The Dedly Blog

Power To Save The World

2008-05-27T18:17:00.008-04:00

Gwyneth Cravens grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Sandia Mountains in the distance. With Sandia National Laboratories close by, she worried that the Soviets were going to bomb her home into oblivion. As she got older, like many Americans, she associated nuclear power with nuclear bombs and thus became anti-nuclear. After relocating to Long Island, she joined protesters in successfully preventing the Shoreham nuclear power plant from ever coming on line. It's now something she regrets.

In the early 90's, while visiting friends and family back in Albuquerque, she met Dr. D. Richard "Rip" Anderson, a scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, and his wife at a party. She struck up a conversation with him that would ultimately lead her over the next decade through a tour of the entire nuclear power industry: uranium mines, research labs in Idaho, Three Mile Island, power plants, old weapons test sites, and waste disposal sites. Although she didn't visit Chernobyl, there's a chapter that analyzes what went wrong and why it couldn't happen here. Cravens covers radiation, mining, fuel supply, politics and regulations, costs, risk assessment, waste storage, improvements in reactor design, safety, terrorism, baseline energy demand, and contrasts the nuclear industry with coal. The end result is: "Power To Save The World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy."

This is an amazing book. Cravens, a novelist by trade, is able to make a book about physics and engineering, which could be dull to non-technical readers, a compelling read. We're there as she makes her journey through the nuclear world. Vivid descriptions and colorful anecdotes break up the science lessons and statistical evidence presented to destroy the myths and allay the fears that people (including herself) have regarding nuclear power.

The most illuminating portion of the book for me was the fact that we are awash in radiation from natural sources. The universe, our planet, and everything we eat, exposes us to radiation. Had a banana lately? Anything with potassium in it harbors Potassium-40 atoms, which emits beta radiation. Feeling sick now? You shouldn't. Cravens tears apart the belief that radiation exposure is harmful at all levels as all the evidence shows that low level exposure is harmless and that there is a threshold that must be passed before damage occurs. However, regulations have been established that all radiation is bad, hence the great lengths that power plants and waste repositories must go through to insulate the public. For example, the EPA states that the neighbors of nuclear power plant must not be subjected to more than 15 millirems of radiation. All American nuclear power plants emit 1-2 millirem/year. By contrast, a chest X-ray exposes you to 10 millirem. Dental X-ray 29 millirem. A roundtrip flight from NYC to LA gives you 3 millirem. The granite in Grand Central Station exposes people to 540 millirem (assuming you were there round the clock). People living in Denver are exposed to 700 millirem/year (the higher the altitude, the less atmosphere there is to shield you, not to mention all that granite). Yet there are no cancer clusters among Grand Central workers, dental technicians, airline pilots, flight attendants, or the residents of Denver. By comparison, cigarette smokers who have a one pack per day habit expose themselves to 8,000 millirem/year. Tobacco plants, it seems, have an affinity for radionuclides.

While she defends the science of nuclear power and defends the engineering incorporated into structures, she doesn't brown nose the corporations that own the power plants. She acknowledges that they've miscommunicated, kept things hidden, and made poor strategic decisions. The industry is over regulated. And while that's forced workers to adopt a culture of safety (a good thing she argues) it's over the top. I worked for a chemical company that would've been shut down if it had to report every single little spill that happened. A few milliliters of a non-reactive substance is harmless. So too are the "accidents" at nuclear power plants that you read in the paper or hear about from shrill anti-nuclear groups. But even water leaks that don't come into contact with the reactor are required to be reported. Do you tell your health insurance company every time you blow your nose? In fact, if the chemical, oil, and coal industries had to live up to the standards imposed on the nuclear industry, they wouldn't be able to stay in business due to regulatory expenditures. "Cheap coal" would be an oxymoron.

There's just so much in this book. I could go on and on and on about the material in this book (especially about radiation) but time, space, and my kids prevent me from doing so. I strongly recommend that everyone read this book (it's in paperback now too) to get the facts about nuclear power. Or go to Cravens' website.

At the end of the book, Cravens visits a clinic to determine her level of exposure after ten years of researching her book. After visiting uranium mines, Three Mile Island, a couple nuclear power plants, nuclear research sites, bomb test sites, and waste repositories, her test results came back negative.

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DED

Phoenix Arrives On Mars Sunday Night

2008-05-22T11:13:00.006-04:00

On Sunday night, if all goes well, another NASA probe will land on Mars, bringing the number of active craft on the planet or in orbit up to 6. The Phoenix mission is different in that it will land near Mars' north pole. In 2002, the Mars Odyssey Orbiter mission discovered water-ice buried beneath the surface. Given that Mars' past was much wetter than it is today, did life ever arise there? Is there life there now? Phoenix will try to answer these and other questions.

Of course, there are some that already believe that there is life on Mars. I'm not referring to the Face of Mars, but more "mundane" discoveries. ALH84001, a meteorite whose origin was traced back to Mars, contains chain-like structure that could be the remnants of fossilized bacteria. Although tests for organic material have revealed amino acids and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). However, the results aren't conclusive. There's still the possibility that non-biological processes could be involved or the meteorite was contaminated from contact with Antarctic ice.

But the life on Mars debate goes back even further. When the Viking probes landed on Mars, soil samples were tested for the presence of organic materials. Basically, the soil was dumped into solutions of water and nutrients. The amount of CO₂ in the test chamber increased. The onboard gas chromatograph (GC) didn't detect any sign of organics but Gilbert Levin, the experiment's designer, said that the amount of microbes could've been below the threshold detection limits of the GC. Others counter that superoxidants in the soil could've produced the observed reaction. A recent re-examination of the Viking data suggests that extremophiles, a form of life unknown during the 70's, might account for the observed results.

Phoenix will try to settle the matter once and for all. But while there are a lot of us that hope it discovers signs of life, past or present, there are those who hope it doesn't. Nick Bostrum wrote an essay for MIT's Technology Review (TotH: David Brin) explaining why he hopes that Phoenix doesn't find anything. For those of you not interested in registering or reading the lengthy article, I'll summarize it.

The foundation of Bostrum's piece is Fermi's Paradox. To paraphrase, considering the age of the universe and assuming the existence of life is at least somewhat commonplace, where is everybody? We should've been contacted by someone by now. UFO sightings and alleged abductions notwithstanding, we don't have any evidence that intelligent life exists outside of Earth. For the sake of his piece, Bostrum doesn't show any interest in the positive explanations (I define "positive" to mean "yes they exist, but....") that are offered in Wiki. Instead, he sticks with the negative explanations.

Bostrum has labeled the event that has thus rendered us alone "The Big Filter." What is The Big Filter? The Big Filter is some event that wipes out life everywhere in the cosmos and has left us in our current situation: all alone. He doesn't know what it is exactly, but it results in any of the negative explanations in the Wiki entry. The Big Filter either occurs in the distant past, inhibiting life from arising in the first place, or at some point in the future, destroying civilizations before they can expand beyond their homeworld.

If Phoenix doesn't find any signs of current or past life (expected to be microbial), then it means Earth, and humanity, has survived its encounter with The Big Filter and is free to prosper in the galaxy.

If Phoenix does find life, or signs of past life, on Mars, then the universe has the natural propensity to create life, but, in keeping with Fermi's Paradox, it doesn't survive long enough to spread. That means that Earth and humanity still has to face the challenge of The Big Filter and there's no reason to believe that we are any different than any other civilization that has come before us. Whether civilizations self-destruct, or run out of resources before they escape the confines of their homeworlds, or are eradicated by some external threat, the odds are against us and we're doomed.

Of course, there's no guarantee that if the The Big Filter lies in the past, we won't go extinct anyway. Unless we can strike a balance between aggression and compassion, wisdom and folly, intelligence and ignorance, enlightenment and fear, then the universe is probably better off without us.

