Tcktcktck – 5 days until Copenhagen.  And the global warmer deniers continue to be hot and bothered.  They persist in their focus on the hacked emails from the University of East Anglia which I wrote about on Monday. Senator James Inhofe is one of the people leading U.S.’s denial lobby; and he also happens to be the U.S. senator who receives the most money from the oil and gas industries.  Inhofe thinks that “global warming is debunked everytime he drinks a slushie and gets a brain freeze” (Jon Stewart).

As Copenhagen gets closer, if you are anything like me, you might be feeling the need for a dose of encouragement. Here’s some:

William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer’s book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind has made it to Amazon’s top 10 Best Books of 2009, as well as Publisher Weekly’s Best Book of the Year.  It tells about how Kamkwamba, “a simple farmer in a country of poor farmers” built a windmill about of bicycle parts and other scrap pieces when he was 14, after being forced to drop out of school because of a severe drought in Malawi. He built his windmill to pump water and generate electricity for his home. Now every home in Wimbe, Kamkwamba’s hometown, has a solar panel and a battery to store power. His message to  “all the people out there – to the Africans, and to poor people” is to never give up.

“Trust yourself, and believe.  Whatever happens, don’t ever give up.”

Click here view a video of Mr. Kamkwamba speaking at the TED Global Conference this past July.

The situation that we are in is too important to let the deniers sidetrack us. Let’s take Mr. Kamkwamba’s words to heart, and keep up the good fight for a real, fair and binding treaty on global warming. Check out the links on my blogroll and take action.

Guess what?!?

I have a book. Published by Phoenix Publishing House. Copyright 2007.

Okay, its not the book I imagined I’d ever write but it was every bit the process I thought it would be.  It started with an idea — a Filipino-made book to learn PinYin and teach Mandarin, tones and pronunciation, beginning writing of strokes and characters,  basic sentences and vocabulary to Filipino students.  Of course you’ll need someone to endorse your “idea” to a publisher who hopefully buys it and agrees to publish.

Luckily, both happened. A team of 3 was commissioned, and since it was a school project, it also had a project manager and coordinator.  Apart from the drafts and revisions, the meetings and re-writings, and all the discussions from dusk till dawn — there was a friendship behind it all.

Who would have thought that I would have a full-blooded Chinese friend? Her name is Ye Jian Lan. Her English name is Nadine.  She was born in the year of the dog, a tiger’s secret friend and we met at such an auspicious time in our lives.  We needed to be a friend to each other and this book was that friendship’s legacy.

With the thrill of the first printed copies and the first royalty paycheck over, only one more thrill remained.  It came my way on the 18th of September, 2008.

The family trooped to SMX for this…

Honestly, we went there to look for books for Aori. And to get Mommy to go on a day-out.  I saw Phoenix’s booth and had a thought! Could the book be here? I scoured the shelves in the booth but no book. I thought I’d cut my losses and just head for the refreshments. Navigating through, it so happened I stumbled into this aisle.  And guess what I saw?!?

Hey! That book looks familiar!!! IT’S OUR BOOK!

And I couldn’t be prouder to share this moment with these guys.

I know it just might be a one-time thing.  After the book came out and was marketed a bit, we heard that other “better,” improved-versions of our work has come out.  Okay, its not a bestseller…  in fact, I have a feeling it just might have a limited run (but hey, it has 2 editions already!) Oh well, it doesn’t matter, I’m happy about this book.  A personal achievement that allowed me to write, have book meetings, get published, receive royalty, and to feel that feeling of having that “author ako” feeling — is just outrageously SWEET!

(Available @ the LSGH Bookstore)

I have never seen so many windmills!

Taken on our drive from Tracy to Santa Cruz.

The very first thing you need to know when you learn how to build a windmill is to maximize the conversion of wind power into mechanical power. To achieve that, your windmill must be above obstructions to take full advantage of wind.

The components of a windmill include:
1. A Base
2. A Tower
3. Wind Blades
4.

1. A Base 2. A Tower 3. Wind Blades 4. Nacelle (Gearbox to facilitate blade movement) The Wind Blades: Basically, windmills depend on wind blades to capture wind energy. They can be purchased online or perhaps you may want to save money and build them from light weight plastics. The size of your wind blades. For an average windmill that stands 5 feet high can be purchased online or perhaps you may want to save money and build them from light weight plastics. The size of your area and the number of kilowatt hours of electricity that you can expect your windmill must be durable and relatively heavy to support the rest of the base and tower will determine the size of your area and the number of kilowatt hours of electricity that you can expect your windmill must be above obstructions to take full advantage of wind.

