Justification for the Ethanol Propelled Vehicle Project in Malawi

Towards the end of last month, I read an interesting press release by the Government of Malawi's Department of Science and Technology. This Department is conducting research on the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel for petrol driven motor vehicles. This project is being done in collaboration with Lilongwe Technical College and Ethanol Company of Malawi. The Ethanol Company is providing all the ethanol that is being used for the experiments free of charge and has imported a flex vehicle from Brazil for further experiments. A flex vehicle uses petrol an ethanol in any mixture in a single tank.


The Malawi Government raises a number of exciting facts to justify this project. I have paraphrased these facts here and there for my online community. These facts are as follows:

1. The availability of excess ethanol: The current use of ethanol in Malawi is about 50% for blending with petrol, the rest is used for industrial purposes and export. Therefore it would not be a mistake to use some of the excess ethanol as fuel in motor vehicles more especially because the export price is lower than the local price. It has also been pointed out that the sugarcane fields at Dwangwa, Nchalo and Kasinthula can be expanded to produce more sugar that will result in more molasses for more ethanol. More sugarcane fields can be openned quite easily in other places. As you can see from the map above, Malawi has plenty of water which can be used for irrigation throughout the year!
   
2. Implication on fuel imports: Volumes of fuel imports into Malawi show that the government bill on fuel import is increasing every year. Records show that the price of petrol has been increasing yearly from MK1.8 billion (about US$12.86Million) in the year 2000 to around MK5 billion (about US$35.7 Million) in 2005. A combined import bill with diesel is around MK15 billion (about US$107 Million) per year. With these statistics, it is easy to see that continued escalation of fuel prices is a major cause of the cost-push inflation in Malawi. This is not sustainable for the economy of the country. Therefore the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel will help the country to save the much-needed forex for other vital activities in the country.
3. Conservation of the environment: It is a well known fact that the burning of fossil fuels such petrol, diesel and coal releases carbon dioxide, which is contributing to global warming. Fossil fuels also release oxides of sulphur and nitrogen which contribute to the formation of acid rain. The burning of ethanol does not release extra oxides of nitrogen and sulphur, thus its use is environmentally friendly.
4. Depletion of fossil petroleum reserves: It is a well known fact that the world reserves of fossil fuels are being depleted at a fast rate due to increased consumption of fuels as a result of national economies globally. Therefore, Malawi finds it safe to start using alternative sources of energy before the global reserves are depleted. Furthermore, ethanol is a renewable energy source because sugarcanes are replanted after the area is harvested.
5. Poverty alleviation:As expected, the use of ethanol for fuel will increase demand for sugarcane. Expanded sugarcane farming will offer employment opportunities to Malawians. Other Malawians will get additional employment in the sugar as well as the ethanol processing and marketing chain. This fact coupled with fact # 2 will make a huge positive impact on Malawi's economy. Malawi may finally find her way out of poverty!
   

In the next posting, I will explain the current state of the project and the way forward.

The Hide My IP Address Site!

Internet Protocol (IP) addressing is a crucial component of the Internet. An IP address is a unique address that computers use in order to identify and communicate with each other on the Internet. Although this kind of addressing is invaluable for the Internet, it comes with its own privacy concerns because it is tied to the online life of a user. When your computer is online, it will constantly broadcast your IP address to the cyberworld. If some hackers come to know your IP address they can easily target your computer for fraudulent activities.

If you wish to have more privacy on the Internet, then you must consider getting yourself the Hide MY IP address security software. This software is available at an affordable price. With a one time subscription, you are entitled to 100% FREE upgrades for life plus lifetime support. Isn't this a good bargain?

The Hide MY IP address security software is currently available for computers running on Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 95/98/ME. I just hope that it will be available for other platforms as well in the near future.

My facebook account is back!

