Fanning the Flames

Love it, why use a piece of cardboard to fan the Sate on the grill when you can......


Jakarta goes high tech!

Mair Blue Energy

In an attempt to rectify the discreditation heaped upon him, maverick inventor Djoko Suprapto's invited people to his house to once again demonstrate the power of “Blue Energy”.

While the Jakarta Post quoted that “It was an auspicious moment for the 48-year-old Djoko, a man of dubious educational background, to prove in public his controversial "blue energy" invention was no hoax” the reality is probably more like Bullshit second time around..

This time he changed his tune saying “it wasn't blue energy but rather an alternative energy mix which was 70 percent water and 30 percent diesel.”

The crowd which had gathered did not include any “experts, rather a mix of journalists and laymen who have obviously displayed talent in the “arse from elbow” school of thought.

I am surprised that anyone was there at all as Djoko had moved the showing from 2 p.m. to 9 a.m. It seems that Pak Djoko was trying to avoid enquiries he did not want to answer.

Here goes the Jakarta Post report…Classic Stuff

“As Djoko started the long-awaited demo, all eyes were set on a red rectangular box -- the infamous "Jodhipati" -- which Joko said could power an electric drill and light up bulbs using his fuel. With six 1.5 volt batteries attached, the drill and lights did indeed start up and then remained working after the batteries were removed a few minutes later. The generator is able to produce 10,000 watts of electricity, according to Djoko.

"After the generator starts, it doesn't need an external source of energy. It will work independently," he told his audience.

Knowing his public expose was a "success" he became agitated. He turned to a certain Pak Fuckwit, an academic representing Yogyakarta's Muhammadiyah University, which used to finance his research, and shouted at him, "Fuckwit, please explain all this to the audience and don't dare to intimidate me and never call me a liar again."

"Touch the inside of this box and see if you can get electrocuted."

(While reading this I rolled around on the floor expecting the report to continue with “a volunteer from the audience quickly proved that this was true”)

Initially, the invention had been hailed as a mighty example of Indonesian Innovation and the Muhammadiyah University had spent Rp 1.5 billion (about US$ 166 thousand) on further research only to discover that it was an elaborate hoax. The university has filed a claim for repayment off the investment money.

The university's rector also resigned last week over the scandal. One wonders how they could have approved the investment in the first place and also, given that their gullibility has been exposed, what level of education do they provide.

Getting back to one off the guests, Pak Fuckwit seems to have been the one who asked Djoko to conduct the demonstration for the public and journalists.

Acknowledging he was impressed, Fuckwit said he would ask Djoko to let all the equipment be tested by scientists from such institutions as the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), the National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) and the Agency for Research and Application of Technology (BPPT).

It really does not get any better than this….

At US$130 a barrel there must be a cheaper way to get fuel.

There has been a lot off talk over how much Oil Indonesia actually has, truth be it to tell there is loads...the only problem is getting it out of the ground.

ExxonMobil have a huge reservoir called "Cepu" which will slowly come on line over the next few years. It has been a known resource for many years but disagreements between ExxonMobil, Pertamina and Tommy Suharto (another finger, another pie) have prevented this development, except that is, the development by the unlicensed local "Oil Companies"

I came across a number off photographs by a guy called Allen Johnston who visited Cepu and what he found was surprising...

The area around the Cepu field, although never properly abandoned was considered as non productive and Pertamina left, also leaving many wells which the locals could access.



First of all, they had to locate a well which still had casing intact and erect a makeshift derrick over the open hole. As the wells no longer flow, they merely seep, and there is a certain amount of oil enters the well-bore each day which can be extracted.



On a hi-tech well site, an old truck engine can be used to winch buckets of oil from the well.



The oil/water mix from the well bore arrives at surface and is directed to a drainage ditch for the next part of the refining process.



This two man unit has one guy running the engine using his toes to shift gears, the other runs the winch pulling oil out of the ground.Fuck all to do all day except chat and smoke, on top of an oil well!



Wonderful conditions here, another bucket load headed to the refinery.



