The Primitive Technology Channel

Building a tiled roof hut

As this video opens, there's nothing said. Just a guy, naked except for pair of shorts covering his midsection. He's putting the finishing touches on, admiring his just completed work on, of all things, a stone axe. Now when was the last time anyone on this planet made one of those? But then he picks up this awesome looking tool and gets to work with it.

He moves a little further into the forest and begins to fell some small trees. Next we follow him carrying a bunch of them out to a clearing he's made, pounding one into the ground at each of the 4 corners of what will be a hut, a safe, snug, and secure little house in the forest. He notches out mortices with a stone chisel and applies fire to their insides where the matching tenon ends of other logs he's hewn will fit snugly. We see him stripping fibrous lengths of rope-like cordage from other forest plants and slowly the shape of a house emerges in those woods as the pieces he's created from what's there in that forest, and from only what's there, takes form. But there's more...


We see our guy get his hands filthy as he digs with pointed sticks in the clay and soil that he mixes with water to produce a mud with which he carefully builds his own single-serve sized brick kiln. He gets a roaring, high heat fire going in this. Next we see him fashion from some woody plant strips a squarish mold into which he will push more of his mud mixture to produce flat slabs.  When he has a sufficient supply of these, he fires them in his kiln and, voila: roofing tiles. He probably produces a hundred or so. How much time has this guy expended in all of this we can't know, but it must be days and days. This is a labor intensive process. There are so many tiles involved and so many batches of mud and repeated firings involved that he might have been at this for a couple of weeks. Finally, we see him fashion a different sort of tile. Not the flat kind that hugs the sloping planes of the roof, but an arched, V-shaped variety that fits over the ridgepole at the apex of the roof . And these we watch him form and fire and put in place like the others. By the way, this roof, with all of those marvelous imperfections in the various tiles, but still bringing to fruition a design ideal... is fantastic!


And then we see our guy lay a floor from flat stones and bake that in place too (yeah, he's ingeniously built another kiln-like trench under the floor, itself. One that is fed with fuel at one end outside the house and that also allows smoke to escape at the other. And this, no doubt, will heat his home in the winter-time without the need to flood his indoor haven with smoke from a fireplace as the mud and stone chimny is outside.  And then he finishes up by building up the walls of his cabin with stones and mud mortar. Finally, we see him fit into place a door he's crafted from strips of sapling and then collect tree sap to serve as fuel for the little lamp he's made to further illuminate the interior. So much work, so many hours, but such a nifty little house... so well made!

So what have I just watched? Well, if it weren't for the fact that the shorts our guy has worn throughout the long process of building his new home, clearly were purchased at The GAP, or JC Penny's or Macy's... and the fact that there were no digital video cameras way back when people built things this way, we might have been witnessing, first hand, a scene in one of the forests of Europe, back before the advent of metal, but still, in a time when people really knew quite a bit about other forms of technology and used that knowledge well. It might have been, say, 20,000 years ago.


My reaction? Well, obviously impressed that this guy has either researched all this or figured it out other ways, but it is so impressive to watch him build what appears to be a serviceable little shelter - definitely something that could keep him warm and dry and safe from wild beasts and that would lend a sense of security against vampires or other boogie men that might be roaming his imagination. No home depot, no ACE Hardware stores, no craftsmen tools or This Old House re-runs to watch on YouTube to show us DIYers how it's done. But further, on watching this video my reaction surprised me, because I felt so proud to be a human being. Yeah, we are one hell of a species - when we're being good, that is. How clever, how analytical, how creative... such good observations, hypotheses, and trial and error conclusions underlie all of this knowledge and know how. This guy is not exaggerating by calling this Primitive Technology. It is very much technology, sophisticated technology, at that. This is a body of sophisticated technology and how cool that he has resurrected it and demonstrated it for us. Like so many watching this... "I had no idea!"


