China confirms global warming

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Studies confirm global warming

In a 11 November 2016 China Daily article “Study notes threat of global warming”, China confirms global warming.
See:
http://wo.chinadaily.com.cn/view.php?mid=163685&cid=82&isid=2341

Some excerpts:
Temperatures and sea levels will rise, while heat waves are set to become more frequent and deadly.
An international team of researchers studied the impact of global climate change that has occurred in the past few decades as a result of human activities, and found that a global increase in temperature of 1 degree Celsius has already had a significant affect on a wide range of basic biological processes, from genes to ecosystems.
Source: Center for Integrative Conservation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden.
There have also been noticeable changes in marine fish catches, with commercially important species moving north as the oceans get warmer. Freshwater fish have also been affected, and the impact of global climate change has mostly been negative.
Climate change doesn’t only affect temperatures. Changes in rainfall are more difficult to predict, but some places will get wetter and some drier. Sea levels will continue to rise and the oceans will become more acidic as they absorb carbon dioxide from the air. Heat waves will be more frequent and more deadly.
The research conclusion was reached after studying hundreds of previously published scientific papers. The scientists identified a set of core ecological processes and assessed the already observed impacts of climate change on each one.
The research systematically evaluated the impact of climate change on different species on Earth. It aims to make people more aware of the urgent need for reductions of carbon emissions, and give decision-makers a better understanding of the impact of global warming.
While the first 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature took a century, the next will only take a few decades.”

Global warming a challenge for country’s crops

By China Daily, 18 August 2016
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2016-08/18/content_26521468.htm

Extreme weather patterns, pests and diseases are impacting food security in China and the world, according to experts at the 7th International Crop Science Congress being hosted in Beijing this week. Earth’s overall temperature rose by about 0.75 C over the last century, according to Zhang Weijian, the chief scientist of agro-ecology at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Trump and his hoax claim

Among the many election absurdities of Trump, his claim that China invented global warming stands out. China told him flatly it actually was initiated by Republican predecessors (who were a little more clever).
See:
“China tells Trump that climate change is not a hoax” – 18 November 2016
US President-elect claims climate change a hoax invented by the Chinese
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2047040/china-tells-trump-climate-change-not-hoax

Excerpt:
China couldn’t have invented global warming as a hoax to harm US competitiveness because it was Donald Trump’s Republican predecessors who started climate negotiations in the 1980s, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said.
US Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush supported the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in initiating global warming talks even before China knew that negotiations to cut pollution were starting, Liu told reporters at United Nations talks on Wednesday in Marrakech, Morocco.

I like one of the comments:
“Probably we also haven’t been on the moon and Elvis is still alive, anyone in his right mind who denies that climate change is happening should loose his right as an adult to vote.”

The call for Sharia law in Belgium

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Sharia law in Belgium?

This pretty chilling video has been circulating, again, in Beijing and it upsets some Belgian residents who are questioned by Chinese, to explain what is going on. Mostly a call for Sharia law in Belgium plus extremist blabber. With the recent terrorist attacks in Belgium, our country has gotten a dubious reputation. The dubious “star” is Fouad Belkacem (a.k.a Abu Imram).
See:  http://tundratabloids.com/2012/04/cbn-report-belgiastan-the-coming-takeover-of-the-heart-of-the-heart-of-europe/

CBN REPORT: BELGIASTAN, THE COMING TAKEOVER OF THE HEART OF EUROPE
Posted in April 2012 on CBS (Christian Broadcast Network), according to many being a questionable source.
Also here (best quality):
http://www1.cbn.com/video/belgistan-sharia-showdown-looms-in-brussels

Sharia for Belgium

Here more about the movement Sharia for Belgium that had promoted Sharia law in Belgium.
See:
Belgian terror group sentenced: Sharia4Belgium’s ‘charismatic leader’ Fouad Belkacem imprisoned for 12 years. Dozens of other members of the group that plotted to impose sharia law, received lesser sentences
by Robert-Jan Bartunek – 12 February 2015
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/belgian-terror-group-sentenced-sharia4belgiums-charismatic-leader-fouad-belkacem-imprisoned-for-12-10039818.html

More details:
Sharia4Belgium – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sharia4Belgium was a Belgian radical Salafist organization which called for Belgium to convert itself into an Islamist state. In February 2015 the group was designated a terrorist organization by a Belgian judge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia4Belgium

Also to note: Belkacem had already been convicted in 2012 for incitement of hate against non-Muslims. Other convictions mentioned (burglary, etc.) I could not verify.

