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Makers Faire 2008 |
| After reading a bit about the Makers Faire the wife and
I decided to kill a Sunday afternoon (May 4th) and go see what it was
like. Other than the traffic surrounding the event (they expected around
70,000 people and about 120,000 showed up) it was a blast. Several
things caught my eye, some are shown here. Enjoy. Quick index:
Mousetrap, Robots,
Mentos, Cars,
Sculpture, Steam Punk,
Cool Stuff
(clicking on the pictures will open a larger version)
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MOUSETRAP
One of the things that caught my attention on the website was a life
size Mouse Trap game. What does 50,000 pounds of junk and 13 years of
creative effort look like? Read on...
The pre-show started with a straight jacket escape from the crane. |
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Well done! |
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Next up was an interesting stage show,
including a disgruntled new home owner, several scantily clad mice, an
exterminator, and pretty much the rest of the cast running around. |
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Now for the Rube Goldberg moment. A kid
selected from the audience turns the big crank... |
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Balls fall, hammers swing, a bowling ball
swings through a giant arc... |
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Another bowling ball rolls down a shoot... |
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Gathers speed, then falls into a
bathtub... |
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A metal man is catapulted through the
air... |
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The safe just prior to being cut loose... |
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Freefall! |
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To steal a quote, "It dented the earth!"
An entertaining spectacle. |
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ROBOTS This
trio of robots was near the front gate. I never saw them in action,
sniff. |
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There were several of these on an open
section of lawn, running around. |
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A close up where you can see some of the
interior details. |
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A mechanical giraffe was seen prowling the
fair grounds. |
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It stopped here for a bit so the kids
could pet it, it seemed to enjoy the attention. |
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This was the winning entry in the 2008
Robotics Competition. The robot had to pick up a ball and raise it a
certain distance and then drop it. |
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What can you say about R2D2? Just about
the cutest little droid anywhere. |
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MENTOS How
about the guys that started the whole Diet Coke and Mentos craze on the
internet? They put on a short stage show where they emptied a little
over 100 liters of diet soda all over the stage and themselves. |
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CARS So, this
is what you do with Legos when you have a drivers license? |
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A car with a message. I give up, just
enjoy the rest of the car pictures... |
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These are cupcake cars and were seen
whizzing around on occasion. |
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An inside view. |
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SCULPTURE
This piece was made from wire cable and chain. It towered over the
crowd. |
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The same construction as the picture
above. I'd love to see how they were moved... |
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Shades of "War of the Worlds". |
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A nifty interactive sculpture, Redwood
Waves. |
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A Giant squid. |
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STEAMPUNK
Steampunk guitars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk |
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COOL STUFF
There were a number of very creative individuals present. This guy was
very popular, especially with little kids. |
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Look at the detail in the costume, unreal. |
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This picture was created by drilling
thousands of holes. |
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Now you have a use for your old vinyl
records. |
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The Tesla coils drew a big crowd.
Amazingly loud they put on a great show. |
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They even cooked up some hotdogs for
lunch. Now you know why hotdogs are $7 at the fairgrounds, imagine their
power bill! |
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Adam Savage was signing books. |
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Office fashion statement. The dress is
made of binder clips. |
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This one is for my daughter, so what do
you think Tia? |
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Another fantastic costume. |
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This sign cracked me up and made me think
of my daughter again... |
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Just a cool sign. |
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