movement, his design would instead harness the energy produced by the moving weight.
Farland's prototype can power a room. The generator's size is limited because eventually it will require more power to kick the arm through a full revolution than the generator can produce. Farland believes that if he can figure out a way to replace the revolution-based system with a pendulum, his generator would be the green solution to replace hydroelectric power stations.
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In 2009, Farland completed his project and returned to a nomad's life. While travelling the west ocast, he ran into trouble in San Luis Obispo. He'd been travelling with three friends, and they's picked up a girl in Oregon. She was white and made public scenes when drunk, arguing with Farland. Eventually, their arguments intensified and, in one day, drew the police three separate times. Farland said being in San Luis Obispo on parole, continuously arguing with a white woman, made him nervous, so he told her he would put her on a bus back to Oregon. Upset with his decision, she began to cry.
According to Farland, a passing Marine saw her in distress and accused Farland of abusing the woman. Farland tried to leave the scene but the man wouldn't allow him. Court records offer conflicting accounts, but Farland says the Marine threw the first punch. The fight escalated when the Marine drew a knife, and Farland pulled out the lock-on-a-chain he carried for protection. At its climax, the brawl continued with Farland beating the man while he lay prone. He is currently serving eight years in prison for the altercation.
Still sitting on the yellow divider, Farland stares at the sea of incarcerated people, most of them black and aging.
"I'm trying to do something with this generator," Farland says, talking about what he wants to do when he goes home next year. "Pay for film school and do documentaries on people who make it through adversity. People coming out of prison and still making it... or at the very least, giving it all they got."
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