My local library picked up on the festive trend of Cardboard Tube Fighting. The Boston Globe covered the preparations:

The group discovered cardboard tube fighting last summer in time to incorporate a bit of it into a presentation on Greek mythology at a reading program party.

The weapons are cylindrical pieces of thick cardboard about 4 feet long. The appeal, explains young-adult librarian Ellen Snoeyenbos: "It's totally ridiculous.''

As word of mock combat with reliably harmless weaponry spread among the town's youthful warriors, Snoeyenbos and the Bookmarks seized on the fund-raiser as a chance to exploit their discovery of the fighting fad made popular by YouTube.

Saturday's event will feature one-on-one tournaments, guild-on-guild skirmishes (up to 10 fighters per team), "and an all-out battle for possession of the Royal Crown,'' according to the club.

They've gathered hundreds of tubes, and youth of all ages are uparmoring in a pulpy way.

More:
Cardboard Tube Fighting League

By Steven Lemos, engineering intern

Making the Hydrogen-Oxygen Bottle Rocket (that Adam Savage is posing with on the cover of the new MAKE, Volume 20) was a pretty basic endeavor, with the exception of the circuit. The original schematic diagram had a flaw in it, but only after we breadboarded the circuit -- twice -- did we catch it.

I guess that's the reason we MAKE interns build the projects that run in the magazine, so it's us who bang our heads against the table and not you. I will kindly take that cookie now.

The experience showed me that, sure, when working with electronics it's easy to misplace a component or wire, or completely miss something, which I already knew, but it's just as easy to have a diagram be the culprit. So a word to the wise (a word I'm sure all the experienced hobbyists have already discovered for themselves): if you take care when putting together these tedious circuits it will pay off, for if you can trust in your work, then you'll know the culprit lies in the plans, and you won't spend hours chasing that metaphorical wild goose.

Twice we breadboarded this bad boy before discovering an error in the schematic -- so you won''t have to.

But on to the actual launch. :) We had talked to the local electronics store owner, who at the time was making his own hydrogen using a more sophisticated apparatus, and who was interested in what we were doing with ours. So he came to watch, and brought along his professional pyrotechnician friend, who showed us how to make fuses with 12V and tiny resistors (basically the resistors pass so much current that the wire heats up and can act as a fuse to light stuff -- voilà, cheap fuses).

Our beautiful 2-stage HHO rocket ready for test launching -- before being crippled by a crash.

The first launch was a success, with the two stages going off rather quickly in succession, so we dialed in a little more delay time in the circuit before the stage 2 ignition. This was good and bad. We got more height out of the rocket on our second launch, but on its return it landed electronics side down. This resulted in our circuit behaving oddly.

So, not ready yet to call it a day, we began firing off only one stage at a time, adjusting the proportions of HHO (hydrogen and oxygen gases), water, and air, and testing the makeshift fuses, which worked fine for a single stage, but due to the time they take to ignite (3sec@12V) might not work for 2 stages.

We probably launched 12 times that day, attracting passersby. Good weather, new friends (who like blowing stuff up), and multiple launches. All in all, a good day. Houston, we have liftoff.

• Related: MAKE, Volume 20: "For Kids of All Ages"

It's here! The Alex Rider Dream Gadget Contest launches today! Put on your thinking caps and dream up some awesome gadgets! To celebrate the release of the newest Alex Rider book, Crocodile Tears, and the Kids of All Ages edition of MAKE (both at bookstores today), we're thrilled to be running this contest.

All of you adventure-seekers and gadget lovers out there are invited to join in. If you were Alex Rider, what gadget would you want in the upcoming adventure "Crocodile Tears"? Design your dream Alex Rider gadget, inspired by an everyday object (i.e. an iPod, toothpaste, a pen). The winning gadget will be built right here at the MAKE Labs. Send us a schematic of what your gadget is made from and how it works. (Your schematic can be a diagram, a drawing or an explanation by you). Remember that the winning gadget will be inspired by an everyday object that one could realistically build (as much as we wish we could create a pair of scissors that could fly us to the moon)!

