You can do that with all the old cars. Most people don't bother maintaining their car regularly.. My friend has plenty of money :D he still bought a fucking LADA haha... :D he plans to run it for another 20 years... the engine and car is so basic, that anyone who is not a engineer can fix that car, if something happens... as someone who is a coder by trade.. the irony is that i hate cars wich have too much tech and electronics..... u cant even fix anything with new cars these days... ur engine is blocked rofl. what a dumb thing... People should protest against stupid laws and stuff, being legally able to fix your own things should be human right, not somekind of copyright issue with companies.... on a sidenote... fuck Tesla company and fuck elon musk
Facebook-level Economics debates aside, I think the most interesting takeaway from this video is how the Cuban people saw appliances as the sum of some parts, not a single entity like we do. Not too many people ever think "Well my toaster is busted, but there's a good spring mechanism I can use for another project", instead we just buy a new toaster and trash the old one without a second thought. Some of the stuff in this video is damn clever and it's all bred out of necessity. In some of the more well off countries we have a much more 'disposable' mindset and you end up with people who don't know how to fix the most mundane of problems because they have no comprehension on how it works.
well, said very well said 'merica is sadly a throwaway society and look at all the garages attics and rental storage here for all these gringo to keep their cheap chinese made junk for who knows what I have reused parts many times for various applications in the past I also am an engineer we think differently
Well its not that we want to throw stuff away, its more like we don't have the time to fix them. You come home from 40 hrs of work and your tired, you don't really feel like fixing that busted toaster, you have enough money to buy a new one.
WittyDroog I'm not sure what you're talking about. There's a whole phenomenon in America, where people re-purpose old broken stuff and sell it to the well-off for exorbitant amounts of money. For those that do "throw away" it's probably a mixture of the ignorance you described, and an opportunity cost issue.
WittyDroog it is common sense. People would never go out and work if it were up to them. But these geniuses created money and wealth in order to force people to go out and work. Necessity is the mother of everything. Shit if I had a million dollars, I wouldnt want to wake up in the morning and go to work.
Iam from poland and we grown with similar conditions. In the time of socialism all things were repaired or build your self. I have see this as advantage to born poor. As I can make most things my self
These are things I wish everyone knew, I love the inventiveness and artistry of it all. It must've been very hard during those times when people where stuck to figure it out. I'm inspired to Learn more about this✌🏼️💕
As a motor mechanic living in the UK restoring old American cars, I can identify the resourcefulness of your fellow countrymen and it impresses me immensely, I live in a throw away society that has lost its ability to basically FIX THINGS I love your slogan "technological disobedience" my next holiday abroad will be to CUBA.....please keep the videos coming
+Carlos Malave More like full of sheep, brainwashed by Castro, forced to scrounge and make do with what they can forage and cobble together. Taking motors from one thing and using it for another, or repurposing objects, is nothing new. Humans have been doing it for thousands of years.
800lb Gorilla Despite the things you mentioned; a country as poor as Cuba can provide free to very low cost healthcare and prescription drugs. Higher education is also free and Cuba has many talented and professional people in diverse fields. That the government is for what it is --- that's another story. Despite their shortcomings on technology ,money and other resources; this has produced ingenuity and creativeness.
+Carlos Malave Every nation produces ingenuity and creativity. Healthcare and education in Cuba is a joke, it is social engineering and propaganda. Most Cubans live in poverty with little to no opportunity beyond their village. To claim this as victory when I can get a video-checkup, fly anywhere in the world for less than a week's salary, will likely live until I'm 80 or beyond, and have relative freedom to information and enjoy the greatest freedoms (speech and firearms ownership), is simply absurd.
+Brian McDowell but still does not make it up to live a in decent home unless you are a memember of the comunist party... you gotta be really tuff to endure this shit.
I got a shock when he showed the book. My grandmother has that book! Too bad she's dead now. She called it her "medicine book". Her house was a junkyard, but strangely every piece of junk worked. Huh.... Interesting.
Lupine Dream , what is the name of the book? Do you know what year it was published in Cuba? I would love to get my hands on a copy. Also, could you tell me what is the name translated in English?
I always love to see examples of necessity being the mother of invention, and this is no exception. I've seen much of this DIY philosophy in particular for African health care clinics. One man developed temporary eyeglasses by attaching a pair of silicone oil-filled syringes to lenses made of clear, soft plastic convex bladders, fitted to glasses frames. The needed prescription was achieved by pushing in or drawing out the clear oil until the patient could focus, then the bladders were locked and the liquid-lenses glasses worn until solid acrylic lenses could be ground. The humble dollar store has helped in developing these innovations. Nurses and doctors have searched the stores for practically anything that could be modified and MacGyvered, making better face shields against body fluid spatters, improved IV rigs, and all manner of fixes. Little wonder I love life hacks and things of that nature that turn castoffs into handicrafts and helpful household goods. I've grown up with them since I could first work a pair of safety scissors.
This is about the Special Period in 1991-2. when The Soviet Union stopped exporting oil and the US jumped to the occasion and imposed a full blockade, hoping to cause a famine. Well, they survived.
Creativity, ingenuity and adaptability knows no bounds. Congratulations, the usefuleness of the object is the ultimate reward for the user regardless of financial gain and prestige.
It has nothing to do with being smart, Cuba is under a 50 year embargo, which means they are cut off from the rest of the main stream world. They don’t get access to the same technology and supplies we do. The mother of invention is necessity.
In the real world, yes. In consumerism, it is no longer necessity, but want that powers invention. You could argue that it is not as strong as necessity, but want, greed, and hunger for power are some major factors to it all.
i have a great example right next door, haiti and dominican republic where they have free market yet their quality of life is way bellow Cuban. people live longer, helthier and get better education then dominican republic with tons less crime heck, infant mortality rate is way better in cuba then in United States!
I'm from Spain but I normally watch this kind of things in English. However, from time to time... it's cool to see someone speak the same language and have it dubbed in English so that they can also understand our content. Cool vid, buen trabajo!
The common language of WANTING TO BE FREE - not dictated by the FALSE promise of STINKING socialism and communism - which are THE FASCISTS bastion ! Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness! VIVA LA LIBERTAD! Yo hablo varios idiomas , tambien...
In case of small-diameter batteries (CR) even we "capitalists" do not recharge them (most cases, though rechargable CR batteries exists ) We simply buy them charged and recycle when depleted. Also in case of CR they`re mostly lithium, so there is (?) low risk of fuck-up when recharging non-R CR baterry. This way i give You full understanding on the matter. Greets.
A green thing is a resistor VS (ВС) very old from 60's www.155la3.ru/vs.htm The white one is a metal-paper condensator MBM (МБМ) asenergi.com/catalog/kondensatory/mbm.html and the black thing is a diode KD-105 (КД-105) rudatasheet.ru/diodes/kd105/ Nothing special, its a widespread radio components.
There's a similar movement happening in India, known is Jigad, or the Art of Frugality. It seems that under the right conditions, a community will make what it wants from what little it has. It's a good example of human ingenuity, I think, and that level of thinking outside of the box is something more of us should probably live by, especially if we want to be less wasteful. It's just a shame that we let conditions get to the point of desperation before we even try to think that way.
Dude you flipped the whole meaning by a small spelling mistake,its jughaad,not jihad,direct translation of jihad is holy war,jughaad is just solving problems with ingenuity
elm3x21 Not replaced fucktard, we use what we can we just dont "replace them" we have a reason. Americans, if a headlight on their doesnt work they freak out and go to the mechanics and play 3000 bucks, we salvage working parts and we trade em too, u want a door? U give me grill. Like dat. Same goes for everything else, all other thurd world countries are dieing from poverty but we know how to think and fix our stuff. We come up with crazy ideas that have a 50/50 chance of working but we have nothing to lose since we didnt lose money. Cuba is also on the brink of modernization because of the increase in relations with america and the Castros are about to die as well. So, Mr.Elm stfu and review your facts
non of the old "classic" cars that are in cuba resemble anything close to what would be called "sweet" or "amazingly maintained". They have been kit bashed and hacked together to keep them running. The vast majority of the "classics" remaining are kept running using old salvaged farm equipment and bodged together homemade parts from found pieces of old state owned abandoned factories. Non of those cars have any historical or collector value because non of them come close to what they were when they left the OEM. Its sad really, the only perceived value they may have would be from people that consider the "folk art" pieces.
Jess Hull go to cuba, tell me those cars arent maintained and amazing. Do it. I dare you. You cant judge i country by a video u watch on youtube. Im not saying every single one is amazing but the same goes for america, there plenty of great cars here in america but most have problems and are ugly. Ok? Ok.
Obviously the Cuban people should be commended for their innovation in the face of oppression. However I would contend that this is not Cuban nature, but human nature. All throughout history are people making do with what little they have, and finding clever and innovative uses for the limited resources they have.
He never said or insinuated it was solely a Cuban attribute. He was simply observing and preserving the culture he lived in. And he's a big enough boy to deduce that people all over the world in similar circumstances would do the same.
Regardless of anything else, the creativity and ingenuity of these things is really awesome and something we should encourage and reward in all cultures, whether it's born of necessity or curiosity.
A capacitive dropper battery charger without any electric shock protection, overcharge/overheat protection and voltage regulation shouldn't be appreciated. It's death trap, especially for children, and not even a new invention.
Enlightened. Hardly. It was meant as a joke to my poor diy skills. But you must be one of those guys who takes everything literally. You must get triggered by absolutely everything.
i guess it's hopeful thinking suggesting one would translate the book into English. (of all languages to choose from) but the internet has so much information, i was shocked when my serches yielded no results, i expected to at least find the book online somewhere so that i could translate it i can not believe that couldnt find it archived somewhere.
Whooly Manguy I speak Spanish fluently. and that's one of the reasons the books interest me. It doesn't surprise me that they cannot be found in the Iternet, it's communist Cuba after all.
+Whooly Manguy the internet was banned in Cuba and since U.S.-Cuban relations have resumed I dont know if it is still illegal, so it would be really hard to find the book online. However yhere were clandestine internet operations going on all around Cuba, I studied medicine in Cuba and I live in Panama.
I was thinking the same thing. Even if you could get your hands on one, you could easily use Google Translate and a Spanish-English dictionary to help you figure out most of what the text says. Especially since I'd imagine there are a lot of diagrams, it wouldn't be hard to understand.
+Brandon Veracka yes I would love a copy in English. But I'm not so sure it would be easy to understand/translate a technical document in a different language if you don't speak it. Ever tried reading instruction manuals in a different language? Even with diagrams it's almost impossible to understand anything complicated.
"Back To Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills" Would probably be the closest thing to an English counterpart for the day to day survival stuff. Or for the more specialized/technical stuff "The Art of Electronics" is a great book to learn from, there's a pdf online, but it doesn't have the first chapter or two which is pretty important for anyone just starting.
Truely awe inspiring. I am a tinkerer. Have built many forms of alternative transportation, tools and machines. But to see what you guys are doing, and what your doing it with.. I'll never complain about my tools again! I am now very grateful for what I have, and see that we are only bound by our imagination, or lack thereof. Thank you. I want to go to Cuba! These people can teach things that wouldn't even be considered in this part if the world.
