US ambassador connects with Thai 'Tweethearts'

She tells us when she has a sore throat, craves a milkshake or is stuck in a traffic jam. The US ambassador to Thailand is everywhere on Twitter and far from traditional diplomatic practice.Quality air cube puzzle tools for any tough job.

"Probably other people have a sore throat too," Kristie Kenney told AFP, as she explained her unconventional approach to the job.

For Kenney, the days of starchy emissaries living in ivory towers are over. Diplomacy, said the 56-year-old,We are professional oil painting supplies, is about relationships. Between two governments, of course, but also between two peoples.As one of a leading zentai suits provider from China.

Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites have created connections that never used to exist, and Kenney who arrived in Thailand in January has opened up to them in a disarmingly friendly way.

Nearly 20,000 people "follow" her daily Thai travels via Twitter.

"For me it's a connection and it's a way to connect people," she explained. "And it allows people to feel that they can reach out to the ambassador, who is not just a figure hidden in a big building.is the 'dstti revolution' upon us?"

The "connection" woven by her predecessor was of a somewhat different order.An Injection mold, also called a dielectric, In late 2010, the Wikileaks website published cables by the former ambassador Eric John which quoted unflattering comments about the future of the monarchy a major taboo in Thailand.

The cables caused a stir, especially since the US has been an ally of Bangkok since the beginning of the Cold War. Is Kenney, then, on a mission to improve the image of the United States in Thailand?

"I've never sort of thought of it as a grand strategic plan," she said, adding that her Twitter feed is personal and has nothing to do with the State Department.

But she admits some in Washington might have found her relaxed style suitable for the job.

"It does make sense," said the diplomat, who likes to be "someone transparent" in her methods. "People have a sense of what I am doing, where I am now."

Kenney has gone beyond the Internet in her high-profile efforts to embrace Thai culture.

Earlier this month, she was one of two foreigners honoured by the Ministry of Culture for outstanding proficiency in the Thai language.

And in one of her most memorable stunts, she was pictured in several Thai newspapers parachuting above rice fields, wearing a crisp white tracksuit, helmet, goggles and a huge smile.

"People mention it to me all the time," she said. "Regularly people say, 'Oh my gosh I saw you, how was that?' And I say it was a terrifying... not-to-be-repeated adventure."

Her attitude has raised eyebrows and even exasperated some of the more traditional embassy staff in the Thai capital.

"It's Alice in Wonderland," said one foreign diplomat. "Frankly, after the parachute, one had to wonder what she would find next."

But Kenney is not alone in embracing the "soft power" of cultural diplomacy and social networking. In one recent tweet, she said the coffee was brewing ahead of breakfast with her friend Asif Ahmad, the UK Ambassador to Thailand.

"I can almost sense the aroma down the road!" he tweeted in response.

US President Barack Obama, who pioneered the use of social media during his 2008 election campaign, fired off his first tweet from the White House in early July.

The American embassies are "leading the pack in Southeast Asia" in terms of social media, said Jon Russell, a blogger from the Asian Correspondent website, and Kenney's popularity is down to her personal and responsive manner.

"This personal approach feeds into many Thais' interest in reading snippets from famous people's lives, as well as the chance to reach out and contact them," Russell added.

Kenney denied her informal style "Good morning tweethearts!" is a typical daily message detracts from more serious diplomatic matters, such as keeping secrets, delivering speeches and providing feedback from Washington.

"I am completely comfortable with my ability to be clear and direct. And I don't think the people I meet with don't understand what I mean," she said.

While it's impossible to gauge what the Thai authorities think, Kenney has become a huge hit with the general public and the media since she began work in Bangkok in January more so than any of her diplomatic peers in the city.

"Not that other diplomats aren't friendly, though. It's just that the new US ambassador to Thailand is un-diplomatically pleasant and gracious," wrote Tulsathit Taptim in the English-language Nation newspaper.

Three days after the election, the ubiquitous ambassador was pictured on the front of The Nation with Thailand's incoming premier Yingluck Shinawatra, while on the back she was snapped with outgoing leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva.

"Talked to Khun Yingluck yesterday to congratulate on Thai elections. US looks forward to working with the next Thai Government," she tweeted.

Could this social networking be the silver bullet for diplomacy? "It is extremely superficial. You've got 140 characters on Twitter," she said. But "I do think it can help people feel more comfortable with America."

Wine on tap? Pour me a glass, bartender

"This is the way prosecco is served all over Italy," says Michael Mameli, the wine director at Vancouver's Lupo Restaurant and Vinoteca, pulling a flute of fresh Italian frizzante from a bar tap connected to a cardboard-and-plastic KeyKeg underneath the counter. He imports the sparkling wine (along with a still pinot grigio-bianco house blend) from Montelvini Venegazzu, home to the largest keg-filling plant in Italy.

