Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch blogged about a great way to help eliminate poverty - by providing microloans to entrepreneurs in small countries. Helping people help themselves is a great way to give aid.
Anything from $20 to $350 can help someone start their own business in Karachi, Kabul or Kirkut. Read more here.
I receive 1 or 2 letters per day and at least 3 out of 4 of them are pointless.
Why do companies still write letters? Has nobody told them that emails are free?
I previously wrote how the Organ Transplant website showed excellent use of NHS money. Old habits die hard though, prompting me to send the following email to Christine Cole at UK Transplant. If enough people complain about needless mail, organisations will stop sending it.
Dear Christine,
I received your letter confirming my registration as a donor and the card attached to it.
However, it is pointless! If you want to confirm my registration (which the website already did on the "thank you" page), send me an email.
Post is dead….
It wastes NHS money employing staff to write, print and post letters.
It wastes NHS money on the cost of postage.
It wastes paper and plastic (the unnecessary donor card).
It wastes my time opening and then throwing away the letter.The UK Transplant website is fantastic. Allowing people to sign up online as a donor is a brilliant idea and the site is very easy to use. Well done! Please now take that next step and replace all paper letters with emails.
Best wishes,
Jake Brumby
400 people died in the UK last year while waiting for a transplant. Register now.
In the mood to save paper? Cancel your Yellow Pages.
Have you ever noticed how people forget about their childhood dreams, aspirations and beliefs as they grow older? It's a gradual process that seems to happen to almost everyone whether they notice or not.
Is it just me, or when you were younger, could you see obvious solution to problems? Did you wonder why we put up with things that were blatantly wrong or ill-conceived? Did you wonder why it took us years or decades to implement simple ideas and still they weren't done as well as they should have been?
Recycling facilities for paper, glass, plastic and aluminium. Proper school dinners. Energy-efficient housing. Renewable energy plants. Alternatives to petrol and diesel. Affordable and reliable public transport. No smoking in public places.
Most of these great ideas are still waiting to happen, yet thinking people (particularly children) thought of them 10, 20, 30 or more years ago. I use the expression thinking people because it seems that when we get a job and then a better job and then a house and a husband/wife and a family, we forget to really think. We just go with the flow. We get into a comfort zone and are easily influenced by the media and advertising. We begin to forget those great ideas we once had and we lose the ambition to actually make them happen.
Let's not forget them. Let's nurture them and grow them through action. Let's keep our brains and spirits alive and kicking.
Now here is what prompted this post - The Story of Stuff - the latest outstanding video from Free Range Studios.
I just found a new vehicle while surfing.
Here are the specs…
Now visualise what a car with such high performance would look like.
Now go and see what the car is.
If you enjoyed that, you might also like this great looking car and this space age one.
Both the Tesla and Aptera are in production now but have a seriously long waiting lists and can only be purchased in the USA. The Tango has not yet reached mass production.
Update: The Tango is already in production and you can order one from the UK. I just received this email from their President, Rick Woodbury:
Hi Jake,
Thanks for your enquiry:
Yes, you can certainly pre-order one for the UK.
We are shipping one to London with a few months.
The T600 is available now. It is made to order. Orders placed now will take approximately 6 months to deliver. The price is $108,000 in USD, fully equipped including a 10-year unlimited-mileage parts warranty. We can customize the Tango or remove items at cost if so desired.
Lead-acid batteries that have a range of 40 to 80 miles depending on speed and terrain come standard. Li-Ion batteries are also available with a range of 100 to 200 miles or more of freeway driving with prices ranging from approximately $25,000 to $50,000 depending on type and capacity. We are expecting a final quotation and warranty shortly. The Li-Ion batteries promise much more power than even the lead-acid.
We are also taking deposits on less-expensive models which will be designed and built as funding becomes available from profits or investment capital.
There is more detailed information on our web page under the "Ordering" button.
If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Best wishes,
Rick
So you can order a T600 now ($108,000 with $10,000 deposit) and receive it in 6 months, or you can pre-order a Tango T100 ($18,700 with $500 deposit) and wait 2-3 years.
