So, it's been a while. Been busy. I had to turn in a draft of my proposal to my adviser today, so that has been taking up much of my time. As soon as he gives the word, it goes to the rest of the committee. Hopefully he can get through it quickly.

Patrick O'Grady says it best: "Euro-pro cycling is not a sporting event, but a rolling crime scene." It's a fucking trainwreck and I can't look away. At least some other sports are about to get in the mix. MLB and USADA said, "that there were signs that none of their athletes wiould be found to have been involved in the sprawling distribution network that involved drugs from China." Huh? I'll bet that the signs are that they ARE involved. That or MLB paid enough money to have that evidence disappear. Here Barry. Here Barry....

Anyways, hybrid cars are dead. E85 too. Long live diesel. They have actually shown that people buy the current crop of hybrids as image statements, and that they never pay for themselves in gas saved. Yes, they use a few percent less in gas and burn cleaner, but diesels use somewhere around 30% less over their lifetime, and have higher resale value. Honda is even dropping the Accord Hybrid (It actually gets worse mileage than the standard V6) and they are going to replace it with a diesel. Nissan is introducing a diesel Titan in 2009 I think. Volkswagen makes a V10 diesel for the Toureg in Europe. It has more torque than the Cummins diesel that comes in the Ram 2500. Burns cleaner and gets better mileage. It's about time. These aren't the clackity diesels of the 70s. In January the US switched over to ultra-clean diesel and now manufactures are going to finally start developing them. Audi has been running diesels in their Le Mans race cars for the past couple of years and blowing everyone away. I'm tempted to find an old Canadian 4Runner in diesel... Switch it to biodiesel. Yeah baby...

What republicans are hypocrites?

Has anyone else noticed the similarities between Bush and Ahmadinejad? They are both right wing religious nut jobs. They are both unpopular in their own countries. They both say really, really stupid things. They both have gone against the wishes of the UN. They both rose to power by appealing to a scared, rural, intolerant, undereducated, and fundamentalist religious base. They both believe that they are leading their country to the end of times and the second coming. Ahmadinejad is Iran's Georg Bush... Scary. We are so fucked.


cheers,
J