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Man Invents Alternative To Cooking Gas

An anonymous reader writes "Gazan resident Abed Ar-Rahman has revealed what he is claiming as an alternative to cooking gas that he developed since Israel has prevented deliveries of cooking gas to Gaza. He invented a device using chemical substances available in Gaza, which burn when mixed and brought into contact with oxygen. The first component is a metal filter that controls the interaction between 40% of the oxygen in the surrounding air, the inflammable substance and some other substances."

24 of 553 comments (clear)

  1. i smell bull... by iocat · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From TFA:

    The first component is a metal filter that controls the interaction between 40% of the oxygen in the surrounding air, the inflammable substance and some other substances. He refused to reveal the exact substances used, fearing that they will not be allowed into the Gaza Strip.
    The second part of his invention is an electronic board that regulates the percentage of air and oxygen entering into the appliance, and the third component is an air pump using electrical power.
    The metal cannister could be refilled with the inflammable substance for no more than 40 NIS, which would make the home cooking device functional for up to 40 days, according to Farajallah.

    This would be neat if true -- a garbage disposal sized obvject providing 40 days of cooking gas for 40 NIS, but just reading alerts every single "perpetual motion" bullshit detector in my head -- the 40% figure, the secret ingredients, etc.

    --

    Dude, I think I can see my house from here.

    1. Re:i smell bull... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Insightful

      His circumstances are tougher than usual for the genre; but this guy absolutely screams "quack". Secret ingredients, somewhat dubious technobabble(though that could be a translation artifact), flirtation with thermodynamic implausibility...

    2. Re:i smell bull... by westlake · · Score: 4, Insightful
      This would be neat if true --

      I want to know how much oxygen is being consumed here, what toxins are being pumped out.

      Carbon Monoxide comes first to mind.

      I want to know what makes this unknown chemical mixture safe to use and store in the home.

      I want to know about clearances, surface temperatures. I want to know how easily you can tip this thing over. The risk of accidental burns and fires.

    3. Re:i smell bull... by Flavio · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If the prevelence of 40 as a figure is what turns you off, note that semetic languages commonly use the number 40 as a non-literal figure meaning "many" and somewhere around that order of magnitude. However, translations commonly take this literally. Hence, the prevelence of "40 days" for Noah's ark, "40 years" in the desert, etc.

      Sufficiently accurate for a religious text, but not at all appropriate for a technical description.

  2. Re:Oppression by Dachannien · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just make sure not to mention the daily rocket and mortar attacks that Hamas perpetrates on the Israelis on a daily basis, or else people might not take you seriously.

  3. Re:Flamebait Summary by jd.schmidt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hmmm... I am 100% certain that deliveries by sea are restricted by Isreal also. Come to think if it, I am 100% certain Isreal security forces can even prevent fishermen from going out.

    I am sure that some shipments are allowed into Gaza, but I am also sure that the difficulty of doing so (both in and out, they have to sell stuff to buy stuff you know) is causing shortages.

  4. Re:WTF ISRAEL? by mi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I guess they're worried that they'll use that aluminum and convert a shanty town into a nuke refinery.

    Or a Quassam-rocket. One of those just killed two sisters aged 12 and 5.

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  5. Re:Available in Gaza by c6gunner · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Do you seriously think rocket fuel is readily available for everyone on Gaza? That everyone on Gaza fires rockets at Israelis?

    When 84% of Palestinians polled support the cold-blooded murder of unarmed Jewish students, you'll have to excuse me if I don't get much comfort from the fact that not all of them are launching rockets.

    As for the rest of your comment, you should certainly be modded "flamebait", which means I probably should be taking the time to respond to you.

    Then again, you should probably be modded "funny", since I always get a kick out of morons who run around yelling:

    "LOLz U wahtc FOX NOOZ, STFU STOOPID N00B!!!11!".

    It seems to be a good rule of thumb that the more loudly someone proclaims their disdain for FOX, the more likely they are to be a complete imbecile.

  6. Re:obvious answer by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok it's in poor taste admittedly but speaking as a jew even I found that hilarious.

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  7. Re:Oppression by PixetaledPikachu · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If Israel (and US) wanted to be serious, why don't start by respecting the result of the Palestinian election, and acknowledge that hamas won it. They have tried your way, but you turn your head away.

  8. Re:Available in Gaza by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The current legitimately elected government of the Palestinian people have certain clues to their motives in their charter:

    "Today it is Palestine, tomorrow it will be one country or another. The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying." (article 32)

    "The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!" (article 7)

    The palestinians have made their motives towards the jews, all jews, absolutely clear ever since they got the hell out of dodge so that the muslim nations nearby (read: just about everything else over there) could push the jews into the sea.

