This weekend I went to the Maker Faire. Having never been to a Maker Faire before, I described my expectations to a co-worker as it being a cross between the State Fair and the Exploratorium.1 It was way better than that.
Art cars, robots, and all kinds of incredible stuff. Everything was made by ordinary people who would happily tell you exactly how they made everything you saw. I also got to see Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame.
The Pen Mercedes
A giant street legal Radio Flyer
A jeep covered in legos
A shark-truck
A cupcake tricycle
Bike powered rock music
A sideways piano
You are NOT a rock star
Giant metal wings that can be spun around
Two and a half R2D2’s
An autonomous tripod robot making circular drawings
Cardboard surfboards
Adam Savage of Mythbusters
The CandyFab 6000
Zack Smith, Bre Pettis, and Adam Mayer of Makerbot
Plastic stuff printed out before my eyes
The highlight was meeting the guys of MakerBot (Zack “Hoken” Smith, Bre Pettis, and Adam Mayer) and seeing their Cupcake CNC machine in action. These guys are real-life MacGyver’s and Scotty’s. 2
Their Cupcake CNC is a computer controlled robot that builds a 3D object layer-by-layer using molten plastic. You can buy a kit or build one from the plans freely available on their site. Their robot is based upon the incredible work of the RepRap project. The things it can build are really only limited by your imagination.
I’ve never been to Burning Man, otherwise I would have included it in this hybrid description. [↩]
Last week while in Stockton I heard on NPR that a local station was switching to an “all ’90’s” format. I hoped against hope that it was not KWOD 106.5.
However, on the drive home yesterday I was flipping around the dial and caught FM 106.5 from Sacramento. I grew up in Sacramento and have fond memories of this particular station.
I remember the time a rival station, 102.5, was playing rap and hip hop and alternarock. At about the same time 102.5’s format went more towards the rap and hip hop while KWOD 106.5 went towards the grundge and alterna-rock scene.
I remember a DJ on 106.5 who decided to play the entirety of U2‘s (then) newest album “Achtung Baby” start to finish without interruption at midnight the day that it was supposed to be released. He was doing this because for some reason the release date had been delayed a few days. I sat next to my stereo1 with a blank cassette so I could tape the entire album. That album was released on November 19, 1991. 2 This album was also one of the first prerecorded cassette tapes I ever owned. 34
I remember feeling a little sad and nostalgic when the morning duo5 jumped to another station, 100.5.
I was listening to KWOD 106.5 when I learned that Kurt Cobain had committed suicide.
Anyhow, KWOD 106.5 just became “The BUZZ.” I listened to it for about five minutes this evening and shut it off. BuzzKILL is more like it. 67
