I have seen the future and... the future looks just like the past, about 500 years ago. Scientists, biologists, engineers and businessmen have determined that switchgrass can be used to make cellulose based ethanol. If you're not aware, switchgrass is the plant that has covered most of the Great Plains and Central Canada since the last Ice Age. It's what the American Bison liked to eat before we decided to use them as target practice and move all our unwanted Indians onto their land. And switchgrass, when not being eaten, or ripped out by farmers, will grow to the asstonishing heights of six to eight feet. Also, switchgrass, unlike the uber-lobbiest ADM favorite - corn, doesn't require lots of fertilizer made from coal or natural gas to grow. It also has an energy output that is 343% higher than corn based ethanol. Switchgrass will grow anywhere there's a little dirt and an occaisional rain. It's also perennial so it never has to be planted again. Hay machinery can be used to harvest it. But don't take my word on it. Goldman Sachs believes in it too, to the tune of $27 million. This news, could not come at a better time.

Is this a prelude to the coming Atlantic hurricane season? I really would not want to meet up with this storm.

WTF?!?

One of the frustrating things about Super Glue is that it is pretty much a one use product. Even with the cap on, it dries out in a matter of days. Kevin Kelly featured this epoxy on his Cool Tools site that looks like a better solution for a lot of repairs. You can even handle it with your bare fingers during the prep! It doesn't drip everywhere. And it stays good until you mix it up!

What's in a name? Birmingham City Stages new name reads like a state bar membership list.

Could this be the new iPod video?

The Simpsons live action intro...

If you want to solve a problem, stop thinking.

via futurismic

This article requires some mental acrobatics, but is notheless very cool. Scientists have been able to solve an algorithm with a quantum computer without running it through the computer. The mere presence of the algorithm effectively answered it. "In a sense, it is the possibility that the algorithm could run which prevents the algorithm from running." It has been a theorized part of quantum mechanics for a long time, but is really wild to have it actually happen. Computing over the next 20 years is really going to get weird. The possibilities are limitless...I mean really limitless.

Since 1999 the CIA has been reclassifying thousands of documents. While some of the documents might be of concern for national security, many are just embarrassing to the intelligence community. A document from 1949 reveals that it was believed that the Soviet nuclear program was poor at best. Six months later they exploded their first atomic bomb. But this is not justification for withdrawl. In fact, the executive order 12958 amended by Bush explicitly states that "no … information shall be classified in order to …. prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency." Meanwhile thousands of documents on sabotage and making chemical weapons remain declassified. Take a look for yourself, while you still can. via /.

This is a great documentary from Frontline about the effects meth has on America. While I am not a big proponent of the drug wars, as meth use spreads the affect on society will be greater than all of Al Qaeda's work. Meth not only destroys the body, but also destroys the soul. It leaves users a hollow shell of their former selves. I cannot see how the current administration can view all illicit drugs equally as justifiable, when this one drug can singly reverse a decade crime reduction in America. And while our country continues to debate the issues of illegal immigration of Mexicans into the U.S., tons of meth streams across our largely unpatrolled borders. Of course all of this could be stopped if the nine factories that make ephedrine and pseudoephedrine would start placing controls over distribution.

In honor of Kyoto Protocol Day we Americans should use this day to crap on the rest of the world! Today is a good day to change your oil and pour the remnants down the nearest storm drain. Have an old air conditioner? Take a shotgun to that compressor! The CFCs will only shorten your tanning time! But ideally today should be spent driving solo in an extremely large vehicle through bumper to bumper traffic. Because, as we all know, CO2 makes the maticulously manicured chemical-laden grass grow. God gave us every right to screw it up as much as want! Besides, the quicker we screw things up, the quicker Jesus will come back and take the righteous to heaven. Are you Rapture Ready? God Bless America!

How Sweet! Who said matches made in heaven don't exist. Scorpion Queen marries Centipede King.

There are people of great power in this country that yearn for the good ole days of yesteryear when men were men, women were sex objects and children were of the damned.

Top 10 reasons why no ones reads this blog. Actually I like the fact no one, except my lovely wife reads this blog. It's like screaming into a crowd of billions, only to be drowned out by the screams of everyone else. I get my screaming done, and no one is at my door wanting me to explain why I don't scream like they do. Now if I could only do something about the fundamentalist Christians next door...

This is an interesting commentary on the state of the dollar as it relates to Iran. Iran may have more control over America than most people realize.

The silent killer of all office workers, meetings.

One of the frustrating things about being American is that you're expected to understand capitalism and free enterprise economics from birth. This is hardly the case. Supply and demand is the cliche that everyone knows, but most only understand the demand part. Americans learn very quickly how to be consumers, but based on our personal and national debt few of us ever understand the supply side. Well here is your chance to learn the basics for significantly less money than taking an economics course at your local college. Preston McAfee has written an economics textbook and released it under the Creative Commons license. The book is, from what I have read so far, well written and very straight forward. But best of all it's free. And free means that you can use the $111.50 (marked down of course) you would have paid for a "real" textbook and perhaps pay against the principle on your 29.8% APR VISA card. And all this understanding and extra money will in return get you more of the other free.

via memepool

Pat Robertson should become a comedian and cut out the middleman. 700 Club leader declared that Ariel Sharon was struck down by God because he divided Israel against God's will.

via talking points memo

Hell hath no fury... I mean really, you just can't make this stuff up. Is our country actually being run by these adolescents?