rage /quit

sigh. . . .

i had a conversation earlier today about something i knew a little bit about, but admittedly, not very much. during the conversation my brain started spiraling into "conspiracy theory" mode and i started to concoct all of these half cocked ideas..... so i took a deep breath, calmed down, and said that i would "look into it". i did. what i found, fucking sickens me.

ethanol.

in the US it is mandated by law that big oil companies use no more than 10% ethanol additive to their gasoline production. you can see the little stickers on any gas pumps around your town. ethanol used in the US comes primarily (or read "EXCLUSIVELY") from corn.... hmmm, corn. again. seems as if i had just ranted about this plant.....

ethanol comes from fermented corn....government mandated moonshine, to be more precise (ironically enough, the gov actually adds a small amount of gasoline to the ethanol after its production so that is no longer drinkable by humans). it is then added to gasoline since it burns faster during combustion and produces more energy and heat in the process. it has been sold to the masses as better for the environment and amerikkka since it is a renewable resource and is grown locally. but there is another side to the sword..... a sharper side. this may get long winded, so stick with me.

so, as i understand it, in 2005 the BU$H administration decided to adopt the widespread production and addition of ethanol to amerikkkan refined gasoline. the acceptable level was 10% ethanol for every gallon. at the time, it was touted as a cheap renewable energy resource for automobiles that was safe for the environment and would drive down gas prices. of course, all of this was lies. in fact, the exact opposite is what happened. back in '05 /'06 we were all distracted with "the war", these changes went virtually unnoticed. the reality of ethanol additive is this:
while initially 10% was the standard maximum allowance for additives to gasoline. . . it has since risen to 15% based on the discretion of the refinery and it is not necessary for those oil companies to disclose the actual percentage outside of what is mandated by the feds (yeah, good idea to let them police themselves. ever notice how much faster your gas tank burns down to empty from some gas pumps than others?). the inclusion of this additive was supposed to help drive down the prices of gas. but, in 2005, it raised the price of gas $.75 per gallon(which was a 1/3 increase at the time, and subsequentialy blamed on the unending war). since then, the cost of manufacturing and shipping ethanol has NOT gone down, it has in fact increased. which in turn is put upon the prices we pay for gasoline.

fun fact number 2! ethanol cannot be shipped through pipelines because moonshine absorbs water. water+gasoline=bad gas. this becomes a problem for our cars.....gas tanks at filler stations are below ground, and in the past, when it rained, the rain water that would inevitably collect in the tanks would settle at the bottom (since gasoline is lighter than water molecules, unless the tank was dry or overly saturated, you'd stand a slim chance of getting "bad gas"). now, however, ethanol just sucks up a good portion of those water molecules. which makes it more possible to get bad gas that can be harmful for your car's engine.

now that i got the "ho hum" facts out of the way....lets get to the meat and potatoes. modern cars' engines are made to process ethanol combustion. hell, some cars' engines are made to run on straight grain alcohol. however, cars made before 2005....the engine parts were not made to withstand the MASSIVE amount of heat generated by ethanol combustion. what does that mean? that means that ethanol combustion actually damages the pistons of a car's engine. so much so that classic cars have special replacement kits that can withstand the damage done by ethanol heat. (what better way to make sure your old beater finally breaks down than from the inside. that way you're forced to buy a new car! YAY GMC!)

ethanol actually cost more money in gasoline to produce. and when burned in your car produces more lower ozone carbon monoxide emissions than straight gasoline. that means that ethanol is actually contributing MORE to global warming, smog, pollution, and lower quality of life than we faced before. so, we were lied to about it being less harmful than gasoline.

this past week there have been debates in congress about cutting the tax credits and repealing the tariffs applied to ethanol. because for the past 6 years there have been tax credits (or free money) applied to companies creating ethanol, and on the other side, there have been HUGE tariffs (fees) charged to other countries trying to import their (cane sugar)ethanol into the US.

so, where does this leave us?
i believe that ethanol was derived by the corn industry, accepted by the oil industry as a means to supplement production (produce 90% but charge for 100%), praised by the auto industry (create a fuel that will destroy older model engines? fucking brilliant!), allowed to pass the EPA because of its "renewable" quality (in spite of its almost double output of harmful emissions compared to straight gasoline), and signed off by the BU$H administration. and every one of these mother fuckers got a nice fat check...or charity donation.

