Technology for Luddites
“Japanese carpentry group Kobayashi Kenkou carefully demonstrates the fascinating way in which highly durable buildings are constructed with traditional methods of joining the wood with intricate cuts and interlocking plugs instead of metal nails. The fine planing and perfect fit of each interlocking piece of wood is a testament to the craftsmanship of the carpenters.”
See them in action. Via The Shelter Blog.
The Johanson3 is a stable three-wheeler, with the driver leaning back rather than sitting (though sitting is an option). Feet rest on a plate, and pressing down on that plate creates a lean on the front wheel, turning the vehicle while the rear wheels remain solidly on the ground.
That makes for easy on-and off, especially for those who – owing to age, injury, or fashion choice (“skirts, saris, djellabas, and kimonos” are accommodated, according to Johanson3) – cannot throw a leg over a bicycle seat. Various models accommodate single riders or as many as three adults plus two kids, and can haul up to 660lbs of flesh and cargo. Read more: The J3, a trike that hauls freight, spares frocks.
The Johanson3 is available for pre-order and costs $3,150 – $3,900.
“Sales of books are eclipsing digital alternatives, while vinyl records, Polaroid cameras and even simple mobile phones are enjoying a resurgence… The appeal is only partly faddishness. For the old phones actually do what phones used to do, which is to make and receive phone calls, without depositing your whole life in cyberspace where it can be stolen and used to embarrass you before the entire world. According to the New York Times, one of the main attractions of the retro-phone for celebrities is that it helps keep their secrets safe. And, as rocker Iggy Pop says, “You can drop it and it doesn’t break.”
“Even typewriters are bouncing back. Spooked by the WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden affairs, intelligence agencies and political groups are reportedly returning to Cold War technology to keep their secrets safe. The glamour is back, too. Movie star Tom Hanks recently published a “love letter” to the typewriter, declaring: “The tactile pleasure of typing is incomparable… there is a sheer physical pleasure to typing.” Dr Mike Evans, a theoretical physicist at York University, believes that the appeal of high-technology is being undone by its constant quest for what he calls “sterile perfection”…”
Read more: Why low-tech living is back.
Katrin Puetz saw the potential of biogas for rural communities while doing her master’s thesis at a university in Germany. She wondered how to do the “last mile” of distribution from a central digester site to someone’s home. She came up with the biogas “backpack” — a sturdy bag to transport the gas.
Since then, she’s created a full line of products for villages to use biogas locally. First there’s a 2 x 5 meter bio-digester “system” for 44 pounds of cow dung a day. It’s a tank with an outer tent covering. Then, there are the packs which hold 1.2 cubic meters of biogas at a time (6 kilowatt-hours of energy or enough for four hours of cooking). And there’s a simple stove and several other parts.
The bag has a valve that attaches to the stove with a hose. Villagers place a rock or plank of wood on top of the bag to push the gas out. The bag presents no explosion risk because it is isn’t pressurized, Puetz says. “You can put the bag on an open fire and it will take 15 to 20 seconds to even melt the material. It is a very heavy duty material. And even after you’ve melted a hole the gas will come out and slowly flare off, because biogas needs to be mixed with air to be flammable,” she assures us.
Read more at Co.EXIST: These hilarious inflated backpacks are actually delivering cheap local energy to the rural poor. Picture: (B)energy. Previously: Gas Bag Vehicles.
“First People” hosts a large and wonderful collection of American Indian photographs online, dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Aside from the portraits (which include, among others, the Edward S. Curtis archives), there are picture galleries of tepees, boats, pottery and basketry.
Previously: Walter McClintock’s glass lantern slide collection of the Blackfoot Indians. [Read more…]
