Fun with Fotos from the Faire

So, as I've mentioned ... Jane and I went to Maker Faire in New York when it came to town.

We left Manhattan behind, got our hands stamped, and proceeded to wander around the grounds.


There were so many different types of transport:

Jet pony hybrids that deafened EVERYONE in a 5 mile radius; rides that you had to pedal yourself; motorcycles that were spawned by unholy mothers and rocket dads; a car covered in faux fur yarn to look environmentally "green;" men on doubledecker bikes; clowns on bikes; and men in fish. Then there were the chariots -- I think we saw the Valkyries ride by on their way to Valhalla, but we got distracted by the ode to Britannia. Finally, I had to crow "Ne'er More" and move on.


Don't let the lawn dominoes fool you, it wasn't all fun and games. There were buttons to push and demonstrations galore.


I heart Jane. She had no qualms on picking up stuff in the XF booth.

Mr. Wizard (not the real one) made an appearance at one point. If we didn't know what do with our dead computers, we do now -- at least 62 different things. (J -- I'm thinking of YOU!) Jane and I were intriqued by the attempts to make these vegetables into musical instruments. It has been done, but these carrot flutes weren't quite playable.


This little bit of nostaglia caught our attention. Pay attention nieces and nephews. This was what toy telephones looked like in Auntie Nettie's childhood. There weren't any buttons, or any of this new fangled hands-free stuff. Speaker phone? To you I say HA! There was a handset like this red one that you had to tuck under your chin. We had to dial every single digit by hand. What's worse? We had to WAIT for the thing to roll alll the way back around before you could put in the other number. SHOCKING! To be honest, the real phones weren't often found in the fun red, white, and blue. There were no cute googly eyes, and you couldn't pull the phone around on wheels on the floor while it made dinging noises. You also didn't have unlimited roaming minutes or long distance, so you weren't smiling when you got your phone bill.

A very enteprising artist has combined nostaglia with recycling to create interactive art/scuplture installations. This one, Around The World in 3 Cranks, used bits and bobs, wires and whirligigs, to get people to milk his cows.


As much as Maker Faire had its technology exhibits, welding classes, robotics contests, and software vendors, somethings remain firmly stuck in another era. You might even say, entrenched. But, if you gotta go. YOU GOTTA GO!