Ahh, the smell of progress. According to a recent AP article, a zoo in Syracuse, New York, is studying the feasibility of powering their facilities with the zoo’s main byproduct, poo! “Particularly the prodigious piles produced by its pachyderms.” (I wish I’d made that up, but it’s a quote from the article.)

The idea is not new. There have been many studies into poo power. My dad worked in the fuel department of a large electric company before he retired, and can attest to the frequent studies of burning cow manure in power plants. However, this is the first attempt of a zoo using it’s own … ahem … resources to produce electricity.

It so happens that elephants are inefficient digesters and their grassy diet produces high energy poo perfect for producing power. In addition, each elephant (the zoo has six total) produces half a ton of power poo every day! The zoo spends about $10,000 a year to dispose of this waste, much of it going to compost on local farms.

Now, if only the elephants could be potty trained. Oh wait! They CAN!!

Some of you may have noticed some new art work popping up here and there at good ol’ SYNS. One regular reader made a comment yesterday.

Hey I just noticed … what’s with the new artwork at the tops of the pages? Nifty.

Nifty indeed!

I found a new source for retro art and I plan to put it to good use. I’ve got oodles of new images just waiting for the right story to come along. While before I had four rotating banner images, now I have ten! (That’s the title image at the top of the page. It’s different every time the page loads… What do you mean you never noticed?! Gaww!)

Now, I know what you’re thinking: How could you steal some else’s images and use them as if they were your own, you vile internet scum!! Well, cool your jets. Every image you see was traced drawn by your’s truely. Granted my work may bear a striking resemblance to someone else’s art, it is because I traced it in PhotoShop purely coincidence.