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DED

2008 Connecticut Craft Brewers Beer Festival

2008-05-19T10:46:00.003-04:00

Saturday was the 14th annual Connecticut Craft Brewers Beer Festival in Naugatuck. After some overnight showers, the sun came out and provided us with a beautiful day. Although there was a threat of showers for late afternoon, they held off. Temperatures were in the mid to upper 60's.

I didn't have to deal with the food lines at all this year as I joined Bob over at Adam's house for a pre-beer fest 1/2 lb burger with a healthy covering of a onion and mushroom concoction that was delicious. Coupled with a late lunch, I was all ready to go.

We met Cooper and Chris at the beer fest and proceeded to systematically make our way through all four tents. We compared notes and made recommendations. We all have different palates: I'm the malt guy while Cooper and Adam are big on hops.

My first stop was Olde Burnside for their Ten Penny Scottish Ale, a favorite. They had Penny Weiz Scottish Wheat Ale on hand. In order to sell me on it, the guy from the brewery said that it resembled Blue Moon. The problem is, I'm not a Blue Moon fan. I considered coming back for it later but I never got around to it.

BruRm @ Bar was there with three cask conditioned ales: Damn Good Stout, Bar Pale Ale, and Reekie Tartan Scottish Ale. Last year's Raven Haired Beauty and Smoked Porter were absent unfortunately. I went with the stout. I found it too be a little too sweet with the coffee overtones a little too strong and the finish had some extra yeastiness to it. Bob got it as well and said that it was likely the cask conditioning that did it. Adam, Bob and Cooper said that the beer served at the brewfests were always better tasting than what they served at the bar.

This was the first year Butternuts Brewery was there. They served up their wares in cans. Yes, cans. Apparently people in the craft beer industry have come to the belief that canning technology is good enough now. Bob told me that Minnesota prohibits glass bottles from being used on their lakes but cans are ok (because they float better?). New England Brewery has had a measure of success selling their brews in Minnesota because they switched to cans a couple of years ago. Anyway, I tried the Porkslap Pale Ale. My first impression was "pork soda." It had a bit of a ginger ale feel to it. I can't say that's a recommendation.

I needed something malty after that so I grabbed a Gonzo Imperial Porter from Flying Dog. Others in the group went for the Double Dog IPA and gave it a thumbs up.

Chris recommended the Lobster Ale from Belfast Bay, a late addition to brewfest. It was terrible. I poured it out. That's how bad it was. I think it was some kind of American pilsner but I could be wrong.

Now I was desperately in need of a good beer to wash that swill out of my mouth. Harpoon was there. I sampled their Red Rye Ale, one of their 100 Barrel Series. It was very good, especially for Spring.

Chris wanted to make it up to me so he suggested the Old Yankee Ale from Cottrell. And he did. This was a nice crisp, hoppy beer. The website says that it's an American Amber Ale. I'd imagine that it would be good for spring and summer bbq's. They also had a bock, though I don't know the name and it's not listed on the website. My first impression was "bacon!" Bacon beer, mmmmmmm. It must've come from the smoky flavor. Curious.

I've never had any of Trout River's offerings before. Although the name is familiar, I'm not sure that it's available outside of Vermont. I'll have to keep an eye out for them. I had their Scottish Ale which was really good. Not too sweet at all. I then had their Hoppin Mad Trout, a pale ale. Despite its name, it wasn't overly hoppy at all. In fact, I'd say that it matched the style just fine.

Ipswich is another brewer that I've heard of but never had. I sampled their Summer Ale which was crisp and clean. The website says that it's an unfiltered blonde ale.

Cambridge House, a brew pub in Torrington, was there. I went with Three Steves Stout and it was good.

Hartford Better Beer Company made their first Naugatuck appearance this year. I haven't had them since the Brass City Brewfest last fall, so I picked up a glass of their Praying Mantis Porter. Still yummy.

Another last minute addition was Pennichuck Brewery. They were so last minute that their name didn't even appear in the menu that attendants receive upon entrance. Anyway, they're from New Hampshire and are just making inroads to CT and NY. I went with a dark lager named Feuerwehrmann Schwarzbier, which translates to Firefighter Black Lager. This was a very good offering. Plenty of malty goodness balanced with a lager bite.

And last, but certainly not least, Blue Point Brewing made their first visit to Naugatuck. I was hoping to clean my palate with some of their Blueberry Ale but, due to the lateness of the day, they didn't have any cold. So the rep from the company gave me a bottle to take home. Sweet! So, I settled on the Toasted Lager. This was a good choice to end the day. A good mix of hops and malt.

And there you have it. Another fine afternoon of people enjoying quality brews in a public setting free from tyranny, social conservative oppression and frat boy rowdiness. Even the police officers hired to monitor the event seemed to be having a good time. It's enough to restore one's faith in humanity, even if only for a few hours.

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DED

Heavy Metal In Baghdad

2008-05-11T21:55:00.002-04:00

This intrigues me.

FILM SYNOPSIS

Heavy Metal in Baghdad is a feature film documentary that follows the Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda from the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 to the present day. Playing heavy metal in a Muslim country has always been a difficult (if not impossible) proposition but after Saddam’s regime was toppled, there was a brief moment for the band in which real freedom seemed possible. That hope was quickly dashed as their country fell into a bloody insurgency. From 2003-2006, Iraq disintegrated around them while Acrassicauda struggled to stay together and stay alive, always refusing to let their heavy metal dreams die. Their story echoes the unspoken hopes of an entire generation of young Iraqis.

Here's the movie trailer.

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DED

The High Cost of Salt and Beer

2008-05-09T11:17:00.006-04:00

Even infrequent readers of my blog know that I'm a beer aficionado, so when prices go up I'm going to be affected. But the rice shortage is impacting me too. Not because I'm a huge consumer of rice, but because of its impact on salt. Potassium Chloride salt to be exact.

When my house was built in the early 70's, the builder cut corners. Instead of using standard "L" grade copper pipe, he used "M" grade. The latter is suitable for closed circulating systems (heaters) but not for open systems. I have acidic water. It came up with a pH of 5.5 when I had it tested. Granted, the pH of well water is affected by various conditions, and 5.5 was probably on the extreme end. Anyway, the acidic water slowly ate away at the thinner walled pipe and led to pinhole leaks in my water lines. Fortunately, the way my house is set up, all of the leaking occurred in the garage. The acid would react with the copper pipe closest to the water source. Other than ruining insulation and sheet rock in the ceiling, we avoided any major damage.

Solution: We replaced the accessible copper pipe with flexible plastic pipe (cross-linked Polyethylene) which is unaffected by weak acids. The pH of the ground water would then be neutralized with a water softener/deionizer. Unfortunately, the water softener requires salt. Sodium Chloride is the standard, but I was concerned about introducing excess sodium into our diets so I opted for Potassium Chloride (KCl). Although at $9 for a 40lb bag it was twice the price, the relatively low consumption rate made it worth it.

But that was a few years ago.

Last month, I paid $16 for that same bag at Lowe's. I was in Agway with the kids the other day and I overheard one of the staff explaining to a customer that the price was now $24/bag. Why? China.

95% of KCl produced is used as fertilizer. It's referred to as potash (though the name is a catchall for potassium-based fertilizers). The clerk went on to say that China can't seem to get enough fertilizer for its rice crops (you remember the rice shortage, right?) and its causing a spike in demand for KCl worldwide.

Reminds me of the cement, copper, and steel shortages that were due to China's growth. Anyone seeing a pattern yet?

So, I can either pony up the money for KCl, switch to NaCl and elevate my family's blood pressure, or turn the unit off altogether and hope that my water's low pH doesn't attack the remaining copper pipe in the inaccessible parts of my house. And there's all the talk that acidic water is bad for you (though it doesn't stop people from drinking soda), but I've had a tough time finding unbiased info (most sites are trying to sell you something) on whether or not really weak acids (pH 6) are detrimental. For now, I'll spend the extra money on KCl.

