This piece unmasks the perpetrators, the enablers, and the silent observers of the unfolding horror in Gaza, while honoring those who stand for humanity.

The Monsters of Our Time

The ones who stood proud and killed in the name of the holocaust.

The ones who claimed to be victims of a holocaust, perpetrating another in the name of Judaism.

The ones who said there are no innocents in Gaza and who said they would raze Gaza to the ground and went ahead and did just that.

The one who said they would ethnically cleanse Gaza and occupy it forever. Netanyahu, Smotrich, Ben Gvir, Gallant and the list goes on and on.

The greatest monster of time, America, that enables, continues to support, the genociders and refuses to put an end to this genocide. The greatest crime of our era, another genocide. The Biden administration, the Trump administration, all pretending to care for the plight of the Palestinians, the greatest military might in the world today, unable, nay unwilling, to stop Israel.

If the people of America cannot change the will of their leaders, then your leaders do not serve you. They are your masters, and you are their slaves.

The monsters of our time are also those who enabled a genocide, the world’s first live-streamed genocide. The Western nations that stood by and claimed Israel has a right to defend itself, covering up the greater injustice of 1948, the Nakba.

The Cowards of Our Time.

The ones who stood by and watched and shed not a tear for the plight of the innocents, the martyrs.

The ones who worshipped the ground upon which the greatest monster of our time stood. The ones who paid tribute and tithes all the while babies, children and women continued to be slaughtered.

The Saudis, the Qataris, the Emiratis. Allah is all-seeing and all-knowing and Judgment will come from Him alone.

The Heroes of Our Time.

The ones who held up humanity and fight for truth and justice in the face of naked aggression.

The ones who fought for the soul of humanity to wrest it from the tyranny of evil and depravity. The ones who stood against all the odds against the monsters of our time. Those with the least to give gave the most for the cause of Palestine. Hamas, Yemen, Hezbollah, we salute you.

And for those who tried to use a broken system to bring the monsters of our time to justice, your efforts are commendable and yet the horror continues unabated. South Africa, Ireland, et al.

Paying for Results: A New Paradigm for DFY Gurus

It seems to me when you suffer from shiny object syndrome (SOS), as I have done over the years, the amount of money I’ve spent buying into this guru or that guru’s Done For You (DFY) system is incalculable.

I think there should be a system like what used to be in place in old China, when you were ill. In the old days the doctor only received payment when you got better. So if you didn’t get better or worse still if you died while under his care, he wouldn’t get paid. This seems to me to be a fairer system to be applied to all those guru offering all kinds of get rich quick or make money online or DFY systems.

Use the system for free and if and only if it works do you have to pay and I must admit I’d pay willingly if the system worked.

Pay for Results and not for Promises

Of course there’s always the argument that you have to have ‘skin in the game’ for it to have value for you or for you to take it seriously. To me this is just code for ‘pay me first’ and then you’re on your own, whether the system works or not.

Then there’s the argument that if you don’t pay upfront for something there will be freeloaders who take advantage of the system and don’t pay up if the system works and makes the user money. Personally I think people are basically honest and like to do good and if they get a system that works, more often than not, the user will be grateful and feel obliged to reciprocate. Its basic human nature.

It’s generally cited that a significant percentage of people who buy make money online courses don’t get the results they are hoping for mainly because they fail to act.

Lack of implementation is often cited as the reason for make money online systems failing. And that, my friends, is where the gurus make their money. Because we keep coming back for more like a moth drawn to the flame of the shiny object. Now here’s real paradigm shift:

Give Away 99% Free. Monetise the 1%

“When people pay for the last 1%, what they’re really buying is the organization, implementation, and community surrounding all your ideas.” — Nicolas Cole.

That’s my rant for the day.

Discover the Simple Secret to Sustainable Weight Loss

I remember, it was the 17th of January 2024 when I decided to make a change.

