Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Sunset...New Year's Eve


Couldn't be more appropriate to have the highlight of this day be centered around the bike (on the dirt! yahoo...). Here's to a wonderful New Year filled with lots of love, peace, adventure ..and happiness for all. :)

Thanks to the guys for taking me on such an epic ride!

GOT SKILLS........(wow)

Monday, December 22, 2008

Sweet Sixteen


Well here we are.

Myles turned the big "16" yesterday. It hasn't always been easy being a mom, and things haven't always been perfect(especially the teen years ahem)......but my life as "mother" is more special than anything I know. hands down.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

more than a good day :)


Thanks to Joe Lawwill for putting the group ride together, and props to Joe for taking all the great pics!I was a total newbie to The San Juan Trail and Cocktail Rock, but you can bet I'll be getting out there more often! :)

Friday, December 19, 2008

"MYCO-DIESEL" ..... wahoo.



Here is some great news that a friend shared with me and now I am sharing with you!

Introducing Myco-Diesel:
A unique fungus that makes diesel compounds directly from cellulose has been discovered living in trees in the Patagonian rainforest.

"These are the first organisms that have been found that make many of the ingredients of diesel," said Professor Gary Strobel from Montana State University. "This is a major discovery."

The discovery may offer an alternative to fossil fuels, said Strobel, MSU professor of plant sciences and plant pathology, who travels the world looking for exotic plants that may contain beneficial microbes. The find is even bigger, he said, than his 1993 discovery of fungus that contained the anticancer drug taxol.

Strobel's paper, published in the November issue of the journal "Microbiology," is based on his discovery of the unique properties of the Patagonian fungus, called Gliocladium roseum.
Professor Gary Strobel in the Patagonian rainforest (Photos courtesy Gary Strobel)

"Gliocladium roseum lives inside the Ulmo tree in the Patagonian rainforest," Strobel begins, telling the story of how he and his team learned that they had found an entirely new source of fuel.

"We were trying to discover totally novel fungi in this tree by exposing its tissues to the volatile antibiotics of the fungus Muscodor albus," Strobel recounts. "Quite unexpectedly, G. roseum grew in the presence of these gases when almost all other fungi were killed. It was also making volatile antibiotics."

"Then when we examined the gas composition of G. roseum, we were totally surprised to learn that it was making a plethora of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives. The results were totally unexpected and very exciting and almost every hair on my arms stood on end!"

Strobel calls the fuel produced by the fungus "myco-diesel," from the Greek-derived root word for the study of fungi - mycology.

"This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances," said Strobel. "The fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which would make it a better source of biofuel than anything we use at the moment."

Intense research into ways of making ethanol fuel directly from cellulose now is taking place in public, private and university labs, and several companies are producing demonstration scale cellulosic ethanol from wood waste, from municipal solid waste and from agricultural residue.

Nearly 430 million tons of plant waste are produced from U.S. farmland alone every year, material that scientists are learning to convert to biofuel.

In current biofuel production, this waste is treated with enzymes called cellulases that turn the cellulose into sugar. Microbes then ferment the sugar into ethanol that can be used as a fuel.

"We were very excited to discover that G. roseum can digest cellulose," Strobel said. "Although the fungus makes less myco-diesel when it feeds on cellulose compared to sugars, new developments in fermentation technology and genetic manipulation could help improve the yield."

"When crops are used to make biofuel they have to be processed before they can be turned into useful compounds by microbes," said Strobel. "G. roseum can make myco-diesel directly from cellulose, the main compound found in plants and paper."
Culture plate of Gliocladium roseum, a fungus that produces myco-diesel hydrocarbons

In the rainforest, G. roseum produces lots of long chain hydrocarbons and other biological molecules. When the researchers grew it in the lab, it produced fuel that is even more similar to the diesel we put in our cars.

The majority of hydrocarbons found naturally occur in crude oil, where decomposed organic matter provides carbon and hydrogen. When bonded, these elements can form seemingly limitless chains of molecules.

Professor Strobel, who travels the world looking for exotic plants that may contain beneficial microbes, says his discovery brings into question our knowledge of the way fossil fuels are made.

The accepted theory is that crude oil, which is used to make diesel, is formed from the remains of dead plants and animals that have been exposed to heat and pressure for millions of years.

Strobel speculates, "If fungi like this are producing myco-diesel all over the rainforest, they may have contributed to the formation of fossil fuels."

Strobel is the lead author of the paper published in "Microbiology." His MSU co-authors are Berk Knighton and Tom Livinghouse in the Department of Chemistry/Biochemistry, and Katreena Kluck and Yuhao Ren in the Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology.

Other co-authors are Meghan Griffin and Daniel Spakowicz from Yale University and Joe Sears from the Center for Lab Services in Pasco, Washington.

Researchers in government agencies and private industry have already shown interest in the fungi. A team to conduct further research has been established between MSU's College of Engineering and researchers at Yale University.

One member of the team is Strobel's son, Scott, who is chairman of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. The MSU-Yale team will investigate a variety of questions, including the genetic makeup of Gliocladium roseum.

Scott Strobel said his team is already screening the fungus' genome. Besides determining the complete genetic makeup of the fungus, they will run a series of genetic and biochemical tests to identify the genes responsible for its diesel-making properties.

"The broader question is, what is responsible for the production of these compounds," Scott Strobel said. "If you can identify that, you can hopefully scale it up so you end up with better efficiency of production."

Scientists in a variety of disciplines may be able to combine their talents to optimize production and find a way to turn what is essentially a vapor into a burnable, liquid fuel.
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WOW...this really cool, really awesome, and really amazing! Go Gary!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

M.I.A. ...Birth name --Mathangi Arulpragasam Born--17 July 1977


Just a little diddy I found on the web about one girl that I look up to. (besides...we have the same birthday, and that's just cool) ;)

M.I.A. has done more and seen more than most up-and-coming rap stars. In a lucrative musical genre that still flatters itself as being oppressed, M.I.A. stands out. Coming to Britain as a refugee with nothing, she flourished despite a difficult adolescence. She's also done more with herself than put out a hit record and some singles, which are no mean feats either; M.I.A. earned an art degree and impressed with her collages and documentary filmmaking.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

I have an attitude....are you surprised?


seriously though, I do have a thing or two to say about the hub-ub of having or shall we now say... "not having" a three day stage race at the upcoming TOC.

My little miss brenda opinion will have to wait though...

I'm too tired to write about it considering I woke up Monday morning in Santa Rosa Tuesday morning in Huntington Beach and this morning in Las Vegas.
I lost count of the shops I have visited, but you can bet I got in the gym...twice.

Making it happen.

made me think of Helen


As Helen Keller said... "Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all."

That's what I was thinking when I went wall riding today in Vegas on my Angel....
That there two-foot wide water drainage thing just sort of jumped out of nowhere, I swear I didn't see it on my way to the gym when I was getting all cocky dropping in from the highest point of the wall (trust me this banking was steeper than The ADT Center Velodrome). Honestly, I'm not sure how the heck I managed to skirt across that giant trough thing as I was dropping in at speed, my hands all the way out on the bull horns, in sneakers on Ultegra pedals...(not clipped in!), but somehow I made it over that big 'ol gap in one piece. All I got out of it was a rear flat.

Phew.

I guess it is a good thing I haven't gone "fixie" yet with my Lager, I would have definitely lost some skin with those antics....

full circle....

my mother just told me an amazing story about the day her mother died. special moments like these will not be forgotten.....

Monday, December 01, 2008

myspotttt


making it happen........