Veggie Car Update

From time to time I see articles on line or tv spots about conversion of diesels to run on vegetable oil. I also see a good many posts in the various newsgroups and forums I frequent. For the most part the articles and tv spots are just human interest, with a little talk about high fuel prices. The newsgroup posting on the other hand run the range from people looking for information to folks who act like someone in commiting blasphmey just mentioning it. The most recent article I read prompted me to give a status report on my veggie car.

Since I completed the conversion in April 2005, I have put 5328 miles on the veggie car (1979 Mercedes 300D). Most of this has been using waste vegetable oil as fuel. I do use diesel for startup, warmup and shutdown. While 5000 miles is not long enough to judge the long term effects of running WVO, so far, so good.

A British Take On German Humor

I loved this article from the Guardian about the differences in British and German humor. I think you will recognize the "German Boy" joke as being the same as the "Cajun Boy" joke told in the south.

The Golden Rule

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Think about it and then read this article.

People don't say what they mean.

I was listening to a radio talk show the other day and a guy called in and said "I could care less" about some topic of discussion. The host and guest corrected him. What he should say is "I could not care less" to indicate his lack of interest. Saying he could care less indicates that he does have some small concern.

I was out doing the Chattanooga to Knoxville leg of the Hwy 11 Yard Sale this past Saturday. On at least two occasions I came across signs that said "Yard sale inside." What?? Yard Sale Inside? Sale inside maybe, but yard sale inside?

Another place I saw a sign, professional not home made, advertising the "Mothers March for Ovarian Cancer." I don't think so. Mothers March Against Ovarian Cancer or maybe Mothers March for Ovarian Cancer Research, or even Mothers March for Ovarian Cancer Cure. But certainly not Mothers March for Ovarian Cancer.

No wonder there is so much misunderstanding in the world. People don't say what they mean.

Seat Belts Save Lives

I know you have heard it. So have I, but I've often wondered. If seat belts save lives, why don't school buses have them? Well I did some searching and found an article on www.nhtsa.dot.gov that essentially says that school buses are made safe enough that seat belts are not necessary. This begs the question, why don't we all just drive school buses? Or, why aren't cars built as safe as school buses?

US Highway 11 Antique Alley Sale May 2006

Yesterday I shopped the Birmingham – Chattanooga leg of the subject sale. My past experience led me to start at Argo, AL. Not many sales until I reached Whitney Junction (intersection of US 11 and US 231.) It may have been because it was a Thursday or because gasoline prices are high but there were not as many vendors or customers as in years past. Attalla AL, Fort Payne AL, and Trenton GA continue to be the sites of the most concentrated activity.

I would enjoy hearing from anyone who has any experience with any of the other Highway Yard Sales located around the country. Not so much the 127 sale because I am fairly familiar with that one, but would appreciate any suggestions for the others. If you have comments or suggestions about any of the sales, especially those in the southeast, you can add them as a comment to this posting. Or, if you prefer, you can email them to me at pentonville@gmail.com

A Quote From A Fellow Alabamian

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the
children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is not safer in
the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or
nothing."

-Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968), deafblind American
author, activist and lecturer, Let Us Have Faith, 1940

Highway Yard Sales

I love highway yard sales. You know the ones that start in one town and stretch along a road or roads for miles and miles. My favorite is the 127 Corridor Sale, originally called the World's Longest Yard Sale. It runs from Gadsden Alabama to Covington Kentucky.

Earlier this week I came across a site entitled Cruising for bargins by Gannett News Service hosted by the Battle Creek Enquirer. It is the most complete listing of highway yard sales I have ever seen. If you love them like I do, you should check out that web page.

Who is next?

I was born in 1947. Harry Truman was still president. I don’t remember his presidency, but I do remember his successor, Eisenhower. I also remember all of the ones that followed, right up to today. Each of them, with the exception of Gerald Ford, was president for at least four years, so I had time to personally evaluate what they were doing. After they left office, additional information has been made available. Enough information that even the casual observer with a little reading and study can size all these presidents up. I have, and this is what I found, each one of them was not as good as his predecessor. That’s right. Every president since Dwight Eisenhower right up to W has been worse than the guy that preceded him.

