This was my article for "The Maker" column in the New Hamburg Independent (published July 21, 2010)...

Let's say that you consider yourself an aspiring maker. Your head is filled with wild project ideas and your hands are itching to handle and shape the raw materials that will become your dream. You attempt a project and it doesn't turn out anywhere near how you expected. Did you read the instructions wrong on the epoxy you bought at the hardware store? It's not supposed to ooze out the sides and stay sticky for days is it? Maybe you are wondering why the new power tool you bought isn't cutting aluminum as precisely as it cuts wood. Are you supposed to change blades first? Or maybe, just maybe, you don't even know where to begin.

One of the hardest aspects of the DIY (do it yourself) movement is that you can feel isolated, doing it yourself. You may want to try out new materials and techniques in an attempt to make your vision come to life, but you may also struggle with your initial lack of skills. With a germ of a project idea that gets you excited, you may run into roadblocks when trying to figure out how to implement a plan. This should never stop you from trying. You don't have to accept that you are doing it all alone. There are many ways that you can get help in today's flourishing global (and local) maker community. It doesn't have to be DIY, it can be DIWH (do it with help).

The DIWH idea hit home when I heard about a couple of guys in Kitchener/Waterloo that used plans from the website www.projectdalek.co.uk to guild their build of a life-sized Dalek (a race of super villains from the Doctor Who television series). Starting with a proven plan is a great way to build with confidence, working on the successes of other makers.

One way to get ideas and instructions for builds, is the Instructables website at www.instructables.com. Here you will find projects that run the gamut from cooking to electronics, from making unique video-game inspired furniture to glowing chemistry. When someone else has gone through the research to ensure a project is possible, it gives you a great head start. Just be sure to heed the warnings that Instructables users post as some of the projects can be dangerous if not done with the proper precautions.

Another way to find help and encouragement if you're struggling with something would be to share your work (at whatever stage of completion), with other makers. Locally, the Kwartzlab hackerspace hosts regular Tuesday Open Nights (TONs) where non-members are welcome to come in and check out the space, while showing off or working on their own project. Hackerspaces like Kwartzlab often host workshops where you can learn new skills as well.

Following the DIWH mentality might mean that you have to reach out to local businesses to complete some parts of your projects. For instance, you may be great at sculpting robot bodies from aluminum and have no ideas how to get a good finish on your beast once complete. Maybe you need some specialty gearing or custom fabric for a different project. Sourcing a small manufacturer and chatting up the specialists while they help you can allow you to learn from the masters.

If all else fails and you still have nowhere to start, you can always check out an art or craft show in your area. The ArtWorks show and sale (on locally in October 2010) features a large range of artisans, and is scheduled to have some seminars. Smaller, fringe festivals might be good to check out as well.

Wherever you find yourself in your quest to get help with your projects, don't be afraid to ask how an artist or fellow maker accomplished something. You'll most likely be surprised at how much they'll share with you.

Photo by Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden used
under creative commons license

The Region of Waterloo is getting serious about giant hogweed (GHW) this year. Serious enough to hire three summer university students to help curb the growth of this invasive species. I've stumbled across what I believed to be GHW, but I was never sure. Then tonight I had this crazy idea...

With the Region of Waterloo bursting with GPS and camera toting techies, I'm sure we can come up with a way to help the weed inspectors in their battle with this particularly noxious weed. So, here's the plan. If you see what you think might be hogweed in your travels, snap a photo with your phone and send an e-mail to lrs@region.waterloo.on.ca. Add that address to your contact list right now! If you send the photo, it will help with identification. If you add the coordinates, it will help the staff find and destroy the nasty plant.

You could likely use whatever photo and location services you see fit... maybe TweetPhoto or Flickr or whatever works. These social tools will help spread the details about GHW too.

By the way... do not try to handle this weed on your own. Get professional help. You can seriously harm yourself if you get the sap on your skin or in your eyes.

For more details, check out the region's news release.

Update: Here's some great photos of young GHW plants. Very helpful for identifying the weed before it gets taller than you!

Update 2: The government of Ontario released a Giant Hogweed Identification video. It's a good way to see what the plants look like when they're young.

Update 3: Here's a video made by YouTube user WorkSafeBC. It shows what the sap can do to your skin (nasty), how tall the plant can get, and how to safely remove it.

This is my column that appeared in the June 16, 2010 edition of the New Hamburg Independent...

Makers build what they build for many reasons. Some feel that it is the “green” thing to do, saving discarded items from the landfill. Some create because there are no stores that sell the one of a kind item that they are dreaming up. To some makers, it’s all about experimentation and innovation, pushing the envelope and doing things seem impossible. Others will tell you that they are keeping alive a craft or art that is slipping away from us in modern culture.

