User Profile

Originally from Reno, NV.
Have been very nomadic over the years:
- SF
- Seattle
- Marin
- Chicago
- Minneapolis
- Madison

Married to and madly in love with Jennifer (hyperkarma).
Five cats, two Chihuahua-Terrier mix (sisters), a yorkie adolescent, and an elderly, uh, poodle/pomeranian mix? We're not sure, but Ozzy rules. ;]

My dad's maternal uncle was, allegedly, General Omar Bradley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Bradley
Grandfather was supposed to have been General Bradley's personal pilot for a time.
Still researching this for veracity.

I used to do all kinds of crap, but now I just make Endif:

http://www.endif.org
http://www.myspace.com/endif
http://www.discogs.com/artist/endif
http://www.last.fm/music/Endif


In 2005 I released a split EP with Caustic, titled 'Meld'. All gone. Sold out.

In 2006 I released a full length CD as Endif, titled 'Meta', on Crunch Pod.

In 2008 I released a full length CD as Endif, titled 'Carbon', on Tympanik.

Full discography here:
http://www.discogs.com/artist/endif


If you would like to add Endif to your LJ Interests, Click HERE!


The other would be Thirdwave Collective, which I used to manage/admin along with our beloved Webmin, Jason Prost of MindFluxFuneral:
http://www.thirdwavecollective.com TWC is dormant now, but the site remains.

If you would like to add Thirdwave Collective to your LJ Interests, Click HERE!




I operate a mobile small business serving homeowners, incorporated in Nevada as a Sub-S C-Corp.
No brick or mortar necessary, just a truck, a day planner, a cellphone and my mad skillz, yo.

Feeling inexplicably generous?
Just want to browse my wish list?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3QN1IU4DEAJBX


I was raised a Jehovah's Witness, so needless to say became Agnostic at 12, and have been Atheist since 20. I've studied/read up on/debated/experienced a good sized stack of religions and worldviews (Sufi, Christian/Satanist, Hindu, Muslim, Animist, Pagan, Psychedelic, Scientology, Liberal/Conservative, fetishism, etc). As such, I fail to see how anyone can claim to have all the answers when their ideology is so clearly riddled with external control mechanisms and blatant contraditions. What's so bad about facing naked reality? I think this sums it up nicely: 1. You can't prove a negative, thus, deism is unfalsifiable and therefore inherently untrue 2. You can be an atheist and never have heard of *insert religion here* 3. The onus is always on the person making the positive claim, e.g. the one who believes in one or more gods. Making no claim, I must present no proof.

Whatever. Think what you like, it's a free world, just don't be surprised when I mock you when you shoot your mouth off. And woe unto you if you try to legislate, guilt, or otherwise force your illogical dogma on others, especially where it leads to their detriment; you don't get to play that game. Any. More.

Which brings me to another little hobby. Everyone knows (allegedly-I've never seen evidence for this) that you shouldn't bother 'mincing words with fools'. However, mincing fools with words.. now that's fun. Keeps one sharp, too.

Some quotes I find worthwhile:

"The fuel of the future is going to come from apples, weeds, sawdust – almost anything. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter..." ~ Henry Ford, 1925

"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today."
~ President Theodore Roosevelt


Thomas Jefferson - (Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letter, Jan. 1 1802):
"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state."

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography. " - Ambrose Bierce

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." ~ Arthur C. Clarke

James Madison - "A Memorial and Remonstrance", 1785:
"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."


"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." ~ Samuel Adams


""And when the drums of war have reached a fevor pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind is closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and do it gladly so. "How do I know? I know for this is what I have done. And I am Caesar." ~ Julius Caesar


John Adams - (A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787–88):
"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved -- the Cross. Consider what calamaties that engine of grief has produced!"


" You can say "God given rights" all you want, or any such other bullshit, but no god gave us our rights, no committee handed them over, and no benevolent ruler pitched them our way. People fought for them, they took them and held them like a patch of bloody ground."
~ Ogremarco

“Imagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centures since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally resent it bitterly.”

