Pakistani exceptionalism

Sunday, December 18, 2011
Pakistani exceptionalism
Raja had preached before! I assumed he was Indian! Dark hued, handsome, slight of stature and soft-spoken. The very picture of meekness.... em what are the synonyms for meekness: Quiet, Submissive, Quiet, Submissive... being meek myself - as I like to think (;-)], I know the real deal when I see it.
At the end of that church service, the first time I heard him preach, I walked up to him and told him I was blessed by him and asked if he was from Sri Lanka - that is my OBLIQUE way of asking Indians where they come from. I need to sit on a couch and be assisted to figure out why I always go from Sri Lanka to India....
;-))
I'm from Pakistan!!
Huh!?
Paki-what?
Pakistan!!
Come let me hug you.
You're probably my first Pakistani
Certainly my first Pakistani Christian.
You don't mind do you if I post in Facebook I met my first Pakistani Christian
He laughed.
I knew he was separated from his family he talked about sending money home during his sermon.
Yesterday, he preached again - and his gentle voice and head movements, made me do something I only did at Lakewood Houston (my church where the spectacular was routine) - I brought out my camera.... em... iPad - and filmed him for just less than one minute. I filmed him because a phrase popped out of my head as I watched him: that phrase was; the exceptional Pakistani - and after he said: "Pak means holy and Pakistan means Holy country" the phrase Pakistani Exceptionalism seemed suddenly like a good them to build a rambling discourse such as this one around….bound to offend many in the United Sates who had claimed that very phrase for their beloved country…. I thought about GOP presidential debates and interviews past – and the clumsy attempts made to paint Mr. Obama as one who did not believe in American exceptionalism simply because he supposed that everyone created by God was exceptional!
And this was a line of thinking rejected by many who have less travel experience than a whole lot 12 year olds in the 3rd world....
Anyway I said to myself: PAKISTANI EXCEPTIONALISM – and all of a sudden it seemed less a far fetched idea just looking at Raj preach! I said to myself: there is the proof - this young man - A Christian from an oasis in a desert of Islamic fundamentalism. He talked briefly about blasphemy laws - how they were used loosely against Christians...
After church I met him again and we talked…...I would like to say that sitting there in that predominantly ‘Nigerian’ church in France, I received a revelation.
It is hard to say that – because I know you'll think that I am mad! -especially if you are like that egregious Australian Gabi X - Sovereign of Cammeray County. I saw a phrase somewhere that said: “If you think that love will solve every problem in the world, you haven’t met my Mother-in-law” Gabi was THAT mother-in-law (She was Queen of Cammeray County in her spare time too!!). Nothing short of patting the head of an angel on his bald patch would convince her there was a God (and even then the aging angel would have has to worship her daily!! (Daily I say!) for her to believe there is a Christian God)...em... where was I?
Yes! Sitting there in church I received a revelation (Yes Gabi! I am indeed mad – now get out!) and that revelation was that: the exceptional nations on earth were those that supported human freedoms! They ruled the earth and while other nations envied them, to become like them was a secret hidden from the nations of the earth in plain sight!!! It was the secret which would set men and nations free – if they wanted to be free: I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves. Harriet Tubman
Yes men were selfish and if they benefitted from the rotten carcass of the status quo, they would maintain that status quo. Kill (but not die) to maintain it. Kill but not die…. The converse incidentally was true - A status quo, which benefitted everyone, was one, which people would kill or die to maintain!!!

Anyway back to Pakistani exceptionalism.

Sitting in church, it is forgivable that I thought along the line that:
No single nation was exceptional It IS Christianity, which was exceptional……… um…. I got that wrong didn’t I?.... Um what I meant to say is: It was Christianity, which made men and nations exceptional.

Thank you Raja for teaching me that!

…And Pakistan will become an exceptional nation because of you and dozens of committed Christians like you. Pakistan will become PAK-I Stan: The Holy Country – Land of the CLEAN through the redemption and healing found in peace love and the gospel of Christ.
Amen.