Found them myself as PDF - cubamaterial.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Con-Nuestros-Propios-Esfuerzos-reduced.pdf Cant find 'El libro de la familia' tho
I think you're out of luck for an English version. the ones that I've seen are (mediocre) scans of printed versions. That being said, it's simple Spanish, easy to read.
that book from the government might be the most genius book concept instilled, i wish every country created one for their people and whether you chose to do so you can study the inventive culture of other countries, this book is everything i wished would be taught instead of the same generic stuff in public schooling, just as its applicable it gives you vision on what you want to flow with and what fields need assistance with, the concept is amazing.
Life Hacks: washing machine motor, not just for dirty clothes anymore. Got a bicycle and a weed eater? A couple of old pulleys and a fan belt? Hell yeah boy, you have a moped!
this is the kind of thing that makes me proud to be Cuban and also explains a lot about me seeing as how I'm always trying to come up with new ways to use old items and never understood how i making weeds and turning them into projectiles for hunting and target practice was easy without any prior info or turning a minivan into a makeshift generator to keep a house with power during a hurricane.
Scribe Hammar I'm American I have the same problem... its The technology not the people. I believe it does this on purpose to help distract us and make us lose focus on the real things we actually do talk about. Also by scrambling our words our messages are more difficult to get acrost
From what I've seen of this video, Cuba had become a nation of hackers. Now that we're opening up trade with them (long overdue) it'll be interesting to see what they come up with now.
Bernard Gilbert I like the "idea" but I don't see it going well for many. Cause now WE will be bring our CRAP to Cuba. Taking what we want and so forth. Drugs as I been told are nonexistent in Cuba as well as disease, firearms,REAL criminals and so forth. We will in effect ruin cubans lives. Puerto Rico REFUSES to join the United States and look at the island anyways. Technology will ruin much of cuba as how is obvious and SAD!!
+UZI9MMAUTO or the exact opposite of what you said will happen, and they'll greatly benefit from technology and step into the future. think proactively and positively maybe just maybe it'll be contagious, instead of contagion and disharmony as you set it being the ultimate result, just saying...
+Bernard Gilbert i am a mexican IT student and a lot of cuban engineers come to mexico to teach basic and advanced engineering in mechatronics and computational systems they can literally come up with genius and at the same time dangerous ideas but they are just impressive.
I will concede many of these ingenious objects are beautiful but it's a disgrace that 20th century human beings had to make them to survive. I have Home Depot and Autozone stores for parts and hardware yet like some Cubans I struggle to keep my truck everything else going. Things are tough all over but tougher now because for two terms our president's vision of a third world America and his un-bridled, overweening and seemingly congenital distain for what used to be America's greatest asset: the biggest freest middle-class in known history is the root cause. He has simply caused Americans to be fearful of spending their money. They don't know what form of socialism his administration will visit upon them next. Thus as a consequence there remain less jobs for my business and everybody's. Puerto Rico has had Sears for decades just like anywhere else. You must know that given a choice between their beloved Castro and just a few lousy Sears stores for Cuba, Batista notwithstanding, Castro's beloved Cuban people would have run Castro out of town on a rail rather than be forced to use aluminum trays, coke cans and wire for radio antennas. The worst-kept secret now is that Walmart, Home Depot, Best Buy (Apple), CVS, Bob's Stores and yes Sears are just licking their chops to move into Cuba. Normalizing relations with Cuba was nothing less than immoral. President Obama should have freed all Cubans, including all expatriate Cubans that the Bay Of Pigs notwithstanding, The U.S. made promises to in the 60's to allow them to safely return home and reclaim their property. President Obama has now welshed on that promise because it's no secret that a large number of expatriate Cubans are Republicans. These objects shown here are Castro's shame. If you think Cubans are thrifty 'hackers' as you call them and not desperate, starving, impoverished, government-oppressed victims then you are blind. I'm sorry and I don't really mean to jump ugly with you Bernard and I don't want to patronize you but it's important to remember that Cubans are prisoners and Cubans have been serving a sentence that will very soon be 60 years. Again these are ingenious objects, some of them are undeniably beautiful but they represent extreme privation. They are a part of a socialist legacy not Etsy. Lastly, I disagree with you I am not interested to see what Cuba comes up with now except for the removal of Castro, Castro's family and all vestiges of a Cuban socialist dictatorship. If Cubans feel a need make things with the methods of the ''culture of ''disobedience'' I hope it's because they want to do it, not because they have to do it. As a designer and a lover of hacks myself. I am interested to hear more of your thoughts on this. Sincerely, Tim
Simple the greatest video on TH-cam this year. TH-cam needs to give out Awards at the end of each year to TH-cam Channel like they do the Oscars, this video would win best Documentary.
Very interesting. I saw the same kinds of innovation in the Philippines during the 1960's. Millions of leftover WWII materials were reused in many different ways, almost always well beyond its original intention. Some of those innovations are still in use today 60 years later.
As a mechanic, I understand his description of the relationship between people and machinery. The people who assembled these devices have that same sense of relationship between man and machine. They understand the tech they use intimately, without the "learned helplessness" common to other populations. Those objects and their history are worth preserving.
It makes me sick to think that all those years, the U.S. put countless things into landfills that only would have taken an hour or less to fix, given the know-how. We could have sent them old computers broken home appliances, etc. Stuff we just throw away could have given them twice the quality of life.
+searchandscan I already do. If it wasn't for my ability to repair electronics, welfd plastic and make many other repairs I wouldn't be living half as comfortably as I am now.
+800lb Gorilla My apologies. I do study a lot of history and I am aware of how the Cuban revolution took place but I have come under the impression that he was willing to allow trade years ago but we would not comply. But that may be because my only knowledge of Cuba since the 60's has been from mostly "left wing" sources. Feel free to enlighten me if you can I am much too busy with other things right now than to try and study Cuba since the revolution, extensively.
800lb Gorilla to back up Chris Turnblom he is right in that if was actually the USA who refused trade with Cuba. we refused their aid for hurricane Katrina as well. Also it would be worth for you to investigate the tragedy of the bay of pigs where the CIA needlessly endagered both Cuban and USA citizen lives in a major military flop sanctioned by JFK.
Man I would love to spend some time in Cuba and just sit and observe the mechanics there, because fixing cars with a lack of tools and specially parts is amazing. What he do at our shop I want to say is sim8lar but in really it's nothing compared to how they tackle the task.
IF U LIKE CARS U'LL BE FASCINATED ....my friend faily busines its all about cars specially modifications to put more people like makin a truck from a 57 Chevrolet
it is great that in North America we do not have to use our brains anymore in mundane things. if it breaks, get it new. We have time to watch youtube, Facebook and TV, and we can eat and eat, and eat. Our brains are not longer wasted creating when there are so many things to do in with instragram and snapchat. We can use our brains to follow the importance lives of the Kardashians...inventing new things every day is for lame people.
Typically whenever my electronics break i repair them if possible or scrap them for useful components. But i'm a Tech savvy Englishmen who doesn't tend to engage in social media very often so i don't count for the general populace.
Resourcefulness only arises when resources aren't available. Very few people are capable of coming up with a solution when a problem doesn't exist. Those are the people that create the future.
That has to be the most interesting and educational vid that I've viewed on YT this year. I'd always heard and seen about how the Cubans had salvaged American cars from the 50s and 60s and kept them going all these years without replacement parts. But little did I know how much ingenuity and creativeness had been applied to almost every aspect of their daily lives. Amazing how inventive people can be when the need arises. This is certainly the most glaring example of an entire population thinking outside the box.
The Cuban people is a strong and brave one. They have endured a criminal embargo by the USA for years with creativity and hard work. What a proud people!
+ZA_Survivalist If you are born somewhere and a dictator takes over..how exactly is that your choice? Do you think maybe that's why rafts full of people risk their lives trying to get to Florida? Also, should you in fact just pick up and try to leave just because your leaders suck?
overclockeador well, that exactly why I find it interesting, being forced to make do with extremely less, and the everyday uses it has for them. The whole Cubans making items cobbled together from whatever they need to keep them working. things will change for them slowly, and will be a lost memory in a generation, once things maybe smooth over, we'll probably never see something like this again, barring a global catastrophic event, I would love just to go to Cuba on a trip just to experience seeing all the vintage automobiles.
I was just interested to see the exhibit in the united states, from a position of intelligence, simply on the basis of human ingenuity. You seem insulted to eat a steak knowing it came from a cow. It's simply a matter of appreciation on a level, obviously your not that level mentally, and would rather complain about how the cow was fed before it became a steak. I know obviously not on the same level as your trying to preach in a TH-cam comments section, you obviously don't lack the capacity to see the forest for the trees.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the most successful and enterprising of cuban inventors worked largely in boat construction. For some reason youtube is blocking two comments by two different posters, neither comment is "offensive" in any way, and I wouldn't block them even if they where. Every time I try to restore them i get "there was a problem with this action, try again later" not sure whats up.
IF that "system" is better (as dumbed venezuelans and brazilians insist to believe)...why don't northamericans (mexicans, USAers and canadians)...flee to that "paradise Island"???
I may be one of the few to say so, but I found the video to be inspiring. People are often at their best when things fall apart around them. 30 years is long enough for me to be inspired by such people, regardless of politics. Ive been a repairman all my life, and I wish our nation would mail everyone a booklet like they had. I see broken things all the time, most of them broken because of the lack of understanding about how they, and other things actually work.
+Tom Bruner We enter in the third phase of industrial era in the world . Probably the last one . We are at the beginning of the third phase , new technology , house with solar system distribution and re-sale the excess etc... ( Jeremy Rifkin the third industrial revolution , youtube ) .
WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU IT ISNT LIKE THAT. im cuban and we love each other its the government that sucks, we dont suffer, we have houses, free education for all, and amazing doctors.
this is amazing. i love when people find a way around things and start inventing their own tech. if we all practiced this more globally, im sure we would have things like cars running on salt water (which has been done) and near-free energy everywhere...
The keep repairing the old cars from the fifties. Less well known is that they do this with the refrigerators, to. Mechanics set up illegal car repair places. Officials know about them but don't crack down, because they depend on them to keep their own cars running. I also saw a horse and buggy (which I rode in ) made of old bicycle parts welded together. Nobody can say that the cubans are no creative. Sadly, they have to beg for stuff like soap, which the government doesn't make much of, concentrating instead on making stuff for export (rum, cigars, coffee, and the like.)
I heard that many of the big cigar producers left the country when Fidel took over and took their knowledge with them because they wouldn't be able to last under the new government.
Wow! I propose to have Cuban engineers/artist like this man to work on any Mars mission, global warming projects, desalination plants - anything important worldwide! This man's thinking, born of necessity, is desperately needed in my country, the U.S. I'll look him up and remember him as my inspiration going forward. Excellent video!!!
May God bless the Cuban people. I would argue that this level of ingenuity is desperately needed in the United States. We’re too dependent on industry.
@@cyberpozo As an American, you're exactly right. Desperation breeds strength and ingenuty. And a country that's been through as much as Cuba has will be full of strong, intelligent, industrious people.
@@daniloivensmina Oh please. Our "DIY" culture isn't even close the same. It's done for fucking fun by people with something to prove because they're trying to seem better than the pampered culture that we actually are. What's evidenced in this video is TRUE ingenuity, driven by desperation, starvation, complete economic stagnation, it was literally the only option. DIY in the US is just trying to make cool shit to feel more like a man, but we have the internet to show us how to do it, there's no necessity, no actual struggle and scavenging. It's okay to admit that our home country of the US has fucking spoiled us, and is probably the worst country in terms of being spoiled and reliant on corporation+industry driven convenience.
