Housing Affordability and Transportation and Clinton Growth

As I recently mentioned, and as many have already heard, there are a lot of good things happening in Clinton with regards to economic growth and new-business. Taken together they have the potential to add anywhere from 600-1200 jobs to the community in the next 2-4 years. There have been several instances in the last few weeks where I have talked to people who are new to the Clinton-area business community who have chosen to not live in Clinton. Most commonly they are living in Bettendorf and commuting. With a bunch of new jobs coming to town we need to work on convincing potential new residents to live in Clinton, not the Quad Cities.

There are many factors that influence the potential new resident's (or, in many cases the new resident's spouse's) decision-making. I would speculate that the top five are, in no particular order: smell, schools, parks and recreation, proximity to shopping, and perception of existing housing stock.

We need to make a concerted effort in Clinton to address these perceptions, some of which are just plain false or at least fixable. The smell thing is really not an issue unless one lives close to the industrial zone. Prevailing winds ensure that on the vast majority of days, most people in town do not detect any industrial odors.

County-wide Clinton schools are better than Scott County schools. According to school statistics website psk12.com, Clinton County elementary schools score 149.5 overall with 76.5 in Grade 4 Reading and 73.0 in Grade 4 Math. Compared to Scott County's ranking of 148.0, 71.1 and 69.7, respectively. If one compares apples to apples, one of the better Clinton Elementary schools, Whittier Elementary scores 159.5 overall, 78.2 in 4th Grade Reading, and 81.3 in 4th Grad Math. The best elementary school in Bettendorf, Paul Norton Elementary, scores 164.8, 85.5, and 79.3. So, the "right" school in the "right" neighborhood in Clinton is very comparable to a similarly situated school in Bettendorf for the purposes of the well-heeled, while the average worker is probably going to find his or her children better off in Clinton.

But there is another factor to look at that is not well acknowledged but that can help make a compelling case for living in Clinton rather than the QCA. Transportation costs. A new initiative, co sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the Center for Neighborhood Technology is working on a Housing and Transportation Affordability Index.

Transportation costs are a significant part of the average household budget. The average transportation expenditures for the median income household in the US in 2003 was 19.1%—the highest expenditure after housing. The Center for Transit-Oriented Development's Affordability Index recognizes this fact: living in a particular location is implicitly associated with transportation costs to get to that location.

What they are saying is that proximity of the home to the most commonly accessed parts of the city makes the home more affordable. Clinton housing is already very affordable, but when compared to fuel prices, it begins to look even more so.

This is backed up by recent core inflationay data which shows that transportation costs make up the second largest segment of household spending next to housing. Furthermore, transportation costs have been one of the most inflation prone segments of the economy in recent years, as the below image from the always useful Barry Ritholtz illustrates.




I would think that what is called for is a well put-together series of talking points and brochures distributed via the Chamber of Commerce and the local realty community basically arguing the above with the transportation costs as the kicker.

You can paint the prospect a picture thusly: Let's say you are a young degreed professional moving to the Clinton area to take one of the new jobs. Let's suppose your income is $50,000/year. Furthermore, let's say you are fairly switched-on individual and drive a spanking new Toyoto Highlander Hybrind, which gets a whopping 28 MPG on the Highway between the Bettendorf Suburbs and Clinton. Your daily round-trip drive is approximately 90 miles. Let's say unleaded (ethanol added, of course) gas averages $3.00 a gallon over the next three years. Five days a week, 49 weeks a year times three years equals... $2,876.06. Combine that with the average housing cost of Clinton vs. Bettendorf you could easily be saving close to ten thousand dollars over the next three years, or six percent of your GROSS income. Take that money and apply it to a weekly shopping spree down at the malls in the QCA.

Hard-Hitting Ads We'll Never See.

