In Andy Weir’s best-selling book (and subsequent blockbuster movie) “The Martian”, astronaut Mark Watney summed up his survival strategy to a group of aspiring astronauts: “At some point, everything’s gonna go south on you… everything’s going to go south and… Read more ›
BREXIT…. TEXIT ? “Texas Secede!” As the nation began to divide itself throughout the year of 1860, the rallying cry for Texas to withdraw from the Union began in earnest in late 1860. On February 1, 1861, members of the… Read more ›
“Every day, the equivalent of almost two tons of coal per acre falls on the United States. It arrives as visible and invisible light – 20,000,000 kilocalories of solar energy. Most of it is wasted. We have reached a point… Read more ›
Even if you didn’t watch the 1960’s television show, “The Beverly Hillbillies”, you could probably sing along with the theme song. One of the lines in that song captured the key essence of one of the cornerstones of the US… Read more ›
Some years back, The Economist named Hank Hill (famed propane salesman of TV’s animated series King of the Hill) as one of the wisest men on TV. While the honor was generally based on Hank’s no-nonsense assessment of the political… Read more ›
By definition, the idiom “the tail wagging the dog” is construed as a smaller part of something controlling the greater part. While the consumers of electricity aren’t necessarily a small group, they are the “tail end” of the power production… Read more ›
First, my apologies to B. Traven for my appropriating (and mutilating) the classic quote from his 1927 novel, “Treasure of the Sierra Madre”. However, the similarities of both treasure and derisive response regarding policy were begging to be put… Read more ›
Fans of the 1985 movie “Back to the Future” will recognize a quote from the 1955-era Doc Brown, responding to Marty McFly’s statement about the Delorean time machine running on plutonium: “I’m sure that in 1985 plutonium is available in… Read more ›
Like many people, I’m a fan of the “post-apocalyptic” genre of books, television shows and movies. How the world gets into a post-apocalyptic state varies, as does the appearance of zombies. A plague ravishes the planet, someone starts a nuclear… Read more ›
Having read recently that the Valero-Darling venture to produce biodiesel had completed construction caused me to reflect on my own experience with creating biodiesel from waste products. The 50-50 partnership between Valero Energy and Darling International is a biodiesel production plant near New… Read more ›
