More proof that saving the planet can be quite fun: the new Mercedes concept car “Bluetec Hybrid” is based on the new S-Class, and, as it is a diesel, it should run just fine on biodiesel.

A number of European automakers came to the hybrid party at the Frankfurt auto show, simultaneously arguing that diesel powertrains are a more efficient answer to fuel economy concerns.

DaimlerChrysler AG brought the two technologies together in a concept car called the Bluetec Hybrid. Claimed to be the cleanest diesel in the world, the “mild hybrid” S-Class-based concept marries a 3.5 liter V-6 diesel with an electric motor for stop-start use.

Mercedes says the Bluetec design is being tested in fleets and will meet stringent California emissions standards that have kept manufacturers from selling diesels in that state.

Diesel versus hybrid battle rages in Frankfurt – 09/16/05 – John McCormick / Autos Insider

In Europe a diesel/electric luxury car on biodiesel should work fine, but in the US this concept may cause some heads to implode.

Update: BlueTec is a technology used by Mercedes to reduce emissions of fossil-diesel engines. The German Mercedes-Benz website has a marketing piece on BlueTec. They inject ammonia into the hot exhaust to neutralize the carbon-oxides inside the catalytic converter. This should work with biodiesel, too.

Und jetzt? Der Deutsche Wähler hat ein klares, deutliches “Ähh – weiss ich nich!” ausgesprochen. Die Deutschen Politiker saufen Wahlsekt statt Realitätswasser und erklären sich rundherum zum Sieger. Frau Merkel knirsch mit den Zähnen (macht die eh immer) and erklät den Sieg, Herr Schröder grinst (macht der auch immer) obwohl Rot-Grün verloren hat.

Die Polit-genies haben sich während des Wahlkampfes so in die Ecke geredet, dass wenn die jetzt alle ihre “mit denen nie” Versprechen halten wollen, muss dann halt nochmal gewählt werden. Zunächt sehe ich nur Verlierer, kaum Gewinner:

• Rot-Grün ist abgewält
• Merkel’s CDU/CSU ist noch unpopulärer als Stoiber’s CDU/CSU!!
• Die FDP hat zwar alle neune gekegelt, aber auf Kosten der CDU und verliert wahrscheinlich die Regierungsbeteiligung, wenn es eine Elephantenhochzeit gibt
• Die Grünen stagnieren und, wie gesagt, Rot-Grün ist abgewählt
• Stoiber verliert sogar in Bayern an Popularität!
• Der Wähler/Fernsehzuschauer, weil sie sich dass ganze Geschwätz der Politiker und Kommentatoren anhören muss.

Gewinner?

• Schröder hat noch nicht ganz verloren: seine Taktik ging (fast) auf und er angelt nach einer Elephantenhochzeit, in der er für eine Weile Kanzler bleibt und in aller Ruhe zusieht wie sich die CDU selbst zerfleischt
• Die Linke hatten natürlich nichts zu verlieren, aber auch nichts wirklich zu gewinnen

Hier ist meine Lösung Deutschland wieder regierbar zu machen: die Mauer wieder aufbauen, aber nicht zwischen Ost und West, sondern zwischen Nord und Süd. Oder, sogar besser, der Anschluss Bayerns and Österreich.

O’zapft is! at the mother of all beer orgies, the oohmpah fest to end all oohmpah fests. With two mighty strokes the mayor of Munich drove the tap into the barrel of beer and handed the first beer to the Ministerpräsident (Governor) of the Free State of Bavaria. The natives went wild! Especially the Japanese, American and Australians in lederhosen, rearing to go native in pools of beer and piles of greasy haxen.

The Munich Wiesn – aka Oktoberfest – is open for business, and business they mean. Last year 5.9 million visitors drank 5.5 million liters (1.45 million gallons) of beer and ate 89 oxen. The beer price is up, again, at over 7 Euro ($ 8.50) per liter! The Wiesn supports 8000 full-time employees and another 4000 temps.

