Author Archives: Arjen Lentz

Economic sense can taste better! Organic outperforms Conventional/GM

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Organic outperforms conventional as well as GM over time – and is more profitable even when discounting the premium usually paid for organic produce (because of lower input costs, among other things).

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/Study+debunks+myths+organic+farms/5462520/story.html

The results are in from a 30-year side-by-side trial of conventional and organic farming methods at Pennsylvania’s Rodale Institute. Contrary to conventional wisdom, organic farming outperformed conventional farming in every measure.

Open Source Ecology

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http://opensourceecology.org/

This is so awesome. Beyond RepRap, big open source hardware. Tractors, brick presses, etc. You can build them locally for a fraction of the cost of regular machinery, and then also use locally available materials (like rubble on your building site to make more bricks).

If you’re technically capable and looking for a local business opportunity – start building some of this stuff, and offer your services in the neighborhood. You’ll be able operate cheaper and provide things that others cannot compete with. Total win.

It’s real. There are materials lists, full costing, etc.
And do check out the videos!

Another article on the GVCS (Global Village Construction Set):
Farmers build green machines using open source technology

Linux now Good for Video Recording and Editing

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I used to use a Mac (OS-X) for video editing, format conversion and the like. But as I was preparing an old MiniDV camcorder to record a talk tomorrow, it appears that on my Ubuntu Linux I now have everything I need. Rock!

The functional recipe is:

  • Old JVC camcorder with firewire (IEEE 1494) cable to laptop;
  • Ubuntu GNU/Linux 11.04 (aka Natty Narwhal);
  • Kino recorder app;
  • OpenShot edit/export app.

I didn’t have to read any manuals or mess around, it “just works”. Using this setup I’m actually able to record directly on the laptop (rather than recording to a miniDV tape then copy it for editing), this is a great advantage as otherwise you’re always restricted by the capacity of the tape. The laptop’s harddisk is not going to run out of space these days.

Mutual Weirdness

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“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird,
and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours,
we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

― Dr. Seuss