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Man Invents Alternative To Cooking Gas
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Fri Dec 26, 2008 07:01 PM
from the human-invention-will-find-a-way dept.
from the human-invention-will-find-a-way dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Gazan resident Abed Ar-Rahman has revealed what he is claiming as an alternative to cooking gas that he developed since Israel has prevented deliveries of cooking gas to Gaza. He invented a device using chemical substances available in Gaza, which burn when mixed and brought into contact with oxygen. The first component is a metal filter that controls the interaction between 40% of the oxygen in the surrounding air, the inflammable substance and some other substances."
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Submission: Hard times sometimes forces new inventions by Anonymous Coward
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Alternate heat sources (Score:4, Interesting)
All you have to do to get CaO is burn limestone, which people have been doing since antiquity.
Re:Alternate heat sources (Score:5, Interesting)
I know you're trolling, but it doesn't work like that.
Limestone is a very common mineral, so CaO is relatively easy to acquire. The limestone must be prepped in a kiln. Limestone turns into CaO and CO2 at about 800 degrees F, which is not too difficult since that isn't very hot. The Calcium oxide must then be stored in an airtight container until it is used or it will deteriorate over time. I've seen active CaO ignite wood all by itself, so at least 451 degrees F is being generated by the reaction. If people placed CaO into an enclosed space to contain the heat generated by the reaction (even a little temporary oven made out of brick or rock would probably work) they could cook with it.
Parent
i smell bull... (Score:5, Insightful)
This would be neat if true -- a garbage disposal sized obvject providing 40 days of cooking gas for 40 NIS, but just reading alerts every single "perpetual motion" bullshit detector in my head -- the 40% figure, the secret ingredients, etc.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It might be as simple as an acetylene generator and optimized burners, where the transported "fuel" is actually calcium carbide and the cooker would mix it with local water to generate the actual cooking gas. I imagine it would be very difficult to make that work in practice, but some similar clever chemistry could allow an apparently benign (and unblockaded) material to be used for fuel.
A 40-day supply does sound like a bit much, though.
Re:i smell bull... (Score:5, Insightful)
I want to know how much oxygen is being consumed here, what toxins are being pumped out.
Carbon Monoxide comes first to mind.
I want to know what makes this unknown chemical mixture safe to use and store in the home.
I want to know about clearances, surface temperatures. I want to know how easily you can tip this thing over. The risk of accidental burns and fires.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
what does perpetual motion have to do with it? here in Southern California the monthly gas bill is around $12-30 per month (closer to $30 in the winter when the heater is on) for a 2-bedroom apartment. and according Google 40 NIS is $10.44932 USD. so it's really not all that revolutionary in terms of cost.
i'm not say that this technology can't be vaporware, but i don't see any "perpetual motion"-type pseudoscience indicated by the article. though, i do think if that he wants to help people he should make th
Re:i smell bull... (Score:5, Funny)
This would be neat if true -- a garbage disposal sized obvject providing 40 days of cooking gas
Another Hanukkah miracle!
- RG>
Parent
Re:i smell bull... (Score:5, Funny)
.
Is it so special to be able to read shakespearean english?
I mean, the King James isn't as easy as some of those new teenager bibles, but you can muddle through the -iths and thous with some trouble.
< /troll >
Parent
Re:i smell bull... (Score:5, Insightful)
If the prevelence of 40 as a figure is what turns you off, note that semetic languages commonly use the number 40 as a non-literal figure meaning "many" and somewhere around that order of magnitude. However, translations commonly take this literally. Hence, the prevelence of "40 days" for Noah's ark, "40 years" in the desert, etc.
Sufficiently accurate for a religious text, but not at all appropriate for a technical description.
Parent
Available in Gaza (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Available in Gaza (Score:4, Insightful)
"Them". Say "some of 'them'", and you are on to something. Or do you maintain that each and every resident of Gaza all hate Israelis with all their breath? This article puts the lie to that notion, this one guy made a stove instead of a rocket.
And Israel has a blockade where aluminum and cooking gas ( from the article ) are not allowed in or in low supply. This punishes the "live and let live" types far more than the violent militant ones, *and* gives backing to any "the Israelis hate you, see what they are doing to you?" kind of rhetoric. ( Yes, that blockade is in reaction to violence from Arabs against Israelis, but A: this will lead to hatred, not a limitation to violence and B: the violence is in reaction ( as they see it ) to the occupation of their lands ).
