July 8, 2005

making harps for elephants

Last night, i went to the Mad Scientist's Club at Squid Labs. It was mostly a collection of MIT geeks showing off new things they had built or talking about ideas for things to build.

One idea that i really liked concerned the breaks of bicycles. As you slow down to stop at a stop sign, the bike would store up energy in a rubber band so that when you were allowed to go again, you would zoom off, allowing you to stop without losing too much momentum.

My favorite story of the evening came when Saul and gang were discussing rope that they made for Sound and Rope. Apparently, a man from Thailand approached them. He made CDs of music that elephants made. He wanted them to build him a rope structure that would be a harp for elephants.

Mostly though, i enjoyed the social part. I was surprised to find that i knew folks there from three different facets of my life and it was such fun to be back in MIT creativity zone. It's been a long time since i built anything.

Category: reflections & rants

Posted by zephoria at July 8, 2005 3:21 PM | TrackBack