First, check out this very funny ad from the U.K. (QuickTime plugin required. Never would have known it was a Greenpeace ad until the final crawl. I'd gladly kick in $20 or so to help put such and ad (edited for US sensibilities) on the air here. But the truth is, no local station would dare take Greenpeace's money on that for fear of alienating their second largest (next to phama) client base, the auto dealerships

Now, check out this new ad from MoveOn.org. Tough, hard hitting stuff, eh? A progressive or neutral person would probably welcome such a gloves-off approach to telling it like it is with regard to the culture of corruption. This is the fourth wave in a series of ads Move On has put on against targeted GOP congrescritters with voting records that correlate closely with their contributors' interests. Chances of seeing this particular ad in the districts of Rep. Deborah Price (R-Oh.),Rep. Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.), Rep. Thelma Drake (R-VA.), and Rep. Chris Chocola (R-Ind.)? Zero.

As reported by In These Times:

The targeted Congress members are crying foul.

In Indiana, Rep. Chocola expressed his anger that the ads have implicated him in voting in the interests of big oil, which contributed $80,000 to his campaigns, and the pharmaceutical industry, which has contributed $48,500. He denounced MoveOn as “a radical group that does not share the views or values of the people of the 2nd district.”

In Connecticut, Rep. Johnson hit back with an ad attacking MoveOn: “A radical group whose ads have been called ‘shameful’ and misleading’ is at it again. … this group compared America’s leaders to Nazis.” That Nazi comment refers to one of 15,000 ads submitted in 2004 to the MoveOn.org Web site as part of a contest. The ad was subsequently taken down by MoveOn.

Rushing to the defense of the GOP incumbents, the Republican National Committee went on the offensive on June 9, apparently supplpricethe Pryce, Dchoicelyd Chocola campaigns with text for a letter that the campaigns could send to stations that ran MoveOn’s ads.

The letter Drake for Congress sent stations read in part:

The newest ad attacks Congresswoman Drake personally for allegedly protecting war profiteers and goes on to implicitly accuse the congresswoman of taking bribes. These ads are reckless, malicious and false, casting Ms. Drake in a false light by accusing him [sic!] of unsubstantiated criminal conduct. We also believe the republication of these allegations by your organization … subjects your organization to the same potential liability for defamation as MoveOn.org.

In Virginia, Cox Communications, citing “business risks,” agreed to stop running the ad attacking Rep. Drake. Thom Prevette, a Cox Communications spokesman and vice president, told Norfolk’s Virginian-Pilot, “In this case, it’s prudent for us to discontinue running those ads for business reasons.” Uh huh? Turns out that in 2004, Prevette contributed $500 to Drake’s campaign, as did another Cox Vice-President, Franklin R. Bowers.

And in Indiana, South Bend’s WSBT-TV, a CBS affiliate, pulled thechoicelyacking Rep. Chocola, while in Connecticut, Hartford’s NBC affiliate WVIT refused to take the ad. No conflicts of interest to report there—yet.

But the GOP had its greatest success cowing the media in Columbus, Ohio.

Two Sinclair-owned stations, the ABC-affiliate WSYX-TV and the Fox affiliate WTTE-TV, pulled the ads. In response, MoveOn’s Pariser issued this statement: “Isn’t it ironic the Swift Boat Veterans can lie on Sinclair-owned affiliates, but the public is shut out from learning information in the pprice record about Rep. Pryce?”

And the GE/NBC-affiliate in Columbus WCMH-TV declined MoveOn’s ad dollars as well. According to a spokesman, the station “in consultation with legal counsel, made the decision not to accept the ad.” During the 2004 election, WCMH-TV did accept ads from the Swift Boat Veterans.

The Time-Warner cable station WSYX-TV in Columbus apriceefused to run the anti-Pryce ads. Turns out, Time Warner Cable’s Columbus Division president Rhonda Fraas has contributed a total of $2,000 to GOP candidates in Ohio since 2003. So much for the liberal media.

Yet the most glaring conflict of interest involves WBNS-TV in Columbus, where General Manager Tom Griesdorn pullpricee ad that attacked Rep. Pryce for protecting the oil industry from price gouging legislation and that linked her to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

So, to my conservative and libertarian leaning friends: What does this say about the "money equals speech" doctrine and continued defense of the status quo of campaign finance and advertising rules? If all the money in the world can't buy you access to TV stations if the message is at odds with the business philosophy or interests of the station owners, where is the level playing field?

I'll defend to the death your right to air whatever you want as long as it is a two-way street, but when stations can play favorites and get away with it then the system is completely broken.

