New material

I know I’ve said this before, but The Persistent Itch is back! I’ve missed having the recurring surge of creativity and intellectual stimulation required for coming up with a new posts for this blog. The following ideas have been bouncing around in my head for a while, and I am now committed to start writing posts beginning with these subject.

• World Resource Allocation

Who is to blame for ever increasing fuel and food costs? Bush, OPEC, speculators? No, actually the proverbial “starving child in China” and others in the developing world are “at fault” for trying live the life we in the west are accustomed to—and therefore we can’t really blame them.


• Islam’s Last Gasp

Terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, refugee unrest in and around Israel, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the rise of Islamic parties in Egypt and Turkey, and even riots in France and England seem to point to a rising tide of Islamic extremism around the globe. However, I posit that this is actually fundamentalist Islam’s last gasp; an overwhelmingly young demographic in most predominantly Muslim countries are actually yearning for western products, music, and popular culture; those young people that are embracing extremist Islam are actually a tiny minority.


• Fair Trade

Juan Valdez gets an extra fifty cents per bag of coffee, which is great, but if I have to pay an extra three dollar to give him this fifty cents, is is really worth it? I suspect that, due to the less efficient supply chains of “sustainable, fair trade” companies, Juan gets a smaller percentage of my purchase price when I buy “fair trade.”


• Local Food

For all the talk of “food miles,” I suspect that a carrot shipped 500 miles in a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer (that is packed to the roof) actually has a smaller carbon footprint than the carrot brought 50 miles into town by the friendly, local organic farmer in his pickup truck or box van.


• Gift-o-marketing complex

Just as there may be sinister military/industrial complex convincing our leaders in the White House and Congress to buy, buy, buy expensive new weapon systems, associated goods, and services, there is a very real and sinister force that is influencing us to buy and gift items to friends, family, and acquaintances for an ever-increasing number of holidays and special occasions. I would not be surprised that within the next generation these marketers will have convinced Americans that it would be socially unacceptable to not exchange Arbor Day gifts among friends and family.


• Personal investing strategies

They say to build wealth, start an investment account with as little as $500; while I understand the sentiment, I think it’s downright stupid with for someone with $5000 or more of credit card debt—which is most Americans.


• Save by NOT buying at all!

While this concept is so obvious that I can’t imagine needing to expound on it, apparently a lot of people don’t seem to understand that unless you really need/require something, in the long run you will be happier and more prosperous by delaying or even denying yourself the purchase of unnecessary goods—more of my minimalist philosophies.

On the computer front, I have a new laptop—with which I am writing this right now—the diminutive Asus eee series 900. It’s a great little computer that attracts attention wherever I go and does 90% of what I need it to do—all for just a little over $500! Despite its ultra-portable form-factor, I actually don’t drag it around with me most of the time because I have a computer in my pocket that lets me surf the web, check my email, or jot down a note—the Apple iPhone. Thanks to Ziphone.org I didn’t have to sign up for the pricey AT&T data plan—especially since the EDGE (GPRS) data network is so slow it’s practically unusable.

Red Bank Hydro
After a nearly year-long lull in this project, the motor/generators were finally installed earlier this year, and as of 21 May 2008, we are officially making power! Unfortunately, this coincided with a drought period here in South Carolina, meaning we are only able to generate a fraction of this plant's potential, and only during the peak hours of 12:00-22:00. I have been gradually designing and installing progressively more sophisticated controls; the next step is to install a water level transducer and program the PID functionality of the PLC to ride the level of the lake. YouTube video

Twitter
As if blogging is not enough of a chore, I signed up for “Twitter” the micro-blogging (140 character maximum—for SMS) service. I did it only to secure http://twitter.com/froese but who knows, I might occasionally throw some status updates out there, so follow me if you have an account; in any case, I’m adding the feed to the right hand column here.

Back home

Sorry for not posting anything lately. I’m not quite sure what to write about anymore, and I’m afraid I’ve already lost most of my audience. Never the less, I do intend to keep blogging indefinitely regardless of where I am, so do come back every once in while.

So, for some highlights from the past 3 weeks: After arriving back home from being abroad for 16 months, my homecoming was overshadowed by an announcement from my brother and sister-in-law—they are going to have a baby! Obviously, we are all very happy for them (especially my parents.) But, hey, Joel just returned—you stole my thunder! ;-) Not to be outdone, my other brother and sister-in-law, made an announcement 2 weeks later…that’s right, they are going to have a baby too (in fact they are even farther alone!) So, yes, it is kinda hard being the only single person left in my family, but I’m used to it.

