Makers of MAKE

BoredStiff writes "An NPR show called The Connection inteviewed The Makers of MAKE. They discussed who's behind MAKE magazine, and why they think there are a lot of people out there with an interest in re-inventing with the gadgets that run our daily lives. MAKE magazine is a deliberate throw-back to the how-to science manuals of an earlier era -- back when technology wasn't so cheap people did more 'do it yourself.'"

Comments

When I was a little boy...

[TomorrowPlusX]

When I was about 8 or 10, my father ( a machinist, and DIY type, though of a mechanical nature, not techy ) bought me four volumes of _The Boy Mechanic_ -- a *beautiful* set of books by Popular Mechanics, from the 1920's.

These books had *everything* from simple things like making your own arc-lamp to radios, to steam engines, to stirling-cycle engines, to lightweight gasoline airplane engines ( for free flight ) to chassis for a go-kart, to simple transmissions, to making your own lathe, and so on. Plus, a *lot* of pyrotechnics. A LOT of pyrotechnics.

All gorgeously illustrated in the clean slightly-post-art-nouveau style of the 20's, with little boys and teenagers doing things that would get you arrested today.

What broke my heart were paragraphs that would say "Just go to your local chemist's and buy 12 pounds of insert-highly-toxic-explosive-compound". I'd ask my dad and say, "where can I get insert-highly-toxic-explosive-compound". He'd say, "Son, we live in a pussy age where you'd get arrested for just asking about that stuff."

I guess this is how we grow up today. Sterile, hairless wimps.

Re:my inlaws

[OglinTatas]

You may be joking about the home suture, but In my younger days, I had successfully sealed a few slices and gashes with superglue or regular sports tape. No major vessels were compromised, so it wasn't all that spectacular. But in fact, surgeons use a version of superglue for their non-suture sutures. It is available to the home user under the brands dermabond or liquid bandage.

I used to be a DIY type, making homebrew beer, DIY beer coolers, DIY fish "pond" (in my dorm room) with DIY biological filter, etc. Several years after college if finally occured to me that what I made was invariably more expensive, less effective/efficient, bigger and just plain uglier than the commercially produced equivalents. And so I quit. (I still subscribed to MAKE when it was first published)

I think the point of DIY is being creative in solving problems, to be inventive, to have a sense of accomplishment when something is made. "I did that" instead of "I bought that." It is something that any DIYer can appreciate himself, even if no one around him does.

On a distantly related note, I fear there may be a decline in ingenuity in general, as mass produced fare is so cheap and so readily available that few people feel the urge to fiddle, to improve anything, since they can just go out and buy something else.

I'm currently mulling over a project to convert an optical mouse into a DIY (right) foot operated computer pointer with (left) foot operated pedals instead of buttons. I know there are commercial products that do this ($130-$200+) but they aren't _exactly_ what I envision.