Econ. Development and IA Gov. Candidate Fundraising

Work has been busy as heck; annual review and some interesting prospects that need to be won. I've been really tired in the evenings and sleeping in, so not much posting activity.

There should be some very interesting Clinton economic development news breaking soon. One item is more or less a done deal and would be a very nice piece of add on business growth. There is something else that is rather amorphous in nature (the prospect wishes to remain anonymous at this time) but the scope looks rather large. As in any sales effort -- which is what this is at the end of the day -- nothing can be banked on until pens meet paper and holes are dug in the ground.

Politics seems to be on a bit of hiatus until the traditional Labor Day starting gun sounds. The gubernatorial fundraising disclosures came out last week. Krusty Konservative did a write up (bless).

Chet Culver
Dollars Raised During Period: $1,404,789.59
Number of Contributions: 334
Average Contribution: $4,205.78

Total Out-of-State Contributions: $789,185.00
Out-of-State %: 56.18% of total money raised

Total from Iowa Special Interest: $350,393.59
Iowa Special Interest %: 24.94%

Total from Iowa Individuals: $265,151.00
Number of Iowa Contributions: 236
Iowa Individual %: 18.89%
Current Cash on Hand: $1,252,605.21

Jim Nussle
Dollars Raised During Period: $456,367.79
Number of Contributions: 3006
Average Contribution: $151.82

Total Out-of-State Contributions: $119,776.67
Out-of-State %: 26.24%

Total from Iowa Special Interest: $34,700.00
Iowa Special Interest %: 7.6%

Total from Iowa Individuals: $296,679.65
Number of Iowa Contributions: 2901
Iowa Individual %: 65.01%
Current Cash on Hand: $1,512,026.39

The good news for Culver is that he is at rough parity with regards to cash-on-hand. The bad news is that he looks like a tool of special interests and rich people. Kida hard to run against Nussle as a tool of special interests and rich people when you get a quarter of your cash from PAC's and only have 236 Iowa contributors compared to Nussle's eight percent and 2901. That's kinda f****d up.

Hot Enough For Ya?

Of course here in Iowa we are used to this sort of thing in July and August. But it is hot all over, baby.


According to the National Climactic Data Center the first half of 2006, January through June, was the warmest first half of a year since records began in 1895, with temperatures in North America a whopping 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit above average. The next hottest year? 2005.

Globally, according to NASA, 2005 was the hottest on record, with the top five being filled out by 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004.

Campaign '08: Feingold in Clinton

The first in what will no doubt be a nauseatingly long series of coverage of presidental campaign events.

The hopefuls are already starting to troop through. Outgoing Gov. George Pataki, of New York was in Maquoketa stumping for LaMetta Wynn a few weeks back and he is staffing up already. Senator Evan Bayh also has a staffer on the ground already. He was in town two Fridays ago and I couldn't attend as we were on our way out.

Russ Feingold, the Junior Senator from Wisconsin, was in town Sunday for a small gathering of Democratic Party leaders which included your humble reporter. Feingold represents the progressive wing of the party from a state where being progressive has meant something for going on a hundred years now. Feingold has voted against almost every centerpiece of the Administration's agenda: from No Child Left Behind, to the Iraq Force Resolution, the Patriot Act, and Medicare Part D. However, he's not just a "No" man. He co-sponsored the McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act, deeply flawed as passed but a much needed start to campaing finance reform. He has had a strong record of introducing interesting legislation, while never mincing words about the Administration's failures of vision and policy. All of this has led him to become the darling of the blogsphere and of progressive Democrats in general. Among online party activists he is polling in the number one or two position in all the straw polls and interest in him among the legacy rank and file membership is very high.

I literally rolled out of bed to go to this event and ended up walking in the door with him. I didn't take any notes. He stayed for about an hour and took seven or eight questions. Most were on the war and the Lebanon kerfuffle the rest on meat-and-potato stuff like education, healthcare, etc. He mentioned energy policy but never gave any details.

Feingold is advocating (along with a number of Democrats) pulling American forces out of Iraq on a schedule to take place one year from date X. There are a lot of things wrong with this idea. However, as we continue down the road in the region with no real improvement or potential for improvement in sight, this looks more and more like the least terrible idea available.

