Get ready for Dorkbot 54: Hold The Line at Spider House Ballroom on Monday, February 23rd!

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.

If silent disco dance floors with touch sensitive 3D cubes, live projections, chiptunes, synths, and audio-visual interfaces designed with plenty of dials and knobs are your thing… you’re gonna need a change of pants for this month’s show.

DORKBOT 48: Count Chipula Attacks!

Clay Lilliard – is one of the four founding members of COLLABnART, and is here to make you “fall in love with the process” of making and showcasing killer art. COLLABnART has put together numerous events featuring interactive installations, screenprinting, live mural painting, live sculpting, video art projection, acro yoga and glass blowing, to name a few. http://www.collabnart.org/

Mike Behrman of TXchip – the sound tsunami AKA DJ battle champion “The Mysterious H” has returned to Austin and is here to geek out about interfacing old sound chips, making hybrid synths, and homebrewing hardware and software instruments for your ears’ delight. Check out other TXchip artists and events at: http://txchipmusic.com/

Mickey Delp – the chief inventor behind Delptronics talks to us about his interface design showcased at Fantastic Arcade. Delp’s customized surface for the arcade version of the video game Panoramical was the buzz of this year’s event. The Alamo Drafthouse described the experience as “creating instant compositions of audio and form, mountains rising and boiling away, clouds making way for stars and black rain.” http://delptronics.com/

Greg Cerveny Loves open source and DIY music technology. So he’s here to share his sliders, buttons, and knobs that make it easy to prototype new musical experiences. And a little of his vision for the future of DIY music tech. http://gregcerveny.com

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RSVP on our Facebook page, if you do that kinda thing. Otherwise, just show up and have a good time!

Dorkbot 48: Count Chipula Attacks!
Wednesday, October 16th
The North Door – 502 Brushy St., Austin, Texas 78702 [The Google Map]
(Parking is free and readily available in the lot across the street.)

Doors at 7, talks at 7:30

Dorkbot is — as always — a FREE and all ages event.

Nikola Tesla, circa 1890

As mentioned on The Guardian’s website Tuesday:

The president of Serbia unveiled a monument to Nikola Tesla in New York state on Monday, marking the latest milestone in a long-running campaign to raise the profile of the cult scientist and inventor around the world.

All I can say is, they couldn’t have picked a better scientist.

Read the full article about Nikola Tesla’s new monument on The Guardian’s website.

Ralph the Wonder Llama (by SilverSugar on DeviantArt)

We apologise again for the fault in the website updates. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.

The following website updates will be completed in an entirely different style at great expense and at the last minute.

Carry on. And see you October 16th at The North Door.