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You're actually implying something I didn't say. However I was overly broad, in many cases however you'll find that 'metal shop' and 'rocket factory' are the same thing. Which is why there's a ban on aluminum(they key part in their rockets).
The fundamental problem is the non-violent ones voted in and decided that this is what they wanted. They are reaping what they've sown and with that, it'll end up being them who decide what to do about it. I really wonder what countries in the middle east would do if
Re:Available in Gaza (Score:5, Interesting)
All the reading I have done indicated to me that Hamas was elected mainly on the strength that they were not Fatah. The citizenry were tired of the corruption of Fatah, and had one real alternative open to them.
That is not a mandate of the Hamas platform.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
When 84% of Palestinians polled [nytimes.com] support the cold-blooded murder of unarmed Jewish students, you'll have to excuse me if I don't get much comfort from the fact that not all of them are launching rockets.
As for the rest of your comment, you should certainly be modded "flamebait", which means I probably should be taking the time to respond to you.
Then again, you should probably be modd
Re:Available in Gaza (Score:4, Insightful)
The current legitimately elected government of the Palestinian people have certain clues to their motives in their charter:
"Today it is Palestine, tomorrow it will be one country or another. The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying." (article 32)
"The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!" (article 7)
The palestinians have made their motives towards the jews, all jews, absolutely clear ever since they got the hell out of dodge so that the muslim nations nearby (read: just about everything else over there) could push the jews into the sea.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Where in the world is Osama bin Laden [wikipedia.org] features an interview with one of the Hamas leaders - he is very clear in saying that they don't resist the Jews - they resist the state of Israel. When asked for clarification, he says that this is not a religious war between the Jews and the Muslims, this is a nationalist war between the people of Israel and the people of Palestine.
So, whilst clearly there are some people within Hamas who agree with that particular quote from the Charter, there are also people, even w
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
"...instead of just running your mouth."
Other than star trek reruns, mythbusters, and whatever's on the food channel I don't even watch TV.
Most of my family is in israel, some of my family is what could be called "palestinian" except that they just took an israeli citizenship and consider themselves israeli citizens and lived with the same people they had for centuries, and my mother is a naturalized israeli citizen.
My opinions come from LIVING there, getting bombed at the west wall, and having to get pulle
Re:Available in Gaza (Score:5, Insightful)
Polls are all about timing and "location location location". I could use selective polling to find that 84% of Americans polled believe we should nuke France.
It seems the better rule of thumb is that the more loudly someone proclaims their disdain for a group of people, the more likely they are to be complete imbeciles.
Parent
Re:Available in Gaza (Score:5, Insightful)
When 84% of Palestinians polled [nytimes.com] support the cold-blooded murder of unarmed Jewish students,
While I don't defend this opinion or behavior, I wonder what a comparable survey of Israelis would reveal.
From my vantage point, there seems to be a lot of hotheadedness and vitriol all around the region. I don't think there are a lot of clean hands to be found.
Parent
Re:Available in Gaza (Score:5, Interesting)
The poll you cite was carried out after attacks by Israel that killed 130 people in Gaza. That's 0.00025% of the Gaza population. In contrast, the 9/11 attacks killed 0.0001% of New York citizens.
So, imagine that the 9/11 attacks had killed 2.5 times more people, and then imagine polling New Yorkers immediately after the attacks on their feelings towards the group of people who carried out the attacks. Do you think you would get a different result?
Because Fox is known for its accurate and unbiased reporting? This is the same Fox that ran serious reports with "experts" claiming that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim.
Parent
This is inconceivable (Score:3, Funny)
Heating food without gas? I just can't fathom this.
He could have used dung as well (Score:5, Informative)
I hear waste from humans works too. The trouble with it being the stench and the potential for Hepatitis A spread.
WTF ISRAEL? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I believe the aluminum is used for rocket fuel. Once upon a time the British learned first hand that Al burns...
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Please, continue.
What did Al Burns [facebook.com] do?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, then they would have to compete with the pro-Zionism lobby groups for mindshare.
