QC - The original ABC story was posted March 25: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/25/2198815.htm
But anyway -- this might be doable for sustenance farmers with excess land, but at 30-40 liters annually per tree, there won't be enough production to compete with petroleum diesel. As a (very) rough guess, that's only about twice as much syrup (not sap) that is produced from a maple tree annually, and a gallon of that stuff will cost you $50 easily.
A better option would be a higher-yield source of biodiesel, such as sugarcane or switchgrass, even with the extra processing that they must go through. Or even better, reduce our energy consumption.
hah! I remember seeing the spoofed Rube Goldberg ad a few years back... before youtube (or at least before it was popular). Went to see what this 118 thing was all about and found some more commercials. Wonder if I still have those around somewhere...
mh: so banks shouldn't repossess the property of delinquent debtors if it would "directly impact" their quality of life? They'd never even bother making the loan in the first place.
Likewise, Walmart wouldn't have been able to cover the initial healthcare expenses without some way to recoup their money whenever possible -- in this case from the employee, but it could be a direct suit of the infringing company too. Sure, they could afford to let this one slide, but then how do they explain to the next person why they don't also get to keep the lawsuit money?
That's not to say Walmart couldn't offer some sort of alternative assistance -- perhaps paying for some new lawyers to sue the old ones who didn't ask for enough money to cover the full expense of the injuries.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/25/2198815.htm
But anyway -- this might be doable for sustenance farmers with excess land, but at 30-40 liters annually per tree, there won't be enough production to compete with petroleum diesel. As a (very) rough guess, that's only about twice as much syrup (not sap) that is produced from a maple tree annually, and a gallon of that stuff will cost you $50 easily.
A better option would be a higher-yield source of biodiesel, such as sugarcane or switchgrass, even with the extra processing that they must go through. Or even better, reduce our energy consumption.
Cong rats 2 teh winnarz!
Likewise, Walmart wouldn't have been able to cover the initial healthcare expenses without some way to recoup their money whenever possible -- in this case from the employee, but it could be a direct suit of the infringing company too. Sure, they could afford to let this one slide, but then how do they explain to the next person why they don't also get to keep the lawsuit money?
That's not to say Walmart couldn't offer some sort of alternative assistance -- perhaps paying for some new lawyers to sue the old ones who didn't ask for enough money to cover the full expense of the injuries.
However, I'm sure the Walton family could easily afford to make a goodwill gesture of, oh, say the amount of money of the suit (or more).
But having never personally experienced a birth from any vantage point, that's just hearsay unless someone else can verify it.