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Major Joint Offensive South of Baghdad, 8,000 troops
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 4: Opinion
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Dangerous Made-In-China Products: 2007 Timeline
With recent high-profile incidents involving dangerous goods imported from China, the American media has finally begun to warn consumers about the dangers of cheaply producing goods in a country hardly known for its strict safety regulations. After spending some time digging through product recall press releases, we’ve found that the mainstream media is still only reporting the tip of the iceberg when it comes to dangerous products imported from China. Here’s a timeline we’ve created, which shows the huge amount of faulty/dangerous Chinese product scandals so far this year [this list will be regularly updated]:

See link for full listing for 2007.
Posted by: Delphi || 07/16/2007 12:01 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Barely the beginning. But even the longest journey begins with a single step.
Posted by: gorb || 07/16/2007 18:05 Comments || Top||


Colombian cat house reject explodes bomb
BOGOTA (Rooters) - A man rejected by a prostitute in a Colombian brothel exploded a bomb at the establishment, killing one person and injuring 13 others, local authorities said.
You know you're a loser when you can't get laid for cash in a whorehouse.
The bomb was detonated late Saturday in the Balcony of Marvels brothel in the northern banana-growing town of Apartado by the would-be client who was refused service, town spokeswoman Adriana Maria Celis told local radio. The suspect was arrested.
Sounds like a good move...
Three of the injured were hospitalized while the rest were treated and released. The person killed was a 54-year-old man.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 07/16/2007 09:14 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  At least they had the decency to not use the word 'blow' in this story.......(as in 'blow up' of course.)
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 07/16/2007 14:42 Comments || Top||

#2  the Balcony of Marvels brothel

Hmm....
Posted by: John Frum || 07/16/2007 18:15 Comments || Top||

#3  "Balcony of Marvels brothel in the northern banana-growing town of Apartado."

Of course - his had no appeal.
Posted by: WTF || 07/16/2007 21:27 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Woman told she is too sexy for German bus
A GERMAN bus driver threatened to throw a 20-year-old sales clerk off his bus in the southern town of Lindau because he said she was too sexy.

"Suddenly he stopped the bus," the woman named Debora C told Bild newspaper. "He opened the door and shouted at me 'Your cleavage is distracting me every time I look into my mirror and I can't concentrate on the traffic. If you don't sit somewhere else, I'm going to have to throw you off the bus."'

The woman, pictured in Bild wearing her snug-fitting summer outfit with the plunging neckline, said she moved to another seat but was humiliated by the bus driver.

A spokesman for the bus company defended the driver. "The bus driver is allowed to do that and he did the right thing," the spokesman said. "A bus driver cannot be distracted because it's a danger to the safety of all the passengers."
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 07/16/2007 09:44 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm too sexy for this bus, to sexy for this bus....
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/16/2007 9:53 Comments || Top||

#2  This is just the german media paving the way for the adoption of the burqua...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/16/2007 10:20 Comments || Top||

#3  "He opened the door and shouted at me 'Your cleavage is distracting me every time I look into my mirror and I can't concentrate on the traffic. If you don't sit somewhere else, I'm going to have to throw you under off the bus."'
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/16/2007 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  The cleavage on the bus goes up and down
Up and down
Up and down
The cleavage on the bus goes up and down
All through the town. . . .
Posted by: Mike || 07/16/2007 10:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Can't believe it. If she's that sexy she wouldn't have to ride the damn bus; some "gentleman" would have given her a ride in his Porsche.
Posted by: GK || 07/16/2007 10:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

"Look at my face when I'm talking to you!"
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/16/2007 11:32 Comments || Top||

#7  So here's the obligatory "picture that should come with the story"...and the Bild photo editor crops it so we can't see what the fuss was about. Bastard!