The components of a windmill is to maximize the conversion of wind power into mechanical power. To achieve that, your windmill to generate. maximize proper the wind base blades and can about use 18 a inches sandbag, square etc. and For tower a with windmill a must gearbox. be However sufficient. for The an Base: average The windmill, very you first need thing to you spin.

Looking for Alternative Energy Products? Check out the Alternative Energy Store

Botticelli’s Venus is beautiful, by most human standards. Can we say why?

I don’t suppose I can. I’m no aesthetician. On my first pass through a museum exhibit, in fact, I don’t always even know what I like. I look at “those incredible apples and pears by Cezanne” (on Woody Allen’s list of things that make life worth living) and yawn. If they made me hungry I’d not yawn. But Kant’s view was that “it is not an aesthetic response if you find yourself gettting hungry and wanting a piece of fruit. An aesthetic response is free from such interests, or any other practical concern.” Or lustful appetite? No You Kant, the Kill-joy of Konigsburg.

I do know I like Venus on her half-shell.

And I  know that I like John Dewey’s pragmatic aesthetic, with its idea that beautiful objects, experiences, moments, and possibilities dot our daily landscape in places not generally noticed or discussed by art critics.

So, the bias for high or fine art over craft, and over so-called ordinary experiences, is on my Deweyan view a prejudice we ought to extirpate. There’s nothing wrong with standing and gawking at Venus, and it may actually be more socially acceptable to do that than to stand and gawk at the lovely Venuses to be found at the bus-stop and on the subway and the ballpark and the museum. But let’s not demean the quality of quotidian life with an arbitrary, peremptory declaration that it does not  rise to the level of Art. Of course it does.

Once we’ve unstiffened our aesthetic in this way, we can really begin to appreciate the artistry of life in every dimension.

The native American tradition called “the beauty way” is one example of this. Exploring the Navajo concept of harmony and virtue, hozho, Chris Phillips in Six Questions of Socrates quotes a tribal elder:

“The most important thing, in order to have hozho, is that you must ‘walk in Beauty.’ Every morning, before sunrise, you must run toward the sun to greet the day. This is the Beauty Way… Every dawn is a new day. If you run toward the sacred sun, if you greet and embrace it as it rises, you are blessed with a new beginning, a new chance for hozho.”

I don’t run at 5 am, but I definitely think of my daily pre-dawn appointment at this venue as my peculiar way of seeking the blessings of a new beginning.  Some days, the resulting experience partakes of beauty. Or so I perceive.

I don’t know art and only occasionally do I know what I like… but I know I don’t like the impersonality of  Kantian aesthetics, and I do like David Hume’s acknowledgment of art as a subjective enterprise concerned with feeling.

I like Sappho’s statement, an improvement on Keats’ beauty-truth equation: “what is beautiful is good and what is good will soon also be beautiful.” Our taste is educable, our conventions can change. For instance, some people still think these are ugly:

But of course they’re beautiful.

Photographic art can do much to transform not only our aesthetic regard for the splendors of nature, but our impact on the planet. That’s why photographer Edward Burtynsky makes a [TED] wish: that his images — stunning landscapes that document humanity’s impact on the world — help persuade millions to join a global conversation on sustainability.

What of these guys? There’s plenty to dislike in their philosophies, but if art “makes us much more sympathetic to other people” and helps us “transcend egotistical interests and empathize with universal emotions,” it’s just too bad old Arthur didn’t spend more time at the opera. And, the Apollonian-Dionysian dichotomy in Birth of Tragedy explains a lot.

…the further development of art is bound up with the duality of the Apollonian and the Dionysian, just as reproduction depends upon the duality of the sexes, their continuing strife and only periodically occurring reconciliation. We take these names from the Greeks who gave a clear voice to the profound secret teachings of their contemplative art, not in ideas, but in the powerfully clear forms of their divine world.