He did not exude or display much of the wonkish, knows-the-issues-inside-and-out quality that gets geeks like me all hot and bothered. But that's all right because, what he does have in spades is the Democratic version of what George Bush has (or had); a very down home manner (in a Midwestern sense as opposed to the faux-Texan of Bush) that inspires confidence that this is a person with a strong moral compass who means what he says and does what he says. But, you know, more warm and cuddly and liberal-like.

Loyal readers will assume that I asked a question about energy, but I didn't. I wanted to but couldn't get a second question in. Instead I asked him about what he thought of the increasing sophisitcation of terrorist groups like Hizullah with regards to Israel and Lebanon and if he had any knowledge of things like Fourth Generation Warfare and how that might fit into his plans to get us out of Iraq. To his credit, he admitted that he wasn't familliar with 4GW (see previous post) but did say that we had to begin to rely more on soft power than on the military to deal with these brutes and that a lot of the problem in Israel is due to the fact that a) the Administration can't walk and chew gum at the same time (my words, not his) and that b) Iran and Syria know this and that is why they are getting frisky.

Otherwise, he was pretty much all about what we will expect from (the competent) candidates in 2008; fix the healthcare system, fix or repeal No Child Left Behind, balance the budget, clean up the culture of corruption, etc.

One original idea that he mentioned that I thought was interesting was a bill he will introduce that will allow proposals for experimental pilot programs -- he mentioned three -- for statewide universal healthcare programs to be partially financed by the federal government, presumably through existing Medicare transfers funds. That's just the kind of persistent experimentation that I like to see.

That's about it. I think most of the pundits will be trying to write him off as a Kucinich-esque no-hoper from the left wing of the party. As a twiced-divorced jewish man, he's got a bit of a cultural bunker to play out of. But, I don't think any of that is going to matter with regards to the strength of his candidacy. Feingold has LOTS of grassroots support and he is far more intelligent and serious a candidate and legislator than Kucinich was. His campaign will rise or fall on his message and his strengths as a candidate. Right now, I'm saying I like what I see but it is too soon to tell.

Can't leave you kids alone for a minute.

I deliberately did not pick up a paper or watch TV (none of the latter to be had anyway) for the past five days. I did sneak a peak at the Guardian's football page to find out how the World Cup final ended up. Things didn't work out schedule-wise and I spent most of the time the game was on wandering around the Pine Ridge Reservation looking for a place to watch it. Wanna see the definition of a blank stare? Walk into a bar on an Indian reservation and ask them to put on the World Cup.

Anyhoo... So, I fire up the old laptop this morning to catch up on things and find that I had driven back in time to 1982. It would be trite and yet sadly true to cop the typical Middle American attitude towards the Arab-Israeli conflict, e.g. "They're all fucking nuts, let them just slaughter each other and be done with it." But, we can't do that as we are all quite hip deep in the entire matter and there is that pesky carotid artery of oil flowing from the region.

I'd like to make a quick point about this. It is really sort of a meta-comment on the entire mess that has been going on in that region for the last couple of months. This guy Jamie K at Blood and Treasure points to an anonymous source who writes:

…the capture of Israeli troops, first one in the south, then two in the north, has galvanized Israel. The kidnappings represent a level of Arab tactical prowess that previously was the Israeli domain. They also represent a level of tactical slackness on the Israeli side that was previously the Arab domain. These events hardly represent a fundamental shift in the balance of power. Nevertheless, for a country that depends on its cultural superiority, any tremor in this variable reverberates dramatically. Hamas and Hezbollah have struck the core Israeli nerve. Israel cannot ignore it.

It had to happen sometime I suppose but the terrorists are actually getting smart. It probably has a lot to do with the very harsh,Darwiniann world of being a terrorist. Suicide bombers notwithstanding, if one wants to have a long and ordistinguishedd career in the global jihad business one needs to be very smart and very tacticallysophisticatedd. The dumb ones tend to get weeded out pretty fast. There are a lot of very smart, very tactically and technically sophisticated people with the financial backing of very large nation states trying to kill them all the time.