Now, allow me to get this straight: The Cincinnati Oktoberfest is not anywhere near the second-largest Oktoberfest in the world. At roughly 500.000 visitors they get an honorable mention. And I seriously doubt that Uncle Al’s and Capt. Windy’s hokey pokey is the World’s most annoying performance either …

Which of Germany’s largest Volksfest events is the largest is a matter of great contention and serious dispute. The rivals Munich Wiesn and Cannstadter Wasen have been going head-to-head for as long as I can remember (not that I ever really cared). Years ago, when I lived in Stuttgart, neighbouring Cannstadt proudly claimed to beat Munich by a couple hundred thousand visitors, but both events only relied on estimates. When the Cannstadt organizers did an actual tally, they came out way below their estimates, and never published the figures. Currently, they claim 5 million visitors annually, independent estimates for last year were 3 million visitor in Cannstadt.

Thursday morning I got an email with a hyperlink to a CNN story about a German scientist making biodiesel from dead cats. Turns out that the clever reporters from Reuters picked up the story from the German tabloid Bild (picture a merger of the Weekly World News and USA-Today) about the company Alpha-Kat, and how they supposedly turn cat-carcasses into fuel. CNN then posted the story.

The fact is that the Alpha-Kat guys actually work on a pressure-less, catalytic process for thermal depolymerization (TDP) to produce biodiesel from ANY kind of garbage. The US company Changing World Technologies operates a TCP plant that turns dead turkeys into biodiesel (using a different TCP process).

And the KAT in Alpha-Kat’s company name refers to the KATalyst they are using for their process – not the kitties … but don’t try to explain that to a Reuters reporter who is reading BILD!

However, you can certainly use dead cats for this process, as well as dead turkeys, rats, skunks, reporters, dogs, care bears, cane toads, teletubbies, TV-anchors, slugs, leeches, etc.

Anyway, I just saw that CNN/Reuters pulled the original story and re-posted a modified version in an attempt to get the facts straight. Now they actually bothered to talk to the guy … instead of just regurgitating the Bild story.

Another great example of quality journalism.

Hurricane Ophelia is pounding the North Carolina coast, and looking at the comments in Jeff Masters Wunderground blog, some of the residents of the Outer Banks are getting a bit nervous. They might be in for 10 hours of 70MpH winds. The N&O’s blogwatch has more.

Are there creationist penguins? Suppose you’re a bird that cannot fly and that has to waddle 70 miles from the ocean to the nesting grounds through minus 50 degree snowstorms – barefoot – or scooting on your belly to take a turn standing for months in minus 50 degree snowstorms, balancing your one egg on your bare feet to keep it from freezing. Now suppose a creationist tells you that, yeah, God made you like that, that God, the intelligent designer, decided it would be great to make up a bird that cannot fly and that has to waddle 70 miles from the ocean to the nesting grounds through minus 50 degree snowstorms – barefoot … if you were that penguin, what do you think you would tell that creationist where he can stuff his “scientific theory?”

Are the creationists adopting the emperor penguin as their mascot? They appear to be all excited about the movie March of the Penguins because it proves to them that there is a god.

At a conference for young Republicans, the editor of National Review urged participants to see the movie because it promoted monogamy. A widely circulated Christian magazine said it made “a strong case for intelligent design.”
March of the Conservatives: Penguin Film as Political Fodder – New York Times, 9/13/05

The creationists are completely nuts. March of the Penguins is a fine documentary, but it proves nothing beyond that emperor penguins are exceptionally tough birds. The movie does way too much anthropomorphising of these birds. They are birds; they have teeeeeny brains. This is not about love, dedication, or monogamy. It’s about a bird that occupies a very specific niche in nature. Penguins are not very smart, and I doubt they have much in the way of complex emotions like love. And they reproduce with a different partner every year – that’s hardly monogamous. Yeah – they are cool birds and tough survivors, but their existence offers no more evidence of a god than male nipples* or crop circles.

*) Laura’s point

The US government has deployed heavily armed mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm to patrol the “streets” of New Orleans. Armed mercenaries patrolling a US city on behalf of the US government? That seems like a very disturbing precedent to me. The mercs are a bit surprised, too:

“This is a totally new thing to have guys like us working CONUS (Continental United States),” a heavily armed Blackwater mercenary told us as we stood on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. “We’re much better equipped to deal with the situation in Iraq.”

Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional killers in the world and they are accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences. Their presence on the streets of New Orleans should be a cause for serious concern for the remaining residents of the city and raises alarming questions about why the government would allow men trained to kill with impunity in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to operate here. Some of the men now patrolling the streets of New Orleans returned from Iraq as recently as two weeks ago.
Overkill in New Orleans, AlterNet, 8/12/05

Other players, who are making “a killing” in Iraq, are now getting busy in new Orleans, too:
Read the rest of this entry »

Lots of talk today. Silence and reflection would be better …

Vultures – vultures, everywhere. They are circling New Orleans and the rest of the devastated Gulf Coast. The no-bid contractors like the employer of Vice-president Cheney are vying to snag juicy reconstruction contracts:

From global engineering and construction firms like the Fluor Corporation and Halliburton to local trash removal and road-building concerns, the private sector is poised to reap a windfall of business in the largest domestic rebuilding effort ever undertaken.

Normal federal contracting rules are largely suspended in the rush to help people displaced by the storm and reopen New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Hundreds of millions of dollars in no-bid contracts have already been let and billions more are to flow to the private sector in the weeks and months to come. Congress has already appropriated more than $62 billion for an effort that is projected to cost well over $100 billion.

Some experts warn that the crisis atmosphere and the open federal purse are a bonanza for lobbyists and private companies and are likely to lead to the contract abuses, cronyism and waste that numerous investigations have uncovered in post-war Iraq.
In Storm’s Ruins, a Rush to Rebuild and Reopen for Business – New York Times, 9/10/2005.

Two reports on National Public Radio chronicle the government response to Hurricane Katrina (via DKos Diary). The second report in particular highlights the disconnect between the reality on the ground and the proclamations of Bush administration officials, like Chertoff and Brown. The most shocking aspect of that disconnect is that Bush required Louisiana officials to cede control over the recovery effort as a condition for ordering other state’s National Guard units to assist them. This, while New Orleans is flooded and almost half of the Louisiana National Guard personnel is stationed in Iraq, and with them just about all their heavy equipment, boats, generators, trucks, etc.

• Katrina Timeline: Unexecuted Plans: report about the efforts of local government officials in Louisiana to prepare for the effects of a catastrophic Hurricane
• Katrina Timeline: Misdirected Aid: report about the problems obtaining and coordinating aid in the aftermath of the hurricane

So now that the recovery effort is in the “capable” hands of the Bush administration, instead of the local and state officials, guess who gets to dole out billions of dollars worth in reconstruction contracts? Yeah – the same people who doled out billions of dollars worth in reconstruction contracts in Iraq. Can’t wait to see who is getting those contracts…

Recently, I had a little rant about how silly it is to consider creationism a scientific theory, even under the guise of so-called “intelligent design theory.” When I read Stephen Meyer’s ID paper, I realized, after I stopped laughing, that some may be taken in by Meyer’s scientific mumbo-jumbo talk. Even with no clue about the scientific terminology he throws around, it was clear to me that this paper is complete bogus. Meyer purports to challenge evolution with the argument that Darwin’s heirs cannot explain everything in this world, only to then turn around and propose that some “intelligent designer” of whom we know nothing and have no evidence, is a better scientific explanation for life on earth.

An experience-based analysis of the causal powers of various explanatory hypotheses suggests purposive or intelligent design as a causally adequate–and perhaps the most causally adequate–explanation for the origin of the complex specified information required to build the Cambrian animals and the novel forms they represent. For this reason, recent scientific interest in the design hypothesis is unlikely to abate as biologists continue to wrestle with the problem of the origination of biological form and the higher taxa.
“The Origin of Biological Information and the Higher Taxonomic Categories” – Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington (volume 117, no. 2, pp. 213-239)

As laughable as this is, it is commendable that Alan Gishlick, Nick Matzke, and Wesley R. Elsberry took the time to systematically pick Meyer’s treatise apart. They come to the conclusion that Meyer simply does not understand very well the science he challenges:

There is nothing wrong with challenging conventional wisdom — continuing challenge is a core feature of science. But challengers should at least be aware of, read, cite, and specifically rebut the actual data that supports conventional wisdom, not merely construct a rhetorical edifice out of omission of relevant facts, selective quoting, bad analogies, knocking down strawmen, and tendentious interpretations. Unless and until the “intelligent design” movement does this, they are not seriously in the game. They’re not even playing the same sport.
Meyer’s Hopeless Monster – Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 117(2):213-239 – by Alan Gishlick, Nick Matzke, and Wesley R. Elsberry

Let me make one thing clear: I have no beef with folks who believe the Good Lord created the world in seven days and said it was good. No problem – I have my own creation myth, too. But do I pretend my creation myth is anything but a myth? Do I force it down the throat of students in science class? Even if I could – I would not! But Meyer’s pseudo-scientific polemic is part of a movement to advance the agenda of the reactionary theocrats who would like to turn back the time to the “good old days” when all bowed to the lord, everyone knew his place, and witches and heretics burned at the stake.

