The Technological Disobedience of Ernesto Oroza

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-XS4aueDUg When Cuba fell into crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union, artist Ernesto Oroza was just graduating with a degree in industrial design in a country with no industry or use for his skills. Almost all the engineers had abandoned Cuba forty years earlier during the revolution, so even before the “Special Period” of the early 1990s people had to improvise their own technology with cast-off parts. Oroza...

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Your Open Floor Plan is a Death Trap

...and prevent those house flippers from removing walls in old homes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7T43OmErmU Synthetic Furniture Another big factor in house fires has been an increased use of polyurethane foam in furniture. It turns out that foam is more dangerous than the cotton it replaced. I will add that fire spreads faster in particleboard, plywood and MDF than in hardwood (see Flame Spread Performance of Wood Products). All reasons not to...

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The Art of Sadeli Mosaic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sADC2EkNu-E I stumbled on a beautiful video by Sneha Sarang showing Indian craftsman creating the intricate decorative art called Sadeli mosaic. Used to adorn small boxes in India, the Middle East and Iran, the technique is similar to the way “slice and bake” cookies and European “rock” candy are made. Narrow triangular strips of wood, metal or plastic are cut using a jig on a table saw: The strips are gathered int...

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Make Your Own Chalkboard Paint II

...the pre-made stuff. Plus you can use any color of latex paint. The paint has stood up to repeated erasing and re-chalking. Eric of Garden Fork just did a video where he made a chalkboard/pallet wood frame. In the video he uses an adhesive chalkboard film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFIi9s4uVAg Our workshop/garage is right on the sidewalk and on Halloween it doubles as a candy and (for the adults) cocktail dispensing venue. Should you find you...

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Jerry Seinfeld on Things

...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfYzlSNHapA&feature=youtu.be&t=1m11s “All things on earth only exist in different stages of becoming garbage. Your home is a garbage processing center where you buy new things, bring them into your house and slowly crapify them over time.” Thank you Doug Harvey for tipping me off to this gem....

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