Back From the Wilderness

It seems that I need an annual exile of a month or so. I don’t plan it. It just happens.

In ‘08, I figured out a way to take down my blog for a couple of months. I needed to prove that the WordPress simple 3 step upgrade was not fool proof that time.

This year I was more creative. I started the chain of events in February and continue to deal with the slow motion train wreck of my personal computing devices. But I have managed to limit my blogless time to a month.

At least, I think I have limited it. I anticipate that this post will make it onto the blog. So if you are reading this, I’m back.

I’ve got lot’s of stuff I’ve been wanting to write about. If you are reading this in RSS be forewarned.

Update: Still dealing with less than adequate technology.  But I gotta get some of this stuff posted. Not sure what’s going to happen yet.

Dambisa Moyo is making the rounds with her book, “Dead Aid.” She examines the efficacy of aid to Africa. Born and raised in Zambia, she got her education at Oxford, Harvard and American University in Washington D.C. She’s established herself as a successful economist and, now, author.

I like Moyo’s thinking a lot. The book is not focused on clean water, but rather all of the aid given to Africa. Her ideas can be useful in finding a long term clean water solution.

She discusses the need for a foreign aid exit strategy. The effect of foreign aid has been to crush African entreprenuers and give African governments no motivation to take care of their own people, she argues.

Moyo spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations April 21, 2009. Here’ a clip from the Q&A.

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Tags: Africa, Aid, Council on Foreign Relations, Dambisa Moyo, Economic, Government

ReGeneration reported earlier this year about “green crude” being developed by researchers at Arizona State University. They’re working on a way to use algae as a replacement for petroleum.

For being pond scum, algae are a pretty clever lot. Much like plants they contain chlorophyll and are photosynthetic, which means they can use water and sunlight to convert carbon into a storable energy form such as sugar or starch. But unlike plants, algae prefer to live directly in water, some of them favoring “nutrient-rich” environments full of sewage or farm runoff. Among these algae are special strains that excel at breaking down carbon-laced gunk and reconfiguring it into an oily substance closely resembling the chemistry of petroleum-based products: gasoline, diesel, or kerosene. They accomplish this transformation while cleaning the water and releasing fresh oxygen. Hard to say that for the petroleum industry.

I like to think of this story in terms of whale oil. The world used to depend on whaling ships to go out and kill whales. The oil from the big fish could be used to fuel lamps and all. It was a big business.

Heres the thing. The world did not stop using whale oil because we ran out of whales. Something better, cheaper, easier to get and more profitable replaced it.

That thing was petroleum. It wasn’t invented. People just had to figure out how to use it.

Algae may or may not be the next thing. But something will.

The Earth is a good place to live. We don’t need to use it all up by being wasteful. But we don’t need to hate each other for the way we use it’s bounty.

So Happy Earth Day. There is enough. It will be OK.

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I have a friend who grew up peddling a bike to watch TV. Her Dad had read an article about producing electricity with peddle power. He rigged up a bike, a battery and a timer. Then he plugged the TV into the contraption. You could only watch as much as you were willing to bike.

She learned to love books as a result. But that’s not the idea I’m going with here.

PlayPumps International has come up with a way to harness the power of children to produce clean water. Seems almost too simple. They drill the well. Build the pump and storage tank and hook it up to a merry-g0-round. The kids play on it and water pumps into the storage tank.

It’s like a windmill on it’s side using kid power instead of wind.

I really like the fact that the pumps are self sustaining. Local people get trained and paid to care for it. Billboard advertising on the sides furnishes revenue to keep it going up to 20 years.

The goal is to put up 4,000 of the pumps in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2010. They’ve got over 1,000 in already.

There are lots of ways to help this effort. Subscribe to their YouTube channel here. Go to their web site here. Follow them on Twitter. Or join the Facebook cause.

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Religion on the internet can lead to some nasty exchanges, I’ve noticed. Bearing that in mind, I bid all my readers a Happy Easter. I have a deep and personal belief in Jesus Christ. The good news, or gospel, is that He did physically rise from the dead and we will live again.

Did you just unsubscribe from my RSS feed? Offended? Do you feel like sending me a nasty-gram? I hope not. I’m just sharing what I think is good information. If you disagree that’s OK.

I wrote earlier about agreeing with then candidate Obama when he declared that “we are not just a Christian country.” here. Now President Obama is being criticized by many pundits for going abroad and declaring that the USA is not a Christian country. He hasn’t changed his opinion and I haven’t changed mine.

It’s still OK with me. As a matter of fact, it is essential that we not be a Christian country. Our liberty depends upon it.