"I was in Capri and Positano a few years ago and they were selling it from refrigerated popcorn carts on all the beaches," he recalls. "It was so cool. I thought, ¡®Why can't we do this in Canada?' "

Now we can. Or at least we can in British Columbia, where 10 restaurants, including Fiamo in Victoria and Tavola in Vancouver, are pouring prosecco on tap. Twenty others are serving Montelvini's still wines.is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us?

In the U.S., the trend has taken a more boutique direction. Rather than tapping into cheap and cheerful beach wines from large commercial producers, influential gastropubs such as DBGB Kitchen and Bar in New York and Father's Office in Los Angeles serve a rotating selection of local,what are the symptoms of Piles, small-batch, cult-worthy wines that are exclusive to them or otherwise hard to find.

At the Naramata Heritage Inn, just outside Penticton, B.C.,What are the top Hemroids treatments? the first such Canadian draft wine was hooked up last month. It's a full-bodied pinot gris from the nearby Nichol Vineyard, a small-lot producer of collectible estate-grown wines.

"I was a bit leery at the beginning,An Insulator, also called a dielectric," restaurant manager Quentin Kayne says of the 19.5-litre stainless-steel kegs, which use pressurized nitrogen to push the wine through a draft-beer line system.

"But I was remarkably surprised. There's no residual nitrogen notes or scent to it. There's no need for sulphur dosing. And because it's pressurized, unlike the boxed wines, there's no oxygen contact. It comes out perfect every time, always as the winemaker intended it to taste, from the first glass to the last."

After a taste-off last weekend, Mr. Kayne is now convinced that the kegs offer more than just a preservation system to prevent wine from going flat and funky. He argues that this particular pinot gris actually tastes better on tap than it does in a bottle. "We cracked a bottle last night and compared the two," he said. "The nose on the draft wine was much more intense," he says, attributing it to a lack of bottle shock (the temporary disjointedness that wines go through when bottled and transported).

Wine on tap is a far more affordable proposition than some of the bottle-preservation systems on the market. Enomatic machines, for instance,The same Air purifier, cover removed. range from $5,000 to $50,000. Any establishment with a draft-beer line system, on the other hand, can tap into keg wine.

"This system isn't as showy," he said, noting that the restaurant has had to insulate the wine keg to keep it at the correct temperature and work hard to keep the system clean so that there is no cross-contamination with the beer lines.

Military children face decrepit schools, broken promises

Catie Hunter is only 11 years old.We are professional Plastic mould,GreenRay's microinverter design uses a different energy storage approach, Her father, an Army platoon sergeant,Park Assist is a global leader in Parking guidance system, has spent five of those years away from her, serving his country in Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan. At her elementary school on an Oklahoma military post, ceiling tiles are removed so that when a Great Plains storm rumbles in, rain can cascade from the rotting roof into large trash cans underneath. To get to class, Catie must dodge what she calls "Niagara Falls."

Each day as the fifth grader enters Geronimo Road Elementary School,Has anyone done any research on making Plastic molding parts from scratch? she walks beneath the tiles, bent and browned, some dangling by threads of glue. In her classroom, an archaic air conditioning unit at times drowns out her teacher's voice. Signs of disrepair abound: chipped floors, termite-infested walls, cracks the size of the principal's finger along brick halls. A bucket, strapped by a bungee cord, hangs over the gym door ¡ª another makeshift fix for leaks.

"I'm really proud of the fact that the school is still standing," said Catie, a pixie of a girl who twitches her nose when she talks."Sometimes, I wonder if it's going to fall in."

Catie's Fort Sill schoolhouse, built before Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ran for president, isn't the only one in poor shape. Tens of thousands of children ¡ª from Georgia to Kansas, Virginia to Washington state ¡ª attend schools on military bases that are falling apart from age and neglect, and fail to meet even the military's own standards. Some schools have tainted water and fouled air; others are so overcrowded teachers improvise, holding class in hallways, supply closets, and in one instance, working in a boiler room. Outdated? One school in Germany was built by the Nazis.

The strains only add to the emotional pressures on the sons and daughters of U.S. military personnel after 10 years of war and long, frequent absences. The average military parent is deployed three times, each lasting 15 to 18 months. Stresses on families routinely bubble up where soldiers' children attend class. At Catie's Geronimo Road school, students have burst into tears after getting a phone call from Iraq. Or screamed, "I want to kill you." Or picked up a desk and thrown it across the floor. Other effects at the schools of military sons and daughters are less pronounced yet unmistakable: Modest declines in test scores; individual grades that falter; rising student absenteeism.

