Feb 11 – March 11: Zambia and finishing my efforts to start vocational schools in Lilongwe and Salima
Please see my full year trip log Sept. 2022 – Sept. 2023
Off to Lusaka, Zambia
Saturday, Feb. 11, 8:00 PM under the mosquito net in my new lodge in Lusaka, Zambia.
Everybody agrees that Zambians are super nice. Even Malawians say, “they’re just like us.”
I’m sick AF, and I hope I get some good sleep tonight. We arrived at the lodge in a taxi. The main roads were 2 to 3 lanes each way and newly paved. But the access road to the lodge was dirt and in the wet season, it’s bad. The taxi bottomed out… a boy carrying a heavy bag on his head walked past us. I insisted on walking the last two blocks.
I’m paying about $15 a night here… twice what I pay in Salima. However, this place is a little more of a challenge. It seems the grounding wire is connected to HV, so I get a hefty shock when I touch the body of my computer or the refrigerator – I’ve unplugged both of them. I ultimately plugged in my computer but pull out the plug from the socket (wearing my rubber Crocs) before touching the computer. Clement says that grounding in Zambia is a problem, so it seems everyone knows about it and accepts it as a problem, but they don’t ground the ground. If that’s not enough, as a safety precaution, all sockets are grounded and require grounded plugs (three prongs). That is ungrounded (two-prong) plugs are physically blocked from entering the neutral and hot wire slots unless something is also pushed into the ground socket. But there are a lot of two prong plugs… so people get them in by putting something else in the grounded socket (which is sometimes at voltage)… like a screw driver! I noticed many times that a two prong plug is bent outwards and I thought it was because someone pulled the plug sideways out of the socket. But, when I told a staff at the lodge the ungrounded plug wouldn’t go in, she inserted one of the bent prongs from a different plug into the ground socket.
The bathroom is full of mosquitos… like lots. I think that this room has been vacant long enough for the to breed in the toilet? The bathroom door can’t open because it hits the sink.
Everyone is so nice. Phiri, the technical person came to help hang my mosquito net. I greeted him with, “yes, I would like to have a mosquito net.” Phiri responded, “I would like to ask ‘how are you doing?'”… I apologized for being… well, being the way I am. And he hung the net nicely.
Sunday, Feb. 12
I’m feeling a little better and will continue to lay low and nap. Clement visited me and we made a rough plan for my two weeks here. Phiri also visited and we talked about Zambia’s “grounding problem”. He says that other people have complained about it and yes, it’s a problem in all the rooms, and a common problem in Zambia. I explained that properly grounding the ground wire is a pretty easy fix… and he should do it. He said he’d ask his boss, but is afraid to bring this up to his boss. I said I’d be glad to be the bad guy about this, and he could just tell his boss that an American is here that would like to talk to him. I also expressed that Zambians are patient and accepting when things don’t work. Americans are not. Consequently, Zambians are happier people, and American homes are properly grounded.
Monday, Feb. 13
Feeling much better, but still need to sleep a little more. I went to Clement’s house and saw he has some 
good tools. He’s read through the construction manual; and we drew some pictures and designed a prototype. We will shop for some minor hardware tomorrow before I give a talk for the Zambian Governance Foundation. I actually learn so much preparing my presentation… organizing my thoughts. I always tell my students, “be ready to give a presentation every day of your life.” I was ready to give a presentation yesterday… but I’ll be way more ready tomorrow. 🙂
Tuesday, Feb. 14
Feeling almost as good as new. We bought some crack filler (plaster?) and tile grout, thinking they would make good receptacle materials.
We lunched at a KFC-like open restaurant to the screaming repetitive advertisement of something like, “this is really cheap, buy it” on a nearby loudspeaker. I asked Clement how he felt about it. He responded that if they didn’t do that, everyone would buy from someone else.
I gave a talk, ISECooking and the Global Learning Community at an NGO called The Zambian Governance Foundation, or ZGF.
We came home to Clement’s house and put some grout and plaster and a mixture of the two onto a screen for the night.
Wednesday, Feb. 15
I trudged the half hour walk down flooded dirt roads through the rain to Clement’s house to discover total failure from our grout and crack filler experiment. So we made a shopping list and took off. Clement lives midway between to major roads, so the taxi drive to the main road at less than 5 mph over the pot holes was about a half hour.
