On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 10:26:47 -0700, Trevor Jones
wrote:
snip
My read on the story is that the reporter is one of those half retarded
souls that can barely figure out how a toaster works, and that he/she/it
is shocked that a bunch of guys that get poor grades in academic classes
should somehow be able to make something of themselves. A bit insulting,
really.
snip
There are different areas of intelegence and expertese. The
error is to assume your area of expertese is the only one.
Reporters because they are very good at language seem to be prone
to this. This is also the major problem with the
no-child-left-behind program whereby everyone will go to college
and be a tax accountant or stock broker.

I point out in passing that bio-diesel and SVO [straight
vegetable oil] are inherently low [and in many cases no] sulphur
fuels. I understand that the oil change intervals can be
extended for diesel engines using these fuels because of the low
sulphur [acid] build up in the oil. Again, our failure to
implement this solution shows the desire to do nothing and blame
"outside influences" for our problems.

A question worth asking in view of the huge profits made by the
oil companies over the last few months is what are they doing
with the money? They are not paying dividends and do not seem to
be reinvesting any of it back into renewable domestic fuels.
Remember in the 70s when this question came up and they were all
going to reinvent fuel production and invest in newer more
efficient refineries? The only think I know they did was buy
Zilog [ computer chip manufacturer that was Intel's big rival]
and precede to put them out of business by management.

Does the phrase "don't p*** on my leg and then tell me its
raining" resonate? Fool me once shame on you -- fool me twice
shame on me.




Unka George
(George McDuffee)

What a country calls its vital economic interests are not
the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things
which enable it to make war. Petrol is more likely than wheat
to be a cause of international conflict.
Simone Weil (1909-43), French philosopher, mystic.
«The Power of Words», in Nouveaux Cahiers (1 and 15 April 1937;
repr. in Selected Essays, ed. by Richard Rees, 1962)