Some of them talked a better story than the guy they succeeded, but none of them produced. This leads me to an interesting question. Who is next? Who is it in this country that is capable of being elected and will be a worse president than W? Is it possible? Will the trend finally change? Have we bottomed out? Will the next president actually be as good as or even better than W? The optimist in me would like to think so; the pessimist in me doubts it. The realist looks at the mindset of the electorate, the quality of the politicians and the state of the world and figures 2008 will see the trend continue. I don’t know who he or she will be but I suspect once they get settled in, we will be looking back remembering the good ole days when W was president.

Me, Corky, and Dixie

You know what's scary?

Its scary to think that 29 percent of Americans surveyed 'think Mr. Bush is doing an “excellent or pretty good" job as president'. Excellent? Pretty Good? Remember what nearly a third of the people call excellent or pretty good the next time you are reading a used car listing on the Craiglist.

I'm Not Afraid

Luke Skywalker: I won't fail you. I'm not afraid.
Yoda: You will be. You will be.

Something like this may have been what Yoda had in mind.

We Carry

We being the people who live in my state and a majority of the states in the United States. If you have to ask "Carry What?", then you probably need to hyperlink over to some other blog.

This morning I was reading an article by Greg Perry . He was relating that the right to carry is not a second amendment right, but a inalienable right. That reminded me of something that happened a few years ago. Linda and I were attending the wedding of a friends daughter. The wedding was being held in Methodist Church in a college town in central Alabama. We were sitting there in the church and Linda noticed a bulge in my right front pocket. She reached down and touched the bulge, looked at me and said, "are you packing?" I nodded that I was. "In a church?" she asked. Again I nodded that I was. She looked at me kind of quizically. I leaned over and told her not to worry, God didn't mind, he was the one that gave me the right to carry in the first place.

Caffeine - The Wonder Drug

A Japanese study has found that drinking green tea lowers your chances of developing type 2 diabetes. Can it be the caffeine? If so, could the reduction in caffeine in the American diet be contributing to this country's increase in type 2 diabetes?

My favorite dietician has always told me that "all foods fit." I believe it, including those foods with caffeine.

High Gasoline Prices -Who or What is to Blame?

This article does an excellent job of putting what has happened to gasoline prices into perspective. One item of particular note to me is the timing of the replacement of MTBE with ethanol. I kind of thought that the current run up in gas prices in spite of a small drop in crude oil prices was the oil companies taking advantage of the summer driving and vacation season. Turns out its the time table on some new government regulation. I guess I am just as programmed as everyone else to blame big corporations when actually most of our problems are caused by the government.

Titles Are Important

A friend of mine who lives in another neighborhood in Pelham came by for a visit the other day. While we were talking, he told me that Pelham now has an ordinance that makes it a crime to say the name Bobby Hayes without preceding it with the title of mayor. In other words if you say "Bobby Hayes" instead of "Mayor Bobby Hayes", you can get a ticket. He said the fine for a first offense is $100. I'm pretty sure he was kidding..... I think the fine for a first offense is only $25 ;>)

Pepsi One

I've always been a Coca-Cola drinker. Not diet Coke, or Coke with some other additive like lime juice, vanilla or cherry. Nope just straight classic Coke. As I've gotten older my waist line has expanded and I had to start substituting something else for some of my Cokes. Black coffee works well, but sometimes I want something cold and sweet tasting. Last summer I started drinking Crystal Lite lemonade and orangeade. They were both good but both of them contain Aspertame. I'm not an alarmist and not really worried about Aspertame poisoning, but some of my joints that are mildly arthiritic started to ache more than usual. I read that Aspertame can increase arthiritic symptoms so I switched to diet drinks sweetened with Splenda. The best ones that I had found are Diet 7UP and the Diet Rite Tangerine.

Yesterday I was in Wal-mart and noticed that they had Pepsi One. This past weekend I read that Pepsi One is sweetened with Splenda. I got a two liter bottle and tried it. It is really good. I have to admit that it is without a doubt the best diet cola that I have even drank. Of course I am still a Coke drinker and my non diet drink of choice will still be Classic Coke, but Pepsi One has definitely found a place in with the Diet 7Up and Diet Rite in my refrigerator.

Anarcho-Capitalism

Although the author of this article uses the term libertarian to describe what he is talking about; I think what he is describing is actually Anarcho-Capitalism. It is a term that was first introduced to me by an article written by Brad Edmonds and published on http://www.lewrockwell.com.

