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September 6th, 2009

gfish: (Default)
Sunday, September 6th, 2009 11:52 pm
In Burns, on the way back from the Burn. I'll write a real trip report later.

Self-adjusting electro-mechanical sunglasses: A pretty big hit. Got comments whenever I went out with them, lots of people asking to takes pictures. A prop maker from Hollywood said I should apply for a job based on the work! Rather liked the subtle phase-change from "random guy at Burning Man" to "guy who made something crazy for Burning Man". The electronics failed early on, but it didn't matter much since I could manually adjust the drive gear. Later fixed the broken connection, need to remember to make such things more robust in the future.

Laser helmet: Kind of a bust. The beams didn't show up at all except in the most heavy of dust blows. It did look pretty cool when I was under a roof, and still generated some nice conversations, but just not the effect I was going for. Will have to shell out for higher power green lasers for next year -- and make sure the tilt sensor is really working! Having seen the mere ghosts of the beams in heavy dust, I'm even more convinced this will be downright stunning once I get it working.

Ideas for next year: overflowing. Alcohol-dispensing Skinner Box, laser wind indicator, methane-bubble art piece, advanced grey-water evaporation system, hexayurt sleeping pods for our dome... way too much to actually do, but what a wonderful spur of creativity. Nothing is more inspiring than being surrounded by that kind of creative density.

Some pictures already up here.