Mikey Sklar



=Team Culturing Information=

last updated: 28. April, 2011

WHO are you?

 * Name - Mikey Sklar


 * Location (city, country) - Truth or Consequences, New Mexico USA

email: sklarm (at) screwdecaf (dot) cx phone: 917-756-6360 skype: mikeysklar
 * Contact Information (email, phone, Skype) -


 * Introductory Video - http://www.youtube.com/user/sklarm#p/u/34/Ubr_ARcasR0


 * Resume/CV - http://screwdecaf.cx/resume.html

WHY are you motivated to support/develop this work?
I am a back yard inventor that left NYC over five years ago to live a rural homesteader life. I have similar interests to open farmtech around food and home manufacturing. When I was in a cubicle I spent fifteen years as a UNIX admin supporting open source software for large companies. I am still a strong advocate for open hardware and regularly port microcontroller and circuit design applications to OS/X.
 * Do you endorse open source culture?

I'm looking for places to apply the skills I've acquired since I left my life in the cubicle. Since I've become a homesteader I've learned to identify edible and medicinal plants, maintain alternative vehicles such as WVO, biodiesel and electric, install PV solar systems for myself and neighbors, rain and grey water harvesting, extensive gardening, custom hardware fabrication, welding, and alternative building with ferrocement and papercrete. These skills were the hard way by doing everything kind of wrong at first. OSE seems like the right place to put them to use.
 * Why are you interested in collaborating with us?

GVCS empowers the individual and helps us destroy the false consumer world which we all grew up in. We make our own tools and we avoid enslavement. On top of that GVCS offers a model for localization and high efficiency which promises to reduce environment impact. Having a bunch of tools around for living is also a good plan in case of monetary collapse or oil prices going so high as to become unaffordable.
 * How do you think that the GVCS can address pressing world issues?

A request for a control system with specifications would be necessary (sensors, size, display, input, etc). That control system could be related to any GVCS project. I have a universal battery charger that I think will be valuable for the GVCS projects. Specifically around the universal power supply and calcium batteries.
 * What should happen so that you become more involved with the project?

A manager to limit the scope creep.
 * What are you missing in the project?

In the case of my universal battery charger I don't have enough data on it yet for improvements. It's too new.
 * What are your suggestions for improvement of the project?

WHAT
I've shared some designs for a capacitive based battery charger & desulfator with Marcin for the universal power supply. computer: os/x, linux (sysadmin) programming: C, perl, python building: ferrocement, papercrete automation: microcontroller, circuit design fabrication: have CNC + welding experience energy: 4 PV solar installs fuel: biodiesel, wvo vehicles: repaired and maintain two electric vehicles collection/processing/manufactoring education: teach electronics classes cad/eda: gEDA/gschem gEDA/pcb sketchup EMC2 battery recovery: three generations of battery chargers and desulfators, hundreds of repaired batteries
 * List all of your skills in these areas: Communications - Organizational - Computer Support - Finances - Design - Natural Building - Electronics - Automation - Metallurgy - Engineering - Fabrication - Agriculture - Energy - Architecture - Video/Graphics/Art - PR/Marketing - Education - Construction - Industry - CNC - Chemistry - Product Design - Other

Barely, just sharing ideas about a efficient and flexible battery charger & desulfator.
 * How have you already contributed to the project?

HOW can you help?''
Custom electronics - circuit design, microcontroller firmware
 * How are you interested in contributing to the work of GVCS development?

Yes, I can volunteer for projects I'm already working on. These would be custom electronics kits that empower homesteaders.
 * Can you volunteer to work with us, and if so, how many hours per week?

Yes, I am interested in getting paid by GVCS my normal consulting rate is $50 a hour. However, if it is a project I've already worked on I can provide support and make enhancements so it fits into GVCS without pay.
 * Are you interested in working with us for pay? If so, what services can you offer, and what is your hourly or per-project rate?

Yes, I'd be up for a dedicated project visit should my skills be required.
 * Are you interested in Dedicated Project Visit?

My community needs a hammer-mill badly so I'd be interested in purchasing equipment related to it.
 * Are you interested in purchasing equipment from us to help bootstrap development?

Sure.
 * Are you interested in bidding for consulting/design/prototyping work?

No. I'm broke with a garden.
 * Are you a True Fan? If not, why not?

I'm not really into full time work even for a cause as good as this. However, depending on what the work is I could do a month or two of full time.
 * Would you like to see yourself working with us on a full-time basis?

Yes. I probably own 10 of the GVCS items and there are about 5 more I'd like to have access to at a community level.
 * Are you interested in using the technologies that we are developing directly?

I have my own land, garden, orchards and workshops. I'm kind of established here. I want to see a open source community form and I would even leave all this join it, but not the first experimental years. My girlfriend and I always said that if burningman created a permanent city we would just move there.
 * ''Are you interested in being part of the world's first, open source, resilient community? The GVCS is the preparatory step for the OSE Village Experiment - a 2 year, immersion experiment (2013-2014) for testing whether a real, thriving, modern-day prototype community of 200 people can be built on 200 acres using local resources and open access to information? We are looking for approximately 200 people to fill a diverse array of roles, according to the Social Contract that is being developed. This may be the boldest social experiment on earth - a pioneering community whose goal is to extend the index of possibilities regarding harmonious existence of humans, ecology, and technology - as a beacon of light to benefit of all people on Earth.