Dallas Zoo To Be Powered By Poop

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Nov 022007
 

This story has some funny lines in it. My favorite: “When you’re in the zoo business, poo and pee is our bread and butter”.

Dallas Zoo to transform poop into power

The Dallas Zoo could someday be powered in part by Jenny and Keke’s elephant poop.

Their dung, which totals more than 300 pounds a day, will be used to help create heating, water and electric power at the zoo through a new biogas facility, officials said.

“When you’re in the zoo business, poo and pee is our bread and butter,” said Chuck Siegel, the zoo’s deputy director for animal management. “It’s really exciting that rather than taking this waste material and just adding to a landfill or throwing it out, we’re able to use it for something positive. The zoo first and foremost sees itself as not only as a fun place for families, but as a conservation organization.”

It’s not clear when the biogas facility will become operational. Zoo officials hope that the project’s design phase will be complete next year.

Talks about the first phase of a waste-to-energy project between the city of Dallas and Dallas-based BDS Technologies started more than a year ago. Officials discussed the virtues of the zoo animals’ waste.

“Do we have enough waste? Is it good enough waste?” said Doug Dykman, the zoo’s deputy director for operations.

Mr. Dykman said that the waste — including animal droppings and trash — could help power several buildings at the zoo and provide irrigation to the landscaping.

The Environmental Protection Agency awarded $10,000 to the Dallas Zoo’s waste-to-energy project. The entire project could cost $750,000 to $1 million. But considering how much the zoo will save by not hauling six tons of daily waste to a landfill and by using in-house power, the project could pay for itself within 10 years, Mr. Dykman said.

He said he hopes private support will also help pay for the project.

“Gasification from waste products is not new. We’re talking about taking that technology and using it on a small scale,” Mr. Dykman said.

Mr. Siegel added that zoo officials will not be feeding the animals more in an attempt to produce more power.

The Führer Who Smelt It, Dealt It

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Oct 302007
 

Hitler may have had a farting problem. This gives new meaning to the term gas chamber.

Scent of a Führer

Guests at the Berghof, Hitler’s private chalet in the Bavarian Alps, must have endured some unpleasant odors in the otherwise healthful mountain air.

It may sound like a Woody Allen scenario, but medical historians are unanimous that Adolf was the victim of uncontrollable flatulence. Spasmodic stomach cramps, constipation and diarrhea, possibly the result of nervous tension, had been Hitler’s curse since childhood and only grew more severe as he aged. As a stressed-out dictator, the agonizing digestive attacks would occur after most meals: Albert Speer recalled that the Führer, ashen-faced, would leap up from the dinner table and disappear to his room.

More Smokers Needed to Fund S-CHIP

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Oct 302007
 

Well folks…. these Democrats in control of Congress prove their stupidity once again.

Big Tobacco to the rescue.


Hamas Militants Launch New Weapon Against Israel: A Boy Band

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Oct 302007
 

Ladies and Gentlemen allow me to introduce the newest sensation in Gaza City… Boyz to Terrorists.

Hamas boy band to bring harmony to Gaza

Hamas militants have launched a new weapon in their struggle with Israel: a troupe of honey-voiced singers known as Protectors of the Homeland.

Wearing crisply pressed fatigues in urban camouflage blue, the six band members gather each day to practise in an old office within the Gaza City police headquarters.

The small room throbbed with energy as their dusty 12-track amplifier screeched with feedback before being tamed by an engineer.

To the accompaniment of a backing track from a laptop computer, the men then started polishing their routine of songs, almost all of which have strong Islamic and militaristic content and titles like Change and Reform. Such uplifting lyrics as “By the shrouds of the dead we are inspired” are typical.

“It is our job to inspire the foot soldiers,” said Maj Hosam Abu Abdu, a 40-year-old former police officer who now fronts the band. “We want to urge the soldiers and officers to push on, to make the effort needed in the struggle to end the occupation [of Palestinian land by Israel].”

Formed in the summer as part of the arts department of Hamas’s domestic security service, the Executive Force, the group has performed for police units around Gaza City.

But Maj Abu Abdu, who also uses his fine voice to call the faithful to prayer at a mosque, outlined ambitious plans for Protectors of the Homeland — to produce their first recordings for distribution, to build a theatre in Gaza City and even to start public dancing.

Being an Islamic group, the plans do not involve women and the band leader looked slightly shocked when asked if any of the activities might be unisex. “Not possible,” he said.

All the band members said the work beat the regular duties that included, back in June, helping Hamas in its bloody and ultimately successful battle with the Fatah faction for control of the Gaza Strip.

Music has always played a large role in the culture of Hamas, with songs praising the group and its leaders, including the wheelchair-bound Sheikh Ahmed Yassin who was killed by the Israelis in 2004.

As well as motivating serving Hamas members, the group also performs in prisons to try to re-educate criminals. “There is a strong psychological effect in music and we use it to try to improve the spirit of those who have committed crimes,” Maj Abu Abdu said.

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