We don’t have a cross on the flag. How many countries do? Find a country with a cross on it’s flag (Or a crescent or a Star of David, for that matter.) Now count how many battles in how many wars that flag has been carried into. You’ll find that a majority of those battles were fought over religion. Google it. You’ll see.

It’s important that we don’t have a government telling us how to pray. Or who or what to pray to. All men are endowed by their creator with rights. Our government is of, for and by all the people. Not just believers of the “right” religion.

I’ve been accused of not being the right flavor of Christian. I’ve been accused of being too religious. My accusers can believe what they want. I claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of my own conscience. I expect all men to have the same privilege. Let them worship how, where, or what they may.

So again, Happy Easter to you all. I hope you enjoy the video Easter message, or not. It’s OK.

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You may be familiar with George Carlin’s comparison between football and baseball. You may have been lucky enough to have read Tom Boswell’s 99 reasons that baseball is better than football. Those are excellent, of course.

I don’t plan to denigrate lesser sports here. Those fans suffer enough. This post is a valentine. Any similarity between my thoughts and the thoughts of Carlin or Boswell is proof of the universal appeal of baseball.

It’s a pastime- Yes it’s a game. But there is plenty of time to discuss the action. To anticipate the next play and to savor the whole experience.

Ball park differences- Every ball park is different. And intentionally so. Home field really is an advantage. Managers and umpires go over the ground rules at the beginning of every series because it’s different from park to park. That adds to the variety and unpredictability of the game.

Umpires- There are the Rules and then there are the Umpires. Ball or Strike. Fair or Foul. Safe or Out. Nobody argues with the umpire with impunity. Everybody knows who’s in charge. If you want to watch the game from the tunnel, you argue.

Keeping Score- OK, I don’t keep score. But, I like to watch other people keep score.

Opening Day- Everybody’s team is in first place. It’s next year, no more waiting.

Web Gems- Men who spit tobacco, work with leather and wood and slide in the dirt, produce some of most elegant athletic poetry.

Bob Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Honus Wagner, Addie Joss- Great stories. There are plenty more. Those are some of my favorites.

Vin Scully’s call of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run.

Individual Sport or Team Sport- It’s both. It’s a team sport that focuses on the individual who plays for the team.

A Kids Game? No. It’s the game all kids want to play when they get big and strong. Just ask Michael Jordan.

The 7th Inning Stretch- Take Me Out to the Ball Game is second only to the Happy Birthday song in number of times sung annually.

Win streaks and win-less streaks- Everybody is going to win about 60 and lose about 60. The other 42 to make the difference. No one goes undefeated over a 6 month season.

108 stitches- Hand made balls rubbed with mud from somewhere along the Delaware River.

1975 World Series- Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine and the Bosox. In my mind, the greatest Series ever.

Batting .300- Hitting a round ball, traveling upwards of 95 mph, using a round bat is the most difficult skill in any sport. Some scientists have claimed it should be impossible to do. But some guys can do it 3 out of 10 times for 15 or 20 years.

Frozen Minute Maid Lemonade on a hot day at Dodger Stadium.

Sausage Races, Beer Batters, Hit This Sign and Win a Suit, Free Chicken Wings at Hooters if the Angels Score 10 Runs.

Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit homer- off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

90 feet, 9 players, 9 innings- Cloud 9.

6 month season- There’s a game every day. If you missed last night’s game, watch today’s.

Seven different ways to reach first base, at least. Hit, walk, error, hit by pitch, catcher drops third strike and, um, I know there are more. Ask the guy in the seat next to you keeping score.

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Photo by Darwin Bell via Flickr

Here’s another nail in the coffin of free enterprise.

David Colker of the LA Times writes:

As of today, EHarmony comes out of the closet.

The adamantly heterosexual dating website, which has accepted only male-female couples since its inception in 2000, is launching a gay matchmaking service called Compatible Partners (www.compatiblepartners.net). (Note: An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect Web address for Compatible Partners.)

But EHarmony’s new relationship with the gay community is more like a shotgun wedding: The company agreed in November to start the dating service as part of a settlement with the New Jersey attorney general in the wake of a discrimination suit. more

No, I’m not going to write about same sex relationships being wrong. I pretty much say let them be, if they don’t hurt anybody.

My problem here is the government coercion. eHarmony is based on it’s founder’s experience as a psychologist. He didn’t have any homosexual couples in 40 years of practice. He was just trying to monetize what he knew.

Now the government forces him to do something else; something he doesn’t have expertise in.

It’s like the government forcing McDonald’s to sell Turnip Fries because in makes French Fries so well.

Nobody was stopping a competitor from setting up a similar site for gays. There are plenty of dating sites. It’s not all that novel an idea.

