It’s fast approaching, and there is still much to do (wash bottles, build race tank, label tools, collect set dressing, write handouts, draw diagrams, calibrate race timer…). But last night, I did get one thing done; I washed juice bottles.

Can you tell how cool a place is by what gets stuck to your shoe?

We went to visit the exhibit services folks at the Exploratorium. They are the people (thanks for the tour Michael!) who make versions of the regular exhibits for other museums. As we walked in the door, a piece of masking tape stuck to my shoe. In what would turn out to be a brilliant idea, I decided to leave it there. I soon forgot about it, and then remembered it just as we were walking out to the car.

I think it’s fascinating. It makes me want to try it in other places.

I’ll put up the full story after the Faire.

There’s a lot more to tell, but I’m just putting up a quick shot of the layout. This shows the traces on the printed circuit board (red on the top, blue on the bottom), and the placement and orientation of the components (white).

It’s official folks, Session 1 is now full. We’ve got: Nikhil, Piper, Fiona, Theo, Winslow, Harlo, Ozzie, and Tywen.

And in Session 2, we’ve already got: Tyler, Theo, Samantha, Azra, Keegan, Hanna, Keegan, and James! - only four three two no spots left!

To get a feel for the materials and kinds of difficulties that might crop up when presenting a complex problem to new tinkerers, I like to fool around with the materials my self a bit. Here’s a working powerplant for a rubber-band powered boat made entirely from recycled materials (except for a bit of waterproof tape).

Ingredients: juice bottle, soda can, rubberband, bit-o-wire, bit-o-tape.

A paddlewheel turns out to be a little more complicated than expected. Ingredients: soda can, bit-o-wire, bit-o-tape.