At the end of the drainage ditch, the sludge is allowed to settle with the water at the bottom and the oil floating on top. Using buckets they capture the oil, transfer it into 8 gallon buckets and send it on for further processing.



While the "treated" water which has separated from the oil is dumped into an environmentally approved area.



Human Oil tankers ferry the crude to the refinery.



Meanwhile, the well next door uses a human winch truck to extract the oil.



In the distance, the flare stack from the refinery can just be seen.



The refinery is actually a buried 55 gallon oil drum with an oven below it. The crude is poured into the drum and then a lid is placed on top. Mud is used to seal the lid onto the drum. A fire is started and the crude is heated until it cracks and separates into vapours.



A technician is always nearby to detect the vapours and attach a pipe to the top off the drum to send the vapours into the pool off water on the right. This is the heat / exchanger within the refinery process.



All the time, the clay seal on the oil drum is renewed to ensure that the vapour is directed correctly. This guy is the clay seal man...



Displaying the latest in sealing technologies.



The process is underway, the square tin can directs the vapours underground and through the water...



This is what they are waiting for, hydrocarbon vapour, the cap is then placed over the barrel and the process is almost complete.



The pipe runs for about twenty feet through the water and at the end the vapours will have condensed into diesel which is sold to local farmers, presumably without the government surcharges.



And it's off to market with the Oil Tanker. They claim that they can recover 80% of the hydrocarbon crude as diesel. Makes you wonder.....

Got to give it to the Indonesians, they sure know alternative ways to get something done.

Where do Condoms come from...

I attended a wedding in Bali last weekend and, in an attempt to keep certain members of the group off guests sober during the day on Saturday it was suggested that we take advantage of a guided tour around the west coast resort that we stayed in.

It was a "plantations" tour which showed how the Balinese had chosen to integrate a number of differing species in a single plantation rather than a mono culture with plantations each bearing only a single species. (Note, not a Bio Fuel Plantation in sight)



First things first it was decided a drink was in order and the coconut man was sent up the tree to hack a few fresh ones down..took him about 45 seconds to get to the top of the tree.



Out with the machete and instant refreshments all around.



Thirst free, he walked over to a rubber tree and opened the existing wound on the tree to allow the white sap to flow lazily down the cut and spiral downwards to the collecting cup.



The size of the cut is exactly right to create a drop rate of one drop per second into the cup.



After the "sap wound" dries up (each sapper "milks 300 tree's a day") the residue is collected and taken to the factory where the "rubber making" process starts in earnest.


The raw sap is poured into vats along with water and hydrochloric acid which makes the sap congeal into a less than recognisable pile off rubber shit.



This resultant goo is sent through two archaic presses to process the rubber into more manageable sheets.



Press number one sort of prepares it into a lumpy rectangular shape while press number two compresses it, ensuring all the water is removed and leaves a 1 cm thick sheet of latex rubber.



The resultant sheets are then laid out to dry in the sun. I may add here they fucking stink.



When dried, they are placed into a smoke room for four days and kept at a temperature of about 50 degrees C, curing the rubber.



The end result being raw rubber which is then sent as raw material to the rubber goods manufacturers of the world.



Packed into bales weighing 130 kg each they await collection...I noticed that nowhere in this process was there a fork lift, crane or pallet jack used. Everything was moved by hand and 130 kg is quite a weight. They manufacture one ton off rubber each day here!



So the next amourous moment you experience, just think off all that went into making that little "Anti Child Device" that you and your partner fumble with in the dark.

Indonesian Magic (Or how to Bamboozle the President)

One of my "Daily Reads" is Jakartass who is linked on the left hand column. Having been a regular consumer of his "musings" and also having met him I have plenty of time to wade through his postings and I enjoy what each new post contains.

Jakartass is also "Green" I mean very "Green" and I rather enjoyed the post which I have linked here.

EcoFuel

I recommend you read this before moving on to the best bit....

Obviously the Jakarta Post decided to do some checking up and this was subsequently published. Has to be scam of the century! (I giggled my tits off)


Indonesian 'wonder fuel' just plain diesel: report

A controversial plan backed by Indonesia's president to turn water into cheap and limitless energy has run aground, with tests showing the wonder fuel is just plain diesel, a report said Tuesday.

