The Venetian Handcart

October 21, 2013 by kris de decker Filed Under: Cargo, Random

venetian handcartGiuliana Fornaciari draws our attention to yet another example of ingenious handcart technology: the Venetian cart.

The vehicle has two small wheels at the end of the horizontal bars, which are used to overcome the steps of Venetian bridges and staircases.

We have said it before: low-tech solutions are by definition local solutions. It is technology that adapts to the environment, not the other way around.

The picture comes from classified ads website Subito; the cart is for sale (199 euro). To be picked up in Venice, obviously.

Three more pictures here, here and here. More sustainable small-scale cargo options.

Is Cuba the First Large-Scale Maker Society?

October 5, 2013 by kris de decker Filed Under: DIY, Random

electric plug cuba

“When the U.S. left Cuba in the 1960s, it took most of the Cuba’s engineers with it. In their absence, Fidel Castro encouraged citizens to learn how to make their own stuff. So, they did. And, in the 70s, a culture of garage innovation was born from the revolutionaries, scientists, mechanics, and ordinary folk who formed the National Association of Innovators and Rationalizers (ANIR).”

See and read more. Thanks to Edwin Gardner.

On the picture: a home-made electric plug (Cuba), found at Architecture of Necessity.

Update: The book “Con nuestros propios esfuerzos” (“With our own effort”), released in 1991 by Verde Olivo, the publishing house of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, is available as a PDF. This 300-page long compendium describes and illustrates in technical detail a vast array of artificats, recipes, and survival strategies collected from all over the island by local authorities. Read more about it here (starting at page 4). Thanks to Michele.

Related: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts.

The Illusion-of-Control Tower

September 29, 2013 by kris de decker Filed Under: Art, Random, Technofix

The illusion of control laurie lipton

By Laurie Lipton.

Our Right to be Outside: Three Mules

September 24, 2013 by kris de decker Filed Under: Low-tech living, Pack animals, Random, Travel

“You spot a somewhat disheveled man with three fully loaded pack mules walking though your community. What the … ?

This strange and, to many, awe-inspiring sight has been experienced by thousands of people in small towns and large cities throughout the western United States. But who is he and what is he doing? Is he lost in the wrong century? Is he homeless? Is he on a mission?

mulesThe Mules (as he refers to himself and the animals collectively) have traveled for nearly three decades through 16 states. For the last ten years they have lived outdoors. Even though he may not talk much when one first meets him, if the time and place are right, Mule will share something that he feels we should all be thinking about.

Throughout their travels, the Mules have noticed an ever increasing urban sprawl. Open spaces where they once moved through freely, and sometimes spent the night in a secluded spot, were disappearing. More and more cars filled up the roadways, and the expanding urban infrastructure seemed to serve one purpose: accommodate more automobiles.

At the same time, space for other means of self- transportation, such as bicycling, horseback riding and simply walking, were shrinking. Those alternative means of self-travel have often been confined to designated “recreation” areas. Also, as the urban environment exploded, natural habitats have vanished, or been “preserved” in spaces a fraction of the size they once were.
Mule sums it all up: “The space needed by The Mules to travel this country freely in all four directions on the landscape is being taken over by the suburban model of automobile usage, exclusively, and leaving no space for alternative venues of moving and living. In our travels, we carry that awareness and bring it to others. We’re a working model for that awareness, one step at a time, all day, every day.””

Quoted from 3 mules, via LLoyd’s blog.

Smoke House for Fish

September 23, 2013 by kris de decker Filed Under: Fish, Fishing gear, Food storage, Random, Wood

smoke house for fishsmoke house for fish 2

This traditional smoke house for fish, photographed in the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum of Latvia, is made from a scrapped boat hull. Pictures by No Tech Magazine.

A Passively Cooled House in the Tropics

September 22, 2013 by kris de decker Filed Under: Architecture, Cooling, Random, Solar

passive house tropics

Build-It-Solar blog writes:

Kotaro Nishiki built a passively cooled home in Leyte Philippines at 11 degs north latitude that incorporates a number of unique cooling features that allow the home to be cooled passively and without electricity…

In this area, most homes are constructed of concrete, and the concrete structures tend to absorb solar heat during the daytime, and then retain that heat through the night making the homes uncomfortable.

Kotaro’s design is centered on eliminating these daytime solar gains. He keeps the whole house shaded using these techniques:

  • The south facing single slope roof has on overhang on the south that keeps the south wall in shade most of the day.
  • The north side of the house is shaded by an roof extension sloped down to the north that shades the north side of the house most of the day.
  • The roof is double layered with airflow between the well spaced layers.  This greatly reduces solar heat gain through the roof.
  • The east and west walls of the house are double wall construction with a couple feet between the walls.  The shading that the outer wall offers plus airflow between the double walls keep the wall temperatures low.
  • In addition, he has worked out ways to take advantage of the night
    temperature drop and to use thermal mass on the basement to provide some
    cooling.

More: A unique, passively cooled home in the Tropics (Build-It-Solar), Passive Solar House in Tropical Areas (Kotaro Nishiki). Build-It-Solar has more examples of passively cooled houses.