Start Your Day Off Right

I'm always amazed by the sacrifice of Soldiers. Especially American soldiers as we have a completely volunteer military. Everyone there chose of their own free will to enlist.

About a week ago I came upon a link, the kind that circulates around the internet about a soldier in Iraq who was awarded the Navy Cross, the 2nd highest award for Valor in the military. Which of course got me thinking about the highest award for Valor. The Medal of Honor, also known as the Congressional Medal of Honor.

I think it sucks that political games like accusing Bush of mis-representing intelligence to lead the country into war make headline news night after night, day after day when soldiers are dying in Iraq fighting for a good cause. (Agree or not with going to war... someone tell me a democratic Iraq isn't a good cause?)

We don't even get NAMES anymoe... Just "2 soldiers died in Iraq today". WTF?

Can't the news media take time out of bird flu hysteria and pointless and irrelevant political cat-fights to spend 2 minutes of HEADLINE news time to shine the spotlight on every soldier that dies for our country? Not for political purpose so some dumb fuck democrat can win the PR game, but so people can see what sacrifice really is. So people can hear the story of a real person who gave the ultimate sacrifice? For freedom... For their country?

I digress... Start your day off right. Go to U.S. Army website: Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients

There is a full list of citations. The story of what each soldier did to earn the highest honor this country can bestow on a soldier. There are less then 3,500 recipients... Around 118 still living. Many of the soldiers died during the event that they received the award for.

Bookmark it... Read one every morning...

In addition to honoring someone who gave their life for our country, it serves as a great motivator. Its hard to bitch about your job after reading about someone who gave their life, for their country doing their job.

For more information check out the Congressional Medal of Honor Society Website

FHL

The Man In The Arena-Teddy Roosevelt

Let the man of learning, the man of lettered leisure, beware of that queer and cheap temptation to pose to himself and to others as the cynic, as the man who has outgrown emotions and beliefs, the man to whom good and evil are as one. The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes second to achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life's realities - all these are marks, not, as the possessor would fain think, of superiority, but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part manfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affectation of contempt for the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves their own weakness. The rôle is easy; there is none easier, save only the The rôle of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into a fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride or slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he by cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of the great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and the valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who "but for the vile guns would have been a soldier..."

FHL

Oil Companies must hate news like this

I've often said that if government gets out of the way, technology, (not legislation) will fix economic problems like out of control gas prices, and record profts from oil companies.

After a discusson about oil, gas, and the market forces in play with a friend on Saturday night, I came across this article. So often hydrogen is kinda thought of as a 'far-off' thing. Its actually very much a reality. Even if it doesn't replace petroleum fuel based engine powered vehicles totally, just having an alternative that would put a dent in demand could SHARPLY reduce gas costs and no longer would oil companies have the luxury of being able to charge what basically ammounts to 'whatever they want' for gas.



http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/nov05/370124.asp?source=tmj4


quotes from the article

Eggleston envisions motorcycle fuel being made from small gas reformers about the size of a shoebox. They could convert sunflower oil, soybeans, corn, sugarcane or other bio fuels into hydrogen gas.

The reformers would emit no more carbon dioxide than a plant's natural decomposition would release, adding to the bike's eco-friendly theme. Hydrogen also could come from petrochemical refineries where it now is burned off as a waste product.

"The current cost of filling up the bike's tank, about $4, could be reduced to 25 cents," Eggleston said.

Fuel-cell vehicles are considered by some to be the next big breakthrough in transportation technology. In such vehicles, a small chemical reactor converts hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, water and heat. The electricity drives a motor that powers the wheels.

There are so many sources of hydrogen, so many ways to produce hydrogen... it would be nearly impossible for ANY company to oligopolize the supply of hydrogen or its production.

In Wisconsin, companies such as Modine Manufacturing and Virent Energy are developing fuel-cell products.

Modine has 17 engineers working on its projects. The company already has played a key role in the development of prototype fuel-cell cars and buses, working with companies such as Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler.

Auto industry experts have predicted that fuel-cell-powered cars will be available for business fleets first - in the next couple of years - and to the general public in about eight years. Some have said fuel cells will overtake gasoline-powered cars by 2018.

ACTUAL cars will be on the road in the next couple of years. That's awesome! (even if it is just fleets) because like I said.. Its not important that hydrogen be able to completely replace petroleum based gas. Its just important that it provides ENOUGH of an alternative to put a dent in demand which will send shockwaves thru oil futures, the cost of oil futures will drop like a rock (who wants to hold onto crude oil futures when hydrogen is going to take a chunk out of it)

OPEC will be BEGGING us to buy their oil. The towel heads who sit there now in their OPEC board meetings and as a CARTELL agree to pump and ship less oil will be SCARED SHITLESS that in a few years we won't want their oil anymore. They'll SUDDENLY want it to be REAL cheap so we stop looking at hydrogen so hard.

17 Engineers is a LOT of staffing to devote to fuel-cell prototypes. (and that's just one company) That's proof positive that its a viable source of power. And Modine, working with Ford and Chrysler. That's what I was talking about friday when I said that the power of automobile manufacturers is a counterbalance against "big-oil"

And all of this WITHOUT the government having to fund it.

Chevron thinks that in many cases, it may be cheaper and more practical to produce hydrogen at the stations where it's pumped into vehicles than to deliver the fuel by tanker trucks.

This is HUGE... The fact that it can be produced on-site... at 10's of THOUSANDS of gas stations across the country! That makes it nearly impossible for any one company to monopolize production and distribution.



And being able to produce hydrogen on such a small scale. If people (oil companies, or gas companies) start abusing customers price-wise, starting up a hydrogen production facility would be EASY (relatively so). No harder then starting up a microbrewery for example.

Virent Energy Systems of Madison has developed a method to make hydrogen from the sugars in corn and other plants.

Virent Energy is building a prototype fuel-cell generator that could provide electricity for homes or businesses in rural areas, said Eric Apfelbach, Virent's chief executive.

The fact that you can make hydrogen from so many sources... and that hydrogen powered devices can be used to do everything from heating homes to powering vehicles.


This is exciting.

I feel like Oil companies are probably fucking us now because they know they are on the way out in 5-10 years. This is their hay-day. They are making hay while the sun shines, and they know the sun ain't gonna be shining for long.

FHL

Trendy Media-Hype of the moment

Never mind me... I'm just compiling a list of all the things over the past few years that were top headline news which were going to ravage the earth and destroy life as we know it.

Shark-Attacks
Kidnappings
Mad Cow Disease
SARS
West Nile Virus
Killer Bee's

(I'm sure I'm missing a good dozen more or so)

And now for the news media hype story of the moment!

BIRD FLU!

Give me a fucking break.