That's pretty cool. They had to get resourceful, but I wouldn't call these things inventions really. Definitely creative engineering and tinkering, and impressively so.
candiduscorvus yeah, and you were also given formal education and come from a first world country. the fact that these people figured these things out by themselves is what's impressive.
Reminds me of a Norwegian saying, "Nøden lærer naken mann å spinne" - "Distress teaches a naked man to make yarn". Humans are fantastic, in that if a problem becomes big enough, they will figure out a solution. Greed hinders this, of course, but hopefully greed won't win in the end. This was a cool segment, I'm impressed by the Cubans!
You get to love this guy sophisticated way of explain that the Cuban fuck off Rebolution fucked us all and we had not choice but to do something about it or fucking die, lol.
+Tod Karlson Cuba was isolated from the world by the own government, no internet access, no independent press or television, the people couldn't travel outside the country like others nation, etc etc.
+Tod Karlson i am a mexican IT student and a lot of cuban engineers come to mexico to teach basic and advanced engineering in mechatronics and computational systems they can literally come up with genius and at the same time dangerous ideas at the same time but they are just impressive. IMO if i was an engineering leader in a company i would 100% hire the cuban over the american.
+neirad537 You are wrong. The US government isolate them for not complying to corporate interest, Cuba was the only one out of the three countries that revolt and kick out the US government, Hawaii and Puerto Rico weren't able to do so.
Mel Osaco It look like you never lived in Cuba before or know first hand people those who lived there, is a very unique country, and yes US put a commercial embargo that hurt Cuba economically, but the isolation is a Cuba government thing. Cuba love to control everything from the media, to the culture, what you think, even what you wear. There is a reason why the internet is so restricted in Cuba, nothing to do with the US embargo. As of late with Raul running the country they have open a lot to the world. It used to be that anything you watch, listen, read that wasn't government sanctioned was considered "diversionismo ideologico" Ideological diversionism, and anything you do not government sanction was consider "contra-revolución". Artist have to use double meaning in order to express a different ideas and even them they where punish, the used to band from music, to books even Cuban made movies where ban. They got something call CDR (Committees for the Defense of the Revolution) to basically to do surveillance neighborhood level. People develop a behaviors call Doble cara (two faces) to a level that was natural to act one way in public and other in private. Cuba was a master on spying and infiltrating anything in Cuba to the point that you couldn't even trust your own family. Whatever book on suppression and control is out-there Cuba used it all. 1984 in steroid. In Cuba the government is the only allow to do trade, and even if you got the money you are not allow to import anything just to buy with restriction what the government provide, so if Cuba spot importing soviet made products and now they used Chinese or what ever they deal is a the moment, Cuban have to hack what they have in order to keep things going.
neirad537 1.-Seems like you never understood the real meaning of government, and that is to control societies and keep it them in line, the US is no different and is possible the best example of modern Fascism, 2.-Look at the decay of the society today, is turning people into brainless dead soul conformist members of the american consumer culture. Along with the dumbing down of their education system that produce obedient workers. incapable of critical thinking 3.-In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it. Now there is a difference between a true ideological revolution and a corporate sponsored coup d'etat. 4.-Double standards and turning people against each other is used to defeat any attempts for people to organize and change the status Quo, that is what Castro fought in order to kick out the invaders and that is what the US is doing to get the island back 5.-Free trade is corporate crime that destroy local economies and create wage slaves people must learn the concept of planned and intrinsic obsolescence that only benefit the corporations. To learn more read War is a racket by Smedley D Butler Ending the depression with planned obsolescence by Bernard London Crystallizing public opinion and Propaganda by Edward Bernays Confessions of an economic hit man by John Perkins PS. The american dream is called that way because you must be sleep to believed
As Cuban I am proud of my people's ingenuity, yes necesity is the mother of invention. Through history Cubans had contribute to worlds inventions even before communists took control. My people are in the biggest jail in the world, Cuba is a giant jail where no one could go out unless had special permit or escape risking their lives. Traveling inside the island from one province to another I needed to get my Identity book stamped an declared what was the reason for my travel. 1969 when I had to visit my grandmother in Camaguey (I lived in Habana) my ID was stamped both way. Once when living Habana and again when returned to report that I was back. Tell me is that is not control over the people like in jail. The famous "embargo" only existed from direct trade with US, because any country in the world (Spain, France, Japan, Germany just to mention some) always have done business with Cuba. Americans too did business using Canada and Mexico as passing point. The communist government of Cuba never passed the profits from those trades into the people in the island, where the money went? Well, check out the banks accounts of Castro and his communist family in Switzerland, check out their private vacation properties in Europe. Is is not information you can find because the Castros never declare their financies to anyone, they know how to hide their wealth. From a prosperous country in the Americas, yes even with a dictator like Batista, my people had great standard of life before 1959. Batista was bad, but people who wanted to prosper did it, Example: My father was very poor, as a 9 years old living in Habana, he cleaned shoes (white boy) in 1920-1930 in the streets. Saved his pennies and bought his bycicle and started to deliver telegrams fot the Western Union, saved money until he bought his car. With the car he did taxi driver and on his bedroom invented the machines to manufacture his inventions for the headlights of cars and attachments for windows. Saved his money and openend small shop where he and a friend started manufacturing those inventions. He starting selling his products to Ford automobile, he was not rich, but he was supporting his family and providing for an automobile industry. My father grew from a poor boy cleaning shoes in the streets of Habana to a business man all under "bad governments". Governments that as dictatorial the were the allowed simple people become what they wanted to be. People could done better if they wanted, because was freedom. Some say it was dictatorial governments, guess what people were really FREE. Castro came in and closed his shop destroying what he built from scratch. That is what communism, so called "communism freedom" does to people and countries, DESTROY THEM. They destroy the economy while the top layer of the party enjoy wealth. Yes, they said "no more poors and wealthy" but the whole country becomes poor while the few becomes very wealthy under the table sort of speak. Food, medical, and any vital items the people were depraved of, yes education and medical are "free" but people pay a higher price not measured in $ but in suffering and necesities. The education is "free" but the graduates of high school don't have knowledge of expelling nor grammar of their own language. Those are not requirements to graduate, which is s shame because we (Cubans) are very smart people. Communism motto: Take away the guns, so people can't defend themselves. Take food away so people will be very busy trying to feed their families and on surviving, so people don't have time to think in something else. That is how the Castro destroyed the country using "embargo" as his excuses. Kept the people with the constant fear of "an American invasion" that never happened. Constantly talking to the people of a better future that never happened either. About Obama's and Republicans, none of them had done really anything to help Cuba. This opening of relstions is a one way deal, Castros get what they wanted and the US look good on world's eye, or that is what they think. Closing Guantanamo Base without demanding judgement for Castro's crimes is unacceptable. Thousands of lifes lost under Castro's regime and letting them get out without being accountable for is a slap on the face to the people of Cuba who have been the victim all along. Yes, my people deserve better life and Castro deserve to pay for their crimes. If the Nazis paid, why Castro will get away without penalties?
I am a Cuban... and it pisses me off that i have to learn that "The Family Book" existed from a TH-cam channel, instead of in our history class... but hey, that's us, hiding the past... true soviet style... thank you for the video man.
@Birgitta Nilsson crazy part is.. None of my relatives even knew the book existed, turns out not every family got one... only very few people i've asked remembers about it...
Necessity is the mother of invention. In given time and with Democracy, Cuba will have great inventors and doctors. I just hope they remain this way for another generation or so, to cultivate this forgotten human trait.
Cuba already has great doctors. They are internationally recognized for the quality of their medical profession. No joke. They send doctors to every international crisis. Many canadians went to Cuba for quicker medical treatments. It's their main claim to fame. (that and having the most literate nation in all latin-america) And a vaccine against a certain form of lung cancer was allegedly part of the lifting of the embargo deal. It's already going to trial in Canada. What Cuba has managed to do in isolation is very commendable. Hats off. It's a pleasure to welcome them back into the international community.
Necessity is the mother of invention. I visited Cuba in 2003 and only a few areas had been restored. It was refreshing to not be bombarded with advertising, billboards and consumerism. Havana is an incredible city, skilled artists, warm people and clearly resourceful. Other countries can learn a lot from them and I hope the not so good stuff improves and the good remains for the wonderful Cuban people.
If Cuba ever becomes a free country, it will be the place where innovation comes from. without government agencies preventing invention due to regulations, all kinds of things will be tried, and some will succeed.
Except they will keep being regulated. They only started talking to USA because they can't keep leeching of Venezuela and they know everyone's gonna die of hunger if they can't find any sort of income. The USA accepted because it's an amazing business opportunity with the touristic places it has, but the Cuban government hasn't changed and it will most likely not change in a while.
justfoundout America is a democracy. Cuba is not. I don't support the american foreign policy nor their surveillance of the world. But calling a dictatorship less totalitarian than a democracy is foolish and has no connection to the real world.
Hr. Direktörn LMAO America is a democracy? since when? ridiculous two party politics and regardless who they vote for corporations decide their policy, democracy in America is nothing more than a show pony
justfoundout I'm not arguing that American politics and government isn't flawed and no where near as democratic and open as it should be. But to be so blinded by "america hate" that you think a straight-up dictatorship is more democratic than america is silly. Get real.
They did have A backup yeah while Cubans main focus was reorganized to work within health and social wellbeing of it's own citizens, I must say even though I'm sure cubans felt the pinch of salt, the real mc'coy was right inside of em, just look at all the strides and progressions made, for fuck sakes they made vaccines for certain cancers out there...
me encanta esto. Soy de reparar, inventar, re diseñar o reciclar cosas. a veces los junto en la calle. Lamentablemente no tengo espacio, y vivo con mi familia, donde apenas tengo lugar para ellos mi mujer y mis 2 hijos. además mi mujer tiene TOC así que no puedo usar cualquier rincón sin que se moleste, porque se pone terrible. Lo último que estuve haciendo son prensas (sargentos), escudras, y otros accesorios para herrería, estoy proyectando hacer una morza (prensa) casera y hacer una pinza para soldadora casera, ya que tengo una soldadora de arco y es de las mas baratas que vienen con pinzas casi descartables, se doblan y no tienen mucha fuerza.
Miguel Valentine si lo se, puedo con algunas cosas de hardware, eso es simple, no con el software, no e estudiado sobre eso, pero parece algo interesante.
A couple of years ago there was a kickstarter to translate that book he talks about in this video and I was one of only four people to back it and the funding failed. It makes me sad to think about.
+DF Rellom like thos we find in a PC ? CMOS battery ? it's lithium I think, I have many but all discharged don't really know how to charge them and make use of them
+illyounotme The product you're talking about is called Batteriser. Beware though, there are LOTS of attempts to discredit it, but it has been shown to actually work by independent labs . It hasn't been released yet unfortunately
If those components are what I think they are, that is a very elegant & simple "Impedance Charger"; I've been using them on rechargeable batteries for decades, but never thought to try it with a 1.5v "button-cell", such as the popular #675 Hearing Aid battery, which is the same size as at least one of the batteries my old calculator uses. Well done!
I like how they innovated things from trash and were like "only Cubans see things this new and special way". Or maybe PEOPLE in general are just creative, gotta love people throwing their own crap in there haha
This is so relatable for me as a Nigerian, because we face the same plight of having to improvise to achieve our aims not because our country is poor but because we lack leaders who hv our good @ heart and hv an abundance of people who are either celebrating the failure of our system or too scared to make a move
It does not require magic just a trickle charger. Google it then go to radio shack. fyi you can only recharge them a couple times before then burn out.
just look at the components in the picture, and duplicate. it's not magic. or better, figure out how they work, and make your own design. should take a few minutes..
