An enterprise isn't profitable if it REQUIRES a government subsidy to exist.

From a Reuters.com article about the US Senate's decision to nix tax incentives for inferior energy technology companies.

Quoted from: "US Senate drops tax package, boosts auto fuel rules"

"Dropping the $32 billion in clean-energy tax incentives is a big loss for developers of wind, solar and geothermal projects, who say the funds are needed to turn a profit. [emphasis added]"

A profit is when more value is created than is used to generate it. Energy sources with high energy input to energy output ratios, such as: ethanol (as a fuel), wind, solar, are INFERIOR to petroleum or coal based fuels, so only those who can afford to throw away their time/money use them; and this "gassroots" chairity is obviously not enough for inferior energy companies to make a profit.

What's to stop these companies from generating their energy and selling it to the grid? Consumers are none the wiser about the source, so there's not a strong case for commercial inertia (slow adoption). The fact of the matter is they cannot transform their energy into the common electrical "currency" for a price at or below the current market price. They should be in the lab or back at the drawing board, NOT in Washington D.C. begging for a handout from the U.S. taxpayers. Their profit problems will only be solved with science (if the technology is even economically/physically feasible, which I strongly doubt), not politics.

These technologies will be adopted if and only after they create cheaper and equal or more abundant energy than what currently exists.

Whole Foods Market (as opposed to fractional foods?) is an “organic” food grocier whose name encapulates the same unspoken myth that food made the modern way is some how un-food. Today the market appraised value of the company (i.e. price per share) plummeted and the usual suspects were blamed (competition from Wal-Mart for one). Couldn’t it possibly be due to the multiple deaths associated with a variety of “organic” products (from spinach to carrot juice)?

“Nevertheless so profound is our ignorance, and so high our presumption, that we marvel when we hear of the extinction of an organic being; and as we do not see the cause, we invoke cataclysms to desolate the world, or invent laws on the duration of the forms of life!” –Charles Darwin, “The Origin of Species” Chapter: “Struggle for Existence”.

"Muslims Demand Apology."

No.

Its just that easy.

I was right, it was an organic brand.

Some interesting questions arise from this finding. 1) Will people still continue to pay a premium for the increased risk of being infected with a potentially life threatening bacteria? 2) Will information be found that the culprit (a specific organic brand) was known from the begining but withheld, and a blanket warning against all bagged spinach was issued instead? 3) If so, would companies such as Dole have a legal case to recoup damages?

E. Coli infections in 8 U.S. states were linked to bagged spinach, however; it has been reported that the brand name of said bagged spinach is still unknown. How is that possible? They know that it was spinach... bagged spinach no less, and yet they don't know which brand?

Here's what I think. When I hear E. Coli infections arising from raw veggies, I immediately think "Organic Foods"; which have been shown to harbor more pathogenic microorganisms than crops grown with 20th century technology. The spinach might not be an "Organic" brand, but I'd be suprised if it wasn't.

So what the hell does "Organic" mean in this twisted and corrupted use of the term? It means food grown without the menacing touch of human technology... or at least without applied chemistry or biology (stone tools and irrigation are permitted, I think). The term was chosen to imply that tech-free food is actual food and the other stuff is just flavored polystyrene or some other non-food man made entity.

What kind of mind actually is more afraid of technology than a potentially life threatening infection (not to mention that they'll pay more for the privilage)? Probably the type that is also afraid of the ever menacing dihydrogen monoxide. To them, the word "chemical" has an automatic negative conotation, if you told them that even their "Organic Foods" were composed of chemcals they wouldn't believe you.

The good stuff. Beans that are burned, then ground, and all of the flavorful goodness is removed by a process common in biology and chemistry called extraction. Extraction is the transfer of a substance from one material to another. The principle is based on the fact that substances have different soluability in different media. The affinity of the substance for the extracting media can be modified by modifying some properties of the media, commonly by modifying the temperature. This concept is easily grasped in the case of coffee. Imagine (or try) making coffee with cold water, luke warm water, and the typical piping hot water.

Another intersting idea that this wonderfully aromatic pile of ground plant seeds provides is a chance to consider a potentially cool biotechnology. There is caffeine in the coffee bean meaning that the plant makes the caffeine... meaning that the biochemical pathway that produces the caffeine may be able to be introduced into other microorganisms. If probiotic microorganisms are used the bacteria can be ingested and your body can have a nearly continuous stream of caffeine into the body. The bacteria would have to be engineered such that it couldn't reproduce or else you might not be able to sleep... ever.