I was thrown off a train at Marylebone Station 4.58pm today because I had a bike. I argued with the railway staff, including the station manager, but they enforced a rule that would not let me on their trains between 4.30pm and 7.30pm.
The train was ready to depart and there were plenty of spare seats. But they forced me to wait in London for 2 and a half hours before I could use my ticket.
People should be commended for choosing to cycle, not thrown off and prevented from travelling. Cycling, instead of driving, reduces CO2 emissions and gives people exercise. Climate change and obesity are two of our greatest challenges - cycling to work helps solve two problems in one go.
Encouraging cycling is clearly a good policy, so let's not prevent people from doing a good thing. Let's make more space for bikes on trains or just increase the frequency of trains. It's as simple as that. Yes it might mean refitting some trains or adding a carriage here or there, but if we're serious about climate change and obesity, having bikes on trains is a no-brainer.
The station manager told me that the ban was 'governments rules'. I questioned his judgement and rightly so. From what I've since read online, only some train companies ban bikes on trains, though it is an increasing trend.
The Labour Government harps on about 'integrated transport' and tackling climate but as usual, it is hype and rhetoric. Labour was petitioned 14 months ago to allow bicycles on trains but they declined to help, saying it was up to the train companies. We didn't elect our Government to pass the buck.
The train companies don't get it. The government doesn't get it. So where do we go from here?
For the last 600 miles, my Volkswagen Polo 1.4tdi has been running on a mixture of diesel and vegetable oil.
It's an experiment I've been wanting to run for 2 years but I'd been put off by the antiquated Inland Revenue taxation regime on fuel. That was scrapped recently so you can now put vegetable oil in your car without paying fuel duty. (Check that your car can run on biodiesel before trying this!).
I have done no modification to my 2001-built VW Polo so I was a little apprehensive for fear of damaging the engine. The car is designed to run on diesel, but the handbook states that it can run on up to 50% RME (Rapeseed-Methyl-Esther) mix, so I should be safe. Some diesel engines require modification because vegetable oil is more viscous and puts more strain on the fuel pump. It can also be harder to start the engine in winter.
To minimise the risk, I used a 1:4 mixture in my first tank. My mix is:
The fuel tank capacity is 10 gallons (45 litres). So I put 9 litres of vegetable oil into the car, then filled it up with diesel.
The price of diesel recently rose above £1.00 per litre. Vegetable oil costs about 55p per litre in the supermarket. So, by using a 25% mix, I saved about £4.05 on a tank of fuel. On my next tank, I will use a 50% biodiesel mix, and will save over £10 per tank.
There was no noticeable change in the average MPG (miles per gallon) - I recorded 68mpg which is what I achieve with standard diesel.
Biodiesel is, arguably, better for the environment than diesel. It comes from a renewable source and the CO2 emissions are equal to the sequestrated amount when the vegetable grows, so it is carbon neutral. However, some people believe that it is contributing to the destruction of rainforest as Malaysia, Indonesia and other developing countries cut down their rainforests to plant palm oil, which can also be used as a biofuel.
Seeing as I am burning sunflower or rape seed oil, I don't think I am having a direct effect on rainforests. But if I wanted to run the ultimate biodiesel car, I would copy my mate Adam and collect used vegetable oil from the local fish and chip shop, run it through a filter then stick it in my car. It's free and it's an otherwise waste product. Everyone's a winner!
If you want to investigate biodiesel, there are lots of useful websites. I recommend this one to start with.
A British company has come up with an ingenious method of turning potatoes into plastic. Vegware uses the technology to create disposable items such as cutlery and tableware.
It's cheap too - a mixed bag of 10 knives, forks and spoons is only £2.97 (about $5.90US). For mass caterers, a bag of 1,000 knives costs £29.90 +VAT and shipping (about $59US).
The cutlery gets its strength from potato or corn starch and its actually stronger than standard plastic cutlery. Being made from vegetable matter, the products are totally biodegradable, so they are dramatically better for the environment than plastics made from oil.
