Fab Boot Camp started yesterday, so I'm pretty wiped out. Only 2 other participants for the next two weeks; Roman from Zurich and Josh from Tulsa. So far, we're enjoying each other's company. The day started with a lot of talk about the mission and values of the FabLab organization. FabLab is "a global network of people who want to cooperate and share knowledge." Really, it's less about the tools and more about communication and strategizing within a global community. We talked a lot about FabLab Kenya, which is near Lake Victoria, and creates all its own energy with solar panels. They are almost completely run by women, and the heart of the enterprise is a bakery (with oven built by Haakon) that bakes bread for the whole village. Sarah Obama (Barack's grandmother) lives next to the FabLab, and she has given Haakon her old walking stick and machete.
One of the Africa-focused projects that is being worked on in Norway is a solar lantern to replace the unhealthy and energy-intensive paraffin lanterns used throughout the continent. The design right now is pretty basic (which is good), but could use some reconceptualizing to make it more useful as a product which could be modified by Africans to suit particular needs and utilize local (and waste) materials.
Also, FabLab Norway has done a good business making molds for a local chocolatier, including this scaled-down cast of her breasts (sorry for the lousy image, but I didn't think I should take it out of the box and get her breasts all fingerprinty).
Anyway, our first project was to take a coffee thermos and engrave on the sides and top cap (the lab has been producing individualized mugs for all the Norwegians in their Armed forces). I chose to make mine a souvenir to commemorate my summer travels. It worked out nicely.
The top has my initials, which are a bit off-center. I've made peace with that.
The sun came out for a bit, but I was inside at a computer, so no pictures of the glorious mountains. Maybe tomorrow.
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