Wednesday 15th July

I can see this is going to be a double post with this mornings brief one.

We’re still without the little truck, trying to find a brake hose is proving to be more than the Solomon Islands can cope with. Either that or the mechanic we use isn’t all that concerned with it. I went into the garage again tonight on the way home, lots of brake fluid on the floor, so hes obviously found the leak I pointed out to him on Monday morning, the split hose is still connected, once I see that off I’ll know we are making progress.

I’ve spent the last few days writing a brief but explanatory begging letter for sponsorship for the gardens and parks work. It’s not as easy as it sounds to get the right balance between saying we’re bankrupt, and we’d like you to sponsor us, and not actually saying it because we don’t want to give the impression we’re losing money. The letter we were given to go by had a fixed price in it, $1,000 a month no matter what garden or park, so we’d be right back in the same situation again if that goes out. I’ve got “a negotiated price” put in so we can actually recover all the costs.

Our fixed overheads are $14,500 a month, to be covered by 14 staff, so $1000 a month on any job is about 1 1/2 weeks work for one person. I can see myself having fun trying to explain it all. After it took 4 months to get it realised we were losing money to start with.

I’m so totally bored at work that I’m becoming a nuisance more than anything. There’s not a lot for me to do, despite what some people think. Tiffany has the office fully under control, David has the work crews working well, all that’s left for me to do is come up with small suggestions or changes to the overall place. Once we get the funding to rebuild the Nursery I’ll be happy, and back into doing something finally.

I don’t do boredom very well, and especially here where everything is out of my price range for recreation. I’m still trying to find an affordable fishing trip. I know I’m not paying $10,000 for a day out no matter what the boat looks like. Even the diving trips are in the $2,000 a trip range, definitely only for the consultants and RAMSI people. That is in Solomon Dollars, almost monopoly money if you don’t live here.

Once the truck is running again I’ll be able to get away a bit more, then I’m only paying out for diesel and beach fees.

The police have started doing blanket coverage through Honiara on the weekends now. Last weekend the arrest rate dropped to the lowest since I’ve been here. Apart from the squatter villages there were only 8 arrests in Honiara itself, mostly for drunken fights on Saturday afternoon around Central Market. Even the pickpockets and bagsnatchers took the weekend off, which made a change. I still don’t like Central Market though.

One of my websites, www.lewrockwell.com has had a few articles about global warming, and how it has become the new religion, rather than having any facts behind it. Which I’ve known ever since Al Gore started on about it. I hope enough people start to realise just how much of the hysteria is based on junk science, and the experimental findings don’t match the theories. There is a good book out by Ian Plimer, an Australian geologist, Heaven and Earth Global warming – the missing science, which finally puts everything I’ve believed, and a lot more into one place.

And a report published in the USA last month at http://www.oism.org/pproject/GWReview_OISM600.pdf
which debunks the CO2 hype.

This is the conclusion of 12 pages of data:

There are no experimental data to support the hypothesis that increases in human hydrocarbon use or in atmospheric carbon dioxide
and other green house gases are causing or can be expected to cause
unfavorable changes in global temperatures, weather, or landscape.
There is no reason to limit human production of CO2, CH4, and other
minor green house gases as has been proposed (82,83,97,123).
We also need not worry about environmental calamities even if
the current natural warming trend continues. The Earth has been
much warmer during the past 3,000 years without catastrophic effects. Warmer weather extends growing seasons and generally improves the habitability of colder regions.
As coal, oil, and natural gas are used to feed and lift from poverty
vast numbers of people across the globe, more CO2 will be released
into the atmosphere. This will help to maintain and improve the
health, longevity, prosperity, and productivity of all people.
The United States and other countries need to produce more energy, not less. The most practical, economical, and environmentally sound methods available are hydrocarbon and nuclear technologies.
Human use of coal, oil, and natural gas has not harmfully warmed
the Earth, and the extrapolation of current trends shows that it will
not do so in the foreseeable future. The CO2 produced does, how -
ever, accelerate the growth rates of plants and also permits plants to
grow in drier regions. Animal life, which depends upon plants, also
flourishes, and the diversity of plant and animal life is increased.
Human activities are producing part of the rise in CO2 in the atmosphere. Mankind is moving the carbon in coal, oil, and natural gas
from below ground to the atmosphere, where it is available for conversion into living things. We are living in an increasingly lush environment
of plants and animals as a result of this CO2 increase. Our
children will therefore en joy an Earth with far more plant and animal
life than that with which we now are blessed.


I stumbled on a blog by the BodyShop about the Carteret Islands being inundated by rising sea levels, which I had to answer. They aren’t actually being flooded by rising sea levels, of if they are, why aren’t the other islands around them showing the same effect. What is happening there is the tectonic plate the Carterets is on is being subducted under the Pacific Plate, so they are actually sinking, plus the damage to the reef system around them by 50 years of dynamite fishing which has weakened the whole reef structure. The Carterets are to the north west of the Solomons, and the fault line runs directly from the Solomons past the Carteret Islands.

4.30am Thursday
The trouble with not having a lot to do and keep myself occupied is that I end up waking up at odd times during the night stressing out over minor things and can’t get back to sleep. I gave up this morning at 4am, I’m into my 3rd cup of coffee, on the 2nd rewrite of an article for the Solomon Star, and scribbling notes for the work crew for next week.

It’s a nice morning from what I can see, which isn’t much, it’s still pitch black outside, but it feels dry and warm. We had another little earthquake late last night, about 11pm, that shook the house around a bit, like a plate sitting on top of jelly, for a few minutes. The dogs around the neighbourhood have been barking almost continuosly ever since.