So what do you do? Dream up a gadget, of course! And what could you win? We're so glad you asked:

Grand Prize (one winner):

• A signed collection of hardcover Alex Rider novels
• iPod nano with a personalized message from author Anthony Horowitz
  
• A backpack full of goodies and gadgets from the Maker Shed
• The opportunity to have the winner's dream gadget produced in MAKE Labs and featured on Make: Online
  

Runner-Up Prize (two winners):

• A signed hardcover copy of Crocodile Tears
• An Alex Rider t-shirt

With prizes this good, how could you not want to enter?! The Alex Rider Dream Gadget Contest is open to kids ages 8 to 18, so get your kid, nephew, niece, grandkids, and yourself involved!

Need some inspiration? Check out these gadgets and book excerpts from previous Alex Rider novels to get those brain juices flowing:

• Alex Rider's Radio Mouth Brace
• Alex Rider's Smokescreen Bike Pump
• Alex Rider's Geiger Counter Game Console
• Alex Rider's High Tensile Yo-Yo
  

MAKE, Volume 20 is on newsstands today! Check out this preview video to get a tour of our best edition yet (we know, we say that every time)!

Want to know how to build a hydrogen rocket? How about a laser light show in a lunchbox? Or a simple remote-controlled videocam car? Or maybe you want to go old-school and build a wooden mini sailboat or toy car launcher? All this and tons more, plus revealing photos of Adam Savage's maker childhood, can all be found in MAKE, Volume 20, "For Kids of All Ages." Get your individual copy in the Maker Shed, or subscribe now to get access to our awesome Digital Edition.

Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast in iTunes, or download the m4v video.

I'm old (never you mind the hard number). But I'm still a kid at heart and I love toys. And I'm not talking about motorcycles and cars and speed boats, aka "grown-up toys," I'm talking model rockets, radio-controlled anything, little toy soldiers, and board games. TOYS! The cool thing about being an adult, and being into the toys of youth, is that you've got a lot more money in your piggy bank! In this, our first Make: Gift Guide 2009, we'll look at a few top of the line traditional toys, with an emphasis on toys you build, mod, and hack. Please share with us in the comments what sorts of cool toys you'd like to see under the Christmas tree or Hanukkah bush this year.

This weekend I had an opportunity to attend a renewable energy workshop organized by the Southeastern Massachusetts Achievement and Retention in Technology group at Bristol Community College. The morning was packed with teachers sharing their lesson and unit ideas on ideas based around the STEM subjects of green technologies and energy.

The college offers a Lending Lab for tools and lab equipment that most schools are unlikely to stock. Through using these equipment resources, teachers can get their students' hands onto enough materials to for a series of lessons on windmill design, hydrogen cars, air purity testing, and more. Teachers shared their experiences in bringing this equipment into their classes and how it affected student learning.

The NEED Project was a new one to me, focusing on bringing the ideas of energy systems to the classroom. Their site has an extensive collection of materials organized by grade level that are ready to implement in the classroom, from background information to student handouts. Chuck Lawrence of Upper Cape Regional Technical High School shared his experiences of having his students evaluate the energy use of educational spaces in the school, and has encouraged his students to help their families understand their use of energy from environmental and financial perspectives.

In high school and college, I was a camp counselor almost every summer, and I highly recommend it! It's such a rewarding experience and you make so many lifelong friends. So when I found out (from CRAFT's Rachel Hobson) that they're looking for counselors for Space Camp, I had to share. So many makers would make fantastic counselors!

The Space Camp mission is to use the excitement of the U.S. space program to stimulate young people's interests in the study of math, science, technology, and aviation. These immersive programs place students in a real world context allowing them to view math and science as something more than just an academic exercise- allowing them to recognize these subjects as tools to develop future careers as scientists, engineers, teachers, astronauts, and pilots. By combining cutting edge technology with hands on learning our counselors inspire young men and women to dream big and to work hard to make those dreams a reality.

Hasbro is having a contest to see who can build the best Star Wars diorama using "at least five 3 3/4" Hasbro Star Wars figures and or vehicles." Submissions are open until November 16. See the official rules (.pdf). [via Geekologie]

Mark Frauenfelder and Dan Woods got sent this letter about the latest issue of MAKE, Volume 20. We got the sender's permission to post it here:

Mark and Dan,

This is Jim Kelly, the freelance tech writer in Atlanta. Hope you guys are doing well.