With those two gods of art, Apollo and Dionysus, we link our recognition that in the Greek world there exists a huge contrast, in origins and purposes, between visual (plastic) arts, the Apollonian, and the non-visual art of music, the Dionysian. Both very different drives go hand in hand, for the most part in open conflict with each other and simultaneously provoking each other all the time to new and more powerful offspring, in order to perpetuate for themselves the contest of opposites which the common word “Art” only seems to bridge…

The art and philosophy of pop culture matter, too. “Whole books offer philosophical analyses of The Matrix and The Simpsons… (What does make humor funny?)

And Dylan and the Beatles and Springsteen and Buffett…

And advertizing. “What do you think this does to your daily experience and the way you think about yourself and the world?” Makes us mad, mad, mad!

Windmills

This picture was taken in Teruel, Spain. It looks like the windmills there are no longer like Don Quixote’s. Spain is these days the leading producer of wind power worldwide.

…and all of it will happen again, possibly. A little clarification on what I was referring to in the previous post, when I wrote “They were there in the past – they could come back again”. Windmills were on the heath from the 1600s:

The book that nobody in Blackheath should be without “Blackheath Village and Environs” by Neil Rhind, Volume 1 page 178 (emphasis is mine):

There were at least two windmills on or close to the Heath in the late 17th century: one close to the fence of Hollyheadge House, on the Heath towards Dartmouth Place, and another on Morden Hill.

Windmills were big business in the 18th century. A mill owner needed to be a rich man because the cost of construction was considerable. But once the investment was made the potential earning power was equally considerable. The owner might live well but the operator would have been a relatively menial character, suffering the dust and dangers that milling created, especially at the peak milling period after harvest. By 1770 Hollyhedge House, in the Dartmouth freehold, had been re-leased to Charles Newton and by then the mill had been pulled down. But there was still enough work for more than one windmill. The river Ravensbourne had sufficient speed of current to drive a number of grinding wheels but the farms of Kidbrooke and Lee, as well as the local demand for cattle and horse feed, would have been more than sufficient to keep a host of millers busy. Further, the Heath was an ideal site for a windmill, with wide sweeps of high open land which would allow the mill sails to catch even a slight breeze.

If it were possible to design a modern wind turbine that had all the rustic charm that we now associate with windmills (even though at the time, they were just another piece of agricultural machinery), perhaps it would be possible to harness the considerable might of the “heritage” mentality into the green cause. Unfortunately, mills require high torque, low power, which means lots of sails, whereas electricity generation requires high power low torque (three fins).

The Ontario government is merely replacing one dirty energy source for a slightly less dirty source, yet they continue to pat each other on the back for being leaders in green energy.

The front-page story headlined “Turbines part of green plan” in a recent copy of The Sun Times, is a perfect example of how our provincial government is misleading the public with regard to the issue of wind turbines.

Amy Tang, identified as the spokesperson for then Energy Minister George Smitherman, is quoted as saying “We have to remember why we entered into renewable energy in the first place, which was our commitment to get off coal.”

Unfortunately she neglected to explain just how wind turbines get us off coal. I suspect her omission was deliberate, because in reality there is no practical way that wind turbines can replace coal-fired thermal units.

Coal-fired thermal generating stations in Ontario are typically used during the hours when the demand for electricity is greatest. They are indeed the dirtiest form of generation we have in this province, but they are extremely reliable. Wind turbines on the other hand, are notoriously unreliable. They have capacity factors that are typically in the high 20% range. That means that any wind units on the provincial grid will require some other unit backing them up (replacing their output) over 70% of the time. The dirty little secret hidden in the program that is encouraging wind power development in Ontario is the fact that we are really replacing the coal-fired plants with generating stations that are powered by natural gas!

The new gas powered plants are being called “peaker” plants by industry proponents and government supporters. The name is presumably an attempt to lead people to believe that the plants will not be used much: just for peaking purposes. Of course, the coal-burning plants that are being phased out are also peaking plants. So, in reality we are replacing dirty coal burning plants with slightly less dirty natural gas powered plants. Our provincial government has the nerve to call this a “green plan”. What is really sad is how successful they have been to date in selling this myth! Even normally skeptical media have rolled over and bought the story lock, stock and barrel.

What is really interesting is the fact that people living in the vicinity of the proposed gas powered plants are about as upset about those plans as people in Grey-Bruce are about wind turbines! Equally fascinating is the reaction from the government and the gas power proponents: the opposition is all NIMBY!

