Stoneforge Chronicles

Bring Back the Robber Barons

Faced with high, painful unemployment as far as the eye can see, the government naturally is here to help.[Full Story at the Wall Street Journal]

A Disturbance In The Force

Imagine, if you will, the burger force – a field of energy that radiates from every freshly-cooked patty, earth-penetrating and inverse-squared with distance, compelling the hungry carnivore to seek out and devour the well-done ground beef at the source. [Full Story at WeatherSealed]

Briefcase thief avoids prison

For repaying all of the $10,000 she stole from her employer’s briefcase, Crystal Russell bought her way out of a prison sentence. The 32-year-old Russell, of 322 Schaghticoke Road in Kent, was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison term Tuesday when she was sentenced in Litchfield Superior Court to second-degree larceny. [Full Story at the Waterbury Republican]

James Preston sells Kent house for $8.5M

Local philanthropist and commercial property developer James Preston sold his home and surrounding property this week for $8.5 million. James and Faye Preston sold their property at 33 Nodine Pastures Road in the northwest corner of town along the New York state line to a limited liability company from Manhattan. [Full Story at the Waterbury Republican]

Bloom vs. Solar: Which One Is Best?

Bloom Energy Thursday formally unveiled its energy server, an industrial-strength, solid-oxide fuel cell that can convert natural gas or other hydrocarbons into electricity pretty much on demand. And in the process, the company has ignited a debate over which of the alternatives to coal, nuclear and centralized natural gas plants might be best. Can we answer it today? [Full Story at Wired]

5 Things Benefiting From Global Warming

Climate change isn’t all bad; it just depends on your perspective! If you’re a mountain, a jellyfish, or some of the other things on this list, your future may be pretty bright. [Full Story at NeatORama]

Everything … but the view

Mike Hanson plans to hike the 2,174-mile Appalachian Trail end to end, without ever seeing the ground under his feet. On Monday in Georgia, the St. Louis Park man — who lost his sight at birth — will start his seven-month trek to Maine, navigating by GPS. He has mastered its use by cell phone and trusts global positioning technology to steer his every step. [Full Story at StarTribune]

Aquarion seeking 17.5 percent rate increase

Bridgeport-based Aquarion Water Company of Connecticut, which serves nearly 5,000 customers in Mystic and Stonington, has notified the state Department of Public Utility Control that it will be requesting a rate increase this year averaging 17.5 percent. [Full Story at The Day}

The WellPoint Mugging

Democrats and their media allies have found a new insurance piñata: WellPoint and its recent health-premium price increases in California. This spat deserves more attention, because its real lesson is what will happen to health insurance costs around the country if ObamaCare passes. WellPoint’s California unit, Anthem Blue Cross, recently informed nearly 700,000 individual insurance customers of premium increases of up to 39%. President Obama jumped on the announcement, claiming in a pre-Superbowl TV interview that the hikes were a “portrait of the future if we don’t do something now.” [Full Story at Wall Street Jouraml]

The Continuing Climate Meltdown

It has been a bad—make that dreadful—few weeks for what used to be called the “settled science” of global warming, and especially for the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that is supposed to be its gold standard. [Full Story at the Wall Street Journal]