In Maryland (where I built the shed) building codes stipulate that the maximum square-footage of a building you can erect on your property without a permit is 120 sq ft. So, I made this structure 6′x20′ and the roof is made conveniently of whole 2×4s bird mouthed (notched to sit on the crossbars) and with the ends angled with a mitre saw. The front and side walls are just made with crossbars and verticals of 2×4s.

I have now cut a tarp that is roughly 4′x22′ to stretch across the exposed front of the shed. It is secured with hooks and tarp bungees. I have also bought a heavy-duty clear tarp for the roof which hangs over the back and is secured with hooks and bungees as well. There are three tarps in the back (one for each bay) that are secured with tarp bungees. This makes for a highly versatile structure that’s easy to open up and load, but then closes off securely for winter, still leaving enough ventilation for the wood to breathe.

The dehydrator has helped us tremendously. Our stove burns hotter, we use a lot less wood, and we did not even need to clean our chimney after a long winter of heating with wood!

Plans for the Solar Wood Dehydrator

With no actual training in business, I have been thinking a lot about “transferable skills” in my first few days at RIG. The concept is not as popular in my home country of America as it is here in the UK, and I’ve known many to dismiss the notion of transferable skills as a wishy-washy theory that has no validity in actual practice. But after less than a week at RIG, I find myself performing tasks that I have spent years training to execute swiftly and cleanly. Thank goodness I’m a medievalist.

First and perhaps most obvious is the skill of research. Knowing what questions to ask can be as important as the desired information itself. Being familiar with both the methodologies and tools of research, as well as frameworks for organizing and structuring information, data, and even thought saves time, energy, and therefore also money. Tracing the manuscript origins of a West Saxon copy of an Old English poem with an Anglian original requires a remarkably similar process to determining the potential marketing direction of a burgeoning startup. I’ve heard reported that Joseph Strayer, a prominent medieval historian who worked for the CIA, claimed that medievalists made excellent operatives because they were accustomed to making informed decisions on the basis of limited evidence. I see his point.

Most striking to me, however, is the importance of language. This includes nuanced ability to craft the English language, the ability to analyse someone else’s language, and the ability to speak other languages. When impressions count and arguments need to be made forcefully and quickly, language must be clear, clean, and to the point in order to have the desired effect. Understanding the subtleties of language allows one to perceive metamessages—whether consciously or unconsciously created—in the language of another party; this skill can be critical for assessing the tone, interest, or desires of a client, customer, or partner.

The importance of knowing other languages also cannot be undervalued. On the research front, knowledge of multiple languages allows one to gauge more quickly and accurately cultural values and sentiments held in other countries. Will this product find a market in Germany? What are South American newspapers reporting about this technology and its impact? These are hard questions to answer without knowing languages. Even more important is the ability to cross over into another’s culture via language; by eliminating this barrier, one eliminates many hurdles on the way to successful business. In my own experience, America is such a diverse country that no matter from where someone actually comes, I think of him or her as “American” so long as he or she speaks fluent American English. The fluency of language eliminates disconnects and makes it easy for me to feel “at home.” The same is true in developing relationships in non-English-speaking countries.

I’ve always held the notion of transferable skills in high regard, but I did not expect to be using so much of my academic training right from the start. From my limited perspective, there are few backgrounds I could see as more useful for business than one involving detailed study of language and literature, and I am thankful for my training as a medievalist. “What will you do with medieval studies?” It seems quite logical to respond, “Start a business, then help develop hi-tech startups, of course!”

Also posted on Rapid Innovation Group’s Blog.

This year, I’ve refined the system of using the stove to be cleaner and more efficient. Two trashcans on the front porch hold twigs and sticks for kindling, and a four-wheel cart is the go-between for wood between the porch and the shed. I cut a piece of tarp in a t-shape, folded the flaps down, and taped the seams to create a box-shaped tarp with an open bottom—the perfect cover for the cart. So, I can load up the cart at the shed, bring it to the porch and—instead of taking the wood out and stacking it on the porch—just cover the cart with this custom made awesomeness.

The super dry wood burns hot and cleanly. Once it catches fully, you’d never know from outside there was a fire going in the house. But even so, some soot and creosote collects on the inside of the glass door every day. This is mostly because I like to put the damper completely closed and get the most out of the wood. A lot of it comes off easily with water, but some of it sticks and makes an unsightly brown barrier between the observer and the beautiful glowing fire.