The people in this area who are opposed to wind turbines would be wise to link up with the folks in the areas near the proposed gas powered plants (Oakville/Mississauga, Holland Marsh, etc.) and collectively demand that the province deal with these issues in an open and honest manner. Wind turbines and gas powered generating plants are inextricably linked, but the government and the industry proponents are doing their best to obfuscate, divide and conquer.

We should be demanding that our provincial politicians start to do some real work aimed at transforming our power generation and distribution system. Things like promoting a national power grid that could reduce the need for Ontario peaking capability while taking advantage of combined interprovincial peaking resources. The daily peak in electricity demand is for the most part quite predictable and it flows across the country east to west according to time zone. Canadian utilities have strong north-south power interconnections, but not much in the way of east-west interconnections. Why? And more importantly, what are the federal and provincial governments doing about changing that reality?

Why is the Province of Ontario not strongly promoting the use of electricity in the transportation sector? We should be actively and aggressively moving to the electrification of all rail lines in this country. One of the ways we can reduce the need for peaking capacity is to level out the demand. Earlier attempts to level load through advertising failed miserably, but the conditions have changed quite a bit since then. The environment and ratepayers would both benefit from the electrification of railways. Unlike electric cars, which our premier does seem to have embraced, electric rail transport is already a mature technology, and we already have the capability to build the trains here in Ontario. Why aren’t we doing it? Wouldn’t those be “green jobs”?

I think I can understand the appeal that wind turbines have for many people: they use a resource that is “free”, they have a majestic almost ethereal appearance (I realize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but many people actually DO like the look of the turbines!), they are promoted as being environmentally friendly and most people mistakenly believe that “electricity is electricity”, so why not make it with wind!

Unfortunately, the real world has a habit of sometimes restricting our choices.

Not even the most optimistic politician can wish away the realities of the day-to-day operation of the provincial power generation/ distribution system.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that we are wasting money on wind power in this province.

How many of us would buy a new “green power” car if we knew up front that it would be quite a bit more expensive than what we have now and it could only be used less than 30% of the time? To make matters worse, there is absolutely no guarantee that this new “green” car could ever finish any trip, and we will need another “regular” polluting car to take over when the “green” car can’t run. Now also imagine that the provincial government passes a law that requires some of us to buy these new “green power” cars, whether we want them or not, even though some people have good reason to believe that the new cars are affecting their health. Does this new “green power” car really sound like it’s a good idea for Ontario?

[via Owensoundtimes]

Slashdot It!

Thoughts to follow in awhile….maybe a long while…enjoy the debate….(just click on the picture and you will be there…)

Apologetix.

Nope, you don’t have it wrong, this IS still a children’s book blog.  I found this book at the library and had to get it out for my knight and armor obsessed son.  Don Quixote and the Windmills by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher.

I recently attempted to read through the real Don Quixote by Cervantes. So I can definitively tell you that this children’s version is surely superior.

This book uses some dialogue from the original, and focuses on one particular chapter in which Don Quixote sees windmills and in his madness thinks them to be giants that he needs to attack. I love the artwork in this book, rather rough looking faces, bold earth colors, and his sidekick Sancho Panza looks exactly like I imagined him to be.

As someone who appreciates the Classical method of education, I look for books such as these.  Even if my children don’t grow up and read the real Don Quixote, they can have a reference point for who he was, and will understand references and the meaning of “quixotic,” or the phrase “tilting at windmills.”  In the grammar stage of their life it’s nice to have simplified versions of the classics so they can refer back to it as they progress in their studies.

And truth be told, if I had known about this book sooner, I just may have stuck with it instead of forging through the daunting original.

Another gem from StopIllWind – Drop by for a huge library of facts about Industrial Wind Energy.

Number 8 – Wind technology consists of “wind mills” on “wind farms.”

As if 400-foot tall differentially moving turbines were bucolic Dutch windmills, and their arrangement—eight to a mile on tall ridgetops, each with a four acre clear-cut when sited in the forest, and spread out in rows over many miles of upland habitat—was akin to a family farm.

The reality is that the technology consists of mammoth industrial factories often targeted for areas that pride themselves on their natural beauty. This inherent incompatibility makes for a hard sell. Consequently, the wind industry has commandeered the terms “windmill” and “wind farm” to make its outsized machinery more attractive to rural areas. But when a windplant is built, the rift between promise and reality becomes stark. Contemporary industrial wind turbines are taller than most urban skyscrapers, rivaling the size of the Statue of Liberty. Pittsburgh has but one building near 400 feet, while Cleveland has none.