What led up to it was that the previous year I had been using a weight loss app, and following it’s instructions to letter. Weighing myself every morning: 86kg. Logging the calories of each meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Making sure I kept within the recommended calories in the app. I read all daily advice the app gave about eating habits, calorie dense foods, eating less processed foods etc. etc. and on and on it went.

After 3 months of this, I lost not a single kilo!

Still 86kg and the turning point came when I checked my body mass index (BMI) online on the 17th January 2024, exactly one week before my 60th birthday. My height is 170cm and my BMI came out at 29.8: overweight and borderline obese!

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t go on like this.

By coincidence I happened to watch a podcast on YouTube — Diary of a CEO interviewing Dr. Jason Fung the so-called Fasting Doctor. Then in the mysterious ways of the YouTube algorithm all kinds of videos on intermittent fasting started popping up on my feed.

By way of a bit of a backstory I found my way to Indonesia in 2013 and then I weighed a sinewy 70kg. In 2016 I got married to a lovely Indonesian lady with the cooking skills of a Indonesian wife which are out of this world in terms of delicious eat-till-you-burst food. And that’s when the slide towards obesity began.

Before arriving in Indonesia my lifestyle was basically coffee in the morning for breakfast. Lunch? never bothered to eat lunch. I just ate dinner. When I got to Indonesia and especially after I got married, there was food everyday and throughout the day and it was all spicy, delicious Sundanese cuisine.

Intermittent fasting seemed to fit in with my previous lifestyle. If only I could go back to how I used to live. And so on the 17th January 2024 I downloaded an intermittent fasting app to track my fasting. I started with the classic 16:8 fast which I found actually quite easy to stick to, so I upped the ante and tried the 20 hour fast with a 4 hour eating window and that actually suited me better. It was basically a one meal a day fast, drinking coffee in the morning and water throughout the day and a single meal in the evening.

After 4 months of intermittent fasting I’m proud to say I lost 5 kilos and I’m currently down to 81kg and counting. The challenge, I find, isn't so much feeling hungry and craving food, it’s fighting off the offers of food from my wife and assuaging her hurt feelings when I decline and insist plaintively: I’m really, really not hungry.

One of the great things I really like about intermittent fasting is I don’t have to count calories. I can eat what I want, however much I want within my eating window. Of course, it’s always a good idea to eat a healthy diet. I also notice that my stomach has shrunk so I am eating less anyway, and all this weight loss happened without any exercise! Imagine what will happen when I add exercise to the mix!

Creating Impact: How $20,000 Could Shape the Future of Construction

Dear Simon,

I recently watched your YouTube channel seeing how you transformed the life of Daisy funding her pastry shop with $50K. That got me thinking… I have had this dream of building affordable housing exclusively using Compressed Earth Bricks/Blocks (CEBs). Yes, houses made out of dirt!

My vision for this dream starts with a CEB press aptly named the “Liberator”, designed to liberate people from one of the biggest costs in our lives: The cost of owning your own home.

The Liberator CEB Press is an open source machine designed and prototyped by Open Source Ecology a non-profit organisation based in Maysville, Missouri, USA. My plan is to download the open source plans to build the CEB press. It will cost me about US$5,000 in materials and probably another $2K to get the parts cut out on a CNC machine and then welded together. An addition $2.5K is needed to build the portable power cube that will provide the hydraulic power to power the CEB press.

In the end I will have a machine capable of producing up to 10 blocks per minute or 5,000 blocks per day. The blocks are plain and measure 12 inches long by 6 inches wide by 4 inches high and are made up of 90 to 95% suitable soils and stabilised with 10 to 5% Portland cement to make them waterproof.

Once we begin making blocks the challenge will be marketing them as people will need to educated on the benefits of CEBs, in your words Simon, I’ll need to “sell the sizzle” and not the steak (or block in this case). The way I plan to do that is to use the blocks myself.

I am currently in Indonesia and my wife and I own a small plot of land which would be ideal to put up low cost apartments (or koskosan = Indonesian for rooms that are rented for a month, sometimes months, or even a year) for rent.