It is an indisputable fact that facebook is one of the greatest online social utilities of our time. I joined facebook a few weeks ago after a long period of hesitation. Within a short period of time, I have managed to link up with many of my family members, old friends and even new ones. However, I have been having some problems with facebook for the past two weeks. They disabled my account because I took repeated actions that had been construed as spam by the facebook system. I really did this because I was desperately looking for a particular piece of information. I resorted to sending the same message to different people on facebook to increase the probability of getting the information.

Upon querying the facebook team, they told me that after reviewing my situation, they have reconfirmed my account and I should now be able to access it again. I am glad because my account is back!I have created several links already using this account. I would like to inform my facebook friends that I am back :)

The facebook support team further advised me not send or post any more form messages because further violations of their Terms will result in the termination of my account. I guess this experience serves as a lesson to other people as well.

Non-profit free drug rehab referral service

Promoting free online stuff is one thing that I enjoy doing on this blog. Why should people be paying for services that are available at no cost? I know that there are some crazy guys out there who would want to squeeze the cash out of you even when they know that the service that they are providing can be accessed for free elsewhere.

Recently, I found a non-profit free drug rehab referral service, which I would like to recommend to you. To begin with, drug rehabilitation is a medical and psychological treatment of human beings addicted to alcohol, painkiller addiction treatment, illegal drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, methadone or heroin. I am sure most of us are aware of the of the dangers of drug and alcohol addiction on our society. Drug and alcohol addicts experience a wide array of physical effects such as depression, withdrawal, sickness, over dosage and criminal life. Drug-related crime can disrupt neighborhoods due to violence among drug dealers, threats to residents, and crimes amongst the addicts themselves.

The goal of a drug rehab is to relieve the patient of their abuse, so that they may avoid the psychological, physical and social damage caused by the addiction. To find a drug rehab service fitting for one's problem is a mammoth task because every addiction and addict is different. Now, this should not be a cause for concern to you because the guys at at 1-800-NoDrugs.com have already devised a solution to this problem. These guys are providing a free drug rehab referral service for you to use 24 hours a day 7 days a week.If you or someone you know is fighting addiction and needs help finding the right drug treatment program then 1-800-NoDrugs.com is a good place to start looking for help. The folks at 1-800-NoDrugs.com are connected to an International network of drug rehab treatment centers for all types of alcoholism, drug addiction, substance abuse, dual diagnosis, and chronic relapse clients.

They have an online assessment form for you to fill up where you can provide as much detail as possible, following which an experienced counselor will call you up.Testimonials of this service also show that it is indeed a helpful service.

This was a sponsored post

My Disclosure Policy

As my blog continues to evolve, a disclosure policy becomes important. Therefore, I generated my own disclosure policy.The details of this policy are as follows

This policy is valid from 24 August 2007.

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Clement Nthambazale Nyirenda (nyirendac at gmail dot com).

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org.

No follow attribute on my comments has been removed!

I have some good news for all people who comment on my posts. I have removed the NO FOLLOW attribute on my comments.I used the the guidelines outlined by Rocky John Tayaban . I will begin by explaining the origins of this attribute just in case someone is lost. All blogger templates have a default NO FOLLOW attribute on their comments. This is done in order to discourage spamming. Although this is good, the negative effect is that search engines such as Google will not follow any links created on your comments.

The removal of the NO FOLLOW attribute on my blog will enable search engines to follow the links created on my comments. So, from now onwards, if you comment on my posts, the links that you leave behind will be recognized by search engines. This is a wonderful way of thanking you for reading and commenting on my posts. By so doing, my online community will continue to grow.I just hope that other bloggers will follow suit.

In case you are scared of spammers with the removal of the NO FOLLOW attribute, I advise that you activate comment moderation on your blog. This will enable you to review every comment left on your blog before it gets published.You can activate comment moderation by doing the following:

1. Click Settings on your blogger dashboard
2. Click Comments on the settings page
3. Scroll down until you find Enable Comment Moderation?
4. On Enable Comment Moderation?, Click the Yes Option
   
5. Type your email in the Comments Notification form
6. Click Save Settings

When you do this, you will receive all comments on your posts in your email. You will have the liberty to either reject or publish them.

