Just for laughs

I don't normally forward emails that have funny videos, or jokes or even dire warnings about AIDS infected hypodermic needles in coin return slots, but this one came from my boss and it's actually pretty cool. I can't read Japanese, or understand what the guys are saying, but that makes it that much funnier. Ever wonder how the pointer works on your computer screen? I mean, what really happens to make that arrow respond to the movement of your mouse? With the aid of extreme magnification, this Japanese company gives you some insight into what's going on. Click here Enjoy!

What now? Petitions in front of the grocery store?

I had no idea what a hot topic Ultra Light Rail would become. It just seems like common sense to me. Unfortunately so far the only interest being shown is from grass roots advocates like myself. No decision makers have exactly jumped up and shouted "Eureka!" Yesterday's editorial on the Kansas City Post drew a record number of visits. Interestingly enough it didn't draw a record number of comments. That distinction goes to my earlier editorial about a proposed route. I commented to a friend of mine this morning that perhaps this is my calling. This may be the silver lining in the brutal loss I endured in my bid for city council. Leading the charge on a rational transit system envelopes everything I enjoy and am experienced with. There's the technical aspects which appeal to my engineering background. There's the financial aspects which of course appeal to my business education. Environmental stewardship. Convention and Tourism. It's all in there. I'm glad the weekend is almost here because I have a lot of thinking to do. Right now I am the lone voice advocating Ultra Light Rail. The Urban Society has their "fast streetcar" technology which they seem tied to. Clay's "plan" is, well it's like trying to pick up a turd from the clean end. The KCATA is stuck with having to do an alternative analysis because of Clay's plan. So I guess if I want Ultra Light Rail, it has to be me out front. So once again, just like after the primary election, I'm left asking myself the question. "Now what?"

Three Cheers For Mizzou!

Oh crap. I just threw up in my mouth a little typing that title. Tough for a KU man to say anything nice about Mizzou. I'll just keep repeating "Paige Arena" and laughing to myself. There, I feel better already! The University of Missouri isn't waiting around for Governor Blunt and his ethanol-fixated cronies to recognize that moonshine didn't do much for the state economy 100 years ago and it sure as hell isn't going to help much this time around once the federal subsidies get yanked. The Department of Energy has announced $11.2m in grants for hydrogen research. Only 13 projects were approved this year and MU is part of the elite. Mizzou's scientists will be studying "Networks of Boron-Doped Carbon Nanopores for Low-Pressure Reversible Hydrogen Storage." Uhhh, yeah. Basically they will be working on hydrogen storage in a solid material to alleviate the problem of current hydrogen storage solutions which involve compressing the gas to 10,000 PSI and hoping not to spring a leak. This is big news. This is the kind of thing that should be on the front page of the paper. Getting one of these grants is far more difficult than signing the latest high school basketball phenom out of Detroit. So once again, congrats to Mizzou and I'm looking forward to being the first kid on my block to have a Boron-Doped Carbon Nanospore thingamajig.

McCain Too "Corny" For Me

Next off my list of presidential candidates; John McCain. While spending an enjoyable(?) Sunday morning tearing out an old brick chimney in my house, I listened to Tim Russert interview presidential hopeful John McCain. McCain was his usual contentious self which I've grown accustomed to. The issue of his age came up. Russert read him a quote from four years ago where he said he would be 72 in 2008 and that would be much too old to be president. (I agree. I think the same for City Council too!) So McCain dismissed that and without saying he was wrong, contended that he is in great shape and ready to serve. Then he demanded his tapioca and wanted to know if there was going to be Bingo in the main lounge tonight... The final straw for me was when Russert again cornered McCain with his own words. This time on my favorite litmus test, ethanol. A few years back McCain called ethanol what it is. A huge boondoggle that will not create energy independence. All it will do is create subsidies for farmers. Well now, guess what? Ethanol isn't such a bad thing anymore! Check the McCain campaign finance reports for Archer Daniels Midland. Somebody got to him and I can tell you it wasn't the scientists who will tell you the truth about ethanol. Sorry John. As my good friend Heidi Klumb would say, "You're out!" One Democrat and one Republican gone. I'm an equal opportunity eliminator.

A bridge to the 20th century

I'm an independent. I'm not registered to any party (yet) so my options are much broader than most when it comes to presidential candidates. While the rest of you are stuck with whatever the restaurant happens to put out for the lunch buffet, I take my candidates ala carte. My presidential litmus test this time around is clean energy. I've given up on the Iraq war because no candidate seems to want to end the killing any time soon. So I concentrate on which candidate will be the most likely to see the 21st Century logic that there are alternatives to digging fossilized material out the ground and setting it on fire for our energy needs. Sounds downright ridiculous when I put it that way, doesn't it? So the last presidential candidate I thought I would be scratching off my list this early would be the young, hip guy right? So this morning my coffee-spitting moment came when I read this article. The headline wasn't that shocking, although "fuel efficiency" is a dubious phrase because it doesn't exactly ring like "eliminate our dependence on oil." The real disappointment lies within. Senator Barack Obama is going to "help bring (the auto industry) it into the 21st century." How? By demanding a 4% per year increase in fuel economy so the standard will be 40 mpg... By the year 2022! So if Obama is the young, progressive candidate, what does that leave me to choose from? Is John McCain going to come out and demand steam locomotives get more miles from a stick of firewood? Will Hillary Clinton propose more efficient refining of whale oil for our lamps? Hey maybe Fred Thompson will encourage more nutritious feed so our draft horses can pull bigger wagons.