On the general topic of Third World technology, I’ve been meaning to mention this site Afrigadget on here for a while. If Ghetto Palms is an mp3 player or a pirate microstation, this thing is a 3-D fabricator of actual, factual ghettotech. Contains everything you need to know to build your own seaworthy craft out of recycled PET from plastic bottles and jellies sandals, a single-seater helicopter from the chassis of a VW bug or to convert cow-dung into usable fuel for your taxi-bike.
Yes there are some goofy-ass hats made from beer bottles on there too. And yes you could read it as a slightly condescending look at the quaint contraptions of African inventors—the kind of “oh shit!” meme that gets forwarded around the internet and then finally ends up on Tosh.O or Vice TV. OR you could read it as a very necessary survival manual for the 21st century.
If you’re taking shantytown engineering for a joke, you probably need to watch this documentary on the Coconut Revolution in the south pacific—a gang of Solomon Islanders who set off a war of independence from Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Mining Company that was out to fuck them for their natural resources. In a nutshell to break the blockade enforced by the Papuan army, they had to run their gunboats on fuel made out of coconut oil—and invented a new kind of bio-diesel in the process.
Not to give away the end or anything, but they won.
An example:
Yes there are some goofy-ass hats made from beer bottles on there too. And yes you could read it as a slightly condescending look at the quaint contraptions of African inventors—the kind of “oh shit!” meme that gets forwarded around the internet and then finally ends up on Tosh.O or Vice TV. OR you could read it as a very necessary survival manual for the 21st century.
If you’re taking shantytown engineering for a joke, you probably need to watch this documentary on the Coconut Revolution in the south pacific—a gang of Solomon Islanders who set off a war of independence from Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Mining Company that was out to fuck them for their natural resources. In a nutshell to break the blockade enforced by the Papuan army, they had to run their gunboats on fuel made out of coconut oil—and invented a new kind of bio-diesel in the process.
Not to give away the end or anything, but they won.
An example:
Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photography blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after 
![toto [photo via chelsea w]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxzqzbEIgH1qb0fx9o1_500.jpg)
![butters is going to stand directly in front of you and snap pictures for an hour straight because the perfect shot of dave longstreth isn’t going to take itself [photo via chelsea e]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxpq3i0pwV1qb0fx9o1_500.jpg)
![barney is more concerned with “dynamic range compression” and “the loudness wars” than the fact that he has shitty taste in music [photo via alison w]](http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxppz1Zfn31qb0fx9o1_500.jpg)
![margi tells people she does “graphic design” for a living, but in reality does “nothing” [photo via mark h]](http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxm67n3oge1qb0fx9o1_500.jpg)
