I’m definitely in for 2011 though and I’ve already started plans for the next year. In 2009 I did a one-off called ‘First Call’ that ran from 6 am to 10 am on Wednesday morning. I served drinks during these hours and your only choices were Irish Coffee, or Irish Carbombs (with a home brew stout I made myself). It was an amazing success. It was really cool to attract a cross section of people who had been out partying all night, and those people just waking up to start their day. By 9 am we had about 30 people milling about in the street conversing and enjoying each others company for a moment before wandering off to further destinations.

Getting up at 4:30 am to brew 5 gallons of coffee was a real chore, but ended up being totally worth it, and one of the most rewarding parts of my burn last year. So with this in mind I really wanted to expand on the First Call idea and make it something that happened more than just once. Over the last month or two I’ve been thinking about just what I want to accomplish. Did I want to run a mornings-only bar every day? That seemed a little tough. I didn’t really want to have to be in the sack every night by 10 just so I could get up to serve drinks in the morning. But I liked the bar idea, and the whole Irish coffee / Carbombs thing seemed to suggest a direction, so I decided to open an Irish bar in the desert.

Being Burning Man it couldn’t just be any old Irish bar. Irish bars and Victorian styling go hand in hand, much the same way that Victorian aesthetic and Steampunk do. And Burning Man goes hand in hand with Steampunk, so there I was. Steampunk Irish bar at Burning Man. It sounded too perfect to pass up.

But what about the name? Sure, I could stick with First Call, but that seemed more like a tongue in cheek reference to alcoholism than a proper Irish bar. One of my favorite regular spots at Burning Man is the White Dragon, a noodle bar named after the White Dragon in the movie Blade Runner. 1187 Unterwasser. Thats the hotel. What? Where I live. A mostly throw away line from the beginning of that movie, but theres something about the dour picture it paints. The nonchalant way its tossed out serves to tell the viewer that this is a strange place, where things aren’t quite what you are used to, or comfortable with. People don’t live in hotels. And they definitely don’t live underwater.

I liked the moody tone it set, but I’m not sure its right for an Irish Bar, so I’ve been giving it some more thought. Moving in this direction has lead me to some other ideas, and I’ve got an entire year to lock it down.

Regardless of the name, when you’re out on the playa next year and find yourself thirsty, stop by our place and have a drink one evening. Then come back the next morning and have another. We’ll be there to pour you a stout or some Jameson and send you off on your next adventure.

1 lb large elbow macaroni
5 tbs butter
6 tbs unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp powdered mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)
10 black peppercorns medium grind
1 cup heavy cream
4 cups whole milk
4 ounces Monterrey Jack cheese
4 ounces Colby cheese
8 ounces Irish Reserve Sharp Cheddar (any 2 year aged cheddar will probably work, extra sharp cheddar in a pinch.)

Grate cheese. Adjust oven to middle lower position and heat broiler. Bring 4 quarts water to a boil over high heat. Add macaroni and 1 tbs salt. Cook until pasta is tender (about 30 seconds to 1 minute past al dente). Drain pasta and set aside.

In same pan heat butter over medium high heat until foaming. Add flour, mustard, black pepper and cayenne and whisk well to combine. Continue mixing until mixture becomes fragrant and deepens in color, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk and cream, bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to medium and simmer till consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in cheese and 1 tsp salt until melted. Add pasta and mix thoroughly. Transfer to broiler safe 13×9 and broil till the top is golden brown, turning if necessary. Cool about 5 minutes then serve.

2 cups Pioneer brand Baking Mix
2 eggs
1 cup beer + a little more to adjust the thickness of the batter (PBR or other lightly flavored beer works best)
1/2 cup whipping cream (heavy cream not whipped cream)
4-5 tbs melted butter to taste

Combine all ingredients except butter in a mixing bowl with a wire whisk. Don’t over mix or use an electric mixer as it tends to agitate all of the carbon dioxide out of the mixture and you’ll end up with flat, heavy pancakes. Once barely smooth mix in the melted butter thoroughly.

