Lullaby by Billy Joel

When I am working (concentrating, drawing) on the computer, I really listen to songs. This lullaby by Billy Joel is amazing. Listen to it...I want to learn all the words to sing to my little girl. The water's dark and deep
Inside this ancient heart, you'll always be a part of me


Lullaby by Billy Joel
Goodnight, my angel
Time to close your eyes
And save these questions for another day
I think I know what you've been asking me
I think you know what I've been trying to say
I promised I would never leave you
And you should always know
Wherever you may go
No matter where you are
I never will be far away

Goodnight, my angel
Now it's time to sleep
And still so many things I want to say
Remember all the songs you sang for me
When we went sailing on an emerald bay
And like a boat out on the ocean
I'm rocking you to sleep
The water's dark and deep
Inside this ancient heart
You'll always be a part of me

..........

Goodnight, my angel
Now it's time to dream
And dream how wonderful your life will be
Someday your child may cry
And if you sing this lullabye
Then in your heart
There will always be a part of me

Someday we'll all be gone
But lullabyes go on and on...
They never die
That's how you
And I
Will be

Gardening fail

When I first started my garden, I just had to throw all the plants in to get started. The truth is, I am not just gardening, I am gardening, and working, and looking after children so I am sometimes burnt out and tired to learn this new thing. But when I do garden, and become connected to it, I feel really great. Long and short is - I spaced all the plants terribly, especially the carrots. I had forgotten to thin them out, and even to space the seedlings out - and they have grown into each other mangled and suffocated. FAIL!

I won't give up though - even if I have to learn by doing it - that first planting was the get started time - and I know EXACTLY how I will do it next time.

Note added April 2012 - besides the importance of thinning - I just read in my favourite gardening book (Xanthe White's Organic Vegetable Gardening):

"Carrots take time to really master, so don't give up if your first sowing does not succeed."

"Carrots will grow even in a heavy clay soil but improving the soil is the key to the perfect crop. The ideal soil is light and sandy with well-decayed organic matter that has been lightly limed. This allows the carrots to grow directly and deeply. Fresh composts or stony soils can cause the carrots to become deformed." - Xanthe White

Posco to try out LanzaTech technology, stuff.co.nz article

Did you know that there is a Kiwi company that has created a plant that turns smokestack pollution into ethanol, using bacteria? How awesome is that? The company is called LanzaTech. Link to original article from stuff.co.nz reposted below on Nonnie's blog: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/4681329/Posco-to-try-out-LanzaTech-technology
Posco to try out LanzaTech technology
PATTRICK SMELLIE

Last updated 05:00 21/02/2011SharePrint Text Size Relevant offersFast-moving New Zealand bio-technology and chemical engineering company LanzaTech has added another notch to its belt, signing the world's third largest steelmaker, South Korea's Posco, to try out its trail-blazing process for turning toxic and greenhouse gases into bio-fuels.

This comes as LanzaTech signals its intention to undertake a major public capital-raising, most likely in Chinese equity markets, within the next two to three years, in an important step towards its vision of becoming a billion-dollar company within the next seven to 10 years.

The Auckland company's chief scientific officer, Sean Simpson, confirmed that LanzaTech has begun developing a variant of its unique carbon monoxide-eating microbe that would feed on the world's most common greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.

"That's the holy grail," he said.

Posco is the third major Asian industrial partner for LanzaTech since the company signed its first collaboration deal for its heavily patented gas fermentation technology.

Oil and steel producers are aiming to use the the LanzaTech microbe to convert gases from their manufacturing processes, which would otherwise be waste pollutants, into a range of bio-fuels, polymers and other high-value chemicals. The LanzaTech discovery is exciting serious Chinese and United States interest because it can produce high quality bio-fuels without using food such as corn as a bio-mass feedstock.

The New Zealand company had the rare experience of being cited in a White House press statement during last month's summit in Washington between US president Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao.

Posco, a conglomerate that pioneered steel-making at the beginning of South Korea's industrialisation push in the 1960s, produced 33.7 million tons of steel last year. It has already committed itself to new steel-making technologies that radically reduce carbon emissions by avoiding the traditional blast-furnace smelting method.

