Ever wonder where those nifty Drudge Report polls go after they are taken off the homepage? Well it seems that they are given a second life in random “Flash” articles on Drudge.
For example, remember that random “Obama vs. Putin – Shirtless” poll that was up back in December? Well it obviously wasn’t done become its back now with what seems to be the same results. Take a look:
The party’s over…
If you haven’t been paying attention to the whole Rick Santelli fiasco, you should be. It started last Thursday when Santelli bashed Obama’s mortage plan on live television and continued with Chris Matthews trying to defend the White House’s attacks on Rick. Now it seems that Rick Santelli is gaining some momentum in the media with Larry Kudlow becoming just as livid when talking about the unprecedented attacks the White House is making against the press.
Take a look:
Obama might not support reestablishing the Fairness Doctrine (and I thank him for that) but it seems that he sure doesn’t give a hoot about free speech (criticism from the press).
This came in my inbox on Tuesday but I forgot to put it up until I saw an article about it today. Take a look:
NEWS RELEASE: ORIGINOIL SIGNS COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT WITH DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Multi-Phase Program Will Focus on Validation and Commercial Scaling of OriginOil’s Algae-to-Oil Technology
Los Angeles, CA February 17, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OTCBB: OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, announced that it has signed a Cooperative Agreement with The United States Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
The multi-phase research program will focus on validation and commercial scaling of the company’s technology in the production of algae-based fuels by utilizing the state-of-the-art equipment, capabilities, scientists and engineers of the INL. The initial phase, which starts immediately, will focus on the collaborative development of an energy balance model for photobioreactor-based algae systems. OriginOil expects to use this model in the optimization of its algae-to-oil technology as early as the 1st Quarter of 2009. Subsequent phases will center on validation of the OriginOil processes and piloting specific commercial applications.
Thomas H. Ulrich, PhD, Advisory Scientist for INL’s Biofuels and Renewable Energy department, said: “INL has been tasked with the key National Security mandate of developing advanced renewable energy technology. Our primary challenge is cost-effective and scalable industrial processes and our partnership with OriginOil will help us find solutions to this challenge in the promising area of algae-to-oil technology. Partnerships with innovators like OriginOil will accelerate our pursuit of national energy independence initiatives.”
Vikram M. Pattarkine, PhD, OriginOil’s chief technology officer, said, “Because algae represents such promise, we have been presented with numerous opportunities for partnerships in the public and private sector in the US and abroad. We decided to begin with INL because it would be very productive across all of our initiatives.”
In operation since 1949, the Idaho National Laboratory (www.inl.gov) is a science-based, applied engineering national laboratory dedicated to supporting the Department of Energy (DOE) on energy research and national defense. Its mission is to ensure the nation’s energy security with safe, competitive and sustainable energy systems and unique national and homeland security capabilities.
Well it looks like commercialization of algae biofuels could be here within a year. Very exciting stuff people. I will try to keep you posted.
I wrote this last year and still think it was pretty clever. If you don’t think so well tough. You’re lucky I posted anything today.
Here are a few things I thought up over the past week that I feel every guy should take into account on Valentine’s Day.
- If you can’t afford a dozen roses, go with one. Any other number requires a detailed explanation that you just don’t have.
- When you give your girlfriend a rose, you might not want to hint that it is a symbol of your love, because a rose may be beautiful but it will also be dead within a week.
- If you give your girlfriend a bear for Valentines day, don’t try to joke around by saying, “See, I got it because our relationship is unBEARable. Get it?” She gets it, but you probably won’t be getting what you’ll be looking for later that night.
- If you are going to read her the poem “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” on Valentine’s Day, be sure that it is the Shakespeare version and not the Moss version.
- Don’t eat some of her chocolates before you give them to her. I know she may be your princess but the excuse of “checking for poison” just doesn’t fly in the 21st century.
- If your girlfriend says “Aww, you shouldn’t have…” when she opens your gift, don’t reassure her by saying “Don’t worry, it cost less than your Christmas present.”
Other than those few things, remember to be a gentleman and that this day is all about her.
Hope you enjoyed and hope you are having a great Valentine’s Day.
Just like the Continental Airlines test flight in January, the recent Japanese Airlines test flight that used a biofuel mixture found it more fuel efficient than regular jet fuel. Sadly, the fuel only was comprised of extremely small amounts of algae biofuel:
The exact composition of the biofuel mixture was 84% camelina, less than 16% jatropha, and less than 1% algae. All of these are second-generation biofuel feedstocks which, it is claimed, will not compete for land on which food crops could be grown. That’s certainly the case for algae and camelina (which can be grown in rotation with wheat to improve wheat crop yields), but less so for jatropha. Though jatropha can grow on some seriously degraded land, there is evidence that to obtain consistent crop yields that such land is not ideal.
Luckily, out of these three sources of fuel, algae is the only one that offers a consistent yield (grown year round) and will probably get the most attention. Even though camelina can be rotated with wheat, it means that there will be certain times when there will be zero yields. With our world economy, we need something that will offer stable, constant outputs of fuel. Algae is literally the only crop that can offer this.
After Japanese Airlines’ recent successful test flight using a biofuel blend, a spokeswoman from Boeing claims that commercial use of biofuels in airlines could be a reality in as little as 3 years. Here is the video of the claim:
As stated in the video, the mixture of biofuel contained biofuel derived from algae. Once again, this isn’t a strictly algae biofuel test flight but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
What else would you expect from an Illinois politician?
