Lee.org

Check it out!
They are accepting applications for Makers til August 31st :-)

I like the idea of this event because the San Mateo event is just so crazy overwhelming big.

Liam and Rich tag-teamed the week-long Electronic Controlled Flame Effects class last week at The Crucible. They both said it went really well. I was originally going to teach it but I just started my job with Earthmine and was travelling for work.

Rich was disappointed that there wasn’t enough time to teach all the students everything they needed to know with Arduino and electronics. That’s always the case! Learning takes time. But there was fire! Liam opened the class on the first day with a poofer demo and in all they built 13 Poofers and some sequencing with multiplex poofers.

Surprisingly,  only 1 of the 5 students came to build something for Burning Man. Almost as exciting was that 1 student came from Texas specifically to take this class, “We don’t have anything like this back home.”

No, no they don’t :-)

Here’s a really good video of Mark Pauline, founder of Survival Research Labs.

The Survival of Mark Pauline

This is an awesome story! It’s art, activism, smart, a great use of the psychology of embarrassment, and most importantly, success!

Congratulations to Jason Eppink and Posterchild!

Astoria Scum River Bridge

For more than twenty years, a leaky pipe on 33rd Street beneath the Hell Gate Bridge viaduct approach submerged more than a hundred square feet of heavily-trafficked sidewalk under a festering cesspool of standing water. Astoria Scum River, as it was called, stretched the entire width of the sidewalk, and as winter approached, the river iced over and became particularly hazardous to cross.

Astoria Scum River Bridge was constructed to offer Astorians an opportunity to safely cross this hazard. The unauthorized bridge was a gift to the pedestrians of Astoria in the absence of successful municipal efforts to ameliorate the problem.

The bridge was made at zero cost entirely from recycled materials: an old work bench found on the curb, rescued screws from a disassembled desk, and a metal plate from an expired electrical component. It was installed and dedicated on December 30th, 2009.

On January 25th, 2010, Astoria Scum River Bridge was the subject of a commendation from the office of NYC Council Member Peter F. Vallone, Jr., accompanied by a pledge to work with Amtrak to re-route Astoria Scum River off the sidewalk.

Two days later, Amtrak workers began construction work. Astoria Scum River was quickly routed off the sidewalk, and within a couple months, custom-made grates were installed to complete the project. The bridge, no longer needed, was de-installed on March 20th, 2010 and returned to the curb whence it came.

Astoria Scum River Bridge from Jason Eppink on Vimeo.

I just installed the 2007 Burning Man Screen Saver and noticed a photo with me in it. I remember that moment well. For a long while (10 minutes? an hour? it’s hard to tell on the playa) I sat up there during this dust storm. For much of it, my perch was just a few feet above the tide of dust streaming by. Me lying in the sunshine on an ocean of flowing gray dust. It was pretty cool. Find me standing on the flower.

Here are photos from the last night of the Electronic Controlled Flame Effects class I taught at the Crucible this past Thursday night. (by David Nichols, Tim Alexander and Lee Sonko)

Nice class, eh?

And here’s some videos. The last one is the most flame-tastic!

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImfPKY_7IRk setting up for firing

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8knfJu6PIg Cuckoo flaming

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUyvVokw7wI Cupcake Poofer

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEUd4vZwj1U more pressure poofs

Decoder Ring Theatre has absolutely the best radio programs. I just caught

Black Jack Justice episode 36 “Journeys End” and it was riveting! Great storytelling! Listen to this half-hour radio play and you will become a fan as well!

Black Jack Justice episode 36 “Journeys End” Local copy

Listen to more programs on Decoder Ring Theatre!

I heard this anecdote from a guy at Fire in the Valley.

This is about another friend who will I won’t name here. On a day when there is absolutely no wind he has propane in a crevasse, the bottom of a little valley and lit it. Since propane is heavier than air, it kind of flows down the river and then he lights it. It doesn’t explode, instead it burns at the interface between the propane and the air. And it’s awesome.

Art
Aesthetic is perception.
Perception is history.
History is stereotype.
Stereotype is a box.

There is a documentary about Ace Junkyard.

This was a seminal art space in San Francisco for many years.

http://aceintheholefilm.com

I’ll be at the Switchboard Music Festival on March 28th.

Join me!

I heard about it from Zoe Keating’s performance calendar (she’ll be there as well!)

The bits of music I heard on the Switchboard website have me very excited.

And gosh darn it, if I strain my neck, I can see the performance location, The Dance Mission Theater out my apartment window just 2 blocks away!

These 360 degree full sphere panoramascape images really capture the energy of Burning Man in fantastic dynamic style! Check it out! (they use Flash). Look up, look down, look all around!

http://www.panomatics.com/nextgen/muc/burningman/

Niladri wrote to the SWARM list a few days ago:

I reflashed the daughter board on Orb 3 and Michael Toren and I roll tested it. The moment I hit the joystick the orb took off and wouldn’t stop even when I let go of the joystick.
…
P.S. 1 – The kill switch is not easy to hit when the orb is running away from you very fast.
P.S. 2- The box shop is out of band aids. I would grab a box but it will be a few weeks before I am back.

…immunizations.

In preparing to go to India to show off SWARM, I had to get stuck with a bunch of needles. Joy.

I got my immunizations at the San Francisco Department of Public Health Adult Immunization & Travel Clinic

They knew which vaccines I needed but I checked up myself with the CDC here and here.

