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Is This a Joke?

I used to think I knew what a joke was.

For example, Andrew Stiles' headline is kind of a joke, and his subhed is a fun, weird, random little anti-joke joke.

But Elizabeth Harrington reports -- I think she reports; is she doing a Stiles-like deadpan schtick? -- that the EPA is spending $1.5 million for...

I can't summarize it. Let the EPA explain to you what they're spending $1.5 million for.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is spending $1.5 million to bring a "stove intervention" to Africa.

The project, conducted by the University of Colorado, is attempting to change how people living in the Sahel of Africa cook and light their homes to be more energy efficient.

Okay, let's review some facts:

Africa is the poorest continent on earth, where starvation is a real and continuing problem.

Energy efficiency is a rich man's luxury.

And cooking makes many inedible, or semi-edible, foods edible. I don't mean it makes them taste better (though it does that). I mean that cooking is a technological necessity for humankind because it begins the process of breaking down chemical bonds in food (or potential food) that the body would either not be able to break down (that is, the food would not be food at all; it would be biologically inert) or make it more biologically efficient to break down (that is, it takes metabolic energy to break down some foodstuffs, and if the body is spending a lot of energy on just breaking the food down to a useful form, it is getting very little net energy from the food.)

Cooking is not just something bored rich Westerners watch on TV. Cooking is absolutely essential to human survival, and the invention of cooking is one of the most important breakthroughs in human development.

But the EPA is going into impoverished Africa, to places where people are literally living at the edge of a desert (not a "food desert" as progs like to say, but a real desert) in order to boss Africans around and tell them they're not getting the Carbon Efficiency out of their wood-burning stoves that they should be getting.

Oh, don't take my word for it. Read the grant:

The EPA grant argues the project is necessary because the population in this region, which lies between the Sahara Desert and the vast Sudanian Savanna, is "projected to continue to grow at alarming rates," meaning more carbon emissions from when Africans cook.

"For this study, we will leverage an existing stove intervention study of 200 households in the region; randomly selected rural households received pairs of improved wood cookstoves," the grant said. "We expand that intervention study to assess stove use behaviors and emissions for an entire year and add urban households and commercial cooking activities."

....

The researchers will then analyze carbon emissions from "actual cooking events."

"These surveys will be supplemented with direct observations of cooking related behaviors to aide in assessment of time use (e.g., time spent cooking and gathering fuel) as these are not accurately determined through surveys," the grant continued. "Using the next generation of novel, inexpensive air quality monitors, we will continuously monitor concentrations of CO2, CO, NO2, and VOCs in the households throughout the year as well as seasonal subsets of direct emissions measurements from actual cooking events."

The project began last June, and is expected to run until May 2017. The research has cost taxpayers $1.5 million.

The EPA grant said that the goal of the project is to "develop a better understanding of the social, physical, and climatological determinants" of carbon emissions in the region.

There's more at the article, including the EPA's response to Ms. Harrington's report.

There is one humanitarian aspect here: If the stoves cook using less fuel, that reduces the amount of time that someone needs to spend on just gathering firewood.

Also, hey, free stove.

But I think it's pretty clear the major goal of this study is not to help desperately poor Africans; it's to lower the carbon footprint of people whose carbon footprints are already one one-hundredth of the smug Western progressives looking to save the world.

This may be the high-water mark for the wealthy urban progressives' favorite hobby, the collection and display of Luxurious Concerns.

Meanwhile, in America, President Cnut has ordered, by his own personal majesty, a 30% cut in CO2 emissions in America.

Because energy, you see, is some kind of trifle that we can well afford to burden with heaping additional costs.

Posted by: Ace at 01:57 PM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 I wish there was some kind of opposition to Obama.

Posted by: Bevel Lemelisk at August 03, 2015 01:58 PM (ucedS)

2 You can't just set your thermostat at 72 and expect not to be penalized, Ace.

Posted by: Barackhenaten I at August 03, 2015 01:58 PM (cvI9D)

3 Just a reminder here that in the original 2009 Obama porkulus -- you know, the one which was going to "put Americans back to work by rebuilding American infrastructure" -- there was eight hundred thousand dollars put aside in order to teach African men, in Africa, to wash their genitals after having sex.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 01:59 PM (noWW6)

4 There's no place on Earth so remote that some bureaucrat can't fuck it up.

Posted by: joncelli, Boned like You at August 03, 2015 01:59 PM (RD7QR)

5 We're going to introduce more fuel-efficient cars, too. And help them get rid of their electricity vampires!

Posted by: Environmental Protection Agency at August 03, 2015 01:59 PM (2lndx)

6 I remember when carbon monoxide was supposed to be the issue with these stoves. Saw this one coming a while back. Some lefties just really want to move some goddamn hippie stoves/hate people in the bush having simple stoves, it seems.

Odds on it being the same crowd, still worried about monoxide/inflated other threats who can't get traction except through the CO2 cult these days?

Posted by: Sporkatus at August 03, 2015 02:00 PM (HtLSE)

7 Yo!

Posted by: Yo! at August 03, 2015 02:00 PM (W6iIX)

8 "Cooking events"?

My colon had an "event" as I was reading that.

Posted by: Phinn at August 03, 2015 02:00 PM (DLUnW)

9 Look, the thing is, they're already living very close to the way we want everyone to live. If we can just tweak their lifestyle a little, we can use the Sahel as a model for remaking the United States.

Posted by: Environmental Protection Agency at August 03, 2015 02:00 PM (2lndx)

10 17,520.73 -169.13(-0.96%)

Posted by: DJIA Death Watch at August 03, 2015 02:00 PM (evdj2)

11 We were using Lion Poop to cook our food... burns pretty well, and is a renewable resource...

But as usual, you American bastards messed that up by killing Cecil...

Posted by: African EcoTard at August 03, 2015 02:01 PM (qh617)

12 I don't always eat Bush Meat.
...but when I do, I prefer it cooked.

Posted by: The Most Interesting Italian in the World at August 03, 2015 02:01 PM (cvI9D)

13 I mean, and let me be clear here, they have a carbon footprint to die for.

Posted by: Environmental Protection Agency at August 03, 2015 02:01 PM (2lndx)

14 Don't laugh too hard at this grant.

There has been a lot of work to make stoves for poor countries that are not only efficient, but use that efficiency to make them cheaper to operate.

Posted by: Lois "hard drive crashed" Lerner at August 03, 2015 02:02 PM (e8kgV)

15 I get no respect

Posted by: fire at August 03, 2015 02:02 PM (W6iIX)

16 Hey.... new Moron Game!!!!

7 degrees of separation, from CECIL THE LION!!!!

Since its all Cecil all the damn time, and he is SOOOOOO important!

Posted by: BB Wolf at August 03, 2015 02:02 PM (qh617)

17 Meanwhile, in America, President Cnut has ordered, by his own personal majesty, a 30% cut in CO2 emissions in America.

I guess that means we, what, all have to breathe 30% less.....?

Posted by: VA GOP Sucks at August 03, 2015 02:02 PM (eytER)

18 But the EPA is going into impoverished Africa, to places where people are literally living at the edge of a desert...
- ace
------------------------------
Am I the only one thinking of Sam Kinison and grinning like an idiot?

Posted by: Chi at August 03, 2015 02:02 PM (2Zu6X)

19 Actually the real action is what sort of failure theatre the GOP will pull in order to make it look like they are fighting this?

It's literally the only fun I get out of politics anymore, trying to figure out how I'm going to get screwed.

Posted by: Kreplach at August 03, 2015 02:03 PM (JbETL)

20 1st link is munged.

Posted by: The Leftoshpere at August 03, 2015 02:03 PM (IN7k+)

21 And cooking makes many inedible, or semi-edible, foods edible.

You mean like Brussels Sprouts? Still inedible.

Posted by: wrg500 at August 03, 2015 02:04 PM (FEAjO)

22 so in other words, Beauracrats Attack !!

Posted by: Yo! at August 03, 2015 02:04 PM (W6iIX)

23 Seems to me, the solution to inefficient cooking is to make stoves immune to the laws of thermodynamics.

Posted by: Neil DeGrasse Tyson at August 03, 2015 02:04 PM (zHvpi)

24 There has been a lot of work to make stoves for poor countries that are not only efficient, but use that efficiency to make them cheaper to operate.


Posted by: Lois "hard drive crashed" Lerner at August 03, 2015 02:02 PM (e8kgV


Yeah, if only there had been someone in the past, who worked on this very problem....

Posted by: Ben Franklin, inventor of the Franklin stove at August 03, 2015 02:04 PM (qh617)

25 Because energy, you see, is some kind of trifle that we can well afford to burden with heaping additional costs.




Prezzy is due to speak at any minute now on how he's going to save the planet send our electric bills skyrocketing

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:04 PM (493sH)

26 Joke ? We can only hope that someday this will be considered funny.
In the real world, it's just one more assault on the nation that dear leader hates so much.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 03, 2015 02:04 PM (go6ud)

27 Clinton Global was big on bringing stoves to every POV on the planet at one point.

Posted by: Garrett at August 03, 2015 02:04 PM (cvI9D)

28 I don't support the EPA funding this, but I do actually support this.

The idea isn't merely to make cooking "cleaner," although that is the EPA's spin on it. Open woodfire cooking, which is common in Africa, is incredibly inefficient. It requires a lot of time and effort to gather the necessary fuel. And when the fuel is burned, it creates pollutants that hurt people. (Think of sitting by a campfire. The next day, your throat is dry, your eyes are scratchy, and your clothes are completely permeated with smoke.)

A well-designed stove - and there are several that are very cheap to mass-manufacture - will mean not just less pollution for Mother Gaia, but less pollution for real people. It will also mean people spend less time gathering the fuel they need to cook the food they need to survive.

Posted by: MikeJ at August 03, 2015 02:05 PM (Us4M2)

29 The stove thing in Africa is trivial, although not unexpected, given the mindset of the EPA.
Soon, fireplaces and woodburners in the US will be outlawed.

My sister and her husband live in a rather rural part of America, and rely on a woodburner to heat their home on most winter days.


The 30% reduction in Greenhouse Gas emissions is a big mountain to climb.

1) Outlaw airlines, or tax them out of existence
2) Outlaw over the road truckers, or tax them out of existence
3) put a 100% tax on gasoline and diesel.
4) outlaw gas lawnmowers (you think I'm kidding?)


And that's just for starters. Sure glad we live in a free country. "snort"

Yes, the President is a cnut.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....dumbshit in America at August 03, 2015 02:05 PM (RFeQD)

30 In Deadly Complication of Obama's Half-Assed Action to decrease carbon emissions in the U.S., voters will see their electricity bills rise by 75% and rolling brown-outs will become commonplace.

And private utilities will need federal hand-outs

Posted by: MTF at August 03, 2015 02:05 PM (TxJGV)

31 Wait till he try's to outlaw wood burning stove here.

Posted by: wrg500 at August 03, 2015 02:05 PM (FEAjO)

32 It's all part of "sustainable development," a super-condescending idea popular among enviros that wealthy western nations need to "guide" the industrial and tech progress of third world nations, so they can grow into "enviromentally sound" nations, without all that dirty industrialization the west benefited from.

What it really means is keep poor people poor so they can be the ones to suffer and sacrifice.

Posted by: brak at August 03, 2015 02:06 PM (Tj+s6)

33 They go nuts over moose farts so of course they will go nuts over starving people cooking a meal.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:06 PM (iQIUe)

34 2 You can't just set your thermostat at 72 and expect not to be penalized, Ace.
Posted by: Barackhenaten I at August 03, 2015 01:58 PM (cvI9D)

Location: Houston, TX
Equipment: 5 ton multiphase Trane
Environment: 1200 sq ft
Thermostat: 70
Bill: $95 Summertime, $45 winter using nat gas.

Eat it Barack.

Posted by: cajun caret at August 03, 2015 02:06 PM (UZQM8)

35 The project, conducted by the University of Colorado, is attempting to change how people living in the Sahel of Africa cook and light their homes to be more energy efficient.




When Prezzy Rainbow was in Kenya talking about gay rights, the president of Kenya said, in effect, look we've got real problems to worry about like the economy and terrorism. That's what I'm focused on. A majority of this country has become so detached from reality it's frightening.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (493sH)

36


President Thomas Whitmore:
I don't understand, where does all this come from? How do you get funding for something like this?

Julius Levinson:
You don't actually think they spend $20,000 on a hammer, $30,000 on a toilet seat, do you?



Sometimes, the solution that makes the most sense to me is that this is just a fig leaf for some covert operation they're trying to implement. At least, it makes me feel better to think so.

Posted by: Piedmont at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (mtaK5)

37 I wish there was some kind of opposition to Obama.
Posted by: Bevel Lemelisk


Remember though Petunia the Plant told us there just can't be.

Posted by: dogfish at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (jWtyG)

38 Ace, cooking also kills pathogens present in foodstuffs and meat.

And stoves also boil water to make it potable.

I don't know if you mentioned that, because - well, you know...

