About "theCylinder.net"

The name of the index is derived from le Cylindre, Rene Laennec's 1816 invention for listening to the lungs of his patients. Created at the bedside with only the materials at hand, it provides an excellent example of appropriate medical technology. Le Cylindre later became known as the stethoscope.

I started the Cylinder in 2004. I had been trying to organize my often disparate interests. After an exercise of self exploration, I found that there were three common themes to my interests: health, development and technology. I decided that a web site that would index different AMT's would allow me to explore all three of these areas and would be a tool for exploring what was already out there.

In 2007, I discovered Appropedia and have been transferring most of the AMT's that were indexed in the Cylidner to the health and safety category of Appropedia. The ones that remain here are projects on which I am working or in which I have a special interest. It was also around this time that the cylinder was converted to a blog.