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/07/16/schock-linienbus/frau-bu-sen,geo=2154796.html
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/16/2007 11:33 Comments || Top||

#8  she's is pretty damn god looking
Posted by: sinse || 07/16/2007 12:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Was it the girl in the box marked "Shopping?"
Posted by: eLarson || 07/16/2007 12:45 Comments || Top||

#10  Unless her mammories were right in his face this guy just needs to learn how to multi-task like the rest of us.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 07/16/2007 13:33 Comments || Top||

#11  As long as she does it with four on the floor...
Posted by: Frank Zappa || 07/16/2007 13:35 Comments || Top||

#12  We need to find out more about this driver. What kind of guy complains about cleavage? Muzzie?
Posted by: Mike N. || 07/16/2007 14:06 Comments || Top||

#13  #5,7,8. Agreed, sinse, she can ride in my Porsche Buick anytime.
Posted by: GK || 07/16/2007 15:01 Comments || Top||

#14  "HEY! I'm up here!"
Posted by: mojo || 07/16/2007 16:03 Comments || Top||

#15  The real kicker is that there is this little message for the driver: " Caution, images in mirror are closer than they appear." Probably panicked when it was noticed he was looking; afraid of getting busted.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 07/16/2007 17:31 Comments || Top||

#16  Y O W ! !! ! (Sor ry , my c h in k eeps hi tti ng th e s p a c e b a r ! )
Posted by: gorb || 07/16/2007 18:11 Comments || Top||


Work Accident in Northern Virginia?
Posted by: Bobby || 07/16/2007 06:04 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hum, no names.
Posted by: Icerigger || 07/16/2007 8:09 Comments || Top||

#2  This story is definitely worth keeping an eye one. As previously stated, they don't mention any names, so it could be suspicious. Or it could just be some white guy that likes to have a little fun blowing stuff up.
Posted by: Mike N. || 07/16/2007 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Flash powder doesn't strike me as a particularly good candidate for a weapon.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/16/2007 9:14 Comments || Top||

#4  The morning news intimated it was an idjit trying to make fireworks in the garage. However I don't recall hearing a name there, neither.
Posted by: eLarson || 07/16/2007 9:21 Comments || Top||

#5  The news last night said his neighbors said he was known for amateur fireworks shows.

And yes, no name.
Posted by: Seafarious || 07/16/2007 9:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Sounds like he dang near made an ash of himself. Next time he should just go to Johnny Nothumbs Hom-made Fireworks and Bate shop.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/16/2007 10:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Schaff says they have ruled yesterday's fire accidental. He says it appears a spark from work being done in the home's garage landed in a box of explosives.

Yeah, dad used to always strees that we keep the sparks away from our box of family explosives.

He says they found chemicals, powders and fertilizers. Schaff says they are not products you would typically find in a home.

Hmmmmmm...they use fertilizer for fireworks these days?

Posted by: tu3031 || 07/16/2007 12:10 Comments || Top||

#8  the fertilizer's for the lawn. hopefully.
Posted by: eLarson || 07/16/2007 12:42 Comments || Top||

#9  Centerville. Red Hen. They did say this was a Jim Smith just fooling around didn't they ?
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 || 07/16/2007 12:54 Comments || Top||

#10  Sure it just wasn't some DuPont Fishing Lure Reloads?
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 07/16/2007 14:45 Comments || Top||

#11  http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1189767

Dude's name is Jeff Reynolds. May be a redneck, probably not a jihadi.

I do love being a Southner.
Posted by: OIF3 Guy || 07/16/2007 16:45 Comments || Top||

#12  My bad. That's the name of the neighbor they interviewed.
Posted by: OIF3 Guy || 07/16/2007 16:46 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Worms Fall from the Sky in Jennings
Jennings Police Department employee, Eleanor Beal was just crossing the street to go to work when something dropped from the sky.

The sky wasn't falling. She says it was worms, large tangled clumps of them. Beal says, "When I saw that they were crawling, I said, 'It's worms! Get out of the way!'"

She even called her co-worker outside to prove she wasn't making it up. Sure enough, she saw worms, and globs of them.

