Paul B

I describe my gout as "hit yourself in the foot with a sledgehammer, and you will understand."  I try to stay away from beef, as it contains high levels of uric acid, as do other meats in lesser degrees.  Interestingly, I have found that, during a gout attack, a lack of exercise (walking) makes it worse, and walking, although painful and slow, reduces the length of the gout attack.

I do take colchicine when it gets bad, it stops it quick.  However, today I discovered that the medicinal herb, germander, can be made into a tea as a tonic for gout.  I picked up a small plant today, will have to propogate it and try it out.

A metal liner will help prevent your cob from cracking and possibly collapsing.  Without such a liner, if it collapses, you have to start from square one and rebuild the system  With a liner, you just have to patch the cob.

You could increase the draft in the exhaust tubes, if you used a small rocket stove on the exhaust end, and have a double walled riser tube on the small rocket stove.  Feed the kotatsu exhaust into the outer wall of the heat riser near the base, and allow the hot gases of the rocket stove to accelerate them by thermal induction.  By small, I am talking one made out of a one gallon paint bucket and some 3 inch tubing.

That size bag holds about one ton of soil.  It might be good for foundation work, but would need to be filled at the place where it would be used.  Most bags used for earthbag construction range in the 16-20 by 24-30 inch size and are about 5-6 inches thick when filled and tamped. 

If I were to use those bags, I would use them on the lowest levels and fill them with gravel to form the foundation, then use a smaller bag to make the rest of the wall.

You might want to check out this blog and the associated site, as it is full of good earthbag building information:  http://earthbagbuilding.wordpress.com/

I rent a house on a fair sized lot in a city.  Since I am reluctant to tear up the yard and the installed sprinkler system to put in a garden, I do my gardening in containers, specificly earthboxes.  Here are some photos of my garden last year.




Note: The wire mesh in this photo is 6"X6" squares.

Here is a link to an interesting DIY windmill.
http://www.applied-sciences.net/library/zoetrope.php

Check out self-watering planters such as the earthbox.  www.earthbox.com  It provides an ideal growing environment.

I recommend using self-watering containers.  The ones I use are from www.earthbox.com.  With these, you can eveen grow a garden on a skyscraper balcony or roof.

I've been using a homeopathic product called Trameel, which is helping me a lot.  It's available in health food stores.

Intresting idea, but I think you will find that the ribbing would lock the flexable form into place, or that you would need so much release agent that the ribs would no longer show up in the finished cast.  You may have to leave the ductwork in place permanently.