But eHarmony is a leader. So they got to made an example.

eHarmony was forced to spend money on research, marketing and set up costs. Not because they saw an opportunity for profit. But because the government commanded it.

The government didn’t need to get involved. The market could have easily filled the niche market.

I don’t like the government telling companies what services and products it can sell.

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Willis Tower. Chicago Tribune photo by Alex Garcia

The Chicago Tribune website is reporting today:

Come this summer, Chicago’s iconic landmark known around the world is getting a new moniker: Willis Tower.

Willis Group Holdings, a London-based insurance broker, announced Thursday that it will consolidate its area offices to Sears Tower and as part of the deal, gets to put its own name on the 36-year-old skyscraper.

Willis will move nearly 500 associates into Willis Tower, at 233 S. Wacker, initially occupying more than 140,000 square feet on multiple floors. The company said the move to the new space, at $14.50 per square foot, will result in significant real estate cost savings, and that there is no additional cost to the company associated with renaming the building.

“It was part of our negotiations,” said Willis spokesman Will Thoretz. “We are actually not having to pay anything for renaming the building.”

What a great name for a great building.

Tags: Chicago, Sears Tower

UPDATE: NZ Government blinks! Monday 3:18pm (23rd February 2009) NZ time, CFF website reported:

Section 92A has been Delayed!. In a press conference today John Key announced that Section 92A would be delayed until March 27th. There is a lot of work ahead but I hope everyone involved takes some time out to celebrate this victory. This shows how modern online movements and efforts can result in real world change. We couldn’t have done it without you — we’ve been amazed and humbled by your support. Thanks everyone!!

In popular culture, New Zealand is known as the place where the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed or the home of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords.

Anyone who knows anything about rugby knows the best rugby in the world is played by the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks. (So named because their uniforms are all black.)

In fact, all black with a silver fern is the symbol known world wide perhaps better than the NZ flag (often confused with the more quady Austrailian flag.)

But on Monday, all black will be associated with a protest going on in New Zealand. The protest has to do with an idea that could have a chilling effect on internet users everywhere.

A New Zealand law, called the Guilt Upon Accusation or S92a, is set to go into effect this week. This part of a new copyright law would require internet service providers to disconnect any one accused of copyright violation.

Accused.

Anyone accused of file sharing, sampling or misuse of copyrighted images will be disconnected from the internet. No investigation. No trial. No conviction. ISPs will be required to reveal user identity of the accused. No warrant or checking on the validity of the claim.

The Creative Freedom Foundation has organized petition drives and a march on Parliament. So websites and blogs are going dark all over New Zealand on Monday as part of the protest. Others around the world are changing avatars and profile pics to a black square.

This law is a ham handed attempt by media companies to scare internet users. The population of New Zealand is easily dwarfed by many an individual city in many parts of the world. It’s not about the number of people involved. It’s about the rights being taken without due process. New Zealand is a stable democracy. We should be concerned with what happens there.

This blog will not go off line on Monday. (I couldn’t get it back the last time I did that.) But I will be changeing profile pics. Perhaps you’ll join me.

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You can find just about any type of person on Twitter: Mommy Bloggers, religious folk, photographers, teachers, sales people, hockey players, radicals, musicians and philanthropists. President BHO has an account, though he hasn’t posted over the past month. Must be busy.

There are plenty of “experts” offering lists of things to do or not do on Twitter. Just like in life, there are people who will advise you on any matter, for a price.

David Pogue, Tech Editor at the New York Times summarized a conversation he had with Evan Williams, chief executive and co-founder of Twitter:

Twitter, in other words, is precisely what you want it to be. It can be a business tool, a teenage time-killer, a research assistant, a news source — whatever. There are no rules, or at least none that apply equally well to everyone

I look at Twitter as a huge networking event. Hundreds of conversations are going on. I can choose which ones to participate in and which ones to not. I can learn a lot and share a lot. I’m pretty much the same person there as here and in Real Life. That’s my rule, be yourself.

I like Nadine Norris’ approach to Twitter. She uses Twitter for her Personal Learning Network (PLN). She works in education and seeks out like minded folk. But her ideas are easily adapted to any interest. In her Life Long Learning edublog, she writes:

I joined Twitter about a year ago. I have a clear intention on why I use it. I want to be engaged with a group of educators who are generous with their time and effort to improve the educational experience of students.

She then outlines her personal rules for using Twitter. She finishes the post with a list of accomplishments that Twitter enabled her to do. It’s quite a list.

That works for her. It could work for you. Or not. If you are not on Twitter, give it a try. It’s halfway between blogs and chat. And it can be as useful as you want it to be.

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