Posted by: Garrett at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (cvI9D)

39 True or False

The EPA is spending another 800,000 on the effects simple carbs have on flatulence with people over the age of 65.


Posted by: Cruzinator at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (vyAun)

40 But the EPA is going into impoverished Africa, to places where people are literally living at the edge of a desert (not a "food desert" as progs like to say,

but a real desert )

As Sam Kinison liked to say. Aaaaaaaaaah!

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (SdfnP)

41 Think of sitting by a campfire. The next day, your throat is dry, your eyes are scratchy, and your clothes are completely permeated with smoke.

That's why you go camping silly.

Posted by: wrg500 at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (FEAjO)

42 Energy efficiency is a rich man's luxury.


This is something the left DOES NOT understand. It's the same kind of thinking that brought us Common Core.


"Kids who are good at math do this. If we get kids who aren't good at math to do that, too, they'll get better at math."


That's just as much a logical fallacy as:


"Well-off people do this, which helps the planet. Poor people do not. If we get poor people to do this, they won't be poor and we'll save the planet even MORE."

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit & Vaginassassin, aka Beth at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (4df7R)

43 From the last thread:

239 BTW, you people who are more tech savvy than me (which is everyone) - my home computer really is a deceased computer - deader than Cecil - so can I transfer the data on my hard drive to my laptop or is it just gone? Never had this problem before, it was always just a matter of transferring the data when I got a computer upgrade I didn't have to deal with a PC that has entirely crashed.

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (u0lmX)

44 A well-designed stove - and there are several that are very cheap to mass-manufacture - will mean not just less pollution for Mother Gaia, but less pollution for real people. It will also mean people spend less time gathering the fuel they need to cook the food they need to survive.

Posted by: MikeJ at August 03, 2015 02:05 PM (Us4M2)

And you don't think that there have been people working on this exact problem for a few thousand YEARS????

To the point where the US Government needs to spend YOUR Tax dollar on it?

Posted by: Ben Franklin, inventor of the Franklin stove at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (qh617)

45 I guess that means we, what, all have to breathe 30% less.....?

Or 30% don't need to breathe at all.

Either or.

Posted by: Grump928(c) at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (evdj2)

46
What the leftists really want those people to do is die, because to many carbon footprints from to many people will cause global warming which will cause people to die.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at August 03, 2015 02:08 PM (ODxAs)

47 "...has ordered, by his own personal majesty, a 30% cut in CO2 emissions in America."
--------------------
32%

Not to wax technical, but that is 6% larger than '30%', and 6% is a large difference.

Posted by: I slept last night in a Holiday Inn Express at August 03, 2015 02:08 PM (9mTYi)

48 Good to know, but, fuck it. We're doomed.

Instead of getting depressed over things I can't control, I have decided to send Mark Meadows a thank you post card in c/o John Boehner. Yeah, ask Boehner to please forward to Meadows.

Weazel Zippers/Breitbart:

http://tinyurl.com/n9ecfqu

Posted by: Joanne at August 03, 2015 02:08 PM (indTK)

49
We are living in an Age of Mass Delusion.

- Where Hollywood and Mass Media narratives are determinative of our policy paradigms.

Yes, millions upon millions of Americans (progressives and oblivious LIVs) actually believe (or will believe) that it's important to get impoverished Africans to reduce their carbon footprint through more efficient cooking practices.

Yes, it's insane.

And yes, it's Mass Delusion.




Posted by: _Dave_ at August 03, 2015 02:08 PM (l2dSQ)

50 I'm supposed to be writing the dissertation today.
I am, sorta, it's a break.
anyway, I just finished a section noting the most important part of any scientific endeavor is knowing the question you want to ask.
For the sake of argument we'll pretend this waste of money is science.

the question they could have asked is "how can we make cooking easier in low fuel areas like deserts"

That is a very valuable question as ace notes. (If fuel supplies are low because it's a desert and wood is sparse, cooking with less fuel is valuable. See also: stirfry.)

But that's not the question they asked.
They focused on CO2 emissions, and entirely different question, with an entirely different outcome.
FS.

Posted by: tsrblke (tsblet) at August 03, 2015 02:08 PM (U8W/7)

51 All this agw and carbon bulshit is such a scam.

Green jobs results in less jobs.
Energy efficient means higher costs for the consumer.

It lowers the quality of life for poor people, thats all it does and commies and greenies (also commies) have no problem with it. Remember the Holodomor!

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:08 PM (iQIUe)

52 Ace, cooking also kills pathogens present in foodstuffs and meat.



Kills worms in lion meat.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:08 PM (SdfnP)

53 Here's the Stiles link (WFB):
http://tinyurl.com/on6x9x3

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at August 03, 2015 02:09 PM (IN7k+)

54 According to the IPCC we have to get the carbon output of the entire human race to ZERO by 2100.

However, they helpfully point out that between 2000 and 2100 we have X amount of carbon that we can emit before we get to zero, and that by 2011, we had already emitted 50% of that amount.

By the way, it is the official policy of the US that every single word of the IPCC is true.

Posted by: blaster at August 03, 2015 02:09 PM (2Ocf1)

55 For years my church supported missionaries in Central America that taught people to build septic tanks that generated methane to fuel their stoves, thus removing their need to strip the terrain bare for firewood.

Posted by: Grump928(c) at August 03, 2015 02:09 PM (evdj2)

56 I want to do a study refurbishing mud huts with new quartz kitchen countertops but I don't want anyone taking it for granite.

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:09 PM (NeFrd)

57 Not just the Ukraine, but all thru russia - millions starved due to stupid commie theories. Same with China and Korea.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:09 PM (iQIUe)

58 there was eight hundred thousand dollars put aside in order to teach African men, in Africa, to wash their genitals after having sex.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 01:59 PM (noWW6)




They have to be taught to wash their johnsons? But all cultures are equally valid. Except ours, of course.


Actually, they invented washing their johnsons, but the white man stole the concept.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:10 PM (oKE6c)

59 There's a running joke that progs think meat comes from the supermarket. I think Obama genuinely thinks electricity comes from outlets. That's probably right around his room-temperature-IQ level.

Posted by: Ian S. at August 03, 2015 02:10 PM (B/VB5)

60 If they wanted to do something useful in Africa they would teach them to purify their water. That would eradicate half if their diseases.

Posted by: Cruzinator at August 03, 2015 02:10 PM (vyAun)

61 I just installed a new wood-burning brick pizza oven out by one of my swimming pools. Don't worry, I'm offsetting the carbon by having the EPA force some poor Africans to cook their meals over sterno.

Posted by: Leonardo DiCrapio at August 03, 2015 02:10 PM (nFdGS)

62 42 Energy efficiency is a rich man's luxury.


This is something the left DOES NOT understand. It's the same kind of thinking that brought us Common Core.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit & Vaginassassin, aka Beth at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (4df7R)

Actually.... uh... no.... energy efficiency is a POOR Man's friend... because they have to PAY for that energy.

But that is exactly why this will do nothing.... this has been worked on for thousands of years...

Posted by: Ben Franklin, inventor of the Franklin stove at August 03, 2015 02:10 PM (qh617)

63 Again, the premise is the BS AGW 'carbon emissions' shit. Any stupid thing a rent-seeking gummint drone wants to do needs only invoke 'carbon emissions' and no one questions it, even though its horseshit all the way down.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 03, 2015 02:11 PM (oVJmc)

64 >>Not to wax technical, but that is 6% larger than '30%', and 6% is a large difference.


This has all the hallmarks of Mathiness.

Posted by: Garrett at August 03, 2015 02:11 PM (cvI9D)

65 Oh, if we don't get to zero? Irreversible global catastrophe. Permanent temperature change, permanent acidification of the oceans, global extinction of more than half the species on Earth.

Now pardon me, I have to take my helicopter to go play golf.

Posted by: blaster at August 03, 2015 02:11 PM (2Ocf1)

66 Another favorite hobby is to look at people living in other places as exhibits in a zoo or museum, or performers in a show, providing entertainment and other psychological goodies for rich western progressives instead of being other humans with real actual lives.

Nope - they're dancing horses and motorcycle riding bears for the sanctimonious progressives.

Posted by: Mikey NTH - Back-to-School Sale on Lunchboxes, Accusations at the Outrage Outlet! at August 03, 2015 02:11 PM (hLRSq)

67 Here is what the African will get out of the program: FREE STOVE. Thats all. The EPA continues the legacy of stupid and arrogant, just like da Zero.

Posted by: maddogg at August 03, 2015 02:11 PM (xWW96)

68 Yeah, whatever happened to all those giant waves that were going to swamp our coastal cities that Hwd warned us about?

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:11 PM (iQIUe)

69 Open woodfire cooking, which is common in Africa, is incredibly inefficient. It requires a lot of time and effort to gather the necessary fuel.

Are Africans really that retarded? Every group on the planet figured out how to make rudimentary stoves to increase cooking efficiency.... But Africans sit around like Rosie O'Donnell trying to melt chicken wire over an open wood fire?

Posted by: wooga at August 03, 2015 02:11 PM (zHvpi)

70 I had a burrito for my midday cooking event.

Posted by: Grump928(c) at August 03, 2015 02:12 PM (evdj2)

71 For years my church supported missionaries in Central America that taught people to build septic tanks that generated methane to fuel their stoves, thus removing their need to strip the terrain bare for firewood.


"Papi, this sloth tastes like shit!"

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:12 PM (SdfnP)

72
we're doomed... !!!!

Historically didn't we celebrate good hunters??

??

Posted by: Yo! at August 03, 2015 02:12 PM (W6iIX)

73 Energy efficiency is a rich man's luxury.




And something that none of them actually practice what they preach. I'm looking at you AlGore, Decraprio etc.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:12 PM (493sH)

74 Seems to me that for that much money, we could send every family in the Sahel an MSR Whisperlite and a few gallons of fuel.

There. Done.

Posted by: VA GOP Sucks at August 03, 2015 02:12 PM (eytER)

75 >>61 I just installed a new wood-burning brick pizza oven out by one of my swimming pools. Don't worry, I'm offsetting the carbon by having the EPA force some poor Africans to cook their meals over sterno.
Posted by: Leonardo DiCrapio at August 03, 2015 02:10 PM (nFdGS)


Nice, Leo.

I have one next to ALL of my swimming pools.
One by the meditation pool, too.

Posted by: Mieux Mieux at August 03, 2015 02:13 PM (cvI9D)

76 Out

Christian missionaries and 19th-century colonialists telling poor brown people how to run their lives.

In

Radical environmntalists and 21st-century progressives telling poor brown people how to run their lives.

Posted by: zombie at August 03, 2015 02:13 PM (jBuUi)

77 43 From the last thread:

239 BTW, you people who are more tech savvy than me (which is everyone) - my home computer really is a deceased computer - deader than Cecil - so can I transfer the data on my hard drive to my laptop or is it just gone? Never had this problem before, it was always just a matter of transferring the data when I got a computer upgrade I didn't have to deal with a PC that has entirely crashed.

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 02:07 PM (u0lmX)

++++

It depends on why the old pc is dead, but as long as the drive is good, you should be able to copy the data off it. One way would be to get one of those usb enclosures and put the drive in that and hook it up to your laptop.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at August 03, 2015 02:13 PM (IN7k+)

78 Barack Obama is a SCOAMT.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 02:13 PM (kff5f)

79 Burn it down.
Scatter the stones.
Salt the earth where it stood.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 02:13 PM (kff5f)

80 44 A well-designed stove - and there are several that are very cheap to mass-manufacture - will mean not just less pollution for Mother Gaia, but less pollution for real people. It will also mean people spend less time gathering the fuel they need to cook the food they need to survive.

Posted by: MikeJ at August 03, 2015 02:05 PM (Us4M2)

And you don't think that there have been people working on this exact problem for a few thousand YEARS????

To the point where the US Government needs to spend YOUR Tax dollar on it?
------

44 - Seriously? I put "I don't think the EPA needs to be funding this" at the beginning of the post. Did you skip over that part?

Posted by: MikeJ at August 03, 2015 02:13 PM (Us4M2)

81 Prezzy Douchebag just showed up to kill the energy industry along with the rest of economy.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:13 PM (493sH)

82 Sourly remembering here the 1970s ecoholic bumper stickers which read "Split Wood, Not Atoms".

Well, Africans took that advice to heart, and what resulted was the largest single deforestation event in human history.

You would think that bad example might have convinced people that burning wood on a mass scale is a crummy idea. Hardly so. The ecoholics have doubled down on teh crayzee.

Drax, which was at one point the largest coal-fired power station in the UK, has now been converted thanks to green mandates into a "biomass" fueled plant.

Wow! Sounds great! Very green! How progressive! Gaia sighs in relief! Clean and sustainable! Let's do more of this!

Except... when you read the fine print, "biomass" is a careful euphemism for wood pellets. And there's not enough wood available in the UK to feed a huge plant like Drax. Not even close. At one-third capacity, it would consume all domestic wood production in the UK, 100% of it.

