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Tangled Pipelines: The Muni-Biofuel Acquisition A DiversiChem Narrative By Gerald Keep, PhD Part 2 — 6/26/2020 Chapter 8. – Finance Office – Gloria Vincenzo Archie easily found the office of the CFO, Gloria Vincenzo, which was half open. He pushed the door fully open and walked in. A largish lady sat at a huge desk … Continue reading
This challenge was given to me by my future daughter-in-law, Audrey, as a genuine need. She had a large meeting of people (16) during which she wanted to break them into smaller groups (e.g. of 4 each) so that they could get to know each other more personally. After each small meeting, they would mix … Continue reading
Tangled Pipelines: The Muni-Biofuel Acquisition A DiversiChem Narrative By Gerald Keep, PhD 4/3/2020 Disclaimers This is not an autobiography, or a minor variation on what might have been. Many of the life and work experiences of Archie Teller parallel my own only to provide an element of realism to these works, which are fiction. This … Continue reading
Given the events of this year, there have been growing calls to take a public stand on the issues of the day. The world is becoming aware of the corruption of those in power and the racism of much of the public, but these things are not new to me. Of course I support those … Continue reading
Start with two pieces of fabric roughly 7.5” x 11”. The white one is a high thread-count tight woven linen, which should provide the majority of filtration in this design. There are possible adaptations that could allow an insert of a disposable filter layer. Sew around the edges leaving a small gap (left, bottom edge). … Continue reading
Our Chosen Adventure: Adoption Gerald T. Keep, 8/23/2018 It wasn’t hard for me to come to terms with the idea of never leaving a copy of my genes behind as my legacy to the world. I mean, I am not some prize bull or pedigree dog whose claim to fame is their genetic profile. I … Continue reading
Dr. G. Keep, July 2018 87% of our CO2 emissions are from burning fossil fuels. The knee-jerk reaction is to switch to solar power, or renewable fuels (but these are just solar power with a biological delivery mechanism). Unfortunately, our CO2 creation is 2-3x what all the plant and marine life on Earth is currently … Continue reading
This short-short story was accepted by the Jonesborough Yarn Exchange for inclusion in their monthly radio show, this month’s theme being “If these walls could talk”. Hope you enjoy. We four walls are a team, holding up this tin roof, but we were not always so. One of us used to be a garage door. … Continue reading
In reading “The Horse” by Wendy Williams, she points out that very, very few of the animal species in the world could truly be domesticated by mankind, notably dogs, cats, and horses. This is because these animals were adapted to very special ecological niches that required a social behavior. Mankind did not so much change … Continue reading
This is a push-back against the barrage of marketing that has been beating down on us. I’m suggesting somebody should start a list of people who pledge NEVER to respond to aggressive marketing contacts (phone, email, etc.) and to only buy from companies to whom they reached out themselves. It’s sort of like a do-not-call list … Continue reading
Green Drinks is a national organization that gets people together each month over drinks to talk about Green developments in the community. Kyle Meister runs the Tricities chapter, and he is rotating us through each town. Last month was in Johnson City. This month, I will be presenting an overview of the various Green Technology … Continue reading
We celebrate Earth Day as if Mother Earth was a person, sometimes called Gaia, worth recognizing. This analogy between the interconnected ecosystems of the Earth and person is actually a pretty good one. We have many internal systems in dynamic equilibrium, that is to say, held in place between a balance of forces. We get … Continue reading
This talk by Dr. Al Bartlett is both a lesson in simple consequences of growth rates, and a discussion of historic consumption of resources such as petroleum, coal, and space. It’s an hour and a quarter, but it kept me riveted. It is clear that humankind’s situation is far worse than we’ve been led to believe by … Continue reading
A quote: “Climate change is the gravest danger facing humanity today. We are already experiencing its effects — rising sea levels, catastrophic storms, species extinction — but the potential effects of climate change are even more devastating. And while climate change affects all of us, its consequences will be felt most profoundly by the most … Continue reading
Bit of a commercial update here — sorry ’bout that. At one time I was helping the McConnells by putting their complete story-telling CD collection on Amazon. For the last 2 years or so, stock was down — out of print — and I was too busy trying to start a business — so I … Continue reading