Alan Naranjo Wait, what the fuck? I wasn't even talking to you to begin with. I was talking to the original poster, why the hell did you respond like I was talking to you when I was clearly referring to the original poster?
Alan Naranjo See how your username is tagged in this post and all of my replies to you? That's how you know I'm taking to you and not the OP. Also, compliments can be racist too you ignorant fuckwit. "Asians are so good at math" comes to mind.
Wait, they were only cut off from America, how were they left so far behind? I know Canada had a relationship with them during this time. And they're saying no technology was brought over?
austin bevis it's called "blockade" and "propaganda". When you are capitalist and have a strong socialist state, you do anything you can to put them down.
@@paulbenoit6076 Or in the meat grinder that is "American Dream"? To some laboring at a 9-5 just to sustain themselves on the minimalist of necessities is a waste. It's a paradigm of programed slavery under the guise of freedom.
@@aminahmed719 Thank you, that's actually a way better term than slavery. Actually, there are way better synonyms other than outright slavery; Bondsman, Articled Servant, or Bondslave.
Yeah, the U.S. is about 20 years behind this type of economy, the way we're going here in 2014. The more we lean towards the socialistic-like Cuban/Soviet style, the more we will share that dead future with them. I do salute the Cuban people for making survival an art form though - despite their government.
Oh, I see your point now - socialism cannot work into itself, for itself, by itself, it needs international FREE TRADE to survive. In most cases socialism has to be imposed (shoved down the throats) on a population "for their own good". btw, the Soviets, for decades, pumped money into the Cuban government cadaver to to keep it animated, but when the USSR fell, Cuba went into ruin, just like North Korea did when China cut its spigot. But China survived, because it was wise enough to use its newly acquired Hong Kong economic system as its own economic blueprint to a free market, i.e. capitalism. I travel to China all the time and Chinese capitalism in 2014 is even more pronounced there than in many parts of the U.S. Socialist type economics is a dead end street - ask the dependant people in Greece, Spain, Portugal and many other countries suffering under its yoke. Ask the former suffers of the east European countries, who now embrace a free market system and freedom, and who are aghast at the U.S. turning into a form of Soviet, centralized government, that started in '08 and is destroying its economic base.
surearrow Any small country limited to agricultural exports would necessarily require international free trade. Did you ever buy Cuban sugar or cigars in the States? No, they were outlawed. You could buy them in the Soviet Union though which would account for the Soviets being the Cuban's main trade partners. Naturally the Cuban economy suffered when the Soviet Union crumbled. As to your examples of Southern European countries suffering - that suffering has come about due to Capitalist activities such as speculation, banking irregularities, the imposition of huge loans and subsequent conditions. The 'Free Market' can no longer be allowed to roam the savannah unchecked, too many people are getting hurt while the number of people benefitting is decreasing. If placing restrictions on the sociopathic behaviour of international financiers is 'Socialist' then call me a Socialist. And as for your 'centralised US government' - that is a direct result of your Free Market policies - the 1% have started circling the wagons ... Get yourself a copy of the Cuban's mend-and-do book - you'll be needing it soon enough.
You're confusing a free market economy system with corporatism, which is an unchecked, government supported cronyism (what the Bush & Obama administrations participate in). This is not the free market. Corporatism is where large corporations are bought and paid for to do the government’s bidding. Over time, they grow so large; they begin to even dictate their rules to the government. This is not the free market. The core difference between you and I is that I believe local people, living in their local free market economies can live much happier lives than under a huge, self imposed authority. Anything centralized into a massive controlling entity will become corrupt and eventually enslave the masses. That includes religion, governments, societies and economies. People control versus centralized control.
You have to be using socialism in the wrong context, because little of US economy resembles the USSR communism/socialism except for the corruption of business/government elite. The US economy has more in common with capitalism social welfare economies of Western European countries, and was doing fine until the fraud committed by US capitalists wrecked the world economy.
You all are entitled to your opinions, and so am I. And my thoughts regarding this is...how lucky for all of you to be amazed by these so called "inventions". Living in the third world... these are common for us.
Pär-Ola Zander Yes we do know how to produce them. You can't even begin to imagine what people in third world countries have to do in order to live and survive - unless you are here. You are amazed in these inventions but we are not because we use them day in day out. It's like you not being amazed by your cellular phones because you use them day in day out and it's normal for you.
A similar "DIY"-culture existed in Europe after WWII. Interestingly even the upcoming industry itself was part of it. So they transformed helmets into cooking pots and invented the famous Messerschmitt Kabinenroller: As there was no need for fighter planes, they took the parts and made something different out of it.
It existed in the United States during WWII also. It exists in many places around the world today and throughout history. I think anywhere a need exists there will be people that find ways to meet those needs.
Wish we were still that way in merica. Poor merica. No one can fix anything anymore. I know a guy who can fix anything but is poor because we measure intelligence in college degrees and not valuable skills. Fuck that.
@@derekpridemore993 At 71 years of age, I don't think I'd be able to master it. I have a hard time learning languages and even have a lot of difficulty with some of the regional accents here in the US.
Anyone that can keep a 1952 Studebaker on the road with no new parts for all these years has my respect.
They use new parts, just not OEM or traditional aftermarket parts.
Facts
@@mrmaniac3 yea We put toyotas and hunday pices inside specially for Disel couse its much cheaper there
i saw one with a diesel boat engine :)
You can do that with all the old cars. Most people don't bother maintaining their car regularly..
My friend has plenty of money :D he still bought a fucking LADA haha... :D he plans to run it for another 20 years... the engine and car is so basic, that anyone who is not a engineer can fix that car, if something happens...
as someone who is a coder by trade.. the irony is that i hate cars wich have too much tech and electronics..... u cant even fix anything with new cars these days... ur engine is blocked rofl. what a dumb thing...
People should protest against stupid laws and stuff, being legally able to fix your own things should be human right, not somekind of copyright issue with companies....
on a sidenote... fuck Tesla company and fuck elon musk
Facebook-level Economics debates aside, I think the most interesting takeaway from this video is how the Cuban people saw appliances as the sum of some parts, not a single entity like we do. Not too many people ever think "Well my toaster is busted, but there's a good spring mechanism I can use for another project", instead we just buy a new toaster and trash the old one without a second thought. Some of the stuff in this video is damn clever and it's all bred out of necessity. In some of the more well off countries we have a much more 'disposable' mindset and you end up with people who don't know how to fix the most mundane of problems because they have no comprehension on how it works.
Thumbs Up!
well, said very well said 'merica is sadly a throwaway society and look at all the garages attics and rental storage here for all these gringo to keep their cheap chinese made junk for who knows what I have reused parts many times for various applications in the past I also am an engineer we think differently
Well its not that we want to throw stuff away, its more like we don't have the time to fix them. You come home from 40 hrs of work and your tired, you don't really feel like fixing that busted toaster, you have enough money to buy a new one.
WittyDroog I'm not sure what you're talking about. There's a whole phenomenon in America, where people re-purpose old broken stuff and sell it to the well-off for exorbitant amounts of money. For those that do "throw away" it's probably a mixture of the ignorance you described, and an opportunity cost issue.
WittyDroog it is common sense. People would never go out and work if it were up to them. But these geniuses created money and wealth in order to force people to go out and work. Necessity is the mother of everything. Shit if I had a million dollars, I wouldnt want to wake up in the morning and go to work.
"I don't care what it was designed to do, I care what it can do!"
Iam from poland and we grown with similar conditions. In the time of socialism all things were repaired or build your self. I have see this as advantage to born poor. As I can make most things my self
How would you create a fan for example?
@@nowonmetube you build a house that doesn't require a fan
These are things I wish everyone knew, I love the inventiveness and artistry of it all. It must've been very hard during those times when people where stuck to figure it out. I'm inspired to Learn more about this✌🏼️💕
I love this
@@jasonferge3686 wait, what?
As a motor mechanic living in the UK restoring old American cars, I can identify the resourcefulness of your fellow countrymen and it impresses me immensely, I live in a throw away society that has lost its ability to basically FIX THINGS I love your slogan "technological disobedience" my next holiday abroad will be to CUBA.....please keep the videos coming
An island full of MacGyver's
+Carlos Malave Loved that show back in the day.
+Carlos Malave hahahaha hysterical, thank you
+Carlos Malave More like full of sheep, brainwashed by Castro, forced to scrounge and make do with what they can forage and cobble together. Taking motors from one thing and using it for another, or repurposing objects, is nothing new. Humans have been doing it for thousands of years.
800lb Gorilla Despite the things you mentioned; a country as poor as Cuba can provide free to very low cost healthcare and prescription drugs. Higher education is also free and Cuba has many talented and professional people in diverse fields. That the government is for what it is --- that's another story. Despite their shortcomings on technology ,money and other resources; this has produced ingenuity and creativeness.
+Carlos Malave Every nation produces ingenuity and creativity. Healthcare and education in Cuba is a joke, it is social engineering and propaganda. Most Cubans live in poverty with little to no opportunity beyond their village. To claim this as victory when I can get a video-checkup, fly anywhere in the world for less than a week's salary, will likely live until I'm 80 or beyond, and have relative freedom to information and enjoy the greatest freedoms (speech and firearms ownership), is simply absurd.
I studied at the University of Havana last summer; the tenaciousness and courage of the Cuban people astounds me.
+Brian McDowell They certainly weathered it pretty well I see.
+Brian McDowell but still does not make it up to live a in decent home unless you are a memember of the comunist party... you gotta be really tuff to endure this shit.
@@johnjohn5932 sounds like America. Just replace communist with capitalist (:
@@alienvomitsex oh hellow there miss aoc
@@alienvomitsex it’s like that now with all the taxes and regulations.
I put a bit of paper under a wobbly table once.
me too, it was like a 10 minute hack :))
I used a matchbook. : ( Fire.
Pure genius!
*whibley wobbly table
You mean there's a name for those? They do that on purpose? Pure genius! You create the problem then sell the solution.. matchbooks
I got a shock when he showed the book. My grandmother has that book! Too bad she's dead now. She called it her "medicine book".
Her house was a junkyard, but strangely every piece of junk worked. Huh.... Interesting.
Engineers tend to live like that, if a piece is good you might as well repurpose it
Lord Thanatos, I agree
If it worked then it wasn't junk.
Lupine Dream , what is the name of the book? Do you know what year it was published in Cuba? I would love to get my hands on a copy. Also, could you tell me what is the name translated in English?
I always love to see examples of necessity being the mother of invention, and this is no exception.
I've seen much of this DIY philosophy in particular for African health care clinics. One man developed temporary eyeglasses by attaching a pair of silicone oil-filled syringes to lenses made of clear, soft plastic convex bladders, fitted to glasses frames. The needed prescription was achieved by pushing in or drawing out the clear oil until the patient could focus, then the bladders were locked and the liquid-lenses glasses worn until solid acrylic lenses could be ground.
The humble dollar store has helped in developing these innovations. Nurses and doctors have searched the stores for practically anything that could be modified and MacGyvered, making better face shields against body fluid spatters, improved IV rigs, and all manner of fixes.
Little wonder I love life hacks and things of that nature that turn castoffs into handicrafts and helpful household goods. I've grown up with them since I could first work a pair of safety scissors.
Same thing happens if you give a stoner some weed but no way to smoke it, they become inventors.