FUCK YOU, AMERIKKKA

fuck this weekend.......in it's gaping weekend arse

well, the good news: my girlfriend is fucking amazing and i don't think she knows how much i appreciate her and everything she does for me. i also now have a new computer that is up and running and kicks some serious ass, so i can get back to creating art on photoshop and getting the new and equally awesome adventures of PowerJeff updated again.

the bad news: the battery died on my car this afternoon, on my way to my 1pm tattoo appointment (which i actually woke up early for and was excited to get a sammich on my way to the shop). no one was home to give me a jumpstart and i had one hell of a time getting to the shop. i mention this, because i lost my shit in the middle of the fiasco, and proceeded to kick the ever-loving-shit out of the driver's side door. now, i have always had anger issues. over most of my adult life i have learned to control my temper, it took some time, and a lot of mental fortitude but i live a pretty normal life without putting my fist through walls or blowing up televisions. but then, days like today happen, when everything that could go wrong....goes wrong, and i end up flipping my shit. over something that is out of my control......and then what i have under control (i.e. my anger, in case you're not following along) goes out of control. "holy fuck", i told myself, as i sprinted downhill towards the bus stop. "holy fuck, i just let myself get unhinged over my car battery dying.....and then proceeded to accent the door panel with multiple boot sized dents!" while it may have felt good, it served no real purpose. to lose control over something (while a major dilema) so trivial, raises in itself a separate question: why do i (and the reader can substitute "we" or "me" or "she" or "it"), why do I let things in life that are out of my control, control my life so much? fucking conundrum!

as i am typing this on my shiny new powerbox, my ferrets are fighting. they do that. it's fun for them. but i saw a flea on chewy earlier (this is part 2 of bad news). those little weasels can die from fleas! not to mention, i fucking hate fleas! i was worried for my boys. i love these little knuckleheads....the fight is getting out of hand...........okay, i won the fight. anyway, here again, is something that is out of my control: parasites (not the pop-punk band). and i am able to stop, assess the situation, and find a solution (thanks to the magic of the interwebs!). the impending demise of my 2 action figure stealing fuzzy-shits and i oh-so-calmly find the remedy....................

which takes us back to bad day issue #1....and the ultimate point of this blog. why is that when something is an inconvenience (traffic, being late, etc) it incites rage, but when something more threatening and severe (blood sucking parasites) happens, rationale and reason takes over? is it that we let the routine of our day to day lives take more precedence over our emotions? and when there is a monkey-wrench thrown into the gears, we've been conditioned as a society to freak the fuck out? the threat of little chewy dying from fleas is horrible, but i didn't break down into a barbaric state like i did when my car wouldn't go vroom vroom. i need to sit on this thought, i think.........

WAR DANCE!

it is sunday funday! what better time for more ramblings of a mad man?

so, if you're like me, you like to stay at the top of the fashion game and what the hottest hew fashion trend is sweeping the scene! i mean, i'm not gonna go out in public looking like a fool wearing something that was SO 2010! get real!.....who am i kidding. i fucking loathe fashion trends. so much so, that i don't even bother to talk about them, much less sit at the computer whilst eating my noodles and write about fashion trends in my blog.

but this latest trend is a special case.

rooster saddle feathers. unless you never venture out of the house or watch television, you've seen women (and steven tyler) rocking these long colorful feathers in their hair. for those that do not know, these feathers are used by fly fishermen in the construction of fly lures. they come from a specially bred rooster's tail feathers. these bird breeders, up until recently, had a very small demand for feathers to supply fly fishing enthusiasts. now that it is trendy to rock feathers like tonto, these breeders are facing a HUGE demand for feathers. this isn't the news worthy story. in fact, anything i've found online or on television "news" always seems to gloss over the REAL story here....

these birds are killed for these feathers. the plucking of the tail feathers is extremely painful for the birds, and most of the birds have to be euthanized after the process, if not before. these feathers are not casually picked up off the ground after being shed. these roosters are bred and raised for their tail feathers, and then slaughtered; which up until recently, was at a small scale. but as trends become popular and demand is increased......thousands more birds have to die so women can sport a pretty red feather in their hair. fucking disgusting.

equally disgusting, and as a footnote: people sporting fox tails. this was something i used to see at renaissanse faires, which sort of makes sense, seeing as in the 13th century women sported fox tails on the hats, and in the 16th century, fox tails were worn under the waist of a dress. so as a fashion accessory, it is about as historically accurate as anything else at those festivals (as in....not that accurate, if you missed my sarcasm). the fashion trend later started popping up among the "furry" subculture....y'know, as an expression of their "fursona" or whatever. lately it has crept its way into popular fashion as a fancy accessory not only worn out of the back of the pants, but also hung from rearview mirrors, back packs, and purses. these animals were also needlessly slaughtered just so someone can have a fuzzy tail flopping behind their ass as they walk.....

now, before fingers are pointed at me: no i'm not in PETA and yes, i am a fucking hypocrite. i sit here typing this wearing leather boots, and as you can see in my picture, i'm also a handsome gorilla that wears leather jackets. my personal sense of "fashion" is dictated by 2 main factors: durability and comfort. yes, i think it is sad a cow died for the pair of boots i wear, but i have worn them everyday for the past 3 years, and aside from the sole wearing away, they have a couple more years left in them. (after converse was sold to nike and outsourced to china, i didn't think it wise to pay $50 for a basic pair of chucks that would now only last me 4 months if i was lucky, due to cheaper construction.) for me personally, leather for boots that last 5 years or more is a far different evil than the slaughtering of animals for a fashion accessory that lasts a couple weeks at best.

but then again, who the fuck am i?