Archive for the ‘Jon's Trips’ Category
Trevor Hunter of HHOTec threatens me!
In response to my thorough debunking of the con-man’s fuel saving device he has threatened to give “unbiased, fair reviews” of my book.
Trevor Hunter of HHOTec sent me the following email:
trevorhunter@hhotek.com
tmrw i will be ordering a copy of your book for all of my sales reps, once i do
that they will all be entitled to write a review on amazon about the book. Im
sure that our unbiased, fair reviews will be an huge asset to the sales of your
book.
Website: www.hhotek.com
IP: 66.20.173.190
Nice.
Tickell Vs. Starbuck & Harper
Follow the instructions in this book and run a very serous risk of being poisoned, blinded, burned and even killed!
I loved Joshua Tickell’s book “From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank”, indeed back in about 2000 it it not an exaggeration to say that it did nothing short of change my life.
However as time has passed research has been done and methods perfected which make Joshua’s book extraordinarily dated. Even though Joshua has had several opportunities the rework the book it still contains, among other things, plans for a DIY biodiesel processor which expose the user a very serous risk of being poisoned, blinded, burned and even killed!
It is time From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank was either rewritten or removed from sale, it is dangerous!
Back in 2007 I and my friend Gavin set out to write an up to date book on running diesel engines on biofuels, biodiesel and vegetable oil.
The giant publishing house McGraw -Hill liked our pitch and bought our book. Run Your Diesel Vehicle on Biofuels was published in October 2008.
I am very proud of our book, it was an enormous undertaking and we both worked very hard to make it the best, most complete, most accurate, friendly and readable book on DIY biofuels, biodiesel and SWO on the market.
Buy this book, it is much better, much more accurate and much more up to date.
Nevertheless one year on our book is not selling half as well as Joshua’s one. Despite it being ten-years-old and ten-years-out-of-date, people still seem to prefer to buy Joshua’s book…. with something like ten-times as many people buying his book on Amazon.com… over ours.
If you are one of the folks who has bought a copy of my book then thank you! We would appreciate you taking the time to review it for us… preferably favourably, but not necessarily… even just a few lines is going to be very helpful.
Either send the review directly to us, or go on line and review it at www.amazon.co.uk or www.amazon.com (depending on whether you are a US or UK coustomer, they don’t seem able to integrate these things) or at one of the thousands of other places you could review a book on diesel engines and biofuels.
Greenpeace’s Rolling Sunlight Global Warming Story Tour
The last couple of weeks of July 2008 I am spending on board Greenpeace’s Rolling Sunlight for its The Global Warming Story Tour, I will be cruising up and down the West Coast of the US with some folks from Greenpeace for twenty days while they collect personal video stories about how global warming is affecting ordinary American’s and getting them to ask the Congress to legislate to stop global warming by not investing in dirty or dangerous technologies and instead to use the money in clean, safe renewable energy!
San Francisco - July, August and September 2008
Immigration
I arrived back in San Francisco on 5th July, I got questioned by Immigration for about an hour before they let me in but once satisfied i was not here to enter the US workforce or to overstay; however I was told in no uncertain terms that in order to qualify for a visa waiver again I must stay out of the country for at least “3 or 4 or 5 months”, how clear is that? It is very frustrating and confusing when you think you are playing by the rules, doing exactly what the last immigration officer and the US embassy in London said to do, not abusing the visa waiver system, not working illegally, and then to be hauled over the coals like that, but i guess there is nothing I can do about it and they did believe me in the end.
Once in I went straight home to wash and catch up on some sleep, Amanda awoke me in the early evening in order to force me down to Pirate Cat Radio for, as it turned out, a surprise welcome home reception!
Back in the UK - May, June, and July 2008
May 2008
Back to the UK at the beginning of May, just in time for Suzi & Adrian’s wedding which was great! Afterwards Amanda went off to get Tinker while I spent some time with my family, a few days later I caught up with her and the dog in Bristol and we traveled on together to Wales; it was so hot and green and lush, just like I had left it six month’s earlier! Nice to have missed the entire Welsh winter.
San Francisco - April 2008
This will be my final month in San Francisco for a while as my three months is up and I have work to go back to in the UK in May and June. Not so much going on this month either, I am feeling time running out on my Solar Two module as its exam and coursework deadline are both approaching fast. Also the biodiesel-book’s deadline is coming up frighteningly soon too.
Spent first week of the month doing what feels like nothing but book writing and study. Went all the way out to Berkeley University to see a man at RAEL about possibility of doing an thesis project there but he turned out to be a massive waste of my time, which was very disappointing and a wasted day.
San Francisco - March 2008
Started the month on a weekend, went cycling all over the city again with Amanda on the 1st - visited Coit Tower (good free stuff, murals on the ground floor and the obligatory car park on the
top of a hill), up Lombard Street and Haight Street (which I hate). Got visited By Chris and Tara on their way back from New Zealand, which was such fun too.
San Francisco Freeze Flashmob
Following the Frozen Grand Central and the Trafalgar Square Freeze and another in Rome (let me know if you know of any more), San Francisco has had one too, despite the pouring rain, today in the rain at the cable-car turn around at Powel and Market. (best movie on YouTube I have found, let me know if you have found a better one)
Here are a few more movies of the Powel Street Freeze:
Youtube 2
Youtube 3
Youtube 4
LiveJournal
http://improveverywhere.ning.com/
San Francisco - Feb 2008
Back in sunny San Francisco for a while. Weather has been fantastic. Been keeping myself busy cycling all over the city, trying to do 2 hours a day for 5 days a week! On Saturday Amanda and I cycled over the Golden Gate to Sausalito and caught the ferry back.
I usually forget to take my camera but I cycle all over the city on my own with no real sense of where I am going, which is fine for me. I make decisions as whether to turn or go straight on based on the traffic and the lights and the hills ahead.
Washington DC
I am spending a little time in Washington DC right now, I am mainly revising for a university exam (on solar PV, thermal and passive - on the CREST course - since you ask) in two weeks or so, but also taking in a few of the sights.
Washington feels small and relatively quiet, especially for a capitol city, but the regular low passage of giant helicopters across the centre of the city and the scores of embassies here remind me about the primary business of the city; the governance of the richest nation on Earth.
