Ever since I finished reading Joe Armstrong's "Programming Erlang", several details have been nagging me but I haven't been able to put my finger on them… until now.

Cédric questions some of Erland's claims to fame.

I've never done anything with Erlang, except read about it. I had my doubts too.

On a blackboard, it looks so simple: Take a plant and extract the cellulose. Add some enzymes and convert the cellulose molecules into sugars. Ferment the sugar into alcohol. Then distill the alcohol into fuel. One, two, three, four — and we're powering our cars with lawn cuttings, wood chips, and prairie grasses instead of Middle East oil. Unfortunately, passing chemistry class doesn't mean acing economics. Scientists have long known how to turn trees into ethanol, but doing it profitably is another matter. We can run our cars on lawn cuttings today; we just can't do it at a price people are willing to pay.

A comprehensive overview courtesy of Wired.

Part of the problem is that American biodiesel companies basically get breaks from two governments, an American subsidy of $1 a gallon and then an UK rebate of 20p a liter. This means US biodiesel can sell for about about $860 a ton, much less than the $1,239 or so that a UK ton costs…

Yet, finding biodiesel in the US is still painful.

Producing fuel from corn and other crops could be good for the planet—if only the process didn't take a significant environmental toll. New breakthroughs could make a difference.

Long article, but quite informative. Be sure to check the interactive section too.

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow search warrants to be issued without a showing of probable cause.

We'll see what the Court of Appeals says.