- This is the feedback I got so far from interested Tweeps ... Looking good ... Will publish more as this venture advances ... We are gonna do this...
- Anonymous said...
- I love you for this.
- Anonymous said...
- This is very nice of you to make a wonderful and organized plan for our country to benefit from. Now i do not have the needed information about the recycling plant, how it is working in leb, or how much it is really being productive, so i would rather concentrate on the financing part: The extra money put on the cup is variable. It is just relative for each and every place u buy coffee from. The variable "v" for example is dependent on 3 things: 1. Amount of guests buying coffee 2. Distance from the recycling plant 3. Time of delivery now if the cups were to be delivered DAILY as you said, then v must change each and every day if the amount of guests vary, or it will become a variable cost that may result in losses with time. With these 3 points many combinations can occur... On the other hand you have the costumer, who must be controlled with this, so if he chooses not to pay for it, and rather he throws it. But not all can be trusted. Actually 70 % i think or more would not pay and throw the cup from their car window. And the goal of this plan will not be achieved. Now if you can control this "v", and make the costumer pay for it, then it will do great.
nightS said... - Excuse my ignorance...but why it has to be delivered daily?? Loved the idea and I'll talk to my "business-owners" friends..they're a few but it's a start :D
- Tee said...
- Great idea! Where will u start? Seems to me choice of place is crucial to its success i.e. places like Younis, frequented by environmentally aware well-offs.
- Ana Min Beirut - أنا من بيروت said...
- @Anonymous March 09: Gee thanks, wasn't expecting it..but hey I'll take love anytime... :) @Anonymous March 10: Excellent points..Thank you very much. We will be launching at a place that has ,more than 180 serving/day. Hoping to get to the 30,000L.L./day otherwise the management would (should...As Rami from Plus961 pointed out) pitch in...After all this effort should make good PR and CSR for them. As for the customer, yes this will be totally voluntary...we are also betting that some environmentally conscious customers will pitch in more than the 250 L.L. Anyway, I will keep you guys posted on the progress... @nightS: The coffee shop generates 5 to 6 LARGE bags of waste DAILY...they have no room for storage...so the bags have to go everyday... Thanks for ur help...Wanna start with one coffee shop...learn from the mistakes and hopefully grow this to become Beirut Wide...Inchallah...
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Feedback: A Non Polluting Cup of Coffee
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
A NON POLLUTING CUP OF COFFEE
I’ve been pondering upon this idea for a long time now but technology wasn’t helping: we had no recycling mean for plastic spoons, plastic cover for paper cups, straws, and the bags of coffee beans delivered by suppliers to the coffee shops.
The team had just finished the development phase of a machine which turns all plastic scrap into panels which can be reused as fence or a building block for cabins, newsboxes or even bus stops. So we now have the means to recycle all these items used in preparing a cup of coffee or tea in your favorite coffee shop:
1- Coffee grounds, tea bags, napkins, sugar pouches (paper), paper cups. These will be turned into Compost. A soil fertilizer.
2- Plastic spoons, plastic stirrers, plastic cup covers, straws, coffee beans laminated plastic bags, plastic syrup bottles, Tetrapak type milk cartons, all kinds of plastics currently un-recycled in Beirut. These would be turned into plastic boards or panels.
How does it work?
- Convince the coffee shop management to have 2 garbage bins to throw stuff in the two categories as outlined above. All those we talked to were agreeable to the idea.
- Transport the waste bags DAILY to the recycling plant situated near Beirut Port. Here it got tricky: The coffee shop doesn’t have the logistics to do it. The transportation will be outsourced. Since coffee waste is not very wet and messy it can be transported in the trunk of any taxi cab and hence no need for specialized trucks.
- One figures that transporting 4 or 5 big bags of dry waste daily across Beirut should not cost more than 30,000 L.L. per trip.
Financing the effort:
The recycling of these waste will be done free of charge. The only cost involved is that of transport. That can either come from the Coffee shop ownership or have the customers willingly add 250 L.L. to their order which goes in a separate cash box to finance the effort: The cashier can ask the customer as they are ringing their order: would you like to add 250 L.L. to that and have all materials used in preparing your coffee recycled?”
Give me your feedback. I am pretty upbeat about having this done.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Another Thought
She said: "Beware, I know Tae Kwon Do"
I said: "I don't care, I know Smith & Wesson"
(some people need some serious reconsidering of their threatening techniques)
I said: "I don't care, I know Smith & Wesson"
(some people need some serious reconsidering of their threatening techniques)
Monday, December 31, 2007
In Tribute of Loose Cannons
I hate it when I come across an idea that someone else beat me to it and put it in words so superbly. I tip my hat for you Mr. Soderstrom
Aw yes,
To be an honest human being,
Honest with one’s self,
Honest with God,
Honest with others.