Ok, now for the bad beer news. As I mentioned a couple of months ago, beer prices are going up. Well, if you drink swill, probably not so much. After all, it's so watered down that there's hardly anything in there. But if you're a craft brew drinker, you're looking at higher prices. Anyway, that article explains the situation (quadrupled hops prices! high gas prices! corn ethanol madness!) and offers tips on what you can do to "cope," including brewing your own beer (which I recommend).

Now for the good beer news (didn't want to make this all doom and gloom): the 2008 Connecticut Craft Beer Festival is Saturday, May 17th. I think I've got a 50/50 shot of making it this year. If I do, I'll be sure to report back here with my findings.

Specifically for Mike: Blue Point is now the #50 craft beer maker (in terms of volume) in the country. See this report.

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DED

Tagged Again

2008-05-06T14:26:00.005-04:00

Mike tagged me with a meme from way over in his neighborhood. It's another one of those social memes you'd expect to do in high school or college at some kind of social mixer, possibly to find an inroad with a member of the opposite sex, except that this one geared towards an older crowd. Same maturity level though.

1) Ten years ago I was...

...engaged to the future Mrs. DED. We were living together in a two bedroom apartment in South Norwalk. I was employed by an internet advertising agency to build web sites for large corporations. I was still in Death Penis, though the group was spiraling towards break up. I was also enjoying my new found hobby: beer brewing.

2) Five things on today's to-do list:

Get my son ready for school
Get my daughter up, dressed, and fed so that we can go...
Grocery shopping
Help my son with his homework
Make dinner

I could go on and on but you get the idea.

3) Things I'd do if I were a billionaire:
A billion dollars doesn't go as far as it used to. There was a time when you could raise and army, hire an evil genius and take over the world. But not anymore. I suppose I'd buy an island or a mountain and build a fortress off of the grid, complete with RC aerial drones or tanks to keep out the dreck. Any money left over would be invested in some venture to make spaceflight more accessible to the masses. Maybe I could take over Mars instead.

4) Three bad habits:

Staying up until 2AM to watch west coast hockey teams
Cookies
Going back for seconds

5) Five places I've lived:

Shirley, NY
Syracuse, NY
Atlanta, GA
Stamford, CT
Norwalk, CT

There are several more, but this should suffice.

6) Six jobs I've had in my life:

Newspaper delivery boy
Cashier
Environmental Analyst
Metal Finishing Technical Service Representative
Quality Control Chemist - Raw Materials
Website Programmer

There are several more, but this is a good start.

Ok, that takes care of that. I tag Eduardo, Jim, and Toast (he likes memes). It's optional. If you guys don't feel like it doing it, I won't hold your feet to the fire. I'll leave that to Mike. :)

\_/
DED

Born Standing Up

2008-04-28T16:52:00.006-04:00

Surprise! Another book review.

Way back in the late 70's, around when I hit double digits, Steve Martin was the funniest person I'd ever heard. His act, unlike say Richard Pryor, wasn't too blue for someone my age to listen to. Or at least that's how my parents felt. I listened to "Let's Get Small" and "Wild and Crazy Guy" and died laughing. When I got older, I snatched them from my parents for my own collection, where they still are today (Sorry Mom and Dad!). I would then try to relate his act to my friends, mercilessly butchering it of course. I roared at his appearances on Saturday Night Live and I think I may have even caught his HBO special. Steve Martin was the comic hero of my pre-teens and his transition to movies ("The Jerk", "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", "The Man With Two Brains") kept it going (except for that horrendous drama "Pennies From Heaven") for several more years. But by the late 80's/early 90's, his sense of humor and mine had diverged. His films were no longer "must see" but rather a coin toss as to whether or not they were cringe-worthy. I've passed on all but two ("Bowfinger" and "Novocaine") of Martin's two dozen or so works since 1991's "L.A. Story." "Cheaper by the Dozen"? Don't think so.

While visiting my parents this month, my mother loaned me a copy of "Born Standing Up." It's a memoir about why Martin got into stand up comedy, and why he left it.

The book opens with his early performances as the opening act at the "Coffee and Confusion" club in San Francisco in 1965. Unfortunately, the club was typically empty when he went on stage and, despite his protests, he had to perform anyway.

From there, we're introduced to his unhappy childhood, salvation at Disneyland, mixing magic and comedy, getting caught up in the 60's, paying his dues on Berry Farm, an impressionable young man dating Mitzi Trumbo, the daughter of Dalton Trumbo, writing for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, appearing on the Tonight Show, the meteoric rise of his popularity, the loneliness of touring, and the absurd benefits of fame. And when the man is at his peak, he recognizes it for what it is and stops.

Sprinkled throughout the book are pieces of his act and how they originated. Poetry reading got tossed once he realized flower power ran out of gas. The banjo appeared early and not always for humor. "Grandmother's Song" and "flair pens" go way back. Stage props were always there. His look even changed. He started out clean cut, grew a beard and his hair to blend in with the times (pictures provided) and went back to clean cut and put on a suit all by 1972. The white suit didn't come about until years later when his success had gathered him audiences of 2,000+. He was worried about being visible from the back because so much of his act was visual.

All along the way, Martin shares humorous and humbling anecdotes from his life. He relates advice he received that he stuck with ("look better than they do") and some he ignored ("Lose the arrow through the head"). During the darker memories, he doesn't wallow around in self-pity. It's more like he brings us to these nadirs not because he wants to, but because he has to. It's part of the story. His story. But he doesn't dwell there. He shows us and moves on.

This is a book that I highly recommend for all fans of Steve Martin's stand up years. I really enjoyed reading about how it all came together. I might even see if the turntable still works and throw on one of his old albums. If you still have fond memories of him from that time (and you're not completely put off by his movie choices today), then check it out.

\_/
DED

A Dreamcatcher in Spook Country

2008-04-09T11:40:00.010-04:00

Two book reviews.

In Dreamcatcher, four men, friends since childhood, are out hunting in the woods of Maine. A lone hunter stumbles upon their cabin sputtering nonsense about mysterious "lights in the sky" while being plagued with the worst case of gas ever imaginable. It's Stephen King so you know what's coming.

The first third of the book is great. King hooks us right in and then beats a frantic pace: a snowmobile barreling through the woods with the reader being dragged gleefully through the snow. We can't help but stay up late turning those pages to find out what happens next. He seems merciful when he idles down the pace for the middle third so that we can catch our breath and brush off some of that snow.

But it dawns on me that some of this landscape seems familiar. We're given backstory on the protagonists, a group of men who've been friends since childhood, albeit a bit more distant (It). We get the long-winded side trip flashback, a King staple, where the boys confronted an evil back then (though it was a different evil) and now, as adults, face an evil alien threat in the woods (Tommyknockers). And then there's the psychotic government agent who becomes obsessed with one of the protagonists (Firestarter) and starts to hunt him down. Stephen King is one of the most prolific writers of our age. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that he began re-using some elements of past stories. But I was willing to let all this slide if the book ended well.

The final chase consumes the last third of the book, but it drags. And when the crisis is resolved, it felt anti-climactic. Although King doesn't use the old "it was all a dream" cliche, the ending, for me at least, was just as insulting. I had to re-read it a couple times just to make sure I was reading it right. Maybe this was some kind of catharsis for King. He wrote this story while recovering from an accident where he was struck by a minivan (which is paralleled by one of the characters here). I haven't read any other of his post-accident works and after reading this I'm not sure when I will. Dreamcatcher rates 2 out of 5 stars.

After reading Pattern Recognition (I'd give it 5 out of 5 stars), I couldn't wait to read Spook Country.

Hollis Henry, a former member of a 90's alternative rock band, is trying out a second career as a journalist. She's been sent out by Node, a magazine that she isn't sure exists, to do a piece on "locative art" (think geocaching meets VR). One of these artists introduces her to Bobby Chombo, the man who runs the servers where said art is hosted. The problem is he's extremely paranoid and her boss insists she find out why.

