My Car Won’t Run E85, Maybe Yours?

Yesterday, I noticed the signage at the gas station up the street was showing prices for unleaded gasoline and E85, the fuel made of 85% ethanol and just 15% petroleum. E85 can be made from sugar cane, corn, wheat, just about any starch. Here in the midwest the obvious choice is corn.

As a quick aside, on our last cross-country road trip Jen and I noticed Nebraskan gas stations were promoting the higher percentage of ethanol in the fuels they sold. Next door in Wyoming, the signs proclaimed “There’s No Corn in our Gas!”. With Wyoming not known for their corn production prowess it seemed like a fairly empty statement.

Back to E85, if you’re driving a Flexible Fuel Vehicle like a Ford Explorer or Chrysler minivan, E85 is 30 to 50 cents cheaper per gallon than regular unleaded. Frankly, I’m pretty surprised at the list of Flexible Fuel Vehicles, all trucks and SUVs. Considering how poor their mileage is to begin with, definitely a good thing. Still, I was disappointed not to see the Neon or PT Cruiser on the list.

Minnesota Public Radio’s story on E85.

The IKEA Furnishings Subscription Model

I had a couple of apartments completely furnished via IKEA. As I’m sure you know, once assembled Billy isn’t going anywhere. Drooping and wabbly, the Billy entertainment system lasted – to the day – as my last rental lease. Not a bad thing, I didn’t have to move it. Though it did leave me without a bookcase.

Tonight, browsing their rug selection and picking up a couple things for the office, I pondered again the potential for an IKEA Furnishings Subscription Model. Yes, subscription-based furnishings. IKEA’s furniture prices are low enough where refurnishing is like putting on a fresh coat of paint and like that coat of paint, it only lasts a couple years. Two-years later, when that bookcase is sagging and worn, no worries – it’s replacement has been paid for. The delivery truck will be here tomorrow. Same with the sofa and dining room set and eventually the entire house?

First Crack 45. Cayenne Chris’s Sketch Comedy Podcast

On a beautiful Minneapolis summer day, Cayenne Chris Conroy from Teknikal Diffikulties and I sit down for a backyard-cast to discuss his sketch comedy podcast, creating and keeping track of characters, sound effects, radio theater, the right length for a podcast.

Listen to Teknikal Diffikulties with Cayenne Chris [37 min]

First Crack 44. Building Community, Building Bridges

David Motzenbecker, Mark Hinds, and I talk about how to get a bridge built. Specifically, a pedestrian bridge to re-connect the Bryant and Kingfield neighborhoods of south Minneapolis, two neighborhoods long separated by interstate highway 35W.

Listen to Building Community, Building Bridges [33 min]

Lucero Survived the Culling of SXSW Showcase Music

I’ve got a smart iTunes playlist set up entitled ‘Getting Things Done’ – it holds my tried and true favorites, songs that are just the right combination of ‘covering background noise’ (lawn mowers and road construction) and ‘keep me motivated’.

Specifically, the list contains tracks I’ve rated greater than 2 stars that aren’t in my ‘Most Played’ list (play count > 18) and aren’t podcasts or audio books.

So it’s a nice mix of 118 songs. Right off the bat That Much Further West played from Lucero. A great tune by a band reminding of the best parts of Uncle Tupelo, the Replacements, and any number of long broken up indy country bands.

Lucero came to me via the SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artists download. That’s right 2.6+ gigs of indy music – and I’ve got 70 unplayed songs left. Lucero and 615 others stay, all the death metal – gone.


Other surviving SXSW Showcasing Artists:
Go Betty Go
Daphne Loves Derby
Richmond Fontaine
Melissa Ferrick
Hayes Carll
Linus Pauling Quartet
Rob McColley

Podcasting is Ron Popeil for the Radio

Mark Ramsey at Radio Marketing Nexus nails the value of podcasting to business:

Podcasting is to Radio spots as infomercials are to TV spots.

I’ve used the informercial comparison before, I’m glad others see it also. The traditional model of commerical spots interrupting a regularly scheduled program falls apart in podcasting. Podcasts can shrink and expand to whatever length makes sense and economics of it mean businesses can publish them in-house faster and easier than waiting to get on a networks schedule.

