Not that I'm aware of, clearly you've identified a missed business opportunity there. We need to get to talking with these Australian Aborigines!

Apparently, Nicola Tesla was involved in the discovery of the use of vibration to treat constipation. This was an accidental side effect of a vibration platform he had built to study the effects of different frequencies of vibration on objects and/or people. Whenever a person stood on this platform when it was tuned…

It's not currently legally availible to non-Starz subscribers in any form, except for the first episode which Comcast has availible for streaming on the XfinityTV site, and the live streaming via Netflix that has already been mentioned.

Methanol is indeed wood alcohol, however only small amounts of it are normally produced by yeast fermentation. That's apparently the trick in distilling one's own alcohol, you separate the ethanol from the others by carefully measuring the temperature, and only collecting the distillate from the correct temperature…

It would indeed be ethanol (drinking alcohol). That's the primary end result of yeast fermentation. As for flavor, not sure what mulch-whiskey might taste like. I suspect someone would try it though.

One would hope the yeast would be metabolically crippled somehow, so it couldn't exist in the outside world. However, you have a point. If it got loose and started to reproduce uncontrollably, wood and fiber everywhere would start to become alcohol.

There is a lot of genetic engineering solutions that have been proposed. One of my favorite ideas is to genetically engineer yeast to produce cellulase. That way they can break down the fibers, then ferment the resulting sugars.

Sirius is indeed an excellent example of this sub-genre. Like all of Stapeldon's work, it's now in the public domain, and anyone interested can download it for free in e-book form here:

The problem with tallow as a biofuel source is the same as all of the other cellulose-based alternatives, we do not have a large scale means of converting the cellulose to sugars. Tallow-trees could be ground up into woody biomass, but without a industrial scale means of producing the enzyme cellulase you have…

Michigan isn't mentioned in the Bible, therefore it cannot exist. Oh wait, Kansas isn't mentioned . . .

That's an awesome pair of sentences . . .

I like Kelly Link's little twisted stories that are never quite what you expect them to be. If anyone is interested in reading more of her short stories, they can download her collections "Stranger Things Happen" and "Magic for Beginners" for FREE in a variety of e-book formats at feedbooks:

That statement would look interesting on one's business card :-)

Who knew this article would help us expand our vocabularies?

This is an interesting image! I was curious if the story behind it available online (in English), as I'd never heard of it before. I found this version:

I thought so too, I like the Rawkin' Lion, and Emo-Scarecrow.

This Totoro is very disturbing in a good way.

You might also consider that in less affluent rural areas in the Southeast, AIDS education and prevention programs are weak to nonexistent. Condom usage among such populations isn't also likely to occur at a high rate due to lack of access and cultural and/or religious stigmas. Also consider the detrimental effect…

The gun is good!

I'm hoping you are right, the delay is just promoting the use of "questionable means" for Americans to keep up and not be spoiled.