gregladen | December 16, 2008Owing to popular demand among the readership of this blog, I've taken a closer look at the original article claiming that spent coffee grounds can be employed as a source of fuel. There are several important details that come though in the paper coming out in the next issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that have not come through in the press reports.
From the paper: Figure 1. Schematic representation of the biodiesel production process from spent coffee grounds. The other value-added products such as H2, ethanol, and fuel pellets can also be achieved from this waste…
gregladen | December 15, 2008Researchers in Nevada are reporting that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks. ... [The authors] note that the major barrier to wider use of biodiesel fuel is lack of a low-cost, high quality source, or feedstock, for producing that new energy source. Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 percent oil by weight. That's about as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm, and soybean oil.
details here
gregladen | December 15, 2008
Has, sadly, died.
It was just a month ago that ScientificAmerican.com reported the happy tale of a lost cat named George that came home 13 years after rescuers traced his owners through information on a microchip in the scruff of his neck.
He was nearly 17, sick and rail-thin, less than half the robust nearly 14 pounds (6.4 kilograms) he was when he mysteriously disappeared in June 1995. But Frank Walburg and Melinda Merman of Santa Rosa, Calif., were happy to have him home, and set about trying to bulk up their long-lost kitty and restore his health.
They spent weeks pampering and…
gregladen | December 15, 2008Welcome to the December edition of Oekologie.
The previous edition of Oekologie, Oekologie returns!, is at The Infinite Sphere. The present edition is a veritable potpourri of disjunct and disparate topics. We see habitat loss and bad dogs, fascinating evolutionary stories, sussing out sustainability, a touch of snark and more. I've tried to classify these diverse works into a small number of meaningful categories, but as I'm sure you'll see this is somewhat artificial. But before we even begin, I just want to point you to the most amazing video I've seen all month, in which a Penguin (a…
gregladen | December 14, 2008Three videos:
Thanks to Stacy for the tip on the first of the three. The next two were sort of obvious after that...
gregladen | December 14, 2008We got on another one of those lists of the mostest or the bestest. Let's see, what did we do this time...
Oh. Never mind. It seems that our congressional representative from the Sixth District, Michel Bachmann, has gotten on the list of the Most Embarrassing Re-elected Members of Congress, a list maintained by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew).
Oh, but this is good ... the list is not ranked, but it is Alphabetical! So we get to be on the top of the list:
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-…
gregladen | December 14, 2008WASHINGTON--In an unexpected judicial turnaround, the Supreme Court this week reversed its 2000 ruling in the landmark case of Bush v. Gore, stripping George W. Bush of his earlier political victory, and declaring Albert Arnold Gore the 43rd president of the United States of America.
The court, which called its original decision to halt manual recounts in Florida "a ruling made in haste," voted unanimously on Wednesday in favor of the 2000 Democratic nominee.
Gore will serve as commander in chief from Dec. 10 to Jan. 20.
Read the rest here.
gregladen | December 14, 2008Warning: If you click this button, you may never be seen again. Have fun.
CLICK HERE
gregladen | December 14, 2008OMG!!!! ... I have new respect for Bush. He's really good at ducking, it turns out.
Yes, yes, indeed. In Arab culture (which may or may not pertain to Iraq, depending on ethnicity) the sole of the FOOT is very very dirty. I don't know so much about the sole of the shoe. But I'm thinking that you don't throw your shoe at someone because you like them. (As is done in certain cultures, of course.)
gregladen | December 14, 2008Bachmann's Religious Cult Organizes Minnesota School Assemblies that Frighten, Disturb Students. Female students are told they "... should be pretty much [their] husband's slaves." One's student's reaction: "When I graduate, I'm not going to shake my school administrators hand."
I drive through Pequot Lakes (and Pine River) several times a year. It's the town on 379 with the water tower made to look like a giant fishing float. I will never think of this sleepy little rural town again.
Anyway, here's the thing. This organization that provides these assemblies for the students is the…
gregladen | December 14, 2008Math Gains Reported for U.S. Students
American fourth- and eighth-grade students made solid achievement gains in math in recent years and in two states showed spectacular progress, an international survey of student achievement released on Tuesday found. Science performance was flat.
NYT
ZImbabwe: The New Zaire
Zimbabwe: Cholera introduced by West from PhysOrg.com
(AP) -- The Zimbabwean government on Saturday accused the West of deliberately starting the country's cholera epidemic, stepping up a war of words with the regime's critics as the humanitarian crisis deepened.
[...]…
gregladen | December 13, 2008Secretary of State Mark Ritchie discusses the Recount of the 2008 Senate Race in Minnesota between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. These remarks are part of a forum held on "The Minnesota Tradition of Fair Elections" hosted by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the Hubert H Humphrey Center, UMN.
I find it interesting that he grew up with an electron microscope in his house. What's that all about?
Lifted from the Facebook Account of my friend, who really exists despite rumors to the contrary, Ana Blogless.
gregladen | December 13, 2008But he's going down fighting.
First, the going down part:
This concerns Paul McKim, who is the former CEO of a Houston company, Deep Marine Technologies Inc.. He has filed a lawsuit in district court in Harris County, Texas that alleges that a majority shareholder, Minneapolis based Nasser Kazeminy, used corporate funds to help Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman.
Accoring to the suit, Kazeminy...
...directed $75,000 to an insurance company that contracted with Coleman's wife, Laurie Coleman, under the guise that the payments were for services.
McKim also alleges that Kazeminy and another co…
gregladen | December 13, 2008 What was Neanderthal-Modern Human interaction really like? Fifty four teeth (some of which are fragments) and nine other bones dating to about 40-43,000 years ago represent the "most recent, and largest, sample of southern Iberian late Neanderthals currently known."
These and some closely related remains may indicate that these Middle Paleolithic holdouts were kissing cousins of nearby anatomically modern humans. Or maybe not.
We know that Neanderthals occupied all of Europe for over 125 thousand years during a period known (from the artifacts) as the "Middle Paleolithic." During…
gregladen | December 13, 2008
I and the Bird #90: Christmas Count Tally Rally
Festival of the Trees #30
Just Write Blog Carnival December 12, 2008 Edition
Storyblogging Carnival XCIV
N.B.: The Next Edition of Oekologie, the Ecology and Environmental Science Carnival, will be hosted HERE. So send me your submission. This is a mid month carnival, so I'll probably write it up late tomorrow for posting early AM on Monday.
gregladen | December 13, 2008There are a number of arguments that turning your computer off during non-use periods (like overnight) is a bad idea. This wears out your computer, the power-up cycle uses so much energy that it is offset only by hours of down time, etc. etc. For the most part, these beliefs are incorrect. You should probably turn your computer off. But not until you've read "Five PC power myths debunked"