What about now?

Well, happy to know our Belgian government has acted against this extremist group.
Unfortunately the danger of the whole movement is still there and the future of Belgium (as well as other EU countries) will depend on how the governments act. Never too late, despite all the mistakes committed by our politicians, to let this happen and the influence of these people growing out of control. Still today, some “conservative Muslims” want to shovel down our throats their “views” on our women, our society and our life style.
It is not a question to “ban Muslims”, it is the question for moderate Muslims to take the lead and show smooth integration and mutual respect is possible.

Jeff Foxworthy on Muslims

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

I did check this… It is a fake news going around in the Internet.
The here referenced list of “You may be a Muslim” jokes {or “Jeff Foxworthy on Muslims”) was widely circulated via the Internet at the end of 2010, attributed to comedian Jeff Foxworthy. Although its structure is somewhat imitative of one of Foxworthy’s signature humor routines, the “You might be a redneck if …” cycle of jokes, that’s all it has in common with the famous comedian. Jeff’s brother, Jay, confirmed for us that this material was not written by his sibling.
See:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/humor/foxworthy.asp

On the other hand…  Judge for yourself if you find it far-fetched/offensive/pretty accurate/scandalous/funny:

  1. If you refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to liquor.
    You may be a Muslim
  1. If you own a £3,000 machine gun and £5,000 rocket launcher, but you can’t afford shoes.
    You may be a Muslim
  1. If you have more wives than teeth.
    You may be a Muslim
  1. If you wipe your butt with your bare hand, but consider bacon unclean.
    You may be a Muslim
  1. If you think vests come in two styles: Bullet-proof and suicide.
    You may be a Muslim
  1. If you can’t think of anyone you haven’t declared Jihad against
    You may be a Muslim
  1. If you consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in your clothing.
    You may be a Muslim

8. If you were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.
You may be a Muslim

  1. If you have nothing against women and think every man should own at least four.
    You may be a Muslim
  1. If you find this offensive or racist and don’t forward it.
    You may be a Muslim

leburkunuHere is the solution for the dress code:
Le Burkunu (needs to be read in French).
A bit of humor is needed amid all this depressing views…

No Christmas in Saudi Arabia

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Schools to ban Christmas

China Daily published an article that the Saudi Education Ministry has warned International Schools from marking non-Islamic occasions, such as Christmas and New Year. No holidays allowed nor changes to the exam schedules. No Christmas in Saudi Arabia.
Once I heard Trump say he would bring back Christmas to the U.S., as many shopping malls are scaling that all down “because of sensitivities”. For once I agree with him. Nothing wrong with Christmas as there should be nothing wrong to have Chinese New Year or a Muslim holiday. We should all respect each other.

Close friends, lots of donations

Saudi Arabia and some other Muslim countries are “close friends” of the USA. It turned out those countries gave a lot of money to the Clinton Foundation. At the same time, they are the worst in human rights and treat women and LGBT very badly, the least to say. If China would do 10% of all that, they would receive world-wide condemnation. But Saudis? No no, close friends (and they have oil, remember! And money!). I am sure the Foundation is not an isolated case, just one of the many.
So far so good for the hypocrisy of the West.

See here, not verified if the figures are right, but the local laws look true:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/06/14/hillary-clinton-took-millions-anti-lbgt-countries-gays-jailed-put-death/

  • Algeria donated $250,000 to $500,000 to the Clintons
  • The Nation of Brunei donated $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 to the Clintons
  • Jamaica donated $50,000 to $100,000 to the Clintons
  • Kuwait donated $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 to the Clintons
  • Sultanate of Oman donated $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 to the Clintons
  • Qatar donated $5.8 million to the Clintons
  • Saudi Arabia donated up to $50 million to the Clintons
  • United Arab Emirates donated up to $11.5 million to the Clintons
  • Morocco-owned OCP, a phosphate exportation company, donated $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 to the Clintons

