blog

INSECTICIDES

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:50:25 +0100

        It is rainy season in Senegal. The puddles in low areas are perfect breeding areas for mosquitos. Our house is not tight and some of the screens on the windows need attention. There are plenty of mosquitos in the house. Each morning we spray the areas where they like to spend the day.
        On our 2^nd day here we went shopping and insecticide was on our list. The insecticide of choice in Congo is called Rambo. We couldn’t find it here in Thies so we had to choose between Cobra, Oro, Hit, Yotox, Super Max, Top Budget, Megar, Catch, Baygon, Attack and Raid (the word is that Attack is the best). We tried Oro. It doesn’t drop the mosquitos in mid- flight like Rambo.
        In the developing world we don’t have all the pesky EPA laws. Who knows what Rambo has in it? There is a product that is even more powerful, but when you spray it you can instantly taste the chemicals in your mouth. I stopped buying that one.
        I am told that DDT is still available out here under a secret trade name. The safari outfits use it to treat hides to avoid insect damage. There is a strong lobby in Kenya for reinstating the use of DDT as part of their program to prevent malaria. Western development organizations tend to be against this idea for environmental reasons. They promote bed nets treated with deltamethrin and other insecticides and projects to drain mosquito breeding grounds. Maybe someday there will be a vaccine against malaria, but in the meantime, we are going to buy some “Attack”.

The Sewage Frog’s Chance for a New Life

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:36:47 +0100

        Diane & I are finishing up our duties at the Center for Inter-Cultural Training (CIT) before heading to Senegal Sept 3rd. CIT has trained 2000 missionaries from 100 different agencies going to 130 countries. Two weeks ago Don went on vacation. He left me the tasks involved in maintaining the CIT sewage system. It was not the first time for me to take up the CIT sewage portfolio. I know the job well. There are 2 tanks that each get a daily cup of sodium bicarbonate. The ultra violet filter has to be cycled and a #10 can of lime is added to another tank.
        I was eager to take up these tasks. In 2010 there was a giant mutant sewage frog in one of our holding tanks. I wanted to know if he was still around and how he was doing. You can imagine my anticipation that first Monday morning as I lifted the hatch to the holding tank. As the light filtered into the tank, there he was sitting on a pipe. For a frog he is quite large, but his body is skinny in comparison to his large head. The CIT sewage frog is no longer green. I don’t even want to know what he eats in there.
        The frog usually jumps into the sewage after you lift the hatch. On my 3^rd day, however he stayed on the pipe as I lifted and removed the plastic hatch. This gave me a chance to get my camera to photograph the CIT sewage frog. As I went for my camera the frog had a chance to examine the beautiful world beyond the sewage. He saw a stately live oak toward the shop and a pecan tree toward the dorm. Both trees were silhouetted by the deep blue NC sky. He heard bird songs and the buzz of bees, but had no way of knowing there was prime frog habitat in the creek in the woods 100 yards on the other side of the lawn. I was hoping that he would not be in the tank when I returned, but sadly, upon my return he jumped back into the sewage to stay where he was comfortable. Some people I know make the same decision.

The Desire/ Fulfillment Paradox

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:01:16 +0100

        Did you ever notice that the more you want or need something, the less it is available? In a past life Diane & I sang together in public. This experience introduced me to the performance paradox. Our highest quality performance was always in private when there was the least need for it. If there had been a recording studio in the shower, I would have been up for a Grammy Award. In public, however, when there was the greatest need for a quality performance, I was least capable of pulling it off.
        Our time in Alaska introduced me to the cold start paradox. The frigid Alaska winter creates the most difficult conditions to turn over your car’s engine. This is when you need the most power from your car battery. Unfortunately, these cold weather conditions are when your battery is least efficient. You need it the most when it gives the least.
        The performance paradox and the cold start paradox are interesting. Understanding the desire/ fulfillment paradox will help you avoid a life spent vainly chasing the wind. When I was in the US Coast Guard on the Coast Guard Cutter Clover in Sitka, AK, another sailor enjoyed introducing people to pot. He would be filled with nostalgia for his own first experience with the drug. His subsequent highs were never as good as his first high. He was victim of the desire fulfillment paradox. Ever increasing desire resulted in ever decreasing pleasure.
        Those wise enough to see beyond today are aware that a life focused on pleasure does not achieve lasting contentment and inner peace. A James 1:14 point out that over time desire gives birth to sin and death. Living for pleasure leads to diminishing fulfillment so the wise alternative is living for what brings glory to God.

