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Friday, May 09, 2008

Solution for Global Warming

I've got the solution! We solve the problem... And no surprise... The its all the fault of the dimwits south of the equator. Thats right! Those lazy jerks have created so little land (and by extension so few plants) that when its summer in southern equator CO2 levels spike because less trees are warm and happy and breathing fast.

My solution? Lets help those southies out and crack open the sea floor (I'm thinking in the pacific or Indian oceans) and make a big new continent. Then the trees and other plants will grow and blam! Problem solved.

Your Welcome.

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# posted by Max : 5/09/2008 10:37:00 PM 0 comments

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Ethanol Kinda Blows

Pollution:
Ethanol blended fuels burn 20% cleaner. Which is good. However the real coup is that it removes the need for the additive MTBE. MTBE pollutes ground water, kills fish, corrodes fuel lines, makes fuel production more expensive, and reduces fuel efficiency. It was mandated as a way to decrease air pollution (which it kinda does); but was clearly a mistake.
1 point for Ethanol

Cost:
Ethanol adds 20 cents to the production cost of blended gasoline. The government gives a 51 cent a gallon tax break so that means a theoretical price reduction at the pump of 31 cents. Sound good. Oh except in order to meet the growing demand, corn production will need to ramp up even further. Corn subsidies will grow, and we will be taxes accordingly. So Its probably a wash cost wise. Well, that is unless you live in the corn belt and then its a boon. But I'm sure that the congressmen from those states aren't going to be influenced by all that money and will make the best decision for all Americans.
It's a tie - Still one point for Ethanol.

Fuel Supply Independence:
In my opinion not pissing off fuel producing countries is an excellent way to stabilize fuel supplies; but that being said, fuel source independence is nice. Since Ethanol is corn, and US policy is rigged for corn then its not a bad idea. Well not a bad idea until a massive crop disease hits corn and our entire fuel demand hits the open market again. Mitigating that; in the future ethanol might be replaced with cellulosic ethanol with can be made from a variety of things (read: non-volatile fuel market) such as sweet potatoes, switch grass and pineapple tops). Brazil is pretty much converted over to domestically produced ethanol. That probably helps out their trade balance immensely. Brazil deserves a whole post by itself.
So I'll call it 1/2 a point for a total of 1.5

Fuel Efficiency:
Uh oh! Ethanol will reduce fuel efficiency. An auto getting 20mpg will get 14.2mpg with an blended fuel. And that makes it more expensive per mile and increases the total pollution.
Minus two points for a total of -.5

So I guess ethanol isn't totally despicable. But why bother when biodesil our pure used vegetable oil is so cheap and easy? Here is a list new cars that can run on biodiesel. A dollar says that they are competitive with a similar class of hybrid on fuel efficiency and cheaper to buy. Not ot mention manlier.

Fun Ethanol Fact: the Model T could run on any mixture of gasoline or ethanol.

Factual information for this post is largely plagiarized from the Wall Street Journal. Which I recommend instead of watching the news.

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# posted by Max : 6/22/2006 04:33:00 PM 1 comments

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Corn Bad

I've decided I'm against corn. To much food comes from corn; corn syrup, corn oil, corn starch and all modified, partially-hydrogenated, high fructose variants. Also remember that your chicken was probably feed a corn mixture, as well as your feed-lotted cattle. So if i had to guess 70% of what's in the supermarket has corn in it.

Cob Corn... MMM Tasty. especially on the BBQ next a tri-tip; and then all messy with butter. I digress.

The other corn isn't probably all that good for you. Humans need something like 40 nutrients. Only a few can be found in corn. We need a wide variety of food sources. With so much food being from corn I don't think we are getting it. Further, dependence on a single food source really sucks when a crop disease springs up.

All this extra corn is processed corn. I think manufacturers choose it because its cheap filler. I think it's cheep because its heavily subsidized. So in a sense our tax dollars are being used to promote corn over other food stuffs. Are you as excited as I am about that possibility?

And then there is ethanol. Which is a whole post by it's self.

Amuse yourself with this experiment. Don't eat anything with corn, corn syrup, corn starch, corn oil, corn feed meat, dairy from corn feed livestock, or any other corn product for a week. I bet you'll eat something corn by accident.

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# posted by Max : 6/15/2006 11:41:00 AM 3 comments

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Slow Down - PSA

Our crew cracks me up. One was carrying a heavy box whilst at the same time trying to check out a girl across the street. Well he couldn't manage both at the same time and half dropped the box. But the capper - he said, "Hey lady, this box weighs 50 pounds. Slow down.".

Which brings up an important public service announcement: Attractive Women - Be sensitive to your environment. Recognize that your presence may cause males (and many females) to lose concentration. This momentary lapse may directly cause accidents. Be especially careful around motorists, construction workers, heavy equipment operators, factory workers, train engineers, and nuclear power plant technicians. Your presence may cause injury or even death. Thank you for listening.

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# posted by Max : 2/16/2006 12:59:00 PM 0 comments

Montana Bloggers:

This great list was stolen from A History of Montana by Kodak.
Welcome to MikeAbleXray. You look like you could use a drink.