Never On Sunday

We visited the Maker Faire yesterday, taking advantage of its appearance in New York City. It’s a fair for hackers, in the original sens of the word: people who cobble together gadgets and gizmos and experimental algorithms. Where a state fair would award prizes to the best cherry jam or auction off the fattest hog, Maker Faire awards prizes to the most inventive use of LEDs and sells inexpensive robot kits.

Some of the exhibits are practical, especially in the tent hawking to industry, like a robot that recreates three-dimensional objects by building up layers of epoxy. Some aim at “serious,” professional art, like a USB device that monitors your typing and flashes a warning light when you type a four-letter word, as a way of making you aware of how pervasive foul language may be in your life. But many of the gizmos on display are merely entertaining. I got a big kick out of a machine that allowed you to pedal a bicycle frame to power a wheel onto which were tacked several electric guitars. As the guitars spin, they pass a prong that would strum the strings, playing a hideous sequence of twangs. This kind of silliness is pervasive in the hacker community, and a willingness to do something simply because we can is practically its defining feature.

Not every curiosity aroused my curiosity, and some were downright unpleasant. The jet engine used to power one display blasted the fair grounds every few minutes with a foghorn-like voooooooom and was very unpopular, and the Ford cars didn’t get much attention at all. Many of the handicrafts were ordinary, unremarkable handicrafts. But between these were enough oddities for a long afternoon’s entertainment. A device that could recreate designs on a roughly spherical surface, like a ping-pong ball or eggshell, and could also be adapted to etch wine glasses. A kit that lets you build a solar-powered, light-seeking robot. A lecture on using baker’s clay to demonstrate basic electrical principles—baker’s clay made with salt is conductive (80 ohms/cm) while baker’s clay made with sugar is not (18,000 ohms/cm). We didn’t get a chance to see the life-sized recreation of the old Mousetrap game in action, or the guys who play tunes on Tesla coils, alas, but a good time was nevertheless had by all.