Working out a wire transfer

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For many expatriates like myself, getting our paychecks and transferring money are important tasks.  Unfortunately, my first paycheck from a new job didn't arrive on time, and it took a week to resolve the problem.  It took another week for the wire transfer to become available in my home account.  Given some pending family commitments, it was a nerve wracking stretch for my wife and me.  Nonetheless, I was grateful for two colleagues at the office for helping me with all sorts of hurdles.

Since the first wire transfer, which I did in person at the bank, I thought I'd set up the online process, that is, for the sake of convenience.  But as the time for the second paycheck approached, I decided the risk of convenience was a bit too high.  That is, it took such time and energy to resolve the first set of issues, that I was reluctant to risk another set of issues cropping up with the online process.  I just didn't trust the bank well enough at that point.   

So I stuck with a process that I now knew would work, that is, in person wire transfer:

• I looked for signs that my paycheck was deposited on time, and these signs (company payslip and bank text message) came as expected.
• I had planned well before to go to the bank the afternoon of the next day, which, given my work schedule, was the earliest I could do so.  
• I walked to the bank at a particular time (3 PM), and arrived in a half hour.  I hoped that my transaction didn't last long, so I could then walk back toward the office in time to catch the shuttle (4:30 PM).  All in all, the walk was terrific exercise and decompression, plus taxi saving.
• Thankfully that transaction went smoothly, and the two staff at the bank were very helpful and friendly.  In fact I reached the shuttle, bound for my villa, earlier than planned (4:20 PM). 

I had my mind set for the wire transfer to take a week, but lo and behold it hit my home account the very next day.  One day later it was fully available, and I took care of some family commitments much earlier than expected.

I was very happy that I stuck with that same process and that it worked out even better than before.

I enjoy walking, and I enjoy befriending the bank staff, so I will likely abide by that process for the foreseeable future.

Solving an ironing problem

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I've taken on a new job opportunity overseas, and my company has graciously provided expatriates like me a wonderful, fully furnished villa.  Ironing my business shirts is one domestic task I choose to take care of, that is, instead of sending them off for laundry services.

It's an iron I'm using for the first time, and as with several irons I've used before, I turn up the heat setting to maximum.  I've learned, however, to test the iron on the ironing board, before using it on my shirt. 

But, oh my, I ended up scorching the ironing board cover and leaving two burnt patches.  Worse, the burnt cover left bluish residue on the bottom of the iron.  Using this iron at that point would have stained, and ruined, my shirts.  I let the iron cool, so I could step back and see how I could clean that residue off. 

I saw that I had to heat the iron to maximum again, in order to scrape off the residue.  It was a bit painstaking and I had to be careful not to burn myself, but I managed to clean off the iron.  I didn't have any scrap cloth around, so I turned a pillowcase inside out and tested the hot iron on it.  I managed to wipe off any remaining residue. 

For my first go at ironing a couple of shirts, I used that pillowcase underneath the shirt.  But I found out that once I dialed down the heat, it was perfectly fine on the ironing board and perfectly fine at performing its job.  So I had no need for the pillowcase. 

The Core Algorithm offers a systematic way of solving problems and also encourages us to keep our eyes and ears open for even better ways of doing what we need to do.  In this respect, I saw that putting water into the iron, as I've done with previous irons, allowed me to turn up the heat a bit more and iron my shirts better.  I've sharpened my algorithm by fine tuning the heat setting to optimize the ironing but avoid scorching the ironing board or my shirts. 

Mission, accomplished.

Cooking energy efficiently

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Ovens may be the most energy inefficient appliance in the kitchen.  Instructions and recipes for many foods ask that we preheat the oven, then cook for some prescribed length of time.  We pull out the foods, then turn off the oven.  If it's just one item we have to cook, and if we own a fairly large oven, then a lot of energy (heat) is generated but a good portion of it is wasted.  If possible, of course, cook more than one item at a time or use a smaller, kitchen counter oven for just one item.

Enter: the kind of thinking and doing, courtesy of The Core Algorithm, which aim to be as conserving of energy as possible (rf. Part 3 - Dealing with Everyday Exigencies):

I want to cook a box of frozen chicken, and the end in mind is to do so with the least amount of oven time (Step 1).

The instructions said to preheat the oven at 430° F, which takes about 10 minutes, then pop the chicken in and cook for 18 - 22 minutes.  So maximum cooking time is 32 minutes.  But instead of following the instructions, I mapped out the pathways to achieving my end in mind.  I know that as the oven is heating up to 430° F and as it is cooling down from 430° F, it has energy to cook (Step 2).

So I utilized that energy by putting the chicken in the oven from the time I turned it on, that is, thus avoiding preheating an empty oven.  Then, I set my timer to turn off the oven at 18 minutes.  But instead of pulling the chicken out, I kept it in the oven to finish the cooking, that is, with the diminishing but still useful energy.  I pulled the chicken out after 10 - 15 minutes, and lo and behold it was properly and deliciously cooked (Step 3).