And what I fear is thatHezbollahh, Hamas, et. al. have finally begun to take seriously the notions of Fourth Generation or Open Source Warfare. I would urge readers to spend some time exploring those two links as well as bookmarking John Robb'sexcellentt site, Global Guerillas which I have linked in the sidebar as well.

The essential concepts of 4th Generation War aren't anything new. It is really just old-school guerilla tactics and cell-based organization mixed in with the speed and depth of the information resources of networks taking place in the environment of the globalized, interdependent economy and mediasphere. The result is a force multiplier that makes it possible for non-state combatants, i.e.Hezbollahh and AlQaidaa to negate the huge technological and force advantages of traditional military powers, i.e. the U.S. and Israel.

From the Defense in the National Interest Website:

Perhaps most odd of all, being seen as too successful militarily may create a backlash, making the opponent's other elements of 4GW more effective.

The authors of the first paper on the subject captured some of this strangeness when they predicted:

The distinction between war and peace will be blurred to the vanishing point. It will be nonlinear, possibly to the point of having no definable battlefields or fronts. The distinction between 'civilian' and 'military' may disappear.

If indeed it is the case thatHezbollahh, et. al. have finally started getting smart about this kind of thing, and there is evidence that they are, then we are in for some interesting times. And I mean in the Chinese sense.

872 Miles in 16 hours.

With three kids. It can be done but only if the children are angels, which fortunatley mine are. But any way you cut it Rapid City, SD to Clinton, IA in one go is a real long haul. Everyone gets a bit goofy near the end.

Badlands.

Let's say you are a 17th Century French trapper coming up the Missouri River Valley. Or, more likely, you are just some 19th Century schmuck wending his or her way westward to start a new life in the Dakotas. When you left the trailhead back in Omaha, they told you to, "Beware the Badlands."

You took this advice dutifully but then after about a month or so of day after day of this:
You would settle for badlands, indifferent lands, anything to releive the tedium of day after day of miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles of grass.

So, a day or so later, you see something on the horizon. You think to yourself, or more probably just out loud so that you can hear a voice, any voice; Some mountains perhaps? Are these the Black Hills so soon? Pushing on, you crest a slight rise and you are faced with this:


Oh, shit. That's gonna take weeks to go around. You spend a day or so pushing further north a bit, but it only gets worse:


Better hope you topped off the water tanks at those many creeks a couple of weeks ago.

Oh! What a wonder is a competitive free market system without externalities.

Something to leave you with as we pile the kids into the van and venture forth to South Dakota. Might be some road blogging, but probably not.

Via Brad DeLong, Jerome K. Jerome's, Diary of a Pilgrimage

What a wonderful piece of Socialism modern civilisation has become!--not the Socialism of the so-called Socialists--a system modelled apparently upon the methods of the convict prison--a system under which each miserable sinner is to be compelled to labour, like a beast of burden, for no personal benefit to himself, but only for the good of the community--a world where there are to be no men, but only numbers--where there is to be no ambition and no hope and no fear,--but the Socialism of free men, working side by side in the common workshop, each one for the wage to which his skill and energy entitle him; the Socialism of responsible, thinking individuals, not of State-directed automata.

Here was I, in exchange for the result of some of my labour, going to be taken by Society for a treat, to the middle of Europe and back. Railway lines had been laid over the whole 700 or 800 miles to facilitate my progress; bridges had been built, and tunnels made; an army of engineers, and guards, and signal-men, and porters, and clerks were waiting to take charge of me, and to see to my comfort and safety. All I had to do was to tell Society (here represented by a railway booking-clerk) where I wanted to go, and to step into a carriage; all the rest would be done for me. Books and papers had been written and printed; so that if I wished to beguile the journey by reading, I could do so. At various places on the route, thoughtful Society had taken care to be ready for me with all kinds of refreshment (her sandwiches might be a little fresher, but maybe she thinks new bread injurious for me). When I am tired of travelling and want to rest, I find Society waiting for me with dinner and a comfortable bed, with hot and cold water to wash in and towels to wipe upon. Wherever I go, whatever I need, Society, like the enslaved genii of some Eastern tale, is ready and anxious to help me, to serve me, to do my bidding, to give me enjoyment and pleasure. Society will take me to Ober-Ammergau, will provide for all my wants on the way, and, when I am there, will show me the Passion Play, which she has arranged and rehearsed and will play for my instruction; will bring me back any way I like to come, explaining, by means of her guide-books and histories, everything upon the way that she thinks can interest me; will, while I am absent, carry my messages to those I have left behind me in England, and will bring me theirs in return; will look after me and take care of me and protect me like a mother--as no mother ever could.