Order online…
Free Range Studios have been at it again. The crazy creative team have composed their latest movie to help spread awareness of biodiverstiy and environmental issues.
In a DaVinci Code theme, animal symbologist Robert Penguin and the dashing agent Sophie Minnow race to expose the greatest lie ever told.
Before you sign the road pricing petition that has swept the UK, read what you are signing and do some research into whether you really support it. The petition reads as follows:
The idea of tracking every vehicle at all times is sinister and wrong. Road pricing is already here with the high level of taxation on fuel. The more you travel - the more tax you pay.
It will be an unfair tax on those who live apart from families and poorer people who will not be able to afford the high monthly costs.
Please Mr Blair - forget about road pricing and concentrate on improving our roads to reduce congestion.
The idea of tracking every vehicle at all times is sinister and wrong.
The big brother concern is quite right. However, it is up to the UK as a nation (providing the government listens to public opinion) as to how the vehicle usage data is used. I don't like the idea of being tracked everywhere I go, but if I know that the data can only be accessed and used for specific and agreed purposes that I can trust in that, then I don't mind. Obviously we don't want an Orwellian future, but we can avoid that with the proper use of technology. The "idea" of tracking every vehicle at all times is not sinister and wrong - it is how that data may be used that could be sinister and wrong.
Road pricing is already here with the high level of taxation on fuel. The more you travel - the more tax you pay.
Current motoring taxation is collected through road tax (your tax disc) and fuel duty (the tax on petrol/diesel). The current system cannot be used to affect our behaviour in regards to reducing congestion. It has no way of creating a financial incentive/disincentive for driving at a certain time of the day. Is that a really such a big issue? We would all like to reduce congestion, but if avoiding traffic jams was that important to us, wouldn't we change our behaviour voluntarily and choose to go to work before or after the rush-hour? Also, taxation on fuel is cheap for the government to collect which helps keep the (astronominal) public sector costs down. Plus it is true that the more you travel the more fuel you consume, therefore the more tax you pay. So, it would seem that taxation on fuel is effective plus there is a financial incentive to drive a higher MPG vehicle (therefore, reducing your environmental imapct). Perhaps there is a case for scrapping tax discs and increasing duty on fuel (to make up the difference).
It will be an unfair tax on those who live apart from families and poorer people who will not be able to afford the high monthly costs.
This claim is nonsense for two reasons. Firstly, the person can choose when to travel to minimise the price of their journey. Most journeys to visit family will be at weekends when traffic is lighter and travelling at this time will cost less or may even be free. This new system could in fact work out cheaper for low income people if they use it wisely. Secondly, if the government is seeking to raise the same amount of motoring revenue as is currently raised, the overall taxation burden across the UK will not rise. In practice, it may rise because, characteristcally, the government will spend more than it plans to, the system will have technical problems and the cost of raising the tax may be higher than the combined cost of current fuel tax and fuel duty. But as far as I have understood (and a clearer breakdown from the government on its exact plans would be appreciated), the government does not intend to use this new pricing structure to increase the total tax burden - on average we will still pay the same amount each. Pay-as-you-go road pricing is a fair model because you pay for what you use. You pay for how much you travel just as you pay income tax depending on how much you earn and VAT depending on how much buy.
Please Mr Blair - forget about road pricing and concentrate on improving our roads to reduce congestion.
We should welcome all ideas and for improving our transport system and should critically analyse every one of them for pro's and con's. The governments' idea of road pricing via satellite tracking is no exception. It should not be dismissed in a whim as this petition does. It should be debated openly with the involvement of the public, planners, scientists, economists and politicians.
Many questions arise from the governments' dramatic road pricing proposal. Here are some of my thoughts. Please add your thoughts below.
Watch the entertaining new movie from Free Range Studios about how we need to reclaim food and make it healthy again.
Another great movie from these world saviours!
Zible is the blog where I, Jake Brumby, save things of interest...
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