The total cooking time was about the same as what the instructions indicated.  But courtesy of The Core Algorithm, I used only 18 minutes of oven time, instead of 32 minutes.  Which saved me about one third of the energy.

You will probably have to experiment with the timing, but if you're game, give it a try.

Green World Rising (3) Green World Rising

Green World Rising is the third film in the Green World Rising series. The film shows how we can be 100% off fossil fuels in a few decades. Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, presented by Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners and produced by George DiCaprio, Mathew Schmid, Earl Katz and Roee Sharon Peled. Music composed and performed by Jean-Pascal Beintus. Created by Tree Media with the support of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

Beyond the rhetoric of the first film, I find this series becoming more compelling and persuasive.  We have the technology now to rely on clean, sustainable energy sources to power our lives, industries and cities.  Moreover, it makes more economic sense to do so, than to stick with fossil fuels, according to the experts speaking in the film.  No doubt, however, making this transition will mean a forthright creative destruction à la Joseph Schumpeter.  Those in the petroleum business and those from petroleum exporting countries face the prospects of losing their very life blood.  The shift away from the so-called black gold underground may indeed be inevitable, so we can expect them to keep fighting, to undermine green efforts, and to stay that destruction as long as possible. 

Green World Rising (2) Last Hours

The film “Last Hours” is the second film in the Green World Rising Series (the first one is "Carbon" that is available on this channel). Last Hours describes a science-based climate scenario where a tipping point to runaway climate change is triggered by massive releases of frozen methane. Methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, has already started to percolate into the open seas and atmosphere from methane hydrate deposits beneath melting arctic ice, from the warming northern-hemisphere tundra, and from worldwide continental-shelf undersea methane pools.

Burning fossil fuels release carbon that, principally through greenhouse effect, heat the atmosphere and the seas. This is happening most rapidly at the polar extremes, and this heating has already begun the process of releasing methane. If we do not begin to significantly curtail the use of carbon-based fossil fuels, this freed methane threatens to radically accelerate the speed of global warming, potentially producing a disaster beyond the ability of the human species to adapt.

With this film, we hope to awaken people to the fact that the earth has experienced five major extinctions in the deep geologic past – times when more than half of all life on earth vanished – and that we are now entering a sixth extinction. Industrial civilization with its production of greenhouse gases has the potential to trigger a mass extinction on the order of those seen in the deep geological past. In the extreme, it could threaten not just human civilization, but the very existence of human life on this planet.

An asset for the climate change movement, “Last Hours” will be disseminated globally to help inform society about the dangers associated with climate change and to encourage the world community to chart a path forward that greatly reduces green house gas emissions. We encourage you to explore this website and the highlighted actions you can take to address climate change. We look forward to bringing you additional films about the challenges we face and the solutions that exist over the next few years, in the lead up to COP21, the 2015 UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris.

“Last Hours” is narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, presented by Thom Hartmann and directed by Leila Conners. Executive Producers are George DiCaprio, Earl Katz and Roee Sharon Peled. Last Hours is produced by Mathew Schmid and was written by Thom Hartmann, Sam Sacks, and Leila Conners. Music is composed and performed by Francesco Lupica. Last Hours is brought to you by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and produced by Tree Media.

It is sobering, if not frightening, to think that we as a race are in the midst of another (sixth) major extinction.  The Permian-Triassic event, about 250 million years ago, was the largest extinction of life:  killing 57% of all families, 83% of all genera, and 90% to 96% of all species (rf. Extinction event).  The most recent major extinction - Cretaceous-Paleogene - is a mere 66 million years ago, with the following corresponding percentages of life devastation:  17%, 50% and 75%. What the environment experts warn in this episode is that the release of methane gas into the atmosphere promises to push exponentially the rate of climate change.  So we march ever faster toward that present day extinction.

Green World Rising (1) Carbon

CARBON is the first film in the Green World Rising Series.

Carbon is narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, presented by Thom Hartmann and directed by Leila Conners. Executive Producers are George DiCaprio, Earl Katz and Roee Sharon Peled. Carbon is produced by Mathew Schmid and was written by Thom Hartmann, Sam Sacks, Leila Conners and Mathew Schmid. Music is composed and performed by Jean-Pascal Beintus and intro drone by Francesco Lupica. Carbon is produced by Tree Media with the support of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

I don't buy into sweeping rhetoric (An ancient menace was created) or subjugated logic (They frack, they mine, earning astronomical profits).  DiCaprio means to light a fire under our feet, so that we act in the service against carbon extraction and production and so that we fight the fight against climate change.  I imagine such a tact by a celebrity does the trick, and some people are prompted to take action.

Nevertheless, I agree with the push to put a price tag on carbon pollution.  It may be too complex and even too abstract to change the corporate mindset of Big Oil, but their business practices is like any behavior:  that is, subject to change.  In the best case scenario, corporations are moved to reduce their carbon footprint, in order to avoid carbon tax.  In the best case scenario, they renew and redouble their efforts at tapping renewable energy, mainly because it has become costly to keep producing carbon.  This is the stuff of BF Skinner, who showed that reinforcement drove desirable behavior and that punishment kept undesirable behavior at bay.