I just realized something which, in retrospect, should have been very obvious. I remember when a decade ago the government decided to subsidizing growing corn for ethanol production for use in fule in a misguided attempt to curb global warning. Short term it caused food shortages, but now 10% of our fuel is ethanol, and I just saw a gas station that was selling fuel that is 50% ethanol for "flex fuel" cars.

When I first heard about this topic I wondered briefly what crazy process that they came up with to turn corn into fuel. I only just now, a decade later, realized that ethanol is the just the chemical name for something that we are all very familiar with: drinking alcohol. I've known the actual name for drinking alcohol for years but somehow I'm only now putting two-and-two together to realize that the method for turning corn into fuel has been around for millennia :)

Also, you don't have to be 21 to buy 100 proof grain alcohol from the gas station! However, I wouldn't recommend drinking it since I don't know what the other 50% is...