NO TECH MAGAZINE

A Dining Table for the Neighbourhood

June 8, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Cities, Farming, Food, Random

The Landscape Table is a platform for cultivating, processing, cooking and sharing the food at the centre of the FARMPARCK in Brussels, Belgium. Thanks to the edible and medicinal plants inserted into the table itself, the installation invites the public to meet and eat in direct contact with a landscape that is a bounty for the senses – sight, smell, touch and, above all, taste. The essence of this project is to involve the visitor in the landscape, farming, nature and cooking through shared moments.

FARMPARCK puts to the test a new model for a public space combining the characteristics of a park and farmland, where food is grown, cooked and eaten by the neighbours. There is a vegetable garden, an animal farm, a kitchen, and a compost toilet which is to transform the park’s organic waste into “terra-preta” (black earth, a rich and fertile soil) for the park and the surrounding area. FARMPARCK, which happens in a multicultural neighbourhood, meets both social and ecological needs. It was set up as a prototype from May to September 2014, but continues to be active today. Picture: Eric Dil.

Micro Break: The Fast, Efficient Holiday

June 2, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: DIY, Holidays, Toys

As mini-break holidays become ever more popular, now is the perfect time to launch a new concept in today’s fast moving, time strapped world, the Micro-break. Simply sit on the chair and the carpet tips and rocks as you watch a TV animation of your flight and coach transfer, ending up on a tropical beach. At this point the TV lamp swings up, shining a heat lamp in your face. After soaking in the heat, you’re whisked home again, the whole experience lasting less than 3 minutes.

Microbreak was my first attempt at making a simulator ride and also my first attempt at 3D animation, so it was particularly exciting. It’s also my favourite because I really struggle with real holidays. Holidays are essential for people who have stressful jobs or hate their jobs. But I enjoy working and don’t find it stressful. I like travelling for work, to have a reason to go somewhere, but find holidays more stressful than work and often thoroughly depressing.

This simulator ride is built on the chassis of a 1985 Sega Space Harrier arcade game. This provides the wonderful tipping and rocking mechanism. The animation is filmed in a model landscape made of weathered lumps of PU foam, which originally came from a float used to lay a north sea gas pipeline.

Written by Tim Hunkin.

Micro Break is on display at Novelty Automation, a new London arcade of Tim Hunkin’s home-made machines. All machines are introduced on the website, but if you’re in London we suggest you just head over to 1a Princeton Street (a 5 minutes walk from Holborn station) and suprise yourself.

What Can Be Learnt From a 17th Century Town

June 1, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Architecture, History, Low-tech living

“In Plymouth, Massachusetts — the site of the first English colony in America — Matteo Brault spends his days living a 17th century life, along with dozens of other re-enactors on the modern-day Plimoth Plantation. Brault works full-time as a 17th-century style blacksmith, using traditional tools like a grindstone, hand-made nails and a large bellows for making the fire hot enough for forging iron and steel. He also helps build the traditional shelters.”

“The simplest homes in town were built using cratchets — natural forks in trees — as support for the ridgepole of the roof. The walls are built up with “wattle” — small sticks for the lattice structure — and “daub” — a mortar of clay, earth and grasses. Instead of using the traditional English lime wash to protect the walls, the colonists took advantage of the plentiful wood in the America and created clapboard siding by cleaving wood into thin boards. For the thatch roofs, large bundles of water reed or wheat straw are woven with a giant needle by two people working in tandem (one outside and one inside). “It’s like a giant quilt made of grass,” explains Brault, “which makes a water-tight roof that essentially acts as a giant sponge. It absorbs water and laps it off.”

Watch the video. Picture: a wattle and daub wall in Germany.

Meccano Food Mixer

May 28, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: DIY

Tired of replacing the food mixer every few years? Build your own & repair when needed.

Scanned from a 1970s Meccano manual. More here. Previously: How to make everything ourselves: open modular hardware.

Human Alarm Clocks

May 26, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Alarm Clocks, Professions, Random, Work

I’m one of those people for whom it’s hard to get out of bed early, especially when I didn’t sleep enough. Setting an alarm clock makes little sense because I turn it off and go back to sleep. Setting multiple alarm clocks throughout the apartment might work, but it bothers the neighbours and I will still wake up too late. The only foolproof solution for me is a human alarm clock, but unfortunately this is not always available, or reliable.

Enter the professional human alarm clock, or knocker-up. Before the advent of reliable and affordable alarm clocks, British and Irish workers were woken up by a person who made sure they could get to work on time. The knocker-up used a baton to knock on clients’ doors or a long and light stick to reach windows on higher floors. Others used a pea-shooter.

The knocker-up would not leave a client’s window until it was sure that the client had been awoken. People would agree verbally, in advance, or simply post a preferred time on doors or windows. There were large numbers of people carrying out the job, especially in larger industrial towns such as Manchester and London.

Generally the job was carried out by elderly men and women but sometimes police constables supplemented their pay by performing the task during early morning patrols. Larger factories and mills often employed their own knocker-ups to ensure labourers made it to work on time. The profession lasted at least until the late 1920s and in some regions until the 1950s. Bringing it back would not only make me reach early morning appointments on time. It would also create new employment, foster social cohesion, and save energy and resources.

Sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4. Thanks to Cynthia Hathaway.