Make:

The first Dorkbot DC/Make: DC project event was held on Wednesday at the Marian Koshland Science Museum in Northwest DC. This was the inaugural meeting of Make: DC, a projects building group inspired by MAKE magazine. We'll be doing a series of joint Dorkbot/Make: DC events in the future. For this first event, we made LED cubes, inspired by Bre's Pocket LED Cube Weekend Podcast. I have more pictures and info on Street Tech:

One bit of added excitement to our evening was the ever-present fear that we might set off the fire alarm system which would have killed power to the *entire* building. We were told about the room's overly-sensitive alarm system -- blinking its status-light taunts right above our heads and over one of our work tables -- just as dozens of adorable Dorks were pouring into the place, 600-degree firesticks in hand. We nervously moved some tables and scrounged up a bladed fan to push the fumes around. As probably 20 irons fired up and that heady, fluxy aroma of solder filled the air, we held our collective breath. I (only half-jokingly) told folks with cameras to have them at the ready so that, when the power went out, as the building filed out into the cold, dark streets, we could at least blog the whole sordid business ("DC Dorks Darken City Block"). Miraculously, no buildings were harmed in the making of our little LED cubes and a great time was had by all (at least as far as I could smell... er tell).

This event was co-sponsored by The Maker Store. A million thanks to Dan, Rob, Sherry and everyone at Maker Media for their help and support.

First Dorkbot DC/Make: DC Joint Project Event - Link