For Big Oil the disruption of the oil supply due to Hurricane Katrina was better than a license to print money. They jacked up the fuel prices, and they are keeping them up. Exxon Mobil is making $110 million profit a day this quarter.

So President Bush hurries to their rescue and makes sure they get a tax break!!? That means the American taxpayer has the privilege to subsidize the companies that currently engage in massive price-gouging at the gas stations. Regular gas costs over $3 at the pump. At the same time, we’re paying over $200 million a day for the Iraq War, and now more than that for the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast.

And while I’m on this topic: I would love to see a list of the top-ten companies that get no-bid reconstruction contracts in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The man who mows our grass came by this evening to pick up his check and ran with his truck over a 2 1/2 foot copperhead snake in our driveway. It was clearly an adult and it was a beautiful snake with tan and brown hourglass markings. It was still moving and a couple of blows to the head with a stick put it out of its misery.

Copperheads are common here in North Carolina, some say one per acre in a healthy forest. I showed the dead snake to the children, so they know what it looks like, and to stay away from any snakes that look like that. The children also know to not mess with any piles of debris in the woods, because that is where the snakes like to hang out.

I also tell the children to stay on the path in the forest, so they see where they step. Yet, I also don’t want to discourage them to play in the woods. The snakes are shy, and our cats probably drive them away, too. And I really think that the kids need to enjoy playing in the woods – they just need to keep their eyes open.

[Update: These guys (PDF) say there can be up to four copperheads per acre!]

It’s a beautiful late summer day in North Carolina, gasoline costs $3.20 a gallon, and I reached a personal fitness milestone today, by biking 3 miles around the property in under 30 Minutes. Not that anyone rally cares, but that’s where I was at last Winter, when my bike broke (the free hub). It took me until last June to get my act together to fix it and to get back onto the bike trail around the house.

Since June, this summer’s heat has been relentless, mercilessly scorching and humid. I usually get up at 6:00 AM to ride, and some mornings it was 85 degrees and 100 percent humidity at that point.

Before this summer, I had estimated that the path around our property is about 1/3 of a mile long, and as I now have a bike computer, I know now that it is exactly .3 miles long. So 10 rounds are roughly 3 miles (5 KM). Not sure about the altitude – 50 feet perhaps from the highest point to the lowest?! That would be 500 feet difference on 3 miles.

Now I am teaching Jacob how to ride Julia’s old bike, and Julia is practicing with her new, fancy 21-gear mountain bike ….

This should be good news for the petro-fuel users. Let’s hope it is reflected in the price at the pump soon:

Two petroleum pipelines that supply gasoline and other fuels to the Triangle area have returned to service and are increasing their service to the region.
Plantation Pipe Line Co. is up to 95 percent capacity after electric crews repaired its distribution system, which failed when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast early this week.
Meanwhile, the Colonial Pipeline is at 66 percent capacity and is expected to increase to an 85 percent level by late this weekend.
Colonial operates 5,500 miles of pipeline and normally pumps more than 100 million gallons of fuel products daily from refineries and storage facilities in Texas and Louisiana to Georgia, the Carolinas and New York.
Plantation operates 3,100 miles of pipelines that transport gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to major metropolitan areas in the Southeast.
Two main gasoline pipelines back online – 2005-09-02 – Triangle Business Journal

BBC reporter Matt Wells nails it:

The uneasy paradox which so many live with in this country – of being first-and-foremost rugged individuals, out to plunder what they can and paying as little tax as they can get away with, while at the same time believing that America is a robust, model society – has reached a crisis point this week.
Will there be real investment, or just more buck-passing between federal agencies and states?
The country has to choose whether it wants to rebuild the levees and destroyed communities, with no expense spared for the future – or once again brush off that responsibility, and blame the other guy.
BBC NEWS: New Orleans crisis shames Americans

The Public Voicemail service by Air America Radio looks like a very creative solution to help people in disaster areas notify friends and family of their status – IF they know about it …

Air America Radio’s Public Voicemail
1-866-217-6255
Air America Radio’s Public Voicemail is a way for disconnected people to communicate in the wake of Katrina.

