Correct - the metrics quoted are a calorie-per-calorie analysis of what it takes to make raw materials (e.g. calories of petroleum used for fertilizer to grow one calorie of corn). This does not include calories lost during the distillation process or what is consumed during the high temperatures required for distillation.

...unless I'm misunderstanding your comment.

How would this cause pause to the oil-rich countries if conventional fertilizers use 2 calories of petroleum for every one calorie of corn grown (source: Michael Pollun's book, The Omnivore's Dilemna )? It sounds to me like E85 a good thing for them. Also, keep in mind that when you talk about foreign oil in America, realize that our number 1 provider of foreign oil is Canada. America imports far more oil from Canada than anywhere else in the world.

I believe that in most cases, it's more than just semantics. Most (not all) corn is grown using conventional (petroleum-based) fertilizer. According to Michael Pollan, producing one calorie of corn uses two calories of petro-fertilizer. This is only counting fertilizer use, not the additional energy used for farm equipment, moving product/raw materials, the distillation process or loss of energy during distillation.

I'm shocked that this is not cited elsewhere when discussing Ethanol as an energy source, especially when used to reduce our dependency on petroleum (foreign or otherwise). Given that we're using more petroleum to make it than it would save, it appears to be a bit of a boondoggle.

...either that or I'm horribly misinformed. (Note: Pollan's book cites a peer reviewed study for this claim - I'm just citing what I read from memory)

That took me a second :)

Bruce Schneier said it better than I can.

Biometrics are unique identifiers, but they are not secrets. You leave your fingerprints on everything you touch, and your iris patterns can be observed anywhere you look.

Authenticating with biometrics is little better than using social security numbers. They are both unique identifiers, but neither are secrets, making them better suited to user id's. Passwords, on the other hand, are secrets.

nobody expected that.

I truly empathize with your people. It is so unfortunate that the people in your country have no access to Wikipedia or Google to do some independent research about a meaningless poll that you may or may not understand. However, I am so happy that you somehow still have access to other American websites to complain about American-centric posts.

PNG isn't really good for photography, since it does not support EXIF metadata.

Please don't forget to leave in support for metadata (e.g. EXIF). If PNG had this from the start, it's very unlikely that we would still be using JPEGs.

If I remember correctly, JPEG2000 is patent encumbered.