Published Date 11/1/14 6:27 PM

 

Am thinking about seting up an import and installation business for small wind turbines from China to put onto boats and power protest camps. At the moment the majority of small scale power generation is from fossil fuels, this is both unpleasant and needless. Solar power in the summer being very viable, this leaves 3-4 month of the year with limited power – thus diversifying into solar/wind set-ups.

To buy small wind turbines in the UK the expense is to high so am trying importing them directly from China – the minimum order when shipping is taken into account is 3 so have sent over $1K to a pretty random paypal account to buy them.

For some background on how to go about importing http://importcrashcourse.com/pay-importing-china/

To get an idea if a company is relabel its good to do as much searching as possible – from the pretty random paypal gmail account they sent me I found out this information https://whoisology.com/archive_6/chinaalps.com that they actually own 4 company’s and are the registry email of the Domain of the company I am buying the goods from. This is a good start.

Then the is the issue of VAT/duty to be paid http://www.dutycalculator.com/

Update: the goods arrived and seem to be of good quality, the issue of installing a tower is the subject of my next post.

Published Date 10/27/14 12:52 AM

Stupid individualism and the visionOntv templates.

Our templates for video journalism are designed to radically simplify and empower normal people to make coherent video news pieces using the tools they largely already have. They are successful at this if people fallow the template’s – it says this at the end of most of them.

The issue that creates failure is a standard one for the possibility of an alternative, I call it this “stupid individualism”.

The disparity of wealth on the surface and poverty of the underlying human condition (some would call this “spirit”) is striking to many thinking and feeling people. Our shared western society is based on a hegemonic false senses of individualism, were the reality is largely faceless conformity thinly covered by lifestyle fashion. This is the bases of consumer capitalism our “wealth” is built on. The world view atomises any possibility of building an alternative and shows up in as a block in most attempts to build one.

Our templates boil down more than 30 years of experience of awarded wining fast turn around video journalism to a A4 cartoon sheet. The instructions are clear and complete, if you fallow these, after a few attempts you will likely have mastered the bases of audio visual story telling and from this point of mastery opens a whole world of creativity and real genuine individualism.

Very few actually get this far and we know this because we have trained thousands of citizen journalist over hundreds of workshops at both undercurrents and visionOntv. Why? I would put fowered my old friend/foe “stupid individualism” as the prime explanation (though would admit the are technical challenges as well).

The impotence of the template is more in what it doesn’t say, the is much more information in the omissions, this is how it fits on a A4 with pictures. It distils what does work and explains this.

People do not fallow the template, often they do not even pick it up and read it, they then go onto do what THEY think is video making, they do all the bits that the template purposely omits and very few of the bits in it, the result is almost always a dis empowering mess. This is the same thing with all groups we work with.

We live in an individualist society, were we are all “empowered individuals”. The problem is evident in that this is our empowerment is an illusion, we are all dis empowered individuals with egos let lose on dispoling mode. We think we are empowered because everything around us that works is on bureaucratic auto pilot, we don’t actually have to create anything original and lack the base skills to so when the rare option comes round. Our templates are such a rear opportunity, if you can take your mind out of dispoleing mode and fallow the instructions – the first step and a rare hopeful sign for us as trainers is a budding CJ actually checking the steps on the paper template as they go though the filming.

This “stupid individualism” is a block on many parts of building an alternative.

Some background

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_fetishism

Published Date 10/17/14 1:24 PM

Was looking at this site/project http://occupydemocracy.org.uk here is a reaction:

The tools we use for activism are dominated by top-down vertical thinking – the horizontal tools are left at the bottom of the tool box when we reach for a digital front for our grassroots campaigning. Our organising mirrors this right-wing reality – most activism is organised by invisible/opaque affinity groups. The words (wind) are often hippy peace and love or dusty revolution – the reality is far blunter, just open your eyes and look, the isn’t much of an alternative. This obvious realization is surprising, as we actually have the most open and radical time to move in/ to create real alternatives. The tool box for horizontalism is overflowing with tools, the organizing process are a bit more complex.

Published Date 9/30/14 8:47 PM

You need a panel with at least 14W to charge a tablet, the are a lot of them out there, but, they get VERY mixed reviews. I have only used larger or smaller panels so can’t vouch for any of these so please do some research before buying.

Here are a sample that fit the speck – click on the image for the ebay link for each

The is no guaranty that a naked USB power lead out of a solar panel will charge your device, to increase the chance of this working you need to buy a USB battery with pass-through. This is just an example, check the speck carefully very few USB battery’s do pass-through charging

This setup would work fine for a large smart phone or any USB powered device. Feel free to ask questions in the comments and feedback real life experience here please.

Published Date 9/28/14 2:31 PM

UPDATE

It seems this phone has issues with the adapter cable, so hold on any purchase for the moment.

UPDATE2

We couldent get the moto G to work with the adapter cable, we trayed every way for a few weeks. So tryed the nexus 5 that had simuler issues but finaly worked useing a 3ed party camera app.

For a cheap first citizen journalism phone/camera I would recommend the 2014 version of the Moto G

Then you need Audio Technica PRO24

And finerly a mic adapter to plug them togather

As technology keeps updating, I haven’t tested these just based on reviews, please message me with your direct experience.

You could try something like this to stabilise the mobile as they are small and light so and hard to hold steady.  You will have to reach and buy this yourself, report back if you find a good one.

Published Date 9/25/14 11:39 AM

DRAFT

Journalists generally don’t understand what journalism is especially amongst the trainee and starting journalists.

For many enthusiastic youngsters it is heroic individualism finding and telling the story and of course this is part of journalism but it’s a just a part. What they often miss is that news is a flow as Dave Weiner says news is a river and the stories the journalism produce are the water that fills this river.

