What happened in Vegas

The big news from the great state of California is that we the people used 100 million less gallons of gasoline in 2007 than we did in 2006. Great news on the surface but given our “official population” of some 36 million men woman and children we only saved about 3 gallons per person. Wes still used some 15.8 billion gallons of gasoline in the golden state http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=38234 This equals 438 gallons per person per year. Each gallon of gasoline has 115,000 BTU lower heating value and there are 3.96 BTU in a kilocalorie (a food Calorie) so if we multiply the energy content of the gasoline and convert this to a Calories per person we get very close to 40,000 Calories per day of gasoline used per person in California. This is the ultimate Mega-Meal diet of some 20 times the recommended food intake. This simple analysis shows why the ethanol lobby has lied to us that we can use this wonderful spirit for automotive fuel. The stock analysts have finally come round to what I have said for year that Ethanol as a fuel is a myth http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2008/02/10/ethanol-myth-blasted-in-new-science-mag.aspx This stock analyst is very bearish on two stocks Pacific Ethanol PEIX which is well of its highs (it now has a hangover after the buzz) and Biofuel Energy BIOF a recent IPO that is now sleeping in the gutter in a drunken stupor. I have opined frequently that ethanol should be enjoyed in moderation as a drink. Talking of the lack of fluids on the planet, Lake Mead could dry up by 2021 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330591,00.html This is not good news for Vegas as they have the motto “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas” I guess they never heard of evaporation?

I did promise to opine on Lithium the lightest of metals and perhaps the greatest hope for hybrid vehicles. A down and out stock called Valence Technologies VLNC that has been trying for more than 15 years to compete in lithium ion batteries for phones and PDAs has finally realized their technology using phosphate based cores for lithium ion batteries may have some hope in the auto arena. The big problem with standard lithium ion batteries is that the batteries can catch alight and the problem arises from the cobalt oxide core http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/robotics/2007-03-15-batteries_N.htm If Valence has indeed solved the safety problem as they claim, they could get a lift in their stock price. The value of lithium ion batteries to transportation is enormous as it is the only battery technology with a 99% efficient charge discharge efficiency. Most other battery systems such as lead acid, or nickel metal hydride have a charge discharge efficiency of less than 75%. Some researches are looking into making lithium ion batteries with cores of silicon nanowires and this too is a possible method to overcome the fire hazard of lithium batteries. http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v3/n1/full/nnano.2007.411.html;jsessionid=C58C405D0F0C274FEBE27CC09617CA96

Burning Play Stations are in the news again http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,329530,00.html a schoolboy in Detroit way hurt when his Play Station overheated in his pocket. No doubt this was a lithium battery problem.



The word of the day is amative or being disposed to love. Today is Valentines Day and best wishes to all readers of TT for a day in which you like those lithium batteries need to be fully charged but be careful not to get burned.

Word of the DayThursday February 14, 2008
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amative \AM-uh-tiv\, adjective:Pertaining to or disposed to love, especially sexual love; full of love; amorous.
Theoretically, any given left-kisser should meet more right-kissers and, over an amative lifetime, or even good year in junior high, be subtly pressured to shift to the right in order to land a wet one -- or just avoid a broken nose. No?-- Donald G. McNeil Jr., "Pucker Up, Sweetie, and Tilt Right", New York Times, February 13, 2003
In the spring a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of another nap even more often than it does to amative imaginings, Tennyson to the contrary notwithstanding.-- "Touch of Spring Fever Makes Whole World Kin", Science News, May 23, 1931
Well, poetry has been erotic, or amative, or something of that sort -- at least a vast deal of it has -- ever since it stopped being epic.-- Helen Deutsch, "Death, desire and translation: on the poetry of Propertius", TriQuarterly, March 22, 1993
Amative comes from Medieval Latin amativus, "capable of love," from the past participle of Latin amare, "to love."
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