I want her to teach ME ju jitsu

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3859044792692707713&q=shamrock+gracie&pl=true

I don't remember there being that many hot chicks doing ju jitsu when I was there... :-(

hahahahahahahahahaha

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/03/17/senator-seal060317.html

Another cool Energy link

Well, another cool energy source. Apparently Chevron and Headwaters Inc are working on Nanotechnology to increase the efficiency of Oil Sands petroleum production.

http://ca.us.biz.yahoo.com/fool/060306/114166279910.html?.v=1

Of course, there is concern that Headwaters will be able to make progress because they are basically making all of their profit off of free tax money they recieve from the government.

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1167738,00.html

Almost St. Paddys

No cool articles or anything today. I'm just really excited about this weekend. I intend to drink so much booze! Also, it looks like I'm going skiing with Neeta to celebrate her birthday monday, and that should be fun too!
But, yeah. Last night I went to the LCBO and picked up about $100 worth of alchohol. So, now I've got 3 types of beer, some Jack Daniels, wine, baileys, tequila, rasberry rum, and gin. Mwa ha ha ha.
Drinky Drinky!!

Cool Energy sources

So, this guy in the states, Dr. J. Craig Venter may be on track to developing a completely renewable energy source. And not only renewable but plentiful. Basically, he wants to develop a type of yeast, that when it ferments with food byproducts creates hydrogen.
He also wants to genetically engineer corn. Since he knows he may not be able to create the hydrogen producing bacteria he is also thinking about ethanol gasoline. Currently there is not enough Land in North America to produce the ethanol we would need to run our cars. That's why he is trying to genetically engineer a type of corn that produces dramatically more ethanol per stalk than current corn.
While these inventions would be awesome for his company and likely make him one of the wealthiest men alive, it would seriously fuck up the Canadian Economy. But, it would mean cleaner air for all of us to breathe. So, I guess we'll just wait and see what happens.

http://www.syntheticgenomics.com/

Fortunately, there is something standing in his way. Hydrogen is pretty useless as a fuel right now. Fuel Cells can only get about a 200km range on hundreds of litres of fuel, and they produce about as much horsepower as, well, a horse.
However, the Saint-Hilaire family from Quebec that has developed a new type of engine that may be able to run on both petrol AND liquid hydrogen. It's called the Quasiturbine engine. Even if it can't burn Hydrogen, it so efficiently uses the energy in petrol that a 900cc motor could easily produce 300hp and give a mid-sized car about 150 miles per gallon. There are still some issues to be worked out with lubrication, but if they can get this motor to work it will change the way cars run forever, as well as cleaning up the air and extending the life of the worlds petroleum resources.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/quasiturbine.htm

Canada: We're Rich Biatch!!

So, it turns out that the Hubbert Curve, which is used to predict oil production in the world, only applies to oil wells. It doesn't apply to oil alternatives such as rock shale, tar sands, and coal. However, since liquid oil is the easiest to extract, it may still be accurat in predicting the peak of petroleum production in the world. And this curve is still predicting an oil peak sometime between 2005 and 2010.
For the middle east, this means boo-fricken-hoo. For Canada, yippee-kay-ay!
Let's just put it this way. There is an estimated equivalent of 3 trillion barrels in the Alberta oil sands. And, since it takes longer to extract than conventional oil, and since demand for oil is increasing at it's fastest rate in history it means it will be worth even more once liquid oil supplies drop into decline.
However, even that much oil is only good for about 150 years at current rates of use. Well, boo hoo, by that time we should have figured out how to access the methane hydrates frozen under the tundra. The methane hydrates that Canada controls about 85% of. And they're not a big problem, considering we have about 160 QUADRILLION barrels of that locked away.
Don't get me wrong. Since all of these sources are slower and more difficult to extract than conventional oil, and there is a huge increase in demand from developing countries, the price of gas will still skyrocket in future years. Fortunately, disgusting suburban sprawl will be more difficult with $8/litre fuel prices, so cities should become more livable. So, Canada gets all the benefit of high gas prices, and high oil prices. Huzzah.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.12/gas.html

http://www.endofsuburbia.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubberts_peak

What's next, Ultimate Poker Fighting?

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1564233.html?menu=news.quirkies.sportingquirkies

I can't believe this sport exists. I wonder who would win... Kasparov or Lennox Lewis? I have a feeling it would depend on whether they boxed or played chess first.

A level playing field

First of all let's read this statement:
"Russia is also a key player in the U.S. drive to limit aid to the extremist group Hamas, which has taken control of the Palestinian legislature."
It really doesn't make it sound like Hamas is a political party voted into office in a democratic election that was fully supported by the US and UN. But, alas, CNN is a bastion of journalistic integrity that would never even imagine altering facts to make the story more politically appealing. For the full story:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/07/us.iran.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

I love how whenever Iran comes up, the news stories always talk about how Iran is disobeying orders by the UN regarding it's nuclear program. But those same news stories never mention that the US and Russia are also breaking orders by the UN regarding their nuclear programs. I suppose "US gov't blatantly disregarding Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty" doesn't rile up the crowds the way it does when it's an extremist islamic government. Still, not exactly a level playing field in terms of peoples perception.
Yay, nuclear weapons. Fun stuff. Like Pete's msn name said today :"The nuclear arms race is like two men standing waist deep in gasoline.; one with three matches, the other with five."