Calling All Mad Scientists!

We offer a 1 week residential course in our fully equipped desert laboratories. We will teach you how to:
  • MEDDLE with things you do not understand!
  • TAMPER with nature, and the very fabric of life itself!
  • UNLEASH mighty forces and powers you will not be able to control!
At our bleak and windswept camp, completely refurbished following our annual fire, you will be given the opportunity to lock yourself in a laboratory tent and go without food for days. The stormy weather is ideal for dramatic experimentation, and you will have the opportunity to throw several large switches, while qualified lab technicians, all genuine mutants, cower nearby.
"I can highly recommend the course. After only one week I was so engrossed in my work that I became deaf to the warnings of all those around me." - H.B., Essex

The Mad Scientists are a group of Silicon Valley techies who engage in art projects at Burning Man. If you were at Burning Man between 1999 and 2004, you probably saw a ring of orange lights around the Man at some point during your stay. This was the L2K project. We're also the folks behind Ship To Ship, Voice of Fire, and the HypKnowTron. (More information on these and our other projects are available at the links to the side.)

(animation generated by L3K sequencing program -- click on The Man in the corner to see more!)

In 2005, the L2K team decided that 7 years was enough and that it was time to retire the project. But being the geeks that we are, we couldn't just let it go entirely. Instead, the Wizard has submitted a proposal to Burning Man for an entirely new ring of lights....in full COLOR!

Yes, the L3K project will be a full-color version of the L2K. The technology is basically the same but now instead of one circuit board driving 10 orange lights spread out over 10 feet, we'll have one circuit board driving three color LEDs in a 1 inch square.

Ten times the electronics!

Ten times the wow factor!

But in order to pull this off...

The Mad Scientists Collective Needs YOU!

If you can get to the Bay Area (one workshop in Oakland, the main one in San Jose) and have some spare time to donate, we'll put you to work! There's a lot of stuff to do, from working with plastic to cutting wire and fabric to dealing with electronics. About half of it is totally unskilled work (using a preset saw, using a drillpress, sticking circuitboards onto wires, etc.) and the rest requires soldering skills of varying levels. We are most desperately in need of skilled solderers (extra bonus points if you can bring your own iron)!

There are people working on this all day, every day. If you have just a few hours to enjoy geek camaraderie and interesting work, that's great! If you want to make a more serious commitment, that's also great.

The majority of the work is taking place weeknights from 6-12 and all day on weekends in San Jose, and afternoons from around 12-6 on TWFSaSu in Oakland.

If you're interested, , aka The Wizard.

This site is under construction -- check back often for more info, links and photos!