~Isaac Asimov

If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. ~ James Madison


"To win without fighting is best"
~ Sun Tzu


"Music cures you of time."
~ Jhon Balance




I'm pretty hot for biofuels. Jen and I both burn b100 biodiesel in our vehicles, purchased from our local co-op, of which we are members. Hers, a 2006 Jeep Liberty CRD. Mine, a 2001 Isuzu NPR box truck (quarter of a million miles, and its just gettin' broke in!). Obviously, we did and do a shit ton of research to come to this point.

Dig:

Any plant that makes oil (soy, rapeseed, hemp, etc) can be turned into biodiesel in ones garage, though commercially made stuff is obviously better quality. This is how most bio-D is made today, and any modern diesel can burn it with no modifications.

(And any diesel can be converted to run on pure vegetable oil for around $1500, allowing you to fuel up at your local mcdonalds.)



A lot of misinformation about ethanol circulates on the airwaves and the Internet, leaving consumers and opinion-makers confused about ethanol’s economic and environmental costs.

Let’s tackle three of the most common ethanol objections:

Producing ethanol isn’t energy efficient.
Numerous studies have shown that ethanol has a positive energy balance, particularly when compared with gasoline. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, it takes 1.23 units of fossil energy to make one unit of gasoline31 – an energy cost of 23 percent. In contrast, corn ethanol delivers 20 to 50 percent more energy than it takes to produce, and cellulosic up to 600 percent more32. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says this: “For every BTU dedicated to producing [corn] ethanol, there is a 34 percent energy gain.”33

Ethanol is expensive to produce.
Producing corn ethanol in the U.S. currently costs about $1.50 to $1.60 per gallon, but it is produced for significantly less elsewhere. In an article from fall 2005, the Rocky Mountain Institute pointed out that Brazilian ethanol was selling in New York for $1.10 a gallon, despite an import tariff of 54 cents a gallon.34 Producing cellulosic ethanol – a new technology just beginning to develop its potential – costs more than producing ethanol from corn. However, the cost to produce cellulosic ethanol will go down as the industry implements new technologies and efficiencies.

Ethanol lowers your gas mileage.
It’s true that ethanol contains less energy than gasoline, but for vehicles using E10, the lower energy content of ethanol does not adversely affect fuel efficiency. E85-fueled cars experience about a 17 to 25 percent decrease in mileage, depending on speed and terrain.

Concerns about the fuel efficiency of higher-blend ethanol can be overcome. Although ethanol has less energy per gallon than gasoline, its octane rating is higher than gasoline’s, which can counterbalance its lower energy content when blended in higher concentrations. Octane measures a fuel’s ability to resist premature ignition of the compressed fuel and air mixture. Using a higher octane fuel allows engines to have higher compression ratios, which increase the engine’s thermal efficiency. As a result, an engine designed with a higher compression ratio can be far more efficient than a gasoline engine. Improvements in flex-fuel vehicle engine design, such as direct fuel injection, and engines with variable compression capability, which takes advantage of ethanol’s specific characteristics, can also improve flex-fuel vehicle mileage. A prototype car engine recently developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology uses injections of ethanol into a car’s cylinders to increase the combustion efficiency. The result is a 30 percent increase in miles per gallon.35


New techniques make biofuel creation easier and less polluting, more efficient:

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn10116&feedId=online-news_rss20


New techniques also allow using other biomass than oils for biodiesel:

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

- Cellulosic Ethanol (ie, woodchips, grass, any plant material):

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/06/050603074123.htm
http://www.rangefuels.com/ethanol

- Sewage, algae (any biomass at all):

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10381404
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html


Excellent general primers and news sites on biofuels:

http://www.insidegreentech.com/

http://journeytoforever.org/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-570288889128950913&q=Ethanol

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

http://www.biodiesel.org/

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007a/070201LadischBio.html

http://www.rangefuels.com/ethanol






M

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