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