Headlines: G.M.'s alternative fuel bet

General Motors is taking steps to make sure it maintains it's position on the cutting edge of automotive technology.

According to the New York Times, GM has invested heavily in a company that is developing a process to create alternative fuels out of waste products.

General Motors, eager to ensure a supply of fuel for the big fleet of flex-fuel ethanol-capable vehicles it is building, has joined the rush into alternative energy and invested in a company that intends to produce ethanol from crop wastes, wood chips, scrap plastic, rubber and even municipal garbage.

GM is investing in a company called Coskata, which is keeping it's fuel-generation process largely underwraps. But it has released an overview of it's technology.

Coskata is one of many companies ... in an emerging world of start-up firms that are making alternative fuels with a mix-and-match approach to existing technologies. In Coskata’s case it is a combination of gasification and bacterial action.

This overview is giving local economic development officials a lot of hope.

According to my many inside sources, officials with the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce have already contacted Coskata and notified them that Kansas City sits right on top of the largest source of gasified waste and municipal garbage in the Midwest.

He's on KMBZ each night at 6 and 10 p.m.

tagged: General Motors, ethanol, gasification, waste, Larry Moore, Kansas City, environmentalist

3A.M. Poll: Worst pickup lines for d00ds

These options came from one of those emails that keep getting forwarded around, so don't think I made these up because, honestly, I would never use a pick-up line in a bar... honestly... I'm tellin' you I would never do it!



tagged: poll, pick up lines, bar, dating, drink, armpit, screaming

Friday Blogthing: The Sounds of Sci-fi

Just to prove how much of a sci-fi nerd you are, I dare you to do better than me on this audio quiz.

	I received 71 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Guess the Sci-Fi Movie Sounds here

tagged: Friday, test, audio, scifi, knowledge, meme, blog, sound effects

Rule of Thumb

Since we returned home from our Christmas trips, life at the emawkc household has revolved around my Supermodel Wife's injured thumb.

A few days after the previous post on the topic, the general practitioner referred us to a plastic surgeon specializing in skin grafts due to a mild infection that had developed in what used to be the tip of my SMW's thumb.

The specialist cleaned out the wound with a scalpel, removing the cauterized tissue to encourage the new skin to grow more quickly. He took a culture to better diagnose the infection and prescribe an effective antibiotic (and, I presume, to make sure we're not at risk from the dreaded MRSA).

He also directed us to soak the healing thumb in the mornings and evenings in warm, soapy water and then redress. Unfortunately, the first night we did this, there was a lot of pain as the dressing had stuck to the wound. Pulling it off was excruciating.

Last night was much better. Much less pain. We scheduled to go back to the plastic surgeon's on Monday for a check up.

Oh, before I forget, here's the obligatory picture.

Have you had lunch yet?

tagged: thumb, cheese slicer, blood, bloody, cauterize, MRSA, skin

My next million dollar idea

Wonderfully witty Amy, author of Wandering Amylessly (srsly, you should check out her work, it's always excellent even though her politics are all messed up), has a post today recounting her efforts to get her husband to carry a purse.

Oh... er... excuse me, I meant a "man bag" (yeah right).

The problem is, there's only one kind of man bag, and it is for the conveyance of family jewels. Let's face it, you can call it a "man bag" or a "European male carry-all," but that doesn't change the fact that it's a purse. A rose by any other name, right?

Her husband and 4-year-old son thought the same thing, which makes me wonder why chicks always think dudes want to carry a purse? Especially when you've got a wife with a purse that can stow all the useless crap a guy might need to carry around.

The way I see it, there are only two acceptable solutions to the problem Amy describes.

First is the Indiana Jones-style shoulder bag. It's the same kind of bag I used when I recovered the ancient gold-plated, jewel-encrusted Mayan disemboweling dagger while foiling a Nazi plot to foment a Mexican invasion of the American southwest a few years ago (but that's an entirely different story).

This is actually a MkVII British Gas Mask Bag. How freakin' manly is that! Of course it may be a little too bulky for today's urban male, and it could be considered a little too casual for use in the office.

My other solution is the tried and true cargo pants. I love the summer time because I have several pairs of well-worn cargo shorts that can contain everything from iPods, cell phone, wallets, pocket knives, gangster roll, screwdrivers, wrenches, grocery lists, etc.

But here again, even the pleated Dockers khaki version of these fashion wonders are probably a little too casual for the corporate cube environment.

This is where my next million dollar idea comes in: cargo dress slacks. I'm tellin' you this is a guaranteed winner. Imagine the convenience of having additional thigh pockets in you Armani suit pants!

It will be all the rage in 2008, mark my words.

tagged: fashion, purse, Indiana Jones, man bag, European carry all, cargo pants, Armani

YouTube Tuesday: Fired Up and Ready to Bore

Are you as excited as I am about the presidential election cycle starting a full year before the election? If so, never fear, there's a cure for that exuberance...


tagged: movie, Washington Post, video, election, Hillary Clinton, New Hampshire, humor, primary

A salute to KU and Mark Mangino

3AM presents Real Men of Genius
(Real Men of Genius)
Today we salute you...
Mr. Grossly Overweight Football Coach
(Mr. Grossly Overweight Football Coach)

Some men follow the rules,
Some men follow their hearts,
But you follow your stomach
(Please pass me another gallon of gravy!)

Though some may doubt you,
And some may deride you,
You've stayed true to your quest through all of the heartache and heartburn
(I think I need some more Rolaids)

You know that winning is not just about brute force,
But also about scheduling weaker competition
And paying off bowl officials
(Have another bundle of cash)

And while some are content to stay on the sidelines following the rules,
You know that NCAA rules were meant to be broken
And that a slap on the wrist is worth a brazillion dollar bowl payout
(Find another coed to take my players' tests)

So knock back another pail of pancake batter, oh six-chinned coach of the year,
Because even though you have to ride in the freight section on the flight home, you're keeping cheating and corruption at the core of big-time college sports
(Don't spend your entire $50,000 bonus at Sizzler...)

tagged: KU, Kansas, football, Orange Bowl, Mark Mangino, Real Men of Genius, NCAA violations

Friday Blogthing: Electile dysfunction

Today is a bit of a departure for the Friday Blogthing.

As I tried to recover from the gross tedium that was the coverage of the Iowa caucus, I became nostalgic for a simpler time. A time when candidates didn't have to spend millions of dollars on campaign ads and kickbacks. A time before meaningless YouTube debates with questions asked by idiots in costumes.

A time when political power was determined not by who could make the most promises to the most interest groups, but by how much your candidate could kick ass in a battle to the death.

Well, thanks to Atom Films we can now relive those halcyon days of yesteryear through the magic of the interwebs.

Check out Kung-Fu Election. Choose your candidate and your weapon and proceed to dominate the filed with extreme prejudice.

I played as Mike Huckabee and totally decapitated both Mitt Romny and John Edwards, but I hear that Obama-san is a real sonuvabitch to beat.

See if you can beat my score of 145,000.

tagged: election, kung fu, caucus, Romney, Huckabee, Obama, Atom Films

Iowans love the caucus

Tonight is the climax of this thing up in Iowa. You may have heard of it. It's been in the news.

It's the presidential primary caucus. It's a pretty big deal. It's the biggest caucus in the country, way bigger than the Wyoming caucus (Iowans laugh derisively when you compare their huge caucus to the tiny, impotent Wyoming caucus).

Yes, Iowan's are quite proud of their huge caucus. It's a time when they get to make the rest of the country get on our collective knees and spray their choice for candidate right in our face.

But whatever final candidates come out of the huge Iowa caucus, it's important to remember that the real winner is the Iowa economy.

According to my inside sources, candidates dropped over $40 million for a taste of the Iowa caucus.

That's $40 million injected into the Iowa economy. That kind of green will buy you a lot of John Deere's in Des Moines.

And that's only the money spent by the candidates themselves. Add to that untold millions spent by special interest groups and PACs, and you can see why Iowans love the caucus.

They make a lot of money selling their caucus to the highest bidder.

Sure, all that money has a corrupting influence on the American electoral system. Certainly there's no rational reason to undermine democracy by narrowing the field of candidates nearly an entire year before the actual election.

But why let a little thing like idealism get in the way of a lucrative political transaction. The huge Iowa caucus is a tradition, and what could be more traditional than political corruption?

tagged: Iowa, caucus, election, politics, candidates, money, corruption

YouTube Tuesday: 2007 in Review

JibJab gives us all that we need to know about 2007, and set to a catchy Billy Joel tune to boot!



tagged: movie, YouTube, video, 2007, review, JibJab, humor, pop culture