Enough of,
Being an organizational man,
A team player,
A status-quo oriented,
Whatever you say boss,
Yes I’ll kiss your ass,
Anytime you want,
Kind of guy.
What the world does not need,
Is another bunch of,
Scum-sucking sycophants,
Back-slapping toads,
Submissive slaves,
Grinning fools,
Yes men,
Truckling turds,
Groveling,
Boot-licking,
Brown-nosing,
Stooges,
Cowering,
Cringing,
Kowtowing,
Ingratiating goons,
Submissive,
Obsequious,
Sniveling,
Wheedling,
Well-wishers,
Mealy-mouthed,
Mortimers,
Fawning,
Groveling,
Partisan flunkies,
Ass-kissing,
Good old boy,
Government lackeys.
Enough of that shit!
To hell with that kind of life,
No more being just another,
Damn wage slave!
However,
What the world does need is more,
Whistle-blowers,
Free-thinkers,
Iconoclasts,
Infidels,
Insubordinates,
Doubting Thomases,
Devil’s advocates,
Scoffers,
Rebels,
Recalcitrant radicals,
Reprobates,
Revolutionaries,
Individualists,
Insurgents,
Insurrectionists,
Liberals,
Mutinous mugwumps,
Liberators,
Emancipators,
Seditious subversives,
Scalawags,
Mavericks.
People who,
Quite frankly,
Don’t give a good damn,
About anything,
Except what is right.
What the world needs,
Is a few more,
Leo Tolstoys,
Henry David Thoreaus,
Martin Luther Kings,
Mohandas Gandhis,
Bob Dylans,
Jesus Christs,
A few more,
Loose cannons.
That’s what the world needs!
Doug Soderstrom, Ph.D. May 14, 2005
Aw yes,
To be an honest human being,
Honest with one’s self,
Honest with God,
Honest with others.
Enough of,
Being an organizational man,
A team player,
A status-quo oriented,
Whatever you say boss,
Yes I’ll kiss your ass,
Anytime you want,
Kind of guy.
What the world does not need,
Is another bunch of,
Scum-sucking sycophants,
Back-slapping toads,
Submissive slaves,
Grinning fools,
Yes men,
Truckling turds,
Groveling,
Boot-licking,
Brown-nosing,
Stooges,
Cowering,
Cringing,
Kowtowing,
Ingratiating goons,
Submissive,
Obsequious,
Sniveling,
Wheedling,
Well-wishers,
Mealy-mouthed,
Mortimers,
Fawning,
Groveling,
Partisan flunkies,
Ass-kissing,
Good old boy,
Government lackeys.
Enough of that shit!
To hell with that kind of life,
No more being just another,
Damn wage slave!
However,
What the world does need is more,
Whistle-blowers,
Free-thinkers,
Iconoclasts,
Infidels,
Insubordinates,
Doubting Thomases,
Devil’s advocates,
Scoffers,
Rebels,
Recalcitrant radicals,
Reprobates,
Revolutionaries,
Individualists,
Insurgents,
Insurrectionists,
Liberals,
Mutinous mugwumps,
Liberators,
Emancipators,
Seditious subversives,
Scalawags,
Mavericks.
People who,
Quite frankly,
Don’t give a good damn,
About anything,
Except what is right.
What the world needs,
Is a few more,
Leo Tolstoys,
Henry David Thoreaus,
Martin Luther Kings,
Mohandas Gandhis,
Bob Dylans,
Jesus Christs,
A few more,
Loose cannons.
That’s what the world needs!
Doug Soderstrom, Ph.D. May 14, 2005
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Anti-Establishment!!!
- “How come you are so Anti-Establishment?” she asked. “You don’t look it either!”
- “I will take the first part of your question as a compliment and the second part as an insult” I replied.
- “But that doesn’t answer my question” she quipped.
- “What do you wanna know?”
- “I wanna know how come a guy in chic clothes is so adamant on bringing the establishment down?”
- “You know for someone who is so not “interested” you have complimented me in two questions more than you have in 7 or 8 dates … I can’t figure you out!!!”
- “When did you decide I was not interested?”
- “After the third date” I said.
- “How come you kept asking me out then?”
- “I wanted to make sure that I was really intimidated by you.”
- “You are insane.”
- “It helps me live in this country … it helps me bare the nightly news …”
- “You know you have no chance with any woman by admitting to her that she intimidates you.”
