MichiBlogger

“THE PETROLEUM AGE IS COMING TO AN END” says Bruce Dale, the associate director of MSU’s Office of Bio-based Technologies. He claims that the study which proves ethanol fuel takes more energy to make than it produces, is bunk:

Ethanol requires 29 percent more fossil energy to produce than the fuel it produces, according to the study by David Pimental, a Cornell University professor of agriculture and ecology, and Tad Patzek, a University of California-Berkeley professor of civil and environmental engineering.

Dale contends the study is off-base because it measured energy used and produced with British Thermal Units (BTUs).

A BTU is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree. It takes 143 BTUs to melt a pound of ice.

“It’s an irrelevant measurement,” he said. “We cannot add up different forms of energy on a straight BTU basis any more than we can add up different (monetary) currencies on a straight equivalency basis.

“It’s a dumb idea, and it’s surprising that it’s lasted this long.”

Whether or not the study is well-founded, the future for ethanol fuel appears to be in “biomass“. According to the US Dept. of Energy:

Advanced Bioethanol Technology allows fuel ethanol to be made from cellulosic (plant fiber) biomass, such as agricultural forestry residues, industrial waste, material in municipal solid waste, trees, and grasses.

Once the technology and infrastructure matures, biomass ethanol should cost about half as much to make as that based on corn. So even if the “net negative energy” study is accurate, the new sources of mass will make ethanol viable.

Another option would be to perform more of the ethanol production with electricity-based equipment and power the electric equipment with energy from nuclear power plants. In that case, even if ethanol is a “net negative energy” product, the “lost” energy would come from near-infinite atomics and the portable energy of ethanol would be able to replace the portable energy of petroleum.

The real problem is the “portable” part of portable energy. Electric cars work just fine. Except that electric power isn’t portable enough because batteries are so big and heavy and don’t last very long. Batteries cannot power large aircraft at all. So more portable energy is needed, and fuel in the form of gasoline or ethanol can meet those needs. Spending “extra” nuclear power to create sufficient energy to power things needing portable fuel would be worth it if there was no other way.

For what it’s worth, besides nuclear power for electricity, Murdoc is a fan of oil shale/sands. Colorado and Canada are sitting on a ton of the stuff.

HERE’S A LOCAL EFFORT TO HELP OUT MILITARY WOMEN DEPLOYED TO IRAQ: Careboxes for Female Soldiers. The small group meets twice a month at Allendale Wesleyan Church and plans to send small packages of goodies to female US soldiers in Iraq. They’re looking for some more names. Details at Murdoc Online.

SINCE ADMISSIONS POLICY IS ALWAYS A HOT-BUTTON ISSUE IN THE WOLVERINE STATE, I’ll point out this post on Volokh Conspiracy about Liming Luo. She received a perfect 2,400 score on her SATs but Katherine Cohen, CEO and founder of IvyWise, a school-admissions consulting company, thinks she might have trouble getting into the school of her choice because she’ll be competing against so many other Asians.

Gotta say that I find that pretty stupid.

David Bernstein writes:

Why should Ms. Luo be competing with “other Asian students in particular” as opposed to just “other students?” What does the fact that she’s “Asian” have to do with anything? [I understand that this is just Ms. Cohen's opinion, but given that she's paid to read the minds of admissions officers, I think it's same to assume her view reflects their views.] Is there any other industry in the United States, other than higher education, where it would not be scandalous to suggest that one’s opportunities will be limited because of one’s “Asian” background?

Even for “diversity” fans, why is the category “Asian” relevant? What do Fillipinos, Hmong, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Pakistanis [note: coincidentally, I recently picked up a magazine for Indian-Americans, which had an article expressing concern that Indians and other South Asians were being denied admission to prestigious universities for fear the universities would be "too Asian"] and so on have in common? Not religion, not culture, not even “race.” There is incredible diversity within the “Asian” population, and the idea that the various subgroups are fungible would be considered the height of Eurocentric arrogance, but for the fact that it’s the folks who are most likely to accuse others of Eurocentric arrogance who are behind such ideas.

No kidding.

