Thoughts on DIY Geek Porn

Newsweek science correspondent Steven Levy's article in this week's edition of Newsweek magazine explores the culture of making interesting things, including thethings that go whoosh, boom and splat, something he calls DIY Geek porn.

Here's a quote from the article:

We've already seen the popularity of house porn (shelter magazines and "Extreme Home Makeover"), car porn (auto mags and "Pimp My Ride") and food porn ("Iron Chef"). Now we've got geek DIY (do it yourself) porn. Just as would-be Emerils pore over lushly illustrated cookbooks with recipes involving hard-to-find morels and complicated instructions for roux, Tom Swift wanna-bes are devouring Make and reading books like William Gurstelle's "Backyard Ballistics," which has sold more than 160,000 copies.

Gurstelle, an engineer from Minnesota who makes his own medieval-style catapults, readily admits that not everyone who reads his books winds up building tennis-ball mortars, fire kites and horse trebuchets. But both he and Dougherty make a case that whether you're a builder or a dreamer, the Maker Ethic is empowering. Its lesson is that in a world where we are overwhelmed by stuff, we should aggressively assert control over the gadgets around us, even if it means voiding the warranty and occasionally frying a finger. Also, we should view extreme Makers as role models. Gurstelle's latest book, "Adventures From the Technology Underground," profiles amateurs who build flamethrowers, rockets and humongous Tesla coils. (My favorite quote: "Pumpkin-hurling devices do not fit well in the municipal zoning code.")

Read the full article here.

There's a couple of interesting things relating to Levy's article.

• First, here is a pretty good example of geek porn. (Well, I thought it was pretty funny.)
• Also, here is a boing boing post on the same topic.
• Second, roux (roux is a mixture of flour and fat and is the basis for many Louisiana dishes, particularly gumbo, but also etouffees, sauce piquantes, and more) is often known as Cajun Napalm because it is actually quite dangerous to prepare. It often pops and spatters as it cooks and will chefs have been burned quite badly by the stuff.