Once you attain a certain stature in life, there are two things that no longer make sense—cheap liquor and expensive gas stations.

So there’s obvious appeal to the idea that you could turn cheap liquor into cheap gas in the time it takes you to down an ice-cold martini (made with the good stuff). Say hello to your new personal gas pump, the EFuel100 MicroFueler.

Rather than waiting in line on a smoggy street corner for the privilege of being gouged mercilessly, roll right up to the EFuel100 residing in your driveway (or garage, or basically anywhere with a power outlet and a water hookup) to fill any gas-burning auto with your homemade batch of ethanol. Just pour in the mix of sugar feedstock and yeast—or the residual gin from your Bootlegger’s Ball ‘05 gathering—and after a few days, fill ‘er up. The MicroFueler makes 35 gallons a week, each gallon costs you about $1, and your car will actually enjoy a little more power (which is why IndyCar racers use ethanol).

Sure, you can brag about the purported environmental benefits of your newfound gasoline independence, but there’s also a certain satisfaction in using that gas money you saved somewhere else.

Like the bar.

EFuel100 MicroFueler, $9,995, now available for pre-order online

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The Speach Staff.

The Daily Banter’s Peter Bauer reports, “President Bush was booed Sunday as he threw out the first pitch for the Washington Nationals.” Seems like the cows are coming home, I mean cowboys. Cowboys. In about seven years, the Bush legacy is not in tip-top shape according to a stadium of nationals.

Bush then [2001]:

Bush Now: [2008]

Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977), was an American comedian and film star. He is famed as a master of wit. He made fifteen feature films with his siblings, the Marx Brothers, and also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show, You Bet Your Life. ^[1] He had a distinctive image, which included a heavy greasepaint moustache and eyebrows and glasses.

On FreeRice.com, for each word you get right, they donate 20 grams of rice throughout the UN World Food Program to help end hunger. It sounds easy enough. On the homepage, after you choose by highlighting a definition to word that is offered as the mechanism to move people to action any way they can, a total of 130, 345, 500 grains of rice…Yesterday!

On the FAQ page, a question reads:

How does playing the vocabulary game at FreeRice help me?

Why would anyone need more of a reason to play this simple word game, then to end world hunger. Well, what borderline offensive reasons would they put up to entice people to participate?

• Sell yourself, your services, and your products better
• Be more effective and successful at your job

And when you finally read down bulletined answers and blurbs of confidence, “about 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children.” Maybe it’s just me. 25,000 people, or…increased degree of productivity. Hmm. Wait, ah Intent:

daddy? nah.

couch? nope.

gorge? tough.

purpose? purpose.
Correct!

On the bottom of the screen, ads? Freerice.com advertises?

“These ads pay for your donated rice.” I just donated 20 grains of rice, today. I think.

Occasionally, your quest for original attire takes you to some pretty strange places. Like a secret, signless store cloaked in the dark shadow of a dingy over is where you’ll find Front St., the just-opened shop from burgeoning label Endovanera.

Pronounced “end of an era”—so subversive, these fashion people—the line began attracting attention last fall. The next step of course was to set up shop in a run-down (and thus officially credible) Echo Park building—a small “1154″ above the door is the only confirmation you’re in the right spot. Inside: concrete floors, salvaged light fixtures and just a few minimalist racks of the well-cut basics a rock star might wear to a business meeting—grey vests, slim black pants, well-cut black-and-white button-downs and military-inspired coats.

If you see something you like but it’s not quite right, the on-site design studio, behind the white curtain, is filled with Japanese fabrics and Italian denim for all your customization needs. The proprietors can recreate that military coat in a different color, for example, or build a pair of jeans from scratch.

So you can stand apart from even those who stand apart.

Front St. by Endovanera, 1154 Glendale Blvd (S. of Sunset Blvd overpass), Echo Park, (213)-413-6666

Okay, you’ve been making MP3 collections for a while now.

Now, Muxtape and Mixwit offer users the ability to make digital mix-tapes. There is a difference between the two. Muxtape is a less-developed site depending on its users for uploading and creating. Mixwit goes a bit further. It allows users to search, relying on SeeqPod and Skreemr to put together digital mix-tapes for friends, family and crushes.

Here’s the catch. As Daniel Terdiman writes on news.com, “Rafe Needleman and Josh Lowensohn have noted, Muxtape appears to be a legal time bomb, merely awaiting the wrath of the Recording Industry Association of America, while Mixwit seems to exist on firmer legal footing.”

Now, K-Love (that’s right, K-Love) shows off his shooting abilities putting up shots from wayyyy deep. K-Love’s got range. At 6-foot-10, this 270-pound center who averages 17.6 points and 10.7 rebounds a game and PAC-10 player of the year, one thing is clear from these videos, if the game is on the line and they need a 3-bomb, K-Love is putting a hang up in the huddle to take the winning shot!

(or at least challenging Mr. James to a game of advertising h-o-r-s-e.)

Beware the Bruins! Fight! Fight! Fight! Is my Bruin jersey showing too much?

This ties in with the recent government bail out of Bear Stearns that led a homeowners demonstration outside the offices of Bear Stearns, JP Morgan Chase. There, JP Morgan Chase came in and “bailed out” Bear Stearns. Who was really bailed out? Wall Street. The people who have their savings, pension and investments tied in with Bear Stearns are not bailed out by any sense of the word. The Federal Reserve put up $30 billion to help JP Morgan Chase buy Bear Stearns, now worth around $300 million.

The actions of the government, particularly the Federal Reserve - now becoming more entwined with the government - are not common actions. They are not simple injections into an economy for a boost. The Federal Reserve is now in the process of nationalizing banks. What does that mean for you? Well, to give you an idea, that’s what happened during the Depression in the first quarter of the 20th century. Banks went out of business. The Fed, then newly empowered with laws to save the economy, took over. If every economic crisis leads to a more nationalized, centralized bank, our economy will be in the hands of fewer and fewer.