Hoops OD and first ride of the year

Yesterday, I enjoyed the Buckeyes win over Michigan State (after upsetting Wisconsin in the quarters) in the Big Ten tournament semi-finals.  Today, the temp is around 60°F, so I decided to get the bike out and take my first ride of the season.  You can see the info in the column to the left.  It was a bit chilly and I probably would have gone a bit further, but I got a headache about 0.5 miles into the ride, so I settled for the 6.4 mile loop.  Fortunately, the tail wind was for the last half of the ride (I like those), so it overall felt pretty good for the first ride of the year.  Now, I'm sitting down to watch the Big Ten championship game (Purdue-OSU), then the NCAA tournament selection show and later this week will be the annual hoops overdose days Thursday and Friday from noon-midnight (half days of vacation both days, so I don't feel guilty).  Spring must nearly be here.

Biodiesel America

A couple of weeks ago, Josh Tickell was on the Tonight Show talking about his documentary Fuel and his book Biodiesel America.  He had what I thought were some excellent ideas about how we could wean ourselves from fossil fuels, so I ordered the book the next day.  While it got a little repetitive in places, I thought it was an excellent book.  In fact, I loaned it to Shane right after I finished it.  It has been a while since a read a book from cover to cover in one day, but I did with this one (even longer since I read anything non-fiction cover to cover in one day).  The book made me aware of a few things I hadn't been before.

1. The largest oil field in the world, in Saudi Arabia, has seen declining output for nearly 2 decades.  The US oil fields (primarily in Texas) peaked in the early 1970s.  That means we are running out of oil much more quickly than folks are probably aware.
2. I was stunned at the number of jobs that buying oil from overseas costs the country.  I don't have the book here now, so I don't remember the number mentioned there, but it was appalling.
3. Even mixing a relatively small amount of the biodiesel he described with petroleum diesel greatly reduces the harmful emissions.
4. There are diesel vehicles available in Europe that get 70+ mpg, but none available here in the US.
   

Now is the time we need to do something about our (the world's) reliance on fossil fuels.  Unfortunately, with the drop in price from their highs last summer (just like after the two oil shocks of the 1970s), I think the will to do it has evaporated again.  I'm hopeful that the president will pump some research and development funds into this area anyway because I fear that we'll wait until the supply becomes dangerously low and then it will take too long to develop the new sources and the prices will be ridiculously high.  This also reminded me of some exciting news I heard last summer about a company that was developing a new aviation fuel to replace the current 100LL.  This is being developed from switchgrass and sorghum (which have no food uses).  Anyway, I highly recommend the book (even though, as I said, it gets a bit repetitive at times) and if (when?) the documentary makes it to this area, I intend to go see it.

Some random thoughts for March

Okay, I still don't have the time (or more accurately the motivation) to write up the book thing, I promise I'll get it out in the next few days though, but I did want to post some links to some other people's work.

• I've mentioned it before, I really like a lot of the stuff that Don Brown writes over at Get the Flick.  Anyway, I finally figured out that we don't disagree as much as I thought about ADS-B and the FAA's NextGen project.  He wrote a piece this week making fun of Newt Gingrich (well, several, all probably well deserved, but I digress).  The key thing I finally figured out is that ADS-B and GPS can be very useful for general aviation (i.e., my flying), but won't be the panacea the FAA brass tries to claim for commercial aviation (which is all most people really think about when they hear the word aviation).  The real problem there is (as Don has pointed out before) "it's the runways, stupid".  Even for GA, however, the price can be a problem, especially if the ADS-B can't replace the Mode C transponder.
  
• He also, posted 2 excellent stories last month that should be required reading by those pushing for an entirely "space-based" air traffic control system.  Radar can't and won't ever go away completely.
• Although a bit overcast and windy, it is over 70°F today and would have been a nice day to fly.  Sigh...
• Also from Don, last week, another story about why the suggestion of privatizing ATC is just plain stupid.  We have the busiest airspace in the world by quite a bit.  User fees (which I think would be inevitable in a privatized ATC world) would kill general aviation in this country just like it has in Europe, Canada, and Australia.
• Okay, the labels would suggest that I'm not only going to talk about flying stuff.  Also, via Don's blog, (yes, I do read other things, but he had a number of good stories in the last month that I had marked in my RSS reader to share with my friends) Martin Wolf of the Financial Times, a rather conservative economic commentator, also saying the $787B stimulus package was too small.  Which reminds me, I may not have cared much for our former President at times, but I don't recall actually wishing that he would fail, so it really bothers me that there are a bunch of bitter Republicans (including the blowhard Limbaugh) who are actively hoping to see the current President fail.  How can you call yourself an American and say you hope the President will fail when he hasn't even been in office 2 months yet?  If he fails (especially now), we all pay the price.  It just makes me sick. (Okay, end of rant, I promise)
• And, finally (for today) from Fred Anderson's blog, a story by Kent Nerburn that touched me.
• Oh, wait, I guess that wasn't my final thought for today.  Thanx to Facebook, I've gotten back in touch lately with a number of classmates from high school and college.  I'll admit, I didn't really talk to (or care for) some of them that much back in the day, but we've all (well, at least I have) grown up some since then, so it is kind of cool finding out what they are up to now.  One of my good friends from high school will be having knee replacement surgery on St. Patrick's Day (at the ripe old age of 47), so I'd appreciate it if you'd keep her in your prayers (though I won't share her name here because I haven't asked her if it would be okay).
  

Religious Diversity

I know I still owe a story about the book I read the Sunday before last, but that probably needs to wait until next week.  This evening, I just want to point to a blog post over on Faithful Progressive I read last week.  This definitely looks like a book I need to read (as if I need another book to add to my pile). :-\  I've always had problems with the usage of the passage from John to condemn the majority of humanity for eternity.  Anyway, go read the blog entry and I'll probably post something more after I read the book.