This is fascinating:
http://practicalaction.org/docs/region_sudan/clay-based-technology-refrigerator.pdf

The Romans used this technique to make ice, so he hardly invented it. It's a great thing to know about, I've used it myself to keep beers cool on a hot day. You have to use non-glazed, porous pots though to allow the water through.

^you also have to live where there's little humidity for best results. It's pretty much the same concept as what most people here in NM & AZ use to cool their houses: swamp coolers. Hardly anyone uses AC.

Are we supposed to be impressed that Africans discovered insulation and clay pottery? This is 2009.

*raises hand*

Um how come they don't have electricity? IT'S THE 21ST FUCKING CENTURY!!!

Why is everybody getting on Pprt? Is making fun of Nigerians as taboo as making fun of retards now? I say this is about as astonishing as solving a Rubik's cube in just under 12 centuries. Or are you all just astonished that he's not being banished from the town for performing "witchcraft".

Truth is, it doesn't matter what century it is or how advanced the richest countries/people are...if you don't have $$$$ you got squat.

Here's what I said to Pprt:

dude, farmers' crops were going bad before they could sell it all. People were getting sick from food-borne illness.
Yes, in 2009.
They don't have electricity in most of the places where this is needed. Whether it is old technology or not, don't you think it's a good thing that they are making use of it now?
It's a happy thing, not a "hey check how impressive this 'discovery' is" thing.

>> ^Pprt:
Are we supposed to be impressed that Africans discovered insulation and clay pottery? This is 2009.

>> ^rottenseed:
raises hand
Um how come they don't have electricity? IT'S THE 21ST FUCKING CENTURY!!!


Political instability.

Oddly enough it's a problem not solved by technology.

>> ^bcglorf:
>> ^rottenseed:
raises hand
Um how come they don't have electricity? IT'S THE 21ST FUCKING CENTURY!!!

Political instability.
Oddly enough it's a problem not solved by technology.

Well then somebody needs to help out a bit. Give them a little push. Maybe not too much, technology doesn't always equate to a better quality of living. I'm sure there's potential that their day is a lot less stressful than mine (political unrest aside).

*qualiclay

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by Tymbrwulf.

Rottenseed: when you come up with the "little push" that solves political instability, you'll be on the short list for the Nobel peace prize.

>> ^rebuilder:
Rottenseed: when you come up with the "little push" that solves political instability, you'll be on the short list for the Nobel peace prize.


And you get double points if you can do it with clay.

This reminds me of the homemade ice cream makers we learned to make in elementary school using two coffee cans.

>> ^Pprt:
Are we supposed to be impressed that Africans discovered insulation and clay pottery? This is 2009.


At the level of schooling most Africans are kept at by their own people as much as the industrialized world, anything even remotely clever is notable. If this person never learned about the "ancient technology" and came up with it himself, he's a quantum leap over your Google and Wikipedia "skills".

>> ^rebuilder:
Rottenseed: when you come up with the "little push" that solves political instability, you'll be on the short list for the Nobel peace prize.


Only to lose to a president who represents the world's greatest global military presence. The $1.5 million prize could buy a LOT of clay pots, no? Or cover US military spending for a few minutes. WTF

>> ^rosekat:
The $1.5 million prize could buy a LOT of clay pots, no? Or cover US military spending for a few minutes. WTF


By my calculations, based on the low-end number for US defense-related budget for 2009, we'd actually spend that in 52 seconds.

Good for that guy, but Al Gore invented the fucking internet!

>> ^rottenseed:
>> ^bcglorf:
>> ^rottenseed:
raises hand
Um how come they don't have electricity? IT'S THE 21ST FUCKING CENTURY!!!

Political instability.
Oddly enough it's a problem not solved by technology.

Well then somebody needs to help out a bit. Give them a little push. Maybe not too much, technology doesn't always equate to a better quality of living. I'm sure there's potential that their day is a lot less stressful than mine (political unrest aside).


No money in giving shit away for free. Yay capitalism.

>> ^dannym3141:
No money in giving shit away for free. Yay capitalism.

Sorry you're wrong. Capitalism gives plenty of stuff away, otherwise how do you get someone to buy more of a product once you're hooked? The problem here is political instability, lack of a stable centralized government, and infrastructure.

Now, I'm sure we can fix the first two, followed by the third. But then you'd get called a 'colonialist'. Yep much better to let dirt farmers be dirt farmers. Figure out why things are going the way they're going yet?

Lots of money in stealing people's wealth. Yay theft.