- “I’m known for bad luck… But intimidation makes me feel like a man again … so I will take the trade-off.”
- “So you are not worried about your chances with me”
- “Oh … that game was over after the third date”
- “Don’t you wanna know why?”
- “Not really. It wouldn’t be fair for the one I will date after you”
- “You are really insane”
- “Well, it keeps my blood chemistry whole”
- “How?”
- “Insanity saves me from Prozac and Tranxene”
- “Don’t you take insanity pills?”
- “To cure it?”
- “Yes”
- “Nope. I am very well adjusted with it. It grows well on me. And I made my peace with it”
- “What is so intimidating about me?”
- “I can’t tell you”
- “Why?”
- “It wouldn’t be fair to the guy you’ll date after me”
- “Man!!! You really are crazy!!!”
- “Don’t be so sure about it…I need all my mental capacities to fight the establishment”
- “So you do admit that you are anti-establishment”
- “Admit!!!! Not at all my dear … I profess my anti-establishment feelings…I proclaim them”.
- “You didn’t say much about that when we were going out!!!”
- “I was too busy being intimidated by you”
- “But WHY???”
- “Can’t say” I replied. “Courtesy to the next guy”
- “Fine. Then answer me about the establishment”
- “What is it you wanna know?”
- “if anything, you look like you embody the establishment”
- “Don’t be fooled by looks. Besides, you gotta know the rules to break them…You gotta know the weak points to know where to attack”
- “You are serious aren’t you?”
- “Dead serious”
- “You seriously think you stand a chance against the establishment”
- “The establishment is not doing that well believe me … the main problem is that people are so fooled by outside appearances”
- “So if I get your drift you will fight it from within”
- “Not from within…that would be treason…let’s say that I understand how it works and what makes it tick to fight it better”
- “How?”
- “You have to beat them at their own game … You have to be a better player and beat them at their own game”
- “How can you play and beat them at their own game and not become like them?”
- “That’s why I use my insanity as a shield”
- “Oh I forgot about the insanity thing …how does it shield you from becoming like them?”
- “Well if you were dating an establishment fellow he would never admit to intimidation…he will make you believe that he is everything that he really isn’t and you will fall for it because like everybody you are fascinated by the establishment”
- “Go on…”
- “You will be so fooled by the façade and the false sense of financial security that you will end-up marrying this guy…when you finally see through the smoke screen you will have two or three kids on your knees”
- “What’s wrong with financial security?”
- “Nothing if it is not the prerequisite for the relationship to go ahead”
- “What if I make sure that there is no façade? That he is the real thing”
- “Truly loaded you mean”
- “You are such a cynic”
- “Don’t confuse cynicism with candid frankness”
- “Ok…so yeah he is loaded…and I will get involved with him”
- “Oh by all means do…Papa’s boys are so interesting to share your life with…I gotta warn you though…they have no balls…and I mean that both literally and metaphorically”
- “Oh God…we need to change subject”
- “Wait, wait…my anti-establishment feelings have nothing to do with relationships…it was you who mixed the two together… My anti-establishment feelings are purely social”
- “Oh no you are a communist?”
- “No no … I am not…God… that train passed a long time ago…communism is against human nature…”
- “So are you a capitalist then?”
- “Nope. Capitalism caters to the worst of human nature: GREED. Mark my words, capitalism will devour itself or it will end life on this planet as we know it”
- “Oh please spare me that environmental meandering philosophical bullshit”
- “I will … but remember these words next time you take your next breath of air loaded with monoxide carbon gases or you drink your water loaded with heavy metals or eat your fruits and vegetables coated with carcinogenic pesticides and herbicides”
- “Please stop”
- “No I am on a roll now … why every time you put your computer on Microsoft makes a profit? Why is my news feed controlled by Rupert Murdoch or Time-Warner? Why are my cellular calls profiting politicians? Why are we as a global community of the 21st century converging again into 19th century monopolies?”
- “Am I supposed to answer those questions?”
- “No. You just wanted to know why I am anti-establishment and I gave you the tip of the iceberg”
- “You are weird.”
- “Wow, another compliment…if you keep this up we might make this work after all”
- “Don’t get your hopes so high”
- “I know I know, we were done by the third date the rest was just research”
- “I will take the first part of your question as a compliment and the second part as an insult” I replied.
- “But that doesn’t answer my question” she quipped.
- “What do you wanna know?”
- “I wanna know how come a guy in chic clothes is so adamant on bringing the establishment down?”
- “You know for someone who is so not “interested” you have complimented me in two questions more than you have in 7 or 8 dates … I can’t figure you out!!!”
