[Another Kickstarter project I'm backing: my friend Tom Sepe is trying to get his Whirlygig Emoto to the CRMI]

How do ya get a steam-electric hybrid motorcycle across country? With your help! (and a very strong box!)

The Charles River Museum of Art and Innovation's new exhibit: "Steampunk, Form and Function" is hosting a design competition and my bike, the Whirlygig Emoto, needs help getting there!

She'll need a custom crate and rush shipping in order to make it to Massachusettes by October 22nd, the opening of the exhibit! The money will help pay for the crate and the shipping to and from the Museum . . . 

[The following is a press release for an event at the Charles River Museum of Industry in Waltham, Massachusetts - Jake]

An Exhibition of Innovation, Invention and Gadgetry

At The Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation’s new exhibit Steampunk: Form & Function – An Exhibition of Innovation, Invention and Gadgetry, sponsored by Steampuffin (www.steampuffin.com), modern technology meets the Victorian era.

Inspired by the works of authors like Jules Verne and H.G Wells, and grown out of the world of science fiction, Steampunk has become a cultural phenomenon like that of the punk rock movement of the 1980’s or the goth movement of the 1990’s.  

. . .

Sarah from the Seal Cove Auto Museum writes:

Hi Jake,

We've recently re-done  the floors and the lighting, giving the museum a feeling more associated with a gallery. We have also added text panels for each car, as well as various items from the brass era in display cases throughout the museum. We have added a flat screen tv in the back that plays early 1900 silent films, for our guests to enjoy. We hope these changes add to the museum and have already been receiving great feed back.

Hopefully you can make a visit to the museum this season! Thanks so much!

I shall certainly try! - Jake

Seal Cove specializes in automobiles from the "Brass Era," that is cars primarily made prior to 1916 and thus named due to the large number of brass lighting fixtures and other accessories. You can see why this might be a particular favorite museum of mine!

Hidden somewhere in Los Angeles is a remarkable place: a museum, of sorts, but more of a walk-through enigma. The building itself is identified only by a standard 'Museum' sign outside. Just chancing by, you could never guess what's inside: this is the Museum of Jurassic Technology. 

Entering, the whole museum has it's lights lowered far beyond what even the most delicate artifacts could possibly require. You entered a nondescript, plain looking building, but the interior...It's bigger on the inside. And far, far older.

The exhibits themselves don't make any sense per-se, reading like specialized text from some obscure and outdated profession. Having a logic all their own (and for you to try to figure out) the museum goes on through dark corridor after winding staircase, far larger than you could have guessed from the outside. Nonsensical scientific experiments, fragments of history, and a lush foyer dedicated to the brave canine cosmonauts of the Russian space program..its like having your brain reset by overloading it with nonsequiturs- which is needed after a few days braving the pavement in LA.

As hard as I try, I cannot explain this place- which is a good thing. If you find yourself in the city of angels anytime soon, make the special trek out to see some good, old fashioned, American hard boiled eccentricity.