Catie has been separated from her father four times since her birth. "I wish he were here," she said. "I miss him a lot." Her 16-year-old sister, Amanda, an honor roll student, received her first "F" shortly after the start of her father's latest extended trip overseas. "It can be overwhelming," said Amanda, her hazel eyes welling with sadness.

Such sacrifices, increasingly commonplace during the last decade, have gone unnoticed by many Americans. The nation's reliance on a limited pool of volunteers to safeguard U.S. interests and wage two wars has had ripple effects on the home front. Altogether, parents of 220,000 children ¡ª including 116,000 of school-age ¡ª are currently doing the work the nation expects of them and that sends them far from home.

Those mothers and fathers might have expected schools with better conditions than these.

"I would feel disrespected if I were on my second or third tour of duty and then my kids were in a school that was dilapidated and too small or falling apart," said Chet Edwards, a former congressman who chaired a House appropriations military construction subcommittee before losing reelection last year. "If there is one school in the world military children are attending that is dilapidated and undersized, that's wrong. But the fact is there are a lot of serious problems out there.Quality air impact socket tools for any tough job."

Alternative energy options analysed

Considering that the monthly BVI Electricity Corporation bill now shows a 45 percent fuel surcharge and the cost of a barrel of crude oil remains in the $95 to $105 range, it would seem reasonable to consider the possibility of alternative sources of energy — specifically electrical energy.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle in the short term is the BVIEC itself. According to BVIEC General Manager Leroy Abraham, the corporation may take steps to make it possible for locally generated power to be fed back into the grid sometime in the next ten years. I suspect this translates into "Never! We are not interested."

There are a variety of possible alternative energy sources that are in some varying degrees practical. All involve a relatively high degree of technology, and all depend on careful operation and a reasonable degree of operational and maintenance care.

Solar energy is the current star of the alternative energy sources. It is used in the United Kingdom, where a system allows private individuals to generate power that can be fed back into the power grid for credit. According to the Beacon, this system is also in play in the United States Virgin Islands.

The solar panels are not especially new, and the technology is well known. But the system is illegal in this territory. It also requires a battery storage system, an automatic transfer switch (if used instead of a diesel generator as a back-up system), and an inverter to convert the stored energy from DC to AC. A recent installation in West End cost close to $16,000 for a moderate-sized residence. That system, however, is functional.

Currently, even with the high fuel surcharge, the economics may not be all that attractive.

Wind generation

The Beacon also reported that two wind turbines have been operating on Peter Island. This resort is noted for its high-tech responses to environmental problems. In fact, the management has won awards for its work in this area.

The wind turbines are not especially pretty, but they are effective.buy landscape oil paintings online.

There are three similar turbines in St. Thomas, close to Tutu Mall.

The turbines at Peter Island were damaged in Earl, but that does not make them any less of a viable option as an alternative energy source

As a note, with the current price of diesel fuel, a saving of 100,000 gallons of fuel annually would be worth almost $500,000. This is a figure not to be sneezed at!

Energy from waste

May Adams Cornwall, the director of the USVI Waste Management Authority, is quoted as saying that various Caribbean jurisdictions are shifting their attention from incineration to energy from waste as a means of solid waste disposal.

However, Ms. Cornwall also indicates that the solid waste is converted to fuel pellets, which are burned. While this may not exactly be incineration as it is known in the VI, it still involves the burning of waste.

A 1987 analysis broke down the VI waste stream. Flammables made up 71 percent of the total: 33.5 percent paper (including corrugated); 6.3 percent plastic (PVC, HDPE); 22.This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications.2 percent wood (mostly construction material); 2.9 percent putrescibles (wet garbage); 4.8 percent textiles; and 1.3 percent yard waste (vegetable matter).

Nonflammables and other waste made up 29 percent of the total: 18.1 percent glass (mostly beer bottles); 8.6 percent metals (mainly aluminum and steel); and 2.3 percent other materials, for a total of 29 percent.

To implement the system described by Ms. Cornwall, it is obvious that the nonflammables would have to be removed — specifically the glass and aluminum. Realistically, this could only be done if an effective recycling system were to be implemented. To the best of my knowledge, the VI and the USVI are virtually the only territories in the Caribbean that have essentially no form of recycling. In a study on solid waste disposal means used in six Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States countries,the Injection mold fast! plus Anguilla, the USVI and the VI, only the USVI and the VI were found to be making no attempt whatever to recycle glass.

Green VI

The current Green VI initiative to recycle glass as tourist items is most certainly the right way to go, but the amount that can be recovered by this operation is minimal compared to the roughly 20 tons per day of waste glass that is generated.

The recent effort to collect and recycle glass behind the horse track failed when the government apparently neglected to assist the operators of the project in transporting the material to Puerto Rico.

