What if I told you that you could save less than a second about half the time you use the microwave?
If you are like me, you frequently use less than 2 minutes cook time on your microwave. Are you aware that many microwaves will accept time entries of up to 99 seconds? Let’s say you want to irradiate some food for 1:30 like I often do. Try entering 90 seconds. You may find that you can save yourself an entire button push.
Imagine how this could add up over a lifetime.
Piracy is a legitimate form of income in modern day Somalia. You can buy a coffin at Costco. A percentage of scientists believe that everything you know and love is the by-product of a computer simulation which does not have you as its purpose. Try to rectify yourself to that cosmological irrelevance if you can.
Somewhere out of the corner of my eye, I recently read that, “The only real tragedy in life is not to have been a saint.” That got to me.
I’m a married man in America.
I do truly believe that a practical solution to many of our largest problems has been with us for over a century. It is called the bicycle. I felt for a long time that it was reasonable to suggest this to people.
Maintaining our current level of comfort and helping reduce global warming is probably having our cake and eating it too. Increasing efficiency is rarely fun.
It has been my experience that moderation in all things truly is a secret to a good life.
I’ve often wondered: in any given system, how can an all-powerful and all-knowing entity not at least share responsibility in all outcomes?
C.S. Lewis makes a point that gluttony as a sin is far more destructive in developing delicacy than in mere excess consumption.
When I watch a wild animal these days, it is easy for me to think that I am watching one of God’s thoughts.
Her name is Maureen. She has waited very patiently for me to return from Sudan for over a year. One might think that was enough. It was more than enough, really. But did she stop there? She did not.
I’ve been riding this bike frame for 9 years now. It was a hard day for me when I sat on the top tube and it suddenly was entirely separated from the seat tube. It honestly felt like a pretty bad omen considering the timing–days before I left for Africa. I look forward with relish to reassembling the thing from the ground up. Maybe I will finally build those disc brake wheels I’ve thought of for years.
I was simply flabbergasted when Maureen slid this thing out of a large box she had in her closet. I would not have guessed in 100 years that she had accomplished this for me and kept it secret. There is quite simply no material gift in this world I would have been more delighted with.
Maureen, you are a gem. I don’t even know what else to say.
There is a time to face facts. With the Kororak Primary School that time is now. The first school building simply will not finish during my time in Sudan. I admit to real disappointment.
My replacement–an engineer from Kenya named Moses Wandabwa–is with us now. I have given Moses all the information on the school, and I am confident that he will have little difficulty seeing it to completion. But there is a pang. If you have ever handed someone else a crying baby with a suspect diaper, you may recognize the feeling.
In the end, it was the mobilization of basic materials that slowed us. Sand, gravel, large stones, and water were and are needed in an abundance I could hardly believe. The community was very willing to help, but the work was simply monumental. There was just no speeding it up. Gravity is not someone you can get into a hurry. I know this.
I predict two more full weeks to completion of the first building. I would expect the next building to follow in less than a month and a half. As it stands now, the first building has three trusses erected on steel beams and about half of its first meter of stone wall complete.
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Toby days remaining: 4
I started my day today with the following:
1 fried egg on bread
4 tablets Coartem
1 pill multivitamin
1 pill probiotic
2 tablets extra strength Maalox PLUS
2 pills acetaminophen
500 ml Coca-Cola
Given that breakfast of champions, it is probably safe to assume
anything suspect I now relate is due to hallucination. I don’t normally
ingest quite so much chemistry in the morning. I have been caught in
what I now believe to be a cross-fire between several body ailments. It
is exceedingly unpleasant when hunger makes you nauseated, nausea makes
you thirsty, and drinking water makes you hungry.
Cement was poured into a hole in Kororak today. PICTURE There is no turning back
now. There is every reason to hope we can have masons bringing up the
walls before the end of this week.
I had intended to pour the remainder of the foundation tomorrow.
However, one of our tractors’ trailers broke down. This means we won’t
have sufficient sand tomorrow to mix concrete. I dare say that in the
course of my time here, there has rarely been a week that one of our
trailers was not broken. Sure, the X-prize is cool, but if you want a
real design challenge try building a trailer that will operate for three
successive weeks in Nuba.
Toby days remaining: 14
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