We also wanted to spot weld the heaters made from the pieces that Clement cut from an electric range heating element. We asked everywhere… One guy finally let us try by shorting his car battery!… I thought that was very nice, and very curious of him. It worked!… but it also devoured the electrode we were trying to spot weld… tomorrow, we try with solar panels as a power source. We visited Clement’s shop…. he said they make everything… but mostly there were coffins.
Thursday, Feb. 16
The top of his fuzzy head poked above the pile blanket that secured him tightly to his mama’s back. She walked through the water with intention. She never hesitated to check or change direction. She knew the way. Exactly. In flip flops, she didn’t walk on the rocks that sometimes went above the water, and she didn’t step in water that was too deep to see the bottom. At one point she stopped so I could go past her. I told her I’d rather appreciate following her steps.
I’m the only white person I’ve seen on these roads. They all notice me. Sometimes abruptly, “Mzungu!” they are surprised. The men: “Hey, Boss.” Two guys walk by. One smiles broadly as I tell the woman I appreciate following her, “You see how we live.” I smile back, “Yes, I do.” I wanted to say, “and how I am living too!” but there is a vast disparity between our realities trudging through through the swamp, streams, and sewage. In the rain today, most without shoes, I can walk with them and see how they live; how they struggle; how they suffer. And yet, they patiently persist with dignity, grace, and beauty; they persevere, they prevail, they triumph… and they do enjoy. They smile and are kind to me, and to each other. My trip home at 5:00 it wasn’t raining and folks returned from school and work… and the streets (swamps) were full of joyful activity.
Clement and I got right to work… we were going to cast the receptacle top surface. Clement mixed a sample of the new (40 kg bag of) plaster we bought yesterday. Another fail… it fell off the mesh. Clement got some cement and sand from his landlord, who’s doing some construction.
We prepared the pot and heated nest to form the steel mesh reinforcement… I became reunited with the hacksaw. The wound is healed, but the scar is a reminder to be smarter. See: No handle, no blood! One important precaution I take is to spend more time securing the item being cut. Clement has nice glue clamps. We cut 6 slices into a think aluminum pot to use as a heated nest. The heavier, casted aluminium pot fits inside it with a 3-4 Ohm section of a heating element in between.
I’ve been through this process quite a few times and I don’t want to do it again… but when I get started, I remember how much fun it is. And every time, I learn something new… a new strategy, an improvement. From left, forming the metal mesh; the metal mesh hat; we wrapped the nest/heater/pot assembly in one thickness of paper for a larger space for the pot; covered with cement mortar, we cut a small hole in the mesh and inserted a piece of wood to become the hole for the wires; the outer shell is held into place with 60 lbs of water.
The process went so well and so quickly… without a hitch. Thus, I’m prepared to be disappointed tomorrow. We used two parts sand to one part cement. Clement let it sit for 4 hours and then pulled off the wash tub, sprayed it with water, and replaced the tub.
Friday, February 17, 2023
I’m woken in a fright… I’m wet!… OK, no blood or mud, just dripping from the ceiling. I move over and go back to sleep. The ceiling only leaked a little through the peak of the downpour, so the bed never got soaked.
I bought a nice umbrella for $4 yesterday, and I use it for rain, sun and balance on my long commute over the flooded streets, and “hellos” from folks that find me increasingly familiar. I remember a talk some 15 years ago by Nilgun Sungar and John Sharp about how a vibrating implant in the shoes of old people help by narrowing the range of acceptable balance. I vibrate the umbrella at ~ 5 Hz, and the corresponding dither in my body’s orientation reduces the amount of time taken to realize I’m off balance. Last night’s rain raised the water to within an inch of the top of my boots. A man struggling with a wheelbarrow through the water stops as the wheel drops a foot. I want to help him, but realize it’d be a bad idea. Instead, he steps around the wheelbarrow to address me… no, I should go more to my right?… I’m headed to a deeper region. WE pass, both of us with a big smile, I shake his hand with a mental note to wash my hands before I touch anything. He jams his wheelbarrow out of the hole and battles on.
The cement receptacle seems good, and the wooden dowel came out nicely to define the hole that the power wires will pass through. We water it about once an hour.
Clement and I talk more about the solar panel and load IV curves. He observes that he’s had lots of training in what to do as a solar technician, but this is the first time he’s been asked to understand something. He recognizes the value in having an academic partner, and we look forward to our visit Wednesday to the UNZA (University of Zambia) physics department…. postponed to Thursday.
