Power From Your Septic Tank, Part 1

I have been putting off writing this post for awhile because someone was negotiating with me about writing it for their blog and paying me. Apparently they gave up on their blog, so I am going to go ahead and write it. Approximately one quarter of Americans live in homes with septic tanks for sewage treatment. A properly operating septic tank uses anaerobic bacteria to digest the sewage. This produces methane gas, one of the worst of greenhouse gases. The treated sewage water is safely allowed to soak into the ground because this process destroys pathogens. It should not be allowed to flow into surface water because it is rich in nutrients but it will produce nice vegetation. The methane is mixed with carbon dioxide and water vapor in what is known as gobar gas. In some third world countries this is utilized for cooking and refrigeration or to power fuel cells for electricity.

I am looking for people to help in fostering a movement to begin the conversion of septic tanks to capture that energy. I will publish more information on the subject in the next few weeks, but I would appreciate any comments on the subject in the meantime.

How Can a Blind Man Hunt Ducks?

Recently Phil Robertson, one of the stars of the television show Duck Dynasty, has been getting a lot of publicity because of his statements about race and homosexuality. His statements about homosexuality are getting the most note, but his statements about race relations in the days of Jim Crow are so purely ignorant as to deserve pity. I suspect that Phil has always had "colored" friends and he probably has homosexual friends (the term "gay" suggests that homosexual men prance around giggling, just as the term "faggot" suggests that all gay men work as night-club singers). I also suspect that he would be appalled by some of the very-unChristian hate expressed by some of his supporters.

It should be pointed out that none of the teachings of Jesus express any anti-homosexual bias and that there are some passages of the New Testament that seem to allow for homosexuals to be members of Christian churches. A few months ago I saw an article referring to the "Queen James" bible and passages which seem to allow for homosexual couples to be church members. So much other stuff is on the web now about this translation that I haven't been able to find the article that I remember.

I suspect that the reaction on both sides of the  issue is out of proportion to the man and his statement.  I believe his statements on race deserve more attention. I was in Louisiana during Jim Crow days, as well as several different parts of the South. I can assure you that "black" people were not happier. His black friends didn't complain to him because he was white. They didn't want to be hung from the nearest tree and probably didn't want to see him suffer from the wrath of racist groups. In the early 70's I had an older black man talk about how when he was younger he would visit white friends. He would go to their back door so that he wouldn't be lynched and his friend's house burnt down.

I am sure that many homosexuals support the right of the man to express his views, even though they disagree with at least most of what he said. Perhaps the debate will be healthy.

I also would like to mention the recent extreme reaction to Paula Deen's admission that about 30 years ago she had used the "N word" after being robbed at gunpoint by a black person. Notice that all the complaints came from "white" people. I would classify myself as  "liberal", but I am embarrassed by the reaction. Most of the black people I know would have used the same term and don't blame her. The question is "how does she behave today?".

Olympic Weightliftng

I just wrote an artcle for a powerlifting site, writing about Olympic Style weightlifting. Back in the 1960's I was a member of the Lower Peninsula Weightlifting Club and trained under Bob Crist. Bob later became national chairman of the AAU weightlifting committee.

For many years the United States virtually dominated international weightlifting under the leadership of Bob Hoffman, owner and president of York Barbell company. The Soviet Union and some of the other Communist countries began to employ steroids and Bob Hoffman began to slow down in his later years. Professional bodybuilding began to grow under the leadership of someone who hated American weightlifting.

Traditionally, weightlifting, powerlifting, and bodybuilding had been part of a sports community called "the iron game". Most people in the sport did some of all of it. John C. Grimek won major titles in bodybuilding and represented the U.S. in weightlifting in the 1936 Olympics. When I was competing in the mid 1960's in Virginia the dominate 148lb lifter was also the dominate bodybuilder for several years. Powerlfting was just becoming established as a separate sport and most powerlifters also competed in weightlifting.

I think I will add weightlifting to the subjects for this blog.Look for some more on the topic.

One of my Poems from 1994

Fading from my sight

   As the rain cleansed the mountains

            From my vision

      I watched the parting

               Of the mists,

        From which I see

                The Earth is born.

And God whispers so

      Gently,

Filling the mountains

    With the

     Quietness

  Of  His  Voice

Far more fully

     Than the roaring

         Of thunder

copyright 

1994 atop Rich Mountain

Think I got it now

While writing a guest blog for Vernayaweightlifting I think we figured out how to paste from my word processor into my blog. I had the opportunity to write an article on the two-hand snatch, one of the surviving Olympic lifts. I notice that the rules have been changed to allow cheating. I will save that for writing on that blog. I should be able to get a new real post done in the next day or two.

Nelson Mandela Takes His Place in Hstory

Today saw the passing of one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century, Nelson Mandela. His wisdom  in leading the end of apartheid allowed South Africa to become one of the World's major powers. Many African nations that were heavily colonized by white Europeans saw all the wealth and civilization created by the white colonists plundered and destroyed when those white regimes fell. Mandela chose a different path for his nation.  That was a path of reconciliation. He lead the black South Africans to say to the white and Asiatic South Africans "We don't want to take what you have built. We want to share. We want to work with you to build a nation we can all be proud of."

Today South Africa is a nation sometimes referred to as the "rainbow nation" because of the way all of its people work together. I remember a time when one of my friends (with the knowledge to act on his plans) expressed a desire to "nuke" Johanessburg. Today only racist extremists look down on South Africa.

Africa also produced another great twentieth century world statesman, Haile Selassie, also known by some people as Ras Tafari.  Tafari was his given name and Ras is the title of nobility he held before he became Emperor.  He gained great respect on the world stage when he denounced the aggression of Axis Italy. A minor religion, Rastafarianism, considers Ras Tafari to be the second coming of Jesus. Some alternate interpretations of this aspect of Rastaferanism exist. Rastafarianism is also noted for their great musical tradition and use of copious amounts of marijuana as a sacrament. The religion is popular as an artistic movement. The world has gained much from the cultural impact of this movement.