We now have two retail outlets for our Green Technology cleaning products. Olde Towne Pharmacy here in Jonesborough, and Downtown Farming in Johnson City are now offering our products to the general public. We are still seeking alliances with retail sites in the Kingsport and Bristol areas. They are carrying: GT Mainstream multipurpose cleaner, a … Continue reading
Corporate America has lost touch with the original meaning of the word “Company”. A company is a group of people with common interests and goals. Leaders within the group gain the respect of the others by articulating clear visions of strategy, a policy, or a tactical plan, and thereby gain the support of the rest … Continue reading
Everybody that is trying to promote anything, be it a business or a point of view, needs to have a very short reply to the question “what do you do”? This is called an elevator speech because you have someone’s attention for about the time of the elevator ride, and if you haven’t hooked … Continue reading
This blog is inspired by an article in the May 2014 National Geographic titled “The New Food Revolution”. It’s about how we might hope to feed the 2 billion additional souls we expect the planet to support by 2050. I’ll give you the raw scores first, then the commentary. In the USA we eat about 18% … Continue reading
Here is the latest vision of what we are doing with MOI Labs, a spin-off of Missing Octave Insights. A worm’s eye view is that we are going to sell janitorial cleaning supplies and floor finishes, but the vision is so much more of that. We are going to be the science nerds who evaluate … Continue reading
My first visits to historic Williamsburg’s exhibits had me comparing today’s upper-middle class existence to the upper class of the 1700’s. Life might not have been that different in quality. Your circle of friends was closer. Entertainment was live. They had books, music, booze, parties, sex, and drugs. Medicine was more primitive but it wasn’t … Continue reading
Here is a (half-baked) idea to stimulate the economy and help people move from lower class poverty to middle class. It addresses the barriers of intimidating red tape & authority, and the dis-incentive of letting go of disability, unemployment, and other forms of marginal income that people cling to. As things stand now, being a … Continue reading
This is the title of an article on SpecialChem’s website. The answer is — sometimes. The scientist in me wants to point out that many brominated flame retardants are NOT toxic, and nobody should be using the ones that are (mainly “decabrome”), any more. What is happening is that old electronics parts are getting into … Continue reading
In the bad old days, inventions sometimes died with their inventors, since innovation was a closely guarded secret. The US government recognized that to grow stronger industry, this loss had to be stopped. They hit on the idea of a quid-pro-quo — inventors who disclosed and taught their inventions to the world would get a … Continue reading
The creative impulse to make things is very different from the hard-nosed mindset you need to sell them after they are done. A lot of artistic and crafty people end up selling their products the quickest way possible and for less than they are worth. The selling process itself is inefficient, one person sitting in … Continue reading
With the graying of the baby boomers, there are going to be a lot of people needing more help than they used to need. It is also hard to find reliable people to help you these days. I’m proposing a General Services business, where, whatever the need, from grocery shopping to finding a plumber, from … Continue reading
Why don’t we do this more? Anything that is cheaper in bulk, be it Mason Jars, Rice & Dried Beans, Cloth, Fertilizer, garden seeds, anything. Is the problem lack of starting capital? Lack of distribution point? Lack of trust? A lot of that can be gotten around by using the resources we have here at … Continue reading
I must recommend to you the person whose own blogging activity inspired me to take up this thread. Over the course of 2 years she has written countless articles about the simplicity movement, local food sourcing, environmentalism, gardening, and a host of practical advise. She is a truly inspiring leader and has been involved with … Continue reading
It’s only half a joke – all of us seem to be searching for what we “want to do when we grow up”. I think I just joined the ranks of the blessed ones who have found their muse, and their focus. First, some background info so I can explain. Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor … Continue reading
For an established business, the patronage of its customers is everything. For a startup or an R&D firm, patronage is much more difficult. My first corporate experience spoiled me. I found myself in a skunkworks – a isolated bit of a company, sheltered from the tyranny of the rest of the corporation, free to pursue … Continue reading
I consider Business and Community be totally linked. I’ll talk about money, and how the system has been perverted to the point it is no longer a good way to keep score of the value of our activities. There was once a time (or at least a fairytale) that went something like this: your work … Continue reading
The Missing Octave Insights 