We ponder options for the ISECooker’s insulated lid… very important to insulate the top. The insulation will be polyethylene fluff from two pillows Clement bought: melting temperature = 260 C. The polyethylene fluff will be contained above an insulating surface that can withstand high temperature temperature… wool or fiberglass fabric? Aluminium is too conducting. A thin sheet of stainless steel would be OK, as would a thin wall of reinforced concrete. We decided to make a lid from concrete, which we already have, and buy a thin sheet of stainless steel if/when we are able. We build up the outer edge of the lid and please four nails through it to secure it to the basin that will form the top of the ISECooker insulated lid.
Again, the mortar ration is 2 (sand) : 1 (cement). The sand is much finer than any sand I’ve used before, and I’m not sure what the consequences are. My understanding is that maximum strength comes from a mixture of find and course sand to maximize the volume of solid sand without spaces. Clement turns the nails every 15 minutes to make sure they are not cemented in place, and after 4 hours at 8:00 PM, begins watering the lid and sends me a picture.
Saturday, February 18, 2023
Awesome diarrhea last night. Too much oil in my dinner last night, or the yesterday’s chicken we had for lunch? I’m glad I bought these cookies/wafers and I have bananas. The Wi-Fi on my computer is broken, so I’m writing this in Word, and I don’t know when/how I’ll post it to the blog. The person washing my clothes doesn’t take them off the line when it rains. After 3 days, I don’t have a clean shirt. I left my umbrella at Clement’s house yesterday. Also, we are not going to get the sunlight we need to spotweld the heating element’s NiCr wire to the steel electrode, the way ASEI does as shown in blog post September 25.. The car battery’s hundreds of amps vaporized the steel electrode, but the ~ 5 A I’m getting from three (18 V, 100 W) panels in parallel in hazy sunlight, doesn’t quite melt anything.
… and there’s no water today. Sorry for bitching. Phiri lent me one of his shirts… but turns out they need to be washed too. I went to see the laundry. It’s in a locked courtyard and they said it wasn’t dry. I persisted. I got a shirt and boxers and brought them back to my room and set the shirt in the fan. Phiri waked by and was delighted to see it. Clement and I will go into town to buy a few things and see if I can get my Wi-Fi fixed.
I met Clement’s friend, James, who runs the family internet cafe / IT business with his dad. He quickly diagnosed my problem as software, and after rebooting it, the Wi-Fi works… $5.00.
Total success, we found crimps!! This is the first I’ve found them in Africa and it wasn’t easy. After asking from shop to shop, a young man showed up with two different sized crimps… had he been following us, listening? He asked how many we wanted. I asked the price: 5 ZK (25 cents). I said 10 of both sizes. Clement argued… vigorously over the price, and I demanded to know where the young man got them, but he ran off. Clement said that the young man would never divulge the location of the store, because this is how he made his money… and that Clement himself would spend a day going through the shops and finding where all the things were that he needed. 10 minutes later, the young man appeared with the crimps, took the money and was gone.
I thought about how Otoo in Accra liberally paid people to find things at a store or watch his car while it was double parked. I explained to Clement that the mistake we made was to not pay the young man to remember our names… to get his phone number on WA, to take him in as a collaborator, because he knows where everything is that we need… and will continue to be an asset as Clement’s business grows…. in another step toward a collaboration model. Rather than spending a day combing stores, Clement can spend a day improving the ISECooking technology or writing for a grant. Crimping tool: $11.
While waiting for Clement at the ATM, I took a picture of these shoes… a young man sitting on a wooden box smiled at me. He said they were his… he buys shoes that haven’t sold from a local store for 75 ZK… he happily discloses selling about 5 pair a day, taking home 100 ZK ($5).
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
As we cross the street, I catch a young man’s attention, a smile. I shake my closed umbrella at him and assert, “SI!, si ni funa Kukwela taxi!” (NO!, I don’t want to take a taxi!)… he lights up. And, so far, it doesn’t get old: In a bus, I just say something in Chichewa, and everyone is entertained. I’m embarrassed to say that it’s taken me 7 months to decide to try learning the local language. I was before too exhausted to think about that? However, the reality is that it’s relaxing and takes my mind off the misery of road travel… and brings me closer to people.
Thursday, February 23, 2023
I gave two presentations for the UNZA physics department, ISECooking and the Global Learning Community, and Parallel Pedagogy.
Clement took well over 100 pictures. I think we will establish a good working relationship between his company and the physics department.
