Concerning Throwies
Since before recorded history, humankind have sought to make their presence known by modifying their environment. (Before recorded history, we did a pretty crappy job of it because, well, there’s no recorded history.) This need for permanence has taken many forms – cave paintings, rock piles, inscriptions, art. Last Saturday night, I joined a group of like-minded criminals adventure-seekers to make our presence known by adorning downtown with throwies.
The first throwies were made almost 11,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent region. Back then, there were no batteries, LEDs or high-powered magnets. Also, they weren’t called “throwies” but “pebbles”, and they were a lot less fun to toss around. They didn’t look all that cool and they didn’t stick to much besides mud.
But thanks to modern technology and a simple 4-step process, modern natives can light up the night with their friends and make strangers laugh:
Step 1:
Get tape, magnets, LEDs, and batteries. Tape them up in bundles.
Step 2:
Add another person for faster assembly. Add chips and beer.
Step 3:
Add more people. Add more food. Add more beer.
Step 4:
Oops, too much beer.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of what we did after the assembly part of the evening.
But other people do . . .
April 24th, 2006 at 11:03 am
[...] Another post about the evening here: http://sweaterproject.org/2006/04/24/concerning-throwies/ Posted by Anton Filed in LEDs [...]
April 24th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
Hmmm. A new way to modify my local urban streets. Up until now, I’ve been surreptitiously spray-painting stencils of Mormon prophets around my city sidewalks.
April 24th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
Cool! Graffiti for enineers.
April 24th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
Oh my god, you are my hero! I was reading about these in Wired a couple weeks ago and desperately wanted to try it too.
April 24th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
I am SO impressed/jealous!
We MUST do this in Austin!
April 24th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
Awesome! What will geeks think up next! ? You definitely think differently than the average guy! That’s why I love you so much!
April 25th, 2006 at 12:31 am
[...] Unfortunately, I don’t have any more pictures of our activities. But I’m sure other people do. [...]
April 25th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
I will have to say that though I was skeptical (at best) at the genesis of this evening’s “project”…I grew to become a fan of these bite-sized fun pieces, as well as of their creators… The smiles and looks of wonderment that arose from Fiesta-minded folk walking down the Riverwalk, all of whom were admiring these simplistic teeny weeny light sabers, were absolutely worth it… Thank you for sharing your evening.
April 25th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
I’ll have you know the LED adornments were prior the influence of any chemicals.
April 26th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
more LED fun
http://laknitterieparisienne.com/Knit_Lite.html
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/04/grow_your_own_led_bonsai_tree.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
April 27th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
proposition: you trade me a set of these thingys for something like, oh, say..sock yarn or something?? and then I can stick them onto my crutches and wheelchair and shit so people will see me in the dark
(and if you patent that w/o giving me a finders fee I shall hunt you down and beat you with my fake leg)
November 21st, 2006 at 5:18 pm
[...] The pattern is the Feather and Fan sock from Socks Socks Socks by Elaine Rowley (the pattern itself is from Judith Sumner). The yarn is from the lovely, talented and frequently saucy AmpuT – part of our top secret yarn-for-throwies exchange program. [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 5:24 am
[...] post about the evening here: http://sweaterproject.org/2006/04/24/concerning-throwies/ This entry was posted on Sunday, April 23rd, 2006 at 4:17 pm and is filed under LEDs. You can [...]