Why do I say this? If we think of news as individual items, isolated stories, one-off events then we miss the very power media plays in influencing and shape society. If we think of news as a day in day out flow of information through our society then we realise how powerful it is at shaping us. Just as a River given time will carve its way through the largest mountain, news over the years stories and world-views carves and shapes our societies – and thus creates the very young and enthusiastic fledgling journalist this short blog post is about.

The power in journalism is in shaping and directing the flow of the rivers, as am stressing here the water that fills them is only a part of the story. The fledgling journalist’s fixation on the water and ignorance of the impotents of the rivers is part of the failure of contemporary per to per journalism and the strength of traditional media.

In traditional journalism you have the binding of wages and hierarchy to hold the river of news to an agenda. In contemporary journalism in the Internet age we have cooperation and aggregation to build our rivers of news. The challenge we have today is getting young and aspiring journalist to realise this and not to be seduced into the money and hierarchy of traditional media. But rather build their own independent media where they can truly have a voice and create rivers of news which both are sustainable and truthful and shape society in a more open idealistic and sustainable way.

Published Date 9/18/14 8:39 PM

The last Newsreal produced by http://www.undercurrents.org

‘An antidote to everything that’s wrong with mainstream television news’
George Monbiot

‘ sizzling with cheeky radicalism
It’s radical, it’s not for profit, and it’s damned good’
New Internationalist

Undercurrents News Network

A compilation of cutting edge animations, documentaries, comedy, subverts and music videos from the best radical producers from around the globe.
The best of the grassroots film makers handpicked for you by Undercurrents.

Wild Horses of Newbury
An inspiring tale of how two horses put their bodies in front of the chainsaws during the disastrous roadbuilding scheme.
Produced by Mark Carroll and Undercurrents.

When the Smoke Clearz
From the Guerrilla News Network crew in USA – a music video highlighting the dark forces behind hip hop. 3 mins

The Meatrix
Welcome to the real world of intensive animal farming.
A spoof on the Matrix blockbuster series, it’s fast becoming a cult across the web.By Flash animators free range graphics.
3.5 mins

Hercubush
A BangZoomTV spoof remix of the 60s Hercules series 4mins
The lengths one man will go to for a well-oiled torso!

Whose News?
Fed up of news spin? Undercurrents presents the funny unspun truth behind the peacemovement, women’s empowerment, protest shopping and bald policemen.
Includes an interview with Oscar-winning actor Martin Sheen about anti-war activism.15 mins

Consumption
“Keep on buying so much I don’t need…”
A rapid-paced music explosion from underground music maestro Toby Slater.3 mins

Occupation
EnMasse Films present a stunning ‘reality’ documentary about how Harvard students defeated the world’s oldest corporation and gained a living wage for low-paid workers
30 mins

Read My Lips
Bush and Blair – that special relationship uncovered in a hilarious musical send up.
Watch as Tony sings into George’s eyes – guaranteed to break the ice at any screening! 2.5 mins

Woomera Breakout
Ska TV’s incredible story of how hundreds of activists broke down the fences to release Iraqi and Afghanistani refugees from Australia’s worst asylum seeker detention centre. 7 minsplus contributions from:

Mark Thomas (activist comedian)

Ben Affleck (Academy Award winning actor)

Martin Sheen (award winning actor from Apocalyse Now)

a former MI5 secret agent
and
Tony Benn former MP

Published Date 9/6/14 8:23 PM

Am working out how to put in an upgraded battery bank for my boat in the space left by removing the air cylinders. (I also need the weight for ballast)

Am looking at installing 2 or 3 of these in the space opened up under my floor (need to be low hight)

Then running 5m of this cable black and red through the centre section of the boat (it is 7.2 long over all)

Connecting it to the battery’s with these

Then putting junction boxes at both ends and feeder lines off to plugs, lighting ect.

Then running the solar charging cable to the battery’s.

(Can use existing one, but need new charge controller soon)

Adding a second alternator in place of the water pump to bulk charge this battery bank.

(need alternator and mounting bracket)

UPDATE

Bought 2x 250amh banner battery’s doing installation under the floor (making the battery box now)

This is the first part of the order I put in:

Thank you for placing an order with us for the following items: 
 

		1	Product code: P01038  Part Number: MFB1-1 “Mega & Midi Fuse Power Distribution Box”  Price: £20.87
		1	Product code: P01023  Part Number: CM35R “Extra Flexible Tinned Copper PVC Battery Cable – 35mm² 240A”  Colour: Red,  Length: By the metre  Price: £7.49
		1	Product code: P01024  Part Number: CM35B “Extra Flexible Tinned Copper PVC Battery Cable – 35mm² 240A”  Colour: Black,  Length: By the metre  Price: £7.38
		6	Product code: P00125  Part Number: CTT35/08 “Copper Tube Terminals – 35mm² Max. Cable”  Stud Hole Dia: 8mm  Price: £0.69
		1	Product code: P01067  Part Number: HRN1002 “Universal 12V Low Tone Disc Horn – 105dB”  Price: £7.39
		1	Product code: P00616  Part Number: BIS1014 “Marine Battery Isolator Switch – 2 Positions”  Price: £19.78
		2	Product code: P00513  Part Number: MD30 “Midi Link Fuses”  Current Rating: 30A  Price: £1.95
		1	Product code: P00527  Part Number: MF200 “Mega Link Fuses”  Current Rating: 200A  Price: £3.48
		2	Product code: P00609  Part Number: BT461P “Positive Battery Terminal Clamp – Vertical M8 Stud & Nut”  Price: £2.69
		2	Product code: P00610  Part Number: BT461N “Negative Battery Terminal Clamp – Vertical M8 Stud & Nut”  Price: £2.69