You can get glass cleaner for stove doors, but it’s a chemical and kind of a pain to use, so I try to just use a damp rag in the morning before starting the next fire (always drying the glass thoroughly before actually starting the fire). But this morning, something just clicked for me and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before. I was using a damp paper towel and I thought, “some grittiness would get this off really quickly.” Indeed, the store bought cleaner feels really gritty. And then it struck me. I dipped the damp towel in some of the white, powdery ash in the stove and then went back to cleaning the glass. The creosote came off instantly.

Ash used to be household cleaning powder, used to polish silverware and used to make soap. It naturally contains lye, and can be a powerful cleaning agent. It also provides a very fine abrasiveness that can be used to polish hard materials like metal or glass. Why I hadn’t thought of using ash before, I don’t know. Maybe I’m just stupid. But I’m glad to have found this solution to a minor, but annoying, problem. A damp rag with a bit of white ash will clean a glass stove door beautifully.

Assisted Tuck Planche Push Ups. Quite a mouthful, but the exercise is simple and difficult. Kneel on the ground and lean forward until your forehead is just above the floor; place your hands beside your knees. Then push up. If you can’t push your entire body weight up and keep your knees tucked into your chest, then just leave a foot or toe on the ground to assist. Try to put as little weight on the foot as possible.

This is very heavy on the arms and shoulders, but surprisingly tough for the core even when assisted with the foot. The nice thing is that as you fail, you can put more and more weight on the foot and really take yourself further. I’m finding it a great transition exercise between pseudo-planche push ups and holds, like the tuck planche.

For extra special bonus, try the exercise with ankle weights.

The transformations that I’m putting myself through will take time and are painful, but it’s a pretty simple one-to-one correspondence: train, and see the results. The interesting thing is how staggered progress feels. I’ll reach a plateau and then stay there for a while, no matter how hard I’m pushing. Then all of a sudden, it will break and I’ll jump up to a new plateau. I can feel that unassisted tuck planche push ups and even press up handstands are just around the corner. Very exciting.

Many people keep saying to me that it would be amazing if Linguisticator were used in schools and universities. I agree, it would be amazing. I wish I had had Linguisticator in middle school. But the very fact that it is so effective is the reason it will not quickly be adopted.

An example will illustrate this best. Take Bobby, a 14-year-old freshman in high school. During the summer before starting high school, Bobby takes the Linguisticator course to learn Spanish. He’s got a summer job as part of a landscaping crew and wants to be able to understand and speak with the two El Salvadorans he’s working with every day. Bobby progresses quickly through the Linguisticator course and starts applying it to learning Spanish. By the time he starts high school Spanish, he’s learned all the pronouns, all interrogatives, all the conjunctions, and a significant number of prepositions. He’s mapped out the verbal system of the language and is practicing it every day using medieval memory techniques. During work in the landscaping crew, he’s expanding his vocabulary (particularly for tools and curse words) and he’s working to surround himself as much both externally and internally with the language.

Bobby is bored in Spanish class at the start of the year, but doesn’t mind because it’s so simple. He easily aces all his tests and already knows the material when it’s introduced. But after a while, as Bobby continues to practice Spanish outside of school, he feels more and more that Spanish class is a waste of time. He could be doing something more advanced or even something different with his time.

By the end of his first year of high school, Bobby is reading adventure novels in Spanish, watching TV and movies in Spanish, and still working on weekends with the El Salvadorans who have become good friends. His teacher notes his ability and suggests to move him into senior-level Spanish next year. Bobby’s not too thrilled at the idea, but he agrees. Once there, he finds his friends from his old Spanish class resent him, and the seniors are embarrassed that a sophomore has joined their ranks, so they give Bobby the cold shoulder, particularly when he outperforms them. He goes to his teacher to discuss the situation and they eventually create an independent study for him, in which he reads Spanish books and writes essays.

Go Bobby! You might say. But not if you’re a school administrator. Bobby is a problem. The last thing you want is a kid who doesn’t fit in your system, particularly on the upper end. There’s plenty of recourse for kids with lower ability levels, but with kids who excel in a discipline, they have nowhere to go. It is the horrible contradiction of education in the US: schools are designed to educate, yet real excellence that exceeds the system is frowned upon as a problem. “You need to slow down and take your time.” Pardon my French, but that’s bullshit, and an attitude that is destroying this country.

Linguisticator works very well. It pulls no punches, but if you follow it, you will become fluent. Because of its effectiveness, were it adopted in schools, it would upset the long-established systems that are already in place. And if you’re an administrator trying to make ends meet for your institution, the last thing you want is something upsetting the system, even if it means better results for your students. I think that’s messed up, but that’s the way it is.

Just last night, I was invited to come speak to some students at my undergraduate alma mater, UMBC. They were asking me about Linguisticator and how it worked, and were excited about its pragmatism; all of them were complaining about having taken language courses in high school and even at UMBC, where they spent months before even getting to basics of structure. One language professor who attended made no attempt to mask his bitterness.

