Team
Executive Director - Marcin Jakubowski PhD
opensourceecology@gmail.com
A Polish-American who is starting a new civilization -- from scratch -- in the Midwestern US. Marcin came to the U.S. from Poland as a child. He graduated with honors from Princeton and earned his PhD in fusion physics from the University of Wisconsin. Frustrated with the lack of relevance to pressing world issues in his education, he founded Open Source Ecology in 2003 in order to make closed-loop manufacturing a reality. He began development on the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) (see his 2011 TED Talk), an open source DIY tool set of 50 different industrial machines necessary to create a small civilization with modern comforts.
His work has recently been recognized in his acceptance as a 2012 TED Senior Fellow, a 2012 Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow, and his TED Talk was named the top 6th in the Huffington Post Best of TED 2011. His goal is to create the open source economy - an economy that optimizes both production and distribution - while providing environmental regeneration and social justice. To this end, Marcin is currently building a team of global collaborators and on-site builders for his land-based facility - to take this from concept to reality. He believes that the open source economy is a prerequisite to autonomy that allows people to pursue mastery - consistent with higher purpose.
Yoonseo Kang
In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem or Pythagoras' theorem is a relation in Euclidean geometry among the three sides of a right triangle (right-angled triangle). In terms of areas, it states: In any right triangle, the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares whose sides are the two legs (the two sides that meet at a right angle). The theorem can be written as an equation relating the lengths of the sides a, b and c, often called the Pythagorean equation:[1]
where c represents the length of the hypotenuse, and a and b represent the lengths of the other two sides. The Pythagorean theorem is named after the Greek mathematician Pythagoras, who by tradition is credited with its discovery and proof,[2][3] although it is often argued that knowledge of the theorem predates him. There is evidence that Babylonian mathematicians understood the formula, although there is little surviving evidence that they used it in a mathematical framework.[4][5] The theorem has numerous proofs, possibly the most of any mathematical theorem. These are very diverse, including both geometric proofs and algebraic proofs, with some dating back thousands of years. The theorem can be generalized in various ways, including higher-dimensional spaces, to spaces that are not Euclidean, to objects that are not right triangles, and indeed, to objects that are not triangles at all, but n-dimensional solids. The Pythagorean theorem has attracted interest outside mathematics as a symbol of mathematical abstruseness, mystique, or intellectual power; popular references in literature, plays, musicals, songs, stamps and cartoons abound.
Production Director - Marshall Hilton P.E.
marshall.hilton@gmail.com
Marshall is a Mechanical Engineer, bike mechanic and metal fabricator originally from St. Louis, Missouri and recently from San Francisco, California. He has a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering and a Masters of Architecture from the University of Kansas. He holds a professional's Engineer's license in California. He has worked for Arup in San Francisco for 4 years. He has been a bike mechanics instructor at the Bike Kitchen in San Francisco for the last 3 years.
Marshall's passion is creating transformative technologies which have a regenerative relationship with the earth while living in compassionate community. The principals of permiculture are his inspiration
Marshall is an avid bicyclist and in 2011 bicycled from San Francisco, CA to Oaxaca, Mexico with his sister.
Agriculture Director - Gabrielle LeBlanc
feathersandmoss@gmail.com
Gabrielle (Gabi) has been on-site at Factor e Farm since June, 2012. Gabi hails from California, where she grew up and went to school for animal science, with an emphasis on livestock and dairy. During and after school she worked at various community gardens, ranches, and farms. Her life's passion is healing the earth through land stewardship and responsible food production. She is an expert wiki changer, yet is unaware that we're onto her.