Government scientists have revealed that tests on the so-called "Blue Energy," purportedly made from water, showed it was diesel from state oil company Pertamina, The Jakarta Post reported.

"Blue Energy is nothing extraordinary as it is just a form of hydrocarbon or fossil fuel," Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman was quoted as saying.

The energy "breakthrough" grabbed headlines in Indonesia after its inventor, Joko Suprapto, managed to convince President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono he could separate hydrogen from water, turning it into diesel.

The plan was exhibited at the United Nations climate change conference in Bali in December with the president's blessing.

Suprapto went missing last month but was found in a hospital in West Java suffering from heart problems after Yudhoyono, fearing he had been abducted by jealous oil barons, ordered a police search, Tempo news magazine reported.

It further appears that quite a large sum of cash was made available by the government to the aptly named Joko

How embarrassing!

America has the Mars Lander - Indonesia has...

Indonesia launched its first, experimental rocket last Monday from a location in West Java, the space centre presumably hidden from prying eyes with a sliding lake on an extinct volcano in James Bond’s “You Only Live Twice”

Needless to say, the worlds first questions were “WTF” They feared that an Intercontinental Sambal delivery system had been tested and the fear was tangible. However, within a few days it was assessed that Indonesia's recent rocket launch presented no security threat and did not mean Jakarta would use the technology for weapons..

Apparently Indonesians are serious about developing a world class space programme, like other Asian countries. The ability to launch their own satellites to allow unlimited Sinetron to the masses is essential to the countries development.

While Koreans have just launched their first astronaut (albeit with a little Russian assistance) other countries are in for a bit of the action as well. The Indians are getting ready to build their own crew capsule for putting astronauts in space. Currently Indonesia buys its rockets from India, although recent photographs of Mumbai’s Mission Control show there is much yet to be done.



The head of Indonesia’s National Aeronautics and Outer Space Institute's Cooperation Division, said that the launch was successful.

“We launched in early morning there was no wind, no rain, it was very good conditions” He continued “ Pak Hamid, the Sate Man did a roaring trade around the launch pad and the rocket has been loaded with all the unsold copies off the Presidents last CD in case there is unintelligent life en-route” .

Apparently the launch was the first stage of a five-year programme to enable Indonesia to launch its own satellites into space.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, there are people to feed, children to educate, diseases to be cured, roads to be repaired, corruption to be eradicated, canals to be built, dams to be strengthened, pollution to be conquered, logging to be stopped, and err, emm many others I suppose. These listed above are “need to’s”

Given the current financial situation and social problems the country has, I thought it may have been better to leave rocket science to others…….

Are things getting better?

The news this morning broke with the ending off eight years of travel advice warnings regarding Americans visiting Indonesia

"The United States lifted a travel warning placed on Indonesia following a string of deadly terrorist attacks, saying the security situation in the world's most populous Muslim nation had improved.

The last suicide bombing was more than 2 1/2 years ago on Bali island.

"The government ... has disrupted, arrested and prosecuted numerous terrorist elements," U.S. Ambassador Cameron Hume said Sunday in announcing the decision to lift the warning, which was put in place after several bombs went off in the capital, Jakarta, in 2000. "

Good news, certainly for "Murkans" who stay away in their droves when there is the slightest chance they could get scratched by a dog or catch a dose of the Indo Intestines. I fear we are about to become inundated...

In other news, fuel prices did increase jump by almost 30% on Saturday Evening and there is information out that the 27th and the 28th have been identified as the days most likely to have protests and disruptions.

The last time prices were increased, there were threats of all sorts of shit6 happening which never materialised. It is hoped that this is the case again as I cannot be arsed sitting in my car for hours while the noisy fuckwits shut the streets down...



Finally, at 6:30 am Jakarta Time, NASA announced that Mars Explorer had landed.

If you are interested, the feed is here....

NASA TV

Apologies for the terrible photoshop!