Re:WTF ISRAEL? (Score:4, Insightful)
Or a Quassam-rocket. One of those just killed two sisters aged 12 and 5 [yahoo.com].
Parent
Re:WTF ISRAEL? (Score:4, Insightful)
And you might notice those girls were Palestinians. It's sort of sad, because when I saw that article, my first thought was "ha ha, you dumbass terrorists screwed up and killed your own." Then right after it I felt guilty because no child's death should be a source of laughter. I'm just so sick and damn tired of these asswipe terrorists. When they kill their own by accident, it's hard not to gloat.
Parent
Re:WTF ISRAEL? (Score:4, Insightful)
That's the point. Had I linked to any Israeli victim of terrorism, some dumbass would've come out from somewhere to debate, that it is all Israel's own fault, that they shouldn't have built the country in "somebody else's desert", or that they should've just died [umb.edu] in the face of opposition, etc. This way, there is no such distraction.
Or, at least, it is much harder to make — blaming the deaths of Palestinian girls from a Palestinian-fired rocket on Zionist Entity is, of course, possible — had it not been for the occupation [umb.edu], there would've been no need for rockets, so there — but stretches credulity beyond most people's BS-meters. I'm sure, this explanation is being offered inside Gaza and, maybe, West Bank, but it would not work elsewhere. Or so one hopes...
Parent
How useful is this? (Score:4, Funny)
He added that he spent 3,000 Jordanian dinars developing the device, and stressed that he faced many difficulties in obtaining specific metals such as aluminum that are not allowed into Gaza.
Oh, wait...
Sounds plausable... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Flamebait Summary (Score:5, Informative)
Flamebait for sure.
The entire coastline of Gaza is barricaded by Israel, and has been so for a very long time. Not only that, but anything coming into or going out of Gaza, whether by land or sea, is controlled by Israel. (The only exception to this would be things smuggled back and forth via tunnels, etc., between Gaza and Egypt.
Parent
Re:Flamebait Summary (Score:4, Informative)
Just because you border the sea, doesn't mean FedEx delivers. Be serious.
It's widely known Palestine is considered slightly more than a 4th world nation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza [wikipedia.org] (just look for the words "import materials")
While I suffer some shame at resorting to wikipedia, no other sources are given as much credit, on /., to being impartial and correct. Neither of which, wikipedia, deserves. If you could point out somewhere this is contradicted, I would be very interested.
Parent
Re:Flamebait Summary (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128625 [israelnationalnews.com]
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/29/mideast/mideast.php [iht.com]
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1228728125788 [jpost.com]
If Israel doesn't want you moving goods into Gaza, you are going to find it very difficult to do so...
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You might have a point if the United States military controlled Mexican airspace, seaspace, all borders, and prohibited the import of metals and oil into Mexico. And in that hypothetical situation, some small number of Mexicans chose to fire rockets into Texas. Does that make collective punishment right? And to switch the players around - if Texas were under the military control of Mexico, and its ports blockaded, and some Americans fired rockets across the border, would it be still right for the Mexicans t
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Do you think that Americans would vote differently in the same situation? If an American city were controlled by a foreign military force, and during incursions [telegraph.co.uk] foreign soldiers had killed hundreds of civilians over the years? That entire extended families had been wiped out by shell fire that was just "a mistake" [bbc.co.uk]? Do you really think the American public would vote for a moderate leadership under those conditions?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Just make sure not to mention the daily rocket and mortar attacks that Hamas perpetrates on the Israelis on a daily basis, or else people might not take you seriously.
Re: (Score:3)
A Brief Politically Incorrect But Truthful History (Score:4, Interesting)
Which came first? Jerusalem's Grand Mufti in 1948 (al-Husayni) did. While he was in prison at the time for war crimes including his collusion with Hitler, he still had enough influence to have his followers start attacking Jewish settlements and begin the Arab Israeli War when partitioning took place in Palestine. He also was a main lobbyist and negotiator for organizing the Arab countries that declared war on the new state of Israel. He is the one responsible for ordering Palestinians to leave the area for refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank. That is even after the new Israelis recognized their rights to land and living in the area now known as Israel. The Palestinians living in the Israeli side of the partitions were guaranteed to keep all their lands and sources of income by the Israelis. The Arab leaders, including al-Husayni, started the fight and told the Palestinians to move aside while they kicked the Jews into the sea... which of course didn't happen. When they were unsuccessful, Jordan annexed the West Bank portion of the Palestinian homeland outlined in the partitioning treaty, and Egypt took the Gaza strip. And they refused to let the Palestinians stay anywhere outside the refugee camps for the longest time. In some places they were never allowed to live outside the refugee camps... never allowed to become citizens of the countries where the camps existed. Yes, Arab countries treated the Palestinians worse than the Israelis would have. The Israelis would not have done anything other than let the status quo of life as usual happen.