This would also showcase the CEBs in action: Displaying how they are used:

• 100% Natural Local Resource: Usually available at build site;
• Very low Carbon Footprint: Earth buildings use very little by way of manufactured or processed materials; the amount of energy consumed in construction is low therefore reducing the environmental impact;
• Great for indoor Climate: CEBs provide a better indoor climate and are more economical than walls made of natural stone, fired bricks or concrete;
• Climatic control: As a high mass material earth evens out temperature fluctuations by time-delayed releasing of absorbed solar energy thus providing a stable and comfortable internal temperature (passive solar heating);
• Moisture control: Earth has the great ability to absorb and release moisture from the indoor air thus stabilising humidity inside rooms and providing a healthy living environment (prevents mould);
• Noise control: Earth buildings have very low sound transmission levels;
• Fire resistance: Earth walls are non combustible providing a lower fire risk factor for the building;
• Detoxifying effect: Earth walls are completely breathable and have the ability to absorb toxins and smells from the indoor air;
• Affordable: Best for lower end of scale home owners and for property developers;
• Life cycle cost: Low maintenance and heating costs equate to a low lifetime cost for the building. As energy costs rise, energy efficient buildings will have a greater value;
• Zero Waste: Unstabilised earth is fully recyclable. Stabilised earth is also recyclable although requiring more energy to recycle than unstabilised earth;
• Beauty of Colours & Textures: Stabilised earth is very agreeable to work with and offers a huge potential for personal creativity and beauty.

Another lesson learned from your video Simon, is to ditch the business plan and to make use of a mind map instead.

The story doesn’t end in Indonesia. That is just the beginning. The next step is to take the Liberator to Africa, to my home country Botswana and set up shop there as well, bootstrapping our finance from operations in Indonesia and applying lessons learned from here to over there.

And so in the hopes of this letter reaching you Simon and hearing back from you, I’ll sign off here.

Best regards and yours sincerely,

Ken.

Inspiring Change and the Vision for Open Source Hardware

Introduction

In the vast expanse of human innovation, there are moments that stand out as beacons of possibility, illuminating paths toward a brighter, more sustainable future.

Imagine a world where the tools to build a civilisation from scratch are not confined to the patents of a select few, but instead are freely accessible to all who dare to dream and do. This is world envisioned by Marcin Jakubowski, a modern-day pioneer on a mission to revolutionise how we think about hardware and it’s role in shaping our collective destiny. I had the pleasure of meeting Marcin in July of 2021 on my Hero’s Journey.

It was there on a humble farm nestled in the rolling hills of the countryside in the heart of rural Missouri that Marcin embarked on a journey that would eventually lead him to the TED stage. Frustrated by the limitations of conventional farming equipment and disheartened by the lack of the truly effective low-cost tools that he needed to build a sustainable life and settlement, he set out to create just that, with the creation of the Global Village Construction set (GVCS).

Overview of Marcin’s TED Talk

In his TED Talk entitled: Civilization starter kit, Marcin dared to ask the question: “What if we could democratise technology and empower individuals to build their own tools, machines and even entire civilisations?”

Standing before the audience at TEDxKC, Marcin shared his vision for a Civilisation Starter Kit — a collection of the 50 essential machines necessary to build a self-sustaining community form scratch. His talk wasn’t just about hardware; it was about freedom. Freedom from dependency on centralised systems, freedom from the shackles of consumerism and a scarcity mindset and the freedom to chart our own course towards a more sustainable future.

Through his TED Talk, Marcin challenged us to re-imagine the way we interact with technology and the world around us. He urged us to embrace the principles of open source hardware — transparency, collaboration and accessibility — as catalysts for change. Open source hardware, unlike open source software, is perhaps 1000x harder to do, but he reminds that the power to shape our future lies not in the hands of a select few corporations, but in the collective efforts of those who dare to dream and do.

