This Gram-stained photomicrograph depicts numbers of Bordetella pertussis bacteria, which is the etiologic pathogen for pertussis, also known as whooping cough.

Makers, a call to (non-dominant) arms!

I’ve just recently gotten my TDaP booster shoot (Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis) and it occurred to me that many of you may have forgotten this over the course of the last decade.

That’s right, a tetanus booster is recommended every 10 years and, with the advent of the TDaP back in 2006, I would highly recommend getting your shots.  Pertussis (whooping cough) has been making the rounds plus, as a maker, you may well be using materials and equipment that could expose you to tetanus.

This post is not to fear-monger, but it is a gentle reminder that we come into contact with some pretty dirty stuff and it could be worth your while to get vaccinated.

I was able to get this shot for free, courtesy of my local health department, so check for something in your area and get safe!

We sometimes experiment too much….

Apparently, this is what happens when the entire makerspace chants, “ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” at once….

Y’know, ’cause we’re all fancy like that.

Once we got our occupancy permit, we had to consider how to display it.  A simple plastic frame seemed a bit above us, so I was asked to design a laser cut frame instead.

The frame was designed in 4 layers (5, if you count the acrylic) in Illustrator CS5 and cut on our 60watt laser cutter out of one of our favorite materials, 3mm thick Baltic birch plywood. If you’re wondering why the permit doesn’t fit perfectly, some unnamed culprit gave me the wrong measurements, but I still think it looks great.

Since I firmly believe that makerspaces enhance and contribute greatly to the world we live in, I came up with the corny, soon to be lampooned phrase, “Official Permit for the Milwaukee Makerspace to Make the World a Better Place”.

And that is what we intend to do.