I made an appointment a few days in advance. It took about 1.5 hours with the interview, shots and discussion.

I received

• Typoid – 4 pills taken every other day for 8 days. Take at least 1 week before travel. Don’t take with antibiotics (my antimalarial is an antibiotic!). Effective for 5 years.
• Antimalarial – Doxycycline – 1 pill a day starting 2 days before travel, ending 28 days after. No possibility of psychosis like many antimalarials!. Effective only as long as you take it
• Polio – injection. You should get 1 booster in a lifetime. This was it.
• Tdap – Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis. injection. Effective for 10 years
• Hepatitis A – injection. Effective for 10 years. I need to go back in 6 months for a booster
• Cipro – oral antibacterial to take with me in case of illness while travelling
• Hep B immunization (Lee already got in 2005. Effective for 10 years.)
• Measles – 2 shots needed in a lifetime. By 1990 almost all colleges required boosters. Effective for life.
• Ultrathon insect repellent

Total bill from San Francisco Department of Health: $307
I have to pick up the Cipro and Doxycycline prescriptions from Costco. (you don’t need a membership to buy from their pharmacy)

A day later, both my arms hurt and are stiff from the injections.

I’ll have to pick up some permethrin for my clothes to and maybe a mosquito net from REI and I’m ready to go.

Whoever said international travel was fun was in the middle of a psychotic episode from the mefloquine.

And it sucks but this post belongs in the “Art” category.

Last week at The Exploratorium After Dark (which was loads of fun), I saw “Animanemone”. Fittingly, it looks quite a bit like an anemone in motion. Alan, one of the creators gave me the whole skinny, starting with “Well, my friend bought 2,000 stepper motors for like $0.23 apiece on eBay. So we needed to find something cool to do with them…”
Ah, here’s more about Animanemone from the artists!

It’s a really nice piece! I’m pretty psyched to say that I took the photo to the right with my iPhone. It came out awesome. Use the power of the Google on “Animanemone” and watch it! They’re from Minnesota.

It’s great to mull on…. it’s like watching grass in the wind. Totally fun to put your hand on it and feel the buzzing of the motors. And it’s just so many fun tiny pieces. It’s zen and not zen. :-)

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And Ken Murphy’s awesome “History of the Sky” was there as promised. I zoned on that for a while. Tototolly groovy!

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I only got to look at Cubatron from afar :-( … not enough time in a night :-(

Charlotte and I were wandering around the October 17th San Francisco Open Studios. We stopped at several artists’ studios and Charlotte found many orange and bumpy paintings to admire (she has a thing for orange and bumpy, but that’s a story for another time). At Fort Mason we found ourselves in one room, she was totally keen on some paintings by Jeff Grove, including one with a plastic garbage bag on it. That one turned out to be a terrific painting of a woman in rope bondage, covered up to keep the neighboring Kinkade devotee artists from freaking their shit out. While they chatted, I wandered over to some photos on the wall. There were some nicely shot “common” architectural images… doors, front stoops, cars. Some nice work with light play. And then I fell in love with the most unusual image.

I got in a conversation with David Booth, the artist. After a while he asked me what I liked about it and I said something like, “It’s just such a curious image. I’m looking at this railing and I see how perfect it is in this boringly common scene and I want to ask ‘why is this railing here?’ Why would it be put there? I mean, nobody needs a railing in just that spot, so what’s it doing there?  ’Why are you there, railing? Who put you there? What are you doing, being so perfect there? It’s like your hanging with turkeys when you could be soaring with eagles! You’re just sittin’ there like all in your quiet perfectness. And what are you doing there anyway? I can’t see why you’d be put there, nobody needs a railing there. Nobody would spend all that effort to put a railing there. Come on, tell me what you’re doing there! What are you really doing?’ And then I realize that I’m yelling at a railing in an alley in a photo and I laugh and I laugh and I laugh!”

David was excited. He said he had a similar response to the railing and was glad he could project that in this art. He had walked past it many times, hardly giving it any notice and then it struck him!

You can find the magical railing here, at about 1941 Stockton / 100 Fielding. Here is David Booth describing to me where to find it.

I have a much higher resolution version of this image but I thought it appropriate to only post this low res version. David Booth is an excellent artist and deserves the recognition.

This is an excellent guide for people wanting to make fire effects and fireworks.

FIRE SAFETY
MANUAL FOR FLAME EFFECTS
&
FIRE PERFORMERS THIRD EDITION

TAUGHT BY LES IZZMORE
FIRE SAFETY EXPERT
Portions of this manual have been copied from the World Wide Web and compiled specifically for artists and performers that use fire. This manual is for educational purposes only and is
NOT FOR SALE

Ken Murphy, a supremely cool guy that I bump into a lot is presenting his recent and ongoing art project, A History of the Sky at the Exploratorium January 5-31. There will be a premiere event at Exploratorium After Dark on January 7th, 2010. I will be there. Maybe you will join me?

I don’t understand quite why but this piece fills me with emotion and sometimes tears every time I experience it. I am very much looking forward to seeing this piece in person again.

A preview of the project

A terrific video series for people that love children (but not in the way you think… and not that way either!)

Big Bunny!

Holding Flame was at Burning Man 2009 and I missed it.
wow. Built by Poetic Kinetics.

Oo OO! Look!

They built those giant flowers too!

check out their photo gallery on their site. They’re amazing, ten times so in person!