Perpetual Kid has some funny stuff, including the infamous voodoo knife holder. I just noticed they have a pad for writing down all your “secret question/answer”. Note the disclaimer:
If a password corresponds to sensitive information, keep it to yourself – otherwise, write it down and free your brain for more useful things! Keep track of multiple internet identities without missing a keystroke!
Might make a good gag gift.
The story about the virus at the Sun conference makes me think of one of Bruce Schneier’s “Movie-Plot Threat” competitions:
At the company’s JavaOne conference this week in San Francisco, more than 50 people came down with what officials believe is norovirus, a type of medical virus easily spread by touching dirty surfaces.
Wash your hands before and after discussing Java, just to be safe. And if you went to the conference, stay home for a few days.
After writing a post about a bald eagle that survived being shot in the bill, I was reminded of my Exxon analysis from a couple years ago…my, how time flies. Like an eagle?
I pointed out back then that Exxon killed 250 bald eagles in a single accident. The EPA estimate is 100 bald eagles, the NYT said 140, a legal case review says 151, while the International Bird Rescue Research Center reported 300 dead. I guess you can not argue the fact that it was more than one, and even killing one is a felony offense. Amazing to think, in terms of compliance, that the oil company was not charged with such a felony under the US Eagle Act.
The legal case review says the State of Alaska evidently charged Exxon with two felonies, but they were related to marine safety. Interesting.
Big props to the person who pointed me to the How Green Are Biofuels? Comparison Chart
The chart was created jointly by faculty members from University of Washington and The Nature Conservancy and published in the Seattle P-I (see the article Bio-debatable: Food vs. fuel).
Most interesting is not just how horrible the rating of corn-based solutions, but also the fact that wood residue is listed whereas oil waste is not. I have a really hard time understanding why waste oil (e.g. cooking oil from all the restaurants) is never factored into these discussions, especially since a vast majority of biodiesel production systems in place today use exactly that source.
Anyway, here’s the full chart in all it’s beauty.
I am starting to dislike corn more and more every day. How in the world did America get so dominated by the corn industry? There must be a book on this somewhere.
Coke in every other country in the world has sugar, but not in America…here we have to imbibe the disgusting corn syrup. So perhaps fuel will go the same way? While the rest of the world will develop sensible and safe ingredients for power (engines and bodies), the US corn industry will continue to monopolize and distort the discussion at home.
Real biofuel sources are not a trade-off with food. End of story.