Dorkbot 50: Under the SeaBot – April 21 @ Thinkery Austin!

This month we will submerge ourselves under tidal waves to explore the magic of sea life… from subsea ecosystems to sea-based agriculture. Let’s dive in!

Farming Seaweed in Austin, Texas: the Tech Below the Surface

Lewis Weil (You know. From Nerd Nite!)

Austin, Texas is home to the only inland culinary seaweed farm in North America. Lewis will for the first time give a public presentation on the technology that makes my farm possible. Weil’s seaweed is on plates in fancy restaurants, has been featured on Slashdot, and every bit of it used to be grown in his garage. It is now in a greenhouse at an urban farm in south Austin.

Lewis Weil talks about aquariums way too much. He has a real job and other interests and stuff. But given alcohol and a chance the conversation always turns to growing things in water. He has kept everything from microscopic algae, rare amazon fish, delicate corals, and sharks. He tries to maintain a façade of being a cool human being. All his best ideas start out as jokes.

Naturalistic Paludariums 101

Wiley Wiggins (You know. From Juegos Rancheros and other stuff!)

This is the story of a normal person who never planned on building enormous microcontroller-regulated biotopes in his home. The acquisition of a cute and unassuming amphibian friend started a slow decent down the hobby hole towards madness. Learn how to create rainforest zones within glass boxes in your own home, all watched over by machines of loving grace.

Wiley Wiggins is one of the organizers of the Juegos Rancheros indie videogame meetup, monthly at the North Door. You may know him from other stuff as well.

Under the C’s: Lessons Learned In The Trenches of a Library

Dustin Younse (our Current-and-soon-to-be-Former Dorkbot Overlord)

Libraries are more than just a collection of assorted, dusty books, and recent advances in technology have highlighted the role of the library as a repository of knowledge, not a repository of paper, ink and glue. We’ll take a quick look at some of the cool stuff happening right now, and in the near future.

Dustin is the Overlord of Dorkbot Austin, was, until recently, the Webmaster for the University of Texas Libraries, and is one heck of a cat dad, according to his ward Audrey.

Dorkbot is – As ALWAYS – a FREE and ALL AGES event.