The Democrats are celebrating a pretty significant victory. Personally I like the sound of Republican heads popping whenever someone says “House Speaker Pelosi” … try it:

House Speaker Pelosi … pop pop pop

House Speaker Pelosi … pop pop pop

House Speaker Pelosi … pop pop pop

House Speaker Pelosi … pop pop pop

House Speaker Pelosi … pop pop pop

This is fun!

:-)

However, I know two jerks who probably had the worst week ever.

Let’s just hope the Democrats have a plan for victory. It one thing to win an election after the ruling party spends the better part of this year self-destructing in a swamp of corruption scandals, sex scandals and sheer stupidity. But to come through after the election, and present a coherent strategy for success and a competent leadership, that is a whole different story.

Especially the leadership issue is a serious challenge for the Democrats. Who calls the shots? I guess that Pelosi just got a lot more powerful, which may be good. She is tough. But what about Reid? And Dean? And the Clintons? I guess we’ll find out.

… is tyranny. I pay taxes and I pay attention to politics, but I cannot legally vote in the US. I know, I am a lousy excuse for a patriot, but I do care about this country (my adopted one, the USofA). No, I don’t fly the American flag on our porch. I do not believe that a national flag is a piece of decoration. I don’t fly the German flag, either.

Why do foreigners not have the right to vote in the place where they live (and pay taxes)? It is unfair, un-democratic, and un-American. We do our part, so we should have a say in who runs the place. Maybe even help run the place. How does getting citizenship make me more qualified to vote? I don’t see how the two are connected.

Across Europe, the idea that foreigners can vote, especially in local and regional elections, is gaining traction. Yet in the US this appears to be a non issue, despite this country being a much more immigration-oriented place than most European nations. So all that’s left for us to do is to send money to the candidates we support. Cynics might argue that sending a couple hundred bucks to a candidate stands a better chance to make a difference than casting a vote. I say that all the money in politics and in elections is the cancer that is killing democracy in this country. But while many Americans are increasingly turned off by politics and apathetic, foreigners are quite motivated to participate, even though we may have our reasons to keep our foreign passports.

Of course, not having to pay income taxes would be a compromise I’d be willing to consider …

Piedmont Biofuels in Moncure, North Carolina, has openings for interns next year (see flyer). If I were 20, I’d jump on this one myself! This is a great opportunity for a “total immersion” experience in the biofuels-powered, sustainability-focused lifestyle on a small biodiesel refinery/produce farm in rural North Carolina. Contact Matt if you’re interested (see the flyer for his email address).

Piedmont Biofuels is a cooperative run agriculture operation with strong interest in sustainable practices and renewable energy. Our farm consists of a small acreage market garden and oilseed crop research.

A main portion of our operation is a biodiesel research production facility. We currently produce biodiesel for our farm’s diesel tractor from waste vegetable oil. Piedmont Biofuels is also researching bioregionally sound oil producing crops for on-farm energy production. We also dedicate our building practices to recycling and utilizing varied green building like cob, earth plaster, and Hebel block. Other farm projects include a solar thermal heated production facility, a PV (photovoltaic) powered Biodiesel fueling station, glycerin refining and composting.

Piedmont Biofuels website, Nov. 2006

To be clear: this is only for enthusiasts – this is not a cushy internship, nor a hippie vacation. This is hard work, from chopping firewood to hauling waste veggie – they will work you to the bone. But you get to work with some real trail blazers in biofuels production, and you will come out of this internship with valuable experience from the cutting edge of sustainable lifestyles.

The Senegalese department of Agriculture last week announced a collaboration with Brazil and India to begin producing biofuels in Senegal. As part of the program “retour vers l’agriculture” the government aims to replace Senegal’s oil imports with homegrown fuel. A pilot project calls for 4000 hectares of jatropha for vegetable oil to produce 10 percent of Senegal’s fuel in the country.

Apparently, Senegal is in the forefront of African countries seizing upon an opportunity to rid themselves of their dependence on imported fuel. Expensive fuel is one of many factors that burden countries like Senegal. Biofuels leverage the domestic resources and keep wealth within the country, instead of sending hard-earned money abroad to the already rich oil companies in Europe and the US.

This is a good example of initiatives that will have a much bigger long-term impact on economic and social development in African countries than “big development aid” campaigns. Before we pledge a certain percentage of, say, the US budget to development aid, we should first stop American and European companies and governments from sucking the wealth out of Africa and from fueling conflicts with military aid. We should support Fair Trade and sustainable business practices, like micro-loans.