THE US PRESIDENT ON MALEFACTORS OF GREAT WEALTH"

THE US PRESIDENT ON MALEFACTORS OF GREAT WEALTH"
"It may well be that the determination of the government (in which, gentlemen,it will not waver) to punish certain malefactors of great wealth, has been responsible for something of the trouble; at least to the extent of having caused these men to combine to bring about as much financial stressas possible, in order to discredit the policy of the Government and thereby secure a reversal of that policy,so that they may enjoy.


No not President Obama... Twas Theodore Roosevelt. one hundred and four years ago......

http://tinyurl.com/3g2g3vz

TORS OF GREAT WEALTH." Too much cannot be said against the men of wealth who sacrifice everything to getting wealth. There is not inthe world a more ignoble character than the mere money-getting American, insensible to every duty,regardless of every principle, bent only on amassing afortune, and putting his fortune only to the basest uses —whether these uses be to speculate in stocks and wreck railroads himself, or to allow his son to lead alife of foolish and expensive idleness and gross debauchery, or to purchase some scoundrel of highsocial position, foreign or native, for his daughter. Such a man is only the more dangerous if he occasionally does some deed like founding a college or endowing achurch, which makes those good people who are also foolish forget his real iniquity. These men are equally careless of the working men, whom they oppress, andof the State, whose existence they imperil. There arenot very many of them, but there is a very great number of men who approach more or less closely to the type,and, just in so far as they do so approach, they arecurses to the country. (Forum, February 1895.) Mem.Ed. XV, 10; Nat. Ed. XIII, 9.

MAKING WASTE WORK!!

I do not remember why I wrote this piece but I believe it was most likely in response to an essay request put out by the economist. Typically, I wrote and forgot about it for almost three years. Cleaning my hard disk recently I stumbled across it. I'd like to share it with you. I have only edited it to replace my real name with ‘Didiscottie’

Obi Akaraiwe

Apr-2011

MAKING WASTE WORK!!

A thing or substance may be described as waste if it is no longer serving a purpose, or is being treated or considered to be valueless, or if it may be expended without useful effect.

Indeed the very act of failing to use an object or substance confers on it the status of waste. Waste therefore, is not an intrinsic characteristic of a thing, substance or activity, but a perception. For instance cow dung gathered preciously and used as fuel, (when mixed with straw) or manure by rural dwellers is repulsive to all others.

In the physical world, it remains to be seen if anything may categorically be described as waste. Nature abhors waste. This is borne out by physical laws, discovered lately by Homo sapiens, and encapsulated as the laws of conservation of energy, of matter, of momentum. These state that - matter/energy/momentum can neither be created nor lost.

Nature always finds a way. So should we. Nature calls nothing waste. We should not either.

Ancient processes such as the great physical and biological cycles known as the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and water cycles respectively show natures preference in the re-use of end products. These natural processes – honed over hundreds of millions of years cannot be said to be fads. Waste works over and over again. And if it works, it cannot be waste. We need at this point to redefine waste.

Nature clearly shows that waste on a cosmic time frame does not exist – rather like muoniums (and other short lived but exotically named atomic particles); it is an intermediate phase of existence. More correctly, we may refer to such objects or substances (now referred to as waste), asunused end products.

What then is the concerns (if you will) of the environmentalists and greens considering that nature has shown a great and unstoppable capacity to refine and re-use sundry end products.

Has nature failed? Yes and No.

Yes - in the sense that mans destructiveness was not fully anticipated by nature. Destructiveness is a harsh and uncompromising word but best describes man’s present unnaturalness, or his quest to attain, maintain and even expand the boundaries of this unnaturalness. A quest, which has given rise to prodigious amount of unused end products and by products – far beyond natures ability to cope as it, always had. Quite literally, we are with billions of tons of feckless waste straining her very bowels.

In some cases - as in the burning of fossil fuels, the end products arise as a result of incomplete burning. This itself rather than the mere act of burning appears to be account for a large proportion of the problem.

In others as in radio active or highly toxic industrial wastes, it boggles the mind on how or why certain materials are ever considered as suitable raw materials for any industrial process given that they are eminently unusable except through arcane refinement processes as logical as the alchemists dream. Mankind has thus set the agenda without regard to his environment and it is doubtful if the products of all such industrial processes rank higher than 'nice-to-have' items on the scale of opportunity costs.

