No Tech Magazine

Saving the Earth by Shrinking Humans

2010-07-19T16:14:04+02:00

Research into the implications of genetically downsizing the human species to better fit the earth. Via Treehugger.

Wind Powered Trikes

2010-07-19T00:00:07+02:00

Pterosail Trike Systems is sailing and cycling over 3,000 miles from coast to coast across the USA this summer. The Pterosail is a street-legal recumbent tricycle with sails. It can reach up to 40 mph in good winds. No wind? Pedal. See also: the Whike, a Dutch made sail assisted trike. Related: Guido Vigevano's wind car / Sailing rockets / Kiteboating.

Can Traditional Knowledge be Categorized?

2010-07-18T15:15:33+02:00

"This bears all the hallmarks of a well-intentioned project that will grind slowly to a halt. Like flowers that wilt when cut and put in a vase, indigenous knowledge tends to degrade quickly when removed from its context."

Doubts on the recently launched International Traditional Knowledge Database.

Obsolete Technology Prints and Photograph Collections

2010-07-13T19:50:04+02:00

Three wonderful collections from the Library of Congress, showing obsolete technologies.

1. The World's Transportation Commission Photograph Collection contains nearly nine hundred images by American photographer William Henry Jackson. In addition to railroads, elephants, camels, horses, sleds and sleighs, sedan chairs, rickshaws, and other types of transportation, Jackson photographed city views, street and harbor scenes, landscapes, local inhabitants, and Commission members as they travelled through North Africa, Asia, Australia, and Oceania.

Below: Boatmen towing sailboat against the wind up the Pieho to Peking.

Workmen repairing railroad track:

A camel train on the desert:

Chinese gunboat:

2. The Photochrom Print Collection has almost 6,000 views of Europe and the Middle East and 500 views of North America. Published primarily from the 1890s to 1910s, these prints were created by the Photoglob Company in Zürich, Switzerland, and the Detroit Publishing Company in Michigan. The richly colored images look like photographs but are actually ink-based photolithographs, usually 6.5 x 9 inches.

Below: the knights' hall, Mont St Michel, France:

The beach, Scheveningen, Holland:

Street in the old town, I, Biskra, Algeria:

3. The Tissandier Collection contains approximately 975 items documenting the early history of aeronautics with an emphasis on balloon flight in France and other European countries. Subjects include general and technical images of balloons, airships, and flying machines; portraits of famous balloonists; views of numerous ascensions, accidents, and world's fairs; cartoons featuring balloon themes; pictorial and textual broadsides; and colorful ephemera and poster advertisements. There are also several hundred illustrations clipped from books and newspapers. The pictures, created by many different artists, span the years 1773 to 1910, with the bulk dating 1780-1890.

Via trialsanderrors and Tecnología Obsoleta (who highlights New York pictures).

Characteristics of Modern Technique (3)

2010-07-13T19:48:42+02:00

"The type of work which modern technology is most successful in reducing or even eliminating is skilful, productive work of human hands, in touch with real materials of one kind or another. In an advanced industrial society, such work has become exceedingly rare, and to make a decent living by doing such work has become virtually impossible. A great part of modern neurosis may be due to this very fact; for the human being, defined by Thomas Aquinas as a being with brains and hands, enjoys nothing more than to be creatively, usefully, productively engaged with both his hands and his brains."

"Modern technology has deprived man of the kind of work that he enjoys most, and given him plenty of work of a fragmented kind, most of which he does not enjoy at all."

"All this confirms our suspicion that modern technology, the way it has developed, is developing, and promises further to develop, is showing an increasingly inhuman face, and that we might do well to take stock and reconsider our goals."

Quoted from: "Small Is Beautiful", E.F. Schumacher, 1973.

Characteristics of modern technique (2)
Characteristics of modern technique (1)

Tribal People vs. Progress

2010-07-13T19:46:35+02:00

"Wherever they are in the world, tribal peoples are deprived of their livelihood and way of life; driven from their land by mining, logging or settlers; flooded by dams or forcibly relocated in order to make way for cattle ranches or game parks. Such abuse is often justified by the claim that tribal peoples are somehow 'primitive' or 'backward'."

Survival International documents the on-going clash between tribal people and civilization.

Hoisting Coal from Canal Boats with Dederick Machines

2010-07-08T02:48:47+02:00

"An improvement made by Mr. P. K. Dederick, of Albany, N.Y., was a horse-hoisting machine that very materially reduced the labor of the horse in hoisting. Previous to this, the horse walked forward to hoist a full bucket, and was obliged to back to lower the empty bucket into the hold of the vessel. With most horses, this latter was harder work than hoisting the loaded bucket, while the Dederick machine increased the speed of unloading but little, it reduced the labor of the horse about one-half."

Quoted from: "Coal handling machinery", C.W.Hunt Company, 1893.

Birch Bark Sauna

2010-06-26T21:00:35+02:00

Birch bark has been used in Finland for centuries as a construction material and as material for making small objects like baskets and shoes. One of birch bark's features is good thermal insulation. The surface is water repellent and it can be gently washed with water. Some components of birch bark also protect it from decomposing.

