READER INPUT
Tales of hardware stores, wind
generators, and pine derby cars.
My son and I were in our local independent hardware store, Jackson’s Hardware in San Rafael, Calif.,
shopping for parts for the compressed air rocket
(which is fantastic!) [Volume 15, page 102, “
Compressed Air Rocket”]. There was another father/son
combo in the store at the same time buying parts for
the rocket. I happened to speak to the store manager
and told him that there was another party buying
the exact same stuff for their rocket project. He had
not heard of MAKE but said, “We should carry that
magazine.” I told him that if a project was popular he
could even put together a kit of parts to make it easy
on us parents and tinkering goobers.
So, my idea is to get your mag into more independent hardware stores, and it will do us all good.
Sure, if Home Depot wants it, give it to them, but
make sure the indy shops get some love.
Anyhow, just an idea. Thanks for the great mag.
I look forward to it more than any other. My son
loves the compressed air rocket. It is really fun.
—Alex Giedt
San Rafael, Calif.
Regarding “Interstellar Visions,” Volume 15, page
21: your reporter is too credulous. While concentrated
moonlight may have medical value for werewolves, its
only effect on humans is to lighten their wallets. The
Interstellar Light Applications collector may be technologically impressive and artistically interesting, but
scientifically and medically speaking it is indeed in the
middle of a desert. You do your readers a disservice to
suggest otherwise. —Eric Johnson
Minneapolis, Minn.
I loved the “Model Wind Tunnel” article [Volume
I have been an avid reader of MAKE since the
15, page 143]. My dad and I made a wind tunnel for
very beginning, back in 2005, and I would like to the 5th grade science fair. The nice touch that we
thank you for keeping me inspired to continue with (probably he) figured out was to use dry ice and a
my creative ventures. All of my science projects in beer can with holes punched in it in front of the air
recent memory have been based on projects you’ve inlet to make little lines of dry ice fog that showed
featured in MAKE. For example, last year I compared how different shapes were more turbulent than
the efficiency of various wind turbine designs, others. Mine was narrow and only worked for airfoils,
inspired by the article “Wind Powered Generator” not Pinewood Derby cars — though since my dad
in Volume 05 [page 90]. had the best set of tools, our scout troop’s Pinewood
MAKE is a very useful reference for any kind of Derby cars were all started in our basement.
project I’m working on. I often find myself reading —Ben Smith
the online PDF more often than the physical copy; San Francisco, Calif.
it’s very convenient to have it right there on my computer. Your blog is also great; it keeps me occupied MAKE AMENDS
while waiting for the next issue, and it’s updated
often enough that I can check on it several times a
day without getting bored, unlike most blogs which,
at most, update once every day or so. I’m looking
forward to future issues, keep up the great work!
—Jacob Simmons
Lake City, Fla.
Photograph by David Olsen
Frank Ford, author of several tips in MAKE, Volume 15,
was referred to with the incorrect name. Additionally,
Nate Ball wrote the Design Squad go-kart article on
page 48 of the same issue, and we spelled his name
wrong. We apologize for the mix-ups.
16 Make: Volume 16