Bringing Down Big Brother

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:21:45 +0100

        I don’t know anyone in favor of unmanned camera speed traps, and yet they are popping up like mushrooms all over the nation. South Carolina is moving in the right direction. The outcry against Ridgeland, SC’s infamous unmanned camera speed traps on Interstate 95 provoked a new state law that prohibits the town from mailing speeding tickets to their victims.
        This is a start, but I have a plan to totally stop this manifestation of Big Brother. In a way it is not my fight. I always drive the speed limit, but I have seen the misery suffered by the victims and want to help. A caller to a radio talk show told of driving a rental car along with the other members of a theater group. One member took the car out alone one night and drove over the speed limit past an unmanned camera speed trap. The caller, who was not even in the car, received a ticket in the mail. This really burns me. If one day out of the kindness of my heart I want to loan my car to Muammar Gaddafi, I don’t want to be responsible for his speeding tickets.
        In this age of crony capitalism, individuals seem to be powerless against these arbitrary policies of faceless bureaucracies. With the government cozying up to select corporations my idea is to involve the face of one of these corporations. I can’t visualize the face of GE or GM, but I know that the face of the McDonalds Corporation is Ronald McDonald. I understand that the McDonalds Corporation got an exemption from Obamacare so it must have the ear of our ever more intrusive government.
        As I understand it, the victims of these unmanned speed trap cameras receive a ticket that includes a photo of the car license plate and the driver as seen through the windshield. On November 11, 2011 I want everyone outraged by these cameras to put on a mask of Ronald McDonald and speed through their local unmanned camera speed trap. As Ronald McDonald starts to receive thousands of speeding tickets, the McDonald’s corporation will be forced to contact its pals in high places to rid the nation of these scourges.
        Let me know how it works out. Unfortunately, I will be out of the country on 11-11-11 so I will not be able to participate. Send this message to everyone that you know or your lug nuts will fall off.

The Moss Lawn: a Suburban Solution to Global Warming

Sat, 21 May 2011 14:36:33 +0100

The Moss Lawn: a Suburban Solution to Global Warming
        When Diane and I arrived at my mom's house in southern NH in April we were stunned to see that she had a glacier in her back yard. The snow had melted in the woods and the neighbor’s yards, but she still had 2 feet of snow pack in her back yard. Right away I knew this was significant because of the headlines we read from time to time, "Glaciers Receding Everywhere." In Europe they put blankets on glaciers to keep them from melting and here we have one expanding in suburbia.
        I had to get to the bottom of it and I didn’t need core samples. I already knew what was under that glacier because I am a student of history. It all started in ancient times, when a bunch of kids were looking for a place to play tackle football. They played on my mom’s lawn until they heard the cry that ends many such adventures, “You kids get out of here!” Unfortunately, by that time the damage was done.
        The grass never recovered. Instead of buckling under to suburban social norms, my mom just let nature take its course. Initially she got a good crop of crab grass. Slowly, as the years went by, moss took over the whole lawn. She is the only one I know who has a moss lawn. I think it looks fantastic and it needs no chemicals or watering.
        The moss lawn has its disadvantages. Most people don’t want snow in their lawns until July, but she is ready to take one for the team if it means turning the corner toward global cooling and slowing the melting of the polar ice cap to and keep sea levels the way they are. A side benefit is habitat improvement. If caribou are ever get reestablished in New England, they will have a place to graze.
        My theory is that the insulation properties of moss are superior to that of grass or the forest floor. As with any other phenomenon, further study and lots of tax dollars are needed to move forward. I don't think that my mom wants a pack of scientist wandering around her yard so they better use simulation models. She does, however, want credit for her part in fighting global warming.