Let us consider the burning of coal:

“… During the incomplete burning or conversion of coal, many compounds are produced,

Some of which are carcinogenic. The burning of coal also produces sulphur and nitrogen oxides that react with atmospheric moisture to produce sulphuric and nitric acids--so-called acid rain. In addition, it produces particulate matter (fly ash) that can be transported by winds for many hundreds of kilometres and solids (bottom ash and slag) that must be disposed of. Trace elements originally present in the coal may escape as volatiles (e.g., chlorine and mercury) or be concentrated in the ash (e.g., arsenic and barium)[1]

Or look at man's intrusion into the nitrogen cycle (emphasis & paragraphing mine):

In natural systems, nitrogen lost by denitrification, leaching, erosion, and similar processes is replaced by fixation and other nitrogen sources. Human intrusion in the nitrogen cycle, however, can result in less nitrogen being cycled, or in an overload of the system.

For example, the cultivation of croplands, harvesting of crops, and cutting of forests have all caused a steady decline of nitrogen in the soil.

On the other hand, the leaching of nitrogen from over fertilized croplands, cutover forestland, and animal wastes and sewage has contributed to water pollution by adding too much nitrogen to aquatic ecosystems, resulting in reduced water quality and the stimulation of excessive algal growth[2].

Where we may ask is the balance?

The balance between responding to our environment by living a natural unspoiled life, and responding tothat which has been created by Homo sapiens. From which there seems no alternative rather a resignation to our fate as partakers (albeit reluctantly) of the despoliation of our planet.

On the other hand, has nature failed?

No.

In the sense that nature abhors unnatural processes such as incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, and presently works to expunge Homo sapiens us from her its garden. Phenomena like the depletion of the ozone layer and global warming, the emergence/re-emergence of phantom diseases with re-engineered vectors point to the fact that Homo sapiens’s guardian angel – Mother Nature has by omission or commission left his fate to his own hand. He caused the problem. He must solve it.

But how?

By optimising the re-use of end or by-products. Bringing it nearer home, by making waste work.

As part of my submission, I have undertaken to study what I consider to be the most unrelenting, harmful and unnatural source of waste today: the burning of fossil fuels.

Precisely seven years ago, I first gave thought to the all-encompassing wastage associated with automobiles. Their unused potential and kinetic energies, and unused exhaust fumes. I will in the subsequent paragraphs try to give life to my thinking seven years ago which I have long sought an avenue to express.

At that time I sought an immediate solution to the spewing of these dangerous gases. One solution would be the development of alternate technologies such as the electric motorcar. Such cars or hybrid models, which utilise power generated from improved fossil burning and sundry voltaic sources, will no doubt limit environmental damage. But in the meantime, shall we just shrug and wait for that day? Shall we not utilise waste in fighting waste?

Making Automobile associated wastes work:

Because of the burning of fossil fuels, the clearing of forests, and other such practices, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing since the Industrial Revolution. Atmospheric concentrations have risen from an estimated 260 to 300 parts per million (ppm) in pre-industrial times to more than 350 ppm today.

Although such increases have not yet been great enough to cancel out natural climatic variability, projected increases in CO2from the burning of fossil fuels suggest that global temperatures could rise some 2° to 6° C (about 4° to 11° F) by early in the 21stcentury. This increase would be significant enough to alter global climates and thereby affect human welfare.[3]

If all exhaust fumes were suctioned as soon as they are expelled from the vehicle, they no longer have the potential to disturb or unbalance our delicate ecosystem.

If we can have a clearinghouse for this waste so gathered, and if we could utilise the contents of this clearinghouse as the source of raw materialsfor industries, then what do we have to worry about?

Three ‘Ifs’ represent at best a shaky proposition. We must tread carefully.

Let us start with the last two propositions:

If-1: If we can have a clearinghouse for this waste so gathered

Assuming (just assuming) we are able to provide suction - massive enough - such that exhaust fumes escaping from vehicles are carried away from the atmosphere, such a clearinghouse will probably (but not necessarily) be sub-surface. Let us assume it is sub-surface and massive suction fans are able to pass to it, a prodigious volume of gaseous substances – comprising of air (Nitrogen, oxygen) & exhaust fumes.