On the day before Thanksgiving, I met with some current IMBA students that I had met in Vienna back in March (they are doing the exact same program I did 2 years ago.) We met at the Carolina Coliseum to see our local, minor-league hockey team get beat by a team from Florida. This was first time I’ve ever been to a hockey game; thankfully Daniel (IMBA 2007) was able to explain the finer points of the game to me and his classmate, Antonio (who is from Puerto Rico, and had also never been to a hockey game.) What an incongruous sight, to see two teams from the Deep South playing a game that would, under natural circumstances, be impossible here.

Thanksgiving was great; I fully enjoyed the traditional feast and seeing family that I had not seen for over a year. Our last guest was my cousin from Germany, who is an au-pair here in South Carolina, unfortunately no one told her that Thanksgiving dinner takes place in the early afternoon; she arrived at 19:00—oh well, I know that feeling (lack of knowledge of local customs.)

The next day, I braved the crowds on the biggest shopping day of the year to browse the newest electronics at Best Buy and Circuit City. That evening I met two of my former classmates that still live in Columbia, one from Bulgaria and one from Romania. It was good to exchange notes on living/visiting each other’s countries.

The next week, I finally put my bike together and went out for a ride again. The weather was unseasonably warm—24C (75F.) Now I remembered what I liked about South Carolina! However, I have really gotten out of shape, because after my usual 53km (33 mi.) loop, I was exhausted. I promised myself to get back into shape, but the weather has turned colder, and I’ve only been out on one other occasion.

Hydro project

Ever since we moved down from Ohio and my father purchased the house where I grew up for most of my life, he has wanted to harness the water that flows out of the small lake that his property is situated on. However, through the years, this idea had been forgotten until my youngest brother expressed interest in it 2 years ago. Ever since then, they have been gung-ho about it, plowing right into the excavation and building of the power plant (pictured) without researching whether it is even economically and practically feasible. They have had no electrical, mechanical, or any other kind of engineering assistance or even any kind of drawings other than the proverbial “sketch on the back of an envelope.” Despite this lack of professionalism, it looks like they will soon have a turbine spinning in the power plant very soon. A week ago Saturday, we all piled into my brother’s pickup truck and drove to the outskirts of Atlanta to pick up the rebuilt turbine and associated hardware that they had ordered from an equally “seat of the pants” micro-hydro expert. This was loaded into the pickup and a trailer (pictured), and with a minimum of verbal instruction on how to put it all together, we headed back home. My other brother and I—who have been warning them against this foolhardy scheme—are impressed that they have gotten this far, but we’re still doubtful that they will ever produce any substantial revenue from selling power back to the local electrical co-op. We see it as a source of amusement, watching them from the sidelines as they muddle through. Despite our collective electrical and mechanical expertise, we have vowed not to help them in this foolish endeavor. Never the less, we do hope they are successful, and now that looks increasingly likely.

Reverse culture shock

For the last 3 calendar years, I have spent a total of 26 months abroad. After each homecoming, I wait for the phenomena called “reverse culture shock.” However, even after not touching American soil for 16 months (except for the US embassy), I still have not experienced it. In fact I am amazed at how natural it feels to be back home; it’s almost as if I haven’t been gone. Granted I am restless, and I am looking forward to the next adventure.

The one characteristic that is unmistakably evident is that everything in America is big! Food and beverage portions are big, hence Americans are big, and therefore they drive big SUV’s (it seems no one drives a regular car anymore.) I am alarmed at how much weight I’ve gained in the past 3 weeks; I now consciously watch out for overly processed, high fat food (that, granted, tastes so good!)

Seriously, what I have found downright sickening—especially around the holidays— is this run-away consumer culture. Why do we feel compelled to listen to marketers and buy junk for ourselves and our family and friends that we don't need? Then we rent storage space, buy/build sheds, and finally, get a bigger home just to store all this junk. Granted, Americans aren't alone in this compulsion; but since Americans and (mostly young) Europeans are used to financing their lifestyle with credit cards, it is more evident here. I expect this disease to spread to other parts of the world with the expansion of consumer credit. I am thankful that my parents drilled it into us that “if you don't have the money, you don't need it!”