So, this year’s Make Faire has ended and I’m just as impressed as last year. The event falls near my daughter’s birthday, and after hearing me talk about last years event she wanted to go for her birthday this year. I see this as proof that I’m raising a good little geek.
I really like The Crucible and appreciate what they do and stand for. I have yet to take a class from them, but their volunteering barter system looks fair and well maintained. Their exploitation of the term “Fire Truck” is among my favorite events at the Faire and I hope to see them back next year.
They were pouring pewter tiles with letters on one face. I really wanted to see them actually pour one, but each time we walked by they were scratching the firebricks and getting ready for the next pour, or had just finished and were cooling the batch of tiles.
The big disappointment for me was the ‘craft’ side of the faire. It’s as though the craft people this year didn’t get the point of the whole show. On one side we see a large group of Makers each showing off their trade and trying to teach people how to do things and perhaps increase the interest in a particular skill, and the craft side was just a bunch of tables with neo-hippies sitting on their asses peddling garbage they’ve made in to more interesting garbage.
Alternative energy sources were a big theme at this Faire. This is not unexpected considering the nation’s technology push in this direction, but I think the groups that have been crying “electric” for years and finally getting some recognition are redoubling their efforts. Seeing some of these toys up close it’s clear to see which gadgets will make it the mainstream and which will be left in niche markets. The Tango definitely falls in the latter category. The car itself is beautiful, and the idea behind it noble, but it’s completely impractical. No one is going to buy an enclosed motorcycle for $108k when they can have a Tesla. If they ever get around to building their $18k version of the lane-splitter, then they’ll actually have a product worth looking in to.
There were some plug-in hybrids parked around the grounds. I didn’t see anyone around talking about them, but adding a power inverter and plug to the side of a hybrid is an obvious next step. I’m not jumping on the hybrid bandwagon - in fact I think they’re just next to useless in terms of energy savings - but the socio-political impact of the hybrid and bringing environmental concerns to the masses is worth it’s weight in carbon.
There are many more cool things about the faire to talk about, so I’ll leave some for another time. Perhaps when I get the pictures up somewhere useful I’ll post a bit more.
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