Japan to start research on the new generation of the Internet

News reports indicate that Japan will start research and development on technology for a new generation of the network that would replace the current Internet. This technology is expected to be released for commercial use in 2020. Speaking to reporters in Brazil, where he is visiting, the Japanese communications minister Yoshihide Suga said

an organization will be set up as early as this fall with cooperation from businesses, academia and government offices for promoting the technology when the Internet is seen to be faced with increasing constraints in achieving higher throughputs of data as well as ensuring data security. The envisaged network is expected to ensure faster and more reliable data transmission, and have more resilience against computer virus attacks and breakdowns. The ministry is hoping Japan will take a lead in development of post-Internet technology and setting global standards, a move that ministry officials believe would help make Japanese companies competitive in the global market for hardware and software using such technology.

Some tech commentators are of the view that this is a duplication of the US led Internet2 project. I beg to differ with this way of thinking. The Internet2 project has been around for more than ten years. The Japanese might have seen its shortcomings (remember that they are very smart) hence their interest in coming up with their own initiative. After all, this is just research. Let the Japanese and all other capable nations do their own research on this issue. If their interests coincide with the Internet2 project, they are free to collaborate with the US guys.

Many Africans, including me, have a strong liking for Japanese technology. If you come to Malawi today, you will find Japanese cars (Toyota, Mitsubishi, Isuzu etc) and motorcycles (Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki etc) of all types. Actually, as I was growing up, my paternal grandfather used to own a Honda motorcycle. In light of this, I am of the view that a Japanese spearheaded Internet revolution will spread to the rest of the developing world more easily. As a result, all this talk about the digital divide will be history. What do you think?

It's official: MyLiveSearch's much awaited public beta will be launched on Wednesday 29th August 2007

Just a few minutes ago, I received an email from Rob Gabriel, the developer and founder of MyLiveSearch notifying me and many other anxious technology enthusiasts that the WWW's first true live search engine's much awaited public beta will be launched on 29th August 2007. To quote Rob Gabriel in his own words, he says

Some time back you showed interest in MyLiveSearch, I am happy to announce that MyLiveSearch will be launching its much awaited public beta on Wednesday 29th August 2007.

You will receive an email just before that date to allow you to have access to the MyLiveSearch plug-in. I would have hoped to release the beta release earlier but strongly believe that continued development has now made MyLiveSearch even more advanced than ever before.

Once you try MyLiveSearch you will be able to explore the internet like never before and see for yourself how this technology will have a profound impact on how you search the internet.

I appreciate your time and interest today and look forward in helping you to push the boundaries of this amazing new technology.

This is good news to all of us. It somehow comes as a direct response to my earlier post, in which I asked about MyLiveSearch's exact launch date. Did Rob Gabriel read my post? I don't know. That aside, I am now eagerly looking forward to MyLiveSearch's beta phase. I am really interested in observing the liveness of its searches.I am also interested in learning its algorithmic constructs in order to fully understand its uniqueness.I plan to optimize my blog on this search engine. With the buzz that MyLiveSearch has created, I will surely get more visitors through them.

View my blog in ten different major languages of the world

From today onwards, my visitors will be able to view this blog in ten different major languages of the world besides English. This development comes at a time when the patronage to this blog is increasing drammatically. My online fan base is exploding. I am very excited because my fans will now be able to read my postings in the language of their choice. If you check the column on the right, you will see a widget with which you can translate this page to Arabic, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, French and Korean. This widget is available for free at Google Translator Widget blog.

