No Tech Magazine

No Tech Day

Practical Action, a charity that uses simple and innovative technologies to tackle poverty in the developing world (previously), challenges gadget addicts to give up their favourite tech toys on No Tech Day, Saturday, March 27.

That's today. Due to technical problems, I could not publish this earlier. Which means I was actually not allowed to publish this. And you should not be reading this. But you did not know.

Grinding the Wind: the Treadwheel Fan

I wrote about prison treadmills before. They were invented in England in 1817 by Sir William Cubit, who observed prisoners lying around in idleness and put himself to the task of "reforming offenders by teaching them habits of industry".

Forty-four prisons in England adopted it as a form of hard labour that could also grind grain or pump water.

However, as it turns out, in at least one jail prisoners were only "grinding the wind": they were walking a treadwheel that was connected to a giant fan built on the courtyard. By this apparatus the resistance necessary for rendering the tread-wheel hard labour was obtained.

The system is explained in "The criminal prisons of London and scenes of Prison Life" (1862), written by Henry Mayhew & John Binny. Starting on page 299, they describe the method of "hard labour", and the technologies used for it: the treadwheel, crank labour & the shot drill. Great reading.

Mad Max Wars

The embrace of a low-tech approach by Taliban-trained bombmakers - they are building improvised explosive devices out of fertilizer and diesel fuel - has stymied a $17 billion U.S. counteroffensive against the devices in Iraq and Afghanistan, military officials say. Electronic scanners or jammers, which were commonly deployed in Iraq, can detect only bombs with metal parts or circuitry. Read.

Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts

Vladimir Arkhipov's "Home-Made" (Amazon link) presents objects made by ordinary Russians inspired by a lack of immediate access to manufactured goods during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Each of the more than 220 artifacts is accompanied by a photograph of the creator, their story of how the object came about, its function and the materials used to create it.

The book is expensive, but you can find some pictures and stories here, here, here, here and here. Related (but the Soviets obviously had better materials): Jailhouse Technology.

Forum

Arkhipov continues the reach of his project through his multilingual Folk Forum website where anyone is free to post examples of hand-made objects. The website is not very user-friendly (tip: start by manipulating the layers), but it hosts some great ideas and pictures (some of them below).

Thanks, Caroline!

Obsolete Occupations: the Jobs of Yesteryear

Overview of endangered professions at the National Public Radio (via Obsoletos): "As computers and automated systems increasingly take the jobs humans once held, entire professions are now extinct".

I would like to add to this: As fossil fuels run out, some of these professions might return. And then I want to become a River Driver. Previously: the panorama of professions and trades.

Engines of Our Ingenuity

Engines of our ingenuity is an American radio program "about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them". The program is written and hosted by John Lienhard and it has been running since 1988. Illustrated transcripts of the more than 2,500 episodes are available online, recent episodes are also available as a podcast.

High-Tech Knotting: the Diamond Hitch

The "Diamond Hitch" is one of the most high-tech knots ever created. It was used to tie loads to pack animals. Many versions existed, not only for different types of loads but also for different types of terrain.

In rough country, where there was a frequent trouble with pack animals falling with their load, packers tied the Diamond Hitch so that the final knot was on top of the animal's back where it could be easily reached and loosened with the animal down. There was also a distinction between the one man and the two man Diamond Hitch. The one man version was employed by only one packer and required that he made two trips around the animal in tying it.

Detailed and illustrated instructions for tying the high-tech knot can be found in the 1916 "Manual of pack transportation".

Update: Phillips, Decker and Canadian Pack saddles.

The State of Humanity

Why crack an egg by hand if you can use a machine?

Harnessing the Sun: the History of Solar Energy

The Archdruid Report discusses some early applications of solar energy by Augustin Mouchot (late 1800s) and Frank Schuman (early 1900s). An overview of historical experiments and applications of solar energy can be found here and here.

A Manual for the Transport of Sick and Wounded by Pack Animals

"A report to the Surgeon General on the transport of sick and wounded by pack animals" (1877).

Cardboard Box Bass

"The 'Bogdon Box Bass' represents a reduction of technology and the simplification of needs. By demonstrating that a quality sound can be achieved by using unconventional material components at an extremely low cost, a cardboard bass guitar places the least demand on resource technology and encourages people to shift their preconceptions about the 'typical novice instrument'. Cardboard is not a traditional product material, however the introduction of innovative bonding, cutting and structural techniques has provided the opportunity to consider this lightweight and recyclable material in a more creative fashion. Works with or without an amplifier."

Available as a do-it-yourself kit or fully assembled at Bogdon Music (no free plans). More information on the construction of the instrument here. Related: Shovelman.

Libraries

"Even more useful than the books or activities, though, is the principle behind libraries, that we and our neighbours can pool our resources and hold things in common that all of us occasionally need. Most of the Western World, however, adopted this principle for books and then stopped, never extending it to other obvious areas of life. In fact, the trend of the last few decades has been the opposite – people bought more and more of their own private stocks of anything, no matter how expensive or little-used: a row of ten family homes might have ten rakes, ten chainsaws, ten barbecue pits and ten Dora the Explorer videos, each of which is used for only a few hours a year." Read.

Best Curta Pictures Ever

Curta pictures (thank you, Richard). More information on the device (previously): "Computing without electricity".