
It looks like Metabolix is close to commercialization than I had previously thought. On Earth Day they moved one step closer to achieving profitability by solemnizing their alliance with Archer Daniel Midlands. The union has resulted in a newly established venture, Telles™, named for the Roman goddess of the Earth. Telles™ will produce Mirel™ Natural Plastics, a family of high performance natural plastics that are biobased, sustainable and completely biodegradable.
If everything goes as planned, the commercial scale plant in Clinton, Iowa, is expected to start up in 2008 and will produce Mirel™ at an annual rate of 110 million pounds.
Befittingly, MBLX has risen 40% on 10 times the average volume in the last 3 days since the announcement was made.
The Commissioner's statement was targeted at our politicians, who even the deafest Kenyan must concede comprise people who would do us a national favour by forever holding their peace. This spirit of national reticence however must best extend to Vigilance House for if the Commissioner knows anything, he should know that his was the sort of empty talk that is best suited for politicians, not for civil servants of office as high as his.
Amir Ibrahim on the Kenya Police, "Even greater is the danger that the Kenya Police are portrayed as being anti-politicians, or pro-government. It is this more than anything that the Police Commissioner should worry about."
Read the rest here.
Later this year, the President will for one of the few times in his tenure as head of state consider the instruction of our constitution. He will dissolve parliament and call an election. In response, under the fierce December sun, Kenyans will go into a frenzied dance and infused with a sense of mission, political debate in the country will take on an even higher pitch as rival camps debate how best to steer this 'great' nation into the First World. The ritual and the circus surrounding it will be brought to a flourish in the marking of small pieces of paper in an arcane ritual that lends us an illusory sense of empowerment. Later still we will be treated to a flourish of a finish with the announcement of a winner, who if opinion polls are anything to go by, should be Emilio Mwai Kibaki.