Cellulosic Ethanol: One Molecule Could Cure Our Addiction to Oil

Cellulosic ethanol, in theory, is a much better bet. Most of the plant species suitable for producing this kind of ethanol — like switchgrass, a fast- growing plant found throughout the Great Plains, and farmed poplar trees — aren't food crops. And according to a joint study by the US Departments of Agriculture and Energy, we can sustainably grow more than 1 billion tons of such biomass on available farmland, using minimal fertilizer. In fact, about two-thirds of what we throw into our landfills today contains cellulose and thus potential fuel. Better still: Cellulosic ethanol yields roughly 80 percent more energy than is required to grow and convert it.

Still, I think the most "Sustainable" option would be to push research on turning everyday waste biomass (like what is thrown in the garbage; grass clippings, banana peels, floral waste, etc) into ethanol, it is possible and while i doubt it would "answer all our energy needs" (though there is no solution to all our energy needs) it would be using (unused) existing waste instead of growing new material.

30 Minute Bird Flu Test

Well the subject says it all (pretty much) but i thought i would blog this just because i have seen how difficult it is to access some of the places that Avian Influenza started. There are many parts of the developing world where it is very difficult to get to, get things (infected animals to test) out not to mention doing tests on site. If these little devices could be made cheap and rugged they could be distributed many places where people aren't as aware of its dangers so aren't as likely to go to the trouble of testing (which is arduous at the moment). Being able to test in the field will certainly go a long way towards helping control such outbreaks.

Happy-Fatty Cake

Happy-Fatty Cake
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

Actually on one side it says “Fatty Cake” and the other side it says “Happy Cake” I am not sure which is more amusing. I took two pictures but I decided to include the “Fatty Cake” side:
1). Because it says Fatty Cake
2). The email address, yahoo.
It just seemed funny to me that an Iranian food manufacturer that is large enough to get food into central Afghanistan would list a Yahoo email address instead of something a bit more professional (fattycake.com? [I couldn’t resist])

A-Typical Afghan Breakfast

A-Typical Afghan Breakfast
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

Normally Afghan meals are served on a piece of plastic or pleather on the floor so this breakfast was a bit of a treat (in the morning I was not in the mood to sit on the floor).

This breakfast was even more of a treat in that it consisted of more than just jam, bread, and tea (which annoys me even in those bagel and cream cheese house holds in the US). This day we had hard boiled eggs, “Little Debbie” type cakes, tea, and bread… not a four star meal to be sure but more than I normally get.

I was also struck (again) by the absence of women, something that continues to make me feel guilty/uncomfortable.

Pot O' Yoghurt

Pot O' Yoghurt
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

There was no real restaurant in Band-e Amir but there was a little hut type place right by the late and I suspect the same people that "ran" that hut were supplying us with food. One of our organization's field managers arranged that we have a large tent set aside for us so we were served various foods like kabob, nans (bread), and yoghurt, lots of yoghurt. The photo here is a big ole pot of yoghurt and it was doled out in typical Afghan fashion (that is, little worry about spillage or microbes).

I haven't yet taken a good picture of a normal afghan meal but I have been amused that the normal meal involves rolling out a piece of pleather or plastic on the floor and then putting all the food on the rolled out material. Afghans traditionally eat with their hands (sometimes using shared bowls) and things tend to get a bit messy so the rolled out plastic works quite nicely in that they just take away the dishes and roll up the mat and all the spilled yoghurt, crumbs, and bits of sheep and I guess shake it out outside.

Yoghurt itself seems to be almost as important as nans in the typical afghan meal. Normally yoghurt is eaten plain, by the spoonful, and from a bowl. I have never been particularly fond of plain yoghurt and in Moldova, the few times I was served yoghurt, I would doctor it with some of the great Moldovan jams. One of the problems I ran into in Moldova is that yoghurt, cheese, etc all contain microbes and in developing countries they tend to contain "extra" bugs many of which can make you sick. So, the combination of having a sensitive stomach and being mildly allergic to dairy products has been enough incentive to keep me away from most homemade afghan dairy products.