the fundamentals. The company’s cumulative revenue is under $1M and its cumulative loss is now over $50M. Yet, it maintains a market capitalization of nearly $400M! The first Raser business centered around electric motors and was branded Symetron and targeted for use in the automotive industry. Despite a few agreements, the business has failed to materialize. Thus, a strategy switch to geothermal developer with an initial false start where a definitive agreement to purchase a geothermal company was terminated at the target’s request. Now, the company has charted a course to fund the geothermal development with heavy debt and dilutive equity agreements. The facts are stark: The company has under $6M in cash and near-term liabilities due this year over over $34M according to its own financial filings. In fact, in those filings, the company’s independent auditor questions the company’s ability to carry on operations.

There are the two arguments, there is validity in both positions we believe, but recent developments show the company is serious about geothermal development even if the financial underpinnings are very precarious. One way or another, 2008 is the year that should answer the question definitively.

It has been some time since I’ve written anything about the Ohio State University’s football team. Since spring is here and that’s when a college football fan turns to practice, spring games, and recruiting, the time seemed right to offer an observation or two about the young men who elected to play football in exchange for scholarships for the Buckeyes.

Yes, there was recent news about Terrelle Pryor, all everything quarterback from Pennsylvania committing last week, but this class was already stellar without him. Now, I am happy he chose the Bucks? You bet. But let’s not forget the other high quality commits who made it into the fold:

• Offensive Linemen – There were three commits in this segment, Mike Adams, J.B. Shugarts, and Mike Brewster. These kids were all 5 star recruits from the services and average 6′ 6 2/3″ in height and 300lbs in weight. What’s more, they all can move…It takes offensive linemen a little while to adapt to the system so don’t look for them to be on the field immediately, but there’s little doubt they’ll make their presence known.
• Defensive Linemen – Five commits filled out this segment, 2 tackles and 3 ends. The tackles are Shawntel Rowell, and Garrett Goebel and the ends are Nathan Williams, Willie Mobley, and Keith Wells. This group averages 6′ 4 1/2″ in height and 264lbs in weight and is really fast for big guys 4.8 seconds in the forty yard dash. There are many fine linemen returning this season, but these young people might find a way to crack the two-deep.
• Receivers and Tight Ends – There were 4 recruits in this segment, 1 TE and 3 receivers. The TE is Nick DeLillo and the receivers are Lamar Thomas, Jake Stoneburner, and Devier Posey. This is a good sized group with breakaway speed. Suffice to say the run of first round NFL draft picks from Ohio State in this position is secure four years hence. Special teams impact will likely be the contribution from this group this year.
• Defensive Backs – Only 3 DBs joined the class this year, which is an anomaly since the Coaches seem to like to fill classes with kids exhibiting DB skills, size, and speed. The are Zach Domicone, Travis Howard, and Orhian Johnson. As usual, aggressive and contact minded kids fill out this group with good size and great speed. Another group with special teams written all over them this year.
• Special Teams – Ben Buchanan is the third scholarship kicker on the roster. Given that the other two have traded starting duties the last two seasons, the best guess is that Ben will ride the pine and kick on the scout team. He was the first commitment to this class and kicked a few FGs over 55 yards last season. He’s also an accomplished punter.
• Linebackers – This is a small, but stellar haul with two of the top prep linebackers in the country: Andrew Sweat and Etienne Sabino. With all due respect to Penn State and USC who have turned out some fine linebackers, OSU is linebacker U and these two will help prove that point. Super fast, super big, and super instincts. These guys will punish opposing offenses for years to come – however, they’re going to have to fight to see the field first as the linebacker corp is deep and experienced.
• Backs, Full and Quarter – Jermil Martin is the lone recruit at fullback and he’s needed with the thinning of the corps due to injury and graduation. He’s skilled and when he can attain the proper size through training, he’ll be a load. The quarterback recruit goes without saying is the consensus best quarterback in the nation this year, Terrelle Pryor, a nearly unbelievable player checking in at 6′ 6″ and 225 lbs, who runs a 4.35 forty dash and can make all the throws.

What to make of this class? It’s a winner in that it meets the team’s needs with extremely high quality players who appear, at least on the surface, to be reasonable human beings (i.e., not given to off the field hijinx) good students, and excellent football players. With the prior classes this coaching staff has brought in, about 50% of the players redshirt. This year will be no different, though there are some players who’s attitude and skill set may catapult into critical roles for the team almost from day one.

Most non-Buckeye fans won’t want to hear this, but the returning team + this class has to make the Buckeyes favorites to return to the National Championship game for the third time in three seasons. We can all hope for a better result this year…But before that happens, the Bucks must travel to Los Angeles and battle the USC Trojans. Win that game, and odds are, they’ll play for all the marbles again. Back to the core theme, congratulations to the newest Buckeyes and coaches, it’s a great class!

Video Hosted by: Raw Story

It’s worth two minutes and thirty-seven seconds to view the video above. While it’s treated as a joke in the clip, there’s nothing funny about it. The reality of the situation is that our prison population has grown 16 times faster than the population at large, increasing from 1.8M people in 1980 to over 7M in 2005; many of those incarcerated are not “serious criminals” – they are people who have had the morality of others projected upon them for what amounts to a personal choice. What would the prison population look like if eating Twinkies was illegal?

It can be argued that a daily Twinkie habit is more self-destructive than a daily marijuana habit pretty successfully. Why then in this age of morality where we are our brother’s keeper are Twinkies still legal? Obviously it’s because marijuana is a “gateway drug” leading to Dorito and Twinkie abuse… All kidding aside, get educated on the reality of marijuana before rejecting common sense and beneficial legislation like Frank will propose.

Disclosure: I do not use marijuana as a recreational or medicinal drug.