I particularly like how he wire-wraps his own transformer. Actually, goes even further - builds his own 10 kVa wirewrapping machine, because the old one that his friend gave him as a present wasn't large enough.
I think it says something about the guy (and his friends) that his friends give him transformer wire-wrapping machines as presents.
I have nothing to add, except to say what a fantastic article!
It's so cool to see people working on things like this. In my eyes, this has a much great impact than another mobile-app-social-network-for-sharing-pictures, and is definitely something I'd like to get involved somehow at one point in my career.
We'll have to forgive the mainstream for being mainstream and following newness like digital/web/apps as shallow and even saddening as it can be.
I too hope to see small scale 'decentralized' human effort to enhance areas this way. Even in so-called 'developed' countries, there are rural regions falling out and people are still relying on the idea of a powerful state to take care of things whereas the reality is that the energy/desire is gone and companies don't care about small markets like these. Sooner or later people will realize that they're on their own. For the better.
When I visited Nicaragua 10+ years ago, I was impressed by Grupo Fenix, a mix of locals and visitors who build solar cookers and photovoltaic systems for rural communities. If you are interested in learning more or getting involved with this sort of thing, they have a volunteer program: http://www.grupofenix.org
Benjamin Linder seems to have been a genuinely nice guy working to put his skills at use to really move the needle, it's a real pity he was murdered for trying to do good.
wow, Spectrum is incredibly unfriendly to viewing in a full-width browser window. I still feel a bit nauseous from having 2/3 of the screen width filled with giant distractions that pulsate and move when I accidentally mouse over them.
