The excellent Afrigadget blog has a post up today about a man named Peter Kahugu, in Banana Hill, Kenya (near Nairobi), who makes a living using his bicycle to sharpen knives for his neighbors:

AfriGadget reporter Afromusing and I had an opportunity to interview Peter who has modified his bicycle with a belt, a set of tensioning pulleys and a grinding stone to make it a knife-sharpening machine. By kicking the bike up onto its stand and engaging a gearing system, he is able to use “leg-horsepower” to drive a grinding wheel and sharpen knives while “on the move”.

Peter has been at this for 2 years now and he makes about Kshs 500 ( app. 10 US$) a day by riding his mobile workshop from client to client sharpening all their knives as he goes. The grinding stone he uses has lasted an astounding 2 years and he has had to replace his drive belt a couple of times but that is as simple as cutting up a long strip of rubber from an old car or bicycle tire inner tube.

Link, with some awesome video.

Reader comment: Mauro says,

Xeni, when I was growing up in Brazil, that's exactly how you would get your knives and scissors sharpened... the guy on a bicycle like that would ride around through your neighborhood every now and then, blowing on a kind of whistle so people would know he was coming, the housewives would get their cutlery out and go to the front of the house to flag him down as he passed by.

This profession has pretty much disappeared nowadays, though, as far as I know. It's kinda sad, I think, in a nostalgic way.

Discovery Gerdes says,

I live and work in Buenos Aires. Every week or so, the man with the knife sharpening bicycle makes his pass on my street. Similar to Mauro's description, my sharpener blows on a blue plastic pan flute as he goes down the street. He consistently blows the same tune as he approaches, I imagine it's his signature tune. If I work from home one day and get lucky, perhaps I'll hear him, run out with my knives, and get the full experience.

There are a lot of reasons I love living here, but the fact that things like this still exist is one of them.

Thanks for the blog.

Fernando says,

The same technology is used in Mexico, these guys are called "afiladores" which means sharpeners.

They would ride around neighbourhoods on their bikes, making a peculiar and easily recognizable whistle with some sort of flute. Any housekeeper who would have cutting tools in need of sharpening would come out and ask to have them sharpened for a low price.

On a silly note, there are other ways of sharpening your tools, like these guys on the SUV demonstrate: video link.

Richard says,

There's a fellow named Chuck that lives at the end of Zion Road in Gambier, OH. He's crazy about bikes... loves building recumbent chop-jobs, including a tandem recumbent for him and his wife. Anyway, I went over to his place one day to see about getting a spoke replaced, and I saw this most peculiar contraption... the bike powered belt sander... a stationary recumbent bike with that powers a sander at arms-reach. He uses the sander to take broken pieces of mirror and fashion them into rear-view mirrors to clip on bike helmets, among other things. A lot of people around here say that he invented the clip-on mirror. I choose to take that statement at face value.

Kate says,

I'm 40 and have lived all my life in Dublin, Ireland. When I was a very young girl I remember an old man coming round to offer the exact same knife sharpening service with the same bicycle contraption. I distinctly remember bringing him out a glass of water because my Mam asked me too. It was a hot afternoon. Unfortunately, I also remember that he didn't do a very good job - something I only found out much later in life.

Soumyadip says,

Similar bicycle-bound knife sharpeners are quite common in Indian cities and villages. Such devices serve a dual purpose as it is both the equipment as well as a mode of transportation. There are variations of it in different regions of the country. In the hilly regions where cycling is not possible, the contraption is modified so that it can be easily carried on the head or shoulders.

Max says,

In Australia we have our own knife sharpener... (well, some time ago, the actual 'trailer' is now in our national museum). It's the Saw doctor's wagon. Some pics and info here: Link. From memory it's about 30ft long and was pulled by a ute (Australian pickup truck).

In the flesh it's quite amazing, with different options for saws, knifes, kitchen blades, machetes, sissors, really anything with a blade. If anyone is in Canberra it's worth the visit.

Sailesh Ganesh says,

I have seen the same things in Mumbai (Bombay), India, the city where I grew up. These things existed as recently as three years ago, but I have been in the US ever since and I dont know if those guys are still around. These guys often sell their owns knives that have been sharpened on the bicycle. I have used those knives and while the blade is somewhat flexible and can be bent by hand, the edge is pretty sharp, and it is very effective in cutting vegetables.