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  9. Re:Available in Gaza by Duhavid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Them". Say "some of 'them'", and you are on to something. Or do you maintain that each and every resident of Gaza all hate Israelis with all their breath? This article puts the lie to that notion, this one guy made a stove instead of a rocket.

    And Israel has a blockade where aluminum and cooking gas ( from the article ) are not allowed in or in low supply. This punishes the "live and let live" types far more than the violent militant ones, *and* gives backing to any "the Israelis hate you, see what they are doing to you?" kind of rhetoric. ( Yes, that blockade is in reaction to violence from Arabs against Israelis, but A: this will lead to hatred, not a limitation to violence and B: the violence is in reaction ( as they see it ) to the occupation of their lands ).

    --
    emt 377 emt 4
  10. Re:obvious answer by wealthychef · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, and America stole California from Mexico. History will not aid us in this question. The only way out is through dialog between parties who are committed to peace and freedom for all. Until that dialog begins, I think the "terrorism"/"oppression" (killing of innocents on both "sides") will continue.

    --
    Currently hooked on AMP
  11. Re:Flamebait Summary by chrb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You might have a point if the United States military controlled Mexican airspace, seaspace, all borders, and prohibited the import of metals and oil into Mexico. And in that hypothetical situation, some small number of Mexicans chose to fire rockets into Texas. Does that make collective punishment right? And to switch the players around - if Texas were under the military control of Mexico, and its ports blockaded, and some Americans fired rockets across the border, would it be still right for the Mexicans to punish all Texans?

    if the arabs don't stop this terrorism, it means that they have support of the population. they are all responsible.

    So, every single individual in a nation is responsible for the actions of all other individuals? The Germans said the same thing in WWII occupied France - if a resistance cell killed German soldiers, the soldiers would round up all of the people from the nearest village and execute some (or all) of them.

    Why was collective punishment wrong when carried out by Germans 60-odd years ago, but right when carried out by Israelis now?

    I'm surprised that on Slashdot of all places, with its Libertarian-leaning politics, I'm having to actually argue that treating half-a-million people as one homogenous group is a bad idea.

  12. Re:Wow, such bias by Aahzimandious · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From my limited view:

    If a Greenman attacked a Purpleman because he is a Purpleman. That's Racism, and other criminal acts. Yes?

    If a Greenman kills a Purpleman because he is a Purpleman but with no intent to destroy all Purplemen. That's Racism and Murder. Yes?

    If a Greenman kills, or plans to kills, many Purplemen because he is a Purpleman. That's Racism and mass murder, or the plotting there of. Yes?

    If a Greenman kills or plans to kill every/most Purplemen in a region or the world. That's Geneocide, or the plotting there of. Yes?

    So...

    If Greenmen attacked Purplemen because the Greenmen were angry because of the situation that the [Purplemen and Greenmen forefathers] put them in and cannot make peace with themselves, thier forefathers, and thier neighbors(Purplemen) then when/if the Purplemen retaliate against the Greenmen attack(s) and possibly 'innocent' Greenmen (hurt/killed) that were anywhere near the Greenmen that probably attacked the Purplemen is that Genocide? No. It means they are fighting and there was possibly 'innocent' Greenmen were hurt/killed.

    If in that situation for every four Greenman and there is one Purpleman that is killed in the [Greenman attack and the corrosponding Purpleman retaliation] isn't Peace, even a bitter one, better? Unless the Greenmen are planning to continue no matter the cost, and/or genocide of the Purplemen is really the intent.

    But lo!, then the Bluemen come along and say "That is not a fair fight!! The Greenmen used rocks, and sticks, but the Purplemen used swords and wore armor!" So what?

    Stop picking fights with the big kid in the schoolyard if he's happy to leave well enough alone, and eyes won't be blackened and noses won't be bloody. Sure, get lucky in the fight once in a while but "WHY?!", especially if the the little kid in the playground is trying to make the big kid get the little kid's kitten out of the tree that the little boy's grand-father scared into the tree in the first place, and then get the big kid to chop down the tree for the little boy so that his kitten can never get stuck in the tree again?

    The Greenmen don't have to forgive, they don't have to forget - do the best with the cards they are delt! Perhaps diverting the energies of War to the energies of Peace, Education, and infrastructure would give a better chance at change? Yes? Maybe?

    Perhaps the Greenmen know education and infrastructure is EXPENSIVE to make work. It's EXPENSIVE to make a good life starting from scratch; but it has to start some where. But sadly, it's cheaper to go to blame others, and make War with the Purplemen and hope that something magical would happen when it's all over that it'll be better for the Greenmen. In the end, nothing changes.

    *sigh*

    It really doesn't matter even because everyone has to switch colors for the next fight and start the process over...