So the utility is buying up enormous amounts of trees in the southeastern U.S., cutting them down, shredding and mulching them, compressing the result into a colossal pile of wood pellets -- 30 million metric tons a year at full capacity -- and then transporting it all 3800 miles across the Atlantic in enormous bulk-carrier ships to be burnt.

Needless to say, thanks to UK and EU "green" subsidies, this insane scheme is wildly profitable for the owners of the Drax station.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:13 PM (noWW6)

83 Another favorite hobby is to look at people living in other places as exhibits in a zoo or museum, or performers in a show, providing entertainment and other psychological goodies for rich western progressives instead of being other humans with real actual lives.

The MFM routinely does that about flyover country, never mind Africa. That was the basis of James Lileks' famous breakout Fisking of some rich NYT person's first encounter with an Olive Garden.

Posted by: Ian S. at August 03, 2015 02:14 PM (B/VB5)

84 Posted by: Ben Franklin, inventor of the Franklin stove at August 03, 2015 02:10 PM (qh617)

Yes and no.

My parents 95% efficient furnace is far more efficient than my 80% one.
But it costs more to install and maintain. Yes, in the long run it'll pay off (perhaps) but there are varying considerations there.

Many things are a trade off. This is likely one of those cases.

Posted by: tsrblke (tsblet) at August 03, 2015 02:14 PM (U8W/7)

85 You want Africans to get more efficiency out of their wood-burning stoves? Provide them all with Franklin stoves.

I bet that would be vastly cheaper than this boondoggle. Even if it's more expensive, it would at least have the advantage of actually working.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 02:14 PM (kff5f)

86 67: Right on the mark. I my visits to a number of African villages, they cooked on open fires. IE, No Stoves at all. AND, there were many burning collections of brush and leaves to help keep malaria mosqutoes away.

Posted by: Kafiroon at August 03, 2015 02:14 PM (XC73B)

87 Keep up the puns Muldoon and you'll get yer head stove in

Posted by: MAx at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (LAliD)

88 41 Think of sitting by a campfire. The next day, your throat is dry, your eyes are scratchy, and your clothes are completely permeated with smoke.

That's why you go camping silly.

With a pile of empty beer bottles and pork/beef bones around you that would make that village blush. Fcuk yeah! put another log on the fire!

Posted by: BunkerInTheBurbs at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (WDySP)

89 I'm beginning to think the greatest thing that the next President could do is sign into law -

a bill that makes it illegal to use CO2 levels as any form of gov't metric.

As well as a simple law that makes it illegal for any gov't agency to control the emission of CO2.


That would do sooooooo much to free up the market and get the economy going.



Also, a law that would require the listeners to kick anyone spouting anthropogenic global climate change square in the nuts repeatedly-

or, not to be sexist, administer a well-deserved cunt-punt.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (KUa85)

90 An observation of native Africans via Peter Capstick, professional hunter. The native women go to the river to do their wash. The river is full of crocodiles, the crocodiles take one of the women while the rest scream wildly and run in all directions. Next day, women are back wading the river doing their wash. No changes, no guards, no difference. That is the native African mindset.

Posted by: maddogg at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (xWW96)

91 I like trying to educate leftists about what the IPCC means for them. It neve works, because they can't be educated.

But I try to get them to think about how they can get to 0% carbon emission.

Hint: changing your light bulbs won't do it.

Posted by: blaster at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (2Ocf1)

92 And I'm laughing at all coal producing loyal unionists who always vote Dem.

Posted by: Joanne at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (indTK)

93 Don't forget that the EPA has now decided that every bit of land is a wetland.

Here's the thing. I know people who are missionaries in Africa and helping the tribes with which they work get better tools and stoves and clean water is central to their mission.

So when I saw the stove thing, I, stupidly, thought well at least the EPA is spending some money to send over to Africa some of the new stoves with better technology that allows people to cook faster and use some solar tech in an area where that makes sense. You know, like the people I know do.

Of course not. Of. Course. Not.

Posted by: alexthechick - Team Joker Money Pile Being Hit By SMOD at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (mf5HN)

94 I spent a month in Malawi a few years ago volunteering and investigating exposing the poor in Africa in things like business, agriculture, fish farming, building, clean water, medical care...and yes stoves and cooking. It's hard to imagine how much material and human capital and time goes in to simple things like warming a home or cooking a meal. Women basically spend the entire day with a child strapped to their backs hiking miles back and forth for firewood or scraps of anything flammable to burn and for water, carries in bundles on their heads. New stove technologies were huge, and transformative where used in favor of primitive, traditional methods that stretch back centuries. We brought 3 "Rocket Stoves" to an orphanage and suddenly the women could cook so much more food with so much less fuel it changed the way people lived and worked within a week's time. Google "stove project Malawi" or probably any other African country and you will find plenty of info. It's a great thing that will lead to more efficiency, less pollution, and more time to be productive.

Whether our EPA should be paying for it with our tax dollars as opposed to the charity, social and religious groups I saw doing it, is a separate question.

Posted by: MostlyRight at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (OBiEU)

95

"They have to be taught to wash their johnsons?"


Only a liberal would believe that Africans need to be taught by them, the white elite, to wash their dicks.

No racism there.

Because racism means hate and it's out of love that liberals want to teach dick washing to the ignorant blacks who would have no fucking idea if it wasn't for smart white liberals.

Posted by: jwest at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (P/xrJ)

96 Meanwhile, in America, President Cnut has ordered, by his own personal majesty, a 30% cut in CO2 emissions in America.

F*ck that guy.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (kff5f)

97 There's a running joke that progs think meat comes from the supermarket. I think Obama genuinely thinks electricity comes from outlets.

Posted by: Ian S. at August 03, 2015 02:10 PM (B/VB5)



I've had progs maintain to me - in all seriousness - that the solution to our energy needs lies in ... wait for it ... batteries.


I replied that the solution to our water needs here in CA was buckets. Blank expression ensued.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (oKE6c)

98 I thought the purpose of these stove designs was to reduce the indoor air pollution from open cooking fires for health reasons -- not environmental concerns. It looks like someone gilded a decent effort by many to build simple stoves with a layer of CO2 gold leaf -- at our expense.

I was basically supportive of low key efforts to design efficient stoves, but I hate having money taken from my pocket by someone who failed spatial statistics and missed all the physics lessons on dispersion.

Posted by: Jean at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (ztOda)

99 The real goal of this has nothing to do with carbon footprints. Someone at the U of Colorado knows someone who's daddy is in a position to give money away for EPA studies. And this someone wants to take a year long trip to Africa, all expenses paid.

Posted by: HUCK / AKIN 2016 at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (0LHZx)

100 Progressives will CARE Africans to death.

Posted by: Y-not at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (RWGcK)

101
I watched this documentary with Michael Palin. He was in the Sahara sick and trying to buy meat. They had a basin of camel heads - white as a ghost b/c blood drained, pretty camel eyelashes, and covered with flies.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (iQIUe)

102 I have a solution. They can burn all of GMO food that they refuse to eat because they think it will make them grow horns and turn insane.

Posted by: Cruzinator at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (vyAun)

103 Daddy, what is coal? Horrible non-white material used once to make electricity, But those beautiful windmills now have made that stuff obsolete.
Daddy why is it so cold? because we are in a mini- ice age now, because we don't have enough carbon in the atmosphere..

Posted by: Colin at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (tlI5H)

104 Greater energy efficiency in wood cookstoves is a wonderful thing for Africans, because so many live in places where firewood is desperately scarce.

Know what's an even better thing for those people? MORE TREES. Reforestation projects are cheap and easy ways to give people in areas with poor food productivity access to firewood, forage for food animals, edible foods from the trees themselves, and even improved soil productivity from leaf mulch and shade.

Carbon dioxide emissions don't even enter into the benefits equation, but it so happens that reforestation in fact creates carbon dioxide sinks.

Posted by: stuiec at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (eetvJ)

105 If they wanted to do something useful in Africa they
would teach them to purify their water. That would eradicate half if
their diseases.

Posted by: Cruzinator at August 03, 2015 02:10 PM


I know there are charities doing that very thing. Wouldn't surprise me if the government has a Major Program to do likewise, only in a more costly, less efficient way.

All that said, I've really given up on sweating the small shit ("A billion here, a billion there....") and would in fact encourage all the do-gooder programs to continue unabated.

But I would send Choom Boy and all the rest of the SJWs over to Africa to personally lay stoves, water purifiers and flat-screens on the natives. Hell Jimmuh Carter built houses for the needy, why can't the Mocha Messiah go over there and give his brothers a break?

You want it, you do it, Buckaroo....

Posted by: MrScribbler at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (8PotD)

106 "For years my church supported missionaries in Central America that taught people to build septic tanks that generated methane to fuel their stoves, thus removing their need to strip the terrain bare for firewood."

I talked with a guy who worked for a humanitarian NGO, installing high-tech solar lift pumps in Africa to let farmers tap aquifers for agriculture.

He estimated the average working life of his installations, once the helpful Western engineers had left and gone home, was about four months before they were ruined by thievery, incompetent operation, and lack of maintenance.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:17 PM (noWW6)

107 Don't forget that the EPA has now decided that every bit of land is a wetland.
_____________


"Wetland," aka "swamp."

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:17 PM (oKE6c)

108 One way would be to get one of those usb enclosures and put the drive in that and hook it up to your laptop.

$12.99 will get you a USB-IDE-SATA adapter.

http://is.gd/vC610l

It was a buck 39 yesterday but the sale ended.

Posted by: Grump928(c) at August 03, 2015 02:17 PM (evdj2)

109 Stove intervention?

What does that involve? Ambush him with a bunch of his friends and family and force him to face up to his drinking problem?

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:17 PM (NeFrd)

110 Posted by: MostlyRight at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (OBiEU)

And when the rocket stoves burn/wear out, what happens then?

Posted by: maddogg at August 03, 2015 02:17 PM (xWW96)

111 That first sentence should have read something like "exposing the poor in Africa to best practices in things like..."

Posted by: MostlyRight at August 03, 2015 02:17 PM (OBiEU)

112 Posted by: alexthechick - Team Joker Money Pile Being Hit By SMOD at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (mf5HN)

Humorously if I read this right, they're going to spend money installing stuff that is of 0 actual help to the Africans.

They could have spend the money installing say, a vent fan in the houses (to get rid of the smoke.)
Instead they're using fans to collect and measure said smoke.
BRILLIANT!

Posted by: tsrblke (tsblet) at August 03, 2015 02:18 PM (U8W/7)

113 Greater energy efficiency in wood cookstoves is a wonderful thing for Africans, because so many live in places where firewood is desperately scarce.
---

I'm pretty sure a lot of people burn dung and other non-wood fuel.

Posted by: Y-not at August 03, 2015 02:18 PM (RWGcK)

114
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at August 03, 2015 02:13 PM (IN7k+)

Thanks - what happens is the blue screen of death comes up when I turn the computer on and it tells me to reboot and choose safe mode. I do that and choose safe and it looks like it is rebooting but it goes back to the blue screen then and the blue screen tells me to reboot....so there is this loop I can't get out of, which is why I think the sucker is basically dead. It was an old PC.

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 02:18 PM (u0lmX)

115 Prezzy Cnut said that 2014 was the warmest year on record for the planet. Why, it's like he's making shit up to further his agenda." Climate change presents a security threat." Unlike Iran getting nukes.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:18 PM (493sH)

116 'And I will put an end to "Endless Breadsticks" in our Time!'

Posted by: Barackhenaten I at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (cvI9D)

117 Carbon dioxide emissions don't even enter into the
benefits equation, but it so happens that reforestation in fact creates
carbon dioxide sinks. Posted by: stuiec at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM


But trees don't grow on trees, so to speak. Takes most of 'em a few years to be firewood-ready, and that's gonna delay the hell out of the photo-ops.

Better to give each African a couple bags of Kingsford and a box of matches.

Posted by: MrScribbler at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (8PotD)

118 Modern Progressive: "Hey, we white people benefitted from burning a lot of carbon to produce the Industrial Revolution and all the subsequent fabulous benefits which I enjoy today and which I use to traipse around the globe bossing quaint brown people around. But unfortunately, we don't want any of you quaint brown people to follow in our footsteps, so we're making a new rule: You primitives must live like cavemen forever, to help us whiteys absolve ourselves of our historical sins."

Quaint Brown Person: "Better throw a few more logs on the fire under our big pot of progressive stew; this one's still alive!"

Posted by: zombie at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (jBuUi)

119 Historically didn't we celebrate good hunters??



Yes. Bad hunters became vegatarians.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (SdfnP)

120 No changes, no guards, no difference. That is the native African mindset.

They are living as one with nature!

America should try it.

Posted by: Environmental Protection Agency at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (2lndx)

121 Stove-a-holics Anonymous Meeting


Stove: "My name is Steven..."


Group (in unison): "Hi Steven!"



Stove: "I have not had a wood pellet in two years, three months and 27 days."

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (NeFrd)

122 The CO2 from one flight by EPA officials overseeing this project implementation in Africa will exceed all emission savings by the 200 stoves.

But hey, Boondoggle!