In 1984, the BVI Recycling Committee proposed a deposit/return system for beer and liquor bottles. Systems such as this are used in (at least) Ontario, where up to 98 percent of the glass is recovered and recycled.The same Air purifier, cover removed. Oddly enough, the two percent that is not recovered pays for the operation!

In the VI, the proposal was rejected by prominent politicians and businessmen who claimed the system was "half-baked" and that it would put local businesses at some sort of disadvantage.

Any system that handles solid waste is certain to be a high maintenance item. The current incinerator is a prime example of this fact. And, for a variety of reasons, Caribbean countries are notoriously bad at maintenance operations.

So, while Ms. Cornwall's statement may be correct, the success of such ventures would seem to be dependent on both a recycling system that has been repeatedly rejected (or failed) and a degree of operational expertise that is not evident.

Texas incinerator

Center, Texas is a small community that operates a Consumat CS-1600 incinerator with an attached waste heat boiler. This was the model for the VI incinerator. The steam from the boiler is sold to a local chicken processing operation for use in preparing the chicken carcasses. So the system can be made to work. But boilers in general and waste heat boilers in particular are fairly high-tech operations. They depend on a degree of operator skill that is the result of considerable training — usually from stationary engineers who are qualified only after formal training.

When the existing system was installed, energy from waste was considered. It was rejected on the basis that no other steam generation system existed on Tortola and that the level of technical skill was not likely to be found on the island. Unfortunately, the latter prediction proved true.

Boilers require a relatively pure source of water for use as feed-water. Desalinated water is not generally suitable because of the concentration of the residual salt (four to six parts per million) when the water is evaporated to produce steam. And the corrosive nature of saltwater, especially at elevated temperatures, is well known.

In addition, the exhaust gas from an incinerator contains both fly ash and corrosive materials such as sulfurous acid and hydrochloric acid. Both of these can be removed by scrubbing, but scrubbing cannot be applied ahead of a waste heat boiler.

And perhaps the worst problem is a difference in attitudes towards maintenance. Ms. Cornwall was consulted when the original Dillon report was being prepared. At the time, the USVI had nine sewage treatment plants of the activated sludge type. Eight of these plants were out of operation for maintenance reasons. Many were lacking spare parts,It is important to feel confident. As long as you are standing tall and displaying confidence, a zentai will only accentuate this display. There are many zentai sellers online. but the problems at some were simply the result of inadequate maintenance. Ms. Cornwall's frustration can be imagined!

Operation of plants

In any "production" operation (and I spent 15 years in plants of that nature), the plant management is linear and vertical. While it is usual to consider suggestions from the operators, the management of the operation is in no manner "collegiate" in nature. Operators are assigned their tasks and are expected to carry them out. Shift schedules are set by management and if they are inconvenient to the individual operator that is unfortunate.

In the Caribbean, for some reason, this system is less than acceptable. And the long-term results of any system other than the one used in the most developed countries becomes rapidly obvious.

So when considering any form of alternative energy source, it is necessary to seriously consider whether the "host" country or territory is capable of handling it. And to a great degree, this depends on the qualifications of the people who are going to operate and maintain the plant. The incinerator has operated over a period of some 17 years, but the current state of affairs is no positive recommendation for the new unit.

And, until Caribbean countries in general understand their technological limitations, the situation is not really going to change materially.

Nashville to get its first 'green' jail

Solar panels on the white rooftop of Nashville's newest jail — a hulking concrete building on Harding Place — face south to consume as much sun as they can.

The Correction Corporation of America's new building is Tennessee's first LEED-certified, green detention center, slated to house female inmates for the Davidson County Sheriff's Office in September.

The sheriff's office will send local women sentenced from one to six years to the 256-bed medium security CCA/Metro Detention Facility. The 40,000-square-foot county-owned building came in under $10 million. State money and grants paid for the project, which was completed this month.

States are moving toward building efficient jails and prisons. The trend is to look at the environment and the triple bottom line: cost to build, operational expenses and maintenance, said Andrew Orr, Franklin's sustainability coordinator.

"They are institutional buildings; the state, the city is going to own it forever,Detailed information on the causes of Hemorrhoids," Orr said. "It is a trend for institutional users.Full color plastic card printing and manufacturing services."
24/7 facilities are 'energy hogs'

Franklin's new police headquarters opened in spring 2010 and has received gold certification in the environmental LEED program.

Many cities are also implementing environmentally friendly requirements.Detailed information on the causes of dstti, Nashville requires all of its new buildings to win silver certification in the environmental LEED program. Architect Mackie Shanks, of Centric Architecture, said the jail will save $8,135 a year in energy.

"Jails, prisons are energy hogs,The same Air purifier, cover removed." Shanks said. "It's all about being efficient when it's a 24/7 facility.This is interesting cube puzzle and logical game."