All that she asks in return is, that I shall do the work she has given me to do. As a man works, so Society deals by him.

To me Society says: "You sit at your desk and write, that is all I want you to do. You are not good for much, but you can spin out yards of what you and your friends, I suppose, call literature; and some people seem to enjoy reading it. Very well: you sit there and write this literature, or whatever it is, and keep your mind fixed on that. I will see to everything else for you. I will provide you with writing materials, and books of wit and humour, and paste and scissors, and everything else that may be necessary to you in your trade; and I will feed you and clothe you and lodge you, and I will take you about to places that you wish to go to; and I will see that you have plenty of tobacco and all other things practicable that you may desire--provided that you work well. The more work you do, and the better work you do, the better I shall look after you. You write--that is all I want you to do."

"But," I say to Society, "I don't like work; I don't want to work. Why should I be a slave and work?"

"All right," answers Society, "don't work. I'm not forcing you. All I say is, that if you don't work for me, I shall not work for you. No work from you, no dinner from me--no holidays, no tobacco."

And I decide to be a slave, and work.

Society has no notion of paying all men equally. Her great object is to encourage brain. The man who merely works by his muscles she regards as very little superior to the horse or the ox, and provides for him just a little better. But the moment he begins to use his head, and from the labourer rises to the artisan, she begins to raise his wages.

Of course hers is a very imperfect method of encouraging thought. She is of the world, and takes a worldly standard of cleverness. To the shallow, showy writer, I fear, she generally pays far more than to the deep and brilliant thinker; and clever roguery seems often more to her liking than honest worth. But her scheme is a right and sound one; her aims and intentions are clear; her methods, on the whole, work fairly well; and every year she grows in judgment.

One day she will arrive at perfect wisdom, and will pay each man according to his deserts.

But do not be alarmed. This will not happen in our time.

Bottom Line Economics on Ethanol and Gas

Boy there sure are a lot of ethanol and biodiesel plants going up around here aren't there? If one listens to a lot of politicians on both sides of the aisle, ethanol is going to allow us to replace our dependence on foreign oil and maintain our current way of life with a few small adjustments to our existing vehicles. Well, that's just a load of crap and here are the numbers.

I'm using statistics provided by Robert Rapier, a Wyoming-based chemical engineer who works in the oil industry. He outlines everything and provides sources in this post at The Oil Drum, a blog that concerns itself with peak oil and sustainability issues. I have verified all the studies and all are from government estimates and the current scholarly consensus as best as I can determine.

• Gross U.S. Corn Production (2005): 10.35 bushels - 1.95 billion bushels sold abroad = 8.4 billion bushels


• Gallons of ethanol produced per bushel of corn: 2.7


• Gallons of ethanol produced per year from entire US corn supply: 22.68 billion

My bottom-line figures differ from his a bit because I make the irrational assumption that we might still want to keep a couple of billion bushels of corn to exchange for hard currency; or even God forbid, food production. But high fructose corn syrup is going to get a whole lot more expensive. Wonder what the soft drink companies will have to say about this? Never mind, on to the rest of the numbers...

• BTU equivalent of a gallon of ethanol to a gallon of gasoline: 67%


• Gasoline equivalent of annual ethanol production from entire US corn supply: 15.19 billion gallons


• Annual US domestic gasoline demand (2005): 140 billion gallons




---



• Total percentage of US gasoline demand displaced by converting entire domestic corn crop to ethanol: 10.8%

Conclusion: Converting the entire domestically used US corn crop and converting it to ethanol and adding it to gasoline to produce E85 fuel would only cover about two thirds of the current US demand for gas.