Posted by: Leland at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (wDCpR)

123 If we increase the grant to 15 million, can we incorporate a warm water dick washer into the new stoves?

Let's help these people!

Posted by: jwest at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (P/xrJ)

124 Won't they create more carbon dioxide in they're little jaunt than these people will use in their lifetimes?

I'm sorry, I'll see myself out.

Posted by: crazywalt77 at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (AWols)

125 I'm offsetting the carbon by having the EPA force some poor Africans to cook their meals over sterno.
Posted by: Leonardo
-----------------

Sterno is for closers.

Posted by: A Hobo at August 03, 2015 02:20 PM (9mTYi)

126 This is probably an effort to funnel money to this company

http://tinyurl.com/qd56429

When in doubt follow the money.

Posted by: Kreplach at August 03, 2015 02:20 PM (JbETL)

127
Pizza ovens for the win!

Seriously though, my wife bought one of those little solar ovens for the burning times as part of our prep many years ago; it just sits in the box waiting. I thought what a waste of space and money, but now with Otyrant's goal to get us all without any energy, I'm thinking "man is my wife smart, I think I'll keep her".

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at August 03, 2015 02:20 PM (ODxAs)

128 Historically didn't we celebrate good hunters??


Yes. Bad hunters became vegatarians.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (SdfnP)


Or lunch

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:20 PM (493sH)

129 Posted by: Jean at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (ztOda)

Question affects experiment design, affects outcome.
The way they've phrased this question the outcome is likely to only help indoor pollution as a side effect.

Posted by: tsrblke (tsblet) at August 03, 2015 02:20 PM (U8W/7)

130 Here's the thing about a $1.5 million project -- that's just the amount the government spends to get ready to start thinking about doing something. Hell, your county government can't manage to accomplish anything worthwhile for a mil and a half. Forget it.

Notice the words used: ""For this study, we will leverage an existing stove intervention .... " "We expand that intervention study to assess stove use behaviors ... " So this is $1.5 million for some academics to think about thinking about an imagined problem.

Posted by: Brewdog at August 03, 2015 02:20 PM (ZgUuK)

131 If they wanted to do something useful in Africa they

would teach them to purify their water.


Tainted water is their culture, h8r.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 03, 2015 02:20 PM (oVJmc)

132 I spent a year in Africa in the 70's in an effort to get over Macho Grande.... In that time I taught Basketball to the Molombo Tribe. They caught on quickly

Posted by: Ted Striker at August 03, 2015 02:21 PM (fLKzW)

133 99 The real goal of this has nothing to do with carbon footprints. Someone at the U of Colorado knows someone who's daddy is in a position to give money away for EPA studies. And this someone wants to take a year long trip to Africa, all expenses paid.
Posted by: HUCK / AKIN 2016 at August 03, 2015 02:16 PM (0LHZx)



I sense this turning up in a future college application essay, perhaps from one of the PI's kids.


So why does Africa always need help doing basic things? We don't have programs to help Japan, or China, or Europe (although when I lived there I sometimes used to joke I was there as part of the Peace Corps), but Africa is always in the shit, no exceptions.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:21 PM (oKE6c)

134 ***"I like trying to educate leftists about what the IPCC means for them."***


Hell, they don't even know what the IPCC even is. They like to think it's some august body of noted scientists. Yet when you point out to them that (until recently) the Chair was a railroad engineer, they start spinning rapidly.


Or when meteorologists debunk CAGW claims, they're not climate scientists; but when the meteorologists in the IPCC support CAGW, they're like totes climate scientists.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at August 03, 2015 02:21 PM (xSCb6)

135 Prezzy is now talking about the need for clean energy. Like Solyndra

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:21 PM (493sH)

136 Another name needs to be thought of for Barack Obama rather than King Cnut. The real story of King Canute is quite different from the legend and deals with the humility of Cnut.

http://tinyurl.com/ppdjuf2

How about for Obama: King Nut?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 03, 2015 02:21 PM (OSs/l)

137 Don't you deniers realize there will be now more ice in the arctic by 2014!?!?

Posted by: Al Gore at August 03, 2015 02:21 PM (HstNY)

138 The only thing I've put in my body in the last five years is Scotch and tobacco smoke.

I feel great.

Posted by: John Boehner at August 03, 2015 02:21 PM (oFCZn)

139 Won't they create more carbon dioxide in they're little jaunt than these people will use in their lifetimes?
-----------------
Undoubtedly.
But not nearly so much as a Hawaiian vacation.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 03, 2015 02:22 PM (9mTYi)

140 Yes, we need a government grant to invent what you can buy at any camping store.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 03, 2015 02:22 PM (oVJmc)

141 Yes. Bad hunters became vegatarians.
Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:19 PM (SdfnP)

My BIL used to hunt before his health went. I bought him a T-shirt once that said "Vegetarian: Old Indian word for 'Bad Hunter.'

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 02:22 PM (u0lmX)

142 What's the correct setting to cook tree bark?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at August 03, 2015 02:22 PM (8ZskC)

143 Obozo said, get this, he said he doesn't do the easy jobs because somebody else has already done them. It's up to him to solve the problem of global warmening.

Thank goodness he's looking out for us.

Posted by: Hank at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (LpJen)

144 10 years ago (christ how was it ten years ago) when I was a senior in college I needed an elective so I chose "Energy Policy and Sustainability." I figured that, as a Petroleum Engineering major, knowing a thing or two about energy policy would be a good thing.

Unfortunately the class was heavy on the left wing "sustainability" bullshit.

Included in that category was the idea that a significant step we could take to battle global warming was to advocate for women's rights in Africa.

You see in Africa, they burn many inefficient fuels (wood, dung, etc) and it is the woman's job to go out and gather this fuel. Therefore, if we supported women's rights in Africa more women would be going to school or work and not able to gather the fuel. Then they would be forced to switch to more "sustainable" energy sources!

Posted by: the real ch3 at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (IG5KL)

145 Next Year:

Democrats: We propose increasing this study to $2M.

Evil Ted Cruz: Fuck that, you're only getting $1M

NY TIMES: Ted Cruz wants to cut 50% of a proposed budget that would help African villages eat better.

Posted by: HUCK / AKIN 2016 at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (0LHZx)

146 So to save the planet is Prezzy going to stop jetting around the country and using huge motorcades for fundraisers?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (493sH)

147 The fact that Congress hasn't disbanded the EPA is a crime that will go down in history. This shit has to stop.

Posted by: Iblis at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (9221z)

148 He estimated the average working life of his installations, once the helpful Western engineers had left and gone home, was about four months before they were ruined by thievery, incompetent operation, and lack of maintenance.

There's a group that used to do something similar in Central/South America. They found the same thing.

Then, they stopped giving the pumps/filters away and forced communities to pay for them (not full price, but enough that the community had to come together and everyone felt the pinch).

Suddenly, the maintenance/theft problem went away. Many of those communities now sell water to their neighbors, and quality of life has improved for all.

Weird how that works.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (kff5f)

149 Dont they use the same fire to heat their food for heat and light?

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (iQIUe)

150 I'm pretty sure a lot of people burn dung and other non-wood fuel.



Pro tip: Let the dung dry completely first.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (SdfnP)

151 Actually.... uh... no.... energy efficiency is a POOR Man's friend... because they have to PAY for that energy.



But that is exactly why this will do nothing.... this has been worked on for thousands of years...

Posted by: Ben Franklin, inventor of the Franklin stove at August 03, 2015 02:10 PM (qh617)


I'm all for energy efficiency, but to be able to enjoy energy efficient appliances, you have to be at a point beyond subsistence. At the subsistence level -- which I assume would encompass most of rural Africa - you're just dealing with survival, not the efficiency of your cook stove. If the stove suddenly STOPS being energy efficient - if it starts belching out more smoke than it should, or it builds up too much creosote - are these rural Africans going to spend the money to get it fixed? Or are they going to go on using it as they would their older cook stove? Or will they just go back to using the older cook stove instead, because they're more interested in actually cooking their food and eating than in making sure they're being environmentally friendly about it? The cost of being energy efficient has to be LESS than the cost of basic survival for it to succeed. Only then is it the poor man's friend. Otherwise it's just another barrier to survival.

All this grant is doing is providing free stoves to people. That's great and all, but that's all it is. The Africans are not going to change their habits unless there is a damn good incentive to do so, nor should they.


My question is, if you want to cut down on carbon footprints (which is BS, but whatever), why are you starting in RURAL Africa? Why wouldn't you START in the urban areas, then branch out to rural areas after the fact?

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit & Vaginassassin, aka Beth at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (4df7R)

152 My freezer is still full of bush meat. I need to eat faster. Shopping time will arrive in 4 months.

Posted by: maddogg at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (xWW96)

153 Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:17 PM (noWW6)


What about those old steel farm windmills that were used in the 19th century?

Posted by: Mikey NTH - Back-to-School Sale on Lunchboxes, Accusations at the Outrage Outlet! at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (hLRSq)

154 So, who is going to write a grant proposal on:

longbows vs crossbows?

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (iQIUe)

155 Isn't every wood burner carbon neutral by definition? What are they measuring?

Posted by: Jean at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (ztOda)

156 Historically didn't we celebrate good hunters??


Yes. Bad hunters became vegatarians.


****

Or so I gathered.

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (NeFrd)

157 We could make millions!

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (iQIUe)

158
Investigators: Hannigan, Michael P. University of Colorado at Boulder

Mike Hannigan
Associate Professor

Mike's other interests include spending time with friends and family while enjoying the natural beauty of the region, reading and discussing philosophical issues, coaching and playing soccer, maintaining his wife's mini-ranch, and hanging out with his son, Galileo.




Galileo? Seriously?

Odds on whether he named the kid after the astronomer or the Star Trek shuttle craft.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (kdS6q)

159 Next Up: A $50B program to fight obesity in the Third World.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (oVJmc)

160 125 I'm offsetting the carbon by having the EPA force some poor Africans to cook their meals over sterno.
Posted by: Leonardo
-----------------

Sterno is for closers.
Posted by: A Hobo at August 03, 2015 02:20 PM (9mTYi)

They going to eat all their meals buffet style?

Posted by: Cruzinator at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (vyAun)

161 "And I'm laughing at all coal producing loyal unionists who always vote Dem."

Because I'm a terrible person, I laughed and laughed and laughed at this L.A. Times article, which was meant to be a pity piece for the union goons at Boeing's Long Beach plant who have now all lost their cushy jobs, thanks to the defense cuts pushed by this union-backed administration.

http://tinyurl.com/p7wps54

Hey, ya dumb shits: as a certain left-wing messiah figure once said, ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (noWW6)

162 I'm pretty sure a lot of people burn dung and other non-wood fuel.




The shit coming out of Barry's mouth right now could fuel the planet for a decade

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (493sH)

163 So to save the planet is Prezzy going to stop jetting around the country and using huge motorcades for fundraisers?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM


Yup. Choom Boy's gonna follow the inspirational path of Al Bore.

Posted by: MrScribbler at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (8PotD)

164 Tainted water is their culture, h8r.

There was an old saying:

200 years of American history...men walking on the moon.

4000 years of African history...people peeing in the drinking water.

Posted by: VA GOP Sucks at August 03, 2015 02:25 PM (eytER)

165 Stoves? THEY NEED FRICKING U-HAULS!!!!

Posted by: Sam Kinison at August 03, 2015 02:25 PM (8ZskC)

166 Put me in the "Who gives a fuck about Africa" column.
Thank you.

Posted by: tu3031 at August 03, 2015 02:25 PM (YFFpo)

167 The EPA will need to address those cow farts while they are in Africa. There are a lot of cows in Africa.

Posted by: maddogg at August 03, 2015 02:25 PM (xWW96)

168 Here's how the "science" of AGW is going to work -- GOP wins White House and Congress, "scientists" are going to say "ZOMG! AGW is getting worser and worser!" Dem wins and "climate change" policies instituted, "scientists" say "Look! Gaia is pleased! AGW is getting better!"

Works the same way with homelessness -- It goes away during Dem administrations and starts right back up when a Republican wins.

Posted by: Brewdog at August 03, 2015 02:25 PM (ZgUuK)

169 Or so I gathered.
Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:24 PM (NeFrd)

Muldoon, you're just killing it lately.

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 02:25 PM (u0lmX)

170 Who are these white racists who have the nerve to decide what Africans should or should not do?

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at August 03, 2015 02:25 PM (oFCZn)

171 149 Dont they use the same fire to heat their food for heat and light?


Only if they have a solar or wind powered dick washer.

Posted by: jwest at August 03, 2015 02:25 PM (P/xrJ)

172 Pro tip: Let the dung dry completely first.
Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:23 PM (SdfnP)

I had a wet fart that burned after I ate too many chicken wings

Posted by: the real ch3 at August 03, 2015 02:25 PM (IG5KL)

173 Notice the words used: ""For this study, we will leverage an existing stove intervention .... " "We expand that intervention study to assess stove use behaviors ... "



Everyone gets a Viking stove!