There's also Tito, a runner for a really small organized crime family. And he's being tracked by a guy named Brown, who's a covert operative of some kind with a strong sense of nationalism. But rather than get in Brown's head, we get his prisoner, Milgrim, an Ativan addict who speaks Russian. We meet other characters along the way, but the story focuses on Hollis, Tito, and Milgrim.

The story starts out slow. It took about 100 pages before it picked up. There wasn't any sense of danger looming over the characters nor was I able to determine what they were after that was so important. The three main characters are mild. Hollis seems capable of some decent snark but Gibson never really lets her loose. Tito's utilization of his Santeria faith is compelling when there's action, but it's sorely underutilized. He's a mushroom most of the time. Milgrim's Atvian experiences are intriguing but his objective seems to be avoiding a beating from Brown.

There are some minor characters which try to save us from these mild mannered and mellow trio. Chombo isn't one of them. He's annoying. But most of the characters in the novel get along so well that there's hardly any conflict.

We do find out what everyone is after. It's partly based on reality. I remember reading about the item in question in the news, but it never really seemed to garner the attention it deserved. I don't want to spoil it, but it concerns the Iraq War. The premise is believable, and what the characters set out to do seems cool but there's never any real danger. The plan is so well executed that when the story's climax comes along, I was left saying, "Oh, that was it."

William Gibson founded the cyberpunk sub-genre of science fiction, but there's really nothing in this novel that comes across as sci-fi. It's been said that the world has caught up with Gibson's vision and I have to agree. There's nothing here to chase away sci-fi phobic readers. But will they want to read it? Gibson's prose continues to be efficiently rendered, sparse yet beautiful. But as it's presented here it amounts to an ornately decorated cardboard box. I give it 3 out of 5 stars. A middle of the road Gibson novel is still better than most of the schlock out there.

One thing that really bugs me is that if I, or any other unpublished writer, submitted this manuscript to an agent we'd be rejected because there's no hook to draw in the reader. I had a character die from gunfire in the first chapter of my novel and a publisher (who read just the first 3 chapters) said it was too slow! Gibson, a successful author, gets away with it.

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DED

Chuck Hagel on The Daily Show

2008-04-01T15:56:00.005-04:00

Chuck Hagel, another Vietnam Veteran serving in the Senate as a Republican, was on The Daily Show Monday night to promote his new book, America: Our Next Chapter.

It's a shame that Senator Hagel has opted not to run for re-election. While Democrats may be chomping at the bit to get his seat, there's no guarantee that they'll get it. Senator Hagel hails from Nebraska, not the bluest of states. While Nebraska's other senator is a Democrat, he's been described as one of the most conservative of Democrats and has been slow in coming around to Hagel's POV on Iraq.

Hagel's opposition to the war in Iraq is probably the most prominent issue that got him into the national spotlight. He refuses to toe the party line and has called the Iraq War one of the greatest blunders in US history (see video). For a Republican to take a stand against the Iraq war in this political climate is nothing short of brave. We've seen the depths of depravity this administration can resort to when reality-based dissent is uttered.

It is this courage, to pick conscience over politics, that will be sorely missed. It's something sorely lacking in the Republican party these days. If the party is to save itself from the three headed hydra of the fundamentalist Christian agenda, corporate profiteering, and neoconservative imperialism, it needs people willing to stand up to these groups and say, "No!"

The Democrats need more Republicans like him. Yes, Hagel gets along fine with W on other issues and he gets high marks from the American Conservative Union. Democrats may think that they'll be enjoying politically brighter times come November, but complacency has undone them before. The shouldn't forget the 90's, when people got fed up with Democrats and voted in Newt Gingrich and his "Contract With America." The Karl Rove era followed and, well, you know the rest. Democrats need sane opponents, not a party so consumed with partisan rancor that it's willing to destroy the Constitution and the country in order to achieve its goals.

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DED

Beer In Review: Yes, More Porters

2008-03-21T20:14:00.005-04:00

The daffodils are just beginning to poke up through the ground. I warned them that while the calendar says Spring, the forecast for the weekend weather is forecasting lows in the mid-20's. So I better finish up these porter reviews.

First up is Ithaca Beer Company's Gorges Smoked Porter. This brew has a nice dark brown body. Backlighting a pint glass will reveal some rich ruby hues. There is an ample amount of head, tan in color. It has a mild roasted malt aroma. The website claims that "The distinctive smokey character comes from the use of special beechwood smoked malt from Bamburg, Germany." Yes, it comes through and I believe that's what smooths out the otherwise robust hops (US Northern Brewer). It finishes clean. A very tasty beer. I was pleasantly surprised. 6.3% ABV.

This is a seasonal offering so it may already be off the shelf. If not, expect it to go on sale to make room for Spring.

Otter Creek already has an excellent porter so it came as a surprise to me that they were offering another one. But, as part of their World Tour of Beer series, they're offering a Baltic Porter. After drinking one of these, I can see why they brewed another porter. This is a great one.

On the pour we get ample creamy head and a roasted malt aroma. The quintessential dark brown body is a little reluctant to reveal its ruby hues to the light. Chocolate and roasted malts are plainly evident to the tongue. Surprisingly, it's not very robust at all and then a little sweetness takes over and rides your tongue to the finish.

The website admits to using "2-row, Munich, Caramel, and special German hulled barley malt, Carafa," which may have something to do with the taste. But then they go on to say, "Not only did we take extra time to brew this beer with a special 'step mash' process, it was also fermented longer, with a lager yeast." There's nothing really exotic about the "special step mash process." In essence, that's just a multi-step infusion process where the malt grains are steeped at different temperatures to let different enzymes play with the starches to get the desired sugars.

The lager yeast, now that's different. Normally one would use an ale yeast, typically London or Irish. Anyway, end result great beer.

Otter Creek is available throughout the Northeast, out to Ohio, and as far south as North Carolina. Residents of Sacramento, California and Portland, Oregon are also lucky.

Lastly, there's the DED of Winter Porter, my latest homebrew in case that isn't obvious. ;) The pour yields alot of creamy, tan head, though it does eventually settle. As I raise my glass, there's a faint vanilla bouquet. As is the style, dark brown body with a faint red hue visible if you shine a bright light on it. There's a smooth blend of malt on the tongue, with Fuggles and Kent Goldings hops waving "allo" from across the room. Vanilla and cinnamon peek out from the malt just before the finish, lending the brew a seasonal feel.

It's one of the best batches I've done and I credit the decision to go with a secondary fermentation. As a result, there's no yeast bite, which means that the added vanilla and cinnamon flavorings don't get trampled in the mix.

I'll see if I can take a picture of it and provide an estimated ABV determination later.

Anchor Porter
Baltic Porter
Smuttynose Robust Porter
Stovepipe Porter
Coal Porter
Road Dog Scottish Porter
Gorges Smoked Porter
Gonzo Imperial Porter
Black Bear Porter
Santa's Butt Porter
Saranac's Caramel Porter
Samuel Adams Honey Porter

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DED

Another 5 Year Anniversary

2008-03-19T10:05:00.007-04:00

A year and a half ago, we marked the 5 year anniversary of the September 11th attacks. The only noteworthy thing to point out then was that Osama bin Laden was still free (and still is).

Now, we're marking the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. It's long since become public knowledge that there were no WMD nor did Saddam have anything to do with 9/11 or al Qaeda. Of course, thanks to us, al Qaeda has franchise operations in Iraq. Despite the overwhelming unpopularity of the war with the public, not to mention our allies in Europe, and retired generals warning us about the strain its put on our military, repeatedly, we're still there. The Democrats have been unable to use Congressional powers, thanks to obstructionist Republicans, to end the war, let alone hold hearings as to how billions of dollars are being spent. We're closing in on 4,000 dead and over 60,000 wounded American soldiers and the collateral damage is mounting. Were it not for the amazing advances in medical care and logistics, many more of those wounded would be dead. The number of Iraqi dead is unknown. The miserable state of its bureaucracy makes it impossible to get an accurate count, but estimates range from 85,000 to 655,000 to 1.2 million. I don't think we'll ever know. The fiscal costs? Unfathomable. Even if we were to pull out today, we'll still be paying for war for decades. And if our government decides to do the honorable thing and take care of its wounded, the costs will continue that much longer.