That a school-admissions consultant would take the position that Katherine Cohen takes is just plain baffling. (via Instapundit)

WANT TO BE A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER? The Grand Rapids Rampage are holding open tryouts on Friday, Dec. 8. The team has guaranteed that at least one training camp roster spot will go to a player from this tryout.

More info at RampageFootball.com.

THIS COLUMN BY JILL READ ABOUT HER NEPHEW WHO WAS RECENTLY WOUNDED IN IRAQ RAN IN TODAY’S ADVANCE NEWSPAPER.

Just come home Tyler

The phone rang. It was a little after 6:15 a.m. on a Monday morning . It was my Dad’s voice at the other end of the line. He usually calls a little later in the morning to wish me a good day. I knew something was wrong.

“Willy (my nickname), Tyler’s been hit. He’s hurt and it’s life-threatening injuries. We don’t know anything more.” My Dad was crying. I started screaming. “What do we do?” I asked my Dad.

“Just pray,” my Dad answered back.

It was my worst fear. It was my family’s worst fear.

(more…)

There have been intermittent outages here at MichiBlogger today. My apologies. The hosting service is hard at work on the problem.

THOUGH THE 30TH ANNUAL RIVER BANK RUN ISN’T UNTIL MAY, applications for The Road Warrior team must be postmarked by December 11th:

What is a road warrior? The Fifth Third River Bank Run is hosting a reality team that will consist of both veteran and novice runners. These runners will be challenged to new training methods, test new gear and participate in the 25K road race on Saturday, May 12, 2007. Each week they will be required to report their progress and changes and how the challenges affected their performance. Twenty (20) finalists will be selected for the interview portion of which 10 participants will ultimately be deemed as The Road Warriors of the Fifth Third River Bank Run!

Twice Murdoc has geared up to run the River Bank only to have knee problems keep him from even making it to the starting line. I’m a semi-regular runner, but I have begun to wonder if mileage in the double digits is just beyond my reach.

Maybe I should apply anyway. Maybe you should, too. Check it out.

CHECK OUT THE COMMON ROOM for this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling. Lots of good stuff.

THE CURBSIDE YARD WASTE PICK-UP for the city of Wyoming (Murdoc’s stomping ground) is this Saturday, December 2nd. Leaves must be in paper bags and by the street by 6:00 am.

We always seem to miss the announcement or forget to get them out on time.

THIS TIMELY QUESTION FROM A MICHIGAN RESIDENT SHOWED UP ON TODAY’S DEAR ABBY:

DEAR ABBY: I have a problem with my in-laws. My brother-in-law will never invite his parents for Christmas, so my husband always insists we have a combined family Christmas with my parents so his parents are not left alone.

The problem is my in-laws have bad-mouthed my parents in the past, and they treat my parents as if they are “less than.” They also don’t treat me all that great.

I get into fights every year with my husband about this. This year I tried to compromise, saying I’d have the in-laws over for Christmas Eve, but my husband will not bend. He wants both families here, which means I will be uncomfortable all day. It is my Christmas, too. I know it’s only one day, but why should I have to compromise and be unhappy for the rest of my life? Please help. — DREADING CHRISTMAS IN HOWELL, MICH.

DEAR DREADING CHRISTMAS: You have to compromise because, when you married your wonderful husband, you blended your family with his — obnoxious and pretentious as they may be. You compromise because marriage IS compromise. Keep the spirits bright by keeping the atmosphere as light as possible — and your in-laws separate from your parents. And remember that the illusion of the “perfect family” is just that — an illusion.

I’ve heard a number of stories like this lately, and I must admit that I’m a bit mystified by them. The honest truth is that my tolerance for such intra-family shennanigans is absolutely and positively zero. There will usually be one opportunity for a quick and reasonable compromise, and then that’s it. Game over. We’re not going anywhere or inviting anyone for the holidays. I can’t stop folks from being jerks, but I certainly can limity my exposure to them.

I don’t know if I’m missing the wiring in my brain that makes me care about this sort of thing (which is my wife’s theory), but fighting through a conflict like this isn’t worth the effort. Particularly because in this type of debate, at least one side (and often both of them) adopt a completely unreasonable and irrational position. Even if a cease-fire agreement can be reached, enough bad things have been said and felt that the peace is uneasy at best.