July Caption Contest Time!

"And from that day on, Bill was forced to use leadless solder"

George knew that the better part of motorcycle safety was simply making sure that you were visible to other motorists.

In 'Sisco did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-float decree:
But what we have here looks 
more like a flightless bug to me!

30 yards of faux-fur, 2 miles of EL wire, a motorcycle, a trailer, a metric ton of floral print, and everyone is still more interested in the firetruck.

"I was wondering what happened to my stockpile of Sugru..."

having been rejected from the Hell's Angels, Frank decided to start his own, fab-u-lous biker gang.

Note to Home Planet: Recommend proceeding at once with invasion of Earth.

While it is possible that our camouflage system may emit some radiation in the green/blue/violet part of the light spectrum, humans do not seem able to see that part of the spectrum -- and my tests have verified that our stealth ground assault vehicle is completely invisible to them.

Caterpillar Inc. releases controversial new line of farm utility vehicles targeting their growing homosexual consumer base

At last! Pete finishes his audio project.

;-)

"Now that I am getting old, I need new ways to help me find my car. But where did I put my keys?"

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold..."

Edit: for those missing the reference, this is the first line in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Most interesting red truck ever.

AVC.. Autonomous Vehicle Competition? Not Atrocious? Are you sure?

The colorblind design class Maker Faire entry

John Doe didn't like people talking to him, so he drove this around.

While many of our readers are of course familiar with Dr. Seuss, few recall his eccentric son, Marvin.

Amazing what you can do with an Arduino these days...

Honey, I would like you to meet my dad...

and Harold thought the green hat might be over the top...but luckily no one seemed to notice.

"I fear no man. But that... thing... it scares me."

"There was only one road back to L.A. - U.S. Interstate 15. Just a flat-out high speed burn through Baker and Barstow and Berdoo. Then onto the Hollywood Freeway, and straight on into frantic oblivion. Safety. Obscurity. Just another freak, in the freak kingdom." -H.S.T.

Laffy Taffy + Bubble Gum + DIY

The unfortunate result of ten years of adding "just one more feature" to your DIY project.

While this year's AVC didn't specifically forbid bedazzled motor-floats, the general consensus was that Tom had stretched the rules too far.

This is what happens when you skip setup().

"And now for something completely different..."

I don't always drive a parade float, but when I do, I, oh, never mind.

destination: rehab

. . . tryin' to catch me ridin' purdy.

"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour... we may need help cleaning up afterwards."

Let this be a lesson to all mouthy caterpillars - Alice

In foreign news today, Rio's "Entertainment Consultants" (see pimps) have committed to ensuring safety for visitors to the 2016 Olympic games by creating brothels on wheels in the hope of reducing international incidents from visiting the wrong sections of town.

This is what happens when psychotropics and Kafka mix.

Oompa Loompa doompadee doo I've got a weird parade float for you.

"It was all that the rental place had left."

"The kaleidoscopic manifestation of a child's imagination."

Rainbows, Unicorns, Colors, and, Maker Faire???

hey dad i borrow your car, forgotten... i'll walk

"Okay, here's the plan: we draw so much attention to our float, they won't even notice the giant dish up top, or that all we're doing is using it wardrive down Main Street."

Robbin: Holly Duvets Batman, where can we get one of these for the batmobile.

Well, at least he's happy

"Mr. Leary, your cab is here."

Liberace observing Bike-to-Work Day.

Come with me if you want to live.

Elton John, Eat your heart out.

I'm here to pick up the Easter Bunny.

Time moves slower on the LSD machine, man.

"Where's the hooka and shroom mobile?"(I'm sorry, alice in wonderland...)

Winner of the 2012 Tour de Candyland, proudly sporting the leader's 'Licorice Vest'

man what an @##hole

"Grandpa said we're out of bath salts"

Fred says he was "asked to leave the Burning Man."

Next time we need undercover surveillance we won't use Craig's List.

Decorated C++ function

Hey folks, What's a guy got to do to attract attention?

It's not a bike. It is a tractor inside.

