Archive for February, 2007

Another biofuels slam

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007

The other day Marc posted a message to the BIG list with a link to an article that is quite critical of the biofuels industry, and a good example of some of the one-sided thinking of the critics of biofuels. THE REAL SCOOP ON BIOFUELS “Green Energy” Panacea or Just the Latest Hype? by Brian […]

Brewing stuff

Sunday, February 25th, 2007

Lots of stuff is brewing. I started a Mr Brew keg – 2 gallons of Märzen – I am very curious how that’s going to turn out. I also have 50 gallons of biodiesel settling in the basement. I am running low on methanol – need to make a run to the Roxboro Dragway for […]

Togolese wins entrepreneurship award

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

Jean-Sylvanus Olympio, the founder and CEO of the consulting firm Consultencia, won a prestigious French entrepreneurship award earlier this month in Paris. The chief geek himself, Bill Gates, handed the Master de la Création 2007 award to Olympio at the Salon des Entrepreneurs conference in front of 6000 people. Video of the ceremony (via Togocity) […]

Biodiesel nuts in the news

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

Our local paper, the News & Observer, ran a story today about the status of alternative fuels in the Triangle area and yours truly is mentioned as one of the local “biodiesel nuts” :) … I wish Bull City Biodiesel got a bit more credit for providing 1000 gallons of biodiesel a month to Durham. […]

Ozapft is!

Sunday, February 18th, 2007

This weekend, I finally tried out my Mr Beer homebrew. I patiently waited 4 weeks for this stuff, and I was rewarded with a rather tasty brew. I let it sit in the barrel a week longer than prescribed, because it had not yet begun to clear up a the end of the first week. […]

Happy Year of the Pig

Sunday, February 18th, 2007

Today began the Year of the Pig in the Chinese lunar calendar. Apparently this is considered a very auspicious sign in the Cinese zodiak, and so many Chinese are planing to have a baby this year. Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Growler run

Saturday, February 10th, 2007

Last week I undertook a trip to Charlotte, NC, which turned out to be completely for naught. Yet, on my way back to Durham, I took a detour via Winston Salem to have lunch at the Foothills brewery. This little brewery puts out some remarkable brews, and I was quite curious to visit the brewpub […]

Blog software upgraded

Saturday, February 10th, 2007

Whoopee – isn’t it amazing when stuff just works??!! Upgraded to the latest version of WordPress in a few Minutes. I also added the calendar plugin (see on the sidebar at the top). maybe that’ll be useful.

US CIS – your government at work

Wednesday, February 7th, 2007

Since I received my greencard ten years ago, I had very little interaction with the US immigration services – basically I showed my greencard to the friendly officers at the airport once in a while. So when my greencard was about to expire, I requested a new one. I payed the $270 (!) fee and […]

Brrrrrrr!

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

Last night it was freeeezing – the low was 10.9 °F / -11.7 °C. Big OOOPS! I did not add more petro diesel to the blend in the fuel tank in my car and the dam juice gelled up. I was worried about it, but when the car started I thought I was good … […]

Togo – two years after Eyadema

Monday, February 5th, 2007

On Feb. 5, 2005, the Republic of Togo was thrown into turmoil when its ruler of 38 years, Gnassingbé Eyadema, unexpectedly died from a heart attack at age 68. His military quickly installed Eyadema’s son, Faure Gnassingbé as the successor of the “old man” – a move quickly denounced by most of the international community. […]

Germany is Handball World Champion!

Sunday, February 4th, 2007

Congratulations to the German Team Handball Men’s Team! Today they defeated Poland in the final 29:24 (17:13) and won the Worldcup for Germany in Germany! This is rather amazing – expectations were not very high before the tournament, but the German team really came together and played some amazing handball. And after the football Worldcup […]

The Earth is round and getting warmer

Saturday, February 3rd, 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest report yesterday: “Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis”, assesses the current scientific knowledge of the natural and human drivers of climate change, observed changes in climate, the ability of science to attribute changes to different causes, and projections for future climate change. The report […]

Stephen Keshi in Lomé

Thursday, February 1st, 2007

The official Togolese government news website reports that Stephen Keshi is currently in Lomé. Presumably the ex-coach of the Togolese national football team is talking with the Togolese Football Federation (FTF) about a job. The FTF is now under new management – its new president Tata was formally installed on Tuesday. A connection between the […]