I’m inspired by the speakers at Textile Messages earlier tonight, an event about e-textiles organized by Yasmin Kafai at UPenn. One of the speakers, Leah Buechley, developer of the Lilypad Arduino, is also speaking tomorrow at a UArts/Hive76 event that I wish I could make it to. The Lilypad took the Arduino idea and put it in a sewable form that gave e-textiles a big kick in the pants. E-textiles or soft circuits are exciting for a lot a reasons that deserve their own exploration, but suffice it to say that what gets me gesticulating excitedly is the idea of mashing up different audiences with fluency in different technologies. Putting electronics in crafts/clothing/sewing gives it a new accessibility, and gives it access to new creative thinkers. By clearing a path for crafters and sewers to start thinking about conductivity and sensors, soft circuits make space for electronics (especially … Read the rest
Crowdsourcing my thesis: Wanna be a reader?
Dear friends, colleagues, strangers and spammers,
Around Monday-ish, I’ll have a 2nd draft of my Capstone project for a Master of Environmental Studies ready for reading. I (mostly) have the readers I need to get a grade, but I’d love to have input from more folks. You are qualified if you can read and if you have any interest at all in technology and/or the earth. One friend has already commented that my writing style is kind of journalistic and that it’s almost an enjoyable read. If you have the time and inkling to read about 45 pages of double-spaced content about e-waste, rare earths, and environmental justice and policy, please comment or email me! My final revisions are due May 3, though I might be able to make minor tweaks up until May 10 or so.
Thanks!… Read the rest
“Soldering is Easy!” Comic Book
There’s a great new comic about how to solder by Mitch Altman, Andie Nordgren and Jeff “Mightyohm” Keyzer . It’s based on a one-pager that Andie and Mitch made last year, and it’s totally cute and informative. It’s a fantastic example of friendly tech ed, and it’s shareable under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license.* Apparently the comic will be part of a book on microcontrollers for beginners that Mitch and Jeff are publishing through No Starch Press later this year.
Here’s the pdf, and check out Jeff’s site for copies in other formats and languages, and even a no-text version if you want to make your own translation.
* Thanks to Asheesh for his characteristically astute request for clarity on the type of CC licence. Jeff says that folks “are free to teach with it, color it, modify it, share it with your friends, translate it, and … Read the rest
New word: Make-cation
With compliments to–and on the urging of–new friend and awesome electrical engineer/artist Sophi Kravitz, I give you my new word:
Make-cation – 1. Time off to make stuff. 2. The stuff you do when you’re procrastinating to avoid the other stuff you’re doing.
Usage: 1. “Argh, I’m working so much lately that I don’t have time to do anything creative. I need a make-cation!” 2. “I’m taking a quick make-cation from writing my thesis to whip up a batch of milk paint.”
Example: When you take a week off for carpentry, cabinetry, or welding classes at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont, that’s a make-cation.… Read the rest
Best auto-complete of the day
Wanted: “US Department of Defense”.
Got: “US Department of Deficiencies.”
Inches away from a completed thesis draft…… Read the rest
Not So Funny: April Fools and Rare Earths
Update: I’ve done a bunch more reading on this since I wrote it and I don’t totally agree with everything I said anymore. Specifically, the monopoly was a long time coming and export quotas have been ticking down since 2005. Yes, the market failed, but China’s export quotas may have as much to do with protecting natural resources as sending a message to the market. Will file an update soon.
Today we got some awesome lulz and a few, well, less awesome, being the first day of the fourth month which is dedicated to chicanery and such.
Tonight I was reading up on mining and recycling of rare earth metals like the stuff in super strong magnets, wind turbines, hybrid car batteries, compact fluorescents and LEDs. I found a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report about rare earths in the defense supply chain. Strangely, it was published on April Fools Day … Read the rest
Chronicle of a Lab Coat Foretold
I’ve really enjoyed other Hiver76s’ stories of how they became makers, but I’m a little shy to share like that. Instead, I’m starting a new meme: How I use my lab coat.
Several of us Hive76 fashionistas have special relationships with our lab coats, from dignified appreciation to reckless abandon. I’m one of those people who shows my lab coat undying affection by using the crap out of it. Every grease stain, every paint smear, every nicked buttonhole is an homage to a project that wouldn’t have been the same without proper mad-scientific attire.
By all rights, my lab coat should have a Cult of the Dead Cow logo on it. It was 2006 and I was at HOPE Six, my first Hackers On Planet Earth conference. My friends and I thought it would be real funny, see, if we poked fun of Sen. Ted Stevens by … Read the rest
Future music and full duplex love with Tek Lado
A couple months ago I thought I saw a broadsheet in a newspaper box with a cover story called “Who is the Hispanic Geek? / Quien es el Geek hispano?”. But I figured it was a figment of my optimistic imagination. A few weeks later a friend asked if I’d seen this new bilingual tech and pop culture magazine (PRINT!) called Tek Lado. It took another couple looks to get the pun (get it? Teclado?) because every time I picked up the zine my head was flooded with happy chemicals and I couldn’t think straight.
But Tek Lado actually exists in the world outside my head, and although they’ve moved from print to online only, they appear to be even cooler than I thought. I met with editors Mel Gomez and Liz Spikol (formerly of Philly Weekly) last week and it was one of those perfect meetings where … Read the rest
Sex Toy Hacking at The Hacktory this Sunday
Ever wanted to make a pair of undies that light up when the wearer hits a certain body temperature? How about a flogger made of old bike tubes? Ever wondered about reprogamming the vibration pattern in your favorite silicone friend for lots of fun and zero profit? On Sunday, Hacktory friend and instructor Maggie is leading a free-form workshop on hacking sex toys at The Hacktory and you’re invited! Registrations are filling up for this fun, respectful and creative workshop that requires no tech expertise, so head over and register for the workshop. You can also forward it around on teh schmacebook.
For some wildly creative ideas linking sex, electronics, galvanic skin response sensors, gender politics, and art, check out Elle Mehrmand and Micha Cardenas’ Bang Lab at UCSD. They do amazing things like monitor their heart rate and temperature and sending the info to audio and Second Life, … Read the rest
Gender, Technology and UN Pants
It took a minute, but I found decent pants to wear to the UN. Yeah, that UN. This Thursday, March 3, 2011, I’m part of a panel about “Women in Technology: The Past, Present, and Strategies for the Futureâ€, which will happen alongside the United Nations 55th Committee on the Status of Women Annual Conference. The topic of the big conference is access and participation of women and girls in education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work. This event is organized by the Foundation for the Support of the United Nations (FSUN) and co-sponsored by United Nations Association, New York (UNA-NY); World Diversity Leadership Summit (WDLS) and Hitachi Data Systems. More info from the UN Association and the Foundation for the Support of the UN. It’s open to the public, so stop by if you like!… Read the rest