The function of the clearinghouse will be to:

1. Separate different components of its intake

2. Pass air back to surface.

3. Pass the others to different facilities where they are compressed and stored.

If-2: If we could utilise the contents of this clearinghouse as the source of raw materials.

The contents of the clearing house being the exhaust fumes. Primarily these are: Carbon monoxide – a very important industrial fuel, carbon dioxide – very useful industrially – as fire extinguishers, providing the effervescence in carbonated drinks, and as an industrial reagent in the manufacture of washing soda & baking powder. How do we separate the constituents of the exhaust fumes?

In one word, Gas-Chromatography:

This technique permits separation of mixtures consisting of gas compounds or of substances that can be vaporised by heat. The mixture is carried by an inert gas along a narrow, coiled tube packed with a material through which the components flow at different rates. The separated components are detected at the end of the tube.[4]

The gases received this may then be compressed and stored and transported subsequently, or fed directly to industrial processes.

Power?

How shall we power for these massive suction?

By harnessing the kinetic and potential energies of moving vehicles and converting to electrical power.

How? One method will be to integrate platform on roads – lets call them kinetic pads, very similar in design to speed breakers – different in that they may be gently pushed down - by the wheels of the vehicles travelling on them and are able to quickly recover from this in order to be depressed again – an again.

This reciprocating motion may be converted to useful energy by a variety of means. One of which will be connecting the rubber encapsulated kinetic pad to crankshaft. Such that the motion occasioned by the depressing of the kinetic pad is converted to rotary motion.

We may then connect to the crankshaft via a flexible mechanical coupling a shaft bearing concentrated windings. From experience, I recommend not less than six poles. Around this shall be our multi phase distributed windings. Using synchroscopes, the output of several such generators may be combined.

The generation of power by the motion of automobile on its own could form the basis of an exhaustive treatise on making waste work.

Whereas using the motion of automobiles to generate power for the massive suction motors may help in minimising the amount of pollutants in the air, another idea would be to utilise the potential energy of hundreds of millions of cars all over the world in generating electricity for national grids around the world. What’s more electricity generated by the strategic placements of the so-called kinetic pads may be tied together to form a global electricity superhighway.

Designed from the scratch to be global, short-term benefits will include jobs creation: as tens of thousands of kilometres of copper or aluminium cables will have to be produced. Such an arrangement will require transformers. New techniques and materials will be developed to enable sub sea high power transformers. These high power transformers will have to be modular in design in addition to being installed in ‘Hot stand-by’ mode such that a faulty unit may be unplugged and replaced with minimum manoeuvre or disruption to power supply. A whole new service industry will emerge.

Long-term benefits will be:

One: The abundance of electricity globally – will reduce he use of fire wood, coal and other non-friendly sources of heating /cooking in the developing world,

Two: Reduce the wide proliferation petrol/diesel electricity generators in such countries (where public electricity output is insufficient).

Three: Introduce the possibility for making a prima facie case for legislation on power generation globally.

Four: Utilising the enormous amount of power locked up in the ‘wasted’ motion of automobiles, may lead to the redundancy of all but the cleanest power sources.

By

Didiscottie

21/9/99

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[1] "coal" Encyclopædia Britannica Online

[2]"Nitrogen Cycle," Microsoft® Encarta® 99 Encyclopaedia. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

[3]"Carbon Cycle (ecology)," Microsoft® Encarta® 99 Encyclopaedia. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.[4]"Chromatography," Microsoft® Encarta® 99 Encyclopaedia. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Child labor

The West does not understand child labor. Is delivering Newspapers in Houston child labour? Or making cookies to raise money for the boys scouts.... Let them help to alleviate poverty. stop accepting money from.... did anyone know Gaddafy had 30 billion dollars invested in US banks? Stop selling arms to poor countries. It keeps people in the west employed but destroys..... Stop accepting payments for loans taken 50 years ago, which were never utilized.. as a matter of fact, which found their way back to Western banks.....