When I watched this video the 2nd time, a couple of months after the first, I mine was view # 5,689,421. And small wonder, because creating this video, alone, is quite a feat and a true educational service. In fact, I think any kid who graduates without having seen a couple of this guy's videos has missed out on a very rich, very valuable educational experience. Bravo, guy!

Below is what the creator of these videos gave as the "About" information for his channel. There's really nothing more to say beyond. I simply recommend that you read this, look at the video, and then figure out what you want to do next! By the way (hint) this guy's channel offers dozens and dozens of similar videos that cover a broad range of the skills that our species developed and lived by.

Primitive Technology

893,860 subscribers • 36,712,193 views
Joined May 1, 2015

Making primitive huts and tools from scratch using only natural materials in the wild. I also have this blog:

https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com/

FAQ

Q.Where is this?

A. This is in Far North Queensland Australia.

Q.Do you live in the wild?

 A.I don't live in the wild but just go into the bush to make these projects.
 Also I camp out here occasionally.

Q. How did you learn all this?

 A. Researching books and internet plus trial and error. I'm not indigenous
 and have no army training.

Q. What about dangerous animals in Australia?

A. The only really dangerous ones in my area are snakes. Care must be
 taken when walking about and lifting things from the ground.

Q. For the mud huts what stops the rain washing the mud walls away?

A. The roof.

Q. Why don't you talk in the videos?

A. When I watch how to videos I fast forward past the talking part to see
 the action part. So I leave it out of my videos in favor of pure demonstration.

Is It Garbage, or a Dream from God?

Hey, inspiration is unpredictable. It's where you find it. Here's a guy; no doubt, dirt poor - lives in a town that hasn't seen prosperity in over a century - a garbage strewn, desperate, hardscrabble backwater of a place on the Eastern coast of Africa. But he's got a bit of education, a sharp mind, and a whole lot of imagination and spirit. And he's right, what floats on to the beach from the outside world isn't just garbage, isn't only an eyesore and health hazard' it's a potential a raw material. Beauty and raw materials are in the eye of the beholder and my man, Mansoor, here sees positive floatation, the makings of a hybrid houseboat and vehicle with which to explore life's opportunities in the flotsam that's accumulated thigh deep on the beach. Is there an important lesson to be learned here? Something to do with recycling, maybe? Something to do with sky's the limit Do It Yourself ism? Something to do with the unsinkable spirit of humanity seeing a way out of the cesspool it's turned its world into?

He calls his project a "Dream from God." I call it human creativity, an inspired reaction to negative conditions that might hold others down, but not he, a dreamer and hard working inventor, the shaper of his own universe and destiny. He's got an idea and a dream and enough freedom and undeterred will to pursue them. And that makes him richer, I think, than many a verifiably wealthy man.

All right, all right, this craft looks more like the collection of trash from which it's made than Donald Trump's yacht. So what? I'm with Mansoor, this thing is beautiful in its own way. Is it 'see worthy'? Certainly some of it is, the ways he's joined old tires and hundreds of discarded plastic bottles into a hull and cabin, the way the light passes through the bottles from which the deck and cockpit are constructed, the way the thing floats and promises never to sink... all beautiful.

We see a few seconds of him in this video 'sailing' Century, the name he's given his craft because the plastic we humans manufacture and throw away soon after will not break down for so long, nor will it sink. There he goes... out on the water, moving his ship with crudely made paddles that he's also crafted from garbage. Ah, but to be moving under one's own power, to have a place to sleep and dream, a place built from nothing with one's own hands; there's nothing, nothing like it.

Here comes Captain, Mansoor clad in unwashed rags, paddling his dignified, unsinkable dream of a boat made from garbage that washed up on the Kenyan shore. Hats off!

