SolSource Review Part I: Assembly

...using the the provided Ikea-like pictographic instructions. The SolSource comes with two wrenches and no additional tools are needed. If I wanted to take the SolSource on the road for a picnic or solar tailgate party I would probably not fully disassemble it. The disc and the grill assembly come apart easily into two parts and that’s how I would stash it into my chariot to go on the road. Los Angeles’ usual June cloud cover has suddenly vanished...

Read…

Video Sundays: Design Line Phones

...tially buying just the housing — the working guts of the phones were still under the Bell System maintenance and ownership contracts. These phones were not cheap — prices in 1976 for these phones ranged from $39.95 for the basic Exeter to a whopping $109.95 for the rococo Antique Gold model. That’s about $150 to over $400 today. Not that much more than a smartphone, but, of course, no touchscreen. No ringtones. My mini-rant on the tyranny of choic...

Read…

Soil Positive or just Soil Curious? Join Nancy Klehm For a Workshop on Soils

...ss size: 6 – 15 people Facilitator: Nance Klehm, Director of Social Ecologies , www.socialecologies.net (See bio below) Class Plan: 1. introductions and bio-remediation presentation 2. landscape reading exercise in neighborhood ~potluck lunch 3. compost bin and soil tour of root simple front and back gardens 4. three soil installations – TBA What you will learn: – basic soil structure and biology – qualitative methods of assessing soil health – ho...

Read…

Stellarium: A Handy Desktop Planetarium

...urce solution: Stellarium. Stellarium is a computer based planetarium that comes in OS X, Windows, Linux and Ubuntu versions. You can dial in any place and time. It comes with a catalog of 600,000 stars, eclipse simulation, meteor shower information, telescope control and much more. How can you use Stellarium with a telescope or binoculars? I face major challenges using my fully manual Dobsonian telescope in light-polluted Los Angeles. It’s very h...

Read…

RIP Toby Hemenway

...th the City Repair movement and looked at ways we can improve our communities. We desperately need voices like Hemenway’s in this moment of crisis. He will be missed. Someone I greatly admire, Toby Hemenway needs our help. Hemenway is a permaculturalist and a gifted author of books such as Gaia’s Garden and The Permaculture City. In 2015 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has signed up for home hospice care. He and his wife need support t...

Read…