Wind developers sometimes misrepresent their turbines’ size in the press to make the machines appear even more hospitable. Press releases describing “wind farms” occasionally state the turbines’ size in meters, causing some readers to think that a 125-meter turbine is really only 125 feet—and not over 400 feet. More often, they will only refer to the height of the turbine tower, not mentioning the size of the enormous propeller blades. However, a turbine tower that is 265 feet tall with a propeller blade that is 135 foot long is 400 feet tall. Even when they concede the actual size, they maintain wind facilities won’t be intrusive because the turbines will be hidden in the trees, as if trees over 400 feet tall exist on forested ridges.

Watch for this classic bait-and-switch technique. Wind developers will often initially propose a facility consisting of a number of “smaller” turbines, typically 1.5 MW-340-400 foot machines. When the public begins to realize the threat to its basic qualities of life, and rushes to oppose the project, the wind developer will appear to offer appeasement—in the form of lesser numbers of turbines but 10-15 percent larger (430-465 foot—2.5 MW) with a much greater rotor sweep (the propeller blade will be more than 310 feet long). The developer will claim this is possible because of “newer technology.” It is more likely, however, that this is a cynical ploy to make the industry seem more congenial to the communities it seeks to exploit, always “ready to compromise.” In fact, however, this is a tactical move that will actually increase industry profits while playing havoc with the community.

Related posts:  Save Western Ohio – “Wind . . . Farming?”

A couple weeks ago I was watching the Daily Show and Jon Stewart had on William Kamkwamba. At the time I though this would make a great post for Enviralment and meant to write about it the very next day but somehow it has slipped through the cracks.
Anyways, for those who are unaware,  Kamkwamba is a Malawian secondary school student and inventor. He gained fame in his country back in 2001, when he built a windmill to power a few electrical appliances in his family’s house in Masitala, using blue gum trees, bicycle parts, and materials collected in a local scrapyard. A Malawian Macgyver.

After he left school due to his family not being able to afford the tuition – which, to put our own lives in perspective was $80 USD, he decided to educate himself by going to his village’s library. There, he found the book Using Energy and in it discovered a picture and explanation of windmills.

Kamkwamba spent two months creating his windmill and when he was finished returned the book to the library. While erecting his creation many locals were unaware of what a windmill was and looked at William as if he had gone crazy. Naturally word spread and when he returned to the library the librarian asked if he was the boy who had built the windmill. William answered, “yes”, and the librarian insisted that he come visit his house to see what he had built. When the librarian visited William he brought along a few journalist from the Daily Times newspaper in Blantyre, who wrote a bout the story in November 2006.

When the story was printed it quickly circulated through the blogosphere, and TED conference director Emeka Okafor invited Kamkwamba to speak as a quest at TEDGlobal 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania. His speech so moved the audience, that several venture capitalists at the conference pledged to help finance his secondary education. His story ballooned and has since been covered by Sarah Childress for the Wall Street Journal. Williams became a student at African Bible College Christian Academy in Lilongwe, but is now on scholarship at the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Most recently, as I mentioned, he was interviewed on The Daily Show where he visited to promote his new book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which records his moving tale and struggle to create a better life for his family and for his village. For more information on the book you can visit William’s site here.

Since the building of his first windmill, William has built a solar-powered water pump that supplies the first drinking water in his village, and two other windmills (the tallest standing at 39 feet) and is planning two more, including one in Lilongwe.

Slashdot It!

Donderdag 19 – Zondag 22 November

door Gemeente Schiedam

Genieten van ultieme feel good movies en dramatische filmmomenten in bijzondere, monumentale locaties! Dat kan tijdens het gratis SuikerZoetFilmfestival van 19 tot en met 22 november in het centrum van Schiedam. Reserveer het extra lange weekend om heerlijk te zwijmelen met een lach en een traan, en neem je vrienden en geliefden mee. Drama, romantiek en gezelligheid gegarandeerd!

Het programma biedt ook dit vijfde jaar een perfecte mix van oude klassiekers, grote publieksfilms, arthouse films en wereldcinema. De films brengen bezoekers naar alle uithoeken van de wereld en naar alle vormen van geluk, vreugde en drama. Op deze website houden we je op de hoogte van de nieuwste ontwikkelingen. Onder programma vind je informatie over alle films, hoe laat ze draaien en op welke locatie ze te zien zijn.

