Maker Faire, San Mateo 2014

May 18, 2014 at 5:05 pm

Fun! Tons of kids (There’s a “Lost Children” booth. I did one presentation on Tiny Homes on the Move yesterday, doing another at 3:30 today on Center Stage…Kevin Kelly talked to a packed crowd about his book Cool Tools yesterday…Two pics at Faire: flame-spouting monster (consumes a lotta propane), motorized skateboard, The Boosted, cost, ulp, $2K…I’m staying at a motel in Millbrae, found great breakfast place this morning across the street, Millbrae Pancake House…Will try to post more pics…some time…

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Off For 3-Day Weekend…

May 18, 2014 at 4:53 pm

 Took off early Friday morning/driving along the coast, The Hives punkin it up with “Go Right Ahead” on radio:

“Our god is a sinner, our king is a con

The room’s about to crumble as I burst into song…”

…Then The Dave Clark Five in a surprising rocker, “Wild Weekend,” part of great selection by British DJ Michael Des Barres’ rock n roll program on Little Steve’s Underground Garage on Sirius Radio…the new span on the Bay Bridge is such a disaster, a horse’s ass of a design; the towers look like bad special effects (compare to Golden Gate Bridge towers)…The western span of the Bay Bridge (the old one, at left) is elegant by comparison…

Graffiti at Ocean Beach, San Francisco

On my way to The Maker Faire in San Mateo…

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Tiny Homes For The Homeless Built Out of Dumpster Garbage in Oakland, California

May 17, 2014 at 10:30 am

“Gregory Kloehn goes dumpster diving, but not for the reason that most people would think. He isn’t homeless. In fact, he is an artist from Oakland that is trying to help the homeless and develop his craft at the same time.

Instead of building sculptures that he would sell to rich people to add to their massive homes, he decided to focus his efforts on helping house the homeless population in California.…He uses what he collects to build small, one room shelters for the homeless.…”

Click here and here.

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No gasoline in Point Reyes Station for the next 4-6 days!

May 15, 2014 at 6:04 pm

From the Marin County Sheriff:

Due to a vehicle accident that occurred last night where a truck ran

into the Greenbridge Gas & Auto Service station located at 11401

Highway 1, Point Reyes Station, the station suffered major damage that

has disabled the power to all of its gas pumps. The owners of the

Greenbridge Gas & Auto Service are now advising that the gas pumps

will remain inoperable for another 4-6 days until repairs can be

completed.

This closure of the Greenbridge gas pumps in Point Reyes will mean

the only other operating gas pumps in West Marin will be at the Bo-Gas

station in Bolinas. Due to the warm days leading up to this coming

weekend, I anticipate that we can expect a number of stranded

motorists expressing frustration in our West Marin Communities with

empty or near empty gas tanks. Even those who may call for road

service (AAA, etc.) can expect extremely long response times from

service vehicles and tow trucks coming from the East side of the

county.

Read More …

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I’m Doing 2 Presentations on Tiny Homes on the Move at the Maker Faire in San Mateo This Weekend

May 14, 2014 at 5:20 pm

This thing is huge — 50,000 people. And fun! Surprising to me because I’m hardly nerd-oriented. There’s a wide range of things going on here, from ultra-geeky to downhome funk. This’ll be the 4th time I’ve gone and I always have a great time. It’s savvy, friendly, interesting, and very well run. I wander all over the large fairgrounds with my camera. It’s great for kids, all kinds of robots wandering around, ingenious mobile vehicles, 3D printing (hot right now), the “HomeGrown Village” hall for gardening, homesteading, building, food preservation, etc.

   I’m doing 2 presentations on Tiny Homes On The Move:

    -Saturday May 17th, 3:30 PM on the Maker Square Stage in the Homegrown Village

    -Sunday May 18th, 3:00 PM on the Center Stage. Click here.

-Kevin Kelly will be talking about his best-seller Cool Tools at 1:30 PM Saturday on The Center Stage.

-Snowboarder Mike Basich (our star builder in Tiny Homes) will be talking about his remote mountain homestead and homemade ski lift at 2:30 Sunday on The Center Stage (just before me).

One thing: traffic is heavy. Check out the Faire’s suggestions. You can bring a bike and park a mile or two away. General Faire info here.

Finally: Lew and Evan will be manning a Shelter Publications booth in one of the maker halls on how we make books. They’ll be giving away free copies of the Tiny Homes on the Move mini-book and selling copies of the full-size book for $20 apiece (cheaper than Amazon).

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Spanish Motorcyclists on a Harley in California

May 14, 2014 at 4:33 pm

I ran across these guys last night. Left to right, Guillem Ramirez and Xerta Puig. They flew from Barcelona to Chicago, rented the Harley, and were finishing up an 18-day vacation. They travelled on Highway 66 and, were on their way into San Francisco, then heading down Highway 1 to L.A., where they’ll drop off the bike and fly back to Spain. He’s a builder and she has a business that sells nativity items.

   (When we start up The Shelter Blog in a few weeks, I’ll be putting much of the building stuff on the new blog, and doing more posts like this.)

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Buell HD Racer Motorcycle

May 13, 2014 at 10:30 am

“Lloyd,

Best bike designed by Buell; HD racer. Disk brake fixed to wheel! Underhung exhaust (weight low).   Fuel in frame.  Belt tension wheel. HD Sportster designed engine (1200cc?).

Pepe (Alvarez)”

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