Making The Most of Our Lemons!

The sun came out, and we opened for business! Maria's Lemonade and Bake Sale, with a mini-demonstration of our Young Makers Club, Love and Rockets, was a delightful success. It was fun for Maria to get this chance to explore her entrepreneurial interests and for all of us to share what we love about Young Makers, and the Maker Faire.


Thank you, generous and curious friends, and family! We had a steady stream of visitors, and it was a lot of fun sharing Lavender, the parade robot, the egg-bot, wool felting, and our hula-hoops! The fun lasted long after dark, when we lit a fire, roasted dinner, and had a live concert from Eli and Paul.

Though I was supervising activities, making shave ice, and simply enjoying everyone's company, I did manage to take a few pictures...


Chango, the cat, with Lavender!
Everyone had a chance to take over the cool controllers that turn Lavender, and open her jaws. She moves with the aid of pistons, which sound soft and hissy when they compress.


Here is the core work force behind the success of the day + Geoff keeping the egg-bot busy and operating smoothly.


Oh, one more thing: besides demonstrating robots, and selling homemade cupcakes, we were also on tooth watch. Maria had been hanging on to this loose front tooth for a really long time, but today may be the day it finally pops!


It's Corina! It's Sophie! It's Caia! And Henry, too!
It was so much fun. Every time familiar faces arrived we had a new thrill!
And I admit: we were heavily marketed. I didn't let this lemonade-stand go on chance alone, which was a good idea, because all those invited friends gave a great party-feel to the day.


Lisa, Michael, Carol, and Leo are getting a good close look at the egg-bot.


And here are Teresa, and her ducky little friend, Christina Canard-Diable.
They're Devil Duckies. It's a FIRST thing.


It's not uncommon for FIRST robotics teams to party together. FIRST 2102 Team Paradox loves getting spirited with Team San Diego, and all of their FIRST friends!


Any Dr Who fans reading this post?
Maybe you recognize that this is a Tardis?


Tooth check... oh, whoa... it's all wibbly-wobbly!


More friends, and some new helpers. Some school friends came to play!


Filippo and Karen came, and brought their children, Luca and Cecilia, and Alex C.
And the beautiful fruit pie Cecilia baked... with preserves from their very own garden! Deliziosissima!


By now, we had our fire ring lit, and the lemonade stand closed, but friends were still dropping by, and we loved the interest in Maker Faire that was building! I think we may even have won over new members!


And. You guessed it! It Popped!
What a full day!


Bambi and Alex, fireside.

We roasted hot dogs, and veggie-dogs, enjoyed salad and crudites. Then Paul arrived and he brought a Mediterranean feast. Just fyi: hot dog wrapped in warm flat bread, with fresh, leafy tabouli, and hummus = a super satisfying dinner.


Eli brought his uke, and the guitar came out, for Paul. The sun went down, we feasted, reflected, laughed at Maria's new grin and lisp, and listened to music and singing...


Max, our CFO, assures us, it was a success. And if "F" stands for Fun, he could not be more correct. The Lemonade and Bake Sale, and Mini-Make Demonstration were a huge success!

Make with LEGO!

Check out Max's cable car!

Sometimes I overhear parents grumbling about LEGO bricks... their kid's obsession, stepping on a brick, finding the toy everywhere. Personally, I can't find the voice to complain about LEGO, but some people, standing in the toy aisle, get very vocal and heated about their anti-LEGO-ness. I just don't get it. LEGO bricks are a toy that perfectly exemplifies endless opportunity: for fun, for learning, for creativity, for engineering, for design, for entertainment, for ingenuity, for invention. For fun... did I say that, already?

Max has been sick. Long nights coughing, sad mornings with a sore throat, and general misery. We've been treating him with warm teas, warmer blankets, and tenderness. I decided to bring home something extra-healing, a bit of unexpected fun in the form of new inspiration.


I happened to be next to a toy shop, where I found Crazy Action Contraptions, a LEGO kit with parts and an ideas book. We hardly need more LEGO parts, but key Technic pieces and step-by-step instructions for new contraptions could be a nice distraction from being cooped-up and miserable. And the look of delight and surprise on Max's face confirmed it... I found the LEGO Cure!

The kit has specialty parts, but not a motor. Max got busy making a push button car, and some of the other devices, and then, with his gears warmed up, he began thinking of something more elaborate, challenging...


By adding a motor to a cable car he designed, he was able to build a Crazy Action Contraption that moved on its own power. He ran nylon string between posts, and ready-set-action! his cable car was on the move!