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:26 PM (SdfnP)

174 I saw Galileo's finger.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:26 PM (iQIUe)

175 I thought this was a press conference that Barry was giving but the entire room claps at everything he's saying like a bunch of sycophantic seals. On second thought it probably is the press...

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:27 PM (493sH)

176 Here's how the "science" of AGW is going to work -- GOP wins White House and Congress, "scientists" are going to say "ZOMG! AGW is getting worser and worser!" Dem wins and "climate change" policies instituted, "scientists" say "Look! Gaia is pleased! AGW is getting better!"

_________

They will never admit earth is cooling. Same way they will never admit race relations are better or there are fewer poor people. These are all money making operations. You can never have an improvement in your cause. The day you do, is the day the money starts drying up.

See also drug war.

Posted by: HUCK / AKIN 2016 at August 03, 2015 02:27 PM (0LHZx)

177 If they wanted to do something useful in Africa they would teach them to purify their water.


The kid of a friend of mine - an electrical engineer - was in sub-Saharan African on a government program, helping the bruthas to ... dig a well.


Now on what planet does that make any sense whatsoever? Exactly what benefit would an EE be in a place with no electricity? Did the bruthas need help in figuring out where water might be found to dig their well? They've been living there since Adam first felt up Eve. How did they survive this long? Or did they need help with picks and shovels?


Turns out after the well was dug, they dragged goat skins full of water through the village, right through all the animal crap. Good thing they now had clean water.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:27 PM (oKE6c)

178 "I sense this turning up in a future college application essay, perhaps from one of the PI's kids."

I've noted before how wealthy families here in the SF Bay Area are going so far as to set up bogus "foundations" at which their kids can "volunteer" to get glossy extracurricular fodder for the kids' Ivy League college applications.

Environmental "foundations" focused on Third World countries are a big part of the mix, as you can well imagine.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:27 PM (noWW6)

179 If we get enough global warming couldn't we just throw our supper on a rock out in the sun and let it cook that way?

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:27 PM (NeFrd)

180 > 151 Actually.... uh... no.... energy efficiency is a POOR Man's friend... because they have to PAY for that energy.

Yes, that's fine in theory. But just go to the store and price the "energy efficient" appliances compared to the base models.

Posted by: Brewdog at August 03, 2015 02:27 PM (ZgUuK)

181
We all make fun of this stupid study as we should, but really at the end of the day this is just a payoff to liberal institutions. I have a hard time believing anyone expects after the study anything positive will come from it. The study will just collect dust on someone's hard drive or shelf.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at August 03, 2015 02:28 PM (ODxAs)

182 "Clean energy will create new jobs." Again, like Solyndra?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:28 PM (493sH)

183 Hey, does anyone remember the water pumps that some company installed in Africa? They were designed to look like merry go rounds, so the kids would go play on them and pump clean water to the village in the process.

I believe they tended to last about three months before they started to break down, and that's assuming that there were enough kids and other idle people willing to play on a merry go round for hours a day to pump the water in the first place. Repairs were expensive, mostly because this equipment was way out in the bush where spare parts and technical skill had to be transported. So the expensive equipment just sits there, broken down and rusting.

These outfits don't help at all. They screw things up even worse than they were before they got involved.

Posted by: VA GOP Sucks at August 03, 2015 02:28 PM (eytER)

184 I'm pretty sure a lot of people burn dung and other non-wood fuel.

In Tibet yak dung is used for cooking and heating. The Tibetans put it in huge neat stacks in front of their houses and on their roofs as a symbol of status. You can have a literal wall of shit in front of your houses and your neighbors will envy you for it.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at August 03, 2015 02:29 PM (8ZskC)

185 Another question: Would the EPA consider cooking hamburger a la foil on the engine block of my SUV to be energy efficient?

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:29 PM (NeFrd)

186 They going to eat all their meals buffet style?



The lions do.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:29 PM (SdfnP)

187 There was an old saying:
200 years of American history...men walking on the moon.
4000 years of African history...people peeing in the drinking water.
Posted by: VA GOP Sucks at August 03, 2015 02:25 PM (eytER)




Pro tip: live upstream of everybody else.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:29 PM (oKE6c)

188 People have been living and dying in Africa for eons yet these condescending pricks want to tell them how to cook, what to eat, who to eat, etc. Why do white liberals treat all of Africa like one big hamster cage for them to implement their ideas of how people are supposed to live. Now who's the racist? How about trying to leave these people the hell alone already.

Posted by: Cecil Rhodes at August 03, 2015 02:29 PM (D0NZx)

189 Everyone gets a Viking stove!

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:26 PM (SdfnP)


there are some fairly inexpensive survivalist wood burning stoves out there that are far more efficient than throwing logs in a clay dome. And they're pretty easy to use and clean (being mostly stamped metal that helps maximize air flow in the right patterns.)

And those would be useful in low fuel areas.
But this isn't the study you'd design to see if those work to help make life less brutal for Africans.

Posted by: tsrblke (tsblet) at August 03, 2015 02:29 PM (U8W/7)

190 Hell, they don't even know what the IPCC even is. They like to think it's some august body of noted scientists. Yet when you point out to them that (until recently) the Chair was a railroad engineer, they start spinning rapidly.
--------------------

I enjoy references to The National Academy of Sciences. When I ask how members of the NAS are 'climatologists', or even list 'climatology' as their first interest, I get an empty stare.

The answer, "Zero".

While they are digesting that, I then ask how many members mention climate at all as one of their interests. Blank stare. I then ask how many members there are. Blank stare.

The answer is that out of 2200 members,only three even mention 'climatology', and it is third or fourth down their list.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 03, 2015 02:30 PM (9mTYi)

191 A well-designed stove - and there are several that are very cheap to mass-manufacture - will mean not just less pollution for Mother Gaia, but less pollution for real people. It will also mean people spend less time gathering the fuel they need to cook the food they need to survive.

Posted by: MikeJ at August 03, 2015 02:05 PM (Us4M2)


But it should not be the role of a foreign (i.e. American) government to distribute these stoves in the Sahel. Ideally, this should be done by a true charity, and it should be done with the actual needs of the people in mind. Many, if not most of these people are nomads. So the stoves have to be very portable, or they will simply be left behind. Because, nomads.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 03, 2015 02:30 PM (vHvSw)

192 In fairness, I remember the discussion about less fuel usage meaning less time spent scavenging scarce material for stove fuel.

So in that respect, there is some merit to the effort.

Sort of a shame though that Africa has so much continuous cloud cover. If the solar rays were stronger, or less interrupted, a solar furnace type cooking method might make sense.

Ah well.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 03, 2015 02:30 PM (VPLuQ)

193 Another question: Would the EPA consider cooking hamburger a la foil on the engine block of my SUV to be energy efficient?

Is it a hybrid SUV?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at August 03, 2015 02:30 PM (8ZskC)

194 Anyone care to hazard a guess how many of these wood burners have a cell phone?,Africa has embraced new technology when cheap. But the Libs don't want them to have the choice of cheap power, you know, for the children.

Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at August 03, 2015 02:31 PM (Ii765)

195 Missus Muldoon reading news article: "In Tibet they eat mountain goats and yak."



Muldoon: "Well, you'd yak too if you had to eat mountain goat!"

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:31 PM (NeFrd)

196 I have a hard time believing anyone expects after the study anything
positive will come from it. The study will just collect dust on
someone's hard drive or shelf.


This money could go to the Fat Lesbians Crisis.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 03, 2015 02:31 PM (oVJmc)

197 New York is jealous that the EPA is getting more stupid than New Jack, so they have upped the ante.

http://goo.gl/LQ5p8L

Posted by: maddogg at August 03, 2015 02:31 PM (xWW96)

198 "What about those old steel farm windmills that were used in the 19th century?"

I was out in western Marin County last year and noticed someone there has an (apparently working) Aermotor rig on their remote farm property. Creaky and rusty, but appears to run.

I'd love to know how old the thing is. It may soon be a centenarian, if it isn't already one.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:31 PM (noWW6)

199 They can more efficiently prepare a Cecil burger! So not all bad.

Posted by: Fligdorp at August 03, 2015 02:32 PM (2wdhD)

200 I wonder if Africans eat elephant, giraffe, gazelle of lions?

And if so, where do they get them from?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 03, 2015 02:32 PM (VPLuQ)

201 of=or

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 03, 2015 02:33 PM (VPLuQ)

202 Another question: Would the EPA consider cooking hamburger a la foil on the engine block of my SUV to be energy efficient?
Posted by: Muldoon
-----------------------

Manifoldy.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 03, 2015 02:33 PM (9mTYi)

203 "Hell, they don't even know what the IPCC even is. They like to think it's some august body of noted scientists. Yet when you point out to them that (until recently) the Chair was a railroad engineer, they start spinning rapidly."

A railroad engineer sacked for sexually harassing female subordinates.

I'm sure we can all agree that scientific work product thus tainted by exploitative heteronormative patriarchy is entirely unfit for purpose and should be removed from all university libraries at once.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:33 PM (noWW6)

204 @Donna V.

If you get the bsod then the drive isn't dead. It might still be damaged in some way, but it has life. Grump928's link at 108 looks like a better idea for your situation, unless you want to be able to have the drive available on a regular basis as a backup. If you think you might use the drive on multiple occasions, then something like this might be better:
http://tinyurl.com/q9to234

That is for the older IDE type drives. If your old drive is a sata, then you would need an enclosure for that type.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at August 03, 2015 02:33 PM (IN7k+)

205 The leftists' favorite African is the guy in Malawi who found a kid's book about windmills in the pile of books donated to his village, and based on a design in the book, built a small windmill to make about 100 watts of electricity when the wind is blowing to power his village's only lightbulb and television.

He is praised to the skies, is on the TED Talk circuit, has documentaries about him, was nominated for various Nobel Prizes (seriously), etc. etc. etc.

When none of these "Soft racism of low expectations" white progressives ever ask themselves is why oh why no one in that village (or any other village on the entire continent) for the last 6,000 years ever figured out how to build a windmill before.

And even after this "breakthrough" in technology about 8 years ago, 99.999% of the other villages still haven't build their own windmills.

The only village windmills in Africa (aside from the original one the guy built) have been built by white do-gooder volunteers.

Posted by: zombie at August 03, 2015 02:33 PM (jBuUi)

206
"110 Posted by: MostlyRight at August 03, 2015 02:15 PM (OBiEU)

And when the rocket stove burns/wears out?"

They don't...Google them. A rocket stove is simply a metal stove designed with a chimney and combustion chamber maximizing heat transfer with minimal fuel. We brought three and it changed the orphanage in a week. This in turn exposed the entire town around the orphanage to the rocket stove concept and now years later the entire town uses them instead of sending women out for wood all day each day. This freed up labor and they now mostly spend their time working in agriculture, making money.

Posted by: MostlyRight at August 03, 2015 02:33 PM (OBiEU)

207 Crap. 'Manifoldly'

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 03, 2015 02:33 PM (9mTYi)

208 gazelle of lions

I saw Gazelle of Lions open for The Gorillas, Dallas 2013...

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 02:33 PM (kff5f)

209 They could burn lions.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 03, 2015 02:34 PM (oVJmc)

210 Posted by: MikeJ at August 03, 2015 02:05 PM (Us4M2)

The effect on Mother Gaia and the African people wouldn't amount to a pimple on a gnat's ass.

Posted by: Cruzinator at August 03, 2015 02:34 PM (vyAun)

211 Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 03, 2015 02:30 PM (9mTYi)

There are only 2200 members of the NAS? I never bothered to look.
OK, suddenly see why it was so envious to work in a lab where the PI is a member. (Also makes it easier to get PNAS papers accepted.)

Posted by: tsrblke (tsblet) at August 03, 2015 02:34 PM (U8W/7)

212 Stupid uneducated Africans need our enlightened help to reduce their carbon footprint before they kill us all!

My stove and my car have a zero carbon footprint, they use no fossil fuels whatsoever.

They're electric!

Posted by: Progressive at August 03, 2015 02:34 PM (1Rgee)

213 "there are some fairly inexpensive survivalist wood burning stoves out there that are far more efficient than throwing logs in a clay dome. And they're pretty easy to use and clean (being mostly stamped metal that helps maximize air flow in the right patterns.)"

Rocket stoves FTW.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:34 PM (noWW6)

214 Barry needs to be more arrogant, smug, and condescending.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 02:34 PM (493sH)

215 Another question: Would the EPA consider cooking hamburger a la foil on the engine block of my SUV to be energy efficient?

Is it a hybrid SUV?


Tried cooking a steak on the engine of a Tesla, but with all that voltage, the damn thing got up and walked off!
-Dr. Frank N. Stein

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:35 PM (SdfnP)

216 I'm glad the new piss walls are working in San Francisco. Every city should have piss walls, it's so hard to find a men's room when you need it.
They use a special paint on the walls.

Europe has piss walls but they are inside, with water running down them or in a trench.

Posted by: Colin at August 03, 2015 02:35 PM (tlI5H)

217 195 Missus Muldoon reading news article: "In Tibet they eat mountain goats and yak."