If you do some searching on Lew's site you probably find more than one article about Anarcho-Capitalism. Also I recently listened to an archive recording of a segment of Karen Kwiatkowski's "American Forum" on [BAD LINK] http://www.rbnlive.com/ the Republic Broadcasting Network where Brad was the guest. He talks about Anarcho-Capitalism in that interview as well.

Its a very interesting concept and seems to hold more immediate hope for living a libertarian lifestyle in todays world. One final note, if you look at the very bottom of the first article I mentioned, you will notice that the author, Per Bylund, is the founder of Anarchism.net. Nuff said.

Troublesome Religious Behaviors

My daddy always told me "don't make fun of someone else's religion, it might be better than yours." I think he said that it was something his daddy had told him. I've tried to make that one of the guiding principles of my life, although I do admit to being pretty hard on Southern Baptists from time to time. I say all that to let you know that I am not criticizing anyone’s religion, per se, but I am criticizing the assumptions, processes and procedures that accompany some of them.

One of the hardest things for me to understand is how anyone can, in the name of their deity, kill someone of another religion, just because they are of another religion. I don’t care what your holy books or holy men tell you, I don’t think taking the life of someone else just because they believe differently from you is justified.

Another thing that really gets up my ass is for someone to assume they know what your religious beliefs are without ever asking you. One of my relatives came by recently to give me “one more opportunity to accept Jesus.” Granted this relative has some brain chemical imbalances that cloud his judgment when he foolishly neglects to take his medication, but I have known others of his sect that were just as obnoxious and did not have the excuse of mental illness. These assholes assume that I’m not saved because I don’t go to church. Not a one of them has ever taken the time to draw me out and find out what my beliefs are. They just set in trying to save me using their standards.

Don’t get me wrong, when I say that the aforementioned types assume without asking, that doesn’t mean that I necessarily want them to be asking. It has been my observation that most of the people that are inquiring about your religious beliefs are just trying to find out how yours are different from theirs. Then they will attempt to show you how yours are wrong and what you need to change. Its really strange to me that people who would never come up to you and ask you if you screwed your wife last night, won’t hesitate a minute about questioning you about whether or not you love Jesus. What are these people thinking? I suppose they think you won’t mind sharing the details of your religious beliefs with them. After all, they are the ones that drop Jesus’ name in every other sentence. I sometimes wonder if they are testifying or if they are just trying to convince themselves that they believe.


Some other folks that I am troubled by are what I like to refer to as the “bible cultist.” They are the ones that come along behind you and provide annotation on everything that is happening and all their sentences begin with “The bible says”. Sometimes it seems to me that these people think that God and Jesus exist just so the bible will have something to talk about. I have got news for them; the holy trinity is made up of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit, not the father, the son and the holy bible.

People that are certain that members of their cult are the only ones that are going to make it to heaven also trouble me. It seems to me that the God of the Universe is great enough to find a way to accommodate different faiths. If life is so narrowly scripted that only a handful of souls are gonna make it to heaven, why not just send the whole bunch to hell to begin with and save a lot of time and trouble.

I suspect that all of these people are completely sincere in what they believe. I’m also sure that they will make it to heaven, but like I once told a fellow with whom I worked, "if heaven is gonna be full of all the folks like you, then hell might not be as bad has I had feared."

Room For Optimism

Karen Kwiatkowski writes about her radio program, 'American Forum' on [BAD LINK] http://www.rbnlive.com/programs.html
the Republic Broadcasting Network.

The Price of Oil

Here is an article by Congressman Ron Paul on what we can do about high oil prices.

Victor Cagle was a Performance Artist

When I was growing up, my maternal grandparents had a man that stayed with them named Victor Cagle. Victor was probably 50 years old and had the mental capacity of a 6-year-old. My grandfather was a farmer and there was always farm work going on. The entire family participated, as did Victor. When Victor was working, he was always singing. None of the songs had much melody and the lyrics did not rhyme. Every tune contained the phrase “honey baby" at least once.

When I was a teenager, we would occasionally hear a song on the car radio or TV and my father would comment that it sounded like something written by Victor Cagle. I never thought much about it, but recently I have been listening to some podcasts that involve “performance artists. After hearing a few, I have come to realize that what Victor was doing was performance art. I guess Victor was born 60 years too soon. If he were alive today he would probably have his own podcast.