Archive for July 2, 2008

AquaVentus Supplies Drinking Water from Air

July 2, 2008 · Filed under Climate crap, Don't That Beat All, life in Florida

AquaVentus is hoping to make money out of thick air.

The St. Petersburg company makes a compact refrigeration unit that produces 20 gallons of clean, drinkable water a day by wringing the humidity out of air. The unit is the size of a large cooler and can be powered by electricity, a generator or solar power.

For now, the company is focusing on selling in the Southeast U.S., the Caribbean and the South Pacific. But the mini-waterworks will work in areas where the relative humidity is as low as 40%, including coastal California and just about anywhere east of the Mississippi River, says James Hill, founder of AquaVentus.

AquaVentus also sees disaster preparedness organizations as potential customers. During natural disasters, the need for clean water is often more important than the need for power. Orders to boil water were issued in much of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties after Hurricane Wilma in 2005, for example. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that Hurricane Katrina affected more than 1,220 water utility systems.

Marine Desalination Systems in St. Petersburg — which had a licensing agreement with AquaVentus — developed the air-to-water technology with help from a $1.87-million grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research after Sept. 11. The research group is working on two additional projects that will be used for a five- to 10-gallon version and a 100-gallon version.

AquaVentus will start selling its 20-gallon unit next year for $2,250. It hopes to be able to sell the 10-gallon unit for less than $1,000. The company plans to sell its units through a network of generator dealers. It projects sales of a little less than $1 million in 2009 and $5.7 million in 2010. Hill is looking for $2.5 million in investment capital to ramp up manufacturing, sales and marketing and to beef up the management team.

While the AquaVentus is designed to be used outdoors, a number of companies, including Fort Lauderdale-based WaterPure International, are marketing “atmospheric water generators” for use indoors. Units are plugged into an ordinary electrical outlet. They look similar to soft-drink vending machines. A reservoir holds approximately four to eight gallons of water.

Source: Florida Trend

WHAT a great gadget! This would be especially useful in Florida after a hurricane because one thing we will have in abundance is humid air and contaminated water.

This could be useful for wilderness camping as well as disaster preparation. When they get down to manufacturing the 5 and 10 gallon sizes, I want one.

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Body of Fletcher High Marine KIA in Iraq Returns Home

July 2, 2008 · Filed under Terrorism

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL — The remains of 23-year-old Corporal Marcus Preudhomme have been returned to the First Coast.

Corporal Preudhomme and two other Marines from his division were killed by a suicide bomber last week. The Department of Defense reports Corporal Preudhomme and Lt. Col. Max A. Galeai, 42, of Pago Pago, American Samoa; and Capt. Philip J. Dykeman, 38, of Brockport, N.Y. died in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

A suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform detonated an explosive belt during a meeting with local sheiks and community leaders opposed to Al-Qaida, killing the three Marines and 30 Iraqi citizens.

Preudhomme served as an administrative clerk with 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3rd Marine Division, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. He joined the Marine Corps in April 2005 and reported to Hawaii in October 2005.

His awards include the Purple Heart Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, two Navy Meritorious Unit Commendations, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons.

Preudhomme listed North Miami Beach as his hometown.

He is the third person in uniform from the First Coast, and the second from Fletcher High, to be killed in Iraq since Memorial Day.

He graduated from Fletcher High in 2004. An honor guard escorted his remains off a plane that landed at NAS Jacksonville around 11:15 a.m.

Hundreds lined the road to salute as the procession drove past.

Source: First Coast News

Rest in peace, Marine. You died trying to make the world a better place, something that many of the rest of us cannot claim.

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Georgia Teen in Thrown Baby Video Face Charges

July 2, 2008 · Filed under Don't That Beat All

LEE COUNTY, GA — A teenager put up a shocking video on YouTube, showing him using a large, inflatable pillow to launch an eight month old baby through the air.

Now that 16-year-old boy is charged with felony cruelty to a child.

He was arrested after a Lee County school teacher saw the video and called the Sheriff’s Office.

It’s a mother’s nightmare.

A 16-year-old boy demonstrates, for the world to see, how to, as he put it, ‘make a baby fly.’

He puts the baby on an inflatable pillow, then jumps on the pillow to launch the baby through the air.

The baby landed several feet away on the floor and can be heard crying.

“It was terrible,” says Lee County Sheriff Harold Breeden. “I can’t believe a 16-year-old kid would do something like this.”

The 8-month-old child was left in the care of the family of the teen who was actually behind the camera shooting the video.

The Lee County Sheriff’s office got a call from a Lee County High School teacher who was shown the posting by another student.

Fearing for the child’s safety she called investigators, and now her former student is in the detention center.