Ladle out the batter using a 1/3 cup measure onto a hot, lightly oiled griddle (I set my gas stove around medium-high, your mileage my vary).

Makes 9-10 breakfast diner sized pancakes.

In the top left corner is the arduino which is connected to the xbee wireless radio in the middle and max7314 led driver on the right.  When finished the xbee will receive serial data from the Jellyfish and pass it to the arduino where it will be encapsulated in the I2C format and sent off to the max7314 to color-mix the attached RGB leds.

MAX7314 – I2C LED Driver x3 – $9 + $10 s/h
4000 MCD RGB LED Common Anode – x50 $11 + $8 s/h
XBee 2.5 802.15.4 Radio x2 – $42 + $5 s/h
BBB Arduino – $15 +$5 s/h
XBee Explorer USB – $20 +$5 s/h
28 pin SSOP to DIP adapter x3 – $12
Breakaway Headers x 3 – $7.50
6″ Breadboard x2 – $30
—————————-
Total – $182.50
Already Purchased – $126
Remaining – $56.50

The final costumes will be less expensive as they will only need the following:

ATmega168 chip + supporting electronics- $5-$10
18 RGB LEDS – $4
XBee 2.5 Radio – $22
Batteries + wire – ~$10
LED Drivers x3 – $9
Fiber Optic Cable – ??
—————————–
Total – ~ $55 + Fiber
This is in addition to the cost of the clothing portion of the costume which is TBD.

Hooray! The first step of my Burning Man 2009 project is complete: A simple XBee mesh network to send serial data around the office!  Next step:  Use a pc to send serial data to an arduino to make it flash leds.

// this sketch was taped together by p3t3
// project2501]at[gmail]dot[com
// please include this info if you use or repost this code

// set which pins have el wire connected to them
int eL7 = 7;
int eL8 = 8;
int eL9 = 9;
int eL10 = 10;

// arrays to address groups of pins simultaneously
int evens[] = {2,4,6,8,10,12};
int numEvens = 6;
int odds[] = {1,3,5,7,9,11,13};
int numOdds = 7;

int sensorInput= 0;

void setup()
{
int i;

// set pins 1-13 as output. im sure theres a better way to do this
for (i = 0; i < numEvens; i++)
pinMode(evens[i], OUTPUT);
for (i = 0; i < numOdds; i++)
pinMode (odds[i], OUTPUT);

Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
int sensorInput = analogRead(0); //check sensor input on pin 0

// chasing mode
if(sensorInput <= 511){
digitalWrite(eL7, HIGH);
delay(100);
digitalWrite(eL8, HIGH);
delay(100);
digitalWrite(eL9, HIGH);
delay(100);
digitalWrite(eL10, HIGH);
delay(100);
digitalWrite(eL7, LOW);
delay(50);
digitalWrite(eL8, LOW);
delay(50);
digitalWrite(eL9, LOW);
delay(50);
digitalWrite(eL10, LOW);
delay(50);

Serial.print(sensorInput); // tell the console what you're seeing
Serial.print("\t");
}

// alternating mode
if(sensorInput >=512){
int i;

for(i = 0; i < numEvens; i++){
digitalWrite(evens[i], HIGH);
}

delay(1000);

for (i = numEvens - 1; i >= 0; i–){
digitalWrite(evens[i], LOW);
}

for(i = 0; i < numOdds; i++){
digitalWrite(odds[i], HIGH);
}

delay(1000);

for (i = numOdds - 1; i >= 0; i–){
digitalWrite(odds[i], LOW);
}
Serial.print(sensorInput);
Serial.print(“\t”);
}
}

edit: One of the project engineers has just informed me that its approximately 40 thousand solder points in total, and nearly all of them are made by hand! [also I fixed the spelling of Jixel because I'm a retard ]

But laying in bed some ideas started to come to me and not only have I figured out how I’m going to make it work, I’ve also come up with some details involving chains, padlocks  and cuffs that are going to take this costume to the next level.