You can read my earlier Leaf posts here, here, here, and here. The Leaf I ordered is not due to arrive for another two months. Another engineer that I work with called me up (while he was on vacation) to tell me that he had just test driven an orphaned (the ordering party decided not to purchase) Leaf. It was fresh off the truck and had a 12 percent charge. He warned me that the dealership wanted to sell it for $3,000 over MSRP. I called them the next morning and made an offer to pay cash for MSRP, which …

Just got an email from Nissan:   Hi Russ, congratulations! Your vehicle is scheduled to arrive at your Nissan Dealer in the month of September 2011.   As your Nissan LEAFTM is being built and shipped, we will continue to update your vehicle's status. So make sure to sign in to "my account" to stay current with your estimated delivery date. Please be aware that it is normal for delivery dates to fluctuate by a few days as production is finalized. Should your delivery date change by more than two weeks, we will send you an email to notify you …

According to <a href="http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/reservation/index">this website</a>, Nissan is about to start taking reservations again. <blockquote>Beginning May 1, Nissan will reopen reservations to selected US customers who were registered before April 20, 2011 in states currently selling the Nissan LEAF™ (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington). Following this early-reservation period, reservations then will open to the general public in those launch states. More details to follow soon regarding other markets.</blockquote> <img src="http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/leavvsmievchart.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599218099200615394"> <img src="http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/leafvsmiev.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599197166549539986"> It will cost me $99 (which is refundable if I don't buy a Leaf) to get in line to purchase one. Before …

Oh, wait a minute. I got that wrong. I meant ethanol reactor, not nuclear reactor. From a paper published in the spring 2011 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons--the official journal of the AAPS (Association of American Physicians and Surgeons):   Research by the World Bank indicates that the increase in biofuels production over 2004 levels would push more than 35 million additional people into absolute poverty in 2010 in developing countries. Using statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Indur Goklany estimates that this would lead to at least 192,000 excess deaths per year, plus …

The German government's plan to follow our lead and force a ten percent blend of ethanol down its citizen's throats has hit a snag. Unlike here in the States, German consumers can choose to buy gasoline without ethanol in it. So, that's what they're doing even though it costs more! I took the above photo with my cell phone while filling up our Prius. Your elected politicians are forcing you to fuel your car with food. Why aren't you morally outraged?   Refiners and gas stations are sitting on full tanks of unsold Super E10. On the other hand, there …

Photo courtesy of therozblog via Flickr Imagine what it would feel like to accidentally maim, cripple for life, or kill a bicyclist (daughter, wife, mom, son, husband, dad, teenager or kid) with your car, regardless of who got the traffic ticket. On top of that guilt, imagine the potential for an emotionally and financially devastating lawsuit. Oh, and don't forget the deductible on your car insurance. I've had to brake hard to avoid hitting a cyclist, day, night, rain, or shine, many times in my life. As a cyclist, I've been on the receiving end more times than I can …

The neighborhood dogs use my daughter's vegetable garden as a communal toilet. You can't blame them really. The garden is right next to the sidewalk and they are just dogs. I suppose you could blame the dog owners holding the leash. But, are my dog-walking neighbors really that obtuse or are they victims of the parasite on the end of that leash? ; ) Photo courtesy of Darwin Bell via Flickr See this article called Ten Fascinating Cases of Mind Control for a fascinating compilation of videos documenting how parasites send their genes into the future (procreate) by controlling the …

There were two interesting cars parked on my street this week. One was a Nissan Leaf (see my test drive video here). The other was a Ford Pinto. The Pinto was one of the forerunners of today's small hatchbacks. It had bucket seats with a hand brake between them, a back seat that folded down, a small four-cylinder engine, and of course a hatch back. I owned four of them through high school and college because used versions were inexpensive and easy to repair, although thanks to shody manufacturing, they never lasted long. Long ago and far away, I once …

                          Photo courtesy s.red via Flickr Crossposted from the Biodiversivist blog Just how rational are we? Had the optimists not prevailed would the Titanic have sailed? I've read most of Ridley's books and have recently read my favorite, The Red Queen-Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature for the second time. I was looking forward to this book, which started out good. I stopped counting after he used the word pessimist for the twelfth time (seriously). He spends an inordinate amount of time complaining about the press's propensity …

Corncob Bob (left) and Bob Dinneen, CEO of the RFA. Crossposted from the Biodiversivist blog In this post I am going to critique an article titled: Disarming the Food to Fuel Conflict ...which was written by someone who did not seem to be aware that his main source of information, the Renewable Fuels Association, is the nation's largest and best funded corn ethanol lobbying firm. I used the same title because is it just as applicable to my article. And he's not the only unwitting corn ethanol missionary out there helping the corn ethanol propaganda mill to spread the word …