The Peru installations are large and they are used with whatever water this available in the mountains for villages. They have barren land that doesn’t support any kind of vegetation, so they use that.
]]>What this may be more useful for is dealing with the contaminated groundwater in much of India. Much of India’s groundwater is contaminated with levels of various industrial chemicals that are lethal over time. Much of India’s population has no choice but to drink that groundwater, since any surface waters are so contaminated with human wastes that drinking them is often much more immediately fatal.
Regarding the black trays with glass tops or the plastic inflatable things, the heat is being applied radiatively from the top, thus any salt encrustation on the bottom is irrelevant. The main problem is that the amount of heat that can be applied to the water is not sufficient to get more than a pint or two of water per day out of it in most climates. That may or may not be sufficient to sustain life, depending upon how many of these gizmos you have…
]]>I looked at the criteria and Mr Johnson seems to meet the conditions, but the other hostages need to tell authorities what happened in the cafe, as Ms Dawson’s actions might merit the award as well.
As for the water distiller, there are a lot of devices that can be used that can be made locally – essentially black trays with glass tops that use gravity instead of motors to move the water. Other than the glass and the stainless steel collection pans, all you need is wood and black paint. There are hundreds of them in use in Peru. We had an inflatable device in our survival kits that would distill water, for use in water crashes.
]]>After the Sydney siege we have learnt this man was let out on bail after facing accessory to murder charges and about 40 sexual assault charges.
Bail laws were meant to have been changed already, but “administrative bungles” have stalled them until late January. That’s not good enough. We need stronger bail laws that would have kept this dangerous man behind bars right now.
OT: we were discussing desalination a while back. I found an interesting portable desal project being crowdfunded. I’m considering supporting it, but need to look into it some more before I commit. I’ve emailed some questions about it (from an industrial Engineering standpoint). 🙂 See what reply I get. 😉 I mentioned I wasn’t impressed by getting a patent approved, since several people have had patents approved for inventing a wheel for example, and most issued these day’s aren’t worth the paper to print them on. 🙂
]]>I saw we should try torture on Hasselbeck and the other co-morons and see if they can say anything intelligent! I’d humbly volunteer my well trained services! A worthy cause for me to temporarily come out of retirement! 😆 Of course, no useful intel would be gained, but for once, it would serve an educational purpose… and be fun (well, not for them)! 😛
Sadly Bryan, I think that deaths were unavoidable. I suspect that Monis had already decided to be a Martyr, as many misguided fools such as he believe. It could have been worse than two civilians, but it’s always tragic. I think you are correct about your assessment, and the manager Tori Johnson decided he had nothing to lose. A brave man. Perhaps he and Katrina Dawson decided together to stop him. Hopefully the remaining hostages can shed light on that.
Before Christians & Jews start yelling “exterminate all Muslims”! They should have a good hard look at their own houses and give them a good clean! But then, that would mean them being honest. Something I’ve not seen wither religion display, and history shows honesty isn’t really part of their respective codes. As Gandhi said “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”
There are of course exceptions to all that, but not many. In the case of crazy people who use the Muslim faith as an excuse to be evil, that’s a good thing.
]]>The guy was a garden variety violent misogynist who was facing serious prison time and wanted to politicize the prosecution to muddy the waters. Torture has never produced anything that was worthwhile up to now, so claiming it would help to fight terrorism is a claim supported by the misinformed, sadists, and racists, or a case of all three when it is Faux News.
]]>SIGH.
]]>Don’t sweat it, I catch them and approve them. 🙂
]]>These situations are always a mess, no matter what the responders do. The gunman had to be getting tired and didn’t get the public media access to spread his excuses for being a murderous bastard. This wasn’t political, the guy was out on bail facing a number of violent charges, including involvement in the death of his ex-wife, so this behavior is consistent for him. Being a ‘cleric’ only means that he has the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree from a Shiia university. I doubt he had many followers or a regular mosque where he preached. He was facing prison and wanted to be considered oppressed by system or a martyr, rather than the dirtbag he was.
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