Just go to Maker Faire
Just go to Maker Faire. You won’t regret it (unless you are killed by an errant robot… and admit it, even that would be pretty cool in retrospect)
Fully Legal AR-15 in California
Everybody knows that the AR-15 isn’t legal to own in California because it’s a scary “assault rifle”. Well, California Rifles has a redesign that makes it legal for all us California tree huggers to shoot this beautiful rifle again.
Previously, the only way to get around this problem was to make an AR-15 with a non-removable (10 round) magazine. That’s just stup^H^H^H^Hsilly, opening up the rifle and reloading the magazine from the inside.
Of course, most of the major brands of AR-15 lower receivers are specifically blacklisted. But there are many brands of lower receiver that aren’t on the blacklist.
The upshot is: the only things the “assault weapons ban” has done for California is to
- bar the more established companies from providing lower receivers (the rest of the rifle isn’t on the banned list)
- make people spend an extra $200 on a funny (cool?) looking aftermarket stock.
And in any case, the Kel-Tec SU-16CA is a fine gun. It’s California legal right out of the box, fires the same 5.56mm round and has a techy-cool look to it. (though it bothers me that the 2 magazines in the stock are held in with a poor friction-fit; he could have designed something more reliable)
I welcome you to read the many good comments below on the subject. Some offer other very good solutions to the California assault rifle problem.
SWARM Blog
I just set up a blog for the project I’ve been pouring my summer into. Check out the blog.
(yes, that’s a recently finished prototype orb drinking a beer)
What the kids are listening to these days
Text Message Breakup from Liam
I like it! (thanks for the link Melis)
Brain and Brain! What is Brain?!
“Brain and Brain! What is Brain?!”
click to play this informative video
Long version
(keywords: Star Trek ST:TOS, Brains) (video via)
Pony Trouble goes to Netflix
My friend Warren’s movie, Pony Trouble has just made it into the Netflix catalog. Groovy!
Fun Toys
I’ve got a Flow Wand :-)
SodaPlay.com
I had forgotten about this gem. Check it out. http://sodaplay.com/
Ocean Beach Fire Pits
Last night I went to the opening of the Ocean Beach Fire Pits. Rbca and Yasi’s fire pit was ready and burning. There was another one there as well. :-) This is a huge thing. Public, utilitarian, (mostly privately) funded art made by my friends :-)
Sorry I don’t have photos but here’s some extra info…
Ocean Beach Fire Pits – Burners without Borders
Last year, the National Park Service almost banned fires on Ocean Beach in San Francisco, due to consistent problems with trash and debris. Since then they have received thousands of letter and are considering designs for permanent fire pits to be installed April 14.
But just making the designs isn’t enough–we need your help! Namely, we need to raise money to pay for this art. Although the Park Service could only offer $3,000 for the project, we’ve already been able to raise $27,000 of the $42,000 needed.
What you can do: check out these designs, and then go to our donate page and make a contribution. You can contribute directly to BWB via PayPal
FLG made the cover of Leonardo
Leonardo is the Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology. It is put out by MIT Press. It isn’t the largest publication, but it is fairly prestigious.
The Serpent Mother is going to be on the cover of Volume 40, Number 4, due out in August, 2007.