Avi Solomon says,

Bollywood has the best paean to these knifey heroes in Jaya Bhaduri's knife-sharpener cameo in the 1973 hit 'Zanjeer.' Video Link.

- soyuz bags
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- chocochochouse
- floppy disk shoulder bag
- file folder messenger bag

Web Zen Home and Archives, Store (Thanks Frank!)

We, ah, (self-important clearing of throat) blogged that "Pentagon gay bomb" thing over two years ago -- so when the meme reappeared recently around the blogosphere, I swore to abstain. But this post from Noah Shachtman over at Wired's "Danger Room" finally broke me down:

Military technology has inspired some of history's greatest films: Firefox, Stealth, Crimson Tide... the list is practically endless.  But never, to the best of my knowledge, has a gay porn house dared to plat in this arena, strived to go head to head with these timeless classics.  Friends, I can now report that this imbalance has been rectified:

Following the controversial political parody of Gaytanamo, released to huge critical acclaim earlier this year, New York'€™s most filthy-fun gay film studio Dark Alley Media today announced plans to kick the US Government while it'€™s down.

Gay Bomb will take us into the future and the year 2012. George the Second has refused to step down as leader of the €œfree world,€ and the nations of Europe have banded together to fight the new American military dictatorship.

Desperate to fend off its attackers, the US launches the experimental gay bomb, designed to make the enemy forces drop their guns and turn fag.

But the winds of fate blow in a different direction, and soon America is brought to its knees.

Link

Some of the most interesting books in the world are being published by Feral House and Process Books. These independent publishing houses are run by Adam Parfrey and Jodi Wille in Los Angeles, and they have unique knack for discovering previously hidden worlds filled with interesting characters and amazing stories. Jode and Adam are insanely curious about forgotten, covered-up, and whitewashed history, and their books are full of mind blowing surprises.

They've just released a bunch of wonderful new titles. Here's a rundown of some of my favorites:

Jim Goad’s Gigantic Book of Sex, by Jim Goad

The author of the notorious ‘zine ANSWER Me!, Shit Magnet (Feral House), and the best-selling Redneck Manifesto (Simon & Schuster) lampoons every imaginable aspect of human sexuality in 224 hilarious, illustrated, full-color, R-rated pages.

Poop Culture: How America Is Shaped by Its Grossest National Product, by Dave Praeger

Is “The Origin of Feces” a Darwinian concern? Perhaps not, but it is the title to the preface of this tongue-in-cheek and unexpectedly revealing exploration of human behavior by the webmaster behind the popular PoopReport.com.

Mexican Pulp Art, from the Collections of Bobbette Axelrod and Ted Frankel

The lurid cover art of Mexican pulp novels is a pop culture revelation. Never before seen in an English or even Spanish-language collection are the often surreal and psychedelic images of extraterrestrials, robots, dinosaurs, dastardly killers, Zorro, Santo, and many other icons from stories involving suspense, mystery, romance and the supernatural.

Top Secret Tourism: Your Travel Guide to Germ Warfare Laboratories, Clandestine Aircraft Bases, and Other Places in the United States You’re Not Supposed to Know About, by Harry Helms

Here is the unseen America of government facilities and installations protected by a wall of secrecy, deception, and misinformation. It includes huge, isolated areas (some larger than the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island), along with innocuous office buildings located in the middle of major cities. This “other America” has an enormous impact on your life, but you probably have little idea of its extent, scope, and power.

American Hair Metal, by Steven Blush

There was a time -- not so long ago -- when pomp and spandex dominated MTV and pop radio playlists. American Hair Metal celebrates this orgy of flamboyance, androgyny and animal magnetism, of big-haired alpha males and the beautiful women who surrounded them. Rare photographs of the biggest bands and unsung heroes surround revealing quotes about the sex, drugs and Rock & Roll style of ‘80s American hair metal.

