Mechanicrawl, sponsored by the Long Now Foundation, lets you spend a summer afternoon touring the engineering wonders of San Francisco's north shore. This unique event highlights some of the fascinating mechanical treasures of the City by the Bay. You'll see the giant steam engine of the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, examine the USS Pampanito's Torpedo Data Computer, play with more than 200 machines, games, and turn-of-the-century automata at the Musee Mecanique, and check out The Long Now Museum and Store at Fort Mason Center.
At the Exploratorium, Explainers will lead activities illuminating the mechanics of balance, mass, and force by building whimsical TinkerToy structures. Plus, you'll get a closer look at many of the Exploratorium's most interesting mechanical exhibits---like the biomimicking Bike Cycle, the mesmerizing Lariat Chain and enigmatic String Squirter, the museum's collection of steam engines and engine models, and many more. Liz Keim will be showing aesthetically beautiful and visually stunning films about mechanical processes and some more whimsical aspects of machines in mechanical motion including the classic 1987 film "The way things go" by Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss.
It all happens from 3:00-8:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 12. Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for children (kids under 6 get in free), and $11 for students and seniors. Go to www.brownpapertickets.com/event/34733to purchase tickets in advance, or become a Member of one of the participating organizations and receive free Mechanicrawl admission as a bonus! If you're already an Exploratorium Member, just show your Membership card to join the tour. Get more details and map your route through the mechanical magic at www.longnow.org/mechanicrawl.
Join the Exploratorium's Membership here: http://www.exploratorium.edu/membership/index.html
Official Website: http://www.longnow.org/mechanicrawl
Added by ExplOratorium SF on June 16, 2008
Long Now
Mechanicrawlers,
Just so you all know, we are moving the start time of www.Mechanicrawl.org up to NOON tomorrow (Sat) in response to the amount of press and interest. This gives everyone 8 hours to complete their crawl. (however the bike valet will not be open at Pier 45 until 2pm)
Keep your ticket with you - it is your pass to all locations!
If you don't have tickets yet you will need to start your crawl at either Long Now or Pier 45 to pick up your tickets.
You can download and print a map page with all the info you will need for the day HERE: http://media.longnow.org/files/2/Mechanicrawl.pdf
If you are a Twitter user you can get updates following user name: longnow for on the fly updates of demos, bottlenecks or lines.
Also if you have an iPhone, you can navigate to www.Mechanicrawl.org to get a customized iPhone app to guide you through the day that is super spiffy...