The presentation about parallel pedagogy went over resoundingly well. There was vigorous debate as people offered reasons that it wouldn’t work at UNZA… reasons I’ve fielded many other places. In the end, they said it wouldn’t work for large classes. I said I think it would be great and that I was looking to take the largest classes possible. They responded that if I came back, they’d give me 5000 freshmen, 16 classes of 300 student each…. that the entire department would switch to parallel pedagogy.
After having lunch with the physics department faculty and the dean, Clement and I went to visit a ceramics studio… which turned out to be only concrete casting. The artisan told us that there is no pottery in Lukasa for lack of adequate soil, so we decided to see what professional concrete-building would produce. Then we visited Smiley, our aluminium caster to get a pot with a 2″ thick base (for thermal storage) and embedded steel cable handles.
Friday, February 24, 2023
Clement and I got up early and left around 7:30 to give a talk for the Solar Industrial Association of Zambia. I’d given Clement a ration of complaints about being late yesterday morning… although we had arrived to UNZA just on time… but we battled through considerable delays while I tried to get money at several ATMs… and arrived again, just in time. On our way, I insisted Clement text the president that we might be a few minutes late. We arrived to a nearly empty office…. They said that he wasn’t there yet. Clement texted him, to receive, “Boss, I’m in a meeting.” Clement called him… he suggested we meet in the afternoon. I had some choice things to say. We set off to the vocational school that Clement graduated from… and an enthusiastic and hospitable welcome to the presentation we gave about ISECooking.
Saturday, February 25, 2023
Before I took off to return to Malawi, Clement and I visited Professor Jain’s house. He is an active emeritus professor interested in pedagogy and sustainability, with a persona emphasis on minigrids. Professor Jain’s house was nothing short of palatial. I asked if he’d purchased that on a professor’s salary… he responded, “absolutely not”… I asked, “so you brought money from India?” He explained that he and his wife (also a professor) invested a portion of their salary each month on an interest-bearing account, and then purchased the house in 2014… I observed, “you purchased this house on a professor’s salary.”
Clement and I got a taxi to the airport until we realized that he didn’t need to travel all the way to the airport with me and back alone… he jumped out for a picture and I took off. In the airport, I met Ruben, a Belgian forestry expert with many years experience in Zambia and Malawi helping reforesting efforts. He happened to be traveling to Salima. I was grateful for the ride.
When I got to J&J Lodge, I was shocked to learn it was full up. Bummer. But I called Ellie (after some effort getting some money on my SIM card) and she found me a place in town for $2 a night… no bathroom of my own, but complete with a mosquito net…. bonus: it was right in town near the activity, and next to Ellie’s restaurant.
Sunday, February 26, 2023
I keep hearing about the Forex problem in Malawi… So I go to look it up, and want to type in “Why does Malawi have a Forex problem?”… but as soon as I get the first half, Google wants me to ask, “Why does Malawi struggle with development, so I say, OK, I’ll bite. Everyone I’ve asked so far has said, “corruption”… so this is what I expected. But this is what I got at right.
I’d add to this failed infrastructure that includes:
- Intermittent electricity, operating about half the time – where it is available
- Intermittent water, and marginal sewer system – we’re presently in a cholera epidemic
- Intermittent communication, partially because of the way it is paid for and partially because the services don’t work
- Roads that require vehicles to slow to walking speed
- Banking including availability and exchange rate
Of course, a lot of this is the result of the causes given by the website, but these are also causes. All this prevents people from moving (money, people, and product), working, communicating…. I have had more people fail to be present for me because of funerals in the past month than in my lifetime before coming here.
I think I get it now. Forex just means “foreign exchange”. It just means that there’s no western currency coming into the country, so no other countries want to do business with Malawi because they can’t get any dollars with their MK. The country refuses to (further) devalue the MK, so the banks are paying about 1000 MK per $US, but on the street, you get 1500 MK per $US. And of course at the bank, you still have to pay more than 1500 MK per $US.
Amin seems to run this lodge. I saw him having a pleasant lunch, eating off the same plate as two women, and I reconsidered my negative perspective on polygamy. I asked him about it this evening as I ate my orange. No, one was a sister, the other an aunt. His wife died in 2010… Malaria. He has 4 kids and no intention of marrying again.
I’ve moved into the Cadillac… large bed, my own bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower. A FAN! 5000 MK (~ $3.50).