- “When did you decide I was not interested?”
- “After the third date” I said.
- “How come you kept asking me out then?”
- “I wanted to make sure that I was really intimidated by you.”
- “You are insane.”
- “It helps me live in this country … it helps me bare the nightly news …”
- “You know you have no chance with any woman by admitting to her that she intimidates you.”
- “I’m known for bad luck… But intimidation makes me feel like a man again … so I will take the trade-off.”
- “So you are not worried about your chances with me”
- “Oh … that game was over after the third date”
- “Don’t you wanna know why?”
- “Not really. It wouldn’t be fair for the one I will date after you”
- “You are really insane”
- “Well, it keeps my blood chemistry whole”
- “How?”
- “Insanity saves me from Prozac and Tranxene”
- “Don’t you take insanity pills?”
- “To cure it?”
- “Yes”
- “Nope. I am very well adjusted with it. It grows well on me. And I made my peace with it”
- “What is so intimidating about me?”
- “I can’t tell you”
- “Why?”
- “It wouldn’t be fair to the guy you’ll date after me”
- “Man!!! You really are crazy!!!”
- “Don’t be so sure about it…I need all my mental capacities to fight the establishment”
- “So you do admit that you are anti-establishment”
- “Admit!!!! Not at all my dear … I profess my anti-establishment feelings…I proclaim them”.
- “You didn’t say much about that when we were going out!!!”
- “I was too busy being intimidated by you”
- “But WHY???”
- “Can’t say” I replied. “Courtesy to the next guy”
- “Fine. Then answer me about the establishment”
- “What is it you wanna know?”
- “if anything, you look like you embody the establishment”
- “Don’t be fooled by looks. Besides, you gotta know the rules to break them…You gotta know the weak points to know where to attack”
- “You are serious aren’t you?”
- “Dead serious”
- “You seriously think you stand a chance against the establishment”
- “The establishment is not doing that well believe me … the main problem is that people are so fooled by outside appearances”
- “So if I get your drift you will fight it from within”
- “Not from within…that would be treason…let’s say that I understand how it works and what makes it tick to fight it better”
- “How?”
- “You have to beat them at their own game … You have to be a better player and beat them at their own game”
- “How can you play and beat them at their own game and not become like them?”
- “That’s why I use my insanity as a shield”
- “Oh I forgot about the insanity thing …how does it shield you from becoming like them?”
- “Well if you were dating an establishment fellow he would never admit to intimidation…he will make you believe that he is everything that he really isn’t and you will fall for it because like everybody you are fascinated by the establishment”
- “Go on…”
- “You will be so fooled by the façade and the false sense of financial security that you will end-up marrying this guy…when you finally see through the smoke screen you will have two or three kids on your knees”
- “What’s wrong with financial security?”
- “Nothing if it is not the prerequisite for the relationship to go ahead”
- “What if I make sure that there is no façade? That he is the real thing”
- “Truly loaded you mean”
- “You are such a cynic”
- “Don’t confuse cynicism with candid frankness”
- “Ok…so yeah he is loaded…and I will get involved with him”
- “Oh by all means do…Papa’s boys are so interesting to share your life with…I gotta warn you though…they have no balls…and I mean that both literally and metaphorically”
- “Oh God…we need to change subject”
- “Wait, wait…my anti-establishment feelings have nothing to do with relationships…it was you who mixed the two together… My anti-establishment feelings are purely social”
- “Oh no you are a communist?”
- “No no … I am not…God… that train passed a long time ago…communism is against human nature…”
- “So are you a capitalist then?”
- “Nope. Capitalism caters to the worst of human nature: GREED. Mark my words, capitalism will devour itself or it will end life on this planet as we know it”
- “Oh please spare me that environmental meandering philosophical bullshit”
- “I will … but remember these words next time you take your next breath of air loaded with monoxide carbon gases or you drink your water loaded with heavy metals or eat your fruits and vegetables coated with carcinogenic pesticides and herbicides”
- “Please stop”
- “No I am on a roll now … why every time you put your computer on Microsoft makes a profit? Why is my news feed controlled by Rupert Murdoch or Time-Warner? Why are my cellular calls profiting politicians? Why are we as a global community of the 21st century converging again into 19th century monopolies?”
- “Am I supposed to answer those questions?”
- “No. You just wanted to know why I am anti-establishment and I gave you the tip of the iceberg”
- “You are weird.”
- “Wow, another compliment…if you keep this up we might make this work after all”
- “Don’t get your hopes so high”
- “I know I know, we were done by the third date the rest was just research”
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Another Thought
You Know, I haven't noticed it before but come to think of it, Oedipus was a motherfucker !!!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Darth vs. Dick
Apparently Hillary Clinton reads my blog !!! last week she called Dick Cheney Darth Vader.
