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Mark Alexander took this super fly photo on Thursday or so at Burning Man with IR film of myself, Coreyfro, Rachel and Rebecca. Yes, that is a giant rubber ducky on a pole in the background, Mark is a part of Duck Pond Theme Camp!

Wow, that was intense.

If the world ends, I don’t want to know until after I get back, ok?

I’ll see all you suckers after Labor Day.

Just tonight I just started a mead with Red Star “Pasteur Red” yeast. Ask me in 6 months how it came out. :-)

• 1/4 tsp Red Star Pasteur Red yeast
• 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient
• 2.5 lbs Rainbow Raw Blackberry Honey from Oregon
• almost 1 gallon bottled water
• shake,  put an airlock on it, stuck it in the corner of the closet

I have my ticket to California Extreme, the classic arcade games show! A roomful of classic video games set to free play! It’s this weekend in San Jose.

I am driving down from San Francisco early Saturday morning (7am?) to visit the Electronics Flea Market at De Anza College. And then it’s over to play video games all day and night until my hands ache and my eyes bleed! It’ll be awesome! I’m hesitant to offer a carpool ride because I’m not sure how long it will take for my eyes to bleed sufficiently for me to decide to leave… :-)

I am hoping and hoping that they have my two all-time favorite coin operated games, R-Type and Cabal! I put a lot of quarters into those machines on lunch breaks during high school when I was working for Sears Business Systems! It would be an ecstatic joy for me to be able to beat Cabal on a single quarter again.

Lee

At the Subzero event I ran into Gaspo and his Chakratron. Man, I love that thing.

Sitting on the table was his source-book. All the manuals for all the parts that went into the Chakratron. The part that intrigues me the most is the rotating electrical connector. That’s the thing that lets the top part with lights spin at a gazillion RPM while the bottom part… well the bottom part sits safely on the ground.

If you haven’t seen the Chakratron, you’ve really got to check it out. Video simply doesn’t do it justice though.

Here’s the source of Gaspo’s rotating electrical connectors, Mercotac. I simply must build something that uses these marvels.

If you are a fire artist in California, you might be interested in this change to the fire regulations that is coming up. This message comes from Dave X on the Flaming Lotus Girls mailing list with his consent to republish:

There has been concern among the Fire Arts community recently regarding the Additions to Title 19 Chapter 6.5 involving Flame Throwing Devices.

First a little background. This issue came about as the ATF (Alcohol Tobacco And Firearms) was attending a gun show in CA and found fully functional Flame Throwers for sale. These devices for sale at the gun shows were not “Guns” and not covered by any kind of background checks, waiting period, or age requirements.  This would have allowed Timmy terrorist or Sammy seven year old to buy it right off the table. With the intention of closing this loophole a group was formed to decide how to regulate the issue.

The Flame Throwing Device Work Group was formed by the CA State Fire Marshal’s Office.

The group was composed of members of the Department of Justice, ATF, State Fire Authorities as well as folks from the Special Effects industry and folks who are contracted to do fire prevention and suppression for the CA Fire Service. Clearly there were a lot of uses for flame throwing devices in such applications as setting preventative burns as well as in the film and entertainment industries. Early on Kevin Mathieu and I did sit on the group meetings and helped craft wording to protect the interests of the fire arts community. In the end I left the group feeling good about what was finally written. As with most states it was immediately covered in red tape and passed from lawyer to lawyer. Well here it is it is finally about to come into law and the public commentary period is open.

This law will not affect 99% of the fire arts community…

Lets take a look at it…

I emailed Diane Arend this week at the Office of the CA. State Fire Marshal Code Development and Analysis. She has reviewed this and agreed that this interpretation appeared consistent with the regulation.

Flame throwing Device: For the purpose of clarification, Health and Safety Code Section 12750(a) is repeated “Flame Throwing Device” means any non-stationary and transportable device designed or intended to emit or propel a burning stream of combustible or flammable liquid a distance of at least 10 feet.

First off this is only in effect in California…

If you are using these in Nevada it is not an issue. There may be some gray area as to its storage in CA.

This does not impact propane effects as it states, “Intended to emit or propel a burning stream of combustible or flammable liquid a distance of at least 10 feet”. Propane is in most cases used as a gas and not as a liquid. Even in effects where liquid propane is used it is for the most part completely turned to a gas before reaching 10 feet.

Liquid fueled effects usually describes a situation in which there are separate fuel tanks, hosing, controls and other attached gear which are “Not Portable”.  When set up, this is a considered a stationary effect.

If the supply tanks and operational controls were attached and able to operate in a mobile fashion it WOULD be a Flame Thrower…

OK so what if you have a device that is a “non-stationary and transportable device designed or intended to emit or propel a burning stream of combustible or flammable liquid a distance of at least 10 feet.” and you intend to display it in CA?

You can apply for this permit…

First off this is a big deal you must pass background checks, have a secure by state definition safe storage area, transport it in a secured manner as well as a surrender of you rights to search and seizure. You must also keep records on the use storage and sale or destruction of said device.

Unless you feel strongly that this regulation applies to you and you plan to operate it in California I would not apply!

You can apply for this permit…

First off this is a big deal you must pass background checks, have a secure by state definition safe storage area, transport it in a secured manner as well as a surrender of you rights to search and seizure. You must also keep records on the use storage and sale or destruction of said device.

Unless you feel strongly that this regulation applies to you and you plan to operate it in California I would not apply!

I talked to Matisse Enzer form the Flame Thrower Shooting Gallery project and as the name implies it IS a Flame Thrower.

He went through the application and he had this to say about how he got one:

The application process goes like this:

You need to get a Certificate of Eligibility from the California Department of Justice. This is an annually renewable certification that you are eligible to own firearms. It involves getting fingerprinted. This will cost a couple hundred bucks the first time and $20 or $25/year to renew.

<http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/forms/pdf/coeapp.pdf>

You will need to fill in the application form and describe the flame throwing devices that you have. The rules have not yet been finalized, but the application form I filled out in 2008 was pretty much the same as the proposed form.

Links to the proposed rules and associated forms:

<http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/codedevelopment/codedevelopment_title19development.php>

For example, the proposed new rules are:

<http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/codedevelopment/pdf/title19/FFDet.pdf>

The proposed application form is:

<http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/codedevelopment/pdf/title19/formft1.pdf>

Note especially the storage requirements: They are much stricter than for a handgun or rifle.

To summarize, please remember a word like “Flame Thrower” is not to be used lightly.

For the most part what we are talking about with fire arts is the use of “open flame and flame effects”. I hope this provides some clarification and that you all burn hard and burn safely…

Pertaining to “Art”…

Aesthetic is perception.

Perception is history.

History is stereotype.

Stereotype is a box.

I imagine the front of the t-shirt looking like the above image.

And of course the back of the t-shirt reads “Think outside the box”

– Marnia Johnston and I came up with this when considering the possible criterion for an art competition we’d be curating. We knew we needed an “aesthetic” criterion. Our discussion took us down this dark avenue.

“You need to have Jules Verne before you can have the submarine.”

The Box Shop, the space SWARM and the Flaming Lotus Girls work out of, has a new pretty website. :-)

http://boxshopsf.org/

If you need space in San Francisco to make large metal art, consider the Box Shop :-)