Secondly, development aid needs to help African entrepreneurs and governments develop economic strategies that focus on value-added, not on exporting raw materials. And development aid needs to use local solutions and know-how to solve problems, instead of parachuting in and imposing “solutions” without regard for the problems.

Finally, the most difficult, and perhaps the most important aspect of development aid ought to be “leadership” development. Identifying and supporting leaders at all levels of society and providing support must be a priority, along with encouraging and supporting access to education and information for everyone. These are the building blocks of a participatory, democratic society, which is, in turn, the foundation of economic opportunity for everyone.

P.W. Botha died Tuesday evening. As the president of South Africa from 1978 – 1989, he was a champion of the system of institutional racism in South Africa known as apartheid. When black South Africans asked for freedom and demanded to be heard, he told the Afrikaners not to listen. He refused to free Nelson Mandela. And P. W. Botha said he had no regrets.

On our trip to South Africa almost three years ago we stayed in Pretoria for a few days and we got a glimpse of Afrikaner culture, especially on our visit to the Voortrekker Monument. Learning about Afrikaner history from their perspective made it much clearer why the Afrikaner people in particular were so vulnerable to the idea of apartheid. Not all Afrikaners, of course, and there were, and are, many other racists.

To be clear: none of what I learned in any way justified or even completely explained apartheid, or any form of institutionalized racism. But I found it worthwhile to learn more about Afrikaner culture.

Beyond the Voortrekkers and the apartheid legacy, I found a resourceful, modern, complex people that’s slowly adapting to a new social and political reality. But I also clearly recognized the shadow of the “old South Africa” in the looks we got when our kids played with a gaggle of black kids on a Pretoria playground, or when we showed up as a mixed-race group on a beach in KZN.

I see Botha’s death as another milestone on the path to the new South Africa, and to a new Afrikaner culture. A culture that contributes its patriotism and resourcefulness to the leadership in South Africa. And a culture that cheerfully shares playgrounds and beaches with all South Africans.

One of Africa’s most successful entrepreneurs, Dr. Mo Ibrahim, has set up a foundation and announced a $5 Million prize for the most effective, least corrupt, and all around best-of-the-best African leader. (HT to BRE)

In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, Mr Ibrahim, 60, said leaders had no life after office.

“Suddenly all the mansions, cars, food, wine is withdrawn. Some find it difficult to rent a house in the capital. That incites corruption; it incites people to cling to power.

“The prize will offer essentially good people, who may be wavering, the chance to opt for the good life after office,” said Mr Ibrahim.

Prize offered to Africa’s leaders, BBC News, 26 October 2006

Pretty clever. Pay them to be good. I think that, in general, politicians are underpaid – and not just in Africa. I am not so naive to think that money is a cure-all for corruption. But if the salaries of public office were halfway competitive with the industry, there’d be fewer nutcases running for office. OK – nevermind that – not fewer nutcases, just more halfway sane, pragmatic technocrats.

In Africa this problem is much worse. Not only is politics extremely dangerous in some parts, but there is also very little in terms of retirement benefits, beyond what you can squirrel away during your time in office. That’s not a situation that provides a lot of incentive to most sane, intelligent people to chose public office as a career.

This initiative deserves the spotlight also because it highlights the key problem Africa faces: leadership, and the lack thereof. Just the other day I asked a Togolese friend “Mon frère, what is Africa’s biggest problem?” I explained that if he could solve one problem on the continent, what would it be? Malaria? AIDS? Hunger? Poverty? Celebrity adoptions?

“Leadership!” He said. Without decent leaders democracy cannot work. Without democracy, there cannot be much progress, social or economic. Without progress we can never solve poverty, hunger and the public health crises. And there will always be another genocide somewhere.

This is why I am skeptical about those “big money” campaigns by Americans and Europeans to raise huge sums for development aid for Africa. It’s like they are refueling and changing the tires on a racecar that’s going the wrong way on the track because the driver is drunk. Dr Ibrahim says: let’s reward the driver who can drive well! Congratulations!

See Jewels in the Jungle for more info.

Here is a recent update about the cleanup from the Probo Koala toxic waste scandal:

‘We do these kinds of operations all around the world, but this is big,’ Alwin Booij, managing director Tredi Internationale, the French firm contracted to handle the cleanup told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Thursday.