Late night comics had a ball with that:
"Yesterday at a campaign fundraiser, Hillary Clinton criticized Vice President Cheney and called him 'Darth Vader.' Cheney denied it and said, 'Darth Vader is evil, half-machine and always wears a cape. And I don't own a cape.'" --Conan O'Brien
"It's getting pretty nasty out there on the campaign trail. This week, Hillary Clinton referred to Vice President Dick Cheney as Darth Vader. ... And today, he demanded an apology. Not Dick Cheney, Darth Vader." --Jay Leno
"But, come on, it's not all bad. Hillary did call Dick Cheney Darth Vader. ... Which is very unfair, because Darth Vader would have caught bin Laden by now." --Bill Maher
Late night comics had a ball with that:
"Yesterday at a campaign fundraiser, Hillary Clinton criticized Vice President Cheney and called him 'Darth Vader.' Cheney denied it and said, 'Darth Vader is evil, half-machine and always wears a cape. And I don't own a cape.'" --Conan O'Brien
"It's getting pretty nasty out there on the campaign trail. This week, Hillary Clinton referred to Vice President Dick Cheney as Darth Vader. ... And today, he demanded an apology. Not Dick Cheney, Darth Vader." --Jay Leno
"But, come on, it's not all bad. Hillary did call Dick Cheney Darth Vader. ... Which is very unfair, because Darth Vader would have caught bin Laden by now." --Bill Maher
Friday, September 07, 2007
Beware of Democracy ….
Especially if you live in the Middle East. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating totalitarianism or any kind of other repressive ways of government. God knows we have enough of that.
I like democracy…I love democracy…on the surface it looks great. Nothing beats the fact that decisions are made based on the individual decision of a majority of people. And what the majority says…goes. Simple and yet very powerful.
But, the form of democracy the world now lives is essentially flawed. Otherwise, how can you explain that “Dumbo” is president of the largest, most powerful democracy of all times and to add insult to injury “Darth Vader” is his vice-president. I am liking democracy less and less.
Now for the last six or seven years, "D&D" have been actively exporting Democracy to our neck of the woods. Hey don’t get me wrong, again on the surface it looks great, the Middle East desperately needs democracy but if we are to get the same flawed version currently “installed on the mother ship” …Thanks…we pass.
I know there has been a long time running argument that people in the Middle East cannot handle democracy or are not prepared for democracy, well if rednecks from Montana can handle democracy then anyone else on the planet can. So spare me that argument please.
There are no democracies in the Middle East. None. Israel included. There are no Moderates either. Saudi Arabia and Egypt included. Saying that the Saudi regime is moderate is like saying that Paris Hilton is a bastion of purity.
Can someone please convey a message to Condi to stop insulting our collective intelligence.
Someone not so long ago summed up the US foreign policy priorities as three major points in the following decreasing order of importance:
1- Oil
2- Oil
3- Israel
So please make your plans accordingly. Try to stay safe, relax, kick back and enjoy the show. The next three to four months are going to be really interesting.
I like democracy…I love democracy…on the surface it looks great. Nothing beats the fact that decisions are made based on the individual decision of a majority of people. And what the majority says…goes. Simple and yet very powerful.
But, the form of democracy the world now lives is essentially flawed. Otherwise, how can you explain that “Dumbo” is president of the largest, most powerful democracy of all times and to add insult to injury “Darth Vader” is his vice-president. I am liking democracy less and less.
Now for the last six or seven years, "D&D" have been actively exporting Democracy to our neck of the woods. Hey don’t get me wrong, again on the surface it looks great, the Middle East desperately needs democracy but if we are to get the same flawed version currently “installed on the mother ship” …Thanks…we pass.
I know there has been a long time running argument that people in the Middle East cannot handle democracy or are not prepared for democracy, well if rednecks from Montana can handle democracy then anyone else on the planet can. So spare me that argument please.
There are no democracies in the Middle East. None. Israel included. There are no Moderates either. Saudi Arabia and Egypt included. Saying that the Saudi regime is moderate is like saying that Paris Hilton is a bastion of purity.
Can someone please convey a message to Condi to stop insulting our collective intelligence.
Someone not so long ago summed up the US foreign policy priorities as three major points in the following decreasing order of importance:
1- Oil
2- Oil
3- Israel
So please make your plans accordingly. Try to stay safe, relax, kick back and enjoy the show. The next three to four months are going to be really interesting.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
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