Where they came from is a mystery, but some believe that Satan Global Warming a water spout spotted less than five miles away at that same time near Lacassine Bayou could have something to do with it.

Eleanor Beal says she hopes she doesn't see it again.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 07/16/2007 10:13 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out
The worms fall from the sky onto your snout . . .
Posted by: Mike || 07/16/2007 10:42 Comments || Top||

#2  It's a sign! Not of Global Warming, but of Global Worming!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/16/2007 11:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Dang! Missed that one!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 07/16/2007 11:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey, my hometown made the Burg. 10,000 pop. adjacent to I-10 and located in the middle of vast amounts of agricultural and marshland acreage. This wasn't the first time live critters got dropped on the town by a waterspout/tornado. Long time reader, first time posting. Love the Burg. Keep up the good work, guys.
Posted by: Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator || 07/16/2007 13:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Someday there'll be a big stink about a waterspout hitting a sewage retention pond.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 07/16/2007 15:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Charles Fort to the white courtesy phone, please.

'It's worms! Get out of the way!'

One of the all time great lines. I want to see it in a movie.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 07/16/2007 17:58 Comments || Top||

#7  Welcome to the conversation, Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator! Now that the ice is broken, I hope we'll hear more from you -- with a nym like that, you must have some fascinating stories. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/16/2007 18:15 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudis prepare to behead teenage maid
I've taken issue with Tim Butcher's reporting before. Check the money quote from the aggrieved rep for the Saudi "National Society for Human Rights"
The imminent execution of a teenage maid in Saudi Arabia drew fierce criticism yesterday and provoked condemnation of the kingdom's prolific use of capital punishment. The case has brought fresh attention to the draconian Saudi criminal justice system which is expected this year to set a new record in its use of the death sentence.

Human rights campaigners yesterday urged the authorities not to behead a 19-year-old Sri Lankan maid found guilty of killing a baby in her care.

According to the Saudi authorities, Rizana Nafeek admitted strangling the four-month-old boy while feeding him with a bottle. But Nafeek, whose job was not meant to include child care, has denied making any such admission. She claims the child had begun to choke before losing consciousness in spite of her desperate efforts to clear his airway. Tonight is the deadline for appeals in the case. Unless the Saudi authorities change the sentence or the parents of the victim offer clemency, Nafeek will have her head cut off by an executioner wielding a sword in front of a crowd of onlookers. Nafeek, who had been denied a lawyer at her trial, is one of 5.6 million foreign workers who live in Saudi Arabia. The vast majority are domestic workers such as Nafeek, employed to look after the homes of oil-rich families.

According to the Sri Lankan government, Nafeek had only been in the country a few weeks when the incident happened in May 2005. A government delegation tried to fly to Saudi Arabia to organise her appeal but it was delayed because of visa problems. In 2005 there were 191 executions but that record could be surpassed this year as 102 have already taken place just over half way through the year. Last year the total dipped to 38 but this year's figure already includes three women, according to Amnesty International.
Beheading has always been the punishment for murderers, rapists, drug traffickers and armed robbers in Saudi Arabia, which follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

In February, four Sri Lankan workers were executed for armed robbery and their headless bodies left on public display in Riyadh, triggering harsh criticism from international rights groups. Amnesty International says some defendants are convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress, torture or deception. Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International UK, said: "It is an absolute scandal that Saudi Arabia is preparing to behead a teenage girl who didn't even have a lawyer at her trial. The Saudi authorities are flouting an international prohibition on the execution of child offenders by even imposing a death sentence on a defendant who was reportedly 17 at the time of the alleged crime."