I’ve been a fan of makers and the maker movement for some years now, but to be honest I would have to admit that I’m still a novice maker. I have an overactive imagination that dreams of putting together things that are not, or should not, be put together, but I’m really only handy to a point. I preach the maker ideals of “build instead of buy” and of “if you can’t open it you don’t own it”, but in the end I’m just as prone to impulse purchases as the next consumer. I have the desire for my community and our region to become powerhouses of maker creativity, but I still find it a struggle to get things done.

Thinking about why my attempts at spreading the “maker fever” have been less than effective, I was reminded of the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” It is an inspiring quote that you could interpret in many ways, and it got me thinking about changing myself to being more “makerish”. There are two things to note about change. Change is easier to manage in small steps, and small changes can often have huge impacts. So, I set about to think up some “small step ideas” to get myself moving in the maker direction.

Idea Number 1: Deviate from and perfect a new recipe. My cooking skills are less than legendary, just ask my family. Putting some thought into planning and executing a meal might not be a challenge for many, but it is for someone who usually combines several canned or fried ingredients together at the last minute. Here’s to hoping my family survives, or at least doesn’t go hungry that night.

Idea Number 2: Attempt a repair. We have a vacuum that has been sitting in the basement. It was a hand-me-down appliance and we got at least a year’s worth of work out of it, but when it “lost it’s oomph” it got replaced by another second hand machine. Investigating why something is not working instead of sending it out with the trash is a good way to build my internal maker’s problem solving skills.

Idea Number 3: Embellish something. I’m not the most artistic person on the block, so this doesn’t come naturally to me, but I think taking some ordinary item and making it extraordinary is one way to make an artistic statement. Makers are artistic, and they don’t have to start all their projects from scratch. Taking a drab, everyday object and spicing it up makes it original and one of a kind.

Idea Number 4: Try using a new tool. I’m not tool crazy, but I know that in many cases, when you have the proper equipment making things can be a lot easier. After attacking some steel fence posts with a hacksaw, a family member helped me out by using a grinder/cut off tool to make short work of them. While this is a better example of deconstruction than making something, knowing when and how to use tools can make you bolder when thinking of about your next project.

Baby steps to a brighter maker future for the world, that’s what I’ll be thinking when I’m embroidering my laptop bag with some binary code. How will that sound to my boss when he’s trying to figure out what happened to the bag, who knows?

This is my column that appeared in an April 2010 (I think the 28th) edition of the New Hamburg Independent.

Makers are a unique bunch. They're not afraid to get their hands dirty in the pursuit of their art. They can see odd and wonderful connections when they're holding a wool sweater, some conductive thread and handful of light emitting diodes (LEDs). They solve problems by cobbling things together in new (and sometimes frightening ways) and they're always getting things done.

But maybe you are not that type of person, or at least not all of the time. Maybe your maker “mojo” is still in its infancy, and that's OK. If you find yourself interested in the concepts of the maker movement but can't find the time or the creative energies to get things done, then there are still ways that you can support the makers around you.

Many makers are scavengers when it comes to finding the raw materials for their projects. Chances are you have a basement, closet or garage with more than a few items that a maker is just waiting to get their hands on. It's garage sale season, why not get that stuff out there and into some creative hands? It's a great way to make a few dollars for spending on your own sprouting maker ideas, and a good way to get some use out of that old bread maker that was gathering dust. Someone might be waiting to make a compost accelerator out of it.

If hauling your personal effects out to the lawn doesn't sound appealing, then carting it off and donating it to a thrift store is the next best thing. Thrift stores are a maker's treasure trove. Old toys can be harvested for their gears and wheels, any electronic thing that makes sound is waiting to have it's circuits bent (more about that in a future article), and some clothes are just begging to be altered and made new again.

Makers come in all stripes, and crafters are some of the best citizens of the maker realm. Craft show season is approaching, so make some plans to spend some quality time browsing a local sale. Chances are, at least some of these makers have chosen to forgo a steady pay cheque to put their full creative energies to the task of supporting themselves. Buying handmade is a great way to support makers. Besides, adorning the front yard with a handmade flowerbed sign or decorative concrete stepping stone warms your home much more than those mass-produced (and potentially hazardous) plastic bric-a-brac lawn ornaments, don't you think?

If the crafty niche isn't your style, you can still seek to donate your financial appreciation towards the maker community. Local artists are pushing the boundaries in their craft to make fine pieces of pottery wall art and sculpture. It might take some research, but chances are you will find someone in the area that is right now working on something you and your family would love to display in your home. I thoroughly enjoyed the Wilmot Rural Routes Studio Tour last fall, and it was a great way to see the diversity of artists in our area.