Here’s how it works:

Call the toll-free number above, enter your everyday phone number, and then record a message. Other people who know your everyday phone number (even if it doesn’t work anymore) can call Emergency Voicemail, enter the phone number they associate with you, and hear your message.

You can also search for messages left by people whose phone numbers you know.
Air America Radio – Public Voicemail

Boy, am I glad that I fixed my bike. Ninety percent of the pipeline capacity for the South-Eastern US is down right now. We’re car-pooling with the TDI for now. Here is the press release from the Gov-man’s office:

STATEMENT GIVEN TODAY BY GOV. EASLEY CONCERNING GASOLINE SUPPLY IN NORTH CAROLINA

THE TWO MAJOR PIPELINES THAT FURNISH GASOLINE TO MANY STATES, INCLUDING NORTH CAROLINA, HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY HURRICANE KATRINA AND ARE CURRENTLY WITHOUT ELECTRICITY. THEY SERVICE NORTH CAROLINA AND 8-10 OTHER STATES.

90 PERCENT OF OUR GAS COMES FROM THESE PIPELINES AND RIGHT NOW THEY ARE NOT OPERATIONAL.

SUPPLIERS GENERALLY HAVE A WEEK OR SO OF SUPPLY. THEY HAVE BEEN SHUT DOWN SINCE THE HURRICANE.

THE PIPELINES NEED ELECTRIC SUPPLY AND THE REFINERIES THAT PRODUCE GASOLINE NEED TO MAKE URGENT REPAIRS ALSO ARE WITHOUT ELECTRICITY. THE REFINERIES THAT PRODUCE GASOLINE NEED TO MAKE URGENT REPAIRS.

CONSEQUENTLY, WE DO NOT KNOW THE EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM, BUT WE DO KNOW THAT THERE WILL BE A SIGNIFCANT LOSS OF GASOLINE IN THE SOUTHEAST, AT LEAST IN THE SHORT TERM UNTIL THE ELECTRICITY IS RESTORED.

Read the rest of this entry »

… and the president is on vacation. Maybe he is working on finishing My Pet Goat? Apparently he never read the FEMA reports on the probability of the second most devastating disaster to hit the US during his presidency:

In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked a major hurricane strike on New Orleans as “among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country,” directly behind a terrorist strike on New York City.
Progress Report 8/30/2005

Instead of taking this threat seriously, the administration cut the budget of the New Orleans branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by $71.2 million two months ago and rolled back wetland protection laws, although wetlands provide important flood buffers around New Orleans. And one in three National Guardsmen in Louisiana is currently in Iraq, and thus not in a position to help protect or rebuild his home state.

All we can do now, is try to help pick up the pieces.

Creationism is religion and has no place in the classroom. End of story. One problem with scientists is that they want to argue with anyone over anything. So they fall into this trap the creationists set for them to consider “intelligent design” a scientific theory and argue painstakingly over creationism’s scientific merit.

However, the “intelligent design” debate is an Orwellian trap. Most people want simple answers. Evolution is not simple, and scientific arguments are nit-picking gobbledygook to most of us not-so-scientific worker-bees. The creationist “theory” is simple and compelling to many who are tired of the complexities of life on earth: “There is the Big Guy – trust me – and He made it all up and said it was good. Amen.”

Uh – that’s not science. That’s religion. Creationists don’t bother to explain where the Big Guy came from and how He got so smart He could make all this stuff up. I mean, if that’s a scientific theory, than we also have to consider the Norse creation myth or the creation myth of the Huron (check it out) or the Dreamtime of the Australian Aborigines as competing scientific theories. Some of these creation myths are very cool stories – compelling ways of our forebears to explain where we come from. But there is no science in these stories, and neither is in the Christian creation myth.

Today we know that we were designed by an unintelligent process of natural selection – unintelligent design, if you will – and we call this process evolution. This is no more a theory than the globe-shape of the earth is a theory. Evolution is a very broad scientific principle that leaves plenty of room for change, debate and arguments. But there is no room for creationism. Creationism belongs in the church.

The Christian creation myth is not so totally incompatible with evolution as the creationist zealots make it seem, anyway. Many Christians I know have no problem with the idea that God got the ball rolling and created the rules that apply in our world. These Christians praise the Lord for creating such a clever, efficient and effective design as unintelligent design, or evolution.