There are so many foreign workers in Saudi Arabia that they account for a large proportion of crimes committed. "The workers commit big crimes against Saudis," said Suhaila Hammad of Saudi Arabia's National Society for Human Rights. She said the number of executions had risen because crime had increased. She said that prisoners were treated humanely and that beheadings deterred crime. "Allah, our creator, knows best what's good for his people," she said. "Should we just think of and preserve the rights of the murderer and not think of the rights of others?"
Posted by: Seafarious || 07/16/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Since wimmin are subhuman creatures in Islam, no human rights org need apply.
Posted by: Gary (no Samoyeds in hotel) || 07/16/2007 1:02 Comments || Top||

#2  We are letting these spoiled a**holes who refuse to do anything for themselves threaten our entire way of life. I don't know what the answer is, but I sure hope to live to see the day where we smile and tell them "the party's over..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/16/2007 12:02 Comments || Top||

#3  The constant abuse of the imported workforce...treating them as low level slaves, sntching passports, murdering, beheading. Why would anyone willing go there ? Their money is enticing when you are destitute, but it's hard to spend it from the grave.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 || 07/16/2007 12:57 Comments || Top||

#4  This is about how Yurpeons are squeamish over capital punishment not an unjust judicial system for immigrants. I don’t subscribe to the “Allah knows best” BS but she strangled a baby ferchrissakes. I say lop off her head then chop it into pieces. Hmmmm…too Draconian ya think?
Posted by: DepotGuy || 07/16/2007 17:05 Comments || Top||

#5  *If* the baby was strangled, and *if* the maid did it. Given the odds of genetic defects expressing either mentally or physically amongst Saudi Arabians, it could easily have been that a family member did it, or that the baby did indeed choke to death. Without a proper post mortem exam, and a fair trial, what odds we'll ever know?
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/16/2007 19:46 Comments || Top||

#6  TW's correct- when you procreate too close on the family tree - as Saudis are wont to do - genetic abnormalities and Jihadi fervor ensue. Hillarity is delayed
Posted by: Frank G || 07/16/2007 20:48 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Pan Am games open, let the posturing and riots begin
Brazil is the host & Lula is the target of leftist activity sponsored by our boy Hugo and his buds.

The traditional booing of the US representative went off without a hitch, however.
Posted by: lotp || 07/16/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They still stage the Pan Am games? I always thought of them as the Olympics with even less interest...
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/16/2007 9:25 Comments || Top||

#2  I remember when Lula was the new Leftist on the block.
Posted by: eLarson || 07/16/2007 15:56 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Plague rats being used to supply restaurants
LIVE rats are being trucked from central China, suffering a plague of a reported two billion rodents displaced by a flooded lake, to the south of the of country to end up in restaurant dishes, Chinese media has reported. "Recently there have been a lot of rats ... Guangzhou people are rich and like to eat exotic things, so business is very good,'' the China News Service quoted a vendor as saying.

Some vendors had asked people from a village in Hunan province, near Dongting Lake, to sell them live rats, the Beijing News said today.

"The buyers offered 6 yuan (9c) for a kilo, but as to where they will sell the rats, they would not say,'' the newspaper quoted a local resident as saying, adding that villagers had to catch the rats live. "If we want to do that, there is no problem. We could catch 150 kilos of rats in one night .. .but we will not do this against our conscience,'' the villager was quoted as saying.

Some Guangdong restaurants were promoting "rat banquets'', charging 136 yuan ($20.70) for one kg of rat meat, the newspaper said.

Local governments in Hunan have been grappling with the rats, which had already destroyed 1.6 million hectares of crops and could spread disease, according to media reports. A lack of snakes, also a popular dish in the south, and owls, a traditional Chinese medicine, was held partly responsible.
Never could find a snake when I needed one ...
Chinese media reported last week that some internet users from Guangdong had offered rat recipes as a way to deal with the problem.

