The MakeShift Challenge: Potable Water
It’s easy to forget that access to potable water is considered a luxury for much of the world.
MakeShift
For the first five years of Make:, we ran a column called “MakeShift,” by Lee David Zlotoff, creator of the iconic TV show MacGyver. As with the show, where science and engineering improvisation were a central theme, each MakeShift installment presented a sticky situation — like a viral outbreak on a plane, how to communicate with the outside world during a high school lockdown, or surviving a zombie attack — and then challenged our readers to submit “makeshift” solutions. We were constantly blown away by the cleverness and intelligence of the responses. People really got into it.
In looking over these columns, we decided that we wanted to an online home as well to share with the Make: readership. In the columns and summary articles, Lee and Make: staffer Bill Lidwell (who edited the challenges) talked about a MacGyver-worthy measure of intelligence that they called MQ (for “MakeShift Quotient”). MQ is one’s ability to use knowledge of science and engineering, combined with some chewing gum and bailing wire, to fashion workable solutions to problems on the fly. We hope these columns will assist in increasing your MQ.
Return of the MakeShift Challenge: Dead Car Battery
You’re 50 miles into the woods, your car battery is dead, and a snowstorm is coming. What would MacGyver do?
Makeshift mobile parabolic antenna
I have no idea what signal gain aarobc is getting with this setup, but whatever it is I’m sure it doesn’t compare to the novelty of it all.
Natalie Purschwitz: Makeshift Project
Almost 11 months ago, Natalie Purschwitz made her first pair of shoes out of leather and wood — “a rudimentary beginning” to a tremendous undertaking. Her self-made challenge, now 9 months underway, is a venture called Makeshift. Starting September 1, 2009, Purschwitz — an award-winning clothing designer and the founder of Vancouver-based Hunt & Gather […]
MakeShift 20 winners announced!
The winners of MAKE Volume 20‘s MakeShift challenge have just been announced. Here is how the challenge read, in case you missed it: The Scenario: You belong to an amateur but dedicated group of “urban archaeologists” who have made it their mission to document the vanishing details of your city’s history. You notice while driving […]