New Low Cost Solar Computer in Uganda

Balancing Act reports that a UK firm, Inveneo Inc has launched a low cost solar/battery powered computer onto the Ugandan market. After searching for Inveneo on Google, I have discovered that these people have a great vision--Connecting villages around the world. (In some circles, someone would have said turn to your neighbour and say it is a good vision)

Inveneo points out that over 2 billion people in the developing world live in rural and remote communities that lack basic access to information and communication technologies--telephony, computing, Internet access. In response to this need, Inveneo, a non-profit social enterprise, creates and sells highly affordable and sustainable ICTs that are specifically designed for organizations--governments,NGOs,private enterprises--that serve rural communities with vital services that include education, health care,economic development,relief and telecentres. This is great stuff! You can visit their site and make a paypal donation. Theirs is indeed a great cause. You will actually see more posts on the activities of Inveneo Inc on this blog in the near future. Today, we will just talk about the low cost solar computer which they have launched in Uganda. Balancing Act reports that

the computers at Ush1.6 million (US$941) a piece are mainly targeting the rural areas that have no or limited access to conventional electricity. With five hours of good sunlight a day, the computer will offer unlimited service to the user.

I am of the view that US$941 is still on a higher side even though Alintuma Nsambu, the Uganda state minister for ICT, says that this computer will be affordable because it will be tax-free. Most people in the rural areas cannot afford paying this amount. It is, therefore, my wish to see other people joining hands with Inveneo Inc by making donations in form of money and expertise in order to develop mass production techniques. The increased volumes will bring down the prices as suggested by Inveneo's chief executive officer, Mark Summer.

Let me wind up this posting, by inviting Inveneo Inc to Malawi. We also have villages which need to be connected to other villages around the world. We will receive you with both hands! Even the President, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, will be happy to have you around :).

Popular search engines know me :)

As a blogger, I have discovered that search engine optimization can drive thousands of free traffic to my blog site. As a result, I have developed a huge interest in search engines. The traffic received from search engines is usually of high quality because it is organic. It is giverned by natural instincts of the visitors. Of late, I am receiving traffic from several other search engines besides Google. This makes me so happy. So far, the popular search engines that know me include:

1. Google
2. Yahoo!
3. Live Search
4. Ask
   
5. ChaCha
6. Search.com

If you know other search engines, put them down in the comments section below so that I can find out if they know me.

A Challenge to blog against abuse

On 27 September, 2007, a day before my birthday, bloggers from all over the world will be joining forces to blog against abuse. On this day, thousands and thousands of bloggers will write against different forms of abuse that have plagued our world. Even though this initiative is being organized by Blogcatalog, the social blog directory, bloggers who are not members of Blogcatalog can also take part.

On my part, I am pleased to let you know that I will take part in this campaign. Similarly, I would like to encourage you to take part if you have a blog. You do not have to write a long essay. Even a few lines will be enough.You will have the liberty to define abuse as you wish. The advantage is that if more of us speak out, there will be a higher probability for our voices to be heard.Please take a look at the Blogcatalog Stop Abuse discussion thread for more details.

Watch African movies online!

For those of you who want to Watch African Movies online, I would like suggest that you visit Izogn Movies. These guys allow customers from across the world to watch the latest Nollywood, Nigerian and African movies online. If you like the likes of Nkem Owoh, then this is the place for you. Having watched these movies before, I can confirm that these movies are no slouch at all. They will give you an opportunity to learn more about the African culture. When you sign up for Izogn Movies, you will have the opportunity to watch the first movie for free. For Africans in diaspora, these movies will remind you the African tradition values.

It is also encouraging to see that Izogn Movies has been nominated for a Black Web Award for the Best Black Movie Site!

Free Online Storage Services

As Google and Microsoft compete to deliver online storage services, it is interesting to see other lesser known players doing well in this business. Recently, I stumbled upon a Webaction posting which presents a list of free online storage services. Apart from reproducing the list here, I will provide the links to the their websites in order to save you from the hassle of googling or yahooing them out. Here we go:

Box - 1 Gb free space
4shared - 1 Gb free space
DriveHQ - 1 Gb free space
VMN - 1 Gb free space
Dropboks - 1 Gb free space, 50 Mb file size limit
esnips - 5 Gb free space
MediaMax - 25 Gb free space, 10 Mb file size limit
OmniDrive - 1 Gb free space

As the digital age continues to evolve, do not deny yourself. Utilize these freely available online facilities. They are meant for you. If you know other similar sites, place their links in the comments section below. Spread the word and let us all enjoy :)

I signed up for PPP!