So, if you're not yet ready to take the plunge into the maker world, there are plenty of ways for you to contribute. Keep an eye on your own circle of friends and family for any budding makers, and support them in any way you can.

I just got finished debugging an odd javascript problem where the browser could not find a function that I had defined in an included .js file. It was odd because there were other functions in the same file that were found, but not this particular one. Here's the code I was using:


<input type="button" id="done_ts_confirm" onclick="done_ts_confirm(); return false;" value="Continue">


I was running Firefox, and the error console reported "Error: done_ts_confirm is not a function"

Can you spot the problem? It turned out to be a naming conflict between the function name and the "id" attribute on the button... they were both the same. Once I renamed the id attribute, everything was OK.

So, this weekend I asked Facebook to delete my account. I can't officially say that it's deleted yet, though. The "good bye message" let me know that it's going to take them up to 14 days to actually get around to removing my information.

There's a few reasons why I did this, the many recent privacy concerns being the tipping point. Another reason is that it's been a real time sink. I've recently been thinking about the consume/create balance in my life, and came to the understanding that Facebook was pointing me in consume direction rather than the create direction.

I'm not too worried about anyone missing me there though, an Internet search on my name usually turns up this site. Maybe with the extra time I'll be able to write more here anyway :)

Update 2010-05-11: Maybe I'll replace Facebook with the Diaspora Project, the "Anti-Facebook" that's in the works :)

I have a love/hate relationship with my employer's 3-month password expiry policy. It's tough to come up with good passwords, but as my previous security experience has taught me, it's a necessary evil.

For many years I've taken the approach of using a phrase that's easy to remember, using the first letters of each word to build up an acronym of sorts. Of course, you need to toss in a few numbers, symbols and mixed case letters to make your password more secure as well. This can be accomplished by swapping the word "to" with a "2", the letter "E" with a "3", or the letter "S" with a "5"... you can get creative here.

The past few password change days, I've tried to pick a phrase that is inspiring rather than mundane. If you're mouthing the phrase as you type it in several times over the work day, why not make it your personal mantra, something to spur you on to follow your passions?

For instance, it's spring time as I'm writing this, and I'm thinking about how to lay out the family garden and other plantings. I might choose the phrase "Everything will be green in the garden this year". Some password variations built from this phrase might be:

3wbGitgtY!
eWbgitGty.
Ewbg-1tGty

... and no, these are not ones that I'll be using anytime soon (or ever), they're just examples :)

I love the fact that (at least parts of) the University of Waterloo campus has been planted with a variety of trees. There's one particular tree that I've been trying to identify. The bark of this tree has an odd gray mottled camouflage pattern to it and the seed pods formed in the fall are spherical bundles of small, long seeds with feathery wings. The pods fall apart into a mass of yellowy fluff when you grab it off the tree in the spring... which is what I did this year after passing the tree uneventfully for about four years on irregular walks through the campus.

See the map for it's location on campus.

View Larger Map

The tree sits on the outside of Ring Rd. near Federation Hall just across the road going to the student villages. Included are some pictures of the seeds next to a quarter (after the fuzz has been removed) and a portion of the squashed seed pod. I wish I had a photo of the leaves, but they were not out yet the last time I walked by.

Does anyone know the species of this tree?

Update: My sister-in-law figured it out. It's a sycamore tree. Photos of seeds and bark on the Early Forest website confirm it.

The article I wrote for "The Maker" column in the March 17th issue of The New Hamburg Independent...

Makers perform and perfect their craft in many places. The basement workbench scented by the smoke lazily drifting off a soldering iron, a garage full of power tools, a sewing room piled high with fabric and fasteners, or the kitchen table. Working here the maker is productive with their uninterrupted bursts of creativity. But there are always those times when a maker's drive runs dry. Maybe they are struggling to master a new skill, or they are unsure how to handle a new material. A great way for makers to connect with other people and share their fascinations is to get involved with a “hackerspace.”

I'm starting to write for the local newspaper again. Here's my first article for a column my editor has named "The Maker". It went to print in the Feb 24, 2010 issue of The New Hamburg Independent (which actually gets delivered on the 23rd)...

I grew up surrounded by people who made stuff. My father built things large and small. Things like greenhouses, and ornamental windmills and flower pot holders. My mom sewed and crocheted and was always knitting something. My grandfather built his own table-saw and was an avid carpenter. My grandmother made the most delicate tablecloths and doilies you can imagine. My uncle even built a trailer from the back end of a van that had been through a front end collision, and he just had to paint it the same overly vibrant orange to match the van that would tow it.