So far, Booij said, his teams have removed more than 6,000 tons of contaminated soil and toxic liquids from 18 sites around Abidjan, a city of around five million inhabitants. The 141 tanker and box containers aboard the MN Toucan constitute only the first of an expected four shipments.

[…]
Today, Ivorian authorities are carrying out no fewer than five inquiries into the affair. Two top Trafigura executives are among ten men currently being held in an Abidjan prison pending the results of a criminal inquiry. And police in the Netherlands are looking into an attempt by the Probo Koala to offload its cargo in Amsterdam in July.

The Ivorian government is also concerned with recuperating cleanup costs, which are likely to run well into the millions.

‘We’re talking about six thousand tons of very hazardous waste to repack, transport, and incinerate,’ Tredis Booij said Thursday. ‘There are big bucks involved.’

[…]
The MN Toucan left Abidjan late Friday night with its poisonous cargo bound for Le Havre, France. From there the tankers and containers will be transported to an incinerating facility outside Lyon for disposal. But it leaves behind it unanswered questions.
Ivory Coast toxic cleanup nears end, but questions remain, by Joe Bavier, Oct 28, 2006

Ten innocent people dead, thousands of people sick, and millions of Euros/Dollars wasted in cleanup cost. At least two of the executives of Trafigura are sitting in a prison in Côte D’Ivoire! If they are found to be responsible for this mess they deserve to rot in the deepest, darkest hole in that prison for the rest of their lives.

Can microbrewing save the world? In a recent article on Alternet, Chris O’Brien looks at the global and historical perspective of microbrewing: revolutionary America and the colonies’ dependence on porter from England; the rich variety of local brews of Africa and South America being replaced by imported mass-produced beer, and the rich brewing tradition in Germany due to the Reinheitsgebot (purity law) of 1516.

O’Brien puts forth the popular “buy locally” anti-globalization argument, that equates globalization=big beer=bad beer. I do like his “beerodiversity” point. I am all for supporting local brewing diversity. But I also do appreciate a globalized selection in the local(ly-owned) beer store. Most of the beer I drink is made in North Carolina. This state has some fine brews, like Highland and Foothills, and there are some very good local micro-brews as well.

But I also like having a large selection of imported and US beers available. I like my Weihenstephan weizenbier, or a Celebrator, or even just a Guinness. The latter in particular, is a great example of “big beer” not necessarily being “bad beer.”

To me, beer and life is all about diversity. Diversity grows locally, but it can also spread globally. So yes, microbrewing can safe important aspects of the world, like local tradition and flavor. So let’s save the world – one pint at a time.

Prosit!

Ramadan is ending and the Muslim world is getting ready for Eid al-Fitr – perhaps the most cheerful Muslim holiday.

I have great memories of celebrating Eid with friends in Morocco in 1990. I had been biking around the country for most of Ramadan, and got back to Fès just in time for Eid. I had mostly observed the fast voluntarily, and because I found it – uh – awkward to light up, or eat during the day and torture everyone around me. When traveling on the bike, I did drink water during the day, as this was a total necessity. Also, travelers are actually exempt from the fast. Not that strict observance rally mattered to me on religious or other grounds. It was rather a point of cultural sensitivity and curiosity to take part in this amazing phenomenon of Ramadan.

Celebrating Eid with my friends in the medina in Fès was one of the greatest experiences and privileges of my traveling days. I’ll never forget the sights and sounds of the Fassi decked out in their finest, the hospitality and the great food!

Happy Eid!

The ship that was involved in the deadly toxic waste scandal in Ivory Coast has left the Baltic port of Tallinn, after unloading toxic waste similar to what turned up in sewers and municipal dumps in Abidjan a few months ago. According to the Baltic Times, the Probo Koala pumped 600 cubic meters to another vessel, to have it processed by EcoPro in the port of Sillamae.

In the meantime, two executives of the charter company Trafigura were arrested in Côte D’Ivoire. The company still rejects direct responsibility for the disaster, but has promised full cooperation with the investigations.

Reportedly, the Probo Koala was used (illegally) as a floating refinery, to use chemical processes to extract fuel from low-grade crude oil.

On our trip to Iceland last year, I fell in love with this unique country, with its stark, fragile natural beauty and its friendly, quirky inhabitants. I learned a bit about the Icelanders, and I think I understand why they want to resume whaling.