+Michael Donnelly lololol yea when I was a kid I made a make shift pipe out of a coke can.
+writerconsidered That's nothing, in highschool I built a double chamber bong with a perc inside. Made out of old liquor bottles and some plastic lol.
+Michael Donnelly Bong on brother!!
+BRICKCITY9MM u should make a video on it
+Michael Donnelly nice joke, I'm sure I hav'nt heard it before, like 10 years ago
This is about the Special Period in 1991-2. when The Soviet Union stopped exporting oil and the US jumped to the occasion and imposed a full blockade, hoping to cause a famine. Well, they survived.
Somehow you found a way to blame the USA instead of their own government policies.
It was the US that imposed a blockade. Not Cuba.
Famine blockades is american #1 strategy to bring "democracy" to the third world
@@paulbenoit6076
well, it IS USA's fault. let's blame them
Special period, my butt...have you been there lately?
Smart people. Respect
Creativity, ingenuity and adaptability knows no bounds. Congratulations, the usefuleness of the object is the ultimate reward for the user regardless of financial gain and prestige.
Well, forced by circumstances most people would become innovative. It's us westerners getting dumber and dumber from easy life...
🤔🤔🤔
The smartest ones already went to Miami.
Nope
It has nothing to do with being smart, Cuba is under a 50 year embargo, which means they are cut off from the rest of the main stream world. They don’t get access to the same technology and supplies we do. The mother of invention is necessity.
necessity is the mother of invention
In the real world, yes. In consumerism, it is no longer necessity, but want that powers invention. You could argue that it is not as strong as necessity, but want, greed, and hunger for power are some major factors to it all.
i have a great example right next door, haiti and dominican republic where they have free market yet their quality of life is way bellow Cuban. people live longer, helthier and get better education then dominican republic with tons less crime heck, infant mortality rate is way better in cuba then in United States!
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
AshKetchum442 Solid Snake said that in Metal Gear Solid 2
If you want to floss.
Fallout crafting in real life
Pretty much.
Elerium 😂
howdy partner!
I've always been excited to try out video game crafting systems and they almost always disappoints. Techno remix is the bomb
you're not that far off....
I'm from Spain but I normally watch this kind of things in English. However, from time to time... it's cool to see someone speak the same language and have it dubbed in English so that they can also understand our content.
Cool vid, buen trabajo!
The common language of WANTING TO BE FREE - not dictated by the FALSE promise of STINKING socialism and communism - which are THE FASCISTS bastion !
Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness!
VIVA LA LIBERTAD!
Yo hablo varios idiomas , tambien...
The Venus Project
viva españa, viva el rey, viva el orden y la ley.
Same here 😄
I dont think there's a language I enjoy listening to less than Spanish.
necessity is the mother of invention...I applaud the Cuban peoples for grasping beyond their reach
Admirable.
0:15 The simplest improvised charger using Soviet capacitor MBM-1 and КD-105 diode. Electric circuit from the old Soviet battery flashlight.
Alan Naranjo I know.
Great idea to recharge a *non-rechargable* battery. Till it blows your ear apart? Good luck :D
In case of small-diameter batteries (CR) even we "capitalists" do not recharge them (most cases, though rechargable CR batteries exists ) We simply buy them charged and recycle when depleted. Also in case of CR they`re mostly lithium, so there is (?) low risk of fuck-up when recharging non-R CR baterry. This way i give You full understanding on the matter. Greets.
Александр Соколов what's the component at the top, is it a resistor? (edited question because i forgot how to brain)
A green thing is a resistor VS (ВС) very old from 60's www.155la3.ru/vs.htm
The white one is a metal-paper condensator MBM (МБМ) asenergi.com/catalog/kondensatory/mbm.html
and the black thing is a diode KD-105 (КД-105) rudatasheet.ru/diodes/kd105/
Nothing special, its a widespread radio components.
There's a similar movement happening in India, known is Jigad, or the Art of Frugality. It seems that under the right conditions, a community will make what it wants from what little it has. It's a good example of human ingenuity, I think, and that level of thinking outside of the box is something more of us should probably live by, especially if we want to be less wasteful. It's just a shame that we let conditions get to the point of desperation before we even try to think that way.
Tekrothebountyhunter it's called jugaad.
It's pronounced differently depending on where you are?
Also in the Middle East, called Jihad
Dude you flipped the whole meaning by a small spelling mistake,its jughaad,not jihad,direct translation of jihad is holy war,jughaad is just solving problems with ingenuity
They're becoming pure semi computer hackers and fully scammers.
"Progress is impossible without deviation."-Frank Zappa
I wish I could see all the classic cars in Cuba before they get replaced. They are sweet, amazingly maintained.
we cherish all of our stuff that is why they are so pretty
most of them are chopped up and had the engines replaced with 4 cylinder diesels
elm3x21 Not replaced fucktard, we use what we can we just dont "replace them" we have a reason. Americans, if a headlight on their doesnt work they freak out and go to the mechanics and play 3000 bucks, we salvage working parts and we trade em too, u want a door? U give me grill. Like dat. Same goes for everything else, all other thurd world countries are dieing from poverty but we know how to think and fix our stuff. We come up with crazy ideas that have a 50/50 chance of working but we have nothing to lose since we didnt lose money. Cuba is also on the brink of modernization because of the increase in relations with america and the Castros are about to die as well. So, Mr.Elm stfu and review your facts
non of the old "classic" cars that are in cuba resemble anything close to what would be called "sweet" or "amazingly maintained". They have been kit bashed and hacked together to keep them running. The vast majority of the "classics" remaining are kept running using old salvaged farm equipment and bodged together homemade parts from found pieces of old state owned abandoned factories. Non of those cars have any historical or collector value because non of them come close to what they were when they left the OEM. Its sad really, the only perceived value they may have would be from people that consider the "folk art" pieces.
Jess Hull go to cuba, tell me those cars arent maintained and amazing. Do it. I dare you. You cant judge i country by a video u watch on youtube. Im not saying every single one is amazing but the same goes for america, there plenty of great cars here in america but most have problems and are ugly. Ok? Ok.
Obviously the Cuban people should be commended for their innovation in the face of oppression. However I would contend that this is not Cuban nature, but human nature. All throughout history are people making do with what little they have, and finding clever and innovative uses for the limited resources they have.
He never said or insinuated it was solely a Cuban attribute. He was simply observing and preserving the culture he lived in. And he's a big enough boy to deduce that people all over the world in similar circumstances would do the same.
Mr T , please elaborate. So if you are an individual lacking Caucasian Genes you also lack the ingenuity shown in the video? Please, what do you mean?
Regardless of anything else, the creativity and ingenuity of these things is really awesome and something we should encourage and reward in all cultures, whether it's born of necessity or curiosity.
A capacitive dropper battery charger without any electric shock protection, overcharge/overheat protection and voltage regulation shouldn't be appreciated. It's death trap, especially for children, and not even a new invention.
@@raykdreisatzgehtanders7239 you should go buy one then.
@@raykdreisatzgehtanders7239 it's been 3 years since you made this comment. Are you still like this?
I am very glad to have had the opportunity to view this. Thank you for uploading.
I'm going to have to adopt the phrase, "technological disobedience" to start describing some of my innovations....
Enlightened. Hardly. It was meant as a joke to my poor diy skills. But you must be one of those guys who takes everything literally. You must get triggered by absolutely everything.
or "special period" when times are tough.
TTKMKaizen yea me too
kodiak wild Special Period of Peace
TTKMKaizen Me too..😉🤘
If I ever visit Cuba I want to get samples of those two books.
+chapiit08 i have looked but have had zero luck of finding these books can anyone help ?????????
Whooly Manguy Have you been to Cuba? I assume they can only be found there.
i guess it's hopeful thinking suggesting one would translate the book into English. (of all languages to choose from) but the internet has so much information, i was shocked when my serches yielded no results, i expected to at least find the book online somewhere so that i could translate it i can not believe that couldnt find it archived somewhere.
Whooly Manguy I speak Spanish fluently. and that's one of the reasons the books interest me. It doesn't surprise me that they cannot be found in the Iternet, it's communist Cuba after all.
+Whooly Manguy the internet was banned in Cuba and since U.S.-Cuban relations have resumed I dont know if it is still illegal, so it would be really hard to find the book online. However yhere were clandestine internet operations going on all around Cuba, I studied medicine in Cuba and I live in Panama.
Are there translated versions if those books? I would love to learn from them.
i would like to read them too
I was thinking the same thing. Even if you could get your hands on one, you could easily use Google Translate and a Spanish-English dictionary to help you figure out most of what the text says. Especially since I'd imagine there are a lot of diagrams, it wouldn't be hard to understand.
What a wealth of knowledge!
+Brandon Veracka yes I would love a copy in English. But I'm not so sure it would be easy to understand/translate a technical document in a different language if you don't speak it. Ever tried reading instruction manuals in a different language? Even with diagrams it's almost impossible to understand anything complicated.
"Back To Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills" Would probably be the closest thing to an English counterpart for the day to day survival stuff. Or for the more specialized/technical stuff "The Art of Electronics" is a great book to learn from, there's a pdf online, but it doesn't have the first chapter or two which is pretty important for anyone just starting.
Truely awe inspiring. I am a tinkerer. Have built many forms of alternative transportation, tools and machines.
But to see what you guys are doing, and what your doing it with..
I'll never complain about my tools again! I am now very grateful for what I have, and see that we are only bound by our imagination, or lack thereof.
Thank you. I want to go to Cuba! These people can teach things that wouldn't even be considered in this part if the world.
Love it - Is it possible to get copies of those Cuban books?
Found them myself as PDF - cubamaterial.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Con-Nuestros-Propios-Esfuerzos-reduced.pdf
Cant find 'El libro de la familia' tho
that's what I was thinking
yeah i want to find hard copies of them, sure would be interesting to own
does someone know where I can find a translated version in English?
Thanks in advance :)
I think you're out of luck for an English version. the ones that I've seen are (mediocre) scans of printed versions. That being said, it's simple Spanish, easy to read.
that book from the government might be the most genius book concept instilled, i wish every country created one for their people and whether you chose to do so you can study the inventive culture of other countries, this book is everything i wished would be taught instead of the same generic stuff in public schooling, just as its applicable it gives you vision on what you want to flow with and what fields need assistance with, the concept is amazing.
The revolution continues with innovation by innovative minds.
What revolution? Politicians and militart eat well and have money while the people are poor... fuck cuban faux revolution
I guess this is what we call "life hacks"? With the only difference being that these people really need them.
Life Hacks: washing machine motor, not just for dirty clothes anymore. Got a bicycle and a weed eater? A couple of old pulleys and a fan belt? Hell yeah boy, you have a moped!
this is the kind of thing that makes me proud to be Cuban and also explains a lot about me seeing as how I'm always trying to come up with new ways to use old items and never understood how i making weeds and turning them into projectiles for hunting and target practice was easy without any prior info or turning a minivan into a makeshift generator to keep a house with power during a hurricane.
and I can see I have alot of typo sorry I was useing talk to tex , my bad I see that new cellphones can't do what they are ment to do.
How is the internet in Cuba?
Many people have trouble with talk-to-text, so no problem there.
Neo Blackwolf (i have a old toster oven that i use to melt candel wax to make candels
Scribe Hammar I'm American I have the same problem... its The technology not the people.
I believe it does this on purpose to help distract us and make us lose focus on the real things we actually do talk about.