Muldoon: "Well, you'd yak too if you had to eat mountain goat!"
Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:31 PM (NeFrd)
==================
I think that is where they have some ceremony every few years where they massacre the shit out of goats. It's very repulsive. Someone here I think saw it while over there and the DM, of course, had photos. Show that to Mrs. Maldoon-ado and she will come running into your arms.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:35 PM (iQIUe)

218 Ya know what we need to do? We need to feed all these leftists crazies to Cecil's kin - the lions. Kind of a turnaround on what the pagans did to the Christians. Only in this case it would be to the benefit of all mankind.

Posted by: LGoPs at August 03, 2015 02:35 PM (FJr2+)

219 How many cooking hearth-hours would it take to create the CO2 emissions of one B747 flying round trip from Washington DC to Kenya?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at August 03, 2015 02:36 PM (8ZskC)

220 Posted by: LGoPs at August 03, 2015 02:35 PM (FJr2+)

What did those lions ever do to you?

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 02:36 PM (kff5f)

221 Turning off a 60W bulb for 8 hours saves enough energy to power a 60W bulb for 8 hours.

Posted by: Energy Tips at August 03, 2015 02:36 PM (Ui7Rt)

222 "My stove and my car have a zero carbon footprint, they use no fossil fuels whatsoever.

They're electric! "

PFFTT!!

We don't need petroleum....we ride the bus!

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 03, 2015 02:37 PM (VPLuQ)

223 The answer is that out of 2200 members,only three even mention 'climatology', and it is third or fourth down their list.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 03, 2015 02:30 PM (9mTYi)




And those are probably recent additions, in a calculated effort devoted to self-aggrandizement. Never underestimate the political antennae of those in the NAS.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:37 PM (oKE6c)

224 This in turn exposed the entire town around the orphanage to the rocket stove concept and now years later the entire town uses them instead of sending women out for wood all day each day.

This freed up labor and they now mostly spend their time


sitting in a bass boat drinking beer.....

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:37 PM (SdfnP)

225 Why not ship the African chirrun' some KABOOM!?

Posted by: Weasel at August 03, 2015 02:37 PM (ijjnr)

226 When none of these "Soft racism of low expectations" white progressives
ever ask themselves is why oh why no one in that village (or any other
village on the entire continent) for the last 6,000 years ever figured
out how to build a windmill before.


They don't call it the Dark Continent for lack of sunshine. And no I am not referring to pigmentation.

Posted by: LGoPs at August 03, 2015 02:37 PM (FJr2+)

227 They will never admit earth is cooling. Same way they will never admit race relations are better or there are fewer poor people. These are all money making operations. You can never have an improvement in your cause. The day you do, is the day the money starts drying up.

See also drug war.
Posted by: HUCK / AKIN 2016 at August 03, 2015 02:27 PM (0LHZx)


^^^^!

Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Staring at the Lake in the rain at August 03, 2015 02:38 PM (DzWtF)

228 Solar ovens...I heard Sears is having a sale.

Posted by: Hank at August 03, 2015 02:38 PM (LpJen)

229 Don't these people regularly beat albinos to death because of some witchcraft/voodoo hokum? Yeah, it's the CO2 that's complicating their lives.

Posted by: Fritz at August 03, 2015 02:38 PM (UzPAd)

230 I posted this up thread but it doesn't seem to have gotten any looks

This is probably an effort to funnel money to this company or companies like it.

http://tinyurl.com/qd56429

When in doubt follow the money.

Posted by: Kreplach at August 03, 2015 02:38 PM (JbETL)

231 225 Why not ship the African chirrun' some KABOOM!?
Posted by: Weasel at August 03, 2015 02:37 PM (ijjnr)

If any food is GMO it would have to be Kaboom.

Posted by: Cruzinator at August 03, 2015 02:38 PM (vyAun)

232 "Turning off a 60W bulb for 8 hours saves enough energy to power a 60W bulb for 8 hours."

Wait... go slower.


*Scribbles furiously*


(Carry the 5)





Dude!

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 03, 2015 02:39 PM (VPLuQ)

233 Maybe the EPA can help teach the Africans how to stop shitting in their sparse drinking water, while they're at it.

Posted by: Roy at August 03, 2015 02:39 PM (VndSC)

234 I wonder if Africans eat elephant, giraffe, gazelle of lions?

And if so, where do they get them from?



Costco.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:39 PM (SdfnP)

235 Ya know what we need to do? We need to feed all these leftists crazies to Cecil's kin - the lions. Kind of a turnaround on what the pagans did to the Christians.

Posted by: LGoPs at August 03, 2015 02:35 PM (FJr2+)



No, no, don't feed them to the lions: convince them that they need to hug it out with the lions to show their compassion, just like the famous tree-hugger video.


That way we achieve the same result, but on their dime.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:39 PM (oKE6c)

236 I seem to remember a super-efficient wood fire technique that involved digging two connected holes in the ground, one as a in-draft and the other as a chimney.

There.

Problem solved. Where's my check?

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 03, 2015 02:40 PM (oVJmc)

237 "Why not ship the African chirrun' some KABOOM!?"

KABOOM tastes terrible with Gazelle milk.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 03, 2015 02:40 PM (VPLuQ)

238 229 Don't these people regularly beat albinos to death because of some witchcraft/voodoo hokum? Yeah, it's the CO2 that's complicating their lives.
Posted by: Fritz at August 03, 2015 02:38 PM (UzPAd)

==========
Also rape infants as a cure for aids.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:40 PM (iQIUe)

239 What did those lions ever do to you?

I used to love lions, up until Ted Kennedy was named the Lion of the Senate. That kind of ruined it for me for the whole species.


Posted by: LGoPs at August 03, 2015 02:40 PM (FJr2+)

240 Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:39 PM (oKE6c)

We could make it a competition for the one who shows the most compassion to a vicious apex predator.

We could call it "The Treadwell Prize."

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 02:40 PM (kff5f)

241 Mike's other interests include...
and hanging out with his son, Galileo.


****


"Yeah, we took our son to Italy and I dropped him off at the Leaning Tower of Pisa."

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:40 PM (NeFrd)

242 Don't these people regularly beat albinos to death because of some witchcraft/voodoo hokum?

Albinos are our main source of fuel now that Obama taught us to stop using teh gheys.

Posted by: Kenya Kenyatta De Kenya III, King of Kenya at August 03, 2015 02:41 PM (8ZskC)

243 Remember grizzly man? I can only hope we will see a lion man in the near future.

Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at August 03, 2015 02:41 PM (Ii765)

244 I'm in favor of sending many thousands of SJWs into deepest Africa (and then burning the boats that got them there).

Posted by: Ben H at August 03, 2015 02:41 PM (gJEsZ)

245 "I'm glad the new piss walls are working in San Francisco."

One of my treasured SF memories is of escorting a newly arrived wide-eyed Midwestern visitor who was treated to the sight of a bag lady hoisting her skirt, squatting, and dropping a steaming deuce right in the middle of the sidewalk.

Lovely place.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:41 PM (noWW6)

246 Don't these people regularly beat albinos to death because of some witchcraft/voodoo hokum?


*****


Do you have any idea how much Planned Parenthood could get for an intact 16-week albino liver?

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:42 PM (NeFrd)

247 I left my piss in San Francisco.

Posted by: Tony B at August 03, 2015 02:42 PM (VcOqI)

248 built a small windmill to make about 100 watts of electricity when the wind is blowing to power his village's only lightbulb and television.



Expecting the EPA to ban that 100W bulb in 3, 2, .....

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:42 PM (SdfnP)

249 "I'm in favor of sending many thousands of SJWs into deepest Africa"

The late Amy Biehl could not be reached for comment.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:42 PM (noWW6)

250 One of my treasured SF memories is of escorting a newly arrived wide-eyed Midwestern visitor who was treated to the sight of a bag lady hoisting her skirt, squatting, and dropping a steaming deuce right in the middle of the sidewalk.
------------------------------

That's either a Pelosi voter, or the old hag herself.

Posted by: Roy at August 03, 2015 02:42 PM (VndSC)

251 who know I'm sure some govt crony is getting the contract for stoves.
GE, we bring good things to you. (africa) for a price.
maybe

Posted by: willow at August 03, 2015 02:42 PM (nqBYe)

252 When none of these "Soft racism of low expectations" white progressives ever ask themselves is why oh why no one in that village (or any other village on the entire continent) for the last 6,000 years ever figured out how to build a windmill before.

Posted by: zombie at August 03, 2015 02:33 PM (jBuUi)




I think the rest of them are still working on inventing writing.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:42 PM (oKE6c)

253 Singing 'It's Electric! Boogie Woogie Woogie!' may not make your hybrid run more efficiently in a scientific sense, but it will bring more joy to your commute.

Posted by: Energy Tips at August 03, 2015 02:43 PM (Ui7Rt)

254 Where is it they bury fertilized chicken eggs in the hot sand to cook them?

Is that Africa or the Philippines?

Posted by: Hank at August 03, 2015 02:43 PM (LpJen)

255 I repeat myself but it's one of my top pet peeves for starving African nations. Eat the damn cost free GMO products!!!!

Posted by: Cruzinator at August 03, 2015 02:43 PM (vyAun)

256 One of my treasured SF memories is of escorting a newly arrived wide-eyed Midwestern visitor who was treated to the sight of a bag lady hoisting her skirt, squatting, and dropping a steaming deuce right in the middle of the sidewalk.


I love visual metaphors.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:43 PM (oKE6c)

257 Turning off a 60W bulb for 8 hours saves enough energy to power a 60W bulb for 8 hours.
Posted by: Energy Tips
------------------

When folks crow about LED bulbs, I always ask "How I am going to heat my house during the winter"? The answer is, "Well..., with electricity". "Right", sez I, "I use 75W heaters distributed around the house, much more efficient that a furnace". Blank stares.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 03, 2015 02:43 PM (9mTYi)

258 shmart eneergy brought to you by GE, for those precious govt regulating croniespay to play schemes.

Posted by: willow at August 03, 2015 02:43 PM (nqBYe)

259 When none of these "Soft racism of low expectations" white progressives ever ask themselves is why oh why no one in that village (or any other village on the entire continent) for the last 6,000 years ever figured out how to build a windmill before.

Posted by: zombie at August 03, 2015 02:33 PM (jBuUi)
--------------------------------

Once they got to the machete invention, they spent the next several millenia hacking each others' tribes up, and never got around to that.

Posted by: Roy at August 03, 2015 02:44 PM (VndSC)

260 Posted by: Grump928(c) at August 03, 2015 02:17 PM (evdj2)

Thank you, grump and anon y. mous. Much appreciated.

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 02:44 PM (u0lmX)

261 "Expecting the EPA to ban that 100W bulb in 3, 2, ....."

Send them a case of CREE 60 watt equivalent, and a small flat panel TV.

Figure 9 watts for the light, and 25 watts for the TV.
Not bad at all.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 03, 2015 02:45 PM (VPLuQ)

262 BTW with regards to Obama's energy policy, if I ever hear one Democrat complain about rising energy costs I will be in serious danger of going to jail. Because of what I might do.

Posted by: LGoPs at August 03, 2015 02:45 PM (FJr2+)

263 When you read this stuff, you begin to appreciate those islanders who throw spears at invaders.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 03, 2015 02:45 PM (9mTYi)

264 Posted by: LGoPs at August 03, 2015 02:45 PM (FJr2+)

HE'S SAYING HE MIGHT BEAT THEM UP.

Posted by: Ben Rothlisberger at August 03, 2015 02:46 PM (kff5f)

265 Deep Thought: Easy Bake Ovens would not be allowed even if electricity were available since it uses high heat incandescent bulbs.

Posted by: Cruzinator at August 03, 2015 02:46 PM (vyAun)

266
Since many of these people live by govt grant money, they know they have to come up with a study that gets the libs to fund it, AGW is currently the tippytop way to do that.

Related slightly is I love that the abortion video people came up with the name Center for Medical Progress because libs are so into that progress word.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at August 03, 2015 02:46 PM (ODxAs)

267 I see another Eli Roth movie in the making, eh?

These researchers need to be lost in the African veldts and left to the care of those energy-inefficient, near-starving locals.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 03, 2015 02:46 PM (NOIQH)

268 Which reminds me... the time until new Pro Football Mocks can be easily counted in weeks now.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 02:47 PM (kff5f)

269 Improving cooking efficiency is a good thing.

Not so much for combating the global warmening. Which is utter horseshit.

We ALREADYTgive them bags of rice, flour beans, and tins of oil, but no way to make those into edibles without cooking.

So if such technologies can reduce wood usage and therefore over-foraging, there is a better chance to slow or reduce things like deforestation, soil erosion, and lack of water retention that follow.



Posted by: ThomasD at August 03, 2015 02:47 PM (R6o00)

270 "collection and display of Luxurious Concerns"

Perfectly captures the left of today. Fashionable outrage.


Since we are over 100, stop smoking snack ideas? I'd like to avoid ending up looking like Lena Dunham's FUPA, AND stay out of prison for ripping people's heads off.

Posted by: rebel flounder at August 03, 2015 02:47 PM (Vf5rR)

271 I love these kind of grants and always wonder who gets them and why. Does Alice tell Jen to help out as a volunteer with the OFA climate initiative for a year and then she is awarded a grant to continue her good work destroying the World?
There was a link to Hillary!'s emails over the weekend that highlighted a PP friend of Hilla the Hun's going to Africa to "help them" change their politics and culture to make them more welcome to PP clinics. Working on an 18 million dollar grant which is just laundered tax money since it is illegal to give them money directly to do what they are doing.
Wonder how many grants go to conservative NGOs?

Posted by: Hopped Up On Something at August 03, 2015 02:47 PM (NHtMs)

272 231 225 Why not ship the African chirrun' some KABOOM!?
Posted by: Weasel at August 03, 2015 02:37 PM (ijjnr)

Why do you hate the African children?

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 02:48 PM (u0lmX)

273 Maybe we could send all those "Solar City" guys from the malls, and work with the locals.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 03, 2015 02:48 PM (VPLuQ)

274 Maybe we could send all those "Solar City" guys from the malls, and work with the locals.

Green Mountain Energy with their "100% Renewables" plan.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 02:49 PM (kff5f)

275 Since we are over 100, stop smoking snack ideas? I'd like to avoid ending up looking like Lena Dunham's FUPA, AND stay out of prison for ripping people's heads off.



In shell sunflower seeds.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:50 PM (SdfnP)

276 Individual ventilation is reducing Baltimore's carbon footprint.

Posted by: Shallow HAL 9000 at August 03, 2015 02:50 PM (VcOqI)

277 You left out the most important part: find ways to spend taxpayers' money on stupid shit. If they weren't doing this, they'd be doing a study on why sub-Saharan lesbians are fat.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 03, 2015 02:51 PM (Lqy/e)

278 Since we are over 100, stop smoking snack ideas?


****

Hard cinnamon candies. Few calories, last quite a while, keep your mouth occupied. I used Jolly Ranchers when I stopped dipping snuff.

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:51 PM (NeFrd)

279 Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 03, 2015 02:43 PM (9mTYi)


You joke, but one of the fallouts of the HE furnaces is that basments don't get that residual heat anymore.
Meaning people have had to shunt a bit of heat away from the rest of their house to prevent pipe problems.

Posted by: tsrblke (tsblet) at August 03, 2015 02:51 PM (U8W/7)

280 Ovens to Africa


This to mi casa


http://tinyurl.com/nr8x3lf

Posted by: RWC - Team BOHICA at August 03, 2015 02:51 PM (fWAjv)

281 Alice from 'The Brady Bunch' always had dinner cooked when the commercial break was over.


Strive to be efficient like Alice.

Posted by: Energy Tips at August 03, 2015 02:52 PM (Ui7Rt)

282 Posted by: ThomasD at August 03, 2015 02:47 PM <<<<<<

Yes. Except its not about helping Africans, its about collecting grant money.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at August 03, 2015 02:53 PM (ODxAs)

283 Since we are over 100, stop smoking snack ideas?
------------------------------
If you're rich, pistachios. If not, carrot sticks.

Posted by: Chi at August 03, 2015 02:53 PM (2Zu6X)

284 Thanks guys. Day two, no copenhagen. I REALLY want to rip some heads off.

Posted by: rebel flounder at August 03, 2015 02:53 PM (Vf5rR)

285 Alice from 'The Brady Bunch' always had dinner cooked when the commercial break was over.

Strive to be efficient like Alice.



Hazel taught Alice.
Please to be getting off of my lawn.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:54 PM (SdfnP)

286 Hey, Do-Gooder Liberal, what do you feed your clamoring African village? Try new Afrikibble, the crunchy fun treat from Ralston-Purina! Each fifty-pound bag is chock full of the nutrients your third-worlders need for their busy day of letting you tell them what to do!

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 03, 2015 02:55 PM (oVJmc)

287
The new Michael Brown plushie memorial has been vandalized -- twice! by black men. LOL

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 03, 2015 02:55 PM (iQIUe)

288 I can't wait until Obongo decides we need to help Africa initiate a space program.


I hereby nominate him to be the first Africanaut.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:55 PM (oKE6c)

289 Hazel or Mary Ann- discuss.

Posted by: Muldoon at August 03, 2015 02:55 PM (NeFrd)

290 About ten years ago I was briefly friends with a woman who was kind at loose ends in her life and got the notion to join a bunch of progressive volunteer groups to "go out and meet people and save the world in the process!"

Much to her delight, she was chosen by one of the groups to be one of a small contingent of volunteers to be sent on a project to Ghana, where she would go out to villages and instruct them on how to dig and install water plumbing systems.

She came back early, after only three weeks, of what was supposed to be a four-month mission.

She was in tears, traumatized.

On her first visit to a village out in the bush, she was accused of being a witch and was literally chased out of town by a stone-throwing mob!

Completely freaked out, she fled and retreated to a hotel room in the capital city, and would not go out on any other attempted educational missions to villages.

The final straw came when one of the staff members of the hotel tried to rape her.

She packed and went straight to the airport and came back to the USA.

Her belief system was shattered. She was in an emotional fetal position.

Because I am a awful, awful person, I somehow derived schadenfreude-esque satisfaction from her meltdown.

Posted by: zombie at August 03, 2015 02:55 PM (jBuUi)

291 Since we are over 100, stop smoking snack ideas? I'd like to avoid ending up looking like Lena Dunham's FUPA, AND stay out of prison for ripping people's heads off.
Posted by: rebel flounder at August 03, 2015 02:47 PM (Vf5rR)

I know people who were helped by puffing on cinnamon sticks. The sticks tasted good, no calories were consumed and they had a cig substitute for the hand-mouth thing.

It didn't work for me as I found myself crunching down on the sticks and they splintered in my mouth, but most people don't feel the need to bite everything that goes into their mouths (OK - not EVERYTHING, Morons.) I have the same problem with hard candy which is why I avoid it. I can't just let it dissolve in my mouth, I bite it and have lost fillings doing so.

Sugarfree popsicles might be helpful as well.

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 02:56 PM (u0lmX)

292 Are there still cannibals? Sometimes it's okay to cheer for the cannibals, right? If the cannibals ate the EPA reps, we'd all come out ah.. err. . ahead.

Go, cannibals!

I blush, I am ashamed but still - go, cannibals!

Posted by: Persnickety at August 03, 2015 02:57 PM (SZa8B)

293 Because I am a awful, awful person, I somehow derived schadenfreude-esque satisfaction from her meltdown.
Posted by: zombie



So, no drum circle?

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 02:58 PM (SdfnP)

294 Posted by: zombie at August 03, 2015 02:55 PM (jBuUi)

Progressive Meets Real World, Chapter 491,091,749.....

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 02:58 PM (u0lmX)

295
Good job rebel, keep it up, I did it cold turkey. It gets better after a week, then you get hit with a huge craving in two months, !resist you much!, then after 6 months you don't even think about it anymore.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at August 03, 2015 02:58 PM (ODxAs)

296 Because I am a awful, awful person, I somehow derived schadenfreude-esque satisfaction from her meltdown.
Posted by: zombie at August 03, 2015 02:55 PM (jBuUi)

You are an awful, awful person indeed. Then again, so am I. It's a hell of a way to get a wake-up call, though. Yes, Virginia, some civilizations and cultures are better than others.

Posted by: Insomniac at August 03, 2015 02:58 PM (2Ojst)

297 I was out in western Marin County last year and noticed someone there has an (apparently working) Aermotor rig on their remote farm property. Creaky and rusty, but appears to run.

I'd love to know how old the thing is. It may soon be a centenarian, if it isn't already one.

Posted by: torquewrench at August 03, 2015 02:31 PM (noWW6)


Aermotor is still in business. You can buy one brand new:


http://aermotorwindmill.com/

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 03, 2015 02:58 PM (vHvSw)

298 Remember that whole "#ICantBreathe thing going around, same time as #HandUpDontShoot?


Turns out that according to Barky, it wasn't the police after all.

It was Global Warming.

http://www.weaselzippers.us/?p=230729

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 03, 2015 02:59 PM (VPLuQ)

299 The new Michael Brown plushie memorial has been vandalized -- twice! by black men. LOL
Posted by: Bruce
-------------

Thank heavens I didn't make it to Ferguson.

Posted by: HitchBot at August 03, 2015 02:59 PM (9mTYi)

300 She came back early, after only three weeks, of what was supposed to be a four-month mission.
She was in tears, traumatized.
On her first visit to a village out in the bush, she was accused of being a witch and was literally chased out of town by a stone-throwing mob!
Completely freaked out, she fled and retreated to a hotel room in the capital city, and would not go out on any other attempted educational missions to villages.
The final straw came when one of the staff members of the hotel tried to rape her.

She packed and went straight to the airport and came back to the USA.

Her belief system was shattered. She was in an emotional fetal position.

Because I am a awful, awful person, I somehow derived schadenfreude-esque satisfaction from her meltdown.

Posted by: zombie at August 03, 2015 02:55 PM (jBuUi)



I blame Bush.


And I bet she does, too.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 02:59 PM (oKE6c)

301 292 Are there still cannibals? Sometimes it's okay to cheer for the cannibals, right? If the cannibals ate the EPA reps, we'd all come out ah.. err. . ahead.

Go, cannibals!

I blush, I am ashamed but still - go, cannibals!
Posted by: Persnickety at August 03, 2015 02:57 PM (SZa8B)

I'm eagerly awaiting Eli Roth's next flick in which spoiled progressive twenty-somethings get tortured and eaten by South American cannibals.

Posted by: Insomniac at August 03, 2015 02:59 PM (2Ojst)

302 A better and more efficient use of grant funds would be to show them how to build simple solar cookers with a used tire covered by a piece of glass. Put the food and water in a cast-iron pot in the center, put on the lid and top with the glass, leave in the hot sun for the day, and it's ready to eat by sundown. Even works with plexiglass if you can weigh down the edges. Simple technology for a simple lifestyle.

Posted by: spudmom at August 03, 2015 03:00 PM (PQ8bP)

303 Turns out that according to Barky, it wasn't the police after all.
---------------

A recent letter to the editor here, claims that the 'pollutant' CO2 is causing asthma.

Posted by: HitchBot at August 03, 2015 03:00 PM (9mTYi)

304 Yes, Virginia, some civilizations and cultures are better than others.

Posted by: Insomniac at August 03, 2015 02:58 PM (2Ojst)




Of course. It's just that all of them are better than ours, which is the worst, by acclamation.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 03:00 PM (oKE6c)

305 269 Improving cooking efficiency is a good thing.

Not so much for combating the global warmening. Which is utter horseshit.

We ALREADYTgive them bags of rice, flour beans, and tins of oil, but no way to make those into edibles without cooking.


Cooking efficiency is good in general ... but maybe not so much when paired with "free food" and all the social ills created by Western "charity".

Posted by: ConservativeMonster at August 03, 2015 03:01 PM (0NdlF)

306 after 6 months you don't even think about it anymore.

That's the hard part. Thinking about it. Constantly.

Posted by: rebel flounder at August 03, 2015 03:01 PM (Vf5rR)

307 BTW, if you go with sugar-free (sorbitol) hard candy, be VERY, VERY careful or you will spend hours in the bathroom. It's got to be the most effective laxative out there.

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 03:01 PM (u0lmX)

308 Who among us hasn't used a hobo stove? If Africans can't come up with this concept, they have a problem, and it's not lack of fuel.

Posted by: Grump928(c) at August 03, 2015 03:01 PM (evdj2)

309 Even works with plexiglass if you can weigh down the edges. Simple technology for a simple lifestyle.
Posted by: spudmom
--------------------

Hey, whitebread, I need those tires.

Posted by: Willie Mandela at August 03, 2015 03:02 PM (9mTYi)

310 292 Are there still cannibals? Sometimes it's okay to cheer for the cannibals, right? If the cannibals ate the EPA reps, we'd all come out ah.. err. . ahead.

Go, cannibals!

I blush, I am ashamed but still - go, cannibals!
Posted by: Persnickety at August 03, 2015 02:57 PM (SZa8B)



You joke, but Bing "Charles Taylor Liberia cannibalism."


"Eff that guy running against me. I'm gonna eat him up!"

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 03:02 PM (oKE6c)

311 I'm gonna need about 1.3 million to study the carbon footprint of Ring Tailed Lemurs in Madagascar. My group is called The International Progressive Conservation and Abortion Group.
Where do I send my bank routing info? It's really important work.

Posted by: Hopped Up On Something at August 03, 2015 03:02 PM (NHtMs)

312 Posted by: zombie at August 03, 2015 02:55 PM (jBuUi)

My wife was in a masters program in physics with a Jesuit from Africa.
He would always make a point of walking either on the street side of my wife, or making sure my wife was in the middle of the walking group (which was mostly men and my wife.)
One day he asked my wife to move so he could get on the outside of the group and she said "Why?"
He responded "where I come from we must keep women in the center to avoid them being taken and assaulted, it's habit now and I'm much more comfortable still walking that way."
My wife thought it was some sort of macabre joke, and he explained it wasn't.
She let him walk on the street side without question after that.

Posted by: tsrblke (tablet) at August 03, 2015 03:02 PM (U8W/7)

313 Say what, doesn't the US government have a different agency who's sole mission is to help developing countries? So why is the EPA sticking their pooping posterior into deepest darkest Africa?

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 03, 2015 03:02 PM (tiyBK)

314 Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 03:01 PM (u0lmX)

Haribo Sugar-free Gummi Bears.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) - Derringer Bandit at August 03, 2015 03:02 PM (kff5f)

315 Witches are a carbon-neutral source of fuel, right?

Posted by: Snoodling World Champion 1997 at August 03, 2015 03:03 PM (k9qR4)

316 Deforestation is a real problem in some African countries, where every tree in sight gets cut down for firewood. Malawi is a good example. Getting people to cook with some other fuel or even less wood would be a positive. A bigger carbon issue is the slash-burn primitive agriculture system still in place where crops are harvested and the field burned, but it doesn't sound like EPA is up for changing that.

Posted by: Mongoose at August 03, 2015 03:03 PM (aS5To)

317 Who among us hasn't used a hobo stove?



I have used hobos in my stove for years.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 03:03 PM (SdfnP)

318 Check your privilege, EPA.

Posted by: BruinEric at August 03, 2015 03:03 PM (XQOtG)

319 BTW, if you go with sugar-free (sorbitol) hard candy, be VERY, VERY careful or you will spend hours in the bathroom. It's got to be the most effective laxative out there.

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 03:01 PM (u0lmX)



So if you eat, be sure you're within sprinting distance of your water supply. Go native!

Posted by: Jay Guevara at August 03, 2015 03:03 PM (oKE6c)

320 308 Who among us hasn't used a hobo stove? If Africans can't come up with this concept, they have a problem, and it's not lack of fuel.
----------------------
They will just hammer the thing into ear and nose rings and maybe a knife.

Posted by: Super Creepy Eric Hoteham at August 03, 2015 03:04 PM (oDCMR)

321 They are experimenting on them before they experiment on us.

If they can mandate the purchase of health insurance, can't they mandate the purchase of the "right" kind of stove?

Posted by: American Citizens at August 03, 2015 03:04 PM (53CCM)

322 I'm betting that a rocket stove or similar contraption has already used more carbon to make the steel cans than will be saved by their use in some crappy stove.

Also, used once or twice a day, every day, to cook enough food for a family, thin steel stoves will last about 6 months before they rot out. Clay stoves can be passed down from generation to generation.

The general idea that technology and assumed enlightenment can beat out survival techniques that have been hammered out in subsistence societies for the last 100,000 years is just plain arrogant - and wrong.

This applies to merry-go-round well pumps, to stoves, to solar panels, you name it.

The only lasting change Western society has made to primitive African cultures has been to conquer and civilize them, and even that doesn't work out most of the time, and these days is frowned upon. For the reason for this, see the Heinlein quote. (The normal state of Man is abject poverty, etc., etc.)

Posted by: West at August 03, 2015 03:06 PM (1Rgee)

323 So why is the EPA sticking their pooping posterior into deepest darkest Africa?

Govt money. Get yours now!

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at August 03, 2015 03:07 PM (ODxAs)

324 nood.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 03, 2015 03:09 PM (SdfnP)

325
The only lasting change Western society has made to primitive African cultures has been to conquer and civilize them

Posted by: West at August 03, 2015 03:06 PM (1Rgee)









The most profound change in Africa introduced by the civilized world.....

The AK-47.

I'd note that you didn't say anything about GOOD change.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at August 03, 2015 03:12 PM (fKmBJ)

326 A guy's got to wonder - is the carbon footprint reduction achieved by the more efficient stoves less than or greater than the carbon expenditure to fly a bunch of researchers out there to take measurements and manufacture new stoves?

Posted by: Geroge Orwell's ghost at August 03, 2015 03:13 PM (HuVX+)

327 Posted by: tsrblke (tablet) at August 03, 2015 03:02 PM (U8W/7)

Funnily enough, I once knew an elderly Brit who would do the same thing. He felt uncomfortable letting the woman walk on the streetside. He explained "that's just how I was raised - gentlemen always walk closest to the street."

He couldn't explain why, but I looked it up. In England and presumably other Western countries, it wasn't about assault but was a courtesy that dates back at least as far as Victorian days. The streets were unpaved and muddy and so gentlemen always walked on the outside so they, and not the ladies, would get splashed. My acquaintance was carrying on an old tradition without remembering what the reason for it was.

Posted by: Donna V. (sans ampersands) at August 03, 2015 03:15 PM (u0lmX)

328 This is all well and good but I need millions to study recycling in African villages. I won't actually visit any but the planet will blow up if they don't start recycling and those funds for research are needed now!

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 03, 2015 03:16 PM (493sH)

329 Meanwhile, China exists.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at August 03, 2015 03:17 PM (659DL)

330 Because energy, you see, is some kind of trifle that we can well afford to burden with heaping additional costs

I also saw that President Joe Isuzu said the new regulations would save a family an average of $80/month or so. Because raising the costs of production while simultaneously reducing the amount produced create a magical mixture which makes unicorn farts or something.

Seriously, I work in power generation and this bullshit is killing me. The company I work has actively reduced its production by changing some coal plants to waste wood. They're peaking plants so it doesn't matter much, but it's all nonsense. At least I understand why the company does: because stupid ass government regulations require them to do so to avoid the full arm instead of just the pinkie in the company's ass.

If you like solar and/or wind power for your house, great. Have at it. But there is no way that unicorn farts are going to supply the grid for humanity until or unless the population reduces by about 90%. Which, by the way, is what most of the leftists actually WANT to have happen.

Posted by: physics geek at August 03, 2015 03:18 PM (MT22W)

331 In a similar vein, and in the "You Can't Make This Shit Up" theme, a while back the City of Los Angeles decided it had to do something about the VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) coming out of fast food restaurant's grill stacks. You'll know what they mean if you have ever noticed the smoke plume coming from a busy McDonalds.

So they were going to impose a regulation saying that fast food joints (and all other restaurants) had to put some sort of smoke and grease traps in their exhaust vents.

Well that worked out just fine--not! It was discovered that there was no existing smoke or grease trap that would filter the smoke from a barbecue joint down to acceptable levels. And since many, if not all, of the major barbecue joints in town were operated by African Americans, imposing the standards (get an acceptable filter or shut down) would have a disparate racial impact.

The proposed regulation was quietly shelved.

Posted by: Comanche Voter at August 03, 2015 03:32 PM (Sda6L)

332 I was just talking to my husband about this yesterday. I mentioned that movie Just Friends with Ryan Reynolds, where Anna Faris hilariously plays a Jessica Simpson/Britney Spears amalgam whose charity is working hard to push veganism in third world countries. In the late 2000s that was a hilarious parody. Now it's the hilariously sad reality. And I said to my husband that progressives are literally beyond parody nowadays.

Posted by: Ssimoson4848 at August 03, 2015 03:37 PM (r1du+)

333 I heard this African cookstove thing several years ago. I think it may have been in connection with Hillary Clinton somehow....perhaps her 2008 campaign or one of the first things on her agenda when she became Sexrecretary of State.

Posted by: bicentennialguy at August 03, 2015 03:46 PM (vg8iE)

334 @330, out here, you can monitor how much power BPA gets from various sources. Wind is always about 2% at best. And that is with some size able wind farms. I read a post by Steve DenBeste several years ago that explained why alternative power couldn't scale up to replace conventional sources. It was eye opening to me, but you can never convince a lefty that an engineer knows about these things.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 03, 2015 03:50 PM (Lqy/e)

335 This isn't as bad as it sounds.

Like practically every other experimental proposal, this type of project gets the green light if it's couched in terms of "emissions" and "climate change." In fact, fuel efficient stoves have a multi-faceted benefit to very poor people. As you mentioned, they need to stock up on fuel less frequently, a big plus. Even bigger when going out to find wood means you are exposed to bandits, roving gangs and worse. In So Sudan, women were sent out from the refugee camps to collect wood because they would only be raped by the militia men, their men folk would be killed. Using 60% less fuel means your odds of being raped over time dropped by 60%.

Secondly, these rudimentary stoves are installed with a basic (homemade) chimney that directs fumes outside the living quarters, so the air quality inside is much better as a consequence. This has positive health effects, especially for the little ones.

In my opinion, the trend to very simple, cheap solutions that have a big impact on day-to-day life is a good one for aid to the poor, but even better is when these helps are priced, not given away. People will see what works and save for it and continue to use it. I'm sure this research project won't address that.

Posted by: Barbara at August 03, 2015 03:54 PM (/8Rk/)

336 Cooking is not just something bored rich Westerners watch on TV. Cooking is absolutely essential to human survival, and the invention of cooking is one of the most important breakthroughs in human development.

So is eating. However 46 million Americans can't find the wherewithal without some plastic.

Posted by: Golfman at August 03, 2015 03:54 PM (48QDY)

337 Don't insult Cnut by comparing him to our current imbecilic 'leader.' Cnut knew damned well the tides wouldn't answer him, he was basically handing his courtiers their asses, and telling them to stop with the mindless and stupid flattery. Cnut knew his limits. Obama's dumb, narcissistic ass doesn't.

Posted by: The Atom Bomb of Loving Kindness at August 03, 2015 04:13 PM (jqHOY)

338 Projects like this should not get greenlighted until it can be shown nobody else is doing the job or doing it ineffectually. Google "african efficient cook stoves development" and you'll find a number of NGOs, charities, etc who have been working on this for a long time. Even an indiegogo link. Take the bucks away from the EPA pukes and BUY some of the existing designs and distribute them.

Also, #1 hit on the search is USAID. Would it be too much to require one of the tentacles of government to know what the other tentacles are up to?

Posted by: chuckR at August 03, 2015 04:19 PM (n1exz)

339 The question that must be asked is: how many new and efficient wood stoves must be deployed just to offset the carbon footprint of the round-trip jet trip to Africa by the do-gooders?

Posted by: Adjoran at August 03, 2015 05:01 PM (QIQ6j)

340 why did i perceive "cunt" instead of Cnut??

Posted by: berserker lurker at August 03, 2015 05:14 PM (E1GlJ)

341 Wondering what the odds are that the results of a study funded by the EPA will show that global warming is real and using new stove cooking techniques in the 3rd world will reduce carbon emissions by at least .000000001% over 1000 years. $125 million well spent.

Does it bother anyone else that the government spends (invests) this kind of money for zero return? An investment round for a tech startup between $10M - $15M is a pretty good signal of confidence the business can succeed. That's about 10% of the amount the EPA will waste on this. This is a clear case of how money taken from Americans and out of the market hurts the economy. It means the potential economic energy of ten startups wont be realized and get the opportunity to grow and expand employment.

I will concede that the $125M spent by the EPA may not exist in the aggregate of an investor due to lower tax. However, that doesn't forgive the EPA for wasting so much money on a study that isn't critical. If invested in ten startups it could mean as many as 200 to 300 jobs. The study is likely to create no jobs or a handful of temporary jobs.

Posted by: KauaiGoneGin at August 03, 2015 06:29 PM (uWaQa)

342 Efficient stoves are important basic technology for wood burners, but that efficiency has nothing to do with CO2. It is purely a matter of getting as much BTU as possible out of the stoves.

Technically they should be the same question, since all the CO2 in every bit of wood that is used gets released. If it is not fully released by burning then it gets released when the incompletely burned wood that goes up the chimney or remains as embers subsequently breaks down. So again the only question is how much wood is burned, and the criterion of efficiency is again getting as much BTU as possible from the stoves.

Probably the researchers are just glomming onto CO2 because it is an available avenue of funding for something that they understand doesn't actually have anything to do with CO2, but is worth doing on other grounds.

Posted by: Alec Rawls at August 03, 2015 07:17 PM (kTTUz)

343 Got a stove that won an award in a global contest. Get one. The world after Obama will be one where you will need one of these.
Thanks Obama.
Get a griddle, a 4 qt pan and a skillet. Water purifier and bunker would be nice.
Again, thanks Obama and America.
70 years of leading the world was too heavy a burden? Tell your grandparents who survived FDR's depression, Hitler and Tojo then Stalinism and Col War. Screw you if you don't get it.
Rice. Beans. Bullets. Ace on an iPod in a Farraday cage!

Posted by: Ubik at August 03, 2015 08:55 PM (yHQHg)

344 Reminds me of the vegans on Futurama who trained a lion to eat tofu, which then became a skeletal unhealthy animal.

Posted by: waelse1 at August 03, 2015 09:28 PM (ZYXva)

345 I read about this when they were designing it. You've got it all backwards -- it's supposed to be a way to make stoves cheaper and easier to fuel for poor people.

Posted by: Zach at August 03, 2015 11:55 PM (Tr+Z0)

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