Corn is not the answer.

Perhaps it's because I live in an area big for its farming, but I've been seeing a lot about corn based ethanol being pushed as the future alternative to oil, and I have to say, it can't work. I'm not saying that ethanol is not a good, and momentarily cheaper alternative fuel, because it is. The gas station about a half mile down the road from here sells it for about a buck a gallon cheaper. The problem is that very soon, it's going to get just as pricey and rare as oil is getting. The thing is, corn takes a lot of water to produce. A lot. As it is, a lot of the farming areas around this part of the country have enough troubles getting enough water for their crops as it is. Colorado, for instance, has been in drought for years now. During certain parts of the summer, water is a very precious and expensive commodity. Now imagine a buttload of farmers suddenly changing over to corn in order to fill the need for ethanol. Assuming they can even get enough water for their corn, the price is going to go through the roof.

Of course, there's a very similar problem with turning over to hydrogen cells and the likes for powering cars. They require a lot of water to produce, not to mention the oodles of energy required to make hydrogen fuel into energy to begin with. We seem to be in a bit of a pickle really. I don't see how transportation will ever be able to be cheap again, unless someone invents a usable cold fusion or something...

I gots me a pipe!

Woo! After a life-long dream of owning a pipe (mostly due to a love of Sherlock Holmes), I finally had excuse enough to go and get one today. We're doing a little skit for a group presentation tomorrow, and I need a pipe to complete the stuffy british guy act I've got going (doing the voice, I actually sound a bit like Cameron from Ferris Bueller when he was pretending to be Sloane's dad, which is kind of neat). I don't care for smoke, so I'll probably never actually smoke it, but I absolutely love having a really cool looking pipe. Though every once in a while, while holding the pipe, I start getting Monty Python flashes of the various times when Graham Chapman would be doing something with a pipe. So weird.