Stewart Brand changed my life. Several times. When I was 16 years old, I got a copy of the Whole Earth Catalog and I was never the same. Through it, I discovered Buckminster Fuller, Gregory Bateson, whole systems thinking, nomadics, and the general, revolutionary notion (now commonplace in our wired info-age) that an individual could […]
Years ago, I published an art and early cyberculture zine, called Going Gaga. I did an issue devoted to doodling. I’m fascinated by doodles, scribbles, “crazy walls” (those string-connected, associative wall collages that Hollywood serial killers and the cops who pursue them all seem to need), and all forms of loose-brained/non-linear thinking. The very precise […]
Most people probably think of William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827) as a slightly whack-a-doodle British poet and painter. But he was so much more than that. He was a slightly whack-a-doodle British craftsman, inventor, engraver, printer, and self-publisher, among many other things. Blake believed that every human being had a “poetic […]
Polyhedra lovers are fond of certain compound shapes, such as this symmetric arrangement of five concentric regular tetrahedra. If you like to make things in wood, it’s a natural challenge to cut some plywood, bevel the edges, and screw or glue together a giant geometric model. Here is Dale Seymour with his compound of five […]
What do you do when all of the megabytes, megahertz, and megapixels over-complicate holiday shopping for the beloved nerds on your list? Let’s take a look back in time at some classic inventions that still stand up to the year 2010. The following rundown includes a number of fun gift items to accommodate most budgets, […]
AIGA Detroit’s Colleen Hill offers her perspective on collecting postcards as well as a little bit of history on this popular piece of mail. AIGA Detroit is currently hosting a postcard design competition, “Wish You Were Here,” asking artists to reflect what Detroit and Michigan mean to them.
Just what every trebuchet needs, an ultrasonic range finder! It actually works pretty well. Nice job, makers! This trebuchet ultrasonically determines the distance of the target. This trebuchet was designed, built, and tested by Kettering University Students for Professor Kaiser’s Senior Design Course. I’d love to see this with a servo in the base to […]