And by the way, there was NO country called Palestine before annexation, and the Palestinians didn't lose anything. They were living in areas claimed by other countries and never had the status (for a couple thousand years) of citizens of a Palestinian state in all that time. Partitioning carved a space out for both sides. But no-one had to move. The choice was their own. And now they have the Gaza strip and the West Bank back. But they still want to fight for something they never had before, simply because the others there are Jews. They should grow up, get control of their emotions like a civilized people, and stop with the bullshit rocket attacks. Then there will be peace. The Israelis, like anyone being beaten by a person who can't contain their own hysteria, can only take getting hit so many times before replying in kind.
So which came first? The Grand Mufti's thugs and prideful Arab countries were the cause of the Palestinian's grief.
Parent
Re:A Brief Politically Incorrect But Truthful Hist (Score:5, Interesting)
If you care to read the Balfour declaration of 1917, stating that the British government "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people", you would realize that there was indeed a land called Palestine since 1917. Go back even further, the crusades, where do you think they were headed? Read an accurate history book for a change. And let me enlighten you one last time, Winston Churchill, before the Palestine Royal Commission, said the following: "I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place." In effect, Palestinians are the dogs in your manger, been there for 2000 years give or take. It is interesting to see how you chose to dispose of them.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A Brief Politically Incorrect But Truthful Hist (Score:5, Informative)
The irony is that most people who are classified as Palestinians have never been to Palestine and neither have their ancestors - ie they're genetically diverse and not at all a "people group".
The "Palestine" people are mostly just Arabs from Egypt, SA, Jordan, and the other surrounding Arab countries who were slow to revert from nomadic lifestyles - basically, Arab gypsies. They were a nuisance to the Arab states, and Israel provided a seemingly convenient (in that they could use them against the Jews) place to get rid of them.
The actual "Palestinians" are mostly integrated amongst Israelis; if it wasn't for the media's focus on the Palestinians as a group, they likely wouldn't even be identifiable as anything other than "naturalized secular Arab-Israeli" by this point.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Interesting phrasing, because it seeks to exploit commmon knowledge that the occupations come first, prima facia. However, that question is leading.
The true question is did attacks upon Israel from the West Bank and Gaza precede or follow Israeli control? And the unequivocal answer is the attacks preceded Israeli control.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
We do respect the result of their election. The result was the Gaza strip being run by terrorists, which we're not keen on giving money too. If the Gaza strip wasn't so reliant on handouts, they might not care about our lack of recognition. However, they are so reliant.
Re:obvious answer (Score:5, Insightful)
Ok it's in poor taste admittedly but speaking as a jew even I found that hilarious.
Parent
Re:obvious answer (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:I Call Bullshit (Score:4, Insightful)
Other than the Palestinians were in fact living there and the way political events turned out where in fact removed by force.
I didn't say it was a particularly Good argument or correct. I did say that their side did have some valid reasoning.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Apologize for what?
For not agreeing with you that your opinion is correct?
There were in fact Palestinian people who lived on that land who were in fact moved by force away from that land unjustly. Now I am not saying that the formation of the new nation of Israel on the whole was unjust I am merely saying that parts of it were.
The fact that a mention of the mere possibility that it might be gets a call for an apology highlights the presence of injustice and a lack of tolerance for other views.
Israel as a n
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Your comment modded up to +5 is the proof how even selfproclaimed logical geeks are just hypocrites specializing in maths.
I hate this argument, and people who give this argument. I hate when people say to me that India was in medieval age before British came, made most of the rails and taught English, which is why they do have some jobs. I hate those who say Monks were ruling Tibet with iron fist before Chinese came and modernised it.
And hey! Jews didn't move "back". They moved. There was study proving this