Just wanted to write and tell you how impressed and inspired I am with issue 20 of MAKE magazine. The interview (and foreword) with Adam Savage was extremely fun to read. As a father of a 2.5 year old, I too am anxious to encourage my son to explore, take apart, design, and enjoy the creative process.

Issue 20 was directed at kids, and I think you hit the bullseye, with force behind it. I hope this issue is one of your bestselling ones, and I for one am encouraging parents I know to pick up a copy. I'm also purchasing a few extra copies for some teachers I know.

My son just got done watching me configure my new CNC machine to mill out some fun designs on wood; his eyes could not have opened any wider. I wish all kids could have access to this level of technology and machinery, but unfortunately, our school systems seem to be cutting shop class and art projects and focusing time and money on standardized test-taking skills... how unfortunate.

To bring this all home, I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is such a demand for material/content that encourages our youth that a void has been created and cannot be filled fast enough. MAKE is in a unique spot to develop something that goes a little beyond the Maker Shed and the quarterly magazine. Maybe it's a subscription-based activity website, with monthly special projects broken down into categories such as "Do It Yourself" (no parents required), "Dad and Me" (or "Mom and Me" - projects with the parents), and more. Maybe it's a special magazine (like your Halloween special issue) that focuses on even more kid-friendly content. Or maybe a mixture of projects and inspirational interviews (Dean Kamen comes to mind) in a book format.

I'll wrap this up by saying that I, Jim Kelly, hate the three month wait between issues of MAKE... I read every issue over and over again. I'm starved for this type of content. And I'm an adult - imagine what those kids who have this creative streak inside them must feel? They're in need of something... not sure what... and maybe you guys can figure out what to offer them. Issue 20 could easily be just the tip of the iceberg.

Take care,

Jim Kelly

Thanks for your thoughts and kind words, Jim. Reaching the educational market, be it home-schooling parents or teachers in grade school and college, is an increasing focus of ours. We see the new Make: Science Room as part of that effort. We also have the Make: Education social network to reach out to educators and and to create a place where they can network with each other. We've also been working on a dynamic new project-based program of making and mentoring designed to raise the next generation of makers. We're developing this with some very innovative, high-profile partners and are very excited about the prospects. Stay tuned -- we'll be making an announcement about this in the next few months and looking for some kids to participate in a pilot program.

We'd also like to point out that there is something to tide maker parents, kids, and educators over between issues of the magazine: this website, Make: Online! Over the past year, we've been adding much more original content, regular columns, weekly projects, guest authors, and special programs. And then there are our regular Weekend Project podcasts, and special videos, like Collin Cunningham's MAKE Presents series, and Marc de Vinck's how-to and kit build videos. There's a lot going on here, so we hope you're getting your daily dose of MAKE from us. If there's anything else you'd like to see us do here to satisfy your MAKE fix, please let us know. We're always looking for ways to expand and improve the site.

From the pages of MAKE:

Want to know how to build a hydrogen rocket? How about a laser light show in a lunchbox? Or a simple remote-controlled videocam car? Or maybe you want to go old-school and build a wooden mini sailboat or toy car launcher? All this and tons more, plus revealing photos of Adam Savage's maker childhood, can all be found in MAKE, Volume 20, "For Kids of All Ages." Get your individual copy in the Maker Shed, or subscribe now.

David King built this stoplight costume for his oldest daughter. It's his first Arduino project. Besides flashing the expected red, green, and yellow lights, it incorporates an Adafruit WaveShield to play music. [Thanks, David!]

In the Maker Shed:

Arduino WaveShield Kit

William Kamkwamba, is a senior at the African Leadership Academy, a pan-African high school in Johannesburg, South Africa. A 2007 and 2009 TEDGlobal Fellow, Kamkwamba has been profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and his inventions have been displayed at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. He's often invited to tell his story at such venues as the World Economic Forum in Africa, CES, Aspen Ideas Festival, Maker Faire Africa and the African Economic Forum.

During the evening, William was introduced by Amy Smith, and spoke with his coauthor Bryan Mealor, an American journalist covering Africa. Together, they told stories of life in Malawi and William's experiences making and fighting to learn in the midst of a devastating famine.

