Monthly Archives: November 2011

Another Useless Workshop!

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xinchejian, a hackerspace in Shanghai is holding a Useless Machine Workshop on December 4th and it’s only about $25 (RMB160)!  So if you’re in or near Shanghai I urge you to go.

And this isn’t the first time that there have been Useless Machine Workshops.

The closest hackerspace to me is about 120 miles away and I just found out about them while writing this post.  Last time I checked the closest one was about 500 miles away.  Maybe it’s time to get one going in my city.

(Edit:  Ask and yea shall receive… turns out there is a local hackerspace forming:  crashbanglabs

I find this idea of Useless Workshops very cool and I would like to encourage more hackerspaces to have them.  If your hackerspace is considering this please contact us:  we can provide help and parts/kits at a steep discount.

 

Edit:  turns out the Chinese government wants to fund 100 community hackerspaces in Shanghai.

Edit:  Make Magazine will be streaming a live video Wednesday night called Hackerspace Roadshow where they will take you to 5 different spaces around the world.

Edit:  Too many edits…

Occupy X-Mas?!?!!??

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This group (edited: the correct link is here) says that we shouldn’t buy ANYTHING for Christmas this year.

I do think we all should reduce, recycle and try to be responsible citizens, not rampant consumers in the global village.  But I think that not buying ANY gifts is kind of extreme.  A person could compromise:  buy a gift, but one that’s completely useless…

Behold the Ultimate Useless Machine

 

* My apologies, I linked to the wrong group…as the admin from the occupychristmas.org pointed out.  The page I should have linked to is http://www.facebook.com/OccupyXmas .  Occupychristmas.org actually encourages us to  “buy local, support the arts, and (most importantly) spend time with your family and friends.”  I couldn’t agree more!

Reduced Shipping…Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy Thanksgiving to the Folks in the US of A.

You may not know it but up here in the frozen North, we have our Thanksgiving in early October.   If we wait till this time of year it’s almost impossible to thaw a turkey in our igloos…

 

"Oh, hey! I love these things!....Crunchy on the outside and chewy center!"

We’ve gotten some better rates so shipping to North America is now $16. This will be for Expedited Parcel with maximum 6 business days for delivery to the continental US.

Please do not delay if you want delivery before Christmas.  So far we are keeping up to orders and are shipping the next business day after receiving them.

We’re still working on Overseas shipping and will know more in the next few days.  It’s going to be close, but we should still be able to make Christmas delivery for all our customers.

Assembly instructions should be up tomorrow.

Cheers, Brett

Battle of the Shopping Cart

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Some delays in shipping: all North American orders are packaged and are being shipped today.

Problems have developed with over-seas shipments. Paypal’s shipping options do not offer Canada Post’s “Small Packet – International Air” (6-10 business days) which is the only inexpensive way of sending a parcel overseas without it taking 4-6 weeks. And trying to use this service outside of Paypal is proving very difficult and time consuming.

I will be honoring all orders that have already been placed and will be sending them via SPIA as promised and will be shipped them over the next couple days. My apologies for the delay.

For the next couple days we will not be accepting orders outside of North America. We hope to have this problem corrected soon.

 

First Sale Complete

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Barry F. is officially THE FIRST CUSTOMER of The Frivolous Engineering Company Inc., purchasing a you-solder-it KIT. In taking a chance and placing the first order we feel that he should be rewarded for his bravery and DIY initiative. So we’re sending him two kits for the price of one!

In the next couple days we’ll be posting detailed assembly instructions (it’s really easy), more info and company policies on returns/warranty and the all-important demo video should be up soon.

Thanks Barry, we appreciate your business and please let us know if we can make any improvements.

-Brett Coulthard
CEO and chief bottle washer,
The Frivolous Engineering Company Inc.
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada