A rant, and safety

A lot is being said about ethanol lately as an answer to our dependence on foriegn oil. The only problem is that we have oil here. The government just won’t let anyone drill for it. In Alaska alone millions, if not billions of gallons of oil are just sitting there. Some say it would ruin the environment to drill. The Gulf of Mexico also has oil reserves. There are capped, known producing oil wells all over America. So we wonder why ethanol is being pushed as the only alternative. It is nowhere near as efficient as gasoline, can’t be put in pipelines, and has a possible carcinigen in the exhaust that gas doesn’t. While we don’t subscribe to the conspiracy newsletter, this seems like another plot to make people think green.

 Then we have baby boomers Social Security crisis. People are complaining how much we baby boomers are going to cost the country when we retire. To them we say get a life. We’ve paid our dues for many years, the government blew the money, not us. If one were to sit down and do some figuring, we only get back about 10 percent of what we paid in anyway. Now as we get older we’re informed we’ll have to work later in life, to get even less. Thank God some of us have saving for our retirement and don’t have to rely solely on this plan.

 Universal healthcare is also getting a lot of press lately. Our thoughts on this are simple; be careful what you wish for, you might get it. Not only would this be a huge drain on our economy, but it might turn into a 800 pound gorilla. What happens when someone says come back when you lose weight, or come back when you quit smoking? It’s happened in Countries that already have this program. If this is such a good idea, how come people from Canada, who have government health care, come here to get medical attention?

 Lastly, like people my age, I check the obituaries every morning. If my name isn’t there I know it’s going to be a good day. In the papers this morning was the obituary of a young man who died from injuries sustained while working on his vehicle at home. We didn’t know young Mr. Kaskadden but send our condolences to his family. We also don’t know what happened to cause his death. We do want to remind people who work on their own vehicles to do so safely. We know it’s a no-brainer, but remember Ronnie Weeden made the same mistake. Always take the time to check jackstands AFTER the vehicle is on them, and never use only a jack. Hydraulic floor jacks get their power from a rubber o-ring that costs a couple bucks. Don’t bet your life on it. This time of year make sure to have plenty of ventilation if you run a vehilce in a garage. Don’t do it in a closed garage. A few minutes of preparation make all the difference. And remember; keep the shiny side up, and drive no faster than your guardian angel can fly.

 Comments are welcome.

A goodbye, and program that works

We weere saddened to hear Ed Lewis passed away. We always enjoyed watching him giving us the news on TV6.

 For some reason, unkown to us, I’m recieving the National Guard magazine, “Hooah!” It comes addressed to me, but I’m not joining at my age. There is a story in the latest edition on a program we knew nothing about. It seems the National Guard has one of the nations’s most effective and cost-efficient programs for troubled teens. The program is called ‘Youth ChalleNGe’ and helps kids 16 to 18 years old.

 The program has three phases; the first is the Pre-ChalleNGe phase which gives the kids time to adjust to the program and focuses on teamwork, close order drill, a code of conduct, leadership and followship, and physical training. The second phase is the residential phase. The kids spend 2 weeks at a National Guard facility and this phase focuses on daily activities and community service to build job skills and self-concepts, preparation for the GED, and developing a life plan. The last phase is the Post-residential phase and lasts 12 months. The kids return to their communities and pursue higher education or military service. This phase focuses on; sustaining and building on progress made during the residential phase, and continuing to develop and inplement life plans.

 The statistics of the program are impressive. 67 percent of 2004 graduates received their high school diploma or GED, 40 percent joined the workforce, 14.5 percent joined the military, and 41 percent continued their education. The ChalleNGe program saves an average $109 million in juvenille corrections costs every year. Program participants have donated more than 4 million hours of community service since the program was started 13 years ago. And lastly, nearly 70,000 teens have graduated as of December 2006.

 While this program is offered in Illinois, it is not available in Iowa. To us this looks like a good alternative to a system that isn’t working as good as it could. Our state could save money on juvenille correction costs, and see results for no cost to taxpayers.

 All butchering of grammer and words spelled wrong were done on purpose. We put them in for the people who look for them. We try to make everyone feel at home. Comments on any subject are welcome.

FBI news

The FBI, along with lcoal, state, and federal partners have cracked down on the Mafia in New York. 62 have been idicted on several charges including projects involving a NASCAR construction site. For more information go to-
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb08/mafia_takedown020708.html
For Webtv users go to the text.

 The FBI also announced the contract award for the Next Generation Inditification System. To see who won the contract, and what’s involved with it go to-
http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel08/ngicontract021208.htm
Webtv users go to the text here.

Cause Du Jour

 This month’s Hot Rod magazine has a letter in the Bench Racing section that uses the title ‘Cause Du Jour’. Since it seems the gentleman who wrote the letter did his homework, we’d like to post it. Here it is-

 Thank you for the thoroughly enjoyable article on E85 in the Jan. ‘08 issue. You are to be lauded for refraining from the political environmental scare-mongering from the far left and the denial from the far right. Biofuels are only the latest cause du jour that our nadless politicians use to appease the enviro-extremists among us and to extract lobbyist funds for their next re-election efforts (I call it criminal bribery). Energy independence from Middle East tyrants comes from ony one decisive initiative- drill here at home for our own 20-plus trillion barrels of reserves, within and off our shores. Period.

 It is well accepted that alcohols as racing fuels are superior to gasoline. So is nitro in any blend, and hydrazine. But none of those fuels is readily available, acceptable, or economically viable as everyday motor fuel. There is only one cheap, available, clean, and powerful liquid fuel at our current state of scientific maturity: gasoline.

 I have a flex-fuel vehicle that gets 32 mpg on gas but only 21 mpg on E85. Moreover, runs poorly until warmed up a bit. Your admission that the BTU content (two-thirds) and volumes (almost double) of alcohol fuels required for the same power output are mostly correct. As for E85 costing $2.80 versus $3.15 for regular gas, that is the result of deep subsidies extracted from all us taxpayers. Without those subsidies, ethanol would retail for around $4.00 per gallon. At two-thirds the mpg, that is about $5.25 per gallon. Economical? Not to mention that the cost of corn has risen about 350 percent in the last 18 months. Some food prices have doubled. And at this level, plans for new ethanol distilleries are now on hold, with others cutting back production. Today’s fat subsidies can’t cover the losses at current corn prices. Yet our government still subsidizes sugar, a better biofuel stock.

 The by-products of burning gas are known to us all: CO2, CO, water vapor (the most massive greenhouse gas), and NOx. All are currently treated by catlysts to a nearly imperceptible level per mile, reduced to about a hundredth of what my ‘58 Chevy emitted, and there are about 10 times more cars today. Do the math. Can you say clean air today? Biofuels also produce the same pollutant volumes per pound burned, plus the compound acetaldehyde, a respiratory irritant, a potential carcinogen, and the major contributor to photochemical smog. Here is some research data for you to digest.

 For the total production cycle to produce a gallon of liquid fuels, it takes 9 to 12 gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol, versus 1 to 2 gallons to produce a gallon of gasoline. Ethanol requires 10 to 12 gallons of petroleum crude (or 1 ton of coal) per gallon in the form of fertilizers, pesticides, cultivation, harvesting, and the heat for production, transportation, distribution, and storage contrals. Gasoline, on the other hand, comes directly from crude. As for the by-products of production, there are 19 gallons of recoverable liquid fuels from a standard 54.5 gallon of crude. We get plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, medicines, and a diverse lubricants spectrum from the remaining 35.5 gallons of petroleum. And the dregs left over we use to pave our roads. In fact, petroleum is nearly 100 percent usable in a wide variety of industries, with little or no waste products. Biofuel production by-products have little value beyond maybe animal feed additives or bulk toxic landill mass.

Finally, for us humans to supplant all our global liquid fuel needs with biofuels would require the conversion of about 40 percent of the total global arable land area to corn and/or sugar cane, which would not leave enough land to feed humanity. Nor can our planet accept the drawdown in CO2 these plants would absorb in the quantity required. Rememer, CO2 is a plant food, not a pollutant that the environmentalists would have you believe. And, at only 320 parts per million in our atmosphere (0.032 percent), the drawdown of this crucial gas would be as, or more, environmentally catastrophic to all life in our closed biosphere as humanity (allegedly) is increasing it too much. This is the “duh factor” of using biofuels as our primary motor fuel.

John A. Turek, Jr. Oakdale, Pa.

 Comments on this, or any other subject are welcome.

Women and Burma Shave signs

 As a guy I sometimes have trouble understanding women. We recieved an email that cleared up some of the mystery and thought we’d share it. To all the other guys out there who have trouble too, we’ll post this very important information.

9 WORDS WOMEN USE

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
 
(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
 
(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm.  This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.    
 
(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do It!    
 
(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing.   (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)
 
(6) That’s Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.  
 
(7)  Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you’re welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says “Thanks a lot” - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all.    DO NOT say “you’re welcome” .. that will bring on a “whatever”).  
 
(8) Whatever: Is a women’s way of saying ____ YOU! 

(9) Don’t worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking “What’s wrong?” For the woman’s response refer to # 3.

 After you get through all that, how about a change of pace. For those of us old enough to remember the Burma Shave signs along the road, we can take a little trip down memory lane.  So turn your speakers up, listen to the Statler brothers ‘Do you remember these’ and check out the signs. It’s all right here-  http://oldfortyfives.com/DYRT.htm

Your comments on just about anything are welcome.

53 years ago

We’d like to give a nod to Bumamoungus for sending us the following. It’s been around awhile but we feel it still applies. We don’t know if people are saving now like they did 53 years ago, but even if you’re not you should be able to relate to this. So here it is-

53 years ago!
Comments made in the year 1955

“I’ll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it’s going to be impossible to buy a week’s groceries for $20.”

“Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won’t be long before $2000 will only buy a used one.”

“If cigarettes keep going up in price, I’m going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.”

“Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?”

“If they raise the minimum wage to $1, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.”

“When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we’d be better off leaving the car in the garage.”

“Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls.”

“I’m afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying ‘damn’ in ‘Gone With The Wind,’ it seems every new movie has either “hell” or “damn” in it.

“I read the other day where some scientist thinks it’s possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.”

“Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’ll be making more than the president.”

“I never thought I’d see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.”

“It’s too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.”

“It won’t be long before young couples are going to have to h ire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.”

“Marriage doesn’t mean a thing any more; those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat.”

“I’m just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.”

“Thank goodness I won’t live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people?

“The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.”

“There is no sense going to Vancouver anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $15 a night to stay in a hotel.”

“No one can afford to be sick any more; $35 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood.”

“If they think I’ll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it.”

 And the last one is the answer to why my hair is so long. Comments on just about anything are welcome.

CAFE and the V-8

 Is the 35 mpg CAFE standard the death of the V-8? It’s already killed off GMs new Ultra V-8 double-overhead-cam engine that was supposed to go into production next year. Since Ford was the first carmaker to put V-8s in popularly priced cars, will they be the first to jump on the V-6 bandwagon? Both companies are investing in GTDI technology. Gas turbocharged direct-injection will be in over half a million vehicles in 5 years. Claim is the horsepower and torque is awsome, with mpg savings.

 Carmakers can meet the 35 mpg standards. After all, they’re doing it all over the world. In Asia, and Europe to name a couple of places. Now everyone should agree that the cost would be higher for less vehicle. It just cost more to make diesel, hybrid, and other high tech gas saving powertrains.

 If all transportation accounts for only 27% of Americas’ CO2 emissions, and our passenger vehicles only 14%; why not go after whatever is making up the other 73% first? While that will never happen, we can expect our politicians to take the easy way out. So in the mean time, we’ll be fighting our cars for our food, and probably get a carbon tax instead of a gas tax. All this for the pleasure of driving an underpowered, undersize, expensive, coffin on wheels.

 We can even blame it on global warming. After all we have weather records for about 120 years out of the billions of years this planet’s supposedly been here. Seems to a thinking man that we should be able to predict all sorts of things with that information. And no, we’re not saying global warming is a farce. After all we lived through the predicted ice age of the 70s. We just think even if it is manmade, it isn’t anywhere near a critical problem.

 That’s our take, comments are always welcome.

A few things to do

There’s a meeting of the 5th and 6th ward aldermen along with Alderman at Large Frink tonight at 6 pm. It’s to be held at the Genesis Heart Institute, 1236 E. Rusholme St. in Davenport. We haven’t heard of a cancellation yet, so as far as we know it’s on.

 There’s a New Car show at the River Center this weekend. They’ll have some neat cars like the Chevrolet SS, And Elliot Sadler’s No. 19 Dodge Sprint Cup car, the “Warrior One” Hummer that CNN used in Iraq, and more. It runs Friday and Saturday 10 am to 10 pm, and Sunday 10 am to 6 pm. For Six bucks a pop it’s cheap entertainment.

 The Rod and Custom Car Show in Monticello is around the corner.
It will be February 23 and 24 at the Monticello Berndes Center in Monticello, Iowa, For info you can call Galen or Tom at 319-465-5119, or go online at http://www.rodandcustomcarshow.com

 Saturday, March 22 is the date set for the 24th Annual Nostalgic Indoor Invitational Auto Show. It will be held at the Center, 4200 E. Washington St., East Peoria, Ill. It will run from 7 am to 4:30 pm. For more information call Jerry Haven at 309-367-2981.

 On Sunday June 8, the Quad City Cruisers will host their Open Run XXVI at Southpark Mall. It will run from 8 am to 4 pm. For info call John Bain at 563-332-6122 or go to their website at-
http://www.quadcitiescruisers.org

 That’s a few things going on in and around the area. Comments on just about anything, especially if it’s as useless as a flag to a hen, are welcome.

Opinion piece

 Ilcantar asked about the opinion piece by Ed Tibbets in todays QC Times. Here’s the piece-
http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/02/06/opinion/opinion/doc47a8d742c473c598813156.txt

 For webtv users, go here. 

BTW  Did anyone catch the opinion letter in todays Times?  It has a
 reaction in regards to a comment by Curtis Sliwa.  I don’t know what
 context he made the quoted part and Id like to find out.

 We don’t pretend to know what was said by Mr. Sliwa. But meeting him a few times we can say he was behind Rudys run for office. We  don’t know Mr. Tibbets, so we can’t say if this is a tongue-in-cheek piece or if he’s really torqued about it. At any rate, comments are welcome.

A couple things

 A couple of things caught my eye in the papers this morning, so I thought I’d air my views on them. The QC Times had a Dutch study on smoking, obesity, and healthcare cost that was published online in the Public Library of Science Medicine Journal. I couldn’t find a link to the Times story.

 The study says that healthy people have an average life span of 84 years, the obese 80 years, and smokers 77 years. From the age of 20 until death a healthy person racks up $417,000 in healthcare costs, the obese $371,000, and a smoker $326,000.

 Once again science has disproved a common myth. Smokers do not cost anyone more money. We just pay a lot more lately for our habit. Maybe if this study is widely accepted, the government will remove the excess taxes on our cigarettes.

 The other story was in the RI Argus, and again I don’t have a link. It seems the state of Mississippi wants to make it illegal for restaurants to serve obese people. Even though it won’t get enacted, it is food for thought. If obesity is a problem in Mississippi, making it illegal won’t help. The guy who came up with idea, Republican Representative John Read claims he was trying to shed light on the problem. Just another example of government officials wasting taxpayer monies. We have a feeling this isn’t a done deal yet though. Look what they did with those destructive trans-fats. Can this be a precursor to an obesity tax on Big Macs?