"So your biggest question may be 'How do I reach out to YouTubers?' and this is an extremely hard thing, even for myself, because even if somebody has, you know, maybe, 50,000 subscribers, and I have more than them, when I like reach out to them, they don't know that... they just see me being me saying 'Hey, you're really cool, we should talk more... You get these messages a lot, the more you grow on YouTube you get them even more. So how do you make yourself standout from other people, you know, that just want to be your friend?.."

How To Start A Successful Youtube Channel 

You know,  if I wasn't old enough to be this chick's grandfather I would be like so totally in love. And I promise, I was not looking for a video of a pretty young thing who talks too fast with the boundless enthusiasm of youth. On the contrary, I was simply looking for a video with good advice about how to make money on YouTube. But there she was and... why not? And after all, this video  had 3,708,334 other viewers before me and so I figured that it must be the real thing; must be what I was looking for;  right?

This kid sure takes her time getting down to actionable info, though, not that I'm complaining. I could watch her endlessly bumping around in her conversation trying to find a clear path to her point, but at 1 minute and 42 seconds in to this video she shifts gears and states "...now that I reached over 100,000 subscribers in... less than a year... I did it with like 3 days to spare on my one year mark on Youtube... (I know) I'm talking way too much, but..."

And then Eva is neck deep into sharing what I guess is her idea of solid advice: Make YouTube friends, and collab with other YouTubers (I guess "collab" means collaborate).  And this makes sense to me. But then she advises... "So your biggest question may be 'How do I reach out to YouTubers?' and this is an extremely hard thing, even for myself, because even if somebody has, you know, maybe, 50,000 subscribers, and I have more than them, when I like reach out to them, they don't know that... they just see me being me saying 'Hey, you're really cool, we should talk more... You get these messages a lot, the more you grow on YouTube you get them even more. So how do you make yourself stand out from other people, you know, that just want to be your friend?.."

And that's it for me! Sorry Eva... pretty, perky, charming, adorable, all of that is great, but at 4 minutes and 5 seconds I just had to bail! No doubt there is some valuable advice packed into the following 12 minutes and 35 seconds of this video somewhere, but somehow I just didn't feel like it was my time to like take advantage of it. My loss, no doubt... And no, I didn't "Like" or "Share" this video, nor did I subscribe to Eva's channel. It's on to the next video, I guess...

How do I make money on YouTube?

OK, THIS one has got to be the real stuff! This video is posted by something called the YouTube Creator Academy  and it has all the earmarks of being put up by YouTube itself. Now your talking! But wait a minute, this one has pulled 452,942 views in a year and that little cutie, Eva, above, more than triple that! Hmmmm.... This one has a blog associated with it, too, all lucid, with good English, etc. etc. https://creatoracademy.withgoogle.com/page/education  

This is actually pretty interesting because a very major percentage of videos on YouTube are posted as part of an effort to make money, if not to make money exclusively. And of  course, on the other side of things there are those that are posted simply because creating and posting them is an interesting thing to do, for whatever the reason and whatever the subject the videos address. This one, from YouTube itself establishes that area of crossover in which the passionate enthusiast for something, creates and posts videos to share that passion... or so the narrative goes.

Here are a few worthwhile quotes from Andy Stack, who introduces himself as a "Product Partner Manager at YouTube." Andy explains "For many of our creators, turning their passion into a profit is an important part of the YouTube platform" (hmmm.... so that's what YouTube  is; it's a platform :) Andy, for instance, explains in his best feigned spontaneous and sincere aside "I've been a drummer for as long as I can remember.... I might decide that I want to turn my passion for drumming into a profitable enterprise" (Andy is now the only persona I know, English professors included, who use the word 'enterprise')...  "One way I could do this would be to create videos that would appeal to others who share my passion... I could upload those videos to YouTube and then just wait for the dollars to roll in!" Sounds good, Andy. Then he puts the old pin in my balloon, saying "Well, as you may know, this doesn't 'automagically' happen." Say it isn't so, Andy! but next, throws me a crumb of hope promising that "We'll work together to demystify 'monetization' and help you drum up some cash." I feel better already, and not just because I think I've just met my vocabulary hero, but because I've got a feeling that straight dope about this YouTube money thing is forthcoming. And in fact, in the remarkably short time of the minute and 30 seconds or so for this little gem of a video to deliver its message, some really good conceptual foundation is laid down. As Andy goes on to explain, there are 4 basic categories of play who figure into the YouTube for cash equation. There are the creators (might be me someday :), the viewers, advertisers, and YouTube itself. OK, that's simple enough. The rest is simply a matter of keeping the interests of each of these key players in mind. 