Scientists have also blamed China's massive Three Gorges Dam project and climate change for the Hunan rodents' flight to dry land.
Posted by: tipper || 07/16/2007 02:09 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'd take rat over alkali softened cardboard any day....
Posted by: John Frum || 07/16/2007 7:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Lye. It's what's for dinner.
Posted by: Seafarious || 07/16/2007 8:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Stir fried plague rat ... mmmmmmmmmmmm

Remember, that spicy Hunan cooking really Szechuan fire.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/16/2007 11:48 Comments || Top||

#4  If only they hadn't already eaten all the cats, this would not have been a problem.
Posted by: Rambler || 07/16/2007 12:01 Comments || Top||

#5  "Waiter, there's a flea in my soup?"

"No free soup for you!"
Posted by: mrp || 07/16/2007 12:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Chinese Rat Banquet Menu:

Rat Salad
Deep Fried Rat Tails
Ratatouille
Posted by: Querent || 07/16/2007 13:04 Comments || Top||

#7  oh, and for more people, add

Rats' Nest Soup
Posted by: Querent || 07/16/2007 13:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Is all of China turning into a Monty Python skit?

Man: What's for afters?

Woman: Well there's rat cake ... rat sorbet... rat pudding... or strawberry tart.

Man: Strawberry tart?!

Woman: Well it's got some rat in it.

Man: How much?

Woman: Three, rather a lot really.

Man: ... well, I'll have a slice without so much rat in it.

CAPTION: 'ONE SLICE OF STRAWBERRY TART WITHOUT SO MUCH RAT IN IT LATER'

Man: Appalling.
Posted by: Mike || 07/16/2007 14:31 Comments || Top||

#9  I'd take rat over alkali softened cardboard any day....

whew!, luck still holding...
I just returned from my kitchen freezer, ..all my frozen Rat is local!!
Posted by: RD || 07/16/2007 21:52 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Dutch Courage
The Dutch backpacker who almost lost his life in a triple shooting in Melbourne said today it was not his time to die. Four weeks after being gunned down at point blank range as he went to help a woman in distress in central Melbourne, Paul de Waard said he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time''.

The 25-year-old Dutch backpacker was shot twice, in the chest and abdomen, after he and Melbourne solicitor Brendan Keilar went to the aid of Kaera Douglas, who they saw being dragged from a taxi by the alleged gunman. Mr Keilar was shot several times and died from his injuries.

Today, Mr De Waard said he would do it again if he saw a woman being attacked. "I was not supposed to die at that moment - it was not my time,'' Mr De Waard told a media conference. "What did I think? I had to help her. You don't beat up a woman.

"I would do it again. Of course I didn't know the guy had a gun but if I see a guy beating up a woman, I will help her again. I think as a man you don't beat up women.''

Flanked by his brothers Eric and Bart and parents Hans de Waard and Marjan Heijnen (Marjan Heijnen), Mr De Waard said the kindness of a stranger helped him through the moments immediately after he was shot. "I remember Donna (McGowan), she kept me awake. She was like 'Stay with me Paul, stay with me'. She told me her name and about her children and that really kept me awake, because I wanted to close my eyes.''

Mr De Waard said today he hoped to leave hospital in the next two weeks and would return home to the Netherlands to be reunited with other family and friends.

Christopher Wayne Hudson, 31, has been charged with one count of murder, two of attempted murder, one count of unlawful imprisonment and one count of intentionally causing serious injury over the June 18 incident.
Posted by: Oztralian || 07/16/2007 02:31 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Dutch courage" is kind of a misleading headline for this story, as it refers to "courage" in the form of intoxication.

Mr. de Waard may be Dutch, but the courage he displayed is of the more universal kind. You did the right thing, sir; thank you.
Posted by: Mike || 07/16/2007 6:54 Comments || Top||

#2  One of Nature's noblemen. Dank je wel, Paul.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/16/2007 8:35 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought Australia had strict gun laws? When you outlaw guns, only outlaws......
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/16/2007 9:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Whenever I see someone acting weird in public I always wonder if they're carrying a gat.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 07/16/2007 16:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Don't wonder. Assume...
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/16/2007 16:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Melbourne's city council should give De Waard a night on the town and a key to the city. Not enough of his type in this world today.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/16/2007 18:24 Comments || Top||

#7  "Christopher Wayne Hudson, 31, has been charged with one count of murder, two of attempted murder, one count of unlawful imprisonment and one count of intentionally causing serious injury over the June 18 incident."