Almost all bloggers that I have seen in the blogosphere monetize their blogs in one way or another. Needless to say, the main aim behind all this monetization business is to make a little $$$ from the blogosphere as we blog about issues that are relevant to our various themes. A month ago, I came across yet another monetization service known as PayPerPost, courtesy of Gerri's blog. As the name suggests, this service pays you for every sponsored post that you write for them. You have the freedom to blog about issues that you love. For instance, in the recent past, I have blogged positively about ChaCha. If ChaCha had placed a call for bloggers at PPP, and I happened to blog about them the way I did, I would have received some money out of it.

After going through the PayPerPost website for some time, I eventually signed up as a member. My blog was initially rejected because my posts in the past 90 days were less than the required number of 20. After working on this, my blog was approved a week later. Now, I can search through their current opportunities and find out if there is anything really thought provoking and relevant to me and to my readers so that I can write on it. I can now earn a few dollars on a task that I would normally do for free. If you are looking for a way to monetize your blog, I recommend that you visit PayPerPost and submit your site.

On the other hand, if you want to place blog ads , talented bloggers are ready to to review your products and services at PayPerPost :)

Our Secondary School needs help!

Today, Victor sent me an email that has really disturbed me. It's about the pathetic status of Rumphi Secondary School (RUSESCHO), an institution where I spent four years of studies back in the 90's. Of course, I have always been aware of the challenges faced by the school but the situation on the ground is much worse than I thought. Victor further reports that recently the School placed a newspaper call for support from the alumni.Therefore, it is important for those of us who went through the corridors of this school to take this call seriously.

For some time, I have been discussing with former RUSESCHO friends how we can help the school. Almost everyone involved in these discussions is of the view that something must be done urgently in order to save mother RUSESCHO. Remember our motto is forward ever, backward never. With the help of a few friends, I set up a google discussion group known as Ruseschonet. The major objective of this group is to come up with ways and means through which we can help Rumphi Secondary School. We will also ensure that what has been resolved on the forum is pursued and implemented on the ground. If you went through the corridors of RUSESCHO, we need you on this forum. Please forward your contacts to me (nyirendac at gmail.com) so that we can add you to the group.

On the other hand, Higger Mkandawire, is also busy mobilizing friends and alumni on the ground. A meeting will be taking place in Blantyre shortly. Keep watching this space for more details.

I have 5 pownce invites

I have five pownce invites to share with my visitors. Pownce is a way to send messages, files, links, and events to your friends. Sharing pownce invites with my visitors will help me to extend our ever growing relationship to the pownce network.

Please leave your email in the comment section below. To avoid spam just give me your id and domain name. Do drop your email even when the five available slots are filled, because I will get some more invites in the near future.

MobiK, please include countries from Sub-Saharan Africa

A friendof mine at Marketing Pond sent me an invitation to join MobiK. He said that with MobiK , one can send free sms to all friends from a computer as well as from a mobile phone. One can make new friends and earn some cash from taking part in surveys and from downlines.

When I clicked the link, I was taken through a good tour which taught me more about their service. I was, however, let down when I tried to join them because my country, Malawi, is not on the list of eligible countries. I also established that most countries in Sub Sahara Africa are also not on the list. I therefore would like to ask MobiK to extend their operations to Sub Sahara Africa as soon as possible. If you know some guys at MobiK please forward this message to them! They must emulate Vyke, who have introduced VoIP retail calls to Africa at near to wholesale rates.

ChaCha knows me!

Today, I found myself on the ChaCha home page, courtesy of a Digital dreams posting. ChaCha is said to be a new way of searching with the help of a real person skilled at finding information on the internet. This sounds similar to mahalo.Is there any difference between the two?