He's feeling better, on the mend, back to school. Yesterday, after school, he made a much longer line from the porch to the metal fence, and sent his cable car across the yard. More plans, new ideas, making, and healing... I cannot deny, I love LEGO, and the kids who play with them.

If you have a grade-school age child who loves LEGO, design, fun challenges, and learning about science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM), then please visit FIRST LEGO League! FIRST is For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology and together with LEGO, they have an inspiring and dedicated program to serve young engineers and scientists.

Make it In The Parade

***Update: A post highlighting the parade and our float are at Chickenblog! Go see FIRST 2102 Team Paradox Make another Spirited and Inspiring success!***

Our favorite FIRST robotics team, with help from Love and Rockets, is gearing up for a second trip to the Encinitas Holiday Parade. Good times making new elements for Lavender, the moving robotic arm!


Fresh faces

Everything is just about set for this year's Holiday Parade! There have been many work parties, though it has definitely been less intense than last year, when FIRST 2102 Team Paradox was a freshmen team in the realm of parade floats and giant robot arms.


Engineers, artists, crafts people, dancers, painters, builders... !

Last year, Lavender had to be designed and constructed, then wired, from the ground up. She was so shiny! The arm rose up and down and the claw could open and close. Well, this year Lavender is new and improved and extra shiny! Her base is being updated to turn degrees, and notice her team colors face lift.

Remember the mini-bot element of last year's *FRC game, LogoMotion? Now our practice tower is enjoying a new purpose as the lit up tower-tree at the front of the float.

*Hey! Bill's Blog just posted hint #1 for FRC 2012... there are clues in the new components list. So excited for Team 2102 in 2012!!


The many branches of FIRST 2102 Team Paradox have been busier than ever before... since September over summer since last spring every single day! They have built new machines, learned new machine shop skills, mentored FIRST LEGO League teams, organized community service events, brought a whole new class of fresh faces up to speed, represented at the Street Fair, and they are preparing to host a FLL Food Factor event in their high school.


I think last night we had the most new team members show up, and they went straight to work... cutting foam and cardboard for giant batteries and gears, painting, and tossing glitter. Our float is representing the spirit and tools of our community's busy and dedicated student engineers.


Maria brought out our cupcake papers, which make a good material for snowflakes, right Sam?


When seventy high school students organize themselves to build robots, learn programming, design parade floats, raise funds for cancer research, mentor grade school students in FLL, mentor fellow FRC rookie teams, clean beaches and parks, write grant proposals, make videos, embrace science, technology, engineering, art, music, and math... I gotta say, they represent their community in a magnificent way.

Whew! That's Busy Town. Go robotics! Go Team Paradox!

And one more new element for this year's parade entry... Team Paradox Robo Dancers! Lonnie choreographed a techno-jingle routine, and last night was the first rehearsal...









Checklist:

trailer ✓
truck and driver ✓
robotic arm ✓
dancers ✓
lights ✓
decorations ✓
Team Spirit ✓
Passion FIRST ✓
Engineering Inspiration ✓
sturdy shoes ✓
a winning robotics team ✓

Go!

Make a Mini-Bot

FIRST LogoMotion: Make a mini-robot, something under four pounds, to be deployed by the main robot, to climb an eight foot pole, triggering sensors. The race will be the end game for LogoMotion! Go Robotics! Go FIRST 2102 Team Paradox!

This is What I Love

I love STEAM... a new acronym some bright and dedicated students taught me. STEM is a big buzz word in the media these days, and it refers to Science-Technology-Engineering-Math...
Links:
Connect a Million Minds
STEM Coalition
STEM on Wikipedia
FIRST... Robotics

STEAM is a more evolved, inclusive nod to whole learning, to the diversity that makes us stronger, brighter, smarter, cooler, and more passionate. STEAM is: Science~Technology~Engineering~Art~Math. FIRST 2102 Team Paradox is full of STEAM. I think of them as STEAM Paradox.


Maker Faire is also where I get my STEAM.

I love Maker Faire.

I love Love and Rockets~Art of Engineering, our Young Makers Club.


I love that we are going to enjoy another opportunity to visit all of the other Bay Area Young Makers Clubs, see what they have been up to since last year!


I love that we are going to see people of all ages come together to explore and share science, technology, engineering, art, and math... that it will be a hands-on experience, a happy experience!


I love that Maker Faire recognizes the many creative, and diverse skills there are for making... crafts, robots, music, innovation, performance, FIRST Robotics, photography, STEAMPunk... the list goes on and on!


I love that we made new friends, like R.O.S.E., and that we will see each other again, soon!


