dbciii's blog

I saw "No End in Sight" last night.

Holistic: relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts (Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary).

“The derivation of just power from the consent of the governed depends on the integrity of the reasoning process through which that consent is given. If the reasoning process is corrupted by money and deception, then the consent of the governed is based on false premises, and any power thus derived is inherently counterfeit and unjust. If the consent of the governed is extorted through manipulation of mass fears, or embezzled with claims of divine guidance, democracy is impoverished.

Boy, I have to get back to the Algae Awards. There is a ton of stuff to add. Clearly the WP article about WR, but I have several others in mind also. Nominations happily entertained as well.

Algae Awards

I started it, then got caught up in the election, then started my Fallen site:

Fallen

To all you youngsters out there, this was one of our theme songs during VN. Still applies.

OK, the title doesn't tell you much. But I thought it creative.

The actual subject is biofuel.

The ethanol-from-corn "movement" is off base. If it were not subsidized, there is no way it would be economical unless/until fossil fuel costs went up severalfold.

Ethanol from renewable biomass, however, is a viable prospective energy source. It turns out that the best source is sugarcane. The second best is switchgrass.

http://www.harvestcleanenergy.org/enews/enews_0505/enews_0505_Cellulosic...

At risk of being pilloried, I am going to wade in on the topic of peer review.

First, let me say that I absolutely agree with the general practice of peer review of scientific and technical claims/assertions/findings etc. I have served on a technical review board, have reviewed many papers, actually killed one or two (not for being inaccurate but rather for being obvious advertising without any new information), and have written papers that were subjected to review prior to publication. I wholeheartedly support the practice.

I get to RANT and RAVE all I want, and pretend someone is paying attention!

Now I just need to activate the voice-recognition software on my laptop so I can dictate during my embarrassingly long drive every morning and night!

I find myself becoming good friends with Stephanie Miller et al on Air America.