And we haven't even gotten into the thorny details of all the petroleum-based inputs that go into producing corn. From shipping seedd to farm, planting, fertilizing (and fetilizer) to harvest, transport to ethanol plant, production and distribution of ethanol products everything is driven by gas, diesel and petroleum products. In other words, with the current energy economy we only get about break even or perhaps 30% more net energy out of a gallon of ethanol than we put into making it. This is called the energy return on energy investment or EROEI ratio. EROEI ratio for oil? Depending on how hard it is to get out of the ground, how far away etc. it is between 20 and 100.

As Rapier says in a different post:

There are even some places in the U.S. where ethanol could provide a (mildly) sustainable solution even as it is produced today. Take Iowa, for instance. Iowa has good corn yields and doesn't require irrigation. If the ethanol is produced from local corn, and is used locally (not shipped halfway across the country), the renewable portion of ethanol is increased. This may provide marginal mitigation for peak oil in certain local areas (though it is still not a highly efficient way to produce fuel). But get into areas outside the Midwest, where you have to ship corn a long way, ship ethanol a long way, and/or irrigate the corn, and ethanol rapidly becomes just a recycled fossil fuel.

Hangin' Out

Gah! What a week. Day from Hell yesterday as we had a company staff meeting in Peoria (about 2.5 hour drive from here). I drove only to Sterling, 30 miles away and had my boss/co-worker take me down there. Unfortunately after the meetings we had to go fix a server in Kewanee that had a RAID failure. What should have been a simple hard drive swap took three and-a-half hours and basically required a complete replacement of the box (RAID controller failure + controller on motherboard + 3 year warranty expired last month= new server) Ended up getting home at 8 last night after rising at 4:40 a.m.

I have also realized in the last week that all industrial and office chairs are built such that the only way to remain comfortable in them one must sit with one's legs at an generaly 90 degree angle at the knee with the feet flat on the floor or at an acute angle with the feet tucked under the seat. Trying to remain with one or more legs at an obtuse angle leaves the upper thigh pressing against the seat edge restricting circulation (especially for me who has low blood pressure, darn all that cardiovascular activity). Makes it very hard to be in a chair for anything more than fifteen minutes at a time. I've spent a very uncomfortable week.

On the positive side, slept nearly ten hours last night and awoke refresehed. Got to watch the England - Portugal match, the first Cup game I've seen since last weekend.

God, what a waste! England were so bad in this tournament and the greater sin seemed to be that they brought everyone down to their level. Portugal had the better run of play but the turgid style of the Brits seemed to affect them too and I lost count of how many good opportunities were wasted by Portuguese players failing to make or continue a good run or see a passing opportunity right in front of them. Instead it was play around the edges and cross uselessly into the box.

I think the Guardian's, Paul Doyle summed up England's comeuppance best:

...it's the same, same old story for England. Gerrard and Lampard took awful penalties, but there was big controversy over Jamie Carragher's miss. Lampard and Gerrard are motionless, broken, it's horrible and a little poignant. Rio is crying violently; fate has merked him, and it's harsh because, quietly, he had an excellent tournament. Ultimately, however, England found their level - the quarter-finals - and all the bluster and blame and bull****, particularly over Rooney's sending off, we will get over the next few days can't disguise it: that dullard idiot Eriksson has trousered £4m a year to do something that you or I could have done.

I did pick up $5 betting by next door neighbor Jeff Bron that Portugal would beat England but in all fairness to him I did say that Portugal would play them off the park, so I'll let him pay me in beers.

There's been a that English style of play in this Cup and I have to say that it is really the worst in my memory (which only goes back to 1990 really). I was greatlydisappointedd by USA's performance which brought back memories of the 1998 debacle. We are really a much better team than we showed. I think that the blame must lie largely at the feet of Bruce Arena for playing men who were clearly not up to the challenge this time around (Beasley, Reyna) and for failing to insert players who although relatively inexperiencedd at least showed an ability to put some spark into the team (Cunningham, Wolff). I think it is unquestionably time for Bruce to move on with the thanks of a grateful nation. But the question then becomes who does one replace him with? If the idea is an American coach there are damn few options other than perhaps Chivas USA (former Fire and NY) coach, Bob Bradley who I think will become the instant front-runner. Otherwise I hear MartinO'Neilll might be ready to work again. (grin)

Thanks to Larry Johnson for the kind note. I'm just loafing around the house so perhaps I will finally post the much-promised ethanol article.