Day: June 13, 2007

A black eye for NC! Turns out that you can’t declare energy independence from OPEC without incurring the wrath of Raleigh because you are not paying fuel taxes! What a crock!

A price to pay for alternative fuels

“Bob Teixeira decided it was time to take a stand against U.S. dependence on foreign oil. So last fall the Charlotte musician and guitar instructor spent $1,200 to convert his 1981 diesel Mercedes to run on vegetable oil. He bought soybean oil in 5-gallon jugs at Costco, spending about 30 percent more than diesel would cost. His reward, from a state that heavily promotes alternative fuels: a $1,000 fine last month for not paying motor fuel taxes. He’s been told to expect another $1,000 fine from the federal government. And to legally use veggie oil, state officials told him, he would have to first post a $2,500 bond. Teixeira is one of a growing number of fuel-it-yourselfers — backyard brewers who recycle restaurant grease or make moonshine for their car tanks. They do it to save money, reduce pollution or thumb their noses at oil sheiks. They’re also caught in a web of little-known state laws that can stifle energy independence. State Sen. Stan Bingham, R-Davidson, is known around Raleigh for his diesel Volkswagen fueled by used soybean oil. The car sports a ‘Goodbye, OPEC’ sign. ‘If somebody was going to go to this much trouble to drive around in a car that uses soybean oil, they ought to be exempt’ from state taxes, he said.”

Patch Tuesday brought us several major security patches.

Microsoft Issues Patches for 15 Flaws

“Microsoft released six updates to address various issues across its products on Tuesday, including four which were rated critical, and three that affected Windows Vista. The first is an important fix that addresses two issues within Microsoft’s Visio product. The first is a remote code execution vulnerability in how the product handles a specially-crafted version number within a Visio file. The other revolves around an issue in how Visio handles parsing of packed objects. In either case, a user would have to open an attachment from an e-mail or visit a specially crafted website, the advisory states. Next comes a critical fix for issues within the Schannel security package which enables the SSL and TLS authentication protocols. Microsoft says that Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 all have issues with how the OS validates server-sent digital signatures. Vista is the target of a flaw rated “moderate,” that could lead to information disclosure. According to the Microsoft advisory, non-privileged users could access local user information including administrative passwords which could then be used to gain complete access to the system.”