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Burning Man 2010
Okay, it's been a week, I'm about as decompressed as I'm going to get. Time for a write up.
This was a weird Burn for me. My third year, and I guess I'm seeing more of the cracks in the event. It's still amazing and wonderful and like nothing else. But every year I see more and it gets more complicated in my head.
I modified the Self-Adjusting Electro-Mechanical Sunglasses to be a leather goggle format, which made them much more wearable (and dust blocking). That worked great, and they got lots of nice comments. Several people told me they were the best goggles on the playa.
I also completely remade the Laser Medusa Helmet. The 15 cheap red lasers were replaced with 9 5mw green modules. I added a real accelerometer to measure tilt and controlled the whole thing from an Arduino microcontroller. This meant it would reliably and quickly turn itself off should it tip over, thus greatly reducing the risk of eye damage to innocent bystanders. (The same control was used to turn the lasers off for 5 seconds out of every 60 to preserve the recommended duty cycle.) I also took greater pains to dust-proof the exposed control switch, as that was a problem last year. Of course, all those milliwatts drew a lot more power -- somewhere around 1/3 of an amp at 3 volts per module. It was powered by a 4 amp-hour 12 volt gel-cell stepped down to 3V with a nice DC-DC converter I found. Enough to last for several hours of use, anyway.
How'd it work? You may make a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
It was goddamned spectacular, exactly the look I had always imagined. It was downright dangerous wearing it, as people kept pulling me into their camps and giving me drinks. (This faded some as the week went on. BRC is nothing if not sensory overload.) Many, many people told me it was the best hat on the playa. It's really a pretty amazing ego boost to have people telling you you're awesome every couple of minutes. Definitely makes me want to do more crazy stuff like this. And given some of the responses, I think I'll have to up my game next year -- I think I might see some imitators. Which would be a huge compliment, and an arms race I'd very much enjoy being part of.
Between the goggles and the laser helmet, I was recognized by name by my gadgets at least half a dozen times over the week. I really like the idea of there being a Fish "brand" for such things. It felt just a little bit rockstar.
Then, of course, there was the Kalamazoo.
It... didn't really work very well. The chain tensioning issue came back. I managed to MacGuyver my way around that with the use of some cargo straps, but even then it was really, really hard to drive. Very slow, and the driver (me) could only pump with one arm as the steering lever had to be held at all times. It needs a changeable gear ratios (maybe using a CVT?), the steering lever needs to be able to lock into place, the pump arm should be lighter, the flywheel more massive... it needs a lot of work. At the moment, I'm kind of disgusted with the whole thing and have no idea what I'll be doing with it.
I'm still totally in love with the look of the thing. But it's all form and very little function. A kind of abomination, by the standards I set myself. It's... confusing.
I did (with help) manage to pump it out for the Burn itself on Saturday. I dressed up for the occasion, and it really did feel pretty awesome. Just slow. And laborious. While waiting around Center Camp, someone came by who had seen the construction vids on YouTube! That kind of broke my head. Later, as I pumped it out towards the Man, a dust storm picked up. It felt pretty right, dressed like that, pumping a ridiculous contraption through thick dust towards the glow of el-wire ahead of me. I'm very glad I got that moment. I'm not sure it really makes up for the three months I spent building it, but it wasn't nothing.
Beyond that... I really need to get better at talking to people, particularly those I'm attracted to. (And might be attracted to me? I really never trust my intuition there, short of them sitting in my lap.) It was very up and down for me, emotionally, and a large part of that is that Burning Man is the one time I can come close to being extroverted with just about anyone. I build that up in my head to make it the event where I'm going to totally act different and flirt outrageously... and then I don't. Which is stupid on a couple of different levels, and I need to spend some real time thinking about that.
Anyway, it was still very awesome.
It rained as we arrived on Monday. But there was a phenomenal double rainbow to make up for that, one of the best I've ever seen.
I did see the CS Tere driving around a few times. Unfortunately they had some engine problems later in the week, but it was still a beautiful sight.
I came across the Neverwas Haul out in the deep playa holding high tea. With tables and real china. There was cream for the tea, as well as sugar in the form of irregular, unbleached lumps. They really are the masters of detail. Spent a very nice 45 minutes hanging out with them chatting. I wish I had been more dressed up for the occasion, but at least I was wearing the goggles.
A nicely rigged tallship art car. They spent most of the week getting it rigged, but that doesn't mean it wasn't getting used in the meantime.
I slept in a hexayurt this year, and I really liked it. The insulation let me sleep in until 11, which is a great improvement, and with a fan going I could easily nap during the day. All in all, I got a lot more sleep.
My dad added tilting mounts to the solar panels on the Burning Man trailer, which helped. The power systems worked great for almost the entire week, feeding a much larger camp this time. It's a nice way to go. He also added an electric assist to a beach cruiser bike with some solar panels which worked surprisingly well. I did have to plug it into the main power system to recharge on Friday, but it was still able to recharge itself for most of the week. It got a lot more comments than I expected.
The High Rise Stilt Bar!
I'm already thinking about next year, of course. I want to do something... big. Maybe an art installation? Having a reason to do early entry would be really great. I also know I want to do something much more flashy and powered for my personal transportation. I have some ideas there, but they're going to require some real research before I commit to them.
Full collection of pictures here.
This was a weird Burn for me. My third year, and I guess I'm seeing more of the cracks in the event. It's still amazing and wonderful and like nothing else. But every year I see more and it gets more complicated in my head.
I modified the Self-Adjusting Electro-Mechanical Sunglasses to be a leather goggle format, which made them much more wearable (and dust blocking). That worked great, and they got lots of nice comments. Several people told me they were the best goggles on the playa.
I also completely remade the Laser Medusa Helmet. The 15 cheap red lasers were replaced with 9 5mw green modules. I added a real accelerometer to measure tilt and controlled the whole thing from an Arduino microcontroller. This meant it would reliably and quickly turn itself off should it tip over, thus greatly reducing the risk of eye damage to innocent bystanders. (The same control was used to turn the lasers off for 5 seconds out of every 60 to preserve the recommended duty cycle.) I also took greater pains to dust-proof the exposed control switch, as that was a problem last year. Of course, all those milliwatts drew a lot more power -- somewhere around 1/3 of an amp at 3 volts per module. It was powered by a 4 amp-hour 12 volt gel-cell stepped down to 3V with a nice DC-DC converter I found. Enough to last for several hours of use, anyway.
How'd it work? You may make a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
It was goddamned spectacular, exactly the look I had always imagined. It was downright dangerous wearing it, as people kept pulling me into their camps and giving me drinks. (This faded some as the week went on. BRC is nothing if not sensory overload.) Many, many people told me it was the best hat on the playa. It's really a pretty amazing ego boost to have people telling you you're awesome every couple of minutes. Definitely makes me want to do more crazy stuff like this. And given some of the responses, I think I'll have to up my game next year -- I think I might see some imitators. Which would be a huge compliment, and an arms race I'd very much enjoy being part of.
Between the goggles and the laser helmet, I was recognized by name by my gadgets at least half a dozen times over the week. I really like the idea of there being a Fish "brand" for such things. It felt just a little bit rockstar.
Then, of course, there was the Kalamazoo.
It... didn't really work very well. The chain tensioning issue came back. I managed to MacGuyver my way around that with the use of some cargo straps, but even then it was really, really hard to drive. Very slow, and the driver (me) could only pump with one arm as the steering lever had to be held at all times. It needs a changeable gear ratios (maybe using a CVT?), the steering lever needs to be able to lock into place, the pump arm should be lighter, the flywheel more massive... it needs a lot of work. At the moment, I'm kind of disgusted with the whole thing and have no idea what I'll be doing with it.
I'm still totally in love with the look of the thing. But it's all form and very little function. A kind of abomination, by the standards I set myself. It's... confusing.
I did (with help) manage to pump it out for the Burn itself on Saturday. I dressed up for the occasion, and it really did feel pretty awesome. Just slow. And laborious. While waiting around Center Camp, someone came by who had seen the construction vids on YouTube! That kind of broke my head. Later, as I pumped it out towards the Man, a dust storm picked up. It felt pretty right, dressed like that, pumping a ridiculous contraption through thick dust towards the glow of el-wire ahead of me. I'm very glad I got that moment. I'm not sure it really makes up for the three months I spent building it, but it wasn't nothing.
Beyond that... I really need to get better at talking to people, particularly those I'm attracted to. (And might be attracted to me? I really never trust my intuition there, short of them sitting in my lap.) It was very up and down for me, emotionally, and a large part of that is that Burning Man is the one time I can come close to being extroverted with just about anyone. I build that up in my head to make it the event where I'm going to totally act different and flirt outrageously... and then I don't. Which is stupid on a couple of different levels, and I need to spend some real time thinking about that.
Anyway, it was still very awesome.
It rained as we arrived on Monday. But there was a phenomenal double rainbow to make up for that, one of the best I've ever seen.
I did see the CS Tere driving around a few times. Unfortunately they had some engine problems later in the week, but it was still a beautiful sight.
I came across the Neverwas Haul out in the deep playa holding high tea. With tables and real china. There was cream for the tea, as well as sugar in the form of irregular, unbleached lumps. They really are the masters of detail. Spent a very nice 45 minutes hanging out with them chatting. I wish I had been more dressed up for the occasion, but at least I was wearing the goggles.
A nicely rigged tallship art car. They spent most of the week getting it rigged, but that doesn't mean it wasn't getting used in the meantime.
I slept in a hexayurt this year, and I really liked it. The insulation let me sleep in until 11, which is a great improvement, and with a fan going I could easily nap during the day. All in all, I got a lot more sleep.
My dad added tilting mounts to the solar panels on the Burning Man trailer, which helped. The power systems worked great for almost the entire week, feeding a much larger camp this time. It's a nice way to go. He also added an electric assist to a beach cruiser bike with some solar panels which worked surprisingly well. I did have to plug it into the main power system to recharge on Friday, but it was still able to recharge itself for most of the week. It got a lot more comments than I expected.
The High Rise Stilt Bar!
I'm already thinking about next year, of course. I want to do something... big. Maybe an art installation? Having a reason to do early entry would be really great. I also know I want to do something much more flashy and powered for my personal transportation. I have some ideas there, but they're going to require some real research before I commit to them.
Full collection of pictures here.
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I'm sorry the Kalamazoo didn't live up to your expectations: it sure is beautiful. CVT's are really difficult. I think you'd have more luck doing tank steering, with two beams, one for each wheel. Although, you can find some low-price commercial CVT's intended for electric bicycles, and that'd certainly be in your power octave.