the price of corn, fuel and starvation

With the increasing popularity of alcohol fermented from corn as a fuel additive, the demand for corn has passed production, and reserves are shrinking. Before very long, this is sure to result in higher prices. Those who'll be most effected by those higher prices are those on the economic fringes for whom corn is a dietary staple, and the rest of us will see them passed through as higher prices for eggs, chicken, and pork.

My point? Only that we shouldn't be expecting further relief from soon-to-be-declining oil production from the direction of alcohol fermented from corn, or from any grain for that matter. That's not to say that there isn't still a lot of potential in biofuels, but we've already soaked up the excess grain production that made the use of alcohol fermented from grain as a fuel seem reasonable, and we'd do better to look to sources other than grain.

getting on with it all

Well, that (the election) turned out relatively well, at least as compared with the previous three general elections.

The feeling I'm left with is more relief than elation, relief that the sails of the ship that has been carrying us toward disaster are now hanging limp, denied the strong winds that were previously filling them. We're still on that ship and it's still pointed in the same directon, but it has at least paused along that course.

This is a time for renewal: new projects (and new support for old-but-worthy ones), new hope, new commitment.

This is a time for living as though there might still be a future.