The Dark Side of Corn Ethanol

[Cedars]

This could evolve into a nightmare beyond Cuervo!

Breaking News!

Ethanol boom may fuel shortage of tequila - International Business - MSNBC.com

Whats this gonna do to Beer!

 

An unforeseen tragedy!

Gawd, I cant imagine canoeing down the river without ice cold beers to help me paddle in the heat!

 

Stock up! Horde! Do what ya gotta do to survive....

[Turtle]

This could evolve into a nightmare beyond Cuervo!

Breaking News!

Ethanol boom may fuel shortage of tequila - International Business - MSNBC.com

Whats this gonna do to Beer!

 

An unforeseen tragedy!

Gawd, I cant imagine canoeing down the river without ice cold beers to help me paddle in the heat!

 

Stock up! Horde! Do what ya gotta do to survive....

 

I don't recall you saying that you canoe before. :eek2: Rest assured that the best tequila producers won't plow their fields for some fluff in the wind trend. How often do you canoe? I like how you can tow your beers in a sack to keep them cool behind the canoe and so you don't need ice made by electricity generated by infernal combustion engines burning ethanol. Do you have your own canoe? :shrug:

[Cedars]

I don't recall you saying that you canoe before. :eek2: Rest assured that the best tequila producers won't plow their fields for some fluff in the wind trend. How often do you canoe? I like how you can tow your beers in a sack to keep them cool behind the canoe and so you don't need ice made by electricity generated by infernal combustion engines burning ethanol. Do you have your own canoe? :shrug:

 

But will I be able to AFFORD the best tequila??

 

I try to canoe at least several times a summer. I like to go during the week when I can have the river to myself. Beer goes in the cooler with ice. Cold enough to crack your teeth! Floating it behind, it gets too warm. I was hoping to go this week but we got intermittent storms blowing in and out.

 

The ex won a canoe in a raffle. He gave it to the kid after the divorce. Its only about 13 feet long but good and wide. Will fit a mom, 2 kids and the dog, fishing gear, munchies and cooler. On top of a Geo, but you gotta set it on top just right or you get yourself in trouble trying to open up the doors. The Geo will lose speed on the hills packed that tight (some times I wondered if we would have to back down and take another run at the hill). Sheesh we were a sight!! :doh:

 

I got a little truck now that we haul it around in.

[Queso]

I've got a kayak that I load up with beer and water and other things and go out onto the manatee river (that connects with the gulf of mexico but goddamn I can't go that far)

Beer's cheap. Good beer isn't. Can't drink the cheap stuff. It's just too nasty.

 

Sometimes I find other humans doing the same thing

 

we just smile and paddle

 

I'm in love with this mysterious

*******

place

[Turtle]

But will I be able to AFFORD the best tequila??

The oracle refuses to answer. :)

 

I try to canoe at least several times a summer. I like to go during the week when I can have the river to myself. Beer goes in the cooler with ice. Cold enough to crack your teeth! Floating it behind, it gets too warm. I was hoping to go this week but we got intermittent storms blowing in and out.

 

The ex won a canoe in a raffle. He gave it to the kid after the divorce. Its only about 13 feet long but good and wide. Will fit a mom, 2 kids and the dog, fishing gear, munchies and cooler. On top of a Geo, but you gotta set it on top just right or you get yourself in trouble trying to open up the doors. The Geo will lose speed on the hills packed that tight (some times I wondered if we would have to back down and take another run at the hill). Sheesh we were a sight!! :cup:

 

I got a little truck now that we haul it around in.

 

That telling matches any of yours on birds. :hyper: I haven't canoed in over twenty years, and then it was a 16 footer I helped my Dad build of wooden fruit basket hoops and canvas. Too many yarns to spin for this haul, but I wouldn't mind trying canoeing using a technique my cousin Johnny used back East. What he did was to lash 2 canoes together side by side the way an outrigger is lashed to a canoe in the S Pacific. He carried his seeds (apple, not corn) in one canoe and his self & vittles in the other. Sounds good & stable and a bit easier on a bum back. I know; twice as expensive. We'll see. :)

[Cedars]

That telling matches any of yours on birds. :P I haven't canoed in over twenty years, and then it was a 16 footer I helped my Dad build of wooden fruit basket hoops and canvas. Too many yarns to spin for this haul, but I wouldn't mind trying canoeing using a technique my cousin Johnny used back East. What he did was to lash 2 canoes together side by side the way an outrigger is lashed to a canoe in the S Pacific. He carried his seeds (apple, not corn) in one canoe and his self & vittles in the other. Sounds good & stable and a bit easier on a bum back. I know; twice as expensive. We'll see.

 

Canvas bottomed would scare me. Too many sharp rocks in parts of my river to tear a hole and just ruin my attitude for the day.

 

I have access to a 17 footer that has outriggers you can attach via keypins. We have talked about a group float using the little canoe for baggage, lashed in the middle of two 17 footers (so everyone can reach the beer). Alas not everyone has been able to get the same days off work to coordinate such an event.

 

Years ago I used to paddle upstream and float down. Now that the kid has the DL (5 years or so) we get dropped off upstream and float down to the waiting car/truck. Life is good.

[Turtle]

Canvas bottomed would scare me. Too many sharp rocks in parts of my river to tear a hole and just ruin my attitude for the day.

 

I have access to a 17 footer that has outriggers you can attach via keypins. We have talked about a group float using the little canoe for baggage, lashed in the middle of two 17 footers (so everyone can reach the beer). Alas not everyone has been able to get the same days off work to coordinate such an event.

 

Years ago I used to paddle upstream and float down. Now that the kid has the DL (5 years or so) we get dropped off upstream and float down to the waiting car/truck. Life is good.

 

Yep; the canvas makes for extra caution. You get some protection from the thick marine paint coating, and repair & repaint annually.

 

Another idea for the 'between' of your 17 footers is stretched netting with a canvas cover. Makes a lounge area as well as 'dry' storage. Also, the 'between' makes a great place to put a mast & rig a sail. Never tried it yet myself, but I've seen plenty of plans for sail rigs in canoes. You'll need to add sideboards if you want to sail, and a canoe with a bit of keel to it will help keep the thing from slewing badly.

 

If I bought 2 canoes for this, I would like aluminum for durability but hate it for noisiness, and like plastic for quietness and show some pessimism about its durability.

 

Hope that's all corny enough.

[Turtle]

back on the dark side of corn ethanol other than no tequilla is the fact it's just a bad use of resources.

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/sustain2.htm ...One gigawatt of electrical generation requires 0.3 mi2 as a nuclear reactor or 1000 mi2 as biomass. Good start! Oil palm produces 635 gallons/acre-year of biodiesel. Will Tuvalu hold the US in its jungle grease grip? NEVER! Avocado is good for 287 gal/acre-yr, but most of that choice fuel real estate is growing marijuana in Humboldt County. (Don't tell the War on Drugs.) Opium poppy could yield 124 gal/acre-year as a Federally-subsidized Afghani monopoly (and not compromise opium production, seed oil versus seed pot latex).

 

The worst biofuel crop, worse than prairie grass, is... wait for it... corn at 18 gallons/acre-year. Biodiesel is a net negative energy bad joke. Fuel ethanol is a thermodynamic armpit compared to biodiesel. Win the war on fuel manufacture! Our fuel tanks will not be terrorized by thermodynamics unless we cut and run. ...

 

I couldn't have said it better myself. :thumbs_up

[Cedars]

back on the dark side of corn ethanol other than no tequilla is the fact it's just a bad use of resources.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself. :)

 

Where I live, I am into a 2nd year of drought. Last year it was buffered by a couple of critical rains. This year I have mowed my lawn twice and the second mowing was only a partial. This last two weeks has been really bad as I am seeing hardy plants in deeply shaded areas withering now. Rains that move thru the state last week missed me. Corn is looking very poor in some fields around me.

 

12 week US drought animation:

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/12_week.gif

[Turtle]

Where I live, I am into a 2nd year of drought. Last year it was buffered by a couple of critical rains. This year I have mowed my lawn twice and the second mowing was only a partial. This last two weeks has been really bad as I am seeing hardy plants in deeply shaded areas withering now. Rains that move thru the state last week missed me. Corn is looking very poor in some fields around me.

 

12 week US drought animation:

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/12_week.gif

 

Do they not use irrigation in Minnesota? Or has the drought reduced the irrigation water availability? :eek2:

[Cedars]

Do they not use irrigation in Minnesota? Or has the drought reduced the irrigation water availability? :eek2:

 

Most of the farms around me do not have irrigation set-ups. You see more irrigation south and west of my location.

 

There is talk of restrictions on using Mississippi waters for crop irrigation in this state. The Mississippi in the twin cities is running at 1/3 of normal. I do not know how other states regulate their waters. The reports on the news are not carrying info on the other big rivers such as Minnesota river and Red rivers.

 

Current figures for Minnesota:

Eighty-two percent of the state is now rated abnormally dry, while 35 percent is in moderate drought and 24 percent is in severe drought, according to the drought center. Only 18 percent of the state is close to normal.

 

This time of the year is the crucial corn development stage.

[Turtle]

Most of the farms around me do not have irrigation set-ups. You see more irrigation south and west of my location.

 

There is talk of restrictions on using Mississippi waters for crop irrigation in this state. The Mississippi in the twin cities is running at 1/3 of normal. I do not know how other states regulate their waters. The reports on the news are not carrying info on the other big rivers such as Minnesota river and Red rivers.

 

Current figures for Minnesota:

Eighty-two percent of the state is now rated abnormally dry, while 35 percent is in moderate drought and 24 percent is in severe drought, according to the drought center. Only 18 percent of the state is close to normal.

 

This time of the year is the crucial corn development stage.

 

My only experience with corn farming is in Nebraska where farmers have their own wells which tap the Ogallala aquifer. Time to read up on its current condition as many Moons have past since my last sojourn there. Here's a starter on the aquifer, and a rain dance for you too. :eek2: >> Ogallala Aquifer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia