The non-bloggish blog

A positive story about rats

A Belgian de-mining organisation has managed to clear more than 130 000 square kilometres of landmine-infested areas in the Mozambican southern province of Gaza with the help of giant pouched rats.

"The advantage of rats is that they can cover ground quickly, and so can locate mines quicker than just through straight forward manual demining, though once a mine is located, a manual deminer is still required to expose and identify it," said Sully.
The intelligent rodents are too light to detonate the mines they find by sniffing, so they are not disposable.

This in not actually a new idea, but it seems to be proving its worth:

Cheap, intelligent and, crucially, lightweight, rats are being trained in Tanzania to sniff out landmines and explosives.
Their trainers at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania say that for the reward of a bit of banana the rats can do a much better job than dogs.

The Z$64,000 question

Further to this post, I'd like to make it known that I am in possession of six bundles of pristine 1c notes (100 per bundle) some still bearing the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe belly band. Total face value: Z$6. What am I bid?

I realise the rate changes by the hour, but to help you keep abreast of market valuations, this evening, according to this website, one million Zimbabwe dollars =

1000 Vietnamese Dong
818 São Tome Dobra
108 Malagasy Ariary
76 Mongolian Tugrik
32.3 Costa Rican Colon
5.4 Albanian Lek
4 Serbian Dinar
2.8 Bhutanese Ngultrum
1.83 Russian Ruble
1 New Moçambican Metical

(and a partridge in a pear tree).

Obama campaign tales

Here's a cute story.

An old friend of mine, who lives in Milwaukee and with whom I have just a a drink, decided, after many years of political inactivity, to work the phones for the Obama campaign. He called one number on his list and the conversation went something like this:

S: Hi. Could I speak to A?
Woman who answered the phone (WHAP): No, he's not here.
S: Ok, do you know when he'll be back?
WHAP: No.
S: Ok, I'll call back later.
WHAP: No point. I kicked the bastard out three days ago.

Davy Graham (1940–2008)

Farewell then Davy Graham, guitarist extraordinaire and writer of Anji and much more. Tributes here and here.