Core77

A little late to the party on this one, but John Thackara's got a wonderful piece up on Design Observer, jumping off from his refusal to take part in a swanky trip to discuss "design and development" and instead to stay home and do more good "in his own backyard." Well, not literally, of course, but here's some of the sweet spots:

I've never forgotten the time when Jogi Panghaal, one of Doors of Perception's co-founders, took me to a sleepy hamlet an hour from Bangalore. We encountered a group of villagers standing around a wide patch of ragi (a grain that is used to make dark bread) spread thinly over the road in a neat circle. Six chickens appeared to be eating up the grain, while the villagers watched and chatted. Why, I asked, don't you feed the grain in a bowl? The villagers laughed, and then explained that the chickens are eating tiny maggots, smaller than our eyes can see, which need to be removed from the grain before it can be stored. It's a smart, low-tech solution to a practical issue faced by farmers everywhere. But when I recently Googled "clean bugs from grain," the first link was to the "Opico Model 595 Quiet Fan Batch Dryer With Sky-Vac Grain Cleaner." I can't help but find this to be a clunker solution than hens in the street.

Read the whole piece here.