Op deze site houden we je ook op de hoogte van alle ontwikkelingen. Dus hou de site in de gaten voor de verrassings- en slotfilm!

LOCATIES

Grote- of St. Janskerk
(Lange Kerkstraat, Schiedam)
Een bijzondere locatie om SuikerZoete films te kijken is de Grote- of St. Janskerk. De kerk waar zich het graf van de heilige Liduina bevindt en de Consistoriekamer nog goudleren behang heeft.

Wennekerpand
(St. Anna Zusterstraat 7, Schiedam)
Het prachtige Wennekerpand is voor het SuikerZoetFilmfestival omgetoverd tot de grootste filmzaal van Schiedam. Met een scherm van 10 meter breed en 250 zitplaatsen is dit leegstaande pakhuis de hoofdlocatie van het festival. Onder het genot van warme chocolademelk kunnen bezoekers genieten van melodrama, multiculturele komedie en melancholische films.

Oud-Katholieke Kerk ‘t Huis te Poort
(Dam 28-30, Schiedam)
Romantiek, drama en humor komen samen in de pas gerestaureerde Oud-Katholieke Kerk ‘t Huis te Poort. Deze kerk is tussen 1860 en 1862 gebouwd. Te midden van het prachtige interieur worden SuikerZoete films gedraaid. Wordt het u teveel, kunt u altijd nog een luchtje scheppen door buiten op de stoel aan de gevel te gaan zitten.

Trouwzaal Oude Stadhuis
(Grote Markt 1, Schiedam)
Waar kun je beter weg zwijmelen bij romantische films dan in de trouwzaal van het Stadhuis waar dagelijks mensen elkaar het jawoord geven. Romantische komedies en emotionele sfeerbeelden vullen deze prachtige zaal.

Filmhuis Schiedam
(Nieuwstraat 12, Schiedam)
In het Filmhuis Schiedam kun je in een bijna huiselijke bioscoop ultieme suikerzoete arthouse films kijken.

Galerie Jabelle
(Lange Haven 50, Schiedam)
Galerie Jabelle is in het dagelijkse leven een kunstgalerie, waar Belinda en Jacques Tange kunstenaars uitnodigen voor wisselende exposities. Voor SuikerZoetFilmfestival is het omgetoverd tot een intieme locatie om film te kijken. Deze locatie staat dit jaar in het teken van ‘Sterke Vrouwen’. De Sterke Vrouwen Ploeg Schiedam heet u hier welkom. Naast de films kunt u hier genieten van de wijnen van Van Weijen & Van Winsen.

Galerie Conny Paap
(Nieuwstraat 18, Schiedam)
De voormalige werkplaats van Aannemersbedrijf Van den Tempel is door Conny Paap omgetoverd tot een inspirerende ruimte. De doeken, verf, paletmessen en kwasten van de eigenaresse maken tijdens het SuikerZoetFilmfestival plaats voor korte films.

Eten en drinken
Schiedam heeft vele restaurants waar u voor of na de film van uw keuze terecht kunt om een hapje te eten. Een pizza, tapas of een schaaltje sushi lenen zich uitstekend voor een combinatie met een film. Ook zijn er diverse horecagelegenheden waar u een drankje kunt drinken. De meeste restaurants en cafés vindt u rondom de Grote Markt. Maar in de buurt van de Koemarkt of het Stadserf kunt u ook goed terecht. Op www.ontdekschiedam.nu vindt u meer informatie.

Op de locaties zelf
De films van het SuikerZoetFilmfestival worden op zeer uiteenlopende locaties vertoond. Wat u tegen betaling te eten en te drinken kunt krijgen, verschilt per locatie. Op de meeste locaties kunt u terecht voor een kopje koffie of een glaasje fris met een filmsnack. Een speciale selectie wijnen wordt geschonken in Galerie Jabelle. In de Trouwzaal van het Oude Stadhuis kunt u vanwege het monumentale karakter alleen water nuttigen.

MEER INFO -> suikerzoetfilmfestival.nl

CULTURES – ART – HISTORY – TRAVEL – FASHION – CUISINE – POLITICS & more…

Art of Words’ blog is dedicated to promote the LOVE for languages.