Yet despite what's happened, W still insists that Iraq is still relevant to the War on Terror and a success.

I'll grant him that the removal of Saddam Hussein from power was a good thing. His decision to stay there is another matter. His failure to take into account Iraq's disparate ethnic groups (Kurds, Shiite, and Sunni) was profound. It took a brutal monster to keep these three from killing one another. With his death, they were free to resurrect centuries old differences and go to war with one another. It's gone from deplorable to horrendous.

Last year's surge, which is still ongoing, appears to have had some positive effect. The frequency of violence has decreased. But it comes at a price. Equipment breaks down from the undeniable wear and tear of sand, heat and IED's. Soldiers are forced to endure extended tours of duty and are then called back to the front after limited reprieves at home. Enlistment is down. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government fails to achieve any sort of political settlement among the factions.

Of the three major presidential candidates, none has called for an immediate withdrawal. Obama and Clinton talk about drawdowns over the next 6 to 18 months. McCain says we'll be there for years, perhaps a century. While we can handle something like Korea, where we're still there after 50 years, the situation is far different in Iraq. We can not maintain our current level of commitment any longer. The cost in tangibles such as lives, equipment, and dollars is too high. The intangibles, like relations with our allies, preparedness for future emergencies, the real War on Terror, and the socio-economic health of our nation are even higher.

As I write this, McCain seems to have survived the political attacks from within his own party. Democrats continue to fight with one another and may in fact self-destruct. I was fairly certain that whomever the Democrats nominate would win the general election. I've lost that certainty. Of course, I was encouraging Democrats to root for Ron Paul to win the Republican nomination, just in case they lost. But instead there's McCain, who insists that he'll perpetuate our presence in Iraq.

My neighbor is Vietnam War veteran. I have tremendous respect for him and he's a great guy. He's also a Republican. I suspect he's an Ostrich Republican as he's not like the guys you see in Congress or on Fox or hear on Right Wing Radio. On Saturday, I needed to borrow his truck. I took a short ride with him as he went to dump a load of wood chips. The subject of politics came up. When we got to McCain, he revealed that while he was serving on the USS Forrestal, John McCain was one of the pilots. So, I knew with absolute certainty who he was voting for.

I used to like McCain. But the McCain of 2008 isn't the McCain of 2000. When people say, "9/11 changed everything," they're not kidding. I can not, in good conscience, vote for this man due to his position on Iraq. So, I had to figure out a way to disagree with my neighbor without alienating him. While my liberal friends might say, "Screw him! He's a Republican!", that's a simplistic position to take. It's akin to saying, "You're with us or against us," just like the current occupant of the White House. This administration has done too good a job of alienating other countries and even our fellow Americans. It's easy to keep that mentality in the blogosphere, but I have no desire to make enemies of my neighbors.

After declaring I wouldn't vote for Clinton (True. I won't. I don't like her. I'll go 3rd party again if I have to.), I said that I had reservations about McCain because of Iraq. He brought up the "cut and run" argument but I shot it down. "After five years it's no longer a question of cutting and running. Our boys are dying over there, doing all the hard work to make some semblance of order, while the Iraqi government sits on its ass doing nothing to resolve their differences. It's time for them to stand up and fight for themselves." It must've struck a chord as he made no effort to counter what I said. We arrived at our destination and when we got back in the truck the subject was changed. Then again, maybe he was just being polite.

I wanted to end this post with something positive, but barring a miracle, or even a horrendous catastrophe, we'll be in Iraq for at least another 10 months. What lessons will we learn from this experience? Thirty years from now will be have another president that rode out a war due to privilege only to get us embroiled in another fatal endeavor? Couple the war with colossal trade deficits and a seriously troubled economy and does it all signal the beginning of the end of America as we know it? Just as the Soviet Union ended due to bankruptcy and an unpopular war, maybe we're headed there as well. I know the analogy isn't perfect. But as we won the Cold War by outspending the Soviets, we may lose everything because we've outspent ourselves.

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DED

Beer In Review: Porter Season Winding Down

2008-03-13T18:17:00.005-04:00

Winter is drawing to a close and with it ends porter season. Porters are dark, malty ales which are best suited to drinking in cold weather. While hot weather doesn't stop people from drinking them, most don't. In fact, some brewers consider their porters to be seasonal concoctions and have already ceased making them. So, it's probably a bit late in the season to be reviewing porters. [shrug] Oh well.

I finally picked up a 6 pack of Stone Coast Brewery's (or is it Sunday River Brewing?) Black Bear Porter. With a large black bear on the label, I expected this to be a fairly robust beer. I was a little disappointed by the outcome.

The pour is nice. Big frothy head and a dark brown body. The bouquet is mild though. I really don't smell much of anything. There's enough hops in it to qualify as "robust", probably Cascade. It definitely has a bite, but I'm not sure if it's bear worthy. Roasted, crystal, and chocolate malts come to play, but a little too nicely. I don't know. It just leaves me feeling like something's missing. It's good, but not great. Since there's better out there, I won't be buying any more of it.

Smuttynose's Robust Porter is nothing short of the textbook definition of the classification. It won the gold medal at the 2001 Great American Beer Festival. It's been one of my favorites and I've been wanting to review it for some time.

The aroma is all roasted malt. No light penetrates a pint glass of this stuff so you know you're dealing with some seriously high degrees Lovibond malts (Chocolate and dark crystal at the very least). Even the head has a dark tint to it. When the brew hits your tongue, the roasted malt walks in hand-in-hand with a decent amount of Cascade hops to provide some bite. There's a subtle chocolate follow up but if you blink you'll miss it. Smuttynose confesses to using Carastan malt, which I've learned is another name for English Crystal malt. I don't know what "special 'b'" is, but I suspect it's a brand of Black Patent malt, a highly roasted black malt.

5.7% ABV. Available through New England and down the East coast through Virginia. And, for some reason, Wisconsin.

The updated porter rankings:

Anchor Porter
Smuttynose Robust Porter
Stovepipe Porter
Coal Porter
Road Dog Scottish Porter
Gonzo Imperial Porter
Black Bear Porter
Santa's Butt Porter
Saranac's Caramel Porter
Samuel Adams Honey Porter

I'll have to pick up the Stovepipe and have a deathmatch between it and Smuttynose just to make sure that I got it right. I recently had Saranac's Caramel Porter and it reaffirmed it's place in the standings. Way too much caramel.

In other beer news, prices are going up this month (if they haven't already). Beer Guy tells me that a few brewers are passing their increased hops and malt costs along to the consumer. $1 - $3.50 a 12-pack can be expected. Saranac, which is one of the least expensive craft brewers (at least as far as CT pricing goes), is increasing their prices by a buck. Ithaca Brewing is hitting us with $3.50, which I think sends them to the $17+ range. I've got some at the house right now so it'll probably be the last. Beer Guy expects their already mediocre sales to tank. Magic Hat is also on the rise (think closer to Ithaca than Saranac).

More porter reviews to come.

Thanks to Jim and/or Paul for supplying the Smuttynose. Don't know which of you guys picked it up since you carpooled.

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DED

Love Thy Neighbor's Trees

2008-03-06T13:55:00.003-05:00

Once I became a homeowner, I've tried to be a good neighbor. I can't say that I'm friends with everyone, nor do I even know half, but I try not to be a dick. While I don't necessarily agree with what some of them do with their yards, it's not my yard so it's really none of my business.

