I was gently chided recently by Language Hat for not having posted for some 18 months. Commenting on an email I had sent him, he said : You ought to have a blog.”
A remarkable invention with immense humanitarian potential has led me into doing that, because I think the whole world – or at least my handful of Gentle Readers – should know about it. perhaps they can spread the word.
It is a very cheap, wind-powered, re-usable device to clear landmines by exploding them. Afghanistan alone is estimated to have 10 million concealed landmines.
A steel ball core with a GPS chip maps the safe path it creates.
It rolls on 150 bamboo stamen with cheap plastic springs and plates on them. When all are destroyed, the core remains and it is rebuilt simply with more bamboo and cheap plastic. It is designed for local people to be able to use and re-build.
Mine Kafon is “something which explodes” in the Dari language, according to Le Monde, where I saw it first. (Typically, because it has been selected for exhibition at New York’s Museum Of Modern Art, it was on a culture page…)
It is really worth a couple of minutes watching the inventor’s video and particularly the film below it, and reading his blog-notes at http://minekafon.blogspot.co.uk/
Dear Canehan, Thank you for sharing this. I had seen a picture not too long ago on facebook, I saw a pretty, “arty” object but I did not read about it at the time. This is a wonderful project. It is especially great that the designer is an Afghani who knows firsthand what the problem is and intends to return home to help.
I think it’s really a great idea. I like the idea of them blowing about in the wind. It reminds me of the 1960s tv series The Prisoner, the bubble thing that guarded the boundary of Portmeirion and ran up and down the beach.
I’ve got one criticism. The surface area that touches the ground is much smaller than the diameter of the globe. If the individual pieces were telescopic, if they compressed a little bit as they touched the ground, there would be a larger surface in contact with the ground. (Sorry, a drawing would be worth a thousand words here.)
What a wonderful object! I’m glad it stimulated you to reopen your blog.
AJP: Why not suggest it to the inventor, via his website ?
Great to see Canehan back!
I was thinking cylindrical would be better than spherical. But I’m concerned that when half or more of the plates are blown off, the broken bamboo wouldn’t be as effective and mines could be passed over unexploded?
Still, anything that clears landmines is a wonderful thing.
Thank you, Catanea. I’ll try to keep it going this time !
Welcome back! A worthy, wonderful post indeed!