But I’m having a minor (self induced) cash flow problem. I refuse to take money from the bank because I get a crappy rate, and I exchange some $US that Tekuru brought me (Thanks, buddy). BUT I haven’t gotten to an exchange person yet… tomorrow. I could have just taken a few thousand MK out of the bank, but my bank charges me $10 per foreign exchange, so I don’t. Yes, it’s ridiculous because if anyone told me in the States that I could have a great dinner for $12, it’d be a deal. However, here, I refuse to pay the $10.00 to get the $2.00 to buy my great dinner.
Feb 28, 2023, 3:30 PM, sitting in the back of the classroom as Victor leads a discussion in Chichewa.
This has been a very frustrating day. I tried to explain the I – V curve for a string of diodes and PTC thermistors in series. I knew this was going to be difficult, and I explained to the class that there were few people in the world that understood this (although few would care). They returned from lunch more than a half hour late. They had other things to do. After lunch I decided to just explain a simple way to calculate the optimum resistance for extracting maximum power from a solar panel. It’s just V_mppt/I_mppt, where the variables are the voltage and current of the maximum power point. They understood that if the panels are in parallel, we double the current; and if in series, we double the voltage. HOWEVER, the current is for full-power, perpendicular sunlight. So, the current is usually less than the calculated resistance. They just couldn’t get this last point even though they know that as the denominator of a fraction gets smaller, the value of the fraction gets bigger. I told them there would be a test on this tomorrow.
I was finally able to change $US for MK today and I’m relieved… I was able to pay back the people I borrowed money from and I bought internet access. I’ll be able to eat dinner and not worry if have $1.00 for breakfast. … the anxiety I had… only because I couldn’t access the money that I have. And most every Malawian is crucially poor. They manage, the borrow, they celebrate. Somehow they do.
Friday, March 3, 2023, Left Salima with Mada at about 8:00 AM. I appreciate his thoughtful wisdom.
Saturday, March 4, 2023.
It was nice to have the weekend to get used to life in Lilongwe, and catch up on work in a relaxed environment. The door of our house didn’t close, so I shaved off the edge with a kitchen knife, and it works fine now.
I climbed Bunda (a half hour south of Lilongwe) with Joe (owner of Masamba Garden and Cafe) and his partner Bee… and dog (a rescue from Hong Kong), Pepper. Below right, Mose (or Moses?) toils daily on the hill top making gardens for people to sit in. He sleeps there… I’m presuming in one of the stone houses he built or maintains himself by hand. We asked him where he gets water and food. He responded emphatically that he’s doing Lord’s work, and the Lord provides. The land belongs to the people, and there are no regulations on it. However, you can buy a chunk of it near the bottom and blast it away to sell the stones of all sizes. There is a lack of building materials in Lilongwe. I often see people shoveling sand out of the river. At the base of the hill, there were piles of rocks, sorted by size, and some people sorting them or banging on them… presumably to break them into small sizes. Joe indicated one of the piles a few feet high would sell for about $20 in Lilongwe.
There were about 100 people there. We felt challenged by the hike until we saw little kids clamoring up the hillside with their siblings strapped onto their backs. The hill has significant religious value to local Christians, and I felt a little overwhelmed with the outpouring of faith and devotion… songs chanting, preaching, and sobbing. Twice on the way up, I carefully stepped over a woman collapsed on the path from exhaustion. Many of them had been fasting the previous seven days. I wanted to take pictures of everyone, but refrained until a woman leading a joyful chorus called me out… “are you a pastor?”… I asked if I could take her picture. She responded I should take everyone’s picture.
I took this short Bunda Hilltop Video.
Sunday, March 5, 2023, 4:30 PM, Watching the rain, grateful for the cool air.
I got a lot of work caught up. I didn’t go out of the compound for the entire day. Took a shower in the downpour as the landlord’s family laughed at me.
Clement just posted this video from Zambia demonstrating water boiling immediately after being poured into the thermal storage pot:
It feels good to have collaborators posting progress.
Monday, March 6, 2023
Back to LTC… I was to meet the students at 1:00. The first showed up at 2:00… I asked why they were late.
– they were two buildings over.
– Did they think we were meeting there?… but I texted the group.
– No, it was raining so they couldn’t come.
– But it is only 25 meters away.
… I told them maybe this was a cultural difference… but as their instructor I wanted to make clear it was completely unacceptable to be an hour late for class because you refused to dash 25 meters through the rain or send me a text that I should come to you.