Also by scrambling our words our messages are more difficult to get acrost
From what I've seen of this video, Cuba had become a nation of hackers. Now that we're opening up trade with them (long overdue) it'll be interesting to see what they come up with now.
Bernard Gilbert I like the "idea" but I don't see it going well for many. Cause now WE will be bring our CRAP to Cuba. Taking what we want and so forth. Drugs as I been told are nonexistent in Cuba as well as disease, firearms,REAL criminals and so forth. We will in effect ruin cubans lives. Puerto Rico REFUSES to join the United States and look at the island anyways. Technology will ruin much of cuba as how is obvious and SAD!!
new inventions will probably rise. now that the doors have open Cubans will get adjusted to all this new technology that's available worldwide
+UZI9MMAUTO or the exact opposite of what you said will happen, and they'll greatly benefit from technology and step into the future. think proactively and positively maybe just maybe it'll be contagious, instead of contagion and disharmony as you set it being the ultimate result, just saying...
+Bernard Gilbert i am a mexican IT student and a lot of cuban engineers come to mexico to teach basic and advanced engineering in mechatronics and computational systems they can literally come up with genius and at the same time dangerous ideas but they are just impressive.
I will concede many of these ingenious objects are beautiful but it's a disgrace that 20th century human beings had to make them to survive. I have Home Depot and Autozone stores for parts and hardware yet like some Cubans I struggle to keep my truck everything else going. Things are tough all over but tougher now because for two terms our president's vision of a third world America and his un-bridled, overweening and seemingly congenital distain for what used to be America's greatest asset: the biggest freest middle-class in known history is the root cause. He has simply caused Americans to be fearful of spending their money. They don't know what form of socialism his administration will visit upon them next. Thus as a consequence there remain less jobs for my business and everybody's.
Puerto Rico has had Sears for decades just like anywhere else. You must know that given a choice between their beloved Castro and just a few lousy Sears stores for Cuba, Batista notwithstanding, Castro's beloved Cuban people would have run Castro out of town on a rail rather than be forced to use aluminum trays, coke cans and wire for radio antennas. The worst-kept secret now is that Walmart, Home Depot, Best Buy (Apple), CVS, Bob's Stores and yes Sears are just licking their chops to move into Cuba. Normalizing relations with Cuba was nothing less than immoral. President Obama should have freed all Cubans, including all expatriate Cubans that the Bay Of Pigs notwithstanding, The U.S. made promises to in the 60's to allow them to safely return home and reclaim their property. President Obama has now welshed on that promise because it's no secret that a large number of expatriate Cubans are Republicans.
These objects shown here are Castro's shame. If you think Cubans are thrifty 'hackers' as you call them and not desperate, starving, impoverished, government-oppressed victims then you are blind. I'm sorry and I don't really mean to jump ugly with you Bernard and I don't want to patronize you but it's important to remember that Cubans are prisoners and Cubans have been serving a sentence that will very soon be 60 years.
Again these are ingenious objects, some of them are undeniably beautiful but they represent extreme privation. They are a part of a socialist legacy not Etsy. Lastly, I disagree with you I am not interested to see what Cuba comes up with now except for the removal of Castro, Castro's family and all vestiges of a Cuban socialist dictatorship. If Cubans feel a need make things with the methods of the ''culture of ''disobedience'' I hope it's because they want to do it, not because they have to do it.
As a designer and a lover of hacks myself. I am interested to hear more of your thoughts on this.
Sincerely,
Tim
Simple the greatest video on TH-cam this year. TH-cam needs to give out Awards at the end of each year to TH-cam Channel like they do the Oscars, this video would win best Documentary.
@Nino FiliuThanks for the info, im so glad I came across this video, I look forward to seeing past, present and future videos from their channel.
Very interesting. I saw the same kinds of innovation in the Philippines during the 1960's. Millions of leftover WWII materials were reused in many different ways, almost always well beyond its original intention. Some of those innovations are still in use today 60 years later.
What can I say? America builds things to last! Or well, they USED to until Biden and Walmart/ChinaMart trashed everything.
As a mechanic, I understand his description of the relationship between people and machinery. The people who assembled these devices have that same sense of relationship between man and machine. They understand the tech they use intimately, without the "learned helplessness" common to other populations. Those objects and their history are worth preserving.
Best place to survive in a zombie apocalypse.
F051, but then, a communist zombie invaded and the island is cursed.
F051 you can only get in with a Cuban passport
-WOLF- not true, u can visit Cuba with a vida
Best place to test the virus. Already a missle target when complete.
Most underrated comment of the year...
Love Cuba from usa
"Technological Disobedience", I like that.
I was hoping you would see this *****
Yes, Thumbs up!
It makes me sick to think that all those years, the U.S. put countless things into landfills that only would have taken an hour or less to fix, given the know-how. We could have sent them old computers broken home appliances, etc. Stuff we just throw away could have given them twice the quality of life.
+Chris Turnblom We live in a consumerist society where the emphasis is on producing, producing and more producing.
+Chris Turnblom Read some history. Castro violently took over Cuba and closed it off, pushed all American influence and money out.
+searchandscan I already do. If it wasn't for my ability to repair electronics, welfd plastic and make many other repairs I wouldn't be living half as comfortably as I am now.
+800lb Gorilla My apologies. I do study a lot of history and I am aware of how the Cuban revolution took place but I have come under the impression that he was willing to allow trade years ago but we would not comply. But that may be because my only knowledge of Cuba since the 60's has been from mostly "left wing" sources. Feel free to enlighten me if you can I am much too busy with other things right now than to try and study Cuba since the revolution, extensively.
800lb Gorilla to back up Chris Turnblom he is right in that if was actually the USA who refused trade with Cuba. we refused their aid for hurricane Katrina as well. Also it would be worth for you to investigate the tragedy of the bay of pigs where the CIA needlessly endagered both Cuban and USA citizen lives in a major military flop sanctioned by JFK.
Fascinating and impressive beyond words.
Man I would love to spend some time in Cuba and just sit and observe the mechanics there, because fixing cars with a lack of tools and specially parts is amazing.
What he do at our shop I want to say is sim8lar but in really it's nothing compared to how they tackle the task.
IF U LIKE CARS U'LL BE FASCINATED ....my friend faily busines its all about cars specially modifications to put more people like makin a truck from a 57 Chevrolet
This video gave me motivation to believe I can do what I thought was difficult.
it is great that in North America we do not have to use our brains anymore in mundane things. if it breaks, get it new. We have time to watch youtube, Facebook and TV, and we can eat and eat, and eat. Our brains are not longer wasted creating when there are so many things to do in with instragram and snapchat. We can use our brains to follow the importance lives of the Kardashians...inventing new things every day is for lame people.
Don't pay attention to those kinds of people, do you, do great things
Typically whenever my electronics break i repair them if possible or scrap them for useful components.
But i'm a Tech savvy Englishmen who doesn't tend to engage in social media very often so i don't count for the general populace.
we don't wait for it to break, we just buy new stuff on credit because it's new, it doesn't even have to be better!
viajer m i hope you are being sarcastic
+overclockeador You missed the point completely. No need to be so mean. I am sorry you're so angry. xoxo
very interesting . resourcefulness. a trait lost on many human beings nowadays.
Joe Daniels Swing This Kettlebell and Strength aint lost, its just lying around somewhere waiting to be rediscovered again.
Resourcefulness only arises when resources aren't available. Very few people are capable of coming up with a solution when a problem doesn't exist. Those are the people that create the future.
Resourcefulness is how the rich become replaced by the poor. Some people have a lot of resources, put can't place a value on them.
That has to be the most interesting and educational vid that I've viewed on YT this year. I'd always heard and seen about how the Cubans had salvaged American cars from the 50s and 60s and kept them going all these years without replacement parts. But little did I know how much ingenuity and creativeness had been applied to almost every aspect of their daily lives. Amazing how inventive people can be when the need arises. This is certainly the most glaring example of an entire population thinking outside the box.
The Cuban people is a strong and brave one. They have endured a criminal embargo by the USA for years with creativity and hard work. What a proud people!
They chose the wrong people to side with. THEY made this choice by supporting communist tyrants.
ZA_Survivalist The people rarely have a choice. Politics is an illusion.
+ZA_Survivalist To some the tyrants are the Americans.
+ZA_Survivalist If you are born somewhere and a dictator takes over..how exactly is that your choice? Do you think maybe that's why rafts full of people risk their lives trying to get to Florida? Also, should you in fact just pick up and try to leave just because your leaders suck?
+josepvabr
Why is the embargo such a problem? Doesn't Cuba have the rest of the world to trade with?
Brilliant short piece, only wish it were longer.
that was a good presentation, I'd like to see one of those exhibits someday
overclockeador the exhibit he has in the states, it's appreciation for human innovation
overclockeador well, that exactly why I find it interesting, being forced to make do with extremely less, and the everyday uses it has for them.
The whole Cubans making items cobbled together from whatever they need to keep them working.
things will change for them slowly, and will be a lost memory in a generation, once things maybe smooth over, we'll probably never see something like this again, barring a global catastrophic event, I would love just to go to Cuba on a trip just to experience seeing all the vintage automobiles.
I was just interested to see the exhibit in the united states, from a position of intelligence, simply on the basis of human ingenuity.
You seem insulted to eat a steak knowing it came from a cow.
It's simply a matter of appreciation on a level, obviously your not that level mentally, and would rather complain about how the cow was fed before it became a steak. I know obviously not on the same level as your trying to preach in a TH-cam comments section, you obviously don't lack the capacity to see the forest for the trees.
Necessity has been the mother of all inventions. A salute to the spirit of Cuba.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the most successful and enterprising of cuban inventors worked largely in boat construction.
For some reason youtube is blocking two comments by two different posters, neither comment is "offensive" in any way, and I wouldn't block them even if they where. Every time I try to restore them i get "there was a problem with this action, try again later" not sure whats up.
He probably just built one, and was never seen again
hahahahaha...don't say that
IF that "system" is better (as dumbed venezuelans and brazilians insist to believe)...why don't northamericans (mexicans, USAers and canadians)...flee to that "paradise Island"???
gus per brainwashing
Lost Luna now that's funny 😂
Brilliant!
Emphasizes what we actually need technology for.
Innovation in isolation. Great piece.
I may be one of the few to say so, but I found the video to be inspiring. People are often at their best when things fall apart around them. 30 years is long enough for me to be inspired by such people, regardless of politics. Ive been a repairman all my life, and I wish our nation would mail everyone a booklet like they had. I see broken things all the time, most of them broken because of the lack of understanding about how they, and other things actually work.
Seems like a sort of post-apocalyptic, Mad Max kind of society. Only maybe not quite so harsh.
+Tom Bruner at least they are all equally poor, except that some people are more equal than others
+Tom Bruner The apocalypse in this case was Castro's violent takeover of Cuba.
+Tom Bruner We enter in the third phase of industrial era in the world . Probably the last one . We are at the beginning of the third phase , new technology , house with solar system distribution and re-sale the excess etc... ( Jeremy Rifkin the third industrial revolution , youtube ) .
+Bart Bols The real Apocalypse was being scared.
WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU IT ISNT LIKE THAT. im cuban and we love each other its the government that sucks, we dont suffer, we have houses, free education for all, and amazing doctors.
this is amazing. i love when people find a way around things and start inventing their own tech. if we all practiced this more globally, im sure we would have things like cars running on salt water (which has been done) and near-free energy everywhere...