After the break, there is more video from the evening.

Happy Halloween! October 31st is one of the best days of the year. Not only do you get to devour candy all day, you also get to be anything while doing it!!! Forget about the thrills and chills, there is no trickery here. This year we are setting out to get you as much candy as possible, so check out these sweet costumes

He's baaaaacck! Pleo, the long-hyped, short-lived robotic baby dino is back on the market. Robert Oschler, of RobotsRule, has posted a piece, The Inside Story Behind Pleo's Rise, Fall, and Resurrection, that includes an interview with Derek Dotson, one of the founders of Ugobe, and now the CEO of Innvo Labs, the company that acquired the rights to Pleo.

RO: Are there plans for any new accessories or new Pleo models?

DD: I can talk about the 2010 Pleo model. That model will look the same as Pleo does now except it will have a new paint job and eye color to differentiate it from the current Pleos. Over the coming year we intend to give Pleo more depth to his personality and utilize the sensors better. For example, Pleo doesn't do a whole lot with the camera in his nose right now. It's not the hardware since the camera is a good quality camera. However there's a lot of room for improvement in the software. An example of a specific feature people want badly is getting Pleo to come to you. The 2010 model will do that. Also, Pleo uses power more efficiently which will lead to longer play times. To make Pleo more realistic, Pleo will develop certain character biases at birth so that everyone's Pleo will be different. As for the sensors, the reason why they are currently underutilized is due to a bottleneck in the serial bus that connects them to Pleo's processor resources. That's something we can fix without drastically altering Pleo's architecture. Once that happens, we can do more with them when it comes to Pleo's hearing, vision, etc. Beyond 2010 there will certainly be new creatures other than baby robot dinosaurs.

From MAKE magazine:

In MAKE, Volume 19: Robots, Rovers, and Drones, learn how to make a model plane with an autopilot and a built-in robot brain. We'll also show you how to make a comfortable chair and footstool out of a single sheet of plywood, a bicyclist's vest that shows how fast you're going, and projects that introduce you to servomotors. All this, and lots more, in MAKE, Volume 19! Subscribe here. Buy the issue in the Maker Shed.

This fascinating piece, from This American Life (animated by Chris Ware), tells the story of an elementary school where a couple of kids made a TV camera out of cardboard and tempera paint. Soon, the cardboard camera craze went viral and it seemed like every kid was either a camera operator, an anchor, or some other faux TV production person. Then things went positively post-modern.

Chris Ware animation of This American Life story

RoundAboutGirl's playkitchen

[Thanks, Luckymomma!]

MAKE subscriber John Kelbley was doing some expansion/improvements on his kids' "fort" and wanted to deliver music to the (unpowered) space. His solution was to use the rechargeable powerpack from an an old 12 volt Ryobi drill and use the drill body as a stand for two outdoor speakers he found on clearance. Amplification is provided by a Sonic Impact T-Amp he cased inside the gutted drill body. Love the volume control where the drill chuck used to be.

The Best Sounding Drill I've Ever Owned!

For years I didn't consider myself very creative. Sure, I always decorated the house for holidays, did crafty projects with my kids, refinished furniture, loved to try new recipes, and shunned store-bought costumes for what I think are way better homemade creations, but a crafter? Not really.

These days I'm trying to convince myself that I am indeed a crafter. And when you're surrounded by knitters, crocheters, professional seamstresses, painters, and soft-circuit mavens, you need lots of convincing! I recently went back through photos of the kids in their Halloween costumes that I've made, and gosh darn it, I am a crafter (of sorts). Enjoy the photos after the jump!

PS: Two of the costumes shown were store-bought, or mostly purchased at a store and then embellished with homey touches.See if you can spot them. And one of the boys is a former intern, not one of my kids, exactly.

We've covered Brennon Williams here before, the precocious 15 year old who runs several science and tech blogs and lectures other teens on the joys of science and following your dreams. He's now a winner of the Digital Open, the online tech expo put together by Boing Boing, Institute for the Future, and Sun, to inspire kids 17 and under to explore science, technology, and making things. Inspired by MAKE/Maker Faire, Brennon has built a simple obstacle-avoiding robot and created a kit of it to sell online. Here, he describes the motivation behind it:

The BW Science Labs Store is an idea I've had for a while now, but it has taken a lot of work to get it up and running. There is currently 1 kit available, the Vivus the Robot kit. I've seen a lot of those really low-quality $20 robots where you clap your hands and they twitch, and I've seen $400 robots with a great deal of functionality. I wanted to make something in between, and that's exactly what Vivus is. During prototyping I wanted to make a "real robot", one that was autonomous and could truly act on its own, while trying to keep the cost down as well.