I posted this on Twitter and Facebook:
Saudi Arabia (our “good friends”) bans Christmas & New Year in international schools. OK let’s ban Muslim holidays in Belgium. Mutual respect?
Oh well some “Did not see the link between Muslims in Belgium and Saudi Arabia”, even bringing up KKK. My comment:
The point is, in our countries we are forced to respect whatever request from Muslims (some even want Sharia and attack our women for not being properly dressed), and we comply often out of “respect for diversity”. However in countries like SA there is zero tolerance for non-Muslims. Worse, they are our “close friends” and when they visit us we have to cover up “naked statues”. When will Europe get this? It is a matter of mutual respect and tolerance. Not one-way street. I am NOT calling to stop Muslim and other holidays in our countries. The people who misunderstand this just don’t get it (and I could care less). But people coming to our countries must respect our culture or stay away.

Stand up for our values

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Our values matter

When a Muslim delegation turned up in Italy they covered the statues. We must stand up for our values but our governments fail us. If those delegations come, wine or beer is prohibited with the meals. That is wrong. They don’t drink alcohol, we respect. We drink a glass of wine, they should respect too.
As happened on 14 October in my hometown, Gent (Ghent), a city official was marrying a Muslim couple; the new husband refused to shake hands with the lady official “Because she was a lady”. The couple also brought many ladies, all veiled. Unacceptable for someone who has the Belgian nationality. According to Imam Brahim Laytouss, shaking a hand with a woman is NOT prohibited under Islam.
We must stand up for our values

110930extremistsb

(as I photographed in Vienna)
Weirder, even surreal: IS issued a fatwa against… having a cat at home. Of course no mobiles, no whatever. See the article in Dutch from VTM.

Losing our cultural heritage

As long as the West continues to submit to those one-way impositions we will lose more and more our identity. We already landed in an unacceptable undermining of our culture.
Then nobody should be surprised with the extreme right coming up strongly (Marine Le Pen and others). I don’t share their vision of racism and intolerance but if politicians lack the courage to act in defense of our values, they will get stronger.
As for our relations with countries like Saudi Arabia, they should be reviewed. Why is China always singled out as the bad guy?
Even worse is to see the same “conservative Muslims” in action in places like Thailand (plenty in Pattaya). There, sex and alcohol are suddenly OK.

Sinterklaas, a tradition in Belgium and The Netherlands

I grew up with Sinterklaas, and his “black” helper. We never felt this was in any way “racist”. Now people accuse us all of racism and want to kill the tradition. How sad.
Eighty percent of the Dutch and ninety percent of the Belgians want to keep the “Zwarte Piet”, the guy painted black with curly hair and red lips. Most of the stories explain he is black because he is going down the chimney to bring the presents. He is the one likely to “punish” the kids who did not behave well. As it happens he never actually does but instead helps Sinterklaas to give the sweets to the “good kids”.
But some want it all undone. As the Saint is said to come from a region where people “do not have beards” (Saint Nicholas was a Greek bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey), he should shave his beard. And of course remove the cross from his outfit. Could offend “other religions”.
All this to appease “others” who treat women like objects.
Sorry but we have OUR traditions and our weak politicians better start defending those.
More about Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

Hot debate in Belgium and The Netherlands

See here in Dutch one of the many opinion pieces about Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet:
“Zwarte Piet: ‘Onze waarden en tradities worden voortdurend in de uitverkoop gezet'”
http://www.knack.be/nieuws/belgie/zwarte-piet-onze-waarden-en-tradities-worden-voortdurend-in-de-uitverkoop-gezet/article-opinion-778535.html

The IS do not represent true Muslims

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Cruel monsters

Every day we read about the absurd and inhuman actions of IS and their allies. True Muslims?
Killing innocent civilians like animals (worse, in our countries slaughter is regulated). Killing women, children, hanging the bodies in the open. Blowing up fellow Muslims because they are “of the wrong kind”, in their mosques, weddings, funerals, anywhere. I have given up to follow the myriad of atrocities. Too many.

