Who needs sleep when there are start-ups to launch? Between endless e-mail conversations and talkative co-workers, getting actual work done during the day isn’t always an easy proposition.

The New York Times has an interesting article about a group of entrepreneurs, freelancers, and software developers who have come up with a nocturnal solution to that problem.

Calling themselves the New York Nightowls, this group of roughly 30 techies meets every Tuesday night from 10 p.m. until about 4 a.m. to to work on pet projects and side ventures that they normally don’t have the time to focus on during the traditional workday.

As one of the group’s co-founders explains, “It’s six hours of uninterrupted, productive time where you’re surrounded by other creative people doing awesome things.”

The concept of late-night work sessions seems to a perfect fit for New York, it is the city that never sleeps after all, but similar groups have also formed in nearly a dozen cities including San Francisco and Boston.

Photo by The New York Time.

The USA Solar Store is a chain of independently run shops that offer alternative energy products. With 24 stores in 11 states, from California to Vermont, it is their goal to help bring renewable energy to everyday people all over the US.

Inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing, Dave Bonta and his wife moved to Vermont in the 1990’s with the intention of living the simpler life. What started as a lifestyle choice eventually became a business, providing the products people need to live a sustainable lifestyle.

Dane recently asked Dave a couple questions about the stores and his unique opportunity.

What is a USA Solar Store?

It is a chain of retail energy stores. Our mission is to provide a local resource for education, products and services spanning conservation, efficiency, and many renewable energy options. We are an entrepreneurial team of “mom & pop” storeowners connected by a common purpose and functioning as a buying group. As such, we offer the resources of a multi-million dollar enterprise with the local flavor of your neighborhood corner store.

What products and services do you sell?

Solar thermal solutions – (Evacuated tube and flat plate collectors, controls & storage tanks)
Photovoltaic (PV electric) systems – All types of modules and balance of systems gear)
Biomass appliances for space conditioning.
LED and CFL lighting and daylight lighting systems.
High efficiency appliances that conserve energy and water.
Design & customer support services – Installation either direct from store or professionally referred.
Electric vehicles
Composting toilets

The list goes on we have lots of products, most factory direct.

The USA Solar Store isn’t a franchise, so how does one start their own? How much does it cost, and what do they get?

It is a business op, like a franchise but no ongoing royalty fees. This year license fee is $75k-done in 3 payments, drawn like a construction loan, stepped to deliverables.

Store owners get proven business model (9 years strong), inventory, training, ongoing support, easy entry into very lucrative renewable energy market potential and a fantastic collaborative brain trust of positive people.

How many stores?

We are at 25 fully opened, 4 moving to open this Summer, 8 more moving through the screening process. Our immediate goal is 50 by next Summer.

Ponder the difference between the comedian and the musician. Both create and perform works to entertain audiences, but they go about protecting that work in different ways. The notoriously litigious music industry often resorts to the legal system to protect itself from pirates and samplers. But comedians don’t. So why hasn’t the joke well gone dry?

That’s the question discussed in a forthcoming book from the University of Chicago Press called “Intellectual Property Norms in Stand-Up Comedy.” Written by two professors from the University of Virginia School of Law, the book offers a case study in the axiom that more intellectual property rights aren’t always better intellectual property rights, reports Ars Technica.

For comedians, ripping off a joke is a major sin, but such cases almost never end up in court. Federal court, where copyright cases are heard, is too expensive to be worth it. Besides, copyright law only protects the exact expression, not the idea, so rip-off artists who add some different details are free to do so.

This hasn’t led to a dearth of jokes. Instead, comedians use social norms rather than law to enforce their joke rights, and these social IP norms have actually been part of the process that shifted comedy away from one-liners and “rim shot” jokes to today’s long-form observational comedy.

Continue Reading: “Did You Hear The One About The Comedian And The Copyright Law?”

Photo by marines.mil.