Your Comments, Development Technologies, and the Blog of a King

I’ve finally responded to everyone’s comments! My apologies for being three weeks behind in doing it. Thank you all for the feedback. I’ll do my best to be quicker in future.

I’ve also finally found webhosting for all of my non-picture files. I’ve been trying to collect photos to make simple, easy-to-read, summaries of how several of the technologies used by IDE are made and/or are used. I’ve been using them as a memory aid but I think they may be handy for others with an interest in development technologies. They tend to fill in the blanks in the online literature about each technology. This means there will be less about why these things are useful and more about how they’re actually made. I’ve also tried to include the relevant livelihoods information but it’s very Cambodia-specific. I’m hoping this stuff might prove useful as a resource for EWB chapters and undergrads in general. Check out:

http://www.geocities.com/aj2kaufm/Development

Or just click on one of these links:

Manufacturing Ceramic Water Purifiers
Assembling a Drip Irrigation Kit
Livelihood Information for Drip Irrigation in Cambodia
Livelihood Information for Cambodian Traditional Watering
Basic Information for Fertilizer Project

In other interesting news, Cambodia’s former King has his own Blog! (Thanks to my friend Audrey for this news.) This guy is still far more popular than the current king and is viewed as the father of the nation. He posts his own personal comments on Cambodian current events, domestic politics, development, corruption, foreign policy, and even his career as a film director. He also posts letters from his penpal in France. Prime Minister Hun Sen has become so frustrated with this activity that he was cited in Tuesday’s Cambodia daily as saying “[This penpal] would be better off dead.” That’s not an idle threat. The Prime Minister made his attack in a recent public speech saying, “Why don’t you just die?” and “[He] speaks to defend the Khmer Rouge, so [he] is Khmer Rouge as well.” This is particularly ironic since it’s a matter of public record that Hun Sen himself was a Khmer Rouge officer who went over to the Vietnamese… A lot of politicians here have similar histories.

It’s a bit of a mess and you’ll need to speak either French or Khmer for most of this stuff but if you do, I recommend number 41 as a good place to start. Check out:

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/03/17/cambodias_king_sihan.html and
http://www.norodomsihanouk.info/mes%202005/mars.htm