Two Great Links to check out

Over the memorial day weekend and into this week i have been to busy to post anything new let alone even have much time to work on many new projects. I have started some things which i am quite confident I will have pictures of by the end of the week. For now I want to post two great links that i have come across recently. The first is a great maker who a friend of mine's father is good friends with and who I've found has quite a few similar interests to my own. Click here to see his work: Tim Hunkin. The second link I am providing is for a website which aggregates great Documentary Films from all over the web called Online Documentaries 4 U. Check it out if you are a fan of getting some new knowledge which isn't to readily available in the main stream media. Enjoy!

Living Mobile and Sustainable

Two friends of mine presented this idea to me which at first sounded pretty out there, but the more thought I put into it the more I realized this is so perfect for how I would like to live my life. The idea is converting an old school bus into a mobile living quarters. A. I love roadtrips and seeing the country, B. I love meeting new people, and C. I love freedom! All signs in this adventure are pointing me to "go for it." The goal now is not to plan for a new job, or plan on how to move to a different location, but rather plan for sustainability and after that the possibilities seem endless. Here is a really good link i found on Jake's School Bus Conversion Project which really breaks down all the pieces that this particular Bus Resident went through on his journey into mobility. 9 to 5's and retirement...bleeehh. The most secure feeling is learning how to take care of yourself and live the life you want to live because it all goes by much to fast to waste on fitting a mold that your going to regret in the end.

The Maker's Mecca

If you haven't heard about this I strongly advise you to follow this link MAKERFAIRE and see what your missing. It's a two day event May 30 & 31, and the whole thing focuses on people that have been making really incredible things and want to share them. The event covers Arts, Crafts, Engineering, Food, Green, Music, Science, and Technology.

Sounds like something I don't want to miss out on!

Paper Gears and Mechanical Magic

Original concept: making the gears, taken from a tutorial on instructables
New concept: attaching an electric motor and switch to turn on / off
Future plans: elaborating on the idea to create a whole space lined with sensors to create an interactive enviornment

I plan on posting all progress that I make on my interactive art advancements as they develop

This is just the beginning and it feels like for me lighting this fire, y'all better start carrying around fire extinguishers or you might get burned.

Welcome to Geekdom!

I've been playing around with different ideas of things I would like to make and what direction I would like to take my art in, and have come to the conclusion that there is no conclusion. From where I'm standing it just doesn't make much sense to try to limit myself to one thing when there is this ever evolving world around us with so much advancement happening every day. Why stop at one thing?
My latest love has evolved out of a long standing passion I've had for the art of robotics. The intimidation of how complex designing and developing a robot has always kept me away from attempting anything of the sort, with the exception of a series of Rock em Sock em style robots i had painted a few years ago. Recently I have encountered what i think may be the bridge to carry me into this brave new world and it comes in the form of a little thing called "Arduino". Arduino is an open-source electronics board which comes with a multitude of add on parts and forums full of people sharing their ideas and creations. This little doozy lets you hook up all kinds of sensors, LED lights, cameras, motors, switches, and the list goes on and on. Once you've thought up the project that you would like to create and bought or found all of the components you would like to include, there is some basic computer code needed to be written and then sent to the board via USB connector and vuala the magic begins. Essentially in my still simple understanding, the Arduino board can be used to make any for of neat self thinking robot you can conjure up.

Here is a link to their site which is packed full of great information about the Arduino: http://www.arduino.cc/

For lots more info from the open-source community you will want to go here: http://www.freeduino.org/

I have also recently found a class here in Philadelphia which is geared toward anyone interested in how these little boards work and requires no previous experience necessary, which is right where I am at in the process. Check it out here: http://thehacktory.org/classes/arduino-beginner-microcontroller-amp-electronics-class-0

Very Fun Flash Site

This Site is a very fun flash site