You can make these interlocking reptile gecko pavers yourself, by pouring concrete into a mold sold by GeckoStone in Hawaii. Any resemblance to the work of a certain mathematically-inclined Dutch graphic artist is purely coincidental. Besides looking fly, GeckoStones "naturally create their own borders, and thus won't wander off into your garden." Some other cool tessellating patterns are available on the site.
Props to Steve for submitting this.
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May ended up being a busier month than anticipated and ultimately disrupted our plans to hold contiguous monthly meetings. However, everything is back on track for an excellent meeting for the month of June!
We have lined up a speaker from the active and inventive local electronics gurus, DorkbotPDX. They regularly have meetings at various locations around town that range from casual gatherings to focused in-depth workshops. Check out their calendar for more info.
With the DTV transition upon us, there couldn't be a better time to pick up some coat hangers and some wood and make yourself a kickin' DTV antenna as featured on Make: television. Of course, you'll still need a digital converter box, but here's a simple, low-cost project that can definitely improve your reception. Check out the segment, and then download the PDF for detailed plans on howto make one yourself. Let us know how it works!
Here's the PDF, and be sure to check out more great comments our original blog post.
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Bilal has been hanging out with the Instructables folks for a while. When I bumped into him at Maker Faire, he was typically animated as he told me about what they do there.
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In today's edition of Boing Boing Video, Mark Frauenfelder and Boing Boing Gadgets editor Lisa Katayama profile three cool things found at the recent Bay Area Maker Faire: The Yudu personal screen printer, an interactive, collaborative, musical Tesla Coil, and a candy-fabbing device from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.
Replacing guitar pickups is a good option for those wanting better tone without forking over the cash for a new instrument. The process may seem a bit intimidating to newcomers, but it's actually pretty simple - John's instructable provides a helpful step-by-step -
After some time on Google reading articles mentioning the good things that can come out of getting rid of the stock pickups on inexpensive guitars, I was set on trying to do this myself. I had never considered it before, I always thought that the insides of guitars were something only an elite group of individuals were allowed to mess with.
I was wrong. After finishing this pickup swap, I learned a ton about my guitar without messing ANYTHING up. And now I have a great sounding guitar, too.
If you're finally becoming good at guitar, or even if you have been playing for a while and want a change, swapping out the pickups is one of the best things you can do without shelling out hundreds for a new guitar.
Especially handy, as he documented some snags he ran into along the way, as well as a quick rundown on choosing a replacement pickup. Read more in the Instructable.
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If you are looking for a way to smarten up your travels, you may want to look into the Sightseer's Guide to Engineering provided by the National Society of Professional Engineers and National Engineers Week.
To engineers, crossing the Tacoma Narrows presented more of an economic challenge. Originally it was hoped the federal government would help pay for an $11 million bridge that would cut at least 40 miles off the trip between Tacoma and Bremerton. After the federal government refused, the state turned to Leon Moisseiff, who calculated that a thin-plate girder type bridge could be built for only $6.4 million. The collapse of the bridge shocked the engineering community, and the lessons learned did a lot to shape future American bridge building. The replacement bridge, built in 1950, is one of the largest suspension bridges in the world.
There are entries for each of the states, though it appears that they could use some suggestions for additional places for engineering minded vacation spots. Via Celeste.
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Replicas of actual old boats and sailboats - Last photo: replica of engine boatRum punch.
Shermac is a Belizean friend who comes to Cholula two or three times a year for a couple of months. He's made these boats since he was a boy, in his hometown Mullin's River, to play boat races in the river and later, in Caye Caulker island, as a handicraft that attracts the attention and desire to own one of tourists and locals alike. These boats are made of three types of wood mainly: moho, pine, and Santa Maria. Sometimes he also uses mahogany. Moho, Shermac's favorite, is a very light tropical wood that floats like cork when it dries completely; so it is ideal to make sailboats. Pine is the heaviest and hardest wood - and, therefore, more fragile for this kind of work - and Shermac uses it to make replicas of engine boats (or Belikin boats), fishing boats, and yachts. The Santa Maria wood is the most flexible of the three; it is also light and boats made with it sail pretty well in the sea.
Shermac uses very simple tools for the process. The first step is shaping the piece of wood with a machete and sometimes a coping saw. Then, with a smaller sharp knife - and I mean any knife, even a kitchen knife, as long as it is sharp -, he cuts away any bumps from the surface and begins working on the details, as in engine boats where he has to carve a rectangular hole that represents the cargo deposit in real boats. Afterwards, he rubs the surface with sandpaper until it is smooth and gives the final touches to the boat. He does this by hand.
Once this part is finished, he makes the details with plywood and glues them on, like the cabins on the engine boats (whose interiors in the photo are painted white to cover up the porosity of the wood). For the sailboats, Shermac carves and paints bamboo masts - bamboo is also used to make the masts of real sailboats. The last step is painting the boats. Shermac uses wood paint diluted with thinner and lets the boats dry in the shade, since putting them in the sun would bring up bubbles on the paint coat. Again, for the sailboats, after painting and placing the mast, Shermac cuts, sews, and puts the cloth sails which he obviously does himself with no more than scissors, thread, and needle. Depending on the size and type of boat, Shermac finishes a boat in approximately three days. These boats are a clear example of the inventiveness and creativity put to work with little resources that we can find a bit further down the Rio Bravo. Thanks, Shermac!
Kalanda shared with us this project where you can take 360° panoramic pictures using this aluminum base, a traditional tripod and any camera you have at home. As you know, most of the digital cameras have already integrated this function, where it is possible to take two or more pictures and merge them into a panoramic one. So, what is the mounting head for? When we put the camera on a traditional tripod, it will generally let us spin 360° over the horizontal axis, and a little bit less on the vertical. The problem is that when we take pictures and we turn the camera, the spinning axis does not line up with the objective's "nodal point". This mounting head allows you to decentralize the camera from the trip, in order to line up both axis. You can visit the original blog for a thorough explanation and construction details. We hope you are practicing your Spanish with Make:en Español.
¡Gracias Kalanda!
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Making your own brass clay-sculpting tools is easy with a few tools and some brass tubing, guitar strings, acupuncure needles, and other unexpected (and inexpensive) materials. These are great for the studio and for art teachers to make for/with their students.
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