Last Sunday I attended the 2009 Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA.
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I’ve always wanted to go and Elaine and I were up in SF for the weekend, so I made it! I walked into the building above and assumed that was the whole thing. It was an enormous place with tons of exhibits.
The first one that caught my eye was a dude polishing a piece of glass for a telescope mirror:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3318/3587515689_f2a97537ba.jpg?v=0)
I didn’t quite get how it worked, but it was fascinating to watch.
Next I saw a huge living sculpture of old plastic 2 liter bottles:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3588331556_a43e8c56b5.jpg?v=0)
There was a line and pulley system that caused the ring of bottles to undulate in a wave.
There were many robot sculptures:
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and scary vacuum guns!
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3343/3588349916_d9eeda4c12.jpg?v=0)
These bike wheel LEDs were very cool! I almost bought the kit, but resisted… My birthday is coming up, hint hint…
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3304/3588365680_f0f6e04b58.jpg?v=0)
I think this was part of The Long Now’s 10,000 year clock. I just thought it was cool:
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2459/3587562127_3151162695.jpg?v=0)
Next I saw Tesla coils! They set up a board with hot dogs along a wire for the current to pass through:
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2433/3587568617_f64fcc40b5.jpg?v=0)
Then there were more robots:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3360/3587574715_18ecec4f75.jpg?v=0)
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3323/3587576383_77e88b73e2.jpg?v=0)
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Some of the robots got all evil and started decapitations:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3377/3587583275_9d19d5f6e4.jpg?v=0)
SOLDERING IS NOT A CRIME!
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I was getting hungry by this point, so I stepped out of the building to get some food and discovered that there was 4x more Faire to cover:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3620/3588403436_3fbfb0a7de.jpg?v=0)
This one was giving me the eye:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3650/3588404232_c2ef9ced37.jpg?v=0)
I want to try hanging a camera from a kite! Can I borrow your camera?
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2454/3587594913_a5e874f763.jpg?v=0)
The robots were really being mean to children even…
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2456/3587596285_a201b739ba.jpg?v=0)
Then they went all cyborg on this poor innocent:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3623/3587596809_a687425244.jpg?v=0)
This is the robot conversion factory:
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2469/3587597439_1879b3daa5.jpg?v=0)
The humans allowed to live had to pass through a life sized Mousetrap Game:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3560/3588408418_f8dd60b763.jpg?v=0)
One hall was full of crafts and the witches who ply their trade:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3382/3587601929_3d6b28486c.jpg?v=0)
and odes to their false idols:
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2459/3587602751_d5b183e67d.jpg?v=0)
ok, that’s a pretty cool ode – a yarn FSM!
And what would a trip to NoCal be without hippies and their dirty habits:
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2427/3588413722_0137052cd0.jpg?v=0)
It’s sad what happened to some of the humans:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3618/3588415552_e170effbdd.jpg?v=0)
but I will admit to eating all the chocolate and vanilla ribbon off of the Hostess Cupcake car! Mmm, delicious!
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/3588416440_c1f026e710.jpg?v=0)
Sheep lady’s twittering about seeing something stranger than her:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3587606897_7edb82ef25.jpg?v=0)
What could it be?
WOOP, der it is:
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2452/3588417994_c92a6436e2.jpg?v=0)
Some brave humans fought back the robot horde:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3613/3587609281_8d7c913e9e.jpg?v=0)
But in the end, who can fight robots?
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![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3634/3588428558_bd2d91936b.jpg?v=0)
Especially when they use child sympathizers:
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![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/3588429904_faa1377b15.jpg?v=0)
I blame the XBoX generation for this madness.
But wait! There’s hope!
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3386/3587617431_7626e7c65c.jpg?v=0)
Mentos and Diet Coke save the day! And we all fly away:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3604/3588432074_ffd5719808.jpg?v=0)
and eat mushrooms:
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2429/3588433384_92f3602fe7.jpg?v=0)
and wear awesome coats:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3349/3588434124_28c19538e7.jpg?v=0)
Oh yeah, I ran into Andrew, Kim, and Site Con #3 (dammit, I can’t remember his name. Nice kid… )
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2475/3588435770_8d67ecd580.jpg?v=0)
More pix here: