I'll think of a good title later

After zero investment (I just used what I would have normally thrown away) & no skill or expertise what so ever, I now have an orchard.

I now make a habit of collecting various seeds & just sticking them in the ground. I always thought that gardening was really difficult & I am really amazed at how things just grow.

I'm not sure where all these trees will end up as they get bigger but I think a bit of guerrilla gardening might be in order.

Also the MyOpera photo albums are ace!

So Richard Branson is Offering $25 million to the first person to come up with a method to remove at least 1 billion tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere per year.

Well, here's my effort:

Stop consuming so much useless crap.

I applaud Richard Branson for putting up a prize fund & I sincerely hope that someone (maybe Nikkogen?!) does come forward with a solution & bags the prize money.

But what gets me is that the problem is posed as if we don't already know the solution: If you want to empty the bath, turn off the tap.

If Mr Branson still requires specifics then how about this: Get rid of packaging, patio heaters, escalators, automatic doors, running machines, leaf blowers (is there anything more futile? /Shatner), shops that keep their displays illuminated throughout the night, cosmetics, electric kitchen knives, juicers, whisks & toothbrushes, fairy lights, the fashion industry, open freezers in supermarkets, disposable carrier bags, disposable nappies, motorised golf trolleys, shopping channels, remote controls & cosmetic surgery.

Nikkogen is a new start up company that claims to be able to produce a scalable power generating system that emits no emmissions, doesn't use carbon based fuel, is location independant, has low running costs & only requires a small space. It will also do your ironing & sort out the soft & hard centres in a box of chocolates.

http://www.nikkogen.com/index.html

Technical details on how all this will actually work are somewhat lacking & some people have picked up on this:

http://timworstall.typepad.com/timworstall/2006/11/nikkogen.html
http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/2006/12/04/nikkogen-redux/
http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/2006/12/05/entropy-itll-get-you-every-time/ (an excellent post)

Like everyone else I'd love for Nikkogen's claims to turn out to be true but I really can't see it.

If only the soap operas on TV were this interesting.

Northern Ireland has followed the Republic of Ireland's lead & announced they will ban smoking from workplaces & enclosed public spaces starting in 2007. Scotland announced a similar ban earlier this year too.

I don't smoke, & I never have done. I am also hoping that the legislation does make its way over the Irish Sea towards England because it will be better for the environment & I believe the whole country.

It certainly seems now that the wants of non smokers are being put above the needs of smokers. The statistic quoted in the BBC article that 91% of people supported a total ban on smoking sounds ridiculously high to me. I'm pretty sure that non-smokers do outnumber the smokers but that has to be the result of a biased sample. Regardless of the actual figures for the smoker/non-smoker split, I'm sure most people have heard the quote about democracy being two wolves & a sheep deciding who's for lunch.

I hate having to suffer through second hand smoke, I am infuriated by the added strain on the National Health Service & most of all I can't stand wading through discarded cigarette butts on the pavements & seeing smouldering fag ends being flicked out of car windows. Most smokers seem totally oblivious to how filthy & prolific their littering habits are.

Even so I can't help but feel that smokers are becoming a downtrodden minority, that they are being forced into bending to the will of the non-smokers. In a perfect world no one should have another person's will forced upon them. Everyone should be left to change their mind. I guess though that the amount of time people have in which to change their mind is proportional to the amount of damage they are doing, & if some people cannot see the damage being done what choice is their?

I have heard many times a number of the smokers at work complaining about being harassed by non smokers about the anti social aspects of their smoking. Outside of work the vast majority of my friends are non smokers & we tend to choose to go out to non-smoking pubs & restaurants much to annoyance of the few who do smoke. & I do feel sorry for them. No one should have to suffer for doing what they enjoy doing, & if their chosen vice didn't adversely affect everybody else I would be in full support of their wishes to be able to light up whenever & wherever they like.

So to all you smokers, the smoking bans are for everyone's own good & I support them totally, but for what its worth I do feel guilty about it.

I've never understood how anyone could enjoy smoking so The Little Red Pack was a very interesting read for me. It is an article written from, "essays and testimonials on tobacco-information websites run by the Chinese government."

From the facts listed at the start of the piece it is quite obviously propaganda, but interesting nonetheless.