I had them set up their ISECooker with thermal storage and demonstrate it. It got to 138 C and we dumped in some water which boiled immediately… I made this video of it. Then we talked a little about how the students might consider what they want to come from their education and what they are willing to do for that. During the discussion a student walked out with his cellphone. I yelled at him to put his cell phone away and get back here… I think he was shocked. I said that maybe I was wrong, and maybe the call was more important… that someone was hurt. He said it wasn’t and apologized. I was a little surprised by myself, but I guess I’d had enough. It just seems very clear that what I’m doing here is not important to them, and I suppose I should accept that. We agreed to meet tomorrow at 8 AM, and that if there was a problem, they would communicate what is going on.
Tuesday, March 7, 2023,
The morning didn’t start as we’d planned it to, but I was a little more resigned to accept that. I worked with the students that showed up. I gave them 3,000 MK ($2.00) to buy food for cooking lunch and asked them to set up the ISECooker with thermal storage so we could get it good and hot before lunch. Three students disappeared to buy food without letting me know they were going.
The group spent a lot of time setting up the ISECooker yesterday, but we agreed that was good and they’d gotten all the kinks worked out of the system… but they spent a lot of time setting it up again today! I noticed that two people were wiring the solar panels while the rest sat on the side and chatted while looking at their cell phones… but there was other stuff to do! Was the pot clean? Was the power meter set up? Where the wires set up… was there anything else to do. We spent some time talking about how to plan an event… we drew up steps. We decided to practice it in all the activities we do.
The temperature got up to 188 C when we threw in the onions, then the eggs, then the tomatoes, then the rice, then more water. With thermal storage in something as conductive as aluminium, you will lose all your stored heat when you put in water because the water will boil vigorously until the temperature of the thermal storage drops to 100 C. Thus, you can’t start with tomatoes or rice. You need to start with the things that require more heat… do you want to sear meet? caramelize onions? brown potatoes? roast vegetables?… they they should go in first. We ate the rice and agreed to return at 1:40. I gave them an additional 10 minutes because our discussion and eating took us 10 minutes into their lunch.
Jose showed up and asked for our solar panels to give to his students for some measurements. I refused… we had 4 solar panels for ISECooking and I made a big deal with the students about how to wire them… I didn’t feel it reasonable to just lend them out to have someone else change the wires. Jose understood and took different panels. Also, I agreed to have my students set up the ISECooker and give his students a demonstration and discussion about how it works.
Only 4 students returned after lunch. **sigh**. Jose’s students were already taking measurements outside. But when the 4 students had the ISECooker set up, Robbie and Mzia (in particular) had their undivided attention as they explained how the ISECooker worked, check this video. It was really impressive how interested they were… for a half hour until I said we needed to finish up and discuss design analysis. I was also obvious how much Mzia enjoyed instructing. Robbie invited them to watch at lunch. We will see how many show up for lunch tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023,
Last night, Nick posted some choice statements on the class’s WhatsApp group chat, and 11 students showed up close to 8 AM. We first reviewed how to organize an event, and then they set up the ISECooker in a short time with good group coordination. One student bought some veggies and a whole lot of little potatoes (Malawians call them “Irish”), which I convinced them to cook unpeeled. No African I’ve met has heard of eating potatoes with the skins still on them. In case you are not sure about what that might be like, please watch Mzia’s testimony.
Thursday, March 9, 2023,
Four students showed up a little after 8:00 AM and set up the ISECooker nicely. A few more came later. There’s good sun and we should have a good day of cooking.
There’s really only one outstanding “problem” toward making a finished ISECooker – the corrosion where the NiCr wires meet the steel electrodes to the input power. I finally decided to cut an electric heater open and was surprised to see that the electrodes are not spot welded as I thought they were. They are just wrapped around. Also the steel electrode extends into the heating element much further than I expected… all the way to where the coiled surface meets the pot?
The students had a class with a different instructor in the room today 10 AM – noon. Only one student showed up on time. I asked if he was sure he was in the right place. He was sure. The others wondered in over the next 15 minutes. I asked if the instructor was often late. They said, often a half hour. It’s no wonder students are not punctual? Class started more than 4o minutes late.
It was sunny today and when the class ended at noon, the ISECooker temperature was well over 300 C… well over the previous highest temperature demonstration (250 in Togo). It was smoking because of the plastic insulation on some of the wires. The students dumped in veggies and eggs and they cooked really really fast.
Four students showed up after lunch and we said good-bye.