Maker Faire Brighton 2011

I’m here in the seaside city of Brighton, England, at the fascinating Mini Maker Faire. Lots of enthusiastic exhibitors are showing off the stuff that they made. One of my favorites so far is the 3D chair modeling app. It will be open sourced in about 3 months, and allow people to easily model their own chair designs. Their patterns can then be auto-generated and printed (!) directly onto wooden boards, for you to cut up and assemble. They have a life-size chair as well as small models, and the big one is strong enough for you to actually sit on!

The Brighton Maker Faire is part of the month-long Brighton Digital Festival.

Now, I need to try to catch up on the days, because if I don’t blog them, I’ll certainly forget.

Thursday, Aug 25 – Day 17 in Europe

Well, since I didn’t blog about these days at the time, I’ve pretty much forgotten. Maybe I can reassemble the days from photos later. But mostly I just worked, and looked around London.

Friday, Aug 26 – Day 18

Saturday, Aug 27 – Day 19

Sunday, Aug 28 – Day 20

Monday, Aug 29 – Day 21

Tuesday, Aug 30 – Day 22

Wednesday, Aug 31 – Day 23

Thursday, Sep 1 – Day 24

I love mozzarella cheese. I tried to look up good and easy recipes that use mozzarella cheese, but this was difficult.

Friday, Sep 2 – Day 25

While trying to come back home, I went into the wrong tube station. Even though it has the same name as a different station, it only serves one line. Bakerloo Line, I think it’s called. Edgware Road station.

When the attendant asked where I wanted to go, I didn’t know.

Bayswater?

South Kensington?

I forget already.

Since I went into the gate and back out, I paid a very high fare for going nowhere: £4.40! Normally, the trip would cost a still-expensive £1.90.

Lesson learned: never walk into the wrong tube station; and if you do, don’t walk out! Talk to an attendant first. (Hopefully there is one.)

While walking home, I muddled on the fact that I have such a bad memory. I literally forget almost everything, despite extreme efforts.

Saturday, Sep 3 – Day 26

Well, this is today. I arrived in Brighton just before noon, and while walking to my hostel, I noticed several things about my new surroundings.

First, it was surprising to see that many of the same names that I saw in London are re-used here in Brighton: Kensington, Royal, Trafalgar, Gloucester, etc. — To me, these names are distinctly British, and since I have now seen them in both London and Brighton, I would now guess that they are used in many different cities around the country. A similar phenomenon can be seen in other countries, including Vietnam: the same street names, like Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Le Hong Phong, Vo Thi Sau, Cach Mang Thang 8, Tran Hung Dau, Nguyen Van Cu, etc. – are used in many different cities around the country. They are different streets (they’re not connected), but they share the same name.

The next thing I noticed was the phrase “Collection Only”. I suppose in America we’d say “Dine-In” or “Eat-In”. Here’s an example from Domino’s Pizza; notice that the signs say “Collection Special”, etc.:

 

When I arrived at Journeys Hostel, among the many flyers they have available, there’s one for an English class:

I’m mildly amused that, in a flyer for an English class, there is what would be considered a misspelling in American English. Even my iPhone, and my computer, agree with me: if I type “enrol”, it gets a dotted red underline. Haven’t seen the word “color” printed anywhere yet… ;)

Of course, the British way is probably more correct…

And now I’m attending the Maker Faire. Here’s an old BBC computer they have for people to use:

On the computer, they have data and software from the “Domesday” project done some 25+ years ago, where schoolchildren across the UK wrote about their lives, neighborhoods, etc. When spoken with a British accent, “Domesday” sounds almost like “Doomsday”, hehe. Actually, I just looked it up: Domesday has a far longer history than than just 25 years, but I guess this was the first time it was done in a digitized format.

Not sure if you can read the photo here, but it says:

“This plaque commemorates the reopening of the Brighton Dome by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal on Monday 18th March 2002”

The British really like Royal stuff. It’s especially noticeable because we don’t have any concept of royalty in the US.

More to come…

One Response to “Maker Faire Brighton 2011”

  1. Mike says:

    Its not necessary a matter of bad memory but more a matter of focus. You are definitely capable of intense focus and high-level short term memory when you work on your Apps but when out into the “real” world, you need to release your attention to what’s happening around you. At times, I’ve been told that I’m oblivious to my surroundings, but that’s not true. I am observant but it may not be important to me at the moment so I don’t pay attention to it.

    Try the idea of adjusting your laser focus and broaden it to wide-beam. Take some time to enjoy the sights around you, give greater attention to what is happening around you. When you’re not working, reset your priorities to really live in the present and I think your “bad memory” will be a thing of the past.

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