Montana's governor eyes coal to solve U.S. fuel costs: From Reuters,

Montana's governor wants to solve America's rising energy costs using a technology discovered in Germany 80 years ago that converts coal into gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel....

The governor estimated the cost of producing a barrel of oil through the Fischer-Tropsch method at $32, and said that with its 120 billion tons of coal -- a little less than a third of the U.S total -- Montana could supply the entire United States with its aviation, gas and diesel fuel for 40 years without creating environmental damage.

New additions to the Garden Blogs list: Chloe's Garden: "Musings of a Gardener in Victoria, Australia, as she attempts to reclaim her paradise from the weeds." It's peak daffodil time there, where winter solstice was in June and an Algerian Iris was in bloom.

Linda and Chloe emailed, "Do have to tell you I am out there - and love your list." We'll be visiting you for inspiration during our winter solstice. If you have irises in winter, what is summer like?

Takoma Gardener calls herself a "gardening activist." She describes her blog, "Mainly about gardening, with reports from a happy garden club, and occasional detours into nature, books, movies, culture, politics. Takoma's a very progressive, environmentally aware community and my blog reflects that." That's Takoma Park, Maryland.

Right now, she's photographed the sad stalk of a dead rhododendron, confessing, "I'm telling you right up front that I killed this plant, and it could have been avoided. If only I'd listened to the advice I give people all the time."

Right. We all think we can get away with it just this once, though, don't we?

TG has flickr photos, too.

Astronomers to recreate Ansel Adams' moon photo: New Scientist reports (Astronomers pinpoint moment of famous Moon shot),

Astronomers have pinpointed the moment Ansel Adams clicked the shutter on his famous photograph, Autumn Moon, the High Sierra from Glacier Point. It was taken on 15 September 1948, at 1903 precisely.

Don Olson, at Texas State University, San Marcos, US, and colleagues used a combination of lunar tables, maps, weather records and planetarium software to establish the moment, which had been in doubt....

Roger Sinnot, Sky and Telescope magazine’s senior editor, -- if the weather grants them a clear night.

A press release at Sky and Telescope has more detail, including the discovery of a color version of the photo in the July 1954 issue of Fortune magazine. Adams, not known to work in color, turns out to have been beta-testing color sheet film for Kodak.

The Billboard Project talks to anybody in Crawford, Texas.

Related: Cindy Sheehan inspires songs. From Salon audiofile,

​​​​Cindy Sheehan seems to have given new life to the antiwar movement, so it's no surprise that various politically minded troubadours have been writing songs about her. I've found three for download, but no doubt there are many more. Salon reader Eric Agner sent me this song (as far as I can tell untitled). Les Visible, one of the stars of our Country Haiku contest, and also a prolific songwriter and blogger, wrote "God Bless You Cindy Sheehan." And protest singer David Rovics offers "Song for Cindy Sheehan" for download.

Bridging the generation gap: Beloit College mindset list for the class of 2009

About time, and place: Google's Gmail now lets you change the "From" field. I could send mail from home with my projo.com address, for instance. In the Settings | Accounts tab, "Send mail as," click "Add another email address."

(Let me know if you need a Gmail address. No strings, I won't keep your address. You'll get an email from Gmail with the subject, "Sheila Lennon has invited you to Gmail" or somesuch.