Digital Open Winner: teen creates a robot shop

More:
If Brennon is our future...
Night sky in a shoe box

A 6-year-old boy is floating over northeastern Colorado in a homebuilt lighter-than-air craft and authorities are racing to try and rescue him. The homemade flying saucer , covered in foil and filled with helium, lifted the boy into the air near Fort Collins Thursday morning after the balloon became untethered at the family home. Fort Collins police and other authorities have been alerted and Airtracker 7 has launched in an effort to locate the boy. We're told the boy was near Milliken around noon and was heading southeast at about 7,000 feet, which would be about 2,000 feet above ground level. Skies in the area are partly cloudy and southwest wind speeds are 15 to 20 miles per hour. "It is believed the device could rise to 10,000 feet," said Eloise Campanella, Larimer County Sheriff's Officer spokeswoman. Deputies from Larimer and Weld counties are tracking the balloon as it drifts.

As a summation assignment for the CD scrounging, battery pack and junkbot projects, students made videos showing their junkbots. In the videos, which were made on whatever equipment they had available, they were to show the 'bot, explain what they did to make it, and explain a bit about how it works. Part of the project was a writing assignment where they wrote about their junkbot and what they learned from the project. Not all of the students put the videos online, instead, emailing them in. Having the videos online definitely creates a better, more lasting record.

Grayson writes in his video notes:

Three things I learned about components that I did not use on my junkbot are things about LEDs, stepper motors, and potentiometers. I learned that LEDs only allow electricity to flow in one direction. If you hook up an LED backwards, it will not light up. Another thing I learned is that you cannot control a stepper motor without a computer chip. They are controlled with many coils and one person cannot run one with a single battery pack and a motor. I also learned that potentiometers (variable resistors) control the amount of electricity flowing through a circuit. Potentiometers can control things such as volume, motor speed, light intensity, etc.

What are your classroom projects this year? Do you have videos or photos that you could share with us to show off the creative makers you're working with? Post up some links in the comments, and add some photos to the MAKE Flickr pool.

From the article:

Where I work we cannot have elaborate costume festivities. Only one item of clothing can be "Halloweenish". For instance, one year your hat can be the costume, then another year the shoes you wear can be the costume. I intended to be a duck, and wanted to make the flippers. I took an old pair of foam shoes and carefully sprayed expanding foam around them so that I could carve them. They looked good as craggy monster feet, so instead I painted them as is, with gnarly toes and all. My daughter was always borrowing them so I made a pair for her for her third birthday. She loved them in pink and purple. (Monsters can be pretty, you know.) This Halloween, we'll be making some alien feet for my son.

Here's a vid of an OLPC OX that runs a RepRep which is printing out little camera viewfinders for the XO, to help kids line up shots with the laptop's built-in camera.

The OLPC OX and 3D Printing

Here's a Halloween unicorn chaser for all you folks who are tired of simulated electrocutions and vomiting robots. Submitted by Flickr user jpotisch to the MAKE Flickr pool.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Our pal Francesco Fondi, of Hobby Media, sent us a link to this staggeringly detailed UAZ-469 ATV. Wikipedia sez of the UAZ-469:

The UAZ-469 is an all-terrain vehicle manufactured by UAZ. It was used by the Red Army and other Warsaw Pact forces, as well as paramilitary units in Eastern Bloc countries. In the Soviet Union, it also saw widespread service in all state organizations that needed a robust off-road vehicle.

The video kind of goes on forever, but given the impressive craftship in evidence here, I can see how the builder can't get over his own handiwork. His website is in Italian, but there are tons of pics of the build and you can see how he created some of the components, such as 1:10 scale leaf springs.

Fuoristrada UAZ 469b radiocomandato autocostruito in scala 1/10 dal modellista Kostruktor