A quick visit to the Channel Page for the  YouTube Creator Academy
reveals the following info given in its "About" section: "Learn tips from savvy creators as they showcase their secrets and best practices. Subscribe to see a new video each Tuesday" On this page also is, you guessed it, a video titled Learn the Secrets of YouTube creators with the Creators Academy. And in this one we get to see, through little 5 second-ish snippets of one successful creator after another, the 'cut of their jib' of some of the more appealing, well spoken, and capable of communicating their seriousness about their passion for creating and posting videos about their passion, YouTube creators. And by the way, there also are links here to... well, dozens and dozens and dozens of short videos in which these folks, er... share their tips about how to be successful with YouTube. But before I conclude that I've finally come across the "Search no further, Pilgrim, YouTube deliverance is at hand, entrance into the world of monetized YouTube success, I have to stop for a second and reflect on why Andy's video, with its ever so high status poster's tag "YouTube Creator Academy", and with all of its lucidity, good taste, better than average production values, and the kind of momentum that comes with being part of one of the world's greatest organizations (that would be YouTube and its parent company Google),  has been outviewed by almost 5 to one by little, giggly Eva's video on the same subject titled "How To Start A Successful Youtube Channel." Now why is that? Could it be because YouTube is so totally what it actually seems to be and tries to present itself as, an actual, killer example of how truly democratized media has changed our world forever, so much so that even YouTube, when it behaves like the kind of thing it replaced, can't compete with its own better self? I hope so!

まるです。 I am Maru

まるです。

I fed “What’s the appeal of cats? / Japanese” into the Google Translate online language translation resource and out came 猫の魅力は何ですか？OK, it felt good for a few seconds, but I'm not any closer to understanding why videos like this one are so popular in Japan.

Look, I like cats as much as the next guy. And even though my doctor assures me that I am as allergic to them as I am to dust mites and dogs, I won't hold that against them. I may not be motivated to cohabitate with a member of their tribe, but I do think they are beautiful, elegant, amusing, and fascinating.  And I appreciate their determination, too, to rid the planet of small rodents and song birds who stray into their space.

More importantly, I really don't see why so many people have found this video to be so watchable.  Never the less, when I see the kind of numbers this one has earned  I am impressed, very impressed. As of this writing “I am Maru” has garnered 21,754,744 views and the producer and poster of this masterpiece of feline Cinema Verite (someone by the name of mugumogu) has scored 518,341subscribers, which in the realm of YouTube is something akin to an Academy Award Guinness Book record. I personally doubt that footage of a nude Lady Gaga rolling around on the floor pretending to be a cat might have a hard time topping these stats. Well, that's obviously and inaccurate exaggeration, but you get my point; an awful lot of folks have invested their time in watching this video of the not too spectacular shenanigans of very attractive and charming, although not extraordinary house cat named Maru. 

In this video, first he plays with a stray button or a piece of candy that he finds on the floor and then he has a high old time pulling on some yarn. I get it, we are watching a C A T. And then, as if to provide some footage to allow the audience to rest and recover after all that excitement, mugumogu puts some white titling across the screen informing us that Maru, in the sequence that is about to follow,  is "a lazy bone, basically." And then we see Maru laying on his back and yawning. And then mugumogu informs us that Maru is a "mischievous boy" and we see him rummaging through a cat food storage canister on his own personal search and destroy mission. Next,  it's on to a cat nap in the bathroom sink. And we are shown a close up of Maru's face, then his feet, some typical silly cat behavior around the house, the getting of a belly rub, and on and on. Maru gets his little cat face temporarily stuck in a plastic cup and plays with a toy mouse (yawn!).