Im thinking that this guy should find himself being dropped off in the vicinity of the Great Barrier reef stark naked and with several small cuts on his arms and legs. 'Twould be fitting.
Posted by: no mo uro || 07/16/2007 18:35 Comments || Top||

#8  with several small cuts on his arms and legs.

I'd opt for giving him just one cut in the crotch area. Let the sharks have a nice starting point.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/16/2007 19:27 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Barn owls unite Israelis, Jordanians
A nice story, but you just know that no good deed done by Israelis will go unpunished. Especially with all those owl-shaped jinns roaming around lookin' at the wimminfolk.
Posted by: Seafarious || 07/16/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just to top it off, someone should put on an international peace concert featuring The Who.

[ducks, runs away]
Posted by: Mike || 07/16/2007 6:03 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Our First Cellulosic Ethanol Plant!!! Range Fuels - Georgia
Posted by: 3dc || 07/16/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I would say woopee and halloluya, but I own stock in a company that's ahead of them.
This is just good PR.
Posted by: wxjames || 07/16/2007 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  welll i am from georgiaand saying that i know a man in my county(franklin) that just got a 29 million dolar grant too create electrixity from burning chicken shit. That being said he has went broke or says he has and it would take 40 truckloadsa day of the fuel toosupply the plant. therefore supllying half the co. . Not too say we have several hydro plants in the area
Posted by: sinse || 07/16/2007 8:15 Comments || Top||

#3  i think my point is it's not bullshit it's chickenshit
Posted by: sinse || 07/16/2007 8:16 Comments || Top||

#4  #2, #3: as long as he doesn't shift into the chicken salad business, the county should be safe.
Posted by: eLarson || 07/16/2007 9:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Well shit...
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/16/2007 10:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Engineers, what's the energy in vs. output on cellulose? I'm just wondering, is all. And, are there other inherent problems with this ethanol, similar to the corn/sugarcane based ethanol (lower mpg in cars, increased use of commercial fertilizers, which in their own right use crude oil, etc.)?

I'm just beginning to see the big lie in all these "silver bullet" type fixes. Yes, I'd love to get off ME oil, but all these snake-oil salesmen who say they have "the solution" make me even more nervous. I've already seen the MARKET effects of corn to ethanol, even here in Georgia. We now have swine and beef farmers who can't afford to feed their livestock (and our food) because corn has more than doubled in price. I've heard rumors that Illinois and Iowa (our 2 biggest corn producers) are now NET importers of corn because of all the ethanol plants going up. Mississippi is now raising 10x the corn (acre-wise) that they were just a few years ago! And, yet, no one looks at the big picture (corn is a very water and fertilizer intensive crop, and this year's drought is not helping matters).

I know of some research going into converting human waste or animal waste into bio-diesel. Taking the sludge from your local poopie-plant and converting it is a no-brainer (a lot of sludge is just landfilled nowadays and/or given away to local farmers). Mississippi alone has had proposals for something like 2 ethanol plants and 10-12 bio-diesel plants just in the last 2-3 years! It's unbelievable how much (taxpayers) money is going into this, but if it gets us off the ME teet, so be it!
Posted by: BA || 07/16/2007 13:08 Comments || Top||