Open Source Hardware Principles

Marcin’s TED Talk not only introduced the concept of the Civilisation Starter Kit, but also emphasised the fundamental principles underlying open source hardware.

These principles serve as a guiding light for a movement that seeks to democratise technology and empower individuals to become makers rather than mere consumers.

Imagine a world where the blueprints for cutting edge technology are not locked away in corporate vaults, but instead, are freely accessible to anyone with an internet connection and a desire to build and innovate. This is the essence of open source hardware — a philosophy rooted in transparency, collaboration and openly shared knowledge.

At the heart of open source hardware lies a simple yet revolutionary idea: that innovation flourishes when ideas are allowed to flow freely and when barriers to collaboration are removed. By opening up the design process and inviting others to contribute, we not only harness the collective wisdom of the crowd but also foster a culture of innovation that knows no bounds.

Examples of open Source Hardware Projects

Consider for example, the story of the Prusa i3 3D printer, a shining beacon of open source ingenuity. Born out of a collaboration between Josef Průša and the RepRap community, this 3D printer has become a staple in workshops and maker spaces around the world. Its success is not just a testament to its technical prowess but also to the power of open source collaboration to drive innovation forward.

Another inspiring project is the FarmBot project, a robotic farming system that enables individuals to grow their own food with minimal effort and resources, after of course, the initial outlay. By open-sourcing the design and software for the FarmBot, the creators have empowered and global community of farmers and gardeners to revolutionise the way we grow food. From planting and watering to weeding and harvesting, the FarmBot automates the tedious tasks of traditional farming, freeing up time and resources for other meaningful pursuits.

Challenges and Opportunities

Despite the success of the RepRap 3D printer the open source hardware revolution has not yet come to pass. While the open source hardware movement holds immense promise for democratising technology and fostering innovation, the world has not taken up open source hardware fully. Why? Because unlike software, hardware is hard to replicate.

Another challenge is the issue of funding and financial sustainability. Unlike traditional business models that rely on proprietary technology and intellectual property rights, open source hardware projects often operate on shoestring budgets relying on the goodwill of volunteers and donations to keep the light on. This lack of financial stability can hinder growth and development of projects, limiting their ability to make a meaningful impact.

Amidst the challenges there are also countless opportunities to be seized. One of the greatest strengths of the open source hardware movement is its ability to harness the collective wisdom and creativity of a global community. By tapping into the collective expertise of designers, engineers and enthusiasts from around the world, open source hardware projects have the potential to drive innovation forward at an unprecedented pace.

Through collaboration and by forging partnerships with like-minded organisations and individuals, projects can pool resources, share knowledge, doing away with re-inventing the wheel over and over, and amplifying their impact.

Conclusion

Through Marcin Jakubowski’s vision for open source hardware, one thing becomes abundantly clear: the potential for positive change is limitless when we dare to dream, collaborate and innovate together.

In true visionary fashion Marcin has again taken the lead to pioneer a business model that will finance the open source hardware revolution. By prototyping and bringing to production level the Seed Eco-Home, an open source house that provides affordable housing to the masses and also has the potential to be turned into a lucrative business enterprise.

The Seed Eco-Home is a 1300 sqft 2 storey, 3 bed room, eco-friendly, energy-efficient, and affordable open source house. It will cost in the region of $190K. By comparison the median home sales price in the United States is $417,700 as of the fourth quarter of 2023.

Read about the SEH 4 case study I wrote about in an article entitled The Revolution Will Not Be Financed

Taking inspiration from Marcin’s bold vision and embarking on our own journeys of innovation and discovery, whether we are tinkering in our workshops, collaborating with like-minded people or advocating for change in our communities, each of us has a role to play in shaping the future of open source hardware.

Remember that the power to create a better world lies not in the hands of select few, but in the collective efforts of all those who dare to dream and most importantly do. Together let’s continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible and build a future that is truly open, collaborative and sustainable for generations to come.