Ethanol and Other Myths

If you listen to the environmentalists, you would think that E85 ethanol was the panacea that was going to save the planet. Only here at the Blogway Boys will you hear the real story of ethanol.

E85 ethanol is a bio-fuel incorporating 85% ethanol (a fuel distilled from corn in the USA) and 15% gasoline. This concoction is supposed to lessen our dependence on foreign oil and make the USA energy independent. One thing we have here in the USA is lots of corn. Here are the facts:

• It currently takes 1 gallon of oil to grow and produce 1.35 gallons of ethanol
• Ethanol must then be trucked to the filling stations (seems that putting it in a pipeline degrades the ethanol)
• The end result is that by the time you pump it into your tank, it takes a little over a gallon of oil to produce and ship each gallon of ethanol.

O-kay, so we aren't saving the planet with ethanol, but here comes myth number two. Ethanol is cheaper than gasoline. Not so fast:

• The Federal Government subsidizes the ethanol industry to the tune of $6 to $8 billion dollars a year ... that is the only reason that ethanol is a little cheaper than gasoline.
• Your car gets lower gas mileage with ethanol than with gasoline (about 6 miles per gallon less).
• Ethanol production is pushing the price of corn up (from about $2.50 a bushel to $3.15 and will go higher as more ethanol plants open up)
• The price of corn also effects the price of milk, eggs and meat as farmers and ranchers must pay more for feed for their stock.
• As more farm acreage is turned over to corn, the price of other grains and vegetables is going up (because supply is going down).

Well if you put it that way ... I guess it isn't cheaper than gasoline. But what about it being a renewable resource? Fact:

• Each acre of corn produces 500 gallons of ethanol a year.
• The US consumes 19.6 million gallons of oil per day
• Do the math ... If every acre of the US were converted to corn production we would still fall about 2 months short of our yearly usage

So what do we do? First thing is we need to start building nuclear power plants again. We would probably need about 150 new plants to cover our electricity needs. We also need to put the $8 billion of ethanol subsidies into the development of hydrogen fuel cells. A car can run hundreds of miles on just pennies worth of hydrogen and emit only a little water out of its' tailpipe.

We need to stop living in dreamland and start making the real world a better place for us and our kids to live in.

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Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Now what the heck does that title mean? Well, paraskevi is Greek for Friday and dekatria is Greek for thirteen. Most people know that a phobia is an unreasonable fear. Soooo ... paraskevidekatriaphobia is the egghead way of saying fear of Friday the 13th.

If you go out and ask people if anything bad has happened to them on Friday the 13th, you will probably get a considerable amount of them saying yes. Of course, the same number of people probably had bad things happen to them on Tuesday the 23rd ... but since that isn't an "unlucky day", they probably don't remember the date. But why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky? Come step into the Blogway Boys basement and learn something.

On Friday, October 13th, 1307 Jaques de Molay, the head of the Knights Templar, and 60 of his senior knights were arrested by King Phillip IV of France. They were subsequently tortured, "confessed" and were executed. Now while this was extremely unlucky for these knights ... no ... I checked, it doesn't affect me at all.

Or ...

12 Gods were having a feast in the hallowed halls of Asgard when Loki (god of mischief) crashed the party as the 13th guest and tricked Hod (the blind god of darkness) into shooting Baldur (the god of joy and gladness) with a mistle-toe tipped arrow and killing him. This plunged the world into despair ... but no ... still doesn't affect me.

Or ...

Judas was the 13th person to the last supper ... he betrayed Jesus ... and Christ was crucified on Good Friday. Once again, bad luck for the Christ ... but since he died for our sins, I guess good luck for the rest of the world.

It is estimated that $800 to $900 million dollars is lost to the economy because of this silly superstition. Some people don't go to work, they refuse to fly and they don't make major purchases on the 13th. So maybe it isn't lucky for business at all. It has become a self-fulfilling prophesy.

So, what bad things have happened to you on Friday the 13th?

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