Please don’t do it, Iceland.

There are many better ways to assert your independence and cultural heritage. How about exporting Icelandic beer or brennevin. Why not put all this effort you put into whaling into, say, making hákarl a hip, sexy appetizer for yuppies. That would make basically the same point, and it would not harm a sentient species.

I’d love to visit Iceland again, one day. But I won’t, until you call back your whalers. And I won’t recommend Iceland as a tourist destination until you leave those poor whales alone. Sorry.

Last weekend I got my latest batch of homebrew ready and I made some modifications to the reactor. I added a intake valve, so that I can easily use the pump as a transfer pump from the washtank to the drying tank and from the drying tank to the storage tank (on the right). I also moved the the temperature gauge up a bit; in front of the intake for he methoxide, so that I get better temperature readings while I am adding the methoxide to the process.

The additional intake valve was called for because the oil intake is gravity fed from the oil storage and the intake is at the lowest point, so I cannot easily unhook it to use that intake for transfer. So instead, I leave it alone and plug another hose into the new one and conveniently pump from one tank to the other. I can also use it to completely drain the entire plumbing, which is useful.

One of my fellow biodieselers started calling this setup the “apple turnover” design, when I described it. That is because it is an appleseed reactor with the water heater installed upside down to facilitate better, more complete draining of the reactor.

Click on the image for a closer look at the plumbing.

Looks like I found a good source of methanol for my fuel production. Last Thursday I drove out to the Roxboro Motorsports Dragway and procured a 55-gallon drum of this critical ingredient for biodiesel. Racetracks have methanol supplies because they use it as a racing fuel – “racing alky.”

So this German guy and this African guy show up at this drag strip way out in the country in a Volkswagen Jetta, load a drum of “racing alky” on their trailer and talk about making diesel fuel out of used fryer grease. I bet that was the cross-cultural experience of the month for the guy who sold us the methanol. However he did mention that they do use quite a bit of fryer oil at their concessions, and that we could have it if we wanted it. Next time I go there, maybe I’ll drop off a plastic drum for them to collect the fryer oil.

One thing that worked great for transporting the 55-gallon drum was laying down a crate upside-down, and then dropping the drum sideways into one of the two openings at the bottom of the crate. Secured with a couple of straps, this was a great way to transport the methanol.

So that night I worked from 8 to 11 to start a new batch of biodiesel, which I am washing right now.
Praise the lard!

Liebes Deutschland РIch hoffe Du hattest einen sch̦nen Tag der Deutschen Einheit!

On October 3, 1990, the states of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) adopted the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and thusly Germany was reunited after 41 years, and the GDR ceased to exist. That day was proclaimed German Unity Day.

Photos of the former Iron Curtain in Germany by Marco Bertram
Bundesministerium des Innern

Computers are not a green product. Their production, use and disposal consume huge amounts of energy and involve toxic chemicals. At work, I buy and decommission dozens of computers every year, and I worry a lot about the impact of my decisions on our environment. So I find the Greenpeace “Guide to Green Electronics” very helpful, indeed.

One of the areas where I have some influence is purchasing, and for a variety of reasons, I mostly buy Dell computers. So I am really happy to see that Greenpeace rates Dell as one of the best – not really good, but better than most.

I was really surprised when I read that Apple, the brand of the oh-so-hip and huggable, is still pretty toxic, especially the laptops. And even the Greenpeacenics are Apple-fans, but they sure do wish those Apples were greener.

Thanks to intense activism by Greenpeace , the ship involved in the Abidjan toxic waste scandal, the Probo Koala, was impounded by Estonian police and a criminal investigation appears to be under way.

For three days, the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise blocked the Probo Koala in the Estonian harbor of Paldiski. The activists painted the words EU TOXIC CRIME SCENE on the Probo Koala in order to draw attention to the fact that this ship is implicated in a toxic waste scandal that has killed eight people and injured thousands.

The Probo Koala, a Korean-built, Greek-managed, Panamanian-flagged and Dutch-chartered tanker, unloaded several hundred tons of toxic waste which were dumped in the sewers and open dumps of the city of Abidjan in Côte D’Ivoire, West Africa. The charter company, of course, “had no idea” that the waste was going to be illegally disposed of.

Yeah, they dock in Abidjan and in the middle of the night they unload their toxic sludge on trucks that disappear into the African night. No, they suspected nothing. Seemed all perfectly normal. Some fat envelopes change hands. No problemo. Seemed all perfectly legal. Yeah.

Anyway, maybe for once the crooks won’t get away with it. Maybe.

Last week we drove up to Michigan for a visit with Laura’s mom. We did the entire 850 miles north on homebrew, and I had already been feeding my Jetta homebrew for over 700 miles. So the first part of the trip marked the first 1,500 miles straight on homebrew!

Going north, the Jetta was loaded with two adults and two kids, plus baggage, and we were travelling at an average 70 Miles (112KM) per hour. The car used about 17 gallons for the trip north, which comes out to 50 miles per gallon. I calculated that my cost for the ingredients for a gallon of homebrew is abut 75 cents, plus 26 cents road tax, that’s $1.01 per gallon so the fuel cost for the 850-mile trip to Michigan was $17.17 :).

Since the temperatures in Michigan at night already dipped below 40 F, I added four gallons of kerosene to the remaining biodiesel in the tank. I also found a local biodiesel distributor (D&L Fuels) where I bought 15 gallons for the trip back to North Carolina. (Note: D&L Fuels only sells B20 retail at the pump, but they will fill containers with B99) However, on the trip south our car was towing a 4-foot x 8-foot U-Haul trailer (1.2 M x 2.4 M), which changed the fuel mileage of my 4-cyl TDI Jetta a bit.

Going south, with a 1000-pound trailer in tow (600 pounds tare plus 400 pounds in antique furniture), the Jetta used 27 gallons on 850 miles, which comes out to 32.5 miles per gallon. The biodiesel (or “soy”) I bought in Michigan cost $40 and I bought 4 gallons of kero ($11) and topped off with 2 gallons of diesel (to make it home). Plus 6 gallons of homebrew to start with (@ $1.01), I end up with a total fuel bill of $62 for the return trip.

Altogether, I spent just under $80 for the fuel for the 1,700-mile round trip. Not too bad!
Read the rest of this entry »

There are days when the human race just disgusts me … people venting their grief over Irwin’s death by killing stingrays!?

The reason why many crave to know the truth is that without some level of truth, there can be no freedom and dignity. A people blinded by lies becomes a weak people, exploited by its elites, and ultimately doomed as a society.

Truth is an elusive mistress and a tough teacher. Truth is not a singular entity, that can be captured, boxed and marketed. It is an ideal, a concept that requires constant work, care and attention. So beware of all who proclaim to be in possession of THE TRUTH!

I think that the truth about what happened on this day five years ago in New York, Washington and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania lies buried in the rubble of Ground Zero. The official government narrative leaves too many questions unanswered. Most critics are too quick at proclaiming The Truth, as well. However, some of those who offer alternative narratives, do ask very pertinent questions and point to some compelling answers.

But if you are content with the government version of what happened five years ago, if you have no doubts and trust that the US government and its media told you the honest truth, then click here.

If you are looking for more information and if you are prepared to ask questions that probe the official government narrative of the events of September 11, 2001, then check out some of these websites:

The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll – A New Generation of Conspiracy Theorists are at Work on the Secret History of 9/11 — New York Magazine

Loose Change 9/11

Pentagon Strike

Wikipedia: 9/11 Truth Movement

Complete 9/11 Timeline

Or just google for “9/11 Truth” …

The Probo Koala, infamous now for the deadly toxic waste it unloaded in Côte D’Ivoire, is now in Latvia, en route to Estonia, Deutsche Presse reports. The tanker’s arrival is causing some concern in Estonia:

“The Probo Koala will be under very special treatment when it comes into (the Estonian port of) Paldiski,” Allan Gromov of the Estonian Environment Ministry told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
DPA report via The raw Story, Sept. 8, 2006

This DPA report also talks about a story (ne) in the Dutch daily de Volkskrant, that reports that the Probo Koala tried to unload its toxic waste in Amsterdam in July. When they began pumping the stuff to a facility operated by the Amsterdam Port Services (APS), the resulting smell led to the operation being halted. The ship was allowed to leave, supposedly for Estonia. On August 20, the Probo Koala unloaded several hundred tons of toxic waste in Côte D’Ivoire, where since 3 people died and 1,500 have fallen ill from the illegal and unsafe disposal of the waste in neighborhoods of the city of Abidjan.