Elton John embraces maker culture with his 'Rocket Van'

The original mystery mobile.

Folks, turn your back and don't look - God says you won't turn into a pillar of salt or worse for your sins.

The really tough part, was getting pants that matched.

Friends don't let friends drink and buy 4 tons of fruit loops.

Vincent Von Gogh's Chariot of the Gods.

After 43 years, Billy finally fulfilled his high-school dreams. No real caterpillars and rainbows were harmed during the process.

Above you can see the new motorcycle and trailer Lilypad Boards for your next e-textile project! This is the first product from Leah Buechley's new "e-quilt" line of Arduino compatible quilting technologies.

The comment section was closed during the last hour of submission. I hope you will still accept one last entry:

"Taxi to Phasor Land: Where negative voltage, imaginary numbers, and Bode plots are not all that strange!"

The good news? Fred's invention to materialize his thoughts into reality finally worked!

The bad news? Apparently, that LSD hadn't completely cleared his bloodstream yet...

"This is not right i build this to catch attention...not what im seeing"

I think mothers doily addiction has got just a bit too far

My other car is a Porsche!!!

Standing out at its finest.

This EL wire is faaaabbbuuuuloouuusss!

My mom knitted me this Bike-cozy to match my glasses....Would you like one?

"My other car is a broom!"

They never told me that puff the magic dragon would give me flashbacks O.o

They see me rollin They hatin They ain't gone catch me ridin dirty

After mixing up the acids in his etch tank, Jim vowed never to etch his own boards again!

And since I couldn't resist added more and more e-textiles, the bike just got bigger and bigger!

"We come in peace"

Float like a butterfly, glow like a lightning bug.

"I swear it's my sister's"

On your left are some people staring to the right, and on the right are some people staring to the left...

now, as you can see, the babe magnet really works

Do you think adding EL wire would be too distracting?

"We're taking LilyPad to a whole new level with the Smiling Butterfly Couch Motorcycle kit!"

He had an insane "trip", and never came back.

That mercury stuff is pretty fun!

And Nate wonders why the engineering department laughs when he walks by.....

And the 2012 Colorado State MakerFair Best Exhibit Goes to...

Not the audacious caterpiller trike pictured in the foreground, but the fire truck in the background that everyone is crowding around!

Cinderella's ride will make a fine impression!

Ponch knew he was in for it later when he got back to the squad room; Jon would never let him live this down! "CHIPs"

Well it's no DeLorean, but hey a time machine is a time machine... Welcome to the future. Oh and just so you know in the 21st century, tie-dye is out.

Finally, after 44 years, Captain Fred got rid of the Yellow Submarine and bought himself a pimped ride.

You can take the man out of Wonderland, but you can't take your pants off in a museum.

Ride on dude!

"This is what happens when no info is provided with the products."

Motorcycle on sale $300, Thousands of yards of eye popping fabric no one wanted $500, Being the only float people will talk about for ever - priceless!!!!

"error"

Many years were spent staring at Magic Eye posters before he came up with the perfect inspiration for his float.

"I´m showing off my Sugru master skills"

Should I add more sugru? I don't want to stand out too much

That’s why you don’t feed sugar plum fairies Pixy Stix.

Do helmet laws apply to motorcycle derived vehicles?

And if you think the bike is cool, check out the red truck!

It was only later that he realized the color balance on his monitor had been off when he viewed van Gogh's "Starry Night."

I'm trying to say that its based on Starry Night, but it was green on his computer. Couldn't think of a good way to phrase it though.

--Why was he retired? --He got old. Then some thumb-sucker came along and tagged him "RED". --Red? --Yeah, RED. R-E-D, "Retired, Extremely Dangerous".

I thought this fit though it is a movie quote.

The combination of LSD and the San Diego fireworks display inspired him to make his best work yet.

Woah! Check out that a red truck!?

Joe heard people saying that there was some idiot driving a ridiculous vehicle around, but he never noticed anything unusual as he cruised around town on his new bike.

