Drunken Pumpkin

Reading up on my fave beverage today and found a wonderful resource - CoffeeResearch.org. Information on everything I can think of wanting to know, including how to grow your own coffee trees, how to go about roasting your own beans, the process used to evaluate beans, and of course, what ratio of grounds to water you want to used for the perfect cup of coffee.

Who says that economists are dry and boring?

CNN’s Money site has offered up a Dollars to Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts conversion calculator in honor of the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Just in case you wonder where they came up with such a thing, they have also provided the references and reasons that they used to develop teh calculator here.

WHITING, Ind., July 14 (UPI) — An enormous BP oil refinery in Indiana is planning to pour significantly more ammonia and industrial sludge into Lake Michigan, it was reported.

The move by the British Petroleum oil refinery of Whiting, Ind., runs counter to years of efforts to clean up the U.S. Great Lakes, The Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

State regulators exempted BP from environmental laws to pave the way for a $3.8 billion expansion to let BP refine heavier Canadian crude oil. Regulators justified the move, in part, by noting the project will create 80 new jobs.

BP, which aggressively markets itself as environmentally friendly, already is one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes.

Under the new state water permit, BP can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan every day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish and the sludge is dense with heavy metals, the newspaper reported.

The refinery still will meet federal water pollution guidelines, but state and federal officials acknowledge it is the first time in years a company has been approved to dump more toxic waste into Lake Michigan.

This article can be found at UPI.com

A fellow who is always declaring he’s no fool usually has his suspicions.