Alternate Fuel

[Aggie]

The ability to work on lower concentrations (of ethanol) may be an advantage if it's to be a continuous process.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I was watching Myth Busters yesterday and they filtered used cooking oil and poured it directly in a diesel Mercedes (the didn't specified if the car had been converted). Reading further it seems a conversion is preferable due to the high viscosity of cooking oil or a conversion of the oil itself.

Here is a handy guide for those with diesel needs:

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I was watching Myth Busters yesterday and they filtered used cooking oil and poured it directly in a diesel Mercedes (the didn't specified if the car had been converted). Reading further it seems a conversion is preferable due to the high viscosity of cooking oil or a conversion of the oil itself.

Here is a handy guide for those with diesel needs:

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html

Pure [filtered] veggy oil "diesels" quite nicely, without any modification to the engine itself.

The problem lies in two aspects:  pure veggie oil will mould or spoil pretty quickly, and pure veggie oil is too "thick" a viscosity for most diesel pumps to handle properly.

The cure for the former is to "denature" veggie oil with petroleum oil, say 5% or 10% or so.

The fix for the latter is a simple application of heat.  All the "conversions" to pure veggie oil involve some form of heater/heat applied to the fuel tank, to keep it at or near 150 degrees F-- (roughly 66C if I remember right).  This involves insulating the tank and the fuel lines.

Everyone who does a conversion also adds more fuel filters too, just in case-- and positions these for very easy on-the-road changeouts (and carries spares).  This is because even filtered veggie oil contains particulates that WILL clog the diesel injectors pretty quickly-- requiring a major engine overhaul.   So extra filtering is a must.

I read of one mobile home conversion guy that just wrapped his fuel tank in several inches of fiberglas insulation (yes, the kind you'd use in an attic) and then several layers of very stout aluminum foil.  Before he did that, though, he wrapped the tank in an ordinary electric blanket, like you might use on your bed.

Then, he plugs in the electric blanket to the mains at night, and the super-extra insulation keeps the hot oil hot enough to work-- he states he tries to keep the tank 1/2 full at a minimum, if possible.

But, pure unadulterated veggie oil works quite well.

[Swatopluk]

Just stumbled on this
http://www.alternet.org/story/89127/
A new alternative fuel with positive side effects 

[Sibling Chatty]

Ah, Ehrenreich once again exposes her previously note fat phobia.

She needs to sharpen up her Swiftian moves... As satire, it's weak, as NOT satire, it just sad.

[pieces o nine]

I *think* that article (or another very like it) was fuel for an opinion fire over at TOP, where several of the members could not resist rushing over with their own little gas cans to express horror and contempt at teh fat.

Personally, I would take great pleasure in surveying the most self-righteous and shrill among them in, say, 20 years, with a little check-in every decade thereafter...

I posted a little anecdote about a former coworker whom my mind had identified as 'fat' and then moved on to more important topics. A couple years later I ran into her again -- she looked great! Guess what? She revealed that she was no longer on mega-doses of a steroid to fight a serious health condition. Clearly not the case in most instances, but my point was that the delicate, oversensitive fat-phobes among them should not LEAP! to conclusions and harsh judgements if they do not know the facts about the situation. You will all be stunned -- STUNNED! -- to hear that my post was ignored.

[Swatopluk]

I could do with 20 kg less. Part of it might come from medication but I think that's negligible compared to not enough exercise and the body making good use of what is going in (i.e. I am genetically well prepared for the coming famine it seems)

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Pretty much my case except I'm not taking any medication. 

[Aggie]

Send it here!  But you must include some muscle with it also - I'm short on both.

CAN build muscle but I'm not looking forward to dieting to do so (5000 calories force-fed at 5 meals per day plus snacks plus drinks). 


It's not a new idea, nor is it particularly amusing or practical.  It's arguably more practical to strip fat from cadavers with a solvent such as acetone prior to cremation (would be voluntary, maybe one gets a discount?), which is still a bit offensive but does not carry the UGH FAT! connotations.

[Opsa]

Skinny or chunky, you guys all have wonderful minds and are beautiful in every way and don't ever forget that!

Anyone who says otherwise is pitifully naive. Feel sorry for them. One day they WILL get old or ill and then what will they have to say about stupid notions about physical perfection?

YOU will ALWAYS be WONDERFUL.

[Sibling Chatty]

To a great extent, body shape and 'styling' are genetic/inherited.

Tall chunky people will probably have tall chunky kids. You screw up their chance to get the "tall" part right in utero, you're gonna have a short, chunkier toss-off there.

Personal happenstance. Mom had a child, a miscarriage or maybe two and another child in 18 months. The body cannot physically support that. Add in neurofibromatosis-nobody knows WHY on neurofibromatosis--and you have a 5'5" tall person in a family of--Mom, at full height 5' 10", Dad 6', older sister 5'11" and in a growth spurt at the time of death, and brothers 6'5" (we think) and probably 6'8". NOBODY thin, everybody substantial to heavy. Now, take the ONE in there that never got any 'trunk' development (height) beyond the size of a nine-year old. Legs and arms go on forever, but, squatty body. And where, dear friends, does fat accumulate, especially on the female??

Now, you can starve it, you can try to change it with diets, you can operate on it, BUT your genetic inevitability is SET.