A good podcast is about one idea, like a good sentence. Traditional interruption-based advertising duct-tapes on a second idea. Earlier, this would be the only way to distribute the commercial message – outside of an infomercial. With podcasting businesses go direct to customers – plus now the commerical message won’t be interupted by the regularly scheduled program.

Beside, when you get far enough down the long tail, everything is both information and advertisement.

Elsewhere 22 April 2007

“Commercial information will be opt-in, long-form, information-rich and entertaining, or people won’t watch it.” – Dave Winer

A Reel Mower vs A Real Mower

Last year, when we moved into our place, I picked up a Scott Classic reel mower. It seemed like a quiet, environmentally conscious, energy efficient solution. It was the wrong tool for a number of reasons: the Siberian Elm that sheds its branches like a cat, the odd divets perfect for twisting ankles, and dandelions just laugh at it. By the end of the hour it took to mow, I was cursing both the lawn and the mower.

Then, the handle snapped off. Leaving me with a mower unusable by anyone over 4 feet tall.

This morning we picked up a new mower from Home Depot. Gas, oil, pump-to-prime, pull-string start, whole deal. In comparison to the Scott, this one’s a tank – leveling everything, shredding the Elm’s branches and those pesky dandelions.

On the plus side, the lawn is mowed. In record time and I’m not frustrated. On the down side, it’s way too loud to catch up on my podcast listening.

The Guthrie’s ‘She Loves Me’ From the Cheap Seats

On a whim this morning, Jen and I caught the Guthrie’s She Loves Me matinee performance. This isn’t the first time we’ve hit the Guthrie rush line, definitely won’t be the last. Getting decent seats (or seats at all) is always a gamble. Last time, excellent seats – front and center. This time, front and – way off to stage left. A10 & A11 to be specific. If you’re not familiar with the Guthrie’s layout, these 2 seats provide an excellent side-view of the performance.

With a clear view of the orchestra conductor on the monitor and next to the stage exit, I felt I was half backstage – watching the performance be built rather than just the final product. Watching the conductor’s cues to the orchestra music effecting the movements on stage – from these seats you could see everything. Yes, the magic of illusion was gone. Replaced by something far more interesting – the reality of how things work.

The coordination of all the performers was most impressive during the restaurant scene, though we didn’t have the most attractive vantage point, I felt apart of the action. Not something I’ve experienced from front and center seats, no matter how close.

Star Wars III: Unsafe at Humanscale

Jen and I caught an early showing of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith tonight. Kraig Larson warned I should bring earplugs to avoid the dialog and try to look past the robotic direction.

He was right and I appreciated the tip. Unfortunately, that was just the half of it.

Lucas’ best work is the wide, landscape, city, and spaceship shots. They have the detail and clarity of a panoramic photograph, flying past suspension of disbelief and making the on-screen world real and tactile. Then, right when I get enveloped, the scene cuts. Blah.

More trouble when Lucas zooms in. The interior spaces are flat, as if shadows and textures can’t exist indoors. In many of the scenes between Anakin and Padmé and at the Jedi Coucil, I found the view through the windows far more defined and engaging. Zoom in further, where fewer than 3 people are on screen, and everything falls apart; cheap-looking special effects, flat dialog, and yes, robotic direction – even for the non-robots.

Though I don’t see picking it up on DVD, I’ll gladly attend a comprehensive photography exhibit of Star Wars’ exterior scenes that I could walk through at my own speed.

“Because of” Not “With” in Traditional Media Also?

Last night, I was chatting with a copywriter about some story ideas. She mentioned how tough it is to get a story in free ad-subsidized weekly newspapers. Even when you get the by-line, the monetary compensation isn’t all that. Over in the music industry, Steve Albini reminds us how record companies put artists in the hole while Thomas Hauser tears apart the “standard” book contract.

Makes me wonder if Doc Searls’ statement about money and weblogs is true for traditional media also:

“I believe it’s far more important (and interesting) to make money because of our blogs, rather than with them.”

For example, musicians don’t make money with a record, they make money on ticket sales and merchandise (because of a record).

If there’s only two nickels to be made, directly, whether self-publishing (weblogs) or via a publishing company (newspaper, recording, book) and all the money is in the “because of”. It seems to me the quest is finding the shortest way to “because of”.