Made hisself one hell of a nice white van ......
That's what I was thinking man...lol
The keep repairing the old cars from the fifties. Less well known is that they do this with the refrigerators, to.
Mechanics set up illegal car repair places. Officials know about them but don't crack down, because they depend on them to keep their own cars running. I also saw a horse and buggy (which I rode in ) made of old bicycle parts welded together. Nobody can say that the cubans are no creative.
Sadly, they have to beg for stuff like soap, which the government doesn't make much of, concentrating instead on making stuff for export (rum, cigars, coffee, and the like.)
I heard that many of the big cigar producers left the country when Fidel took over and took their knowledge with them because they wouldn't be able to last under the new government.
it runs on 4 dishwasher motors so it's green energy.
couldnt last or wouldnt make massively huge enough profits, big big difference.
Wow! I propose to have Cuban engineers/artist like this man to work on any Mars mission, global warming projects, desalination plants - anything important worldwide! This man's thinking, born of necessity, is desperately needed in my country, the U.S. I'll look him up and remember him as my inspiration going forward. Excellent video!!!
May God bless the Cuban people.
I would argue that this level of ingenuity is desperately needed in the United States.
We’re too dependent on industry.
U guys dont have our needs thats why
Actually DIY culture is pretty strong within the US. There are even ''worse'' reliant cultures out there...
@@cyberpozo As an American, you're exactly right. Desperation breeds strength and ingenuty. And a country that's been through as much as Cuba has will be full of strong, intelligent, industrious people.
@@daniloivensmina Oh please. Our "DIY" culture isn't even close the same. It's done for fucking fun by people with something to prove because they're trying to seem better than the pampered culture that we actually are. What's evidenced in this video is TRUE ingenuity, driven by desperation, starvation, complete economic stagnation, it was literally the only option.
DIY in the US is just trying to make cool shit to feel more like a man, but we have the internet to show us how to do it, there's no necessity, no actual struggle and scavenging.
It's okay to admit that our home country of the US has fucking spoiled us, and is probably the worst country in terms of being spoiled and reliant on corporation+industry driven convenience.
That's pretty cool. They had to get resourceful, but I wouldn't call these things inventions really. Definitely creative engineering and tinkering, and impressively so.
no it's not
candiduscorvus yeah, and you were also given formal education and come from a first world country. the fact that these people figured these things out by themselves is what's impressive.
Heh, how do you know where I'm from or what I've had?
Awesome. I like the term technological disobedience!
Reminds me of a Norwegian saying,
"Nøden lærer naken mann å spinne" - "Distress teaches a naked man to make yarn". Humans are fantastic, in that if a problem becomes big enough, they will figure out a solution. Greed hinders this, of course, but hopefully greed won't win in the end. This was a cool segment, I'm impressed by the Cubans!
You get to love this guy sophisticated way of explain that the Cuban fuck off Rebolution fucked us all and we had not choice but to do something about it or fucking die, lol.
Cuba was only isolated from the USA.
Looking at some of his inventions, I can't help thinking of Fallout(TM).
+Tod Karlson Cuba was isolated from the world by the own government, no internet access, no independent press or television, the people couldn't travel outside the country like others nation, etc etc.
+Tod Karlson i am a mexican IT student and a lot of cuban engineers come to mexico to teach basic and advanced engineering in mechatronics and computational systems they can literally come up with genius and at the same time dangerous ideas at the same time but they are just impressive. IMO if i was an engineering leader in a company i would 100% hire the cuban over the american.
+neirad537 You are wrong. The US government isolate them for not complying to corporate interest, Cuba was the only one out of the three countries that revolt and kick out the US government, Hawaii and Puerto Rico weren't able to do so.
Mel Osaco It look like you never lived in Cuba before or know first hand people those who lived there, is a very unique country, and yes US put a commercial embargo that hurt Cuba economically, but the isolation is a Cuba government thing. Cuba love to control everything from the media, to the culture, what you think, even what you wear.
There is a reason why the internet is so restricted in Cuba, nothing to do with the US embargo. As of late with Raul running the country they have open a lot to the world.
It used to be that anything you watch, listen, read that wasn't government sanctioned was considered "diversionismo ideologico" Ideological diversionism, and anything you do not government sanction was consider "contra-revolución".
Artist have to use double meaning in order to express a different ideas and even them they where punish, the used to band from music, to books even Cuban made movies where ban. They got something call CDR (Committees for the Defense of the Revolution) to basically to do surveillance neighborhood level.
People develop a behaviors call Doble cara (two faces) to a level that was natural to act one way in public and other in private. Cuba was a master on spying and infiltrating anything in Cuba to the point that you couldn't even trust your own family. Whatever book on suppression and control is out-there Cuba used it all. 1984 in steroid.
In Cuba the government is the only allow to do trade, and even if you got the money you are not allow to import anything just to buy with restriction what the government provide, so if Cuba spot importing soviet made products and now they used Chinese or what ever they deal is a the moment, Cuban have to hack what they have in order to keep things going.
neirad537
1.-Seems like you never understood the real meaning of government, and that is to control societies and keep it them in line, the US is no different and is possible the best example of modern Fascism,
2.-Look at the decay of the society today, is turning people into brainless dead soul conformist members of the american consumer culture. Along with the dumbing down of their education system that produce obedient workers. incapable of critical thinking
3.-In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it.
Now there is a difference between a true ideological revolution and a corporate sponsored coup d'etat.
4.-Double standards and turning people against each other is used to defeat any attempts for people to organize and change the status Quo, that is what Castro fought in order to kick out the invaders and that is what the US is doing to get the island back
5.-Free trade is corporate crime that destroy local economies and create wage slaves people must learn the concept of planned and intrinsic obsolescence that only benefit the corporations.
To learn more read
War is a racket by Smedley D Butler
Ending the depression with planned obsolescence by Bernard London
Crystallizing public opinion and Propaganda by Edward Bernays
Confessions of an economic hit man by John Perkins
PS. The american dream is called that way because you must be sleep to believed
As Cuban I am proud of my people's ingenuity, yes necesity is the mother of invention. Through history Cubans had contribute to worlds inventions even before communists took control. My people are in the biggest jail in the world, Cuba is a giant jail where no one could go out unless had special permit or escape risking their lives. Traveling inside the island from one province to another I needed to get my Identity book stamped an declared what was the reason for my travel. 1969 when I had to visit my grandmother in Camaguey (I lived in Habana) my ID was stamped both way. Once when living Habana and again when returned to report that I was back. Tell me is that is not control over the people like in jail.
The famous "embargo" only existed from direct trade with US, because any country in the world (Spain, France, Japan, Germany just to mention some) always have done business with Cuba. Americans too did business using Canada and Mexico as passing point. The communist government of Cuba never passed the profits from those trades into the people in the island, where the money went? Well, check out the banks accounts of Castro and his communist family in Switzerland, check out their private vacation properties in Europe. Is is not information you can find because the Castros never declare their financies to anyone, they know how to hide their wealth.
From a prosperous country in the Americas, yes even with a dictator like Batista, my people had great standard of life before 1959. Batista was bad, but people who wanted to prosper did it, Example: My father was very poor, as a 9 years old living in Habana, he cleaned shoes (white boy) in 1920-1930 in the streets. Saved his pennies and bought his bycicle and started to deliver telegrams fot the Western Union, saved money until he bought his car. With the car he did taxi driver and on his bedroom invented the machines to manufacture his inventions for the headlights of cars and attachments for windows. Saved his money and openend small shop where he and a friend started manufacturing those inventions. He starting selling his products to Ford automobile, he was not rich, but he was supporting his family and providing for an automobile industry. My father grew from a poor boy cleaning shoes in the streets of Habana to a business man all under "bad governments". Governments that as dictatorial the were the allowed simple people become what they wanted to be. People could done better if they wanted, because was freedom. Some say it was dictatorial governments, guess what people were really FREE. Castro came in and closed his shop destroying what he built from scratch. That is what communism, so called "communism freedom" does to people and countries, DESTROY THEM. They destroy the economy while the top layer of the party enjoy wealth. Yes, they said "no more poors and wealthy" but the whole country becomes poor while the few becomes very wealthy under the table sort of speak.
Food, medical, and any vital items the people were depraved of, yes education and medical are "free" but people pay a higher price not measured in $ but in suffering and necesities. The education is "free" but the graduates of high school don't have knowledge of expelling nor grammar of their own language. Those are not requirements to graduate, which is s shame because we (Cubans) are very smart people. Communism motto: Take away the guns, so people can't defend themselves. Take food away so people will be very busy trying to feed their families and on surviving, so people don't have time to think in something else.
That is how the Castro destroyed the country using "embargo" as his excuses. Kept the people with the constant fear of "an American invasion" that never happened. Constantly talking to the people of a better future that never happened either.
About Obama's and Republicans, none of them had done really anything to help Cuba. This opening of relstions is a one way deal, Castros get what they wanted and the US look good on world's eye, or that is what they think. Closing Guantanamo Base without demanding judgement for Castro's crimes is unacceptable. Thousands of lifes lost under Castro's regime and letting them get out without being accountable for is a slap on the face to the people of Cuba who have been the victim all along.
Yes, my people deserve better life and Castro deserve to pay for their crimes. If the Nazis paid, why Castro will get away without penalties?
I am a Cuban... and it pisses me off that i have to learn that "The Family Book" existed from a TH-cam channel, instead of in our history class... but hey, that's us, hiding the past... true soviet style... thank you for the video man.
@Birgitta Nilsson crazy part is..
None of my relatives even knew the book existed, turns out not every family got one... only very few people i've asked remembers about it...
Necessity is the mother of invention. In given time and with Democracy, Cuba will have great inventors and doctors. I just hope they remain this way for another generation or so, to cultivate this forgotten human trait.
Not forgotten just misplaced.
Cuba already has great doctors. They are internationally recognized for the quality of their medical profession. No joke. They send doctors to every international crisis. Many canadians went to Cuba for quicker medical treatments. It's their main claim to fame. (that and having the most literate nation in all latin-america) And a vaccine against a certain form of lung cancer was allegedly part of the lifting of the embargo deal. It's already going to trial in Canada. What Cuba has managed to do in isolation is very commendable. Hats off. It's a pleasure to welcome them back into the international community.
Eduardo Naveda >"muh failed economy is the cubans fault"
I love that picture on the book of the Crab in the light-bulb screw terminal. I love creativity. Go makers everywhere!
Which book, and where in it, I want to read that one!?
@@torque258 0:41
That's how you solve problems. You can't be held down or held back They made a whole Industry.
Necessity is the mother of invention. I visited Cuba in 2003 and only a few areas had been restored. It was refreshing to not be bombarded with advertising, billboards and consumerism. Havana is an incredible city, skilled artists, warm people and clearly resourceful. Other countries can learn a lot from them and I hope the not so good stuff improves and the good remains for the wonderful Cuban people.
If Cuba ever becomes a free country, it will be the place where innovation comes from. without government agencies preventing invention due to regulations, all kinds of things will be tried, and some will succeed.
Ernie Miller I love the free markets that develop once the communist chains have been cast off, it's the closest we'll get to true freedom.
Except they will keep being regulated. They only started talking to USA because they can't keep leeching of Venezuela and they know everyone's gonna die of hunger if they can't find any sort of income.
The USA accepted because it's an amazing business opportunity with the touristic places it has, but the Cuban government hasn't changed and it will most likely not change in a while.