“He’s incarcerated in RYDC,” Breeden said. “We took him down this morning and he has been arrested and charged with cruelty to children in the first degree, and in the third degree.”

The first count for violence to a child under 18 and the second count for allowing his 16-year-old friend to see the violence by encouraging him to videotape it.

The teen who videotaped it is not charged with a crime.

Pediatrician Donna King, who has 8-month-old twins, says the baby could have been seriously injured.

“Trauma to the skull, of course comes to mind at first. A trauma to the skull resulting in the fracture of the skull which can cause a contusion to the brain, bleeding inside the brain,” said the doctor.

As for the teen’s actions, the Sheriff’s office hopes others will learn from their mistake.

“It’s not going to be funny when the judge gets through with him, he’ll think twice next time you know, about how funny it was,” Breeden says.

The video has been removed from the YouTube site and the teen, who’s never been in trouble before, must now await his fate in court.

The Lee County Sheriff’s office has asked the baby’s parent to have the child seen by a doctor, they’re still waiting to hear if the baby had any injuries from the fall.

Source: FirstCoastNews.com

I can’t say it enough. Be careful who you let watch your children. Who you *think* is watching your child may not be who is actually watching your child.

The kid who videotaped the incident should also be charged. He was certainly complicit.

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Government Considering Euthanizing Wild Horses

July 2, 2008 · Filed under Uncategorized

Salient Points:

1. There are 33,000 wild horses on the range in the west which are too many to support without land degradation per the BLM. The BLM would like there to be 27,000.

2. There are more than 30,000 captured wild horses in holding facilities where they are available for adoption.

3. Old, unadoptable horses are put into long-term facilities for the rest of their lives. It cost the agency 22 million last year to hold these unadoptable horses. The costs next year are projected to reach 26 million. The budget to capture, care, and adopt out wild horses has been cut to $37 million.

4. While the program has been successful until recently, the high cost of feed and fuel means that adoption rates have dropped. Indeed, the high cost of fuel and feed means that a person that wants a horse can get a trained, gentle horse for little or nothing from desperate people that cannot afford to care for one anymore.

5. Those unadoptable horses will have to be euthanized.

Read the whole story in Dallas News

From the Bureau of Land Management website:

How do I adopt a wild horse or burro?

To adopt a wild horse or burro, you must:

-be at least 18 years of age (Parents or guardians may adopt a wild horse or burro and allow younger family members to care for the animal.);
-have no prior conviction for inhumane treatment of animals or for violations of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act;
-demonstrate that you have adequate feed, water, and facilities to provide humane care for the number of animals requested; and,
show that you can provide a home for the adopted animal in the United States.

If you meet the adoption qualifications requirements, either:

-complete the Adoption Application and mail it to the BLM office serving your area or,
-complete the online Internet Adoption Application.

The BLM will contact you during the application review process to verify that your facilities meet the minimum requirements for the number of animals you want to adopt. When you adopt, the BLM requires you to sign a Private Maintenance and Care Agreement. This agreement includes the following statement:

“Under penalty of prosecution for violating 18 U.S.C. 1001, which makes it a Federal crime to make false statements to any agency of the United States, I hereby state that I have no intent to sell this wild horse or burro for slaughter or bucking stock, or for processing into commercial products, within the meaning of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, 16 U.S.C. 1331 et seq., and regulations 43 CFR 4700.0-5(c).”

You must agree to sign this statement at the time of adoption.

How much does it cost to adopt a wild horse or burro?

The minimum or base adoption fee for each wild horse or burro is $125. Mares and jennies (female burros) adopted with their unweaned foal are $250. Most adoptions use competitive bidding to establish the adoption fee. The base adoption fee applies to adoptions using a lottery draw, or a first-come, first-served method. Since March 1997, when competitive bid regulations were approved, the average adoption fee has remained around $125 per animal. Some animals do adopt for a higher amount during the competitive process, but the average remains within the $125.

If you have a few acres to provide grazing and exercise for the horse(s) or burro(s), enough spare time to spend on training, and want to preserve a part of America’s heritage of wild horses, go to the website and check out the requirements. I went to an adoption event a few years ago; we had a stock trailer, not a horse trailer; our corral was not high enough, and husband would have had a fit if we brought another horse home, so we (daughter and I) couldn’t adopt. We went just to look at the horses. There were some good, sturdy-looking horses and burros there that I would have been proud to own.

I would sure like to have a burro or two for the grandkids; however, I can’t see spending a few thousand dollars for a horse trailer to carry a $125 burro.

Okay, let me rephrase that. SwampMan can’t see spending a few thousand dollars for a horse trailer when I say I can’t afford to buy a new vehicle and my truck is 15 years old.

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