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I knew something was fishy when the bloomington schools canceled school last week because of “biodiesel” when every other school bus in the state uses the same 2% biodiesel. (As mandated by law)

And, yep, as it turns out:

Citing an independent study, the Minnesota Department of Commerce reiterated today that biodiesel was not the culprit that caused school buses in Bloomington, Minn. to malfunction last week.

Now… if only I could get 100% biodiesel again this summer!

Making pancakes with my pancake batter dispenser.

Thanks andrea!

Posted by Wordmobi

Because the apple juice news team is fair and balancedâ„¢, we are updating an earlier story, Starting My Car in the Winter

After a week of subzero temperatures, culminating in Thursday night’s -25 degree reading, my car failed to start without a jump. The battery simply couldn’t turn the engine fast enough.

Now, since it did in fact start, after the laborous process of pushing it out into the alley so I could hook jumper cables to a neighbors car, I do not count this as “not starting”.

But since boasting of my record of starting the car in the winter, I thought it would be fair to share that I needed the jump-start.

regular news updates to resume shortly…

My stack of books keeps growing. Like my Netflix queue, but with more taunt. (As the pile of books sits, physically, by my bedside, whereas the Netflix queue is a bit more ethereal.)

I just finished reading Feed by M.T. Anderson. It’s in the pile of books known as “work books”, aka books tangentially related to my job. (I’m not sure if What Went Wrong by Bernard Lewis counts… I checked it out from the school’s library)

I very much enjoy books and movies set in some dystopian future where people are reliant on, or slave to, some sort of “web” of information, and Feed fit the bill perfectly. It’s billed as a “Young adult” novel, but I think it would be appropriate for anyone who has ever walked around in public with a bluetooth earphone in their ear… while not actually speaking with anyone.

The basic premise of the book is that the internet is in your brain, and society has devolved significantly. Idiocracy meets Minority Report.

It’s a good read. I’d highly recommend it if you’re feeling just a bit too connected these days…

Where the Wild Things Are, based on Maurice Sendak’s classic picture book, is slated for major motion picture release in mid-2009.

via Wild Things All Over – 2/4/2008 – Publishers Weekly.

and…

the film will carry a blockbuster of a tie-in—and it’s not the book the film is based on: it is a solo novel, written by Eggers (working title: The Wild Things) inspired by Sendak’s iconic tale, to be published by Ecco Press.

Awesome… Where the Wild Things Are is my favorite children’s book of all time.

if you haven’t been watching battlestar galactica, you have exactly 11 days to get caught up before the final episodes air on the SciFi Channel. that’s right. I’m a nerd.

i just went through my facebook “friends” and removed some people. it’s nothing personal, i just think that friend should mean something… and maybe that something is that we’ve actually spoken in the past 10 years?

“spoken” could even mean that we chat with instant messaging.

spoken does not mean that we play status update racquetball on facebook.

anyway, it’s not that i don’t care to see your updates, or hear your comments on my updates, it’s just simply too much. too much info. all of these technological tools that we have are great at hoarding information, but what are you going to do with it?

or maybe we just need a new etiquette. for example, i post to facebook that i am making chicken soup. instead of receiving a bunch of “i love chicken soup” comments, perhaps i could receive a few great chicken soup recipies.

giving me a bunch of great recipes obviously takes more work on your part, my friends. but that’s what friends are for.

any person can tell me that they love soup. furthermore, any one can look up any recipe, ever. have you seen cooks.com?

but friends know that i love beans, lentils and other legumes. and friends give me the inside scoop on soups with beans.

so in conclusion, if we’re going to be friends on facebook, you’d better be willing to give me some good recipes, and I will reciprocate, because I know that you love different types of cured meats.

friends share recipes.