Finnish architects Teija Losoi, Anne Varsamäki and Ilari Pirttilahti used the technique to build a lightweight sauna - basically a huge traditional birch bark basket turned upside down. The light walls are supported by a wooden structure that is hidden inside two layers of braided birch bark. More pictures: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4. Thank you, Zeltia !

Water Batteries for Trees

2010-06-25T00:56:36+02:00

"Using groundwater to grow crops and trees doesn’t make sense to Pieter Hoff, a Dutch inventor. Not only are traditional irrigation techniques inefficient because most of the water is lost to evaporation, Mr. Hoff says, but water can be easily captured from the atmosphere to grow just about anything. To prove his point, Mr. Hoff retired from the lily and tulip export business in 2003, established his company, AquaPro, and devoted himself to the development of the Groasis Waterboxx (manuals), which he says will grow food crops and trees even in the driest places on earth." Read more.

Tandem Cargo Tricycle (1940) & More Vintage Dutch Carrier Bikes

2010-06-19T11:49:26+02:00

Mechanics from the Dutch telecom department PTT (1940). Found at Transportfiets. The blog has more pictures of old Dutch carrier bikes, some of them below.

The Dutch also held cargo bike races. Picture below from 1949.

Transportfiets.net

The Wonders of Industry (1873-1877)

2010-06-15T03:01:20+02:00

"Les merveilles de l'industrie, ou description des principales industries modernes", Louis Figuier (1873-1877). The 4-volume book is in French, but the engravings are indeed wonderful: Part 1 (750 pages), Part 2 (736 pages), Part 3 (687 pages) & Part 4 (744 pages). A sample of the illustrations of part one and four can be found here and here. Below: salt mines in Wieliska, Poland (extra large illustration). Related: Three thousand pages of 19th century technology.

Grasses Can’t Graze Themselves: Combating Desertification Using Herd Animals

2010-06-06T03:37:45+02:00

"Enormous research efforts have been made to understand and reverse desertification, but until recently, and with one remarkable exception, to no avail. That exception, Operation Hope, has transformed 6,500 acres of parched and degraded grasslands in Zimbabwe into lush pastures replete with ponds and flowing streams - even during periods of drought. Surprisingly, this was accomplished through a dramatic increase in the number of herd animals on the land. Behind Operation Hope is an approach called 'holistic management', which they apply to rangeland practice. Developed over the past 50 years by Operation Hope founder Allan Savory, a former wildlife biologist, farmer, and politician, it challenges the dominant theory that desertification is caused by overgrazing."

Read at Seed Magazine (+ links & video + 90 page handbook - pdf)

Maximizing Growing Space

2010-06-02T03:01:44+02:00

"If you want to grow food but don't have a garden or an allotment then lack of space is probably one of your biggest challenges. But it's amazing what you can do with even a small outdoor space. Indeed, lack of space can be a great inspiration to get creative."

Vertical Veg - high yields from tiny spaces. Has very good links, too.

Why Older Buildings are More Sustainable

2010-05-29T19:37:20+02:00

"In the late 14th century, England's King Richard II commissioned a new building, College Hall, at Oxford University. The carpenters who built College Hall knew that the massive oak beams spanning the great hall's ceiling would probably need to be replaced in a few hundred years, so next to the building, they planted a row of oak seedlings from the trees they used for the beams. Sure enough, the beams needed to be replaced about 300 years later, and the new carpenters had mature oaks right there, ready to be milled and turned into new beams."

Greening Main Street Buildings (more). The picture shows an example of a recessed entryway - a characteristic common to many traditional commercial buildings that helps prevent hot or cold air from rushing inside when a door is opened.

Once more, hat tip to Lloyd Alter.

Domestic Terraforming: Gardening for Geeks

2010-05-29T17:42:53+02:00

"Gardeners are among the world’s most charming snobs. Rightly so: As with music and mathematics, the more you know, the more elegant your work. Erudition is valued, and so is a smattering of pretension. If you are a geek looking to put down roots, welcome to gardening. We offer you common ground. Think of it as localized terraforming, if that helps."

Instructions at Wired. Hat tip to Lloyd Alter. Also:

Terracotta Home Composter
Make your own garden beds
Flower madness in Cordoba (Spain)
Water batteries for trees
How to make your own low-tech vertical farm (previously)

Los Angeles Without Cars

2010-05-28T17:24:07+02:00

Running on empty by Ross Ching. Via Menéame.

Crane Locomotives

2010-05-21T04:00:41+02:00

"At the beginning of the 20th century, all essential transport and machine movement, even in the building trade, was by water or rail. This left its marks on the cranes of the day, and a large number of rail-mounted crane structures were utilized - including the rather strange looking 'crane locomotives'. These were steam locomotives to which a steam crane had been added."

Quote & picture from "The History of Cranes (The Classic Construction Series)", Oliver Bachmann (Amazon link). More pictures below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(source)

(Source)