Garbage Pail Kids -- Lt. John Pike edition Pastafarian denied religious freedom in New Jersey driver's license scandal Cory coming to Concord, NH today! Handmade lockpicks from old bandsaw blades Peter Watts talks writing with Trekkers Van Cafe sends me a box Speaking at Liberty Forum EFF fights lawsuit over publishing secret, expensive-to-see laws Garbage Pail Kids -- Lt. John Pike edition
By Jason Weisberger on Feb 24, 2013 12:38 pm I didn't know they still made Garbage Pail Kids. I miss these and Wacky Packages. I'm keeping this one!
Read in browser Pastafarian denied religious freedom in New Jersey driver's license scandal
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 24, 2013 11:47 am Aaron Williams, a devout follower of Pastafarianism, has had his religious rights trampled by the New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission, which refused to allow him to wear his religious headgear (a pasta strainer) for his official driver's license photo. "Had it been a turban or a headscarf, or something from a mainstream religion, then it ...
Read in browser Cory coming to Concord, NH today!
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 24, 2013 09:08 am Hey, Concord, NH! I'm at Gibson's Bookstore today at 3PM. Tomorrow, I'm in DC, then Cambridge, MA. Come on out!
Read in browser Handmade lockpicks from old bandsaw blades
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 23, 2013 11:24 pm The wonderful folks at the Port City Makerspace had me over to their enormous, beautiful spot this evening, and gifted me with "the keys to the city," in the form of a set of handmade lockpicks from their own Tinker Woodworks. The picks are gorgeous. Seriously. This is a handmade set of lockpicks with a ...
Read in browser Peter Watts talks writing with Trekkers
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 23, 2013 06:01 pm Jordan sez, "Tuesday, February 26 @ 1pm PST/4pm EST/9pm GMT: Peter Watts, who has been mentioned repeatedly on BoingBoing (beaten and arrested at US border, survived flesh-eating bacteria, etc.!) will be answering questions about writing sf for an online Star Trek role-playing group."
Read in browser Van Cafe sends me a box
By Jason Weisberger on Feb 23, 2013 05:28 pm I ordered the last few parts I needed for my Baja trip from Van Cafe. I had to, after all the cool artwork I'd seen on the Samba. I depart Monday and am eager to see how all the new gear and mods I made to my 1987 VW Westy work out. I'll be joining ...
Read in browser Speaking at Liberty Forum
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 23, 2013 03:39 pm I'm on stage at the Liberty Forum in Nashua, NH today from 1545h Eastern. Assuming Ustream does its thing, you should be able to watch right here!
Read in browser EFF fights lawsuit over publishing secret, expensive-to-see laws
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 23, 2013 02:51 pm From rogue archivist Carl Malamud (who recently liberated a massive trove of expensive standards and regulations that you were legally obliged to comply with, but couldn't see without paying out large sums of money): The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked a federal judge today to protect the free speech rights of an online archive of ...
Read in browser Meet SparkTruck, an “educational build-mobile” for the twenty-first century.
Dreamed up by a group of Stanford d.school students and funded through Kickstarter, SparkTruck is a mobile maker space currently traveling across the United States. At schools and summer camps and libraries around the country, the SparkTruck team offers workshops to help kids “find their inner maker” as they design and build projects like stamps, stop-motion animation clips, and “vibrobots.”
[video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmRKXqDwieY&feature=plcp]
This might seem all shiny and new. And it is—but only in part. What’s so striking (and exciting) about SparkTruck is the way it combines old and new. It does so in the tools it gets kids using, which range from pipe cleaners to laser cutters. It does so in its educational approach, which combines cutting-edge (get it?) STEM and design pedagogy with the fundamentals of an old-school shop class. And it does so in its method, which combines the iconic, century-old technology of the bookmobile with the hot new form of the maker space.
In doing so, SparkTruck joins a growing number of libraries which are combining time-tested principles (like equal access to information) with new technologies (like 3-D printers), putting in maker spaces and media production labs alongside bookshelves and meeting rooms. As I’ve argued over on bookmobility.org, these combinations make sense because reading and making actually have a lot in common. They’re both creative processes that take existing materials and combine them in new ways. Getting people engaged in those kinds of processes—through imaginative thinking, contemplation, hands-on problem-solving, and collaborative learning—is what both maker spaces and libraries are all about.
Taking that commitment on the road with scissors and hammers and 3-D printers and a great big bookmobile-like truck, SparkTruck serves as a laboratory for new approaches, as well as a reminder that trying new things doesn’t have to (and probably shouldn’t!) necessarily mean tossing old ones out.
After all, what would those vibrobots be without classically crafty pipe cleaners and tongue depressors? And what would a library be without the creative, participatory, straight-up awesome experience of reading?
SparkTruck schedule [sparktruck.org]
How to arrange a visit from SparkTruck [sparktruck.org]
SparkTruck YouTube channel [youtube.com]
Signature: --Derek Attig, bookmobility.org
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