Of no little importance to a prince is his choice of ministers, who are good or bad according to the prince's intelligence. In forming an opinion about a ruler's brains, the first thing is to look at the men he has around him, for when they are adequate and loyal he can be considered prudent, because he recognizes those who are competent and keeps them loyal. When they are otherwise, the prince is always to be estimated low, because the first error he makes, he makes in choosing advisers.
— Niccolò Machiavelli
Take time to look past the election rhetoric and research not only the candidate and their past track record, comparing their pre-election promises with what they have actually followed through on, but, just as importantly, who they trust to provide them with advice and guidance. Those are the keys to knowing the true candidate.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Ethanol Update
Research shows: 1) Ethanol is 20-30% less efficient than gasoline, 2) It takes more than 1 gallon of fossil fuel to create one gallon of ethanol, 3) because ethanol contains water that cannot be distilled out, shipping cannot be done by pipeline, which is the cheapest and most efficient form of transport, 4) It takes 1,700 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of ethanol, 5) it takes 450 lbs of corn (enough to feeds one person for a year) to fill up one SUV tank, 6) if all of the US corn crop were dedicated to ethanol production , it would reduce our dependence on gasoline by only 10% (see townhall). According to one estimate, the actual cost to the consumer per gallon of 85% blend ethanol in 2007 was $6.89 (see financialsense). If we’re really concerned about gas independence, we’d buy sugarcane ethanol from Brazil, which is cheaper and more efficient than corn ethanol. But Congress has done the opposite and imposed a stiff tariff on its importation.
In addition, the costs of producing corn are going up. In the past year, diammonium phosphate, commonly used as a corn fertilizer, rose from under $300 last year to $792 per ton. One of the reasons for the rise in cost is that nitrogen, an essential ingredient in fertilizer, is derived from . . .you guessed it, natural gas.
You may have noticed that the price of bread, milk, eggs, anything to do with grains or dairy products has gone up dramatically in the last year or two. You can thank ethanol for that as well, as farmers that used to feed their cows and chickens corn now use something more expensive; and by diverting corn from food to ethanol production, the price of other grains has gone up. At the same time that we use corn for non-food purposes, the US March wheat crop is selling at 79% higher than a year ago because inventories are at historic lows. In fact, the USDA projects that by June the world stocks of wheat will be at levels not seen since 1948.
It has been a minor inconvenience for US consumers, but as the world’s largest producers and exporters of grains we affect the worldwide price of these staple goods. The US food inflation rate was 4.9% last year, but in places like China, where nearly ½ of income is spent on food, prices are 18% over a year ago. The gov’t there is anticipating a shortfall in the upcoming crop, which will drive the prices up even more. South African wheat prices have risen 200% in the last year, and the Indian gov’t has recently announced a crackdown on grain hoarders.
Meanwhile, we’re feeding more and more of our corn crop to our cars. And the US Gov’t increases the demand for ethanol, by making it artificially more affordable through subsidies.
As far as I can see, the only ones getting fat are the cats in agri-business.
See also this.
In addition, the costs of producing corn are going up. In the past year, diammonium phosphate, commonly used as a corn fertilizer, rose from under $300 last year to $792 per ton. One of the reasons for the rise in cost is that nitrogen, an essential ingredient in fertilizer, is derived from . . .you guessed it, natural gas.
You may have noticed that the price of bread, milk, eggs, anything to do with grains or dairy products has gone up dramatically in the last year or two. You can thank ethanol for that as well, as farmers that used to feed their cows and chickens corn now use something more expensive; and by diverting corn from food to ethanol production, the price of other grains has gone up. At the same time that we use corn for non-food purposes, the US March wheat crop is selling at 79% higher than a year ago because inventories are at historic lows. In fact, the USDA projects that by June the world stocks of wheat will be at levels not seen since 1948.
It has been a minor inconvenience for US consumers, but as the world’s largest producers and exporters of grains we affect the worldwide price of these staple goods. The US food inflation rate was 4.9% last year, but in places like China, where nearly ½ of income is spent on food, prices are 18% over a year ago. The gov’t there is anticipating a shortfall in the upcoming crop, which will drive the prices up even more. South African wheat prices have risen 200% in the last year, and the Indian gov’t has recently announced a crackdown on grain hoarders.
Meanwhile, we’re feeding more and more of our corn crop to our cars. And the US Gov’t increases the demand for ethanol, by making it artificially more affordable through subsidies.
As far as I can see, the only ones getting fat are the cats in agri-business.
See also this.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
What do you do to cope?
"Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. It wears us out by multiplying distractions and beats us down destroying our solitude, where otherwise we might drink and renew our strength, before going out to face the world again. "The thoughtful soul to solitude retires," said the poet of other and quieter times; but where is the solitude to which we can retire today? "Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still," is a wise and healing counsel; but how can it be followed in this day of the newspaper, the telephone, the radio and television? These modern playthings, like pet tiger cubs, have grown so large and dangerous that they threaten to devour us all. What was intended to be a blessing has become a positive curse. No spot is now safe from the world's intrusion. The need for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today. What the world will do about it is their problem. Apparently the masses want it the way it is, and the majority of Christians are so completely conformed to this present age that they, too, want things the way they are. They may be annoyed a bit by the clamor and by the goldfish-bowl existence they live, but apparently they are not annoyed enough to do anything about it." A.W. Tozer Of God and Men
The book from which this excerpt comes was published in 1960. It was the last year for the Ford Edsel, and the first Mustang wouldn't come out for another 4 years. That 'stang would sell for $2,368 off the showroom floor. It was a time before CDs and Ipods; cable TV, satellite TV, VHS, DVDs and blueray; desktops and laptops with highspeed internet access; pagers, cellphones, bluetooth and smartphones. London is now beginning to install padding on their lamp posts, as one pedestrian in 10 is injured, too busy texting to see where they're going as they walk the streets.
If Tozer recognized this happening in his lifetime, how much more difficult is it to find a place of silence today, a place where we can hear the voice of God, where we can wait on Him without concern for time? These days to not have a cellphone is a badge of rebellion, refusing to have a TV in your house is just plain fanatical.
Are there any Christians that this isn't a struggle for? Most of us would agree that in our own lives we don't spend enough time alone and in silence. Some may call it legalistic or super-spiritual, but it's really for our own survival. And whose life is it, anyway?
Feel free to share what you do to make time, how much time, and how often.
The book from which this excerpt comes was published in 1960. It was the last year for the Ford Edsel, and the first Mustang wouldn't come out for another 4 years. That 'stang would sell for $2,368 off the showroom floor. It was a time before CDs and Ipods; cable TV, satellite TV, VHS, DVDs and blueray; desktops and laptops with highspeed internet access; pagers, cellphones, bluetooth and smartphones. London is now beginning to install padding on their lamp posts, as one pedestrian in 10 is injured, too busy texting to see where they're going as they walk the streets.
If Tozer recognized this happening in his lifetime, how much more difficult is it to find a place of silence today, a place where we can hear the voice of God, where we can wait on Him without concern for time? These days to not have a cellphone is a badge of rebellion, refusing to have a TV in your house is just plain fanatical.
Are there any Christians that this isn't a struggle for? Most of us would agree that in our own lives we don't spend enough time alone and in silence. Some may call it legalistic or super-spiritual, but it's really for our own survival. And whose life is it, anyway?
Feel free to share what you do to make time, how much time, and how often.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Taking Inventory
Last week two things happened that are in a way related, at least on a personal level.
The company that I work for, for the first time in over five years, closed down the operations for a few days to take stock inventory. There were several reasons for doing it. It was the end of the business year and we needed to know how much product we owned; some counts had gotten wildly out of whack, making us unsure if we sold something to someone whether it would be there or not when we went to fulfill the order; and we saw product on the shelf that the system thought had been sold off a long time. It took weeks of preparation and four days to actually count everything. It got pretty hectic at times and we all breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. So for now, at least until next year, we have a good idea of what we have in our warehouse.
The morning after inventory ended I received an e-mail telling me that my best friend from high school had died in his sleep the previous night. He had been battling heart problems since 2006 and was just a couple of weeks past the first anniversary of his heart transplant. He was 48 and left a wife and three children. We were inseparable for three years in high school and one year after that when I graduated and went to the same university. He was the best man at our wedding 27 years ago and I was his best man two years after that. Job relocations took me across the country and we grew apart over the years, but the occasional phone call or e-mail could fill in the lost years without missing a beat.
Every January most of us stop and take inventory. Aren’t New Year’s resolutions just that, taking inventory of our lives, seeing where we are at, and taking steps to correct where we’ve gone off from our ideal or goals? We prepare lists, try to be honest in our assessment of shortcomings, and for at least a while, armed with best intentions and our bullet points of improvements, go boldly forward into the world. At least until the following December, when we look over the list (if we know where it is) and prepare to make some more adjustments to our sails and the wheel steering us on our course. This is just the 2nd of March and I’m not sure where my list is at already.
But events like my friend’s death are like God giving us a pop quiz. We don’t have time to prepare (even when you know that they’re going to be there), and the questions we ask ourselves aren’t the ones we usually ask. Instead of ‘Can we make it out of debt this year? or ’If we manage to save any money, where would you like to go on vacation?‘ , we ask ourselves the tougher questions, the ones that really matter. Who am I? What am I doing with myself? What has my life meant up to now? What kind of legacy will I leave? My friend wrote a 2,000 word autobiography and I wasn’t mentioned, even in passing. The years of our lives where we were always together, he wrote down as a time when he had “no plan, focus or goal.” That’s it. It may be true about our life at that time, come to think about it, but to see it on paper kind of dampens the memories.
I know that my wife will say that I’ve matured a lot since then and left an imprint on her and our family; heck, she could probably write a page full if she sat down and thought about it. It’s probably better that I should be the one to do it, if just to remind myself of where I have come from, what I have accomplished and let it show me where I still want to go. The Hebrews in the Bible were always making altars to remember special occasions by or giving things meaning by their name. I thank the Lord that I haven’t had to name a child ‘not loved’ or the water well outside ‘place of contention’, although I could have named at least one of my kids ‘laughter’.