Hey, it's all very cute, but mugumogu never delivers. We never see Maru put together a winning portfolio of stocks, paint a masterpiece in the style of Botticelli, play the trombone, knit a doily, blow a glass vase or anything else that would prove that Maru really is a special cat, a one in a zillion cat. And then there's more toying with cat toys, more cat silliness, on and on... Ah, but 4 minutes and 21 seconds into this small mammal expose Maru steps it up a bit by taking flying belly slides into open ended cardboard boxes which he surfs across the polished hardwood floor. Granted, it would be more compelling if he pulled a rabbit out of hat or sang a few bars of the aria from Rigoletto, but after 4 minutes plus of playing with yarn and the like, I'll take it! 

I think that watching this video is an opportunity to do some sleuthing about Japanese culture and interests. Kind of like dropping in on another planet to take the measure of their civilization. What is it that they find so compelling here?  Yes, Maru is a most attractive little cat, clean too, I'm sure, but all we see in this video is this little guy doing typical cat things. This would never fly here in America. True, we have our own cat videos, dog videos too, but they only pull the sorts of numbers you'd expect from another pet owner's video about his own pet...

But I'm laughing at myself now because to back up the claim above, I went to the YouTube search engine and typed in "cat videos", and boy did I get a shock. I came across some others that I took to be American and that also have extraordinary numbers and I thought "Snagged!  Caught in the act of being a pompous know it all, again" but then I looked closer, and these high number cat videos are also Japanese. Don't believe me? Take a look at "Funny Cats - A Funny Cat Videos Compilation 2015" which shows today that it has scored 3,094,259 views and was posted by mihaifrancu. Or check out “Funny Cats Compilation [Most See] Funny Cat Videos Ever Part 1” which I think gives us a real clue to what the appeal of cat videos is to the Japanese, as the name of the producer and poster of this one is Forget Your Sadness.  And there must be a lot of sad Japanese who want to forget that emotion because this one has pulled a whopping  82,907,574 views as of today!

There are many, many other funny, happy cat videos to be found and enjoyed on YouTube! However, I remain unmoved. I am not now, nor will I ever be a hardcore fan of videos in the Funny Cats genre. I just don't get it. I'm far too set in my ways.

And just when I thought my cat fancier friends in Japan couldn't puzzle me any further, I came across a video titled "Tokyo's unusual 'cat petting cafes", actually a YouTube posted video of what originally (I guess) was a bit of broadcast news about life in Japan. It seems that the Japanese have a major dose of that basic human need: admiring, appreciating, and petting a little pussy cat. But this is a need that they have a hard time satisfying because they simply are too busy working themselves to death to own cats and they've been busy making their apartment buildings practical to the point of resident madness, by banning cats inside, anyway But the Japanese are clever and practical in other ways. There are now cafes in Tokyo and other cities, like Osaka, where for $4 for a drink and $12 for an hour of cat rental, you can sit and relax and enjoy the company of a feline. Actually, this sounds great to me. Certainly, far better than watching cat porn on YouTube at home. Who wants to snuggle up to an iPad with a cat video running on it? Instead you can hire the services of a feline prostitute who will swat its little claws at the string you dangle in front of its face as intimately as your own cat and who knows, may even indulge all of those secret cat fantasies you have deep down and do things your own cat would never even consider. 

But wait, the forces of darkness never rest. Tokyo's city leaders apparently have just passed a law that there will be no public access to cats for non cat owners outside of the hours of 8am to 8pm. So what next, after hours private human-cat love clubs?  

Tokyo's unusual 'cat petting cafes'