In Praise of Making

(Picture from here.)

I like making things. From Stirling engines to window inserts. I'm popping the tops off of beer bottles to turn the resulting narrow cylinders into drink tumblers. I make wine and beer. I'm learning how to make sake.

I turned a section of the garage into my shop-- a maker's project if ever there was one. I save old motors. I turn the bottom half of plastic drink bottles into planters. I tear apart old air conditioners and de-humidifiers-- I still have the steering column of a 1996 Geo Metro. I have trouble throwing away anything that once had value. (My wife would suggest that means anything at all.)

I get a deep thrill out of re-purposing junk.

I can justify it by saying it's interesting. It stretches my mind. It's the ultimate recycling. But that would be lying. I'd do it regardless. It's a satisfaction that lies deep in the core structures of my brain, the amygdala and the limbic system.

So this episode of What Steve is Doing consists almost solely of projects I've gotten from the web and videos of people doing such projects.

I have a ball with these things. Go have fun.

Make things.
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Wall of Idiots
C. Everett Koop
John Edwards

Links of Interest
Bill Watterson
Journal of Serendipitous and Unexpected Results
V: Trumpin documentary
V: Manufactured Landscapes
V: Human powered Ferris wheel
Fablab house
Electroluminescent papercraft
Cute vintage trailer
V: Sharpsicord
myPod
Flat pack bike & scooter
Mechanical Chemical Oscillators and here and here
Maymand Village
V: Festo iFab
V: More fab
Pollutacuda
V: Vanishing point
V: 1 bit stop motion and here

DIY
Allied Electronics
Taco pockets
Brushless DC permanent magnet motor
Crackers
Turkish delight
Box
Bamboo easel
Onions
Pick handle
USB Barbie
Juggling bags
Slippers
Chocolate truffles
Light bulb shrimp aquarium
Egg yolk separator
V: Giant puppet octopus
V: Gear rings
V: Dancing automaton
Carrot muffins
Rotary harmonograph
Fancy paper airplanes and here
Vertical herb garden
E-tractor
$2000 homebuilt airplane
Unabox and here
V: Multichord
V: Scratch built R/C seaplane
V: Homemade submarine
Hydrogel
Infrared photography
Wood engraving
The Fab Academy
Picking a padlock
Online Education
V: Wearable cello
50 dangerous things for kids
Metal jeweling jig
Modular printable boxes
CNC cabin
Vicacopter