September 8, 2008

There were 3 posts published on September 8, 2008 (this is page 1 of 1).

Jury don’ty

My scheduled jury duty has been bumped once again, I just found out. The computerized voice tells me I don’t report until Wednesday. I wonder what the deal is. I’d like to go and get it over with but this constant rescheduling is getting annoying. I’m happy to serve as long as I know roughly what to expect.

Also, the instructions tell me to leave my books, phones, laptop, etc in the car. What the heck am I supposed to do while I’m waiting? I’m worried that waiting will be Death By A Thousand Infomercials and I’ll have no avenue of escape. Certainly it makes blogging challenging, though if I can snag a paper and pen I’ll be set.

Algae as a fuel source

Long-time MT.Net reader ‘Mom” sent me a link to a company that’s breeding algae that produces lipids for fuel. According to Valcent, the company, one acre of New Mexico land could produce 20,000 gallons of oil annually. Watch the video to learn more.

My engineering mindset loves finding novel uses for everyday things. I loved Lloyd Godson’s biosphere experiment where he breathed oxygen generated by an algae tank. Generating fuel from algae seems like another great step.

Citizenship as a privilege

So Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell aired his racist thoughts in Sunday’s N&O story on illegal immigrants, then had to issue an apology. The debate shows that racism is alive and well in the Old North State.

I’ve got this citizenship thing figured out. Since almost everyone calling to deport undocumented immigrants did nothing more to become citizens other than being born here, I propose we make everyone take a citizenship test to be considered a citizen.

Let’s make it mandatory at age 18, like signing up for the draft, and maybe even make it expire like a driver license. If you can’t pass the citizenship test you become undocumented and subject to immediate deportation.

I’ll bet that four out of five forum posters at the N&O and WRAL story sites above would be packing their bags.

(For the record, I took the MSNBC citizenship test and scored a perfect 100%. You kids get off of my country!)