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George Carlin, who passed away yesterday, was funny because he understood how language works. His running commentary on the relationship between language and culture was the foundation of his comedy.

I’m lucky - I did see Carlin perform in Honolulu on New Year’s Eve 2004. At midnight Pacific Time, he whipped out his mobile phone, made a call and had the audience scream “Happy New Year!”

We also shared the same hobby - WheresGeorge.com. It turns out that Carlin was the long-rumored “celebrity Georger”. His identity was revealed on the site today.

This YouTube video includes my favorite Carlin monologue - his comparison of baseball and football.

Google has invested US$10 million in BrightSource as part of the Internet firms’s RE>C initiative. According to news.com and ValleyWag, BrightSource builds solar thermal facilities and sells the generated electricity to commercial customers and electricity. The generation system is cost-effective during peak periods of the day.

Google’s data center use large quantities of electricity, so Google.org has been awarding grants to suppliers of renewable energy technologies such as solar, thermal and wind.

Google also announced today that it is hiring a Head of Renewable Energy to supervise the company’s research & development programs. The company already invested in eSolar and Makani Power - see this Google web page more details and links.