Art of Words © MMIX

A young girl walks the tightrope by the beach in Pondicherry. Her brother plays the drums to attract spectators, while her parents sit by the side, looking on and waiting for donations from tourists and passers-by.

Another picture of her as she swings to the music, while walking across the rope.

Spectators gather around her:

A man selling colourful toy windmills also looks on.

September 11th

Next morning we said goodbye to Madrid and headed off to the train station with our heavy gear.

As we entered one particular Metro station, two cops stopped me and gesticulated wildly at my backpack. Not comprehending, I thought they wanted to search the bag as an anti-terrorism measure, but apparently they were warning against wearing rucksacks as intended due to a spate of highly skilled tea leaves who could razor such bags and remove the contents without the wearer realising it. Thanks, transport police!

The two and a half hour journey was spectacular and extremely comfortable in our brand new high-tech carriage, and this just a humble local train. Are you taking note, Japan, with your crusty ancient austere rolling stock?

Not only did we get a grand view of the arid but compelling landscapes of Castille, but we were also provided with glimpses of the things we had been forced to omit from our itinerary, namely the enormous royal palace at El Escorial and the medieval turreted walls of Avila. Further on, as we ascended into a region which actually had a few trees, we noticed long lines of modern windmills lining distant ridges.

At Salamanca station I opted for a taxi rather than trust my dodgy sense of direction, and soon we were gliding into the heart of this most Spanish of Spanish towns, its fine sandstone architecture glowing in the late afternoon sun.

The hotel proved to be superb – luxuriously appointed bedroom with separate marble-encrusted bathroom that was in itself was bigger than many Japanese business hotel rooms. In fact, so splendid was our habitation that I began to doubt the veracity of the ludicrously cheap price I had got the room for.

In the mean time, the safe didn’t seem to work, which necessitated some fine Spanish ‘mañana‘ attitude from the reception, who eventually sent someone up to check. It was then decided that a technician needed to be called, who was, of course, much later in arriving than had been promised, meaning that I had to hold off  on the big poo that I so desperately needed. When the diminutive fellow finally appeared, the problem was merely a dead battery. I don’t know if Pedro the Engineer Most Tiny was expecting a tip for his troubles, but he didn’t get one.

Late evening, and we headed out to  Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor, the most beautiful main square in all Spain, and pretty nice it was too, all golden sandstone backed by deep blue sky, and with an enormous stage in the centre since it was festival time in Salamanca and the streets were awash with young revellers and all manner of free entertainment.

Getting the zoom lens out again as a figure appeared in one of the balcony windows on one side of the square, I was hoping for some opulent lingerie-clad bit of crumpet, but it turned out to be just a bloke in a string vest. Nice!

At this juncture the roadies began to soundcheck for the night’s gig, and like an old man I had to beat a hasty retreat as my damaged eardrums couldn’t take the volume of the constant stream of amplified ‘uno, dos, tres.’

Next stop, a well-stocked supermarket, there to purchase all manner of fine produce for that finest of holiday meals, te hotel room picnic. Plums, cheese, smoked salmon, fresh bread, olives and a bottle or two of beer – marvellous, the food of kings!

September 12th

All day to explore Salamanca’s delights, a town encrusted with architectural gems from a rich past, but at the same time alive with the vibrancy of thirty thousand students attending the Castillian equivalent of Cambridge. Noisy sponging bastards!

First stop, the San Esteban monastery, an oasis of tranquility with only a handful of tourists. No rules and prohibitions here, just a beautiful church with a famously intricate plateresque facade a contemplative cloister, and an exhibition highlighting the iniquities of the Conquistadors in South America – enlightened indeed!

Following this, we crossed the river, gaped at at a road sign which clearly indicated just how near we were to Portugal, then recrossed into town by way of an original Roman bridge, the huge cathedral majestically forming a backdrop.

This gargantuan structure proved to be another great attraction, allowing us as it did to climb up onto the roof for panoramic views of the town and a chance to startle huge flocks of pigeons and perve down upon unsuspecting denizens with the zoom lens.

Equally unusual about the cathedral was the access to the upper galleries inside, from where we were able to gaze down upon a wedding in progress. Outside, the groom’s mates were engaged in coating the bridal car in all manner of objects, not to mention stuffing the interior with balloons. What japes!

Next, the vexing question of where to eat lunch once more. Here we dither spectacularly between street restaurants both devoid of custom, and witness a strange kind of critical mass phenomena.