Destroying the rich legacy in their own countries

Here one of the many examples:

“Nearly a month into the fight to retake Mosul, government forces pushed Islamic State militants out of nearby Nimrud, home to some of Iraq’s richest archaeological treasures. And when soldiers finally surveyed the extremists’ destruction of the ancient sites, one said that those who carried it out “don’t have a place in humanity.”
Intricate reliefs that once stood at the gates to the magnificent Assyrian palace lay in pieces: stone carvings of a face, half of a claw, part of a wing, fragments of script.
In April 2015, the Islamic State extremists released a shocking video that showed how they had hammered, bulldozed and blew up parts of the 13th century BC Assyrian capital in the Tigris River valley south of Mosul.” (source SCMP)

Not true Muslims

The “normal” Muslim community strongly condemns the actions of those monsters. What I cannot understand why people still fall for that. Well, look at the terrorists who committed atrocities in our countries: before their “change” most were criminals, used drugs, drank alcohol.
Please Muslim friends, let’s stand up united against those real “infidels”.

kabul1970s

It is sad to see how with all this senseless extremism and “interpretation” of religious scripts, some countries have gone back to Medieval times. Progress?
See a picture of Kabul (Afghanistan) in the 1970s. There are similar recordings of what Iran was like.

Waste of containers for food supplements

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Food supplements containers

Here in the video I show some of the containers for food supplements that most of us have at home. The same can be said of containers for medicine and a variety of other products.
The point is, the vast majority of the containers are filled typically 30 to 50%, misleading the consumer but also wasting materials and contributing to waste.
See (VPN needed)(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSkls4E2CVM):

Packaging, too often a huge waste

In the beginning of the clip, I show another source of waste: excessive packaging – also mentioned in my book.
The problem is now further made worse with another trend: online purchases delivered at home. In China we see an enormous amount of waste due to packing done by the delivery service: carton, tape, bubble paper and other.

160416-packagingSee the figures in China. Astonishing.

A dark day for all of us

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

An American Tragedy

A dark day for all of us, sorry, minus the 50% of the USA who show how far ignorance can lead towards tragedy. And oh yes, probably the Russians are celebrating (and maybe China a little bit too).
The following article sounds much like an obituary:

An American Tragedy – By David Remnick – The New Yorker
9 November 2016
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/an-american-tragedy-donald-trump

“The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism. Trump’s shocking victory, his ascension to the Presidency, is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy. On January 20, 2017, we will bid farewell to the first African-American President—a man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit—and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety.”

A break with the Obama legacy

Oh well, the GOP always hated President Obama. He was too intelligent. Reason why none of the intelligent candidates from the GOP made it anyway. Pity, there were some excellent ones.
The GOP finds all wrong with Obama, playing obstruction and refusing cooperation on anything, just to boycott. Then they blamed him for “not doing anything”.
Actually his record is pretty good, despite the obstructions.
Even looking closer at “Obamacare” the evaluation is pretty positive, despite the hoopla against it.

Democracy has reached a dead end

On the Democrats side, it is a pity Bernie Sanders did not make it. I liked the guy and many of our ideas match. The party also could not really find a better candidate than the controversial Hillary? Anyway she was the lesser evil.
It happened with Brexit, with the failed “democracy” in Thailand and in other countries, it is the victory of ignorance and demagogy.

Of course the big question is, how did this happen? It seems pretty clear the Trump camp was motivated against Hillary. But it was also rejection of the political establishment, a revolt by people who felt left behind and that nobody was addressing their problems. Income inequality, fear of the Muslim extremists, feeling of rising crime, invasion of migrants, and so on. Trump played skillfully on that while proposing unworkable solutions – but solutions that appeal to those who are unhappy with the political system. Trump predicted that all himself in People Magazine 1998.
It was a vote less for Trump than against the establishment.

President Obama had launched an excoriating attack on Trump, saying: “It’s bad being arrogant when you know what you’re talking about, but it’s really bad being arrogant when you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Great observation and applies to a number of people. But 50% of the electorate cannot think rationally and is easily misled.

China

That all gives ample ammunition to countries as China to validate the failure of democracy.
As the vast majority agrees in China, the country is not ready for democracy, as it would bring chaos. So, no thanks.
China is going through a very difficult time. To protect the survival of the system, the government is eliminating as much foreign influence and “meddling”. Censorship on all levels has been increasing with ferocity. Now China can go ahead and do whatever it thinks is best for the country. And nobody has now any standing to criticize nor “interfere”.
Europe also has little leverage. They complain about China but ask for their money.
Now we have to see how things will go in Europe. Marine Le Pen is happy, a sign of further trouble.