Until there is a fundamental shift in attitude in education that places excellence above system parameters, Linguisticator will not be popular with school administrators and curriculum developers, even if it is popular among students and even teachers. Professionals in the military and international business who need to learn languages—as well as other people with strong desire to learn—will continue to be the ones for whom Linguisticator possesses the greatest appeal, both for individual and institutional memberships.

It was as though I tricked myself mentally into needing more force, then taking away the resistance of the weights. It really got me thinking, though, about all the things you could do with this kind of training. If in 20 minutes, I could perform a feat of strength I hadn’t been able to do before, what if I did such training every day for years on end?

This is the theory that underlies a lot of martial arts training, and I love the concept. The concept is a lot easier to love than the execution, which is often painful and—worse—tedious. The boredom of continuing what seems like a futile exercise everyday for years is the biggest hurdle to overcome. But the results might just be enough to help with the motivation. I’m definitely going to continue using ankle weights to train for planches, particularly after my most recent success.

But a lot of the results might be difficult to see, or ones that you can experience, but not describe. When I trained to stand for 2 hours everyday, there were so many changes and transformations that happened both physically and mentally, it was impossible to describe what was going on. At the end of the day, if you want to know how it works, you just have to do it yourself. I look forward to seeing how training will progress for L-Seats and planches for me now.

But by continuing to push and press and squeeze in this uncomfortable manner, I can see some improvements after just a couple of weeks. The biggest thing is being able to hold a tuck planche with my fingers facing forward. When I started two weeks ago, I could not lift off the ground. With my fingers pointed backwards, it was no problem, but forwards was impossible. It was partly strength, partly balance, and now both are coming into shape.

Raising myself an inch off the ground is a relatively small bit of success, but it is a tear in the demoralizing sheet of hopelessness that enshrouds the whole process. If I can go an inch, then I can go two. If two, then four. If four, then eight. And so on, and so on…

It shows that it is only a matter of time and continuing to be disciplined and systematic in applying the process.

This week, instead of doing pseudo planche push ups, we’ve switched to pyramids of handstand push ups. Last night I did my two pyramids, totaling 68 handstand push ups. I’d like to take the numbers up, but it’s a decent start. This morning, I can feel the strain of the exercises, but I’m not at all sore.

I’ve also found it very important to stretch a lot for these exercises. Being flexible is really important for the L-Seats, but feeling loose and limber is really important for everything else. I’m really looking forward to today’s stretching.

Action – Superb choreography on both individual and group scales. The generals have exquisite fight sequences, performing seemingly impossible feats of speed and strength, yet the film has very little of the so-called “wire-fu” or high flying martial arts of many wuxia films. It stays pretty grounded, yet badass. And the group choreography is incredible. Battle formations and changes are executed on such a massive scale (with actual people) that it’s not hard to see why the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics was so spectacular.

Badassitude – Not only was the film packed with superb action, it was packed with amazing characters. Several generals each possess the right balance of fearlessness, incredible fighting skill, and adeptness at other arts and practices. You see the generals teaching children to read, making medicine, and playing music. And then there is the strategy. Grossly outnumbered, the heroes of the film must use brilliant tactics and strategies to overcome nearly certain defeat. Nor is there just one cool strategy: the movie is an entire chess game, one move countering another and another.

The Girl – Actually two girls. One is the sister of the Lord of the South, who proves her worth in battle by executing special missions and spying extensively on the enemy. Eager and playful, her light-spiritedness contrasts with the serious concern of the generals who have already seen too much war. At the end, she is tempered by the massive slaughter of the final epic battle.

The other is the wife of Zhou Yu, the leader of the southern army who is opposing the evil prime minister Ciao Ciao. Beautiful, kind, and deeply wise, she ends up single-handedly turning the tide of battle through a bold strategic move. A master of the tea ceremony, she effectively wins the war with a cup of tea. So. Bad. Ass.

Based on The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, “Red Cliff” presents the perfect blend of everything you’d want in a movie, and does it on an amazingly epic and often shockingly realistic scale. The classical Chinese novel is full of great leaders, strategists, and all their brilliant maneuvers that dupe or outwit often overwhelming large opponent forces. I’ve already seen it twice in the last few days and am like to see it again. I already knew many of the stories in the movie, but knowing what was going to happen did not spoil things in the least; it only added to the pleasure of watching how the events were going to unfold.

The movie is long—two and half hours—but this is only about half of the original Chinese release. I need to see if I can get my hands on the original uncut version.