    1. Greenmen fight Purplemen!
    2. Purplemen fight Greenmen!
    3. * magic happens!(or doesn't...) *
    4. Greymen profit!
    5. Goto 1

    ~Aahzimandious

    --------------------
    PS: Vote for me for "World Dictator and Evil Overlord!" I PROMISE it will be a much better and happier World! The firing squads will continue until everyone is Happy! Are you Happy? Yes/No?
    --------------------

  13. Re:WTF ISRAEL? by gbulmash · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or a Quassam-rocket. One of those just killed two sisters aged 12 and 5.

    And you might notice those girls were Palestinians. It's sort of sad, because when I saw that article, my first thought was "ha ha, you dumbass terrorists screwed up and killed your own." Then right after it I felt guilty because no child's death should be a source of laughter. I'm just so sick and damn tired of these asswipe terrorists. When they kill their own by accident, it's hard not to gloat.

  14. Re:Available in Gaza by Keen+Anthony · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Polls are all about timing and "location location location". I could use selective polling to find that 84% of Americans polled believe we should nuke France.

    It seems the better rule of thumb is that the more loudly someone proclaims their disdain for a group of people, the more likely they are to be complete imbeciles.

  15. Re:Available in Gaza by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And? Why do you think they feel justified in shooting rockets at Israeli citizens? Because they are an especially bloodthirsty group of people?

    There is absolutely never a reason to shoot missiles, or even fling buggers at completely innocent civilians. The fact that they shoot missiles, for any reason, shows that they are "an especially bloodthirsty group of people."

    And the US had absolutely no reason to bomb innocent civilians in Germany in WWII?

    The Palestians are essentially being imprisoned in a concentration camp and treated like subhumans by the Israelis, which from the Palestians' POV makes them no better than the Nazis. They are desperate - TFA gives a glimpse into their plight, being denied even basic needs like cooking oil! - and no humans should be treated they way the Israelis are treating them. Unbelievable.

    You really need to step aside and imagine how you'd feel if you were in their shoes.

    BTW is it OK for the Israelis to kill innocent Palestian citizens? Or is that somehow "different"?

  16. Re:I Call Bullshit by Gerzel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Other than the Palestinians were in fact living there and the way political events turned out where in fact removed by force.

    I didn't say it was a particularly Good argument or correct. I did say that their side did have some valid reasoning.

  17. Re:obvious answer by Gerzel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Apologize for what?

    For not agreeing with you that your opinion is correct?

    There were in fact Palestinian people who lived on that land who were in fact moved by force away from that land unjustly. Now I am not saying that the formation of the new nation of Israel on the whole was unjust I am merely saying that parts of it were.

    The fact that a mention of the mere possibility that it might be gets a call for an apology highlights the presence of injustice and a lack of tolerance for other views.

    Israel as a nation has done much good in the world. It has also done much wrong. The same can be said about nearly any nation in the world today.

  18. Re:WTF ISRAEL? by mi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And you might notice those girls were Palestinians.

    That's the point. Had I linked to any Israeli victim of terrorism, some dumbass would've come out from somewhere to debate, that it is all Israel's own fault, that they shouldn't have built the country in "somebody else's desert", or that they should've just died in the face of opposition, etc. This way, there is no such distraction.

    Or, at least, it is much harder to make — blaming the deaths of Palestinian girls from a Palestinian-fired rocket on Zionist Entity is, of course, possible — had it not been for the occupation, there would've been no need for rockets, so there — but stretches credulity beyond most people's BS-meters. I'm sure, this explanation is being offered inside Gaza and, maybe, West Bank, but it would not work elsewhere. Or so one hopes...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  19. Re:Available in Gaza by Alpha830RulZ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When 84% of Palestinians polled [nytimes.com] support the cold-blooded murder of unarmed Jewish students,

    While I don't defend this opinion or behavior, I wonder what a comparable survey of Israelis would reveal.

    From my vantage point, there seems to be a lot of hotheadedness and vitriol all around the region. I don't think there are a lot of clean hands to be found.

    --
    I was taught to respect my elders. The trouble is, it's getting harder and harder to find some.
  20. Re:Oppression by Bartab · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We do respect the result of their election. The result was the Gaza strip being run by terrorists, which we're not keen on giving money too. If the Gaza strip wasn't so reliant on handouts, they might not care about our lack of recognition. However, they are so reliant.

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.
  21. Re:Available in Gaza by chrb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Where in the world is Osama bin Laden features an interview with one of the Hamas leaders - he is very clear in saying that they don't resist the Jews - they resist the state of Israel. When asked for clarification, he says that this is not a religious war between the Jews and the Muslims, this is a nationalist war between the people of Israel and the people of Palestine.

    So, whilst clearly there are some people within Hamas who agree with that particular quote from the Charter, there are also people, even within the upper management, who strongly disagree with it.