For example, my neighbor to the south cleared out the last vestiges of "forest" in his yard because he wasn't getting enough sunlight (thus heat) on his pool. I thought this was stupid as the remaining trees were east of the pool and downhill so they only blocked very early morning light. Still, it's his yard. He's a good guy and very helpful. Of all my neighbors, I get along with him the best.

Another neighbor had a tree at the edge of his yard get knocked over by a storm and fell into the woods of my yard. Several months later, since he hadn't made any effort to cut it up, I went over to his house and asked him if he minded if I cut it up for use in my wood stove. He immediately said that I could have it.

But out in Sunnyvale, California, people aren't so neighborly. CNN did a story about a guy who took his neighbor to court because his trees were blocking his solar panels. The online article lacks the punch of the TV story. This guy covered every square foot of the roof of his huge house with solar panels. I'm not exaggerating. Except for a thin border on each section, it was all solar panels.

Since the yards are so small, his neighbor's redwoods, which were planted years before the panels were installed, shade part of his house and thus the solar panels. Not the entire house, just a small part of it. The solar panel guy sued him under this obscure California law entitled "The Solar Shade Control Act."

He won.

Tree guy spent $37,000 defending himself and can't afford to appeal.

So while trees suck carbon dioxide out of the air, solar panel guy says that his $70,000 worth of photovoltaics prevent more of it from being released. I'm all for solar power. If I could afford it, and it was practical (too many trees and it's New England - not the sunniest of places), I'd throw them up on my roof. But by solar panel guy's logic, we should cut down all our forests and replace them with solar panels.

Solar panel guy fails to realize that the trees provide: shade, which cools the surrounding air by several degrees and prevents soil moisture loss, soil stability (read: erosion prevention), homes for birds (I expect him to sue the birds for crapping on his panels), and oxygen to breathe. The latter desperately needed to counter the hot air spewed by solar panel guy.

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DED

We're Number One!

2008-02-29T17:21:00.003-05:00

How can we be the leader of the Free World when we have more people in jail, in total numbers and per capita, than any other country in the world? Even China, who I complain about regularly, isn't as bad.

RATES OF INCARCERATION
USA: 750 prisoners per 100,000 people
South Africa: 341 per 100,000
Iran: 222 per 100,000
China: 119 per 100,000

As for total numbers:

"While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine."

The total of 2.3 million adults held in prison - or one in every 99.1 adults - puts the US far head of other countries.

China, with its far greater population, has 1.5 million people behind bars, and Russia has 890,000.

The Hartford Courant version of the story is here. In it they mention how Connecticut is one of five states that spends as much or more on its prisoners as it does on education. The state's prisons are overcrowded and, IIRC, earlier this month there was talk about either building another prison or releasing 10% of the prison population.

The article also says:

"...the consistent increase in the country's prison population over the past 20 years has been driven by policy choices, not by spikes in crime or the nation's population."

I'd say that the War on Drugs has had a lot to do with that. With mandatory minimum sentencing commonplace, it should come as no surprise that the prison population is booming.

Maybe if we eliminated mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenses and decriminalized marijuana from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 2 drug we could take some of the pressure off.

Could we do more? Sure. But the country needs baby steps. After all, someone in Washington might have a temper tantrum.

Maybe we should let non-violent criminals (no convicted rapists or murderers) work off their offenses by serving for a year in Iraq. That would cut down on prison overcrowding and help the Army meet recruitment goals. It's a win-win situation! ;)

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DED

Cargill Pauses Plans For Ethanol Plant

2008-02-28T15:32:00.003-05:00

Corn-based ethanol has lost some of its luster. From NPR's Marketplace.

Cargill is suspending construction of a $200 million ethanol plant outside Topeka, Kan. The agribusiness giant says market conditions for ethanol are deteriorating. Jeremy Hobson reports.

KAI RYSSDAL: Corn closed down a couple of cents today, a bit more than $5.25 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade. Still, that's double the price of a couple of years ago. It's part of the reason food prices are going up. It's also part of the reason why Cargill has announced it's scrapping plans for a $200 million ethanol plant outside Topeka, Kan. The agribusiness giant says market conditions for ethanol are deteriorating. Reading between the lines here, what they really mean is that corn's gotten too expensive to make any money on, and if you want to make ethanol in the U.S., you've got to have corn.

Jeremy Hobson has the story.

JEREMY HOBSON: Cargill spokesman Bill Brady says it's pretty obvious why the company is suspending the Topeka plant.

BILL BRADY: "The cost of corn is high. The cost of infrastructure to build ethanol plants is much higher than it was, and the price that you can get for a gallon of ethanol is not enough. The numbers don't crunch, basically."

When I asked him whether suspensions were on the way for three other planned Cargill plants, he said this.

BRADY: "The other locations, there have been no decision yet."

HOBSON: "But it's possible that those also may be suspended?"

BRADY: "Well, I mean it's, the economic environment that we're talking about is industry-wide."

It sure is, says John Skelley, who operates an ethanol plant in Arizona.

JOHN SKELLEY: "It's a more mature industry now and you're going to see more mature type of return on investments that are certainly not going to be as crazy as they were a couple years ago."

He says 50 or 100 percent returns have turned into a more realistic 15 percent, but Duke Energy Professor Richard Newell says don't expect a wave of plant closures. Remember last year's energy bill, with its mandates for ethanol production in the years to come.

RICHARD NEWELL: "There is a law in place that basically says that a certain portion of our fuel must come from these types of renewable fuels. That's going to mean that there's going to need to be more ethanol."

He says companies are going to have to build new plants to meet that demand, even if they're not as profitable as they once were.

KAI RYSSDAL: "Cargill, we should tell you, is an underwriter of this program."

Emphasis mine. Thanks to Tammy for the link.

What's surprising is that this comes with already existing ethanol subsidies. Apparently, they're not enough for some companies to continue down the road. What does this mean for food prices, which have already been on the rise? Nothing. Unless demand for ethanol subsides, which isn't bloody likely considering the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires ethanol production to hit 36 billion gallons by 2022 (from 4.7 billion gallons in 2007), don't expect food prices to improve. To be fair, 21 billion gallons of the 2022 total must be derived from non-cornstarch products (i.e. sugar, cellulose). But that's still room for 15 billion gallons on corn-based ethanol, more than triple what's in use today.

Of course, laws can be repealed.

Watthead has a good list of ethanol articles.

Cargill's website.
"Why are wheat prices rising?" from the BBC.

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DED

Beer in Review: Cuckoo Bock

2008-02-25T11:20:00.005-05:00

Continuing along with my newfound love of bock beer, I picked up Otter Creek's Cuckoo Bock. It's another installment of Otter Creek's World Tour through beer. This stop: Germany, for a Mai Bock, a lighter, but still potent, version of traditional bocks.

On the first pour (this is a 22 oz bottle after all), I got a clear, golden lager with a stable head. I found it to be mild in both hops and malt. A little sweet. Light bodied. It was crisp with a clean finish. It would make for a good beer to drink in Spring and I'd be willing to try it in Summer too.

Otter Creek divulged that they used "Vienna malt, pilsener malt, two types of Munich malts, and hops and yeast all the way from Germany, in an effort to make this beer as authentic as possible."

Actual alcohol content unknown, but the category runs 6.3% to 7.2%. You wouldn't know it though. I didn't get any of that extra tongue twist that I've encountered with Imperial beers.

The second pour was different than the first. This one was cloudy, and thus a little darker. My guess is that there was a bit of yeast sediment in there. Nothing any craft beer drinker can't handle. ;) Otherwise, it tasted the same.

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DED

Mercury

2008-02-12T11:24:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court said Friday the Bush administration ignored the law when it imposed less stringent requirements on power plants to reduce mercury pollution, which scientists fear could cause neurological problems in 60,000 newborns a year.

A three-judge panel unanimous struck down a mercury-control plan imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency three years ago. It established an emissions trading process in which some plants could avoid installing the best mercury control technology available by buying pollution credits.

