I worked with Katarina Cusin and LWHS student Cameron Rosen to install a 2nd WeCareSolar suitcase in the remote village of Nguniene, Senegal. Cameron and I performed the install, and Katarina delivered the training. During the training, the staff informed us that they deliver babies for a whopping 25 villages! As with the previous install, we were unable to drill into the roof so we had to get inventive. The hospital gave us an old steel bed frame and we used metal zip ties to attach the panels to the frame. Let's hope this device makes for many happy babies!
Successful First Solar Suitcase Installation
We installed our first WeCareSolar suitcase at the Poste de Sante Dediender, about 10 minutes from the village of Santhiou Mame Gor, Senegal. This clinic is heavily used and sometimes has doctors delivering babies by candlelight! They were very excited to have the included super-bright LED lights and rechargeable headlamps for upcoming deliveries.
Four students (Zack, Kyle, Long-Long, and August) helped with the installation. Katarina Cusin and I worked together on training the staff how to use the unit. Daouda Camara helped to translate the instructions to Wolof. We couldn't drill into the roof due to suspected asbestos so we built a wood framework for the solar panels and attached everything to cinder blocks (which were already on the roof).
A Saturday Afternoon with "We Care Solar"
A generous donation, from LWHS Parent Brad Rock, has connected the Lick/Drew Senegal Trip with the Berkeley-based NGO, We Care Solar. On Saturday afternoon students learned about the solar suitcase's lighting and charging abilities, as well as how to install the units and properly train local health workers. We'll be installing 3 of these units on the upcoming trip!
Hal Aronson and Laura Stachel have an amazingly well designed and engineered system. It's very exciting to make this connection and to be able to work with such a high quality device. Find out more about We Care Solar. We'll post updates on the installation from the field. Look for them on the LWHS/Drew trip blog.
Lick-Wilmerding and Other Things @ Bay Area Maker Faire 2014
The Lick-Wilmerding Booth in the Young Makers Area.
Other great things at Maker Faire:
More Planning for LWHS/Drew Senegal Service Learning Trip 2014
Cow Head
New Hair Styles
Photo Opportunity
Bill Kipp talks about the Challenges of Energy Transmission in the Southwest
Two weeks ago Bill Kipp talked to the Sustainable Energy class about the administrative, environmental, and political challenges of building new transmission lines to deliver sustainable energy to the various states in the Southwest. His project, now 4 years in, will deliver wind and solar energy over thousands of miles at a cost less than that of a public utility company. Getting permission to cross lands owned by sovereign Native American nations, Military testing sites, wildlife preserves, and protected national monuments isn't as easy as you might think (nor should it be!). Check out the details here: http://www.southlinetransmissionproject.com/index.html
Beautiful lamps just completed by LWHS 9th graders
Each lamp built from 12"x12" acrylic, 12"x12" steel, 30"x5"wood, lit by custom Arduino LED circuit.
Good Stuff in April in Chelsea
Visit to the MIT Media Lab
After years of hearing about the Media Lab, it was a special treat to finally get to see this set of innovative creative technical labs in person. Thank you Jie Qi and Tiffany Tsung for hosting me @medialab.
Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony
New Work: CNC Steel + VFG Fir Modular Surface
Frame: Living for Tourism
Some New Excerpts from My Upcoming Graphic Novel
View excerpts : http://www.extrasleepy.com/sitplease/
Excerpts from Sit Please: Illustrated Experiences in Senegal, Mali and Ethiopia. 160+ pages of short stories. Researching publishing options now. Expected availability: Fall 2014.
Working with Students on Designing Playground for Senegalese Village
Working with LWHS and DREW students to design a school playground for Santhiou Mame Gor, in Senegal. We plan on building the palyground during our annual summer cultural exchange trip. Next step: send the ideas to the village for feedback.
Great talk by Processing creator Casey Reas @ UC Berkeley.
Thank you to the creator of a brilliant open source tool. Great work presented to a packed Monday night house. Use processing! http://reas.com/
First Design with LWHS's CNC Plasma
After working out some high frequency interference issues, we have the Tourchmate CNC Plasma up and running. Very easy .dxf file export from Illustrator to the CNC control software.
I only have 100 projects floating around in my head now.
Just finished an outrageously good GAFFTA workshop with Lauren McCarthy and Kyle McDonald
These two covered so many topics on internet and electronic media art. It will take me months to sort through all the ideas. Really fantastic and thought provoking class! Get to know these two! http://kylemcdonald.net/ http://lauren-mccarthy.com/ http://grayarea.org/