Yes, we need to wait until the Castro brothers are gone.
Or you could show them Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand...etc
It's like fallout
the history of my life. this is where i come from
This spirit of resourcefulness and creativity is absolutely beautiful.
Cuba is an amazing place, it really would have flourished if America hadn't chocked its progress.
More like if it wasn't governed by a communist totalitarian regime.
America is more of a totalitarian regime than Cuba ever was or is, and it seems to be surviving, just about.
justfoundout America is a democracy. Cuba is not. I don't support the american foreign policy nor their surveillance of the world. But calling a dictatorship less totalitarian than a democracy is foolish and has no connection to the real world.
Hr. Direktörn LMAO America is a democracy? since when? ridiculous two party politics and regardless who they vote for corporations decide their policy, democracy in America is nothing more than a show pony
justfoundout I'm not arguing that American politics and government isn't flawed and no where near as democratic and open as it should be. But to be so blinded by "america hate" that you think a straight-up dictatorship is more democratic than america is silly. Get real.
Gotta give them credit for ingenuity , the real MacGyver's. Open up trade bring these people up-to-date , bring some of those cigars back
It is actually really impressive, and it'll make a good case study for the sociological history of technology.
Ustedes han hecho un trabajo increíble. Una maravillosa colección de historia.
"when the USA left and took all the engineers with them in the 1960's..."
Those engineers escaped communism on their own.
They did have A backup yeah while Cubans main focus was reorganized to work within health and social wellbeing of it's own citizens, I must say even though I'm sure cubans felt the pinch of salt, the real mc'coy was right inside of em, just look at all the strides and progressions made, for fuck sakes they made vaccines for certain cancers out there...
Escaped being targeted by US imperialism and sanctions lol
me encanta esto. Soy de reparar, inventar, re diseñar o reciclar cosas. a veces los junto en la calle. Lamentablemente no tengo espacio, y vivo con mi familia, donde apenas tengo lugar para ellos mi mujer y mis 2 hijos. además mi mujer tiene TOC así que no puedo usar cualquier rincón sin que se moleste, porque se pone terrible.
Lo último que estuve haciendo son prensas (sargentos), escudras, y otros accesorios para herrería, estoy proyectando hacer una morza (prensa) casera y hacer una pinza para soldadora casera, ya que tengo una soldadora de arco y es de las mas baratas que vienen con pinzas casi descartables, se doblan y no tienen mucha fuerza.
también he hecho muebles y reciclado otros, reparo cosas electrónicas pero no se mucho sobre electrónica.
+Andrés Leonardo software y hardware son DOS diferentes cosas. amigo
Como carajos alguien con sus cualidades/defectos se casa con una mujer con TOC? jajajjajaja
Zeiptas
jajajaja
Miguel Valentine
si lo se, puedo con algunas cosas de hardware, eso es simple, no con el software, no e estudiado sobre eso, pero parece algo interesante.
"We can survive without technology but can't survive without Working & Knowledge, the two simple forms of survival, the more important factors is Courage, that's all we got." -Bradley Stewart
4-UP©®™
A couple of years ago there was a kickstarter to translate that book he talks about in this video and I was one of only four people to back it and the funding failed. It makes me sad to think about.
*As Boserup said, when the people is in need, they are going to invent their way out* 😎 very interesting example
Wouldn't a non rechargeable battery explode or leak if you used that?
+vexx506 Maybe a regular size battery. They would use it to charge those tiny round disk batteries.
+DF Rellom like thos we find in a PC ? CMOS battery ? it's lithium I think, I have many but all discharged don't really know how to charge them and make use of them
+Batman Cmos batteries aren't recharged by your PC. Unless this has changed in the last 5 years anyway.
+illyounotme
The product you're talking about is called Batteriser. Beware though, there are LOTS of attempts to discredit it, but it has been shown to actually work by independent labs . It hasn't been released yet unfortunately
If those components are what I think they are, that is a very elegant & simple "Impedance Charger"; I've been using them on rechargeable batteries for decades, but never thought to try it with a 1.5v "button-cell", such as the popular #675 Hearing Aid battery, which is the same size as at least one of the batteries my old calculator uses. Well done!
I like how they innovated things from trash and were like "only Cubans see things this new and special way". Or maybe PEOPLE in general are just creative, gotta love people throwing their own crap in there haha
Maybe its because only Cubans were in this specific scenario. Just athought
Tough times call for tough, innovative measures. That's what the interview was getting at.
Is it somehow offensive to you NOT to include your people or something?
This is so relatable for me as a Nigerian, because we face the same plight of having to improvise to achieve our aims not because our country is poor but because we lack leaders who hv our good @ heart and hv an abundance of people who are either celebrating the failure of our system or too scared to make a move
And where the hell is the magical recipe to recharge non-rechargeable batteries?!?!
It does not require magic just a trickle charger. Google it then go to radio shack. fyi you can only recharge them a couple times before then burn out.
just look at the components in the picture, and duplicate. it's not magic. or better, figure out how they work, and make your own design. should take a few minutes..
nebula man I guess it's not for everyone.
Example of a Miami Cuban and an island Cuban.
As said above, non-rechargeable batteries CAN BE CHARGED!
Cubans are really smart
Si fueran inteligentes ya habrían inventado algo para liquidar al comunismo ancianos asesinos.
Racist.
By saying Cubans are smart you're implicitly saying people from other cultures aren't as smart. Alan Naranjo
Alan Naranjo
Wait, what the fuck? I wasn't even talking to you to begin with. I was talking to the original poster, why the hell did you respond like I was talking to you when I was clearly referring to the original poster?
Alan Naranjo
See how your username is tagged in this post and all of my replies to you? That's how you know I'm taking to you and not the OP. Also, compliments can be racist too you ignorant fuckwit. "Asians are so good at math" comes to mind.
i don't know if it's because im a dentistry student but i only notice one tooth where two central incisor teeth suppose to be.
This is extraordinary! Why am I just now seeing this?
Wait, they were only cut off from America, how were they left so far behind? I know Canada had a relationship with them during this time. And they're saying no technology was brought over?
all horded by Castro's government
austin bevis it's called "blockade" and "propaganda". When you are capitalist and have a strong socialist state, you do anything you can to put them down.
Watch the documentary, The Art of Making ruins. It was Castro's self fulfilling profecy. The Us Never invaded so he made sure it looked as if it did.
canada is part of north america, and so is mexico...
There're 8 billions of us now. Imagin every single person on earth could access to proper education 😔
There are many that have this access yet they waste their lives on drugs and self pity.
@@paulbenoit6076 Or in the meat grinder that is "American Dream"? To some laboring at a 9-5 just to sustain themselves on the minimalist of necessities is a waste. It's a paradigm of programed slavery under the guise of freedom.
Proper education like they have in Cuba.
@@trupyrodice4462more akin to indentured servitude
@@aminahmed719 Thank you, that's actually a way better term than slavery. Actually, there are way better synonyms other than outright slavery; Bondsman, Articled Servant, or Bondslave.
Whoever translated this deserves to be fired. He is not saying "Rationalists", he is saying "Rationers". Get someone who knows spanish.
Wow! Very impressive! From here in the States we must say continue to be yourselves and the world will come to you!
Yeah, the U.S. is about 20 years behind this type of economy, the way we're going here in 2014. The more we lean towards the socialistic-like Cuban/Soviet style, the more we will share that dead future with them. I do salute the Cuban people for making survival an art form though - despite their government.
It wasn't the Cuban government that imposed sanctions on themselves ...
Oh, I see your point now - socialism cannot work into itself, for itself, by itself, it needs international FREE TRADE to survive. In most cases socialism has to be imposed (shoved down the throats) on a population "for their own good".
btw, the Soviets, for decades, pumped money into the Cuban government cadaver to to keep it animated, but when the USSR fell, Cuba went into ruin, just like North Korea did when China cut its spigot.
But China survived, because it was wise enough to use its newly acquired Hong Kong economic system as its own economic blueprint to a free market, i.e. capitalism. I travel to China all the time and Chinese capitalism in 2014 is even more pronounced there than in many parts of the U.S.
Socialist type economics is a dead end street - ask the dependant people in Greece, Spain, Portugal and many other countries suffering under its yoke. Ask the former suffers of the east European countries, who now embrace a free market system and freedom, and who are aghast at the U.S. turning into a form of Soviet, centralized government, that started in '08 and is destroying its economic base.
surearrow Any small country limited to agricultural exports would necessarily require international free trade. Did you ever buy Cuban sugar or cigars in the States? No, they were outlawed. You could buy them in the Soviet Union though which would account for the Soviets being the Cuban's main trade partners. Naturally the Cuban economy suffered when the Soviet Union crumbled.
As to your examples of Southern European countries suffering - that suffering has come about due to Capitalist activities such as speculation, banking irregularities, the imposition of huge loans and subsequent conditions.
The 'Free Market' can no longer be allowed to roam the savannah unchecked, too many people are getting hurt while the number of people benefitting is decreasing.
If placing restrictions on the sociopathic behaviour of international financiers is 'Socialist' then call me a Socialist.
And as for your 'centralised US government' - that is a direct result of your Free Market policies - the 1% have started circling the wagons ...
Get yourself a copy of the Cuban's mend-and-do book - you'll be needing it soon enough.
You're confusing a free market economy system with corporatism, which is an unchecked, government supported cronyism (what the Bush & Obama administrations participate in). This is not the free market.
Corporatism is where large corporations are bought and paid for to do the government’s bidding. Over time, they grow so large; they begin to even dictate their rules to the government. This is not the free market.
The core difference between you and I is that I believe local people, living in their local free market economies can live much happier lives than under a huge, self imposed authority. Anything centralized into a massive controlling entity will become corrupt and eventually enslave the masses. That includes religion, governments, societies and economies. People control versus centralized control.
You have to be using socialism in the wrong context, because little of US economy resembles the USSR communism/socialism except for the corruption of business/government elite. The US economy has more in common with capitalism social welfare economies of Western European countries, and was doing fine until the fraud committed by US capitalists wrecked the world economy.
You all are entitled to your opinions, and so am I. And my thoughts regarding this is...how lucky for all of you to be amazed by these so called "inventions". Living in the third world... these are common for us.
Yeah. But do you know how to produce them? An invention can also be at the order of production.
Pär-Ola Zander Yes we do know how to produce them. You can't even begin to imagine what people in third world countries have to do in order to live and survive - unless you are here. You are amazed in these inventions but we are not because we use them day in day out. It's like you not being amazed by your cellular phones because you use them day in day out and it's normal for you.
A similar "DIY"-culture existed in Europe after WWII. Interestingly even the upcoming industry itself was part of it. So they transformed helmets into cooking pots and invented the famous Messerschmitt Kabinenroller: As there was no need for fighter planes, they took the parts and made something different out of it.
It existed in the United States during WWII also. It exists in many places around the world today and throughout history. I think anywhere a need exists there will be people that find ways to meet those needs.
Wish we were still that way in merica. Poor merica. No one can fix anything anymore. I know a guy who can fix anything but is poor because we measure intelligence in college degrees and not valuable skills. Fuck that.
Beautiful work, the presentation and the delivery. Good work, and simply remarkable ingenuity on part of the Cuban people.
I wish someone would translate that book into English. I'd certainly buy it.
Learn Spanish 🤪🤟🏻
@@derekpridemore993 At 71 years of age, I don't think I'd be able to master it. I have a hard time learning languages and even have a lot of difficulty with some of the regional accents here in the US.