#7  BA, I'm no engineer, but I'll give you some info on this technology.
I first invested in it in 1985, that's right, 22 years ago. The device was build then the active partner abandoned it. Why ? I have no idea, but I do know that a big multi national would have made it work then. Permits and licenses, the EPA and lack of funding dragged on and on, but now that inefficient ethanol plants are springing up by the hundreds, finally some big money found us and we are now to be included in the Mulberry, Florida ethanol plant. The process will take any carbon based feed material, properly grinded, and mixed with water and apply high voltage. The feed material separates into it's base elements in the plasma form, thus known as gasification. The trick is to control the expansion and heat of the resulting gases, and isolate the product gas from the rest. With an efficient system, almost everything can be reclaimed and sold, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, lithium, carbon, etc., plus it is convinient to make 'syngas' the building block of ethanol right there. Additionally, water can be converted to steam by the super hot gases and produce enough electricity via steam turbines to be self propelled, as it were. Or, gas turbines can be run directly from the 'reactor'. When this is debugged, most current corn to ethanol plants will refit and begin feeding garbage in instead of corn. The biggest gains are electricity for garbage and sewage sludge. Good tradeoff, no ?

Click on waste to energy for some raw numbers.
Posted by: wxjames || 07/16/2007 14:05 Comments || Top||

#8  thanks, wxjames. Pretty interesting stuff.
Posted by: BA || 07/16/2007 14:14 Comments || Top||

#9  To be honest I would think that the inflationary pressure on corn will be fairly short-lived. First, the USA is no where near max corn growing capacity. Remember that we've been paying farmers for generations, NOT to grow corn to keep the prices up. The markets will adjust and the farmers will (hopefully) once again find it profitable to grow corn as opposed to other crops. Secondly, I don't think anyone believes corn is the way to go for the longhaul. There are plant-types that would be much more efficient on a per-acre basis. Switchgrass for instance. Long-term? This is not the answer. But short-term I still see this as a way to ween ourselves off of Middle-East oil. It will take time and as with anything there will be growing pains. Plus, don't expect this to be a cheaper fuel, it's just an alternative. The only reason that we're starting to hear more of it is because the economics are starting to making more sense.
Posted by: AllahHateMe || 07/16/2007 15:17 Comments || Top||

#10  This isn't a biofuel, but what, if anything, is standing in the way of exploiting the oil shales of Colorado and Utah?
Posted by: eLarson || 07/16/2007 15:39 Comments || Top||

#11  Given enough energy & money, one can make anything out of anything else. The question is, does it pay to do it? EROEI (Energy Returned on Energy Invested) or EROI (Energy Return On Investment) are key measures. Gov't taxes on fuels and subsidies for production of other fuels really screw up any efforts to substitute domestic materials for imported oil. "Good tradeoff" exists only when economic sense is made. Perhaps wsjames's "active partner" left the business & "lack of funding" occurred because there was no economic sense in continuing.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 07/16/2007 16:24 Comments || Top||

#12  Yes there is elarson.

They are called environmentalists.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/16/2007 18:09 Comments || Top||

#13  I guess what I don't see is this: where are these fabled oil shales? Public land or something?
Posted by: eLarson || 07/16/2007 20:24 Comments || Top||

#14  The trick is to control the expansion and heat of the resulting gases, and isolate the product gas from the rest. With an efficient system, almost everything can be reclaimed and sold, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, lithium, carbon, etc., plus it is convinient to make 'syngas' the building block of ethanol right there. Additionally, water can be converted to steam by the super hot gases and produce enough electricity via steam turbines to be self propelled, as it were. Or, gas turbines can be run directly from the 'reactor'. When this is debugged, most current corn to ethanol plants will refit and begin feeding garbage in instead of corn. The biggest gains are electricity for garbage and sewage sludge. Good tradeoff, no ?

Trix are for kidz.

Can any of these alternative feed stocks for fuels, with/or without substitute technologies Compete with Crude Petroleum Feed Stocks and produce finished fuels any cheaper!
Posted by: RD || 07/16/2007 22:41 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Street gang emerges from Kurdish community in Nashville
Posted by: ryuge || 07/16/2007 01:54 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The few Kurds that I have come in contact with appeared to be somewhat integrated and supportive of the GWOT.
Posted by: McZoid || 07/16/2007 14:23 Comments || Top||



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