[log in to unmask] wrote:
> or mold into blocks
Michael Faraday may have said, least ways I like to think he said, that 
if the earth were compressed to an ultimate density it would be the size 
of a chicken bullion cube.

Compressed Earth Block... suggest you look here The Mountain Institute 
<http://www.mountain.org/tmi.cfm>. I have never seen the machine, or 
specs on it, though Jim Underwood the inventor did describe it to me and 
how he came to it through time that he spent with Helen and Scott 
Nearing <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_and_Scott_Nearing>. I knew 
of them (I did not know them as in like Romney knew MLK) from the 70's 
for a slim book that I believe they self-published on using slip forms 
for stone wall construction. A technology that lends itself to dreaming 
about split-cobble stone domes.

In response to a question from a correspondent I recently provided the 
following personal information on Jim Underwood. He was instrumental in 
the Stone Foundation <http://www.stonefoundation.org/> holding their 
annual symposium in parallel with the IPTW at St. Clairesville.

Jim Underwood: He was a member of The Mountain Institute from the 
inception of the organization. TMI is an international non-profit 
organization dedicated to conservation, community development, and 
cultural preservation in the Andean, Appalachian, Himalayan, and other 
mountain ranges of the world.

Through TMI he was the designer of a Compressed Earth Block machine... 
making it possible to use earth to build shelters to provide housing and 
employment for people around the world. He spent time in Tibet working 
with local trainees to teach them to use the equipment and to build with 
it. I assume it is through that network of connections and the modest 
inspiration of his character that he got on the Dalai Lama's prayer list.

I only knew him for a few years, and was never too sure what he did with 
his life when we were not doing something together. The last time I was 
to see him I had car problems (it does not help to throw a rod) and we 
were not able to get together. He had a pain in his side, went to the 
Doctor, was diagnosed and died within a few months. I was not 
consciously aware of this until now on checking the facts but that he 
died on my birthday. (That feels freaky that I had not registered this 
information previously.)

He was one of those persons that simply inspires you to feel really good 
about whatever positive contribution you can make to the world. I was 
always looking forward to spending time with him. We were both members 
of the board of directors, for a very brief time, of the Stone 
Foundation, a loose worldwide network of folks literally crazed over 
playing with stones... like building walls and towers and bridges and 
such without mortar.

I am not sure how long one remains on the Dalai Lama's prayer list but I 
would assume that once one has made the move to the other side in the 
journey that the prayers are no longer considered as needed. I never met 
his family, I would have met his wife on that last opportunity, and I 
would hesitate to intrude on them to ask.

Though I feel really bad that he died I have absolutely no regret for 
the brief time that we knew each other.

][<en

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