Man Made DIY

If you're longing for a white Christmas*, but Mother Nature and St. Nick don't seem to getting along this year, try your hand at creating your own snowmaker from stuff you can find at the the hardware store.   … read more

Hands down, the most popular question that ManMade readers email me (other than: I wanna make my boyfriend/husband/partner/brother/son something for X holiday. What should I do?) is from guys interested in buying and learning to use their first sewing machine. Usually, I have a little spiel I do about buying old metal machines with simple stitches. And now, I'll throw a link to this helpful little article.

Popular culture is filled with killer robots, most famously The Terminator. Unpopular culture, science fiction novels, are filled with all sorts of robots.

Isaac Asimov, in his years of writing science fiction, wrote a lot about robots. He wrote so much about robots he ended up having a series of laws about how robots should and would function. They go a little something like this:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Not too bad. I would have put in a fourth law about robots needing to look super cool, and always have guns for arms, but what do I know? I will say this. So far, deep into the future years of the 2000s, i have not seen one frightening robot... until today.  … read more

Q1: In 2011, what's the most inefficient way to take a digital photograph?

A: With a machine that begins with a Polaroid film camera, lots of marbles and dominos, and a 30-second lag time.

Q: In 2011, what's the most awesome way to take a digital photograph?

A: With a machine that begins with a Polaroid film camera, lots of marbles and dominos, and a 30-second lag time!!!!

Pratt grad students Alex Crawford and Austin Nelson built this Rube Goldberg (this thing triggers that thing, etc) photobooth multimedia installation for a class project. A Polaroid camera triggers a row of dominos, invites you to have a seat, and a 30-seconds of simple machines later? Your photo!

Watch the video to see it in act… read more

For a few brief days in March, I was able to get my bicycle out of the garage and try to get back in the habit. But then it got all cold and rainy and sometimes snowy again, and all the local trails are flooded. But no matter - those rides a few weeks ago were sorta embarassing...I was slow.

To make myself feel better, I've decided it wasn't my winter laziness, but rather that my bike's dormancy made it fall out of whack, and it wasn't set up for success. Blame the machine, if you will. And then, darn it, I found this awesome video on giving your bike a tune up for spring, and I no longer have any excuses.

Crap.