Just like I did with mahalo the previous day, I tried to search for my name on the www i.e. using "Clement Nyirenda". I was shocked to see that ChaCha can produce up to three pages about me while mahalo did not produce any. Now that I have registered with them, chacha enables me to search the internet with a guide. This is so exciting :)

My League of Five for July 2007

My League of Five is a new feature that I am introducing on this blog today. This feature will carry a short review of five blogs or blog postings that have impressed me in particular month. The inaugural My League of Five posting includes the following:

1. Malawi Politics: This is a place where you can get the latest political news on Malawi. Somebody posted a link to this blog on Nyasanet, a discussion forum for Malawians. Upon clicking the link, I discovered that the blog has lots of information on Malawian politics. The author of Malawi Politics also serves as an editor for Africa Global Village.
2. Manchild:Roderick O. Solomon is the man behind this inspirational blog. I came to know this blog through Mybloglog. This blog really provides inspiration to brighten dark days and lonely nights when all seems lost. It is also interesting to see that this blog is not monetized.
3. Digital Dreams: This is a tech blog written by Sureshkumar Jeyakumar (I like the rhyme in his name). I visited this blog for the first time a few weeks ago.It offers great tech tips. I would enjoy it very much if Suresh can be updating it more frequently.
4. Rocky John Tayaban's blog: I came to know this blog through the BlogCatalog discussion forum, where Rocky John's discussion threads attract widespread participation. On the other hand, his blog is also full of information on blogs and blogging. It offers great tips for both the new and the experienced blogger.
5. The United Fakes of America: Authored by Charles Rey, a sociopolitical critic and public speaker, this blog is a place where global news is explained as simply as possible but not simpler. I like Charles' way of thinking and writing skills. I hope to brush up my writing skills based on what I learn from him.

My LiveSearch, when exactly is the launch date?

Some weeks ago, I submitted my details to become part of the My Live Search beta program.My Live Search is said to be the first true, real-time search engine to appear on the www.It is also said to be the only engine that searches the www live to the second.With such capabilities, this search engine has created a lot of hype in the cyberspace.I even blogged about it some few weeks ago. I am really interested in observing the liveness of its searches.I am also interested in learning its algorithmic constructs in order to fully understand its uniqueness.

As of now, I am somehow becoming less enthusiastic because they haven't launched the beta program up to now. Mind you, this is August! What surprises me most is the fact that the beta program is taking this long to kick off even after the technology has been in development for the past 8 years.If they knew that there was still some work to be done, they should have kept quiet and reserved the attractive announcements until everything is set.What do you think?

In a related development, I recently stumbled on two interesting search engines - WORiO from Vancouver,Canada and mahalo from USA. I will be covering these as well as some latest updates on My Live Search in my upcoming posts. All in all, I wish the My Live Search team all the best:)

Some info on Jatropha in Malawi trickling in

Some few months, I wrote a great posting on Jatropha farming in Malawi. I explained the advantages of Jatropha at length. I wound up my posting with question on the progress of Jatropha farming in Malawi. So far, I have had no feedback at all.

On the contrary, I have had lots of people from all over the world finding out from me if I have received any feedback. I am pleased to inform all such people that now that I am back to the land of the lake, I am collecting information on Jatropha farming though in small amounts. I hope to give a full update once I get a reasonable amount of information. This, however, does not bar anyone from supplying me with more information on this issue.Therefore feel free to give me any info through the comments section below or by email at nyirendac at gmail.com.

Balancing Act News: Tech news in Africa

Recently, a friend forwarded an article on Balancing Act's News Update to me. I really enjoyed reading its contents. Unlike other news sources (no need of linking them here) which enjoy publishing negative stories about Africa, the Balancing Act seeks to be the primary source for information on the telecoms, Internet and audio-visual media industries in Africa.

If you want to learn about some recent tech news over the continent, I recommend that you subscribe to the Balancing Act's News Update. Their news items are in French and English.