Environmentalist and health experts argued that such a cap-and-trading mechanism would create “hot spots” of mercury contamination near some power plants. Seventeen states as well as environmental and health groups joined in a suit to block the regulation, saying it did not adequately protect public health.

Full article

This is good news. While a cap-and-trade system might be ok to use to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, mercury is far too nasty to show that sort of leniency towards. While a broken thermometer (100 mg or less) or fluorescent bulb (5 milligrams) isn't much, coal power plants emit this stuff by the ton. 48 tons/year in fact.

That's not to say broken thermometers and fluorescent bulbs should just be tossed in the trash. If it accumulates in any one spot, it has the potential to become a problem. But one doesn't need to call in the EPA to clean it up. There are procedures one should follow.

I used to work for a environmental testing lab and we handled mercury all the time. If a soil or water sample was contaminated with high levels of sulfur (which obscures the signal of the pesticides, herbicides, PCB's and other contaminants we were checking for), we would add mercury to the sample to react with the sulfur. We'd then extract the mercury from the sample and dispose of it in our mercury waste container. The amount of mercury we would need for any particular sample would be on the order of a few drops. If any spilled, we'd pipette it up. The fume hood picked up any vapors.

Remember the saying, "Mad as a hatter"? Mercury was once used to press the felt on hats. Unfortunately, people didn't wear gloves or have adequate ventilation back then so they absorbed the mercury through their skin and inhaled the vapors. Connecticut used to be the hat making capital in the US. Danbury was known as "Hat City." While the nickname continues to this day, the industry is long gone.

But back to coal. Since the US and China are going to continue to burn it for energy, it needs to be cleaned up. Coal gasification technology is already being used to strip out sulfur, nitrogen oxides, and mercury. It's about time that the regulations for new coal plants require mercury emissions, among other things, to be eliminated.

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DED

Fiction

2008-02-07T22:43:00.003-05:00

I've given up on trying to get my short story, "Tile", published. I'd written it with a particular zine in mind, but it went under before I finished the story. I tried sending it elsewhere, but no luck. While I think it's a decent story, I've finally accepted the fact that it's predictable, which means no one is going to buy it. Rather than let it languish any longer on my hard drive, I've uploaded it to my website for people to read. If I can think of a way to improve upon it, I'll take it down and try again. In the meantime, I get to move on.

Silvio's tiling skills are top notch, but his luck isn't. He's hired to rebuild an ancient ceremonial bath for a private collector of antiquities. Although the job pays well, he suspects that his work will be put to use for something other than a creepy fetish.

It's horror. A bit Lovecraftian, in my opinion, but not overly so. If you're interested....

Rated R for adult language, situations, and violence.

UPDATE: 3/16/08. I've submitted it to "The Harrow" so I've taken it down from the site until I hear back from them, which should be 5-6 weeks. If they reject it, I'll put it back on the site.

UPDATE: 5/23/08. The Harrow has accepted "Tile" for publication in their September 2008 issue!!! I'll add the link to it when it goes live. HOORAY!!!

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DED

Government Money for TV

2008-01-28T17:07:00.000-05:00

You may have heard that on February 17, 2009, all analog broadcasts of TV will cease. The FCC is requiring all broadcasters to go digital (and the EM spectrum frequencies freed up will be auctioned off). This doesn't affect cable or satellite subscribers. This only affects people who receive TV signals via an antenna. Those too poor or too cheap (or too smart) to pay for TV will have to buy a converter box for their analog sets. It's estimated that these boxes will retail for $50 to $70.

I guess Congress felt guilty that the government is mandating the switch. As such, money from the spectrum auction will be used to compensate people for the cost. Each household is entitled to two $40 vouchers. Everyone is eligible, though after the 22.25 million mark, only people who solely rely on antennas will be eligible. They'll be able to claim the remaining 11.25 million vouchers. There's are no other requirements for eligibility (other than having a street mailing address). Richie Rich can claim his two vouchers just as someone living in the 9th Ward of The Big Soggy.

So, 22.25 million plus 11.25 million gives us 33.5 million vouchers. Multiply that by $40 and you get $1.34 billion. Wow. Over a billion dollars available to make sure people keep watching TV. That's nothing short of amazing.

Did no one in our government see how ripe this program could be for abuse? While I don't believe that this program should've been created in the first place, how could a means test be excluded for consideration? Why should anyone with a taxable income of over $25,000/year get one of these? Of course, if you're too poor to afford cable or satellite TV, then you've got far more important things to worry about than being able to watch TV.

As much as I hate seeing the government spending more money when it's $9 trillion in debt, there are far better programs this money could've gone towards: Paying down the debt, repairing infrastructure, job training programs for all those whose jobs have gone overseas, healthcare for the uninsured, alternative energy research, and public transportation programs that will remove cars from the road. I'm sure that you can name a few yourself. I wish our government had. Instead, they decided we should keep watching TV.

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DED

Corn Ethanol is Bad for Beer

2008-01-11T23:40:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here waiting for the wort to cool down to a reasonable temperature so that I can pour it into the carboy. The brew pot is sitting in a cold water bath with some ice thrown in for good measure. I figured that I'd kill some time.

I'm brewing a porter. It's been a bitch. I had to steep the crystal and chocolate malt grains and I haven't bought myself a lauter tun yet. I used coffee filters and my son's brand new fish net to make sure that none of the husks made it from the grist to the wort. Fortunately that stuff floats so I was able to wipe it off the sides of the brew pot. Broke my thermometer though. Had it since the Atlanta years. Fortunately that happened nowhere near the wort, which was covered anyway.

If you've ever checked out my homebrew page, tonight's batch is a variation on #15. More bittering hops. More malt. Even added cinnamon bark to the last 15 minutes of the boil to add some pizazz. I'm going to double the vanilla extract this time. I'll add that during secondary fermentation.

So why is corn ethanol bad for beer? Well if you haven't heard, farmers are abandoning hops and barley in favor of corn in order to take advantage of the demand for corn-based ethanol. This means that hops and barley prices go up. End result: Beer prices go up. And it affects us homebrewers too. At the supply store, hops prices were double and malt was up 40%. Ouch! Granted, I'm a retail user so I'm going to be paying more anyway. Breweries pay wholesale and get bulk discounts. But still, they're going to be paying more so beer drinkers are going to be paying more.

Ok the wort has cooled off and I've added it to the carboy. After topping it of with more cold water (from the water softener bypass) I get an OG that's a phenomenal 1.062! Oh shit! That's off the hook! That's, by far, the heaviest beer that I've ever tried to make. Time to pitch the yeast and put the beer (and me) to bed.

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DED

Update: The shortage of hops is also due to bad weather. Link.

Beer in Review: Bocks Away!

2008-01-10T16:14:00.000-05:00

I know I'm long overdue for a beer post. About 1 out of every 10 of my posts is about beer. I apologize for the slump. Between the holidays sucking up time and a post-New Year's sore throat ruining the taste of my favorite beverages, I had to put beer blogging on hold. In fact, my throat is still not 100%. So this post is working off of notes I took a while back and my memory.

As I mentioned here, I finally tried bock, and I liked it! So, I went out and bought a couple bocks. Unfortunately, I can only review one of them right now: Saranac's Black Diamond Bock.

The Matt Brewing Company continues to experiment with new beer styles in limited runs. The successful flavors get to come back as seasonals and limited releases. It's a business plan that Boston Brewery uses (much to my pleasure) and Magic Hat disdains (much to my chagrin). The Black Diamond Bock is one of those limited releases that runs during the colder months.

On the pour, the head is ok. Decent. A light brown to caramel color proclaims that its name has no relation to its appearance. The lager aroma rises to meet one's nose.

My tongue shouts, "malt!" Hops follow, but this beer remains smooth. It tastes German and sure enough, the major malt and hops ingredients are right out of Bavaria: Munich and Vienna malts coupled with the noble Hallertau hops. It all provides a reasonably strong 6.0% ABV kick.