Guitar Army: Rock and Revolution with The MC5 and the White Panther Party, by John Sinclair

Guitar Army is the incendiary book that proclaimed “Rock and Roll is a Weapon of Cultural Revolution.” This 35th anniversary edition of Guitar Army includes two dozen previously unpublished period photographs, recent writings from John Sinclair, and an introduction from Michael Simmons. A bonus CD contains rare recordings of MC5 and other Detroit-area revolutionary bands, Allen Ginsberg, Black Panther Bobby Seale on the White Panthers, and original White Panther Party meetings.

And here a couple of upcoming books from Process and Feral House that look interesting:

The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, YaHoWha 13, and The Source Family, by Isis Aquarian and Electricity Aquarian

It was 1972, time of the cult-occult-commune explosion. By day, the Source Family served organic cuisine to John Lennon, Julie Christy, Frank Zappa and others at the famed Source restaurant. By night, in a mansion in Hollywood Hills, they explored the cosmos through the channeled wisdom of their charismatic leader, Father Yod. Father was an outlandish figure who had 14 “spiritual wives,” drove a Rolls-Royce, and fronted the rock band Ya Ho Wa 13, now considered by collectors to be one of the most singular psychedelic bands of all time.

Here are some photos of Father Yod and his commune.

The Secret King: The Myth and Reality of Nazi Occultism, by Stephen E. Flowers and Michael Moyniha

The Secret King is the first book to explode many myths surrounding the popular idea of Nazi occultism, while presenting the actual esoteric rituals used by Heinrich Himmler’s SS under the influence of rune magician Karl-Maria Wiligut, the “Secret King of Germany.”

David Pescovitz and I are going to visit with Adam and Jodi soon for an on-location podcast.

Jordan says:

Security guards in a Silver Springs business district are enforcing a "no photography" policy, under the false claim that the street in question is private property. The Peterson Company, which manages the buildings on this DC-area street, claims the right to protect their brand. Not to be dissuaded, photographers have contacted NowPublic contributor Bill Adler (he of sippy-cup fame) and formed a Flickr group to post photos of the area in defiance of the ban, and a protest is being scheduled by area photographers. this is the latest in the ongoing trend of private guards enforcing frivolous or nonexistent laws in the name of "security".

Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Aussie mall defends its photons from terrorists
• No taking pix of San Fran building from the sidewalk?
• Photography student's odd run-in with Homeland Security
• Spy museum bans photography

Video demonstration of a brilliant and elegant wooden adding machine that uses marbles. Link

This is a cool video technique that uses time-delay to make bodies warp and twist. Link (Thanks, Fizzgig!)

Reader comment:

Joseph says:

That technique is called slit scan. It was popular in the 60's and 70's. I was inspired to google slit scanning and came up with this: someone de-slit scanned the 2001 images. This is the artwork (he infers) that was used in the movie. Kinda neat

Will says

The technique used in this case is called Time Displacement which is a cool After Effects effect that uses colors and grayscale gradients to play different parts of a video timeline in a single frame.

Perry Hoberman, Associate Research Professor, Interactive Media Division, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California says:

Slit scan is a cool technique, but this is NOT slit scan.

Neither was it invented by Adobe; in fact it predates the original (COSA) After Effects by a good five years.

Normally it's hard to track down the exact provenance of a technique, but in this case there is absolutely no ambiguity.

It was invented by the brilliant filmmaker Zbignew Rybczynski in an experimental film called The Fourth Dimension in 1988.

I highly recommend his three DVD collections; The Fourth Dimension is contained on DVD No 2 (Steps). DVD No 1 (Media), which contains work from 1972 to 1982, is absolutely mind-blowing. Jam-packed with ideas that were so far ahead of their time that, well, some of them still are. Required viewing for anyone involved in digital/nonlinear/database/etc cinema. Link

Farhad Manjoo says:

I just posted an item in Salon about a crazy Chicago Alderman who wants to ban a new radar detector that alerts drivers to red-light cameras. He's afraid that if people can learn about upcoming cameras, they will -- you know -- stop at the red lights. And if people stop at the lights, Chicago will lose all the fine money. That's really his reason. He wants people to run through red lights so that the city doesn't lose money.

Link

Greg Bear, author of one of my favorite science fiction novels, Blood Music, was interviewed on The Daily Show about his new book, Quantico.

A BB reader says, "The book is about domestic bioterrorism. The plot arose when the Department of Homeland Security about Bear and others to speak about the future of crime. Good interview." Link