Geeks & Art
Yesterday was the unveiling of the bears for Easthampton Bear Fest.
I volunteered to help with event planning and such.
We had beautiful weather, and a fantastic turnout! People walked all over town, checking out the bears, taking pictures, hugging them, and little kids were even kissing them. They enjoyed the party we set up with music and food. It was fantastic, and I've never seen the town so busy.
Then overnight, two bears were stolen.
One of them was nabbed and was safe at the police station, but the other is missing. "Bearly There," the chrome-colored bear that had been perched in front of Eastworks, is still gone.
It's a sour note to an otherwise fantastic day.
But here's why I'm posting about it. I know I have a lot of geek friends on LJ, who have even more geeks they are friends with. I want to come up with some way to put GPS chips inside the bears so we can track them if any more are stolen: something that's domant that only activates if needed. A "bear lojack" if you will. A brief bit of research has turned up only pre-made units I could install that cost several hundred dollars each, and with 35 bears, that's a huge expense to pay for a few people being jerks. I know there's got to be a way to do it with just the components, I'm just not experienced enough to know how.
And for those in the greater Easthampton area, or anywhere within driving distance, check out the bears sometime between now and October if you haven't already. Hopefully our missing bear will return soon, it should be in the press asap.
I volunteered to help with event planning and such.
We had beautiful weather, and a fantastic turnout! People walked all over town, checking out the bears, taking pictures, hugging them, and little kids were even kissing them. They enjoyed the party we set up with music and food. It was fantastic, and I've never seen the town so busy.
Then overnight, two bears were stolen.
One of them was nabbed and was safe at the police station, but the other is missing. "Bearly There," the chrome-colored bear that had been perched in front of Eastworks, is still gone.
It's a sour note to an otherwise fantastic day.
But here's why I'm posting about it. I know I have a lot of geek friends on LJ, who have even more geeks they are friends with. I want to come up with some way to put GPS chips inside the bears so we can track them if any more are stolen: something that's domant that only activates if needed. A "bear lojack" if you will. A brief bit of research has turned up only pre-made units I could install that cost several hundred dollars each, and with 35 bears, that's a huge expense to pay for a few people being jerks. I know there's got to be a way to do it with just the components, I'm just not experienced enough to know how.
And for those in the greater Easthampton area, or anywhere within driving distance, check out the bears sometime between now and October if you haven't already. Hopefully our missing bear will return soon, it should be in the press asap.