Now that’s recycling! Gasoline substitute from municipal waste
Bob Morris @ Aug 25th 2008 22:24 - Category: Unfiled ;
Treehugger details how Byogy plans to have their first garbage-to-gasoline plant online within two years.
Archive for August 25th, 2008
Ted Kennedy at DNC. Aging Lion King still has a few roars left
Bob Morris @ Aug 25th 2008 20:31 - Category: Unfiled ;
When was the last time a Democratic convention keynote speaker was played off the stage by a song written by a current Democratic Member of Congress?
Sen. Ted Kennedy leaves the stage to Rep. John Hall’s “Still the One.”
In The Dark Knight, the latest Batman movie, the Joker says “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain” but I think Ted Kennedy has done it the other way around. His self-induced horrors at Chappaquiddick decades ago were an abyss but he came off the mat, re-dedicated himself to public service and his legacy has been huge.
Bad news for New England. Heating costs expected to soar
Bob Morris @ Aug 25th 2008 18:44 - Category: Unfiled Tags: heating oil costs;
The Energy Information Administration, “the non-partisan statistical arm of the U.S. Energy Department”, says heating oil costs will be up 36% this winter, with natural gas costs projected to rise 23%.
Having recently moved back to California after 18 months in Connecticut and paying nosebleed amounts to heat the house there, it’s a certainty these projected increases will have some people there in absolute panic.
During Feb. of this year, before moving, we were paying $150 a week in Connecticut to heat a well-insulated 2,100 sq ft house with the thermostat set at 64 during the day and 55 at night. Thus, this winter the projected price there will be more like $200 a week. Some (many?) people will not be able afford that, and could have to choose between food and heat.
Firewood sales in New England are soaring (as is the price per cord) and most firewood dealers are already out of seasoned wood, and even green wood. Pellet stove sales are also increasing.
One problem with both wood and pellet stoves is that, depending on the layout of the house, they may only heat the area around them, not the entire house or bedroom. Pellet stoves also require considerable maintenance and need electricity to run.
Bottom line:
“People are looking for alternatives,” Galok [a stove dealer] said. “They don’t want to be held at gunpoint by the oil people. Yes, we do have a choice.”
Headzup. Republicans want the “labor” back in Labor Day
Bob Morris @ Aug 25th 2008 15:41 - Category: Election 2008 ;
LIBOR spread widens, signals more financial pain
Bob Morris @ Aug 25th 2008 12:15 - Category: Credit crisis ;
The LIBOR, the interest rate that large financial institutions charge each other for short-term loans, is widening over the treasury rate. This indicates severe stress in the system and that more pain is coming.
“The suspicion is that banks are still hiding losses. The banking system relies on trust and at the minute there quite simply isn’t any” said a money manager.
New Nigerian scam technique
Bob Morris @ Aug 25th 2008 10:25 - Category: Unfiled ;
You get email ostensibly from a friend’s email account saying they are in Africa, had wallet stolen, and need funds to get home with. Please send by Western Union.
For this to work, the scammmers probably used automated software to worm into the person’s email account (probably Outlook) then simply sent the bogus email to everyone in the address book.
Former BOE official attacks Fed for cozying up to Wall Street
Bob Morris @ Aug 25th 2008 05:15 - Category: Credit crisis Tags: Federal reserve;
Former Bank of England policy maker Willem Buiter [says the Fed] pays too much heed to the concerns of financial institutions.
“The Fed listens to Wall Street and believes what it hears,” Buiter said yesterday in a paper presented to the Fed’s conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. “This distortion into a partial and often highly distorted perception of reality is unhealthy and dangerous.”
The Fed managed to peek out of its reality tunnel long enough to harump that Butler was an unguided missile, before ducking back in to consult with bond traders as to what their next move should be.
When a former high ranking central bank official accuses the Fed of being a lackey of Wall Street, well, the game has definitely changed, hasn’t it?
(The image is from a political cartoon in the early 1900’s showing control of Congress by the trusts, i.e. Wall Street.)
DNC news sources, inside and outside
Bob Morris @ Aug 25th 2008 00:48 - Category: Election 2008 Tags: DNC;
For the protests, check Tent State and Recreate 68, who are doing much of the street demonstration organizing at the DNC.
(Why they named themselves, respectively, after Kent State where demonstrators got killed and the 1968 Chicago DNC where protesters got their heads cracked in what was later was officially called a “police riot” seems beyond counter-intuitive to me.)
Dave Winer, influential geek blogger and early Obama supporter has press credentials and is blogging non stop about the DNC at Scripting.com and on Twitter.
You can do a Tweetscan search for “DNC” for tweets from multiple people.
Dave mentions that a NY Times reporter is twittering the DNC. Both Dave and the NY Times reporter have Flickr streams too.
Breaking news from the DNC will hit Twitter before any other media because Twitter is near instantaneous.