I love that I can have a celebrity moment with people that inspire me, like Gever Tulley. He is spreading the word about how learning really works, and taking back our right to be curious, daring, intelligent risk takers!


I love that we will see art that makes us question the values and ideas that we are subjected to... art that turns those messages around and asks us to look deeper.


I love that we will see art that is kinetic, dynamic, almost paradoxical, until you learn more, understand the relationships between forces and substances. I love that I will learn more.


I love that we are going to come home with new ideas, new plans! And also confidence and encouragement to test old plans, to move forward with ideas that have been waiting for their chance to be made into reality.


Just to hear the MondoSpider walking will make this trip worthwhile! Our movie-slide show highlights a bit of that power walk.


It is a unique and uplifting experience to be among hundreds, thousands of people that want to tinker, play, make, design, engineer, share, be engaged in what they do, and be engaged in what you do. Makes my heart and mind go boingboing with happiness.


And as members of FIRST 2102 Team Paradox Robotics we are certainly looking forward to meeting up with FIRST 1868 Space Cookies!

Will you be at Maker Faire? Are you inspired to go next year, or to find a Maker Faire, or Mini Maker Faire in your area?


You can meet artists, like Anthony Hicks.


Possibly you will learn what a Wimshurst machine is from Jake Von Slatt.


We will definitely be catching a performance or two of Arc Attack. Tesla Coils and Music... yes, and yes.


I love Maker Faire because of what I cannot expect, because of what will surprise me.


I love Maker Faire, because this year we are going to be sharing the unexpected, the science, technology, engineering, art, and math with a whole lot of friends... not too much could make it any better.

FIRST is Cool

Well, I am almost done reading The New Cool, and I gotta say it is pretty cool, but there ain't nothin' new about Geek Cool. I think I am just lucky, because I have known, for a very long time, that when young people have opportunities and support, when learning is motivated by curiosity, when students are respected for what they can do and how much they will learn... then improbable things will happen, and impossible things will be within reach.

Some people think that for science, technology and math to be respected, for the students who choose books over malls, learning over zoning out, to be cool, that we have to drop the nerd, lose the silly-goofyness that pegs us as uncool and amateurish.

I say, we are cool. Period. In a bow tie. In a fez. With painted faces, and pocket protectors. Dancing our dances, chanting our chants, and doing the math: We are cool, and always have been. It is about being genuine, and feeling free to be your true self. Respectful, and true.

I am not naive. I understand that to raise interest and money, to market ourselves to the corporate banks and deep pockets, we have to claim our rightful place among the legitimate, pros, and we have to don the suits of their cultural values. But, I will always know that we were cool first, when no one cared, when no one was looking, and I will not surrender my spirit to satisfy the ideals of the same crowd that is tracking the antics of Charlie Sheen, or using their math to figure out how to avoid paying taxes to the very government that serves to protect them.

The New Cool, it's been a fun read, somewhat like watching yourself from a remote camera, because I recognize so very much of what teams, like FIRST 1717, have accomplished, and how they got it done. There are a lot of flavors in FIRST, every team, every member has something special to bring to the world... this isn't a unique circumstance, but one that I like to acknowledge, and sometimes have to remind myself to appreciate. The diversity is a blessing, and a challenge.

I am thankful that Alex is on a team that comes from an exceptional school, with exceptional peers and teachers. FIRST 2102 Team Paradox is composed of an incredibly diverse, talented, and dedicated group of people, and while not everyone is equally capable of lathing a wheel, calculating torque, or writing up a business plan, everyone on the team is equally capable of contributing something. The team is elite, but it is not elitist. And that is very cool. I am thankful that the team is not asking everyone to drop their quirks and flavors, their individual skills, in favor of something homogenized and glossy. It is cool to be yourself, and to bring that self to the team, for the team.

FIRST, Dean Kamen, robotics, science, technology, math, the students, the mentors, the build shops, the events... it is all amazingly cool. And I feel as though I cannot shout or whisper, or jump up and down long enough, or hard enough to get this belief out there... but I want to. I want millions of people to stop what they are doing and learn more about FIRST. I want a million people to plan their weekend around FIRST Championships, watch live coverage and cheer for students and their robots. I want a million people to mentor, or volunteer, or make a contribution to a team. It's so easy. It's so cool. It's so very, very important... I promise you, the stronger FIRST becomes, the more we give to our children of our time, faith and passion, the more they will have to give us of their time, faith, and passion, and they will achieve the improbable.

All of your comments are loved and appreciated, and your names are going in the fez. Tomorrow, Lady Betty Orpington will pluck a name from the fez for the winner of The New Cool.

Thank you.

Oh... and how is this for cool?