"Posco's environmentally conscious policies are consistent with LanzaTech's technology vision of reducing the carbon footprint while increasing energy efficiencies at industrial facilities," said LanzaTech's chief executive, Jennifer Holmgren.

"The proposed licensing by Posco of our patented microbe and fermentation process fits with our growth strategy in Asia."

Dr Simpson said the company was now working on the selection process to find an equivalent microbe to its main discovery, which makes use of carbon monoxide, which would be capable of converting carbon dioxide to useful new products.

Ad Feedback Such a process could provide a globally important step forward in efforts to capture, store, or minimise the impact of carbon dioxide emissions.

"We're talking about fixing carbon in everyday items," said Dr Simpson.

"The potential is extremely significant."

LanzaTech has investment from Warehouse founder Sir Stephen Tindall's K1W1 venture capital fund, one of Silicon Valley's leading clean technology investors, Khosla Ventures, and Qiming Ventures in China, as well as funding from the New Zealand and US governments.

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Fairtrade cocktail soiree with Harriet Lamb and Good magazine etc

It wasn't easy, but I came out to this fair trade event! It sounded cool, it was affordably priced - and basically because of the subject matter I had to go.

It was also an exciting opportunity to meet some people who are taking part in the great struggle and battle to make the world a healthy place, who perhaps see some of the things I do.

At 5 o'clock I was making pizza in my Stillwater home at a mile a minute, making the bases, throwing the ingredients on, and with the pizzas in the oven I got Savannah to take over making sure the family would survive the end of a work-day without me being there. I set the GPS to the appropriate address in the city and careened to the city in my somewhat low-emissions car, ironically still kicking up greenhouse gas fumes to get there.

I was excited to be going, but when I got to the big magazine print garage where the event was held I found myself in a room full of strangers. I didn't actually know anyone; the people were all unopened books, and I felt spare looking this way and that as well-dressed people spoke to their companions.

In the large space of magazine printing machines we were encircled by a few tables run by the various companies providing fair trade food and alcohol for the event, such as All Good bananas, and Kokako.

The editor of Good magazine, Sarah Heeringa, soon gave the introduction. She had first read Harriet's book,"Fighting the Banana Wars and Other Fairtrade Battles", and had included the story in an issue of Good, where I had read the story. It was a really important story, and had made a big impact on me. I had had no idea that banana workers in many countries were forced to work in conditions with pesticides that large banana companies like Dole knew damaged the human reproductive system (sterilized the workers), or worse, cause horrible birth defects in babies they did give birth to. Because the big banana companies can produce their bananas cheaply in this way, many farmers of smaller farms can't compete. Some islands where bananas are their main way of making a living had given up, and the young people were getting involved in drugs and crime.

But the good part of this story is where fair trade comes in as a way for people to produce make a living from bananas without using the damaging pesticides. There are manypeople in the UK, and now NZ (All Good bananas) who are happy to buy them, and now there are islands which are healthy and flourishing due to fair trade bananas.

Anyways, back to the night - we were a room full of strangers, and insecurities about how suitable my clothing and appearance were haunting me a little in the seemingly sophisticated media savvy crowd. But when Harriet spoke with her rich UK accent, and spoke about her experiences, we all became human again. We shared in her horror when she met a banana worker's wife who had had a deformed baby whom she couldn't comfort, but also in her hope for the future. She had an important message for our world, that trade should place people first. It is a very simple concept, but it doesn't happen when countries push the interests of their own people despite the impact on those living elsewhere.

She brought up a Michael Jackson song, Man in the Mirror. As an artist the song really expressed that our responsibility lies with our own actions - the person we look at in the mirror. Our choices make an impact, such as buying cheap bananas without knowing how they are produced.

Harriet inspired us with a saying she was told by a farmer, that all the tiny raindrops in the mountains and valleys make the mighty river flow. "I hope you'll all be good little raindrops now..."

After she was done speaking again, when we were all humans, I too the opportunity to meet Good's current editor, then it was on to my main mission of the night. I was pretty sure that I could tell who the man who ran All Good bananas was by how he carried himself (and he had a big yellow banana on his black t-shirt, see top photo by Harriet, his name is Chris Morrison) but I found out to make sure and then snuck behind the Banana drink-making pirates to speak to him. I just wanted to know why the large grocery store in our area (the Albany Pak'NSave) had stopped selling his Fair Trade bananas. Had the other main companies such as Dole kicked up a fuss about him selling there? I had loved seeing them at this mainstream grocery store. Apparently it is just the produce manager who is only interested in selling them for a rock-bottom deal. Well, we'll see about that, sonny! Sometimes for your customers - it's just not about the money.

