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Big Big Bass

Saturday, March 12th, 2016

Somewhere in Phoenix there is this:

It’s an Octobasse!

About 6 feet taller than a standard double bass instrument the octobasse was first created by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume in 1850. He made only three of them, and unlike Louis Jimenez, the big instrument did not fall and crush him to death.

Judy and Jim next to the octobasse

This was a short visit to PHX for the weekend. We saw two Colorado Rockies games during their Spring training at Salt River Stadium and also got a quick visit with our friend Meredith.

Bass so big

Well, if you stood on a ladder to finger the board, you wouldn’t be able to bow the strings, at least not very well. That’s why there are special levers built in to the octobasse to help out.

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Small Around Town

Monday, February 29th, 2016

OK, here’s something at the FCMOD:

The Tiny Tots Train Exhibit

In order to get into this exhibit, you have to crawl under a big table. Once you’ve figured out which hole you want to peek out from, you can then play with the wooden trains on the wooden tracks. Each train car is attached with magnets so it’s real easy to put together and take apart. The train table is part of a new exhibit at the Museum of Discovery in Fort Collins called “Tiny Tot Explorations” and as you can see, I had first dibs before the attraction opened.

A Tiny House

Yes you can own a tiny house in Fort Collins! You need to have a structure size of at least 120 square feet with a 7 foot ceiling; Gotta have a bathroom, kitchen/sleeping/living area (can be all in one room) . There are a number of building requirements similar to a full sized house which can add to the expense (in case you might be thinking that small is cheap).

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Poudre Library Stuff

Thursday, February 4th, 2016

I reminded myself to load these posters from the library:

Yet Another TAD

Was some work getting this all together but I had some volunteer help at the library (high school students’ community service can cash in at the local library).

…and printing in Three Dee ! Hee Hee

There were some adults in the audience so I related my take on 3D printers from November 2013 (Look Here) where I told them what I thought George Carlin might say about these ‘toys that make toys’. Go ahead, take a look!

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Time to take it apart

Sunday, December 20th, 2015

Also known as Take Apart Day

Only Qualified Personnel can open this

Seems like fun too! The above item the little girl is digging into is from a high voltage power supply for an ionization gauge control. I think I had this thing in my garage since 1985.

Poudre River main library

This is where one of the events happened. I had gathered enough junk for everyone to have an evening of take apart excitement. Jeanne liked the idea that the garage finally let go of a few items we never needed in the first place.

Sewing Machine

Lots of gears and motors in this thing. The guy at the sewing machine repair store gave this one to me. It seems that some of the newer machines are not worth fixing…

Tool Girls

I still had an old IBM PC with a 10MB hard drive in one of the bedrooms that hadn’t been turned on since 1984. Note that the participants are free to take any parts home to make whatever they want with them.

Everything is in pieces

And now what? Well, I am grateful that the local Best Buy store will freely take boxes full of electronic parts for recycling so I don’t have to worry about it. (OK, I did take a few parts home just because. Don’t tell Jeanne)

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Tony in the House!

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015

At the Disco Museum:

The CSU President

Need I say more?

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STEMfest

Saturday, September 19th, 2015

It was a STEM fest… Lot of that going around lately

And the Creator Hub was there

We were helping kids make paper rockets for this air pressure rocket launcher I built last week out of PVC pipe and a lawn sprinkler valve. (Purchased cheap from the Habitat resale store)

Pumping up at the launch pad

We used a standard bicycle pump to get the right amount of compressed air (about 20 psi)

The Guard Dog

Not Duncan Madog as he won’t go anywhere near the rocket launcher, this dog just wanted some shade on this sunny day in the parking lot at the Promenade Shops, Centerra, Loveland, Colorado, USA.

It was called the Day for Kids STEMfest

And it was a great time for kids. Organized by the Boys and Girls Club of Larimer County, there was plenty to do and I think the kids may have learned some things as well.

Wow, that lab coat still fits!

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Great Dunes!

Saturday, August 15th, 2015

We had time for a short visit, but what the hey? It’s only a bunch of sand!

About 150,000 acres of dunes

And Daihinibaenetes giganteus

Commonly known as the Giant Sand Teader Camel Cricket. Here’s one on his own mound of sand in the middle of Medano Creek. We must come back sometime and spend the night, the evening skies must be magnificent!

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Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Sunday, June 21st, 2015

The HUB had a booth set up in the museum:

Good Spot for us!

Our table was right by the queue for the “Nerdy Derby” which is a no-rules miniature car building/racing competition. The name is a registered trademark so I’m sure it was all legit. See here for more details.

Steve and Jim at the fair

We were manning the tables for the first day representing both Loveland and Fort Collins in Denver this weekend.

Beyond the 3-D printer

The lucky ones in line were the kids who got freshly printed objects to use for their race cars. I think some kids slipped back to the end of the line hoping to get another chance for a warm piece of plastic.

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Check In

Saturday, June 20th, 2015

OK, so I haven’t checked in for a while…

Stuff is still going on

Duncan is still hungry, Jeannie is conducting, 3D printers are printing and I don’t what the hell he’s doing.

Posted in Duncan Madog, Teaching, Volunteers | Comments Off on Check In

Hacked Education

Wednesday, May 20th, 2015

Or just another chance to hang the FCCH banner in a public place:

Going toward an analog/digital Education Initiative

The future of a global community of makers, tinkerers, creators, designers and inventors will depend on a group of visionary educators who will dismantle the current education paradigm and rebuild from its parts a new and dynamic view of learning for the sake of learning. I don’t know… I just made that up. It’s got the words ‘education’ and ‘learning’ mentioned twice. Make stuff, don’t buy stuff. Recycle. Preserve nature naturally. Sigh!

Posted in Teaching, Volunteers | Comments Off on Hacked Education

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