So if you're like me and you find lagers a bit lacking, consider going darker and grab a bock. And if Saranac's Black Diamond Bock is available at your local liquor store, pick up a six pack.

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DED

Harrassing Hannity

2008-01-08T09:45:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul and Fox News don't get along. Paul wasn't invited to the New Hampshire Republican debate hosted by Fox. I don't recall if they gave the excuse that his poll numbers weren't there. Of course that ignores the fact that Paul trounced Fox anointed candidate Rudy Giuliani in Iowa. Anyway, an angry mob of Ron Paul supporters tracked down Fox mouthpiece and avid Ron Paul hater, Sean Hannity, and heckled him as walked to his hotel. There isn't much to see until you're a quarter or so away from the end.

It's not earth shattering, just nice to see. :)

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DED

Root For Ron Paul

2008-01-03T14:42:00.000-05:00

Anyone who's talked about politics with me in person, or read this blog for a long time, know that I'm a fan of Ron Paul. So, it should come as no surprise that he's my choice for the Republican nominee for President. I'm not under any illusions he'll win it, but that's not going to stop me from rooting for him. And my Democrat, liberal, and progressive (DLP from here out) friends should be rooting for him as well. I'm not insisting they vote for him. I know his social conservative views and philosophy of government's role in our lives runs contrary to theirs. They should just hope that he wins the Republican nomination.

Now why am I making this recommendation? Because I think that DLP's should hedge their bets. I'm sure that the thinking is, "We can't lose in '08. It's in the bag." To which I counter, "Really? Wasn't 2004 in the bag too?" I don't write this to rub Kerry's loss in anyone's face. I was rooting for the guy to beat W even though I didn't think he was the right choice. And it doesn't matter who's to blame. The point is that the Democrats lost the 2004 election when they should've won.

And what happened in 2000? Gore should've been able to ride Clinton's coattails to victory. With experience and 90's prosperity on his side, Gore should've made mincemeat out of the Doofus from Crawford. Bush the Elder got elected in 88 thanks to Reagan so why didn't Gore do the same if it was a sure thing? Doesn't matter. Supreme Court shenanigans handed the Presidency to W. While Gore won the popular vote, the margin of victory should've been much greater so as to render the conservative opinion of the Surpreme Court moot.

Which brings me back to my point: rooting for Ron Paul. Out of all the Republican candidates, Ron Paul is the one guy that's ok to lose to. Here's why:

He wants to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home. While he supported the retaliatory attacks on al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, he's clearly been against the war in Iraq. Not too many of the other candidates can say that they voted against the war from the start. Rather than buckle under, he stuck to his principles. Clearly, if the Democrats were to lose to him in November, they'd be safe in the knowledge that Iran wouldn't be invaded on Day 1 of his administration. Meanwhile, Chicken Hawk McCain and Rudy 9/11 have shamefully likened Paul to Hitler's appeasers in the days preceding WW2. Do the DLP's really want to risk running against either of these guys and losing?

He voted against the Patriot Act. While many in Congress were strong armed into supporting this measure, he voted against it. Not too many candidates can say that either. They were probably afraid of losing their seats in Congress by looking weak on terrorism. Amazingly, Ron Paul, a Texan, kept his. While the federal government continues to expand its powers, Ron Paul fights back. A repeal of the Patriot Act, termination of the domestic spying program, and a restoration of the 4th Amendment and Habeas Corpus would certainly occur in Paul's administration. There aren't any other Republican candidates that you can say that about.

He supports States Rights. While he often uses States' Rights as his excuse for trying to wrest control of abortion rights away from the Fed and towards the States, he's at least consistent. He's also against the War on Drugs. California and other states that have medical marijuana laws would be free from federal prosecution. It also means that states that wanted to keep abortion safe and legal would be free to do so. Don't believe him? Well, if W and a Republican controlled Congress couldn't banish a woman's right to choose in six years on a national level, then I don't see how it would change with a states' rights advocate in the White House with Democrats in control of Congress (assuming the 2006 results continue in their favor).

I hope my DLP friends see my point. With someone other than Ron Paul as the Republican candidate, a loss in this year's Presidential election would be a continuation of the same crap they've had to endure for the past eight years. More war. More encroachment on civil liberties. More subversion of the Constitution. The more smug among the DLP-ers might continue to dismiss my arguments, proudly proclaiming that the White House is locked up. It's just a matter of which Democrat. But this self-confidence is unjustified after the last two Presidential elections. Ever since 9/11, the neocons have been superb at playing the fear card. All it takes is one terrorist threat, real or imaginary, to sway people. And do you think that this administration wouldn't stoop that low to help out a fellow Republican in the polls? Well, they wouldn't if it was Ron Paul.

Root for Ron Paul.

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If you want to read up on Ron Paul, the Wikipedia entry strikes me as fair.

Biofuels

2007-12-21T16:38:00.000-05:00

You've no doubt heard that Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and W signed it. I'm not too excited about it. I'd hoped for more. Instead, it leaves subsidies to mature energy industries alone (score one for the oil companies) and does little to reform them.

Why not take advantage of this opportunity and require all new coal plants to use "clean coal" and carbon sequestration technology? Score one for the coal lobby.

The increased CAFE standards are nice. It's strange how the automobile manufacturers fought it (including hybrid leader Toyota) and yet advertise heavily how fuel efficient their cars are. Is it greed? The technology is already out there for them to implement yet they complain about having to re-tool their assembly lines.

In a clear nod to Iowa (no surprise with the presidential primaries coming up), ethanol subsidies got a boost. Readers of my blog know that I'm not a fan of ethanol so I'm not psyched about this either. I'm hoping that corn-based ethanol loses out to other biofuels.

One of those potential alternate sources is cellulosic ethanol. Cellulose is the stuff that makes up the cell walls of plants. Unfortunately for clean fuel developers (but fortunately for plants), it's a tough nut to crack. Hundreds of millions of years of evolution has made the stuff formidable to break down. Research continues, but a marketable product is still a long ways off. Chemists are still trying to find the right bug or enzyme to efficiently break the stuff down. In a doomsday scenario, I worry that a genetically engineered organism escapes the lab and reduces our forests to goo. Not likely, but maybe something for Bill Joy to worry about.

Biodiesel made from algae is another idea. Algae would convert sunlight into vegetable oil, which would be harvested and transformed into diesel fuel. While diesels are more popular in Europe than the US, there are plenty of trucks that could utilize it right now. Of course, we have to find the right species and figure out the optimal time to harvest their fatty bodies.

Here's something to chew on (from Popular Science):

"About 140 billion gallons of biodiesel would be needed every year to replace all petroleum-based transportation fuel in the U.S. It would take nearly three billion acres of fertile land to produce that amount with soybeans, and more than one billion acres to produce it with canola. Unfortunately, there are only 434 million acres of cropland in the entire country, and we probably want to reserve some of that to grow food. But because of its ability to propagate almost virally in a small space, algae could do the job in just 95 million acres of land. What's more, it doesn't need fertile soil to thrive. It grows in ponds, bags or tanks that can be just as easily set up in the desert — or next to a carbon-dioxide-spewing power plant — as in the country's breadbasket."

A test facility is scheduled to be built next to another microbe utilizing industry: a brewery. With CO₂ a by-product of fermentation, the algae guys can get a pure source feed for their test subjects.

Beer, helping America to find clean sources of energy. I'll drink to that!

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Nuclear Power Gains Another Ally

2007-12-14T17:14:00.000-05:00

Gwyneth Cravens, a novelist, journalist and former nuke protester, has written a new book, Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy. In it, she dispels the misinformation that has plagued nuclear power since the 1970's. I have not read it yet, but I hope to next year.

Wired interviewed her. She was invited to speak at the Long Now Foundation. A video of that event, is up on her website. Definitely worth checking out.

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