Via Tresler, here's a neat little start-up: Solazyme. They made jet-fuel out of algae:

Solazyme’s algal-derived aviation fuel as analyzed by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), one of the nations leading fuel analytical laboratories, passed the eleven “most challenging specifications needed to meet the ASTM D1655 standard for Aviation Turbine Fuel. The tested areas included the key measurements for density, thermal oxidative stability, flashpoint, freezing point, distillation and viscosity among others. Of the eleven tested parameters, the Solazyme aviation fuel passed the ASTM D1655 requirements for every measurement. Therefore, the Solazyme algae-based aviation kerosene has passed the biggest hurdles needed to successfully develop a commercial and military jet fuel fully consistent with existing engines and infrastructure” as stated in the SwRI report.

President Obama should give those guys a phat Pentagon contract to get things scaling. Swords into plowshares, bitches.

Joe the plumber is america's next top political football. I found this invocation to give me a little sense of trepidation, mainly for reasons Bowers outlines here. It seems to tap into the Reagan-era shit that's worked really well. I'm personally totally non-plussed, but it makes me nervous when people start attacking Obama for wanting to "spread the wealth around."

But it appears that maybe America is waking up to the fact that this has been happening, except the "spread" has a decidedly upward drift. As one pundit put it, "the rich have been strip-mining the middle class" for the past twenty five years.

And Joe? Well, who knows if it will matter in the non-reality-based community that is the world of Cable News, but it looks like an EPIC FAIL of a campaign strategy:

So Joe (whose name is Sam) the Plumber (who isn't a plumber) was used by McCain to attack Obama's tax proposal, though Joe/Sam actually pays less tax under Obama (if he actually got around to paying his taxes.)

Brought to you by the same people who think character attacks are more important than issues.

That's compounded by the fact that the ad McCain released (from professionals) prominently features the word "Everbody?" in one of its fear-factor jump-cuts.

This explains a lot. Lolcats are running the McCain campaign.

Another one, from everyone's favorite comic denizen of Rudy's:

Kudos to Katie. I think the "Strong on Women" tagline is fucking genius. It's both mocking of conventional campaign discourse, and also clearly communicative of the creepy, overbearing, paternalistic attitude that typifies the Right's position on all these issues.

Love it!

Things have been busy to the extreme but thankfully its the good kind of busy that brings a sense of purpose and joy to life.

I've been struggling in my meditative moments -- mostly on mass transit -- with the cyclical trap of self-awareness. Third-person camera vision; thinking about telling a story about a girl to another girl and asking advice about life, and knowing this is on some level a maneuver, and that killing the whole appeal.

Thinking about how this condition of cynical self-consciousness prevents interesting things from happening, prevents simple happiness and authentic experience from emerging, creates an unattractive air of uncertainty, hesitation and pessimism.

And I look across the BART isle and there's a middle aged man, kids-off-to-college age, assembling a book of Magic the Gathering cards, which I remember from high school, and he's got a look of pure and unadulterated joy on his face, putting his new cards into their little plastic holders, arranging them just so. Totally unconscious to whatever else and just loving it in whatever personal world he inhabits. It was a poignant moment for me.

To use a theatrical phrase, sometimes we have to suspend our disbelief in our own lives, perhaps as a precursor to Really Actually Believing again.

Bring it on home, Barry:

Quick little bartblogging while I'm on my way home. Friday night had a taste of the old glory days. Maybe it was AlexUA on the scene, or maybe it was just the first time I'd been out on the town in a long while, but it occurs to me that I'm only going to be young and pretty enough to run with the bulls for so long, and it may be advisable to make the most of it.

Anyway, the Mission these days is out of control. All the trends that were in place when I left have continued to expand exponentially. I hear the same about North Brooklyn (will see in a month or so). Not sure how I feel about all this, but it seems like... an opportunity at least.

I believe the Black President is wrapping it up in terms of the election. This is looking a lot more like 96, 84 or 76 than 2000 or 04. That's good.

So now there's this: Obama campaign buys 30-minute time block on Oct 29th. My guess/hope is this will be a Perot-style policy demo. Our debt-based economy is rapidly collapsing, and as clever as Zack's "25% hit on 401(k): five grand. President Obama? Priceless" line is, there's a reality that shit's real fucked up right now and it's going to start hurting regular people, and badly, quite soon.

For my part, I agree with Zizek that we need a new theory, and I'm young and dumb enough to go one further and venture some guesses.

The sketchy wind-up:

Quick hits from Embarcaderro:

• I didn't catch tonight's debate, but I will tell you what I thought of last week's VP contest: less exciting than expected, though Palin's sex appeal remains a great unexplored aspect of the race.
• Gay marriage question was interesting. People I know are unhappy w/Biden's answer, but I found the framing of constitutional rights to be ok. Civil unions for everyone, including breeders. Leave the magic "marriage" word up to the church. In another decade it won't matter though.
• SF is pretty beautiful, and I'm hells-all busy as per usual. Secret plans which will be revealed in time.

Here comes the train. Wish I hadn't left my headphones in the HC. Anyone got any book recommendations?

I'm back in the Bay for a week. BadCAMP coming up, and business to conduct for our budding Cycling Empire. Also happy birthday Zacker. Good fun and a nice drive, so I'm content with all that.

Oft's the time I wonder about graphing my changes in mood and fortune, a little personalized stock ticker of the soul. Regular journal-writing is beyond me, and actually recounting the details of my daily life would be debilitatingly dreary. No one must know just how ho-hum my routine really is. Gotta preserve the mystery.

A numerical composite would be interesting, while (probably) allowing me to retain whatever shards of sex-appeal I can still muster. And what might such a life-market show? Finances flat but stable. Politics looking up and responsibility on the rise. Stress back down after peaking in August.

It's all well and dandy, and I'm especially happy that visible signs of over-stress -- e.g involuntary muscle-twitching -- are declining, but as things level out I worry muchly about the void, that it may just sit there gaping at me. Nature abhors a vacuum, and although I could really use a vaction, the kind of soul-emptying boredom that may be in the offing here seems dangerous.

The best answer seems like a long shot. Short-sellers are killing the Love index. The gut feeling: flat-lined.

This is starting to become a problem. Aphoristic wisdoms along the lines of "age is a state of mind" are cold comfort when contemplating a creeping case of cynicism. I really don't want to end up a jaded or pessimistic person. It's a shit way to live, but objectively that's the trend. Me no likey.