Category Archives: Field Trips

Field Trip: Bell Labs Technology Showcase

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Bell Labs

Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey is one of the sites that should be on every geek pilgrimage itinerary.

Bell Labs 004

Their Technology Showcase is a enshrined in a small exhibit area off of the main lobby. In the center of the exhibit, on a pedestal of its very own, is the first transistor. It looks like a very small piece of mixed media abstract sculpture, with geometric forms and wires bent in wonderful angles. If that were the only thing to see, it would still be worth the visit.

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Nearby, the first MOSFET sits in an impressive array of other firsts, including an early CCD and a micro-mirror array.

Telstar at Bell Labs

Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite hangs overhead. This one is a flight backup unit that was never used.

Glass for fiberoptics

These fiberoptic preforms were placed under a polarizer so that the optical qualities of the cores would be more apparent to visitors.

There are many more beautiful objects, as well as interactive wall for exploring many world-changing developments that happened at and through Bell Labs.

Huge thanks go to Drew Fustini of Pumping Station: One for organizing our post-Maker Faire pilgrimage via twitter and driving us all up to New Jersey.

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Open Hardware Summit and Maker Faire New York

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Open Hardware Summit Logo

We’re very excited to be heading to New York for the sold-out Open Hardware Summit next week. There is another fantastic lineup of speakers this year, and it will be good to have the opportunity to catch up with the community after an eventful year for open source hardware.

See me at Maker Faire!After that, we’ll be going to Maker Faire New York, where you can find us demoing our kits in the Maker Shed.

We’ll be on the Make Demo Stage with the Egg-Bot on Saturday at 2:30 and Sunday at 3:00.

We hope to see you there!

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Photos from the Shuttle Flyby

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The crowd at NASA Ames waiting for Endeavour

This morning, we were on hand to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour make a low pass overhead, atop its Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, at NASA Ames Research Center.

As you can see in the panorama above (or at least, as you can see if you zoom in), we were deep in the crowd, out on the tarmac of Moffett Field, surrounded by the tower, Hangar One— presently stripped of its wooden exterior —and far off on the right, the two other blimp hangars.

Shuttle 009

The event organizers apparently hadn’t thought to announce it when the shuttle was getting close, and with the hangars, buildings, and crowd, we couldn’t scan the horizon either.  However, we figured out one way of telling when the shuttle was getting close: When the folks in the control tower started pointing and taking pictures.

The next thing that we saw was a pair of fighter jet escorts. And then, the main attraction:

Shuttle 008Shuttle 007

And what a view!

This modified 747 NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (there are two) has tail number N905NA.  It’s been doing this for a long while— here is a photo from 1978 —but this is one of its final missions.

Shuttle 004

From here, after 25 missions into space, Endeavour moves onto retirement at the California Science Center in LA; perhaps we’ll see it again someday. But, alas, never airborne.

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Shuttle Endeavour Bay Area Fly-By

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STS-126 Endeavour atop carrier aircraft

The Space Shuttle Endeavour will be passing through the Bay Area on Friday morning, September 21, and the NASA Ames Research Center has invited the public to come watch.

The shuttle is on its way to its new home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it will be on display starting in October. It is passing over Mountain View on the way as a tribute to the work that was done there on the shuttle systems, including wind tunnel testing and thermal protection systems design and testing. NASA staff will be manning booths to share information about their contributions to the space shuttle program.

Event details are available on the NASA Ames website. All of the available parking passes have already been given out, so taking public transportation is encouraged. Hearing protection is recommended, as the 747 will be flying at 1,500 feet above the viewing area. We’ll hope to see you (and the space shuttle) there!

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Makerspace Launch

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The Makerspace program is a joint effort by O’Reilly’s Make division and Otherlab to put dedicated space and tools for hands-on making into high schools. They describe their aims on their about page:

By creating makerspaces in an educational context, students can have access to tools and equipment that they might not have otherwise; they can collaborate on projects that are driven by their own interests, and by doing so, develop the capacity and confidence to innovate. We see making as a gateway to deeper engagement in science and engineering but also art and design.

On Monday, September 10, we’ll be attending the Makerspace launch event at the College of San Mateo. We’ll be demoing a few kits and are excited to have the opportunity to meet educators interested in bringing making into the classroom. If you’ll be attending, please stop by our table and say hi!

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Nerdy Derby at New York Maker Faire

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Our friends over at ITP are putting on a brand new event at Maker Faire NY called Nerdy Derby. It’s like Pinewood Derby racing, but without any pesky rules*. They’ve listed track specs on their site, so check ’em out and bring your own car to race, or build one on-site at their workshop. They’ll be giving out prizes in several categories, including “The Underdog,” “The Tricked Out,” “The Delicious” (for edible entries), “The Not-So-Pretty” and “The King of the Hill.” Watch their introductory video embedded above or click over to see it on Vimeo. We’re looking forward to checking out these races! We might even have to enter a car of our own…

*The Nerdy Derby site states: “While there are technically no rules for the competition, we ask that participants exercise common sense when it comes to safety.” Gotta love a common sense approach!

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Los Angeles Meetup! Saturday June 23

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.35in

This weekend we will be visiting the Los Angeles area and we’re planning a meetup at Los Angeles Hackerspace Null Space Labs. This will be informal, but we’ll be bringing along a few of our little projects to show off.

The fine folks at Null Space Labs have generously offered to host the event, which is scheduled for Saturday evening, the 23rd of June, from 8-11 PM.

Null Space Labs is located at 1015 South Main Street, Los Angeles, CA (Google Map). Please see their about page for parking details.

In case of overflow, or other last-minute changes on Saturday, please check our twitter feed for updates. We’ll hope to see you there!

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Maker Faire is (almost) here!

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Digi-Comp II - 02

The 2012 Bay Area Maker Faire will take place May 19 and 20— just 9 days away — in San Mateo, California.
This is the big Maker Faire, and the best. If you’ve never been to Maker Faire, or if you’ve only been to one of the little ones, it’s an experience not to be missed.

Today (Wednesday, May 9) is the last day to buy advance discount tickets for Maker Faire. If you don’t have your tickets yet, this is a great time to get them.

This year we will again be bringing the Giant Digi-Comp II— our supersized binary digital mechanical computer —to Maker Faire. You can read all about the Giant Digi-Comp II here and see a video demonstration of it here. We will also be doing an Egg-Bot demonstration in the Maker Shed.

Finally, we’ll also be participating in Maker Faire Education Day (Thursday, May 17, for K-12 students).

We hope to see you there!

 

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Field Trips: Parque de Las Iguanas

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Iguanas 1

Guayaquil (often pronounced as “Gwy-a-keel”) is the largest city in Ecuador. It’s a sprawling metropolis of some 4 million people, located just south of the equator and just inland from the pacific ocean.

In downtown Guayaquil, next to a little cathedral, an unassuming city park block features trees and benches, grassy areas behind knee-high fences, coblestone walkways, and gaggles of kids playing with their families. And also, green iguanas. Hundreds of green iguanas.

Iguanas 19

While formally known as Parque Seminario (Seminary Park– again, it’s next to the little cathedral), the park is better known to the locals as Parque de Las Iguanas, or Iguana Park, and the resident population of iguanas is as people-friendly as they come. The iguanas are not kept behind fences or cages; they roam freely and seem to live in the park entirely by choice. (Of course iguanas are native to the region, and the surrounding city streets are a lot less critter-friendly than the park.) Continue reading Field Trips: Parque de Las Iguanas →

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