Freecycle website - for getting free stuff or getting rid of stuff

Freecycle works well! I heard about it a little while ago, but recently I needed to get rid of an assembled roof for a deck extension, and the day after I posted it I had 6 replies of people wanted to take it away! That's great.

You just go to http://www.freecycle.org/ and register in your local group, then you can offer or look for offers. It's all free. I believe that there are networks of freecycle all over the world; it was my sister in Toronto that actually told me about it.

Their description:
"Network to promote waste reduction and help save landscape from being taken over by landfills."

Beth Krommes illustrations (The house in the night)

I love that moment where you jump to freedom, no longer constrained by reality.

I also love how she contrasts the image richness of the book (below) with plain empty space.

Beautiful illustration of how the moon gets its light:

Look at that awesome umbrella.


And, of course any good book ends with momma love.

Greens view attacks as badge of honour | Adam Bennett | NZ Herald June 7 2011

Article posted by NZ Herald June 7, 2011 (both in print and online), link to online article here.
Cate Blanchett features in a campaign urging Australians to back a carbon tax. Photo / AP

Greens view attacks as badge of honourBy Adam Bennett 5:30 AM Tuesday Jun 7, 2011

Attacks on the Greens' crusade against climate change are "a badge of honour" and put them in the same company as the suffragettes and the anti-slavery movement, says Australian Greens leader Bob Brown.

Senator Brown, who addressed the final day of the New Zealand Greens' annual meeting in Auckland yesterday, is at war with Rupert Murdoch and his media empire over plans to introduce a carbon tax.

The issue is reaching boiling point ahead of a decision expected on July 1.

Australian voters have been urged to "Say Yes" to the tax in an advertising campaign featuring actor Cate Blanchett, and thousands rallied in support of it across the country over the weekend.
But a poll commissioned by Mr Murdoch's News Ltd and published yesterday found just 28 per cent of 500 Australians asked were in favour of it compared with 58 per cent against.

Mr Murdoch fuelled ill-feeling between himself and Senator Brown last year when he warned that "the bloody Greens" were a threat to Australia's economy.

The senator told yesterday's meeting: "Whenever I get a little bit despondent about the attacks, I go and look at what happened to the suffragettes or the people who were going to get rid of slavery, or get children out of the mines.

"In every case those who were living for these huge advances in civilisation were condemned on economic grounds.

"It's a badge of honour to know we're just following in the good company of the past."

Senator Brown said his party's stance on climate change policy was based on advice "from the best economic as well as environmental experts in the country".

He was confident his negotiations with Julia Gillard's Labor Government would be successful.

The Greens - who from next month will hold the balance of power in the Upper House and whose one vote in the Lower House is vital to keeping Labor in government - are negotiating the shape and price of the tax against stiff opposition from the Liberal Party and industry.

Failure to agree on the tax could break Ms Gillard's tenuous hold on the Treasury benches by forcing a snap election.

But while the Greens have a far more ambitious target than Labour for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Senator Brown said yesterday that he accepted "it won't be a Green carbon price" if the tax went ahead.

"It is a compromise; we are responsible about this," he said.

What happens in Australia with regards to a carbon charge has implications for the future of New Zealand's emissions trading scheme (ETS), which is under review.

Prime Minister John Key has said he will not throw the agriculture sector "to the wolves" by forcing it to enter the scheme in 2015 as scheduled if our main trading partners are not taking similar measures.

Senator Brown said the Australian carbon tax was likely to be a "tighter and more targeted" scheme than the ETS and would "challenge New Zealand to look again at the structure of that trading system".

BOB AND JULIA'S CARBON TAX
* Would effectively tax Australia's 1000 largest polluters on their greenhouse gas emissions.
* Much of the money would go to offsetting the impact of higher power prices on households.
* Would not apply to petrol.
* Would transition to a cap-and-trade system after three to five years.

By Adam Bennett Email Adam

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