So what now?

I close the chapter with looking at some representative cartoons and quotes, yeah some will say “we had the last laugh”.
Just to bury this all and leave it as such. Comments closed.
I really must start writing my next book. Bernie could like it.
And maybe better to ignore all American politics, to avoid a bad mood. Let them sort it out.
Maybe I should apply for membership to the Chinese Communist Party? Tough luck, I would not qualify.

Maintaining your split air conditioner

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Types of air conditioning

In our Beijing home we use individual air-conditioners, wall-mounted, of the split air conditioner type. I don’t see anymore any of the window type. If you have a central air conditioning system you have less control on the air quality and maintenance is generally limited to clean the ducts, vents and collectors of condensation. If the condensation collection is dirty or badly installed (e.g. the water cannot drain easily and also the outlet tube is blocked), you can have fungus growing plus dripping from the ducts.
In our Beijing home most are of the Chinese brand HAIER and were installed around the year 2000.
For an overview of types of air conditioning systems: http://www.brighthubengineering.com/hvac/897-types-of-air-conditioning-systems/

Maintaining and cleaning challenges

We had a couple of breakdowns with the split air conditioner type, mostly because of old electric capacitors or low cooling gas levels.
In Beijing (I guess all over China), the external tubing is badly projected as they use that white tape that is not UV resistant and disintegrates after one year with the sunlight. I bought better tape in Belgium.

I have given up asking “repairmen” to clean the wall-mounted units. Parts that need cleaning are the filters (easy), the cylindrical fans (very difficult) and the collectors of condensation plus the piping to drain the condensation. Some workers injects a kind of foam in the units. Totally useless, does not clean and for months you still have foam coming out from somewhere.
The fan is a pain to reach and to clean. Despite the filters the fans collect dust that glues to the inside of the blades. That results often in fungus growing on it and vibration.

How I clean

I simply dismount as much as I can. removing the fan cylinder is however too difficult.
The most efficient cleaning method for the fan: using a strong spray of water with some detergent. Most of the dirt gets lose and drips out. A bit messy, so one needs to protect stuff around.
The aircon in my office, the one most used, is getting at its end. Reason: rather poorly designed axle support at the end of the fan cylinder: a tefal-like axle support that is worn out and is inside some rubber support, with the rubber giving up now. To get the spare part, forget it. Might be cheap but also impossible to find, so I guess after over 15 years it is time to buy a new one…

The pictures of the maintenance, two different rooms.
See the axle support piece of the office unit.
Two different repairs shown, in the library I could remove the unit from the wall (easier cleaning).
See the simple spray I used, also using a brush to clean the fins of the cooling unit.

Repairing the coffee machine

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Typical problems

Repairing the coffee machine mostly is limited to the common problem of scale. Descaling is an important process that removes calcium deposits, or scale, that can build up inside a brewer over time. Calcium and scale is non-toxic, but left unattended, it can strongly affect the passage of the hot water.
It is easy to get rid of it with a descaling product, see two types.
Another issue is that your machine seems to have died completely. That is nearly always caused by a faulty thermal fuse, which is supposed to protect against overheating. Real overheating rarely occurs, many of those fuses are of poor quality and have a limited life. They can be bought online (Amazon and others). In Beijing one fuse costs like 2 RMB… I have plenty of spares left…

Getting inside

Repairing the coffee machine is mostly pretty easy, even to put in in a new thermal fuse. Don’t solder it as it can damage the fuse. The easiest way is to bridge the old fuse with a new one, bending the terminals around the old one.
Opening some of the machines can be tricky as they often use funny screws, but with some creativity you get them out.
Sometimes it is the switch that gave up, so better measure the switch first before getting a new fuse. If the switch is broken, the easiest but less good-looking solution is to install a new switch on the external power cable.

Repairing a simple TEFAL coffee machine

I made a mistake: I could have repaired my “famous” coffee machine the same way, extending its 20 years of use (1994-2014). That time I failed to look up the fuse problem when I already had a suspicion it was that “small black piece” that was busted. The machine, a MOULINEX is featured in my book Toxic Capitalism.
Moulinex Crystal Arôme: how to repair

Moulinex Crystal Arôme: how to repair