One of the problems with these self-assessments is comparison. I was always the one to play second fiddle to my best friend. He was always better at everything than I was, from pool to music to school. Everything that I enjoyed to do, he did better and even the things that I hated to do, he was good at. When I first met the woman who would be my wife, he was the first to ask her out! Reading over the rest of his autobiography, I felt the old feelings of inadequacy come back, each of his accomplishments an indictment of my lack of achievement. I have to keep reminding myself that he was the only one who could do what God called him to do. I’m still here, so God must have something left that only I can do. His death reminds me that I have a limited amount of time left to do it.
Another problem is self-absorption. I can easily spend so much time (like on this post?) looking for problems in my life, mulling over them, trying to solve them in my own strength that I can become overwhelmed and never take the time to give any of them to God.
We all need from time to time to look in the mirror. It isn’t always pleasant when we see ourselves, especially in the harsher light that an event like this brings, but it burns brighter because we need to really look closely at the things that we usually ignore. We like to quickly check the hair, see if the tie is on straight, but at times like this it’s good to look hard at the imperfections and make sure that what we do see isn’t something life threatening or see it for something that needs correction.
“Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong – then guide me on the road to eternal life.”
Psalms 139:23,4
The company that I work for, for the first time in over five years, closed down the operations for a few days to take stock inventory. There were several reasons for doing it. It was the end of the business year and we needed to know how much product we owned; some counts had gotten wildly out of whack, making us unsure if we sold something to someone whether it would be there or not when we went to fulfill the order; and we saw product on the shelf that the system thought had been sold off a long time. It took weeks of preparation and four days to actually count everything. It got pretty hectic at times and we all breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. So for now, at least until next year, we have a good idea of what we have in our warehouse.
The morning after inventory ended I received an e-mail telling me that my best friend from high school had died in his sleep the previous night. He had been battling heart problems since 2006 and was just a couple of weeks past the first anniversary of his heart transplant. He was 48 and left a wife and three children. We were inseparable for three years in high school and one year after that when I graduated and went to the same university. He was the best man at our wedding 27 years ago and I was his best man two years after that. Job relocations took me across the country and we grew apart over the years, but the occasional phone call or e-mail could fill in the lost years without missing a beat.
Every January most of us stop and take inventory. Aren’t New Year’s resolutions just that, taking inventory of our lives, seeing where we are at, and taking steps to correct where we’ve gone off from our ideal or goals? We prepare lists, try to be honest in our assessment of shortcomings, and for at least a while, armed with best intentions and our bullet points of improvements, go boldly forward into the world. At least until the following December, when we look over the list (if we know where it is) and prepare to make some more adjustments to our sails and the wheel steering us on our course. This is just the 2nd of March and I’m not sure where my list is at already.
But events like my friend’s death are like God giving us a pop quiz. We don’t have time to prepare (even when you know that they’re going to be there), and the questions we ask ourselves aren’t the ones we usually ask. Instead of ‘Can we make it out of debt this year? or ’If we manage to save any money, where would you like to go on vacation?‘ , we ask ourselves the tougher questions, the ones that really matter. Who am I? What am I doing with myself? What has my life meant up to now? What kind of legacy will I leave? My friend wrote a 2,000 word autobiography and I wasn’t mentioned, even in passing. The years of our lives where we were always together, he wrote down as a time when he had “no plan, focus or goal.” That’s it. It may be true about our life at that time, come to think about it, but to see it on paper kind of dampens the memories.
I know that my wife will say that I’ve matured a lot since then and left an imprint on her and our family; heck, she could probably write a page full if she sat down and thought about it. It’s probably better that I should be the one to do it, if just to remind myself of where I have come from, what I have accomplished and let it show me where I still want to go. The Hebrews in the Bible were always making altars to remember special occasions by or giving things meaning by their name. I thank the Lord that I haven’t had to name a child ‘not loved’ or the water well outside ‘place of contention’, although I could have named at least one of my kids ‘laughter’.
One of the problems with these self-assessments is comparison. I was always the one to play second fiddle to my best friend. He was always better at everything than I was, from pool to music to school. Everything that I enjoyed to do, he did better and even the things that I hated to do, he was good at. When I first met the woman who would be my wife, he was the first to ask her out! Reading over the rest of his autobiography, I felt the old feelings of inadequacy come back, each of his accomplishments an indictment of my lack of achievement. I have to keep reminding myself that he was the only one who could do what God called him to do. I’m still here, so God must have something left that only I can do. His death reminds me that I have a limited amount of time left to do it.
Another problem is self-absorption. I can easily spend so much time (like on this post?) looking for problems in my life, mulling over them, trying to solve them in my own strength that I can become overwhelmed and never take the time to give any of them to God.
We all need from time to time to look in the mirror. It isn’t always pleasant when we see ourselves, especially in the harsher light that an event like this brings, but it burns brighter because we need to really look closely at the things that we usually ignore. We like to quickly check the hair, see if the tie is on straight, but at times like this it’s good to look hard at the imperfections and make sure that what we do see isn’t something life threatening or see it for something that needs correction.
“Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong – then guide me on the road to eternal life.”
Psalms 139:23,4
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