See, nobody wants to eat in an empty restaurant, since this unpopularity might indicate the quality of the food, but then again, if nobody takes a chance all establishments will remain empty and they’ll be a lot of starving tourists wandering around.

Suddenly a group of locals chose one of the restaurants, which gave us the confidence to try it too, and shortly afterwards, as we sat so close to the passing tourists you could smell ‘em, faces full of gazpacho, the clientele swelled to saturation point while the other restaurant remained relatively empty. I suppose on other days it was the reverse. Now why don’t these places employ folk as fake dinners to ensure that the process kicks off?

After taking a siesta back at our hotel we headed out once more for the sights of Salamanca, but unfortunately the university and its ornately carved cloisters were already shut and we had to make do with the House of Shells and the House of Death.

Later in the evening, after the customary hotel room picnic, I came back into town for a last peek at the city, this time its splendours outlined against the night sky by floodlights, the streets full with drunken festival goers.

Next morning we trained it back to Madrid and thence to the airport for our flight back to the ugly sterile straight-jacket of Japan, a milieu so unpalatable after a superb week of Castillian splendour.

Here are some examples of windmills in my country / Aquí hay algunos ejemplos de molinos de viento en mi país / Voici quelques exemples de moulins à vent dans mon pays.

Pienmäki

Elimäki

Joensuu

Koskenkorva

Nivala

Rantasalmi

Rantsila

Säkylä

William Kamkwamba and one of his windmills. From: http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/

Often times, when I go on a search for the latest news in Africa, I am often met with the most unfortunate of headlines.

“Seychelles captures 11 suspected pirates”
“UN condemns violence in Guinea”
“Congo children relive terror of rebel abduction”

It is somewhat rare that the Western masses are exposed to positive news that comes out of what was once called “The Dark Continent.” Africa, like all of its continental counterparts, has its share of unique issues. However, the focus of my blog postings will not only focus on the developmental setbacks that Africa and other parts of the developing world have faced and continue to face, but will also focus on the stories of victory and hope that emerge from the continent every day.

Thus, we’ll start with the recently publicized story of a young man from Malawi named William Kamkwamba. Kamkwamba was an ordinary schoolboy who was dismissed from school after he could no longer pay his school fees. He spent his days at the library, and one day, he came upon a picture of a windmill. He decided to build his own.

Despite the naysayers, those who thought he was possessed or just downright crazy, Kamkwamba persisted. And, after three months and countless scouring sessions for discarded material from his local junkyard, Kamkwamba constructed his first windmill. To date, William has built five windmills and now supplies the same people in his community who doubted him with electricity and running water.

The author of a CNN story about Kamkwamba says that he is “part of a generation of Africans who are not waiting for their governments or aid groups to come to their rescue.” I find this to be a complex observation. Whereas no individual, community, or country should find themselves at the mercy of aid groups, if a community is in developmental peril, then the government should step in – after all, government should do for the people what they cannot do for themselves.

In Kamkwamba’s case, the government did not help him or his community, and aid groups never found him. However, he used the resources available to him to fuel his interest in windmills and his motivation to complete one, ultimately benefiting his community. Kamkwamba is surely not the only young innovator in Africa who could work developmental wonders, given the opportunity. The question then is: How do we (the development community) find, nurture, and help these young people develop their communities? Do we encourage aid agencies to find the Kamkwambas of the developing world and give them the resources to develop? Do we give governments the monetary and administrative support so that they have the capacity to nurture the talents of those like Kamkwamba? Do we battle the cultural practices that William faced (labels of “crazy and “bewitched”) that could otherwise stop young people from creating the necessary tools to foster development?

The truth is, we don’t know. Developmental scholars have an almost overwhelming array of solutions to questions such as these. Despite the fact that situations like Kamkwamba’s do not hold the key to all developmental problems, this story is of significant value in that it is a testament to the innovative spirit of those who live in the developing world. It is a reminder that, regardless of the plethora of issues a developing country, city, town, or village may face, all is not lost. Kamkwamba is living proof of this, and all the potential that is to come from even the most developmentally challenged areas of the world.

–
Effie O. Johnson
Master of Public Administration (MPA) Candidate, May 2011
International Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy
Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, New York University
A.B. Harvard University, 2008

Esta historia es inspiradora, se las comparto.