A Full Circle Glass Repair

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:04:42 +0100

        Last fall Diane & I were in NH staying at my mother’s house. One of the first things I noticed was the missing window pane in garage door. The last time a pane of glass covered that spot was in the summer of 1972. I remember it well. My brother set up as catcher in front of the garage door. Somehow we thought this was ok since we were throwing a rubber baseball. My fastball was up and away.  It got past my brother. The rubber baseball went through the garage door window as easily as any ordinary baseball could have.
        I don’t remember if there were any consequences to my actions, but I did feel that it was up to my father to fix the window. He did not share that sense of responsibility so there was a 12”X18” opening into the garage for many years. Eventually my mother covered the opening with card board and tape.
        The issue came around full circle in the summer of 2002. On a visit to grandma’s house my son picked up a baseball bat and a golf ball from the catchall box in the garage. He took them to the back yard behind the garage and gave in to the irresistible urge to hit the golf ball as far as it would go. Of course the golf ball veered off the bat and broke one pane of the window on the back door of the garage. Somehow the deed fell below my radar screen and my mom did her cardboard and tape repair job.Perhaps I felt a lingering sense of guilt.
        I offered to fix the window in 2006, but my mom declined my offer. She had removed the cardboard to make an opening in the garage so the cats could get out of the weather. I was off the hook, but the guilt remained.
        Last fall I again offered to fix the window I broke and this time my offer was accepted. I didn’t feel responsible for the pane of glass my son broke, but if he followed my example he would be obliged to fix it in 2040.  In the end I decided to break the cycle and took up the task of fixing both windows. I bought the two panes of glass and with a little trial and error fixed windows.

Product Review- The Snuggie

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:33:46 +0100

        To help you with your Christmas shopping I offer this product review. We first heard of the Snuggie while we were in the Central African Republic. Our daughter Josie informed us of the entertaining commercial on TV (“But wait, there is more! If you buy now…”) She decided that it would be a hoot to get 25 people together to go to a ball game with each person wearing a Snuggie.
        For those of you out of the loop, a Snuggie is a blanket with sleeves. I first saw one in the “As seen on TV” section in Wal-Mart. Every time I pass this section of the store I chuckle, but after freezing on a deer stand too many times I wondered if a Snuggie might be the answer. My mother got wind of the idea so on our way from NH to NC we carried 4 wrapped Christmas presents that we guessed were Snuggies.
        We got permission to open them early to bring to you this product review. Hap modeled his Christmas present to give me my first view. You put it on from the front and wrap it around the back. My first impression was that it looked like the garb of an inmate of a lunatic asylum. I then saw the hanging sleeves and decided that it looks like the robe Obi-Wan wore when he helped Luke deal with the Jawas. Come to think of it, the movie could have been improved if a Snuggie was included. Imagine the impact if the following dialogue was inserted into the scene where Darth Vader confronted Luke in “The Empire Strikes Back.”   Darth Vader: “Your thoughts betray you. A sister; Obi-Wan was wise to wear a Snuggie.”
        On the deer stand I ran a double blind test of the Snuggie against the ordinary blanket. The bottom line is that when there is action and you stand up, the blanket falls out of the way. On the other hand, the top part of the Snuggie, held up by the sleeves, hangs in front of you and interferes with your activities. The Snuggie is a fine product, but do not use it while operating heavy machinery.
         I can’t resist editorializing here. In my time in Africa I have observed that Americans are the gadget kings and Queens of the world. In the developing world we make do with ordinary blankets without sleeves. I recognize, however, that the ordinary blanket is not as useful for the vital function of retail markup.   If you get one for Christmas remember, our family of 4 is waiting for 21 more Snuggie owners to get together with us to go to a Forest City Owls game.

Goliath TigerFish

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:41:20 +0100

While in the US Diane and I get to see cable programing when we stay with someone who subscribes. The show "River Monsters" on Animal Planet brings back memories. We met Jeremy Wade when he and Paul Boote came to Congo in 1990. He is a great fisherman and on his visits to our area learned how to catch goliath tigerfish. Since his visit I developed a pretty good live bait drift technique. On the show called "Demon Fish" Jeremy took 3 weeks to catch an enormous tigerfish. Look at the photo and maybe you will believe I could have helped him catch one quicker.