My first thought was to check the oven. It goes down as low as 80 degrees F (great for letting dough rise). The oven doesn’t have every 5 degree interval on it, instead having every common temperature. Unfortunately getting yogurt cultures to do their thing didn’t make the cut. The oven jumps from 80 to 100 to 125.

The next idea was to use the induction cooktop. The cooktop can go way below normal settings you would get on a gas cooktop unless it is the really old kind that has the always-on pilot light.

In all of these cases you need the milk and cultures in the container with a lid on. I used a remote bbq thermometer in the pot to measure the temperature. First up was a quart of water in the tall sauce pan on the lowest setting. The remote thermometer showed it climbing well over 115 in no time.

Next I decided to try half a gallon in a large sauce pan. The climbing temperatures were slower but they also passed 115 without too much time passed.

I then decided I needed more surface area to dissipate heat so the big skillet was up next. Luckily I could just dump this water from one vessel to the next for each test. On this one the temperature dropped the most before the heat was once again applied so maybe it would work. Unfortunately this one had the fastest climbing temperature. Yes there was more area to eliminate heat, but there was also a lot more area to absorb heat!

I thought I was out of luck when I remembered the cast-iron wok. It has a small area base and a wide open top, perfect! I put two sheets of foil on top for my lid and after heating in a slow climb the temperature held steady at 114 degrees F. Figuring there must be a way to make it work I reconfigured the foil into a a very crude cone with an opening in the top. After some more tweaking I got it to stay steady at 107 degrees F for 45 minutes!

So, can I make yogurt? Probably. I think that it would have an iron flavor to it by the time the batch was done though. Also there’s a significant setup time needed for that foil cone to see if it is just right. It’s probably better off to get a yogurt maker.

Other things to try:

• We have a portable induction cooktop that might be able to go lower, but probably not.
• Using a mason jar in a water bath. An uncovered pot might be able to keep the temperature low enough.

Next we went throught he Disney section which was surprisingly cool. Seeing how they mock up attractions and with a model and a camera, and seeing early stage animatronic models was nice since I didn’t think that stuff really escaped the back room. A few years ago I read that someone had come up with a new hologram process that really made things look 3D. I hadn’t heard anything else about it since then but I’m pretty sure that’s what they were using for the Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey. There was no electronics involved, just a hologram in a frame, but the image stood out in front of the frame. Moving from one side to the other I could go from seeing the front of Mickey’s ear to the back. People kept touching the frame because they kept moving closer in an attempt to touch the image.

After that we went to the big hall where we saw the robotics and other things that needed space and more commercial areas. We got to play with what was called “Galaxy Goo” but Crayola calls Modelling Magic. It’s easy to manipulate but then you let it sit for a weeks and it turns hard, no more going back to soft. It feels solid like a plastic but light like a foam when it’s dry. I want the 3D candy printer. We sat in the Tango electric car and then learned that it’s WAY too expensive.

After a lunch break we wandered outside, saw the Burning Man metal sculptures burning, the human beat box, a demonstration on methane from algae as a fuel source, and the QuickCamper. The QuickCamper folds up to act as a shell for a pickup truck but can expand to allow access to a queen size bed, a sink, a stock, a refrierator/freezer, and sitting space (where the bed would be). It’s not in production yet.

We wandered over at the right time to see the Diet Coke and Mentos guys doing their show and selling their nozzle kits, checked out the steam punks, and then wandered the craft hall, picking up cards for later purchase possibilities. I thought the clothing swap/redecorating stations were a good idea, but there wasn’t enough room for the tables selling stuff.

Finally we wandered into the fabrication room and saw several ShopBots in action. Surprisingly they are fairly quiet. There were automated toold for foam, vinyl, plastic, wood, probably other stuff I’m forgetting, There were some trying to start a 500 person co-op where so you wouldn’t have to buy all these things on your own. I started thinking about that and I think it’s a good idea, but I don’t have time for a remote co-op space either.

As we were walking towards the exit we got to see the giraffe bot ambling/rolling along.  Now we look forward to next year.

We all started out with blocks of wood and a smaller sheet of wood to cut the arrow out of. I recall the group leaders drilling all the holes but they were perfectly fine with us handling the saws and files to get our arrow shapes. I guess without the power tools we weren’t going to be severing our limbs, just cutting ourselves and maybe needing stiches (I don’t recall any stitches).

Anyway, I drew out my arrow shape so the head and tail were bigger then the hole and then attempted to keep it symmetrical and arrow shaped with the tools we had. After I was satisfied I couldn’t go anymore without messing it up I took it to the grown-ups for the magical step of getting the arrow through the hole.

First they dumped it into a put of boiling water for a few minutes. Then they pulled it out and squeezed the arrow head with pliers to make it narrow and then forced it through. Once on the other side the arrow head expanded to be very close to its original shape.

After that we stained it so it wasn’t just some boring looking wood. Ta-da, arrow through a block of wood!

Both pictures I have of it can be seen here.