An article in F1000 Biology Reports published today argues that recent advances in knowledge mean that plant-derived biofuels could meet about 30 percent of the global demand for liquid transportation fuels, drastically reducing the amounts of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, without having an impact on food production.
(via The Wonderful People In Power Are At It Again: What Is CISPA And How Is It Like SOPA)

Professor Laurie Maguire says the latest literary research shows groups of writers working together on plays.
“The picture that’s emerging is of much more collaboration,” said Prof Maguire.
“We need to think of it more as a film studio with teams of writers.”
We don’t make this stuff up. Esquire’s recent article on “The War Against Youth” is shocking, but not for the reason you’d expect after reading that headline…. According to the article, Social Security is a “boondoggle” that is “weighted heavily in favor of the older population.
….
Dean Baker sums up the article pretty well:
“[It] is a shameful effort to transform the realities of class war, where the wealthy have been rigging the rules to secure themselves most of the gains from economic growth, into a generational issue. The combination of ignorance and dishonesty in this piece is truly extraordinary.
Indeed.
‘Tis the season for collecting sunflower oddities… I’ve done sunflower art car, Van Gogh inspired sunflower Barbie, sunflower martini, sunflower geodesic, etc. Uncle Walter’s Sunflower Babies is a perennial favorite. This year it’s the sunflower hat cake, courtesy of The House of Cakes,
Mountainair Arts, Saturday August 15 2009
http://mountainairarts.blogspot.com/