Gabi is at Factor e Farm to create a template for subsistent agriculture; developing and maintaining an ecosystem that produces sufficient food, fiber, medicine, and fuel for the Global Village. Towards this end, here's what she's done so far:
- Gotten a cow on-site for off-grid dairy production
- Begun a rabbit dynasty for off-grid meat
- Developed garden space
- Begun soil amendment in the orchard to increase yields
- Designed a site map for future development of agriculture and human habitation
- Developed ways to use LifeTrac for agriculture
- Retrofitting attachments to make the mower, rake, and baler usable for baling hay
- Designing and fabricating subsoil blades for keyline plowing
- Planning for the future of subsistent agricultural development
- Perrenial planting
- Hedgelines and edible fencelines
- Propagation of useful native plants
- Self-funding business model to sustain Gabi's living on-site
- Waterworks and developed irrigation
Further reading:
- User Bio
- Gabi's log
- FeF Agriculture Resources
- On-Site Garden Plan
- Neosubsistent Agriculture Model
- Gabi's Youtube Channel
Executive Assistant - Parker Bonnell
parkerbonnell@gmail.com
7-DAY FORECAST This Afternoon Sunny, with a high near 89. North wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 67. Light and variable wind. Labor Day Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Heat index values as high as 99. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the morning. Monday Night A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Tuesday Partly sunny, with a high near 90. South southeast wind 3 to 7 mph. Tuesday Night A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Wednesday Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Wednesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 59. Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 82. Thursday Night A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Friday A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 78. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Friday Night A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Saturday Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74.
Video Communications Director - Tristan Copley Smith
trizcs@gmail.com
Talents: juggling, videography, fly prevention
It is easy and natural for you to accept responsibilities, to lead a rather ordered life, and to apply caution in your financial and business dealings. You rarely jump to conclusions or take uneducated risks. You have a certain amount of patience and enough self-discipline to slowly but surely achieve what you set out to do. Although somewhat undemonstrative, you are generally loyal and responsible people to those you care about. You take your time in most endeavors and generally use a step-by-step approach to most projects--but you steadily reach your goals. You are naturally trustworthy, and you don't have much patience for those who don't show respect for others, who take foolish risks, and who lead disorganized lives.
Volunteer - Aidan Williamson
aidan.d.williamson@gmail.com
In an effort to put some unique spin on these, I’ve done many things to them over the years: I’ve browned the butter, replaced half the white sugar with brown or replaced some of the flour with cocoa powder. I’ve added pinches of cinnamon and toasted walnuts and chocolate chips. All of these things are good. None of them are needed. If you promise not to fuss, you could be eating these in under an hour. I’m not even going to pretend you’re still reading, knowing that.
Updated to note: If you only have semi- or bittersweet chocolate (60 to 72 percent), I created a version of these brownies with that last year, the darker half of this duo. But, the chocolate intensity is definitely dialed down. However, the sugar level is also adjusted to accomodate for the sweeter chocolate.
Makes 1 8×8 pan of brownies which you can cut into 16 2-inch squares (shown above), 25 smaller squares, or 32 2×1-inch bites, which is what I usually do.
3 ounces (85 grams) unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped 1 stick (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, plus extra for pan 1 1/3 cups (265 grams) granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt (about 2 grams) 2/3 cup (85 grams) all-purpose flour
Heat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment, extending it up two sides, or foil. Butter the parchment or foil or spray it with a nonstick cooking spray.
In a medium heatproof bowl over gently simmering water, melt chocolate and butter together until only a couple unmelted bits remain. Off the heat, stir until smooth and fully melted. You can also do this in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each. Whisk in sugar, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla and salt. Stir in flour with a spoon or flexible spatula and scrape batter into prepared pan, spread until even. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out batter-free.
Volunteer - Graham Robertson
In 2008, Graham left school at 15 to be able to pursue his interests. After a year of researching and mulling ideas, he set out to connect with others who were working in permaculture design, and heard about OSE by word of mouth among interest groups in Dallas.
After two years of working with a natural builder in Texas and apprenticing on farms, Graham decided learning about fabrication of GVCS was his primary goal for 2012. He plans to take this knowledge back to Texas to replicate GVCS machines for sale and use in a small market garden endeavor.
His past research and experience lies in design of buildings and food systems; he hopes to find ways to integrate community design with GVCS tech.
He initially planned to build Microtrac prototype II before 2013, but has realized the shortage of hands at FeF and the abundance of other priorities, so his work on Microtrac design is on hiatus. He plans to resume work if/when FeF infrastructure is sufficient and a self-funding business model is in place for the project. If the right people and opportunities come together in Texas, he hopes to open a machine shop for developing and selling GVCS machines.
Graham's current projects:
Site Survey and Planning
Construction
Water Infrastructure
Microtractor Research and Development Scrum board
CEB Production Scrum board
grobertson29@gmail.com