And guess what?? the ectomorphs NEVER win in the Life Lotto. The mesomorphs do a bit better, but for survival?? It's us chunks that make it. Go into "famine mode" and store energy?? You betcha!! We're built to do it.

Example: Holiday time, flower shop. Over 500 orders. Me, a woman 10 years younger, 2 young women in their 20's. Working around the clock. Some make it once around, two make it twice, then one, the 'fat old lady' makes it over 80 hours, no sleep, 2 meals, one "hose off in the back at night" shower. I was not swift, I was steady, and I just kept moving. Stored energy.

I can't RUN anywhere. I can amble my way along for miles, even with all the neuro and ortho problems.

It's all about the storage systems, for ANY kind of energy.

And if it can be stripped out post mortem, before cremation, GOOD. Dealing with my leftover bones is gonna be a big enough pain. (Another genetic abnormality. Dense bones. Will not break normally. They fracture vertically...)

Mankind is a fool to not utilize any energy source available, as long as the rights of people aren't infringed upon.

Problem is, there are those that will mandate the infringement of those rights. (Today's theme is: People Suck, I Wanna be a Kitteh.)

[Griffin NoName]

Yay! Chatty !!

I have been living on the basis that I have enough fat stored around my middle to keep me alive whenever I have bouts of not enough energy to eat (and certainly not enough energy to process what I might eat).

I've never had a waist and I don't expect to suddenly develop one

No to Meals-on-Wheels !  That would certainly waste a lot of fuel.

[Sibling Chatty]

Precisely.

Meals on Wheels tends to middle of road dull food that's 'easy' on the oldsters, and has plenty of fibre.

Fibre is NOT indicated for an illness that has the highest incidence of chronic diahrreah of ANY illness, including Chron's. And that we're 'blessed' with an internal indicator that tells us (see above record) when food's been 'held' after prep (bake it today, hold it to serve tomorrow on those lovey chicken legs...), well...it's not lovely at all.

NOT to mention the fact that between allergies and severe dislikes, the M-O-W anonymous survey we did here in our little town (138 MOW recipients, although some are through the Senior's Center where they come to the center to eat) almost half of what MOW puts out gets trashed or fed to the cat/dog/neighbor kid/grandkid/other starving entity.

Add to that the stupid fact that the Senior Center folks cannot take their 'leftovers' home with them...any 'overage' in food must be thrown out, and there are hungry people a couple of blocks away...

Most large-group run MOW activities are based on forcing the inedible on the uninterested.

[Alpaca]

I'm dreading the day I quit growing and my dietary choices begin to affect me. (College? Maybe.) I've kept my same freakishly sticklike figure through every dietary variation and lifestyle variation I've gone through so far, down to every abnormality. (I have perfectly adult shoulders and the chest of an eight-year-old, and it's been that way since shortly after I hit puberty.) Maybe I ought to start doing physical things...

[anthrobabe]

I'm dreading the day I quit growing and my dietary choices begin to affect me. (College? Maybe.) I've kept my same freakishly sticklike figure through every dietary variation and lifestyle variation I've gone through so far, down to every abnormality. (I have perfectly adult shoulders and the chest of an eight-year-old, and it's been that way since shortly after I hit puberty.) Maybe I ought to start doing physical things...

Freshman 15!
Freshman 15!
(and don't laugh about it- I began college at age 31 and instantly put on about 12 extra pounds to my already obese self------)
I went hog wild with the fact that I could put money on my food card and go to the student union and buy all sorts of garbage to drink and eat (like coffee drinks  ) and not have to pay taxes because the money was left over from my scholarships and went on my dining credit (get more money than what it takes to pay tuition, fees and buy books??    and other high fat/calorie items with it from the student union!)

I do not understand why some food has to be tossed-- like at senior centers-- my mom tells me this as well, no doggie bags. It must be a thing in the USA because many senior centers get 'gubment' money to buy that food so it has to be something about not giving away or 'trading' food comodities! (and she agrees that usually the food is awful-- but if one can get it down it does provide filler-and some of our seniors are so budget tight that they need the filler-- so if they could take it home then who knows they might be better nourished).

Oh sorry 
back on topic of alternative fuel
interesting idea about human fat retreval and use--- lots of ethical problems, but hey many choose to donate their other organs and while fat is not an organ it is a substance of use.
on the other hand-- what a gross idea--- shivers, envisions a sort of Soylent Green type thing going on and has read The Jungle many times!

But overall I do agree with the fact that we should utilize what we can as fuel--- like
HEMP!    
seriously the stuff grows well under terrible conditions, low or high water areas, scrub land, will grow in shade(like plant it in the forest and not cut down all the trees first), is pest resistant, grows rapidly, does not need fertilizer, and so forth. It is only for smoking when it is allowed to mature and bud out--- if harvested prior to that it is completely free of any 'War on Drug' silliness at all.  One can also pick and cook the tiny new leaves as a vegetable as well! It is already grown many places for rope and twine-- we in the USA need to plow under our tobacco plantations (I understant that it is difficult to quit smoking folks-no disrespect for you all) and grow hemp!
naturally I think that it should be grown for smoking and legalized like other drugs we use--- of course until that day I don't use it as it is illegal--- but used by adults, in moderation it is no 'worse' than alcohol or tobacco. IMHumbleO.