"Hello, 911? We have an escaped mental patient at Maker Faire..."

OMG! The Yellow Submarine has been hacked!

The Technicolor Dream Float! Ahh, if only it was unmanned.

One of the vehicles considered -- but ultimately rejected -- to be the Austin Powers Shaguar.

"Pete came back inspired after visiting the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory"

...And I only used 875 bags of Skittles...

Evidence that time travel is no longer science fiction.

If we ignore it, it might just go away.

"Pimpmobile prototype - PM555"

"I took this picture to see if it was the LSD..."

"What can I say? Your either on the bus or off the bus."

"Words cannot describe what I'm looking at..." or "When did hippies learn to solder??.. Oh right, they haven't.."

San Francisco man's family plans intervention when pastel quilting hobby gets wildly out of control.

And kicking off the Doctor Seuss category...

"And here comes Lady Gaga. Did you know she designs all of her own outfits?" "Many Umpa Lumpas died to bring you this float"

Confused followers of the cult “Burning Man” had to be turned away from Black Rock Canyon in Colorado today and instead were directed to Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

A neutron bomb went off in the kitchen

Hey, has anyone seen where I put my huge quilted butterfly trike? Oh wait! Nevermind, I forgot I was wearing it!

Hey, like my pajamas?

With cut backs in schooling, the district leaders have put on a competition for students to provide economical designs to replace the districts short bus.

"Think this looks crazy? Just wait until tonight!"

Go green ... with style !!!

"Did you make that yourself?" "Yes. Yes, I did."

My grandfather used to said:

"In the future the cars will be powered by green energies, they will be friendly with the environment and of course they will be very different and strange that the vehicles of now"

Mmmm... I think my grandpa refers to this cars

Did somebody order their pillows "to go"?

"And the winner in the 'I sniffed too much glue as kid category is'..."

Frank's clever disguize didn't work when he found it was the TOWN fair, not the CLOWN fair.

Puff the magic dragon...

"I feel pretty, O so Pretty"

This is what happens when the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland and a robot scooter have children.

"My other ride is a unicorn."

Dr. Seuss heads to Maker Faire!

Bob's family was happy he finally found a hobby in creating mobile art, but at some point they realized they needed to tell him he had gone too far.

"A malfunction in Dr. Who's TARDIS tears the space time fabric at this particular spot giving us a glimpse back at 1960's."

"Gobots Leader-1's stint as a groovy retro float covered in multi-colored EL wire was not the comeback he was hoping for."

Despite Gilliam's best efforts, the "Crowd Favorite" award goes to Ishmael in the red work truck! Congratulations!!

How the Grinch Stole Easter

Hot glue, man. Hot glue.

Because tye-dye is soooo mainstream

Colourful??? You should see my christmas lights!!

come on the happy bike all your worries washed away

Carl always wanted to be the next Steve Jobs, he started by being a hippie, but took the wrong direction from there.

Bollywood is moving to Oregon.

Maker fairy

If you think soldering all of these LEDs was hard, you should try sourcing 720,000 LEDs in pastel colors some time!

Quick, see if you can sneak by while I distract them with this firetruck

Make "r Faire", not war.

While adding a 'little' flair to his ride, Earl ends up executing the most flawless yak-shaving event of the century

"Maker fare! I thought you said party here!" Joe was determined to continue his Mardi Gras tour well into July.

;-> (cjh)

"stupid me, I thought it was Chinese festival day"

"I am desperate for more attention, why doesn't anyone look at me :("

damn firetruck gets all the attention!

photo taken by lucid dream camera....

Mardi Gras in July!

Now, this is what I call a real Cinderella cart!

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you end up like this guy.

What happens when a rainbow explodes...

Now available at Bed, Bath, and BEYOND!

Kids, this is why you want to avoid magic smoke.

So that's where all my marshmallows ended up...

OK, I'll hand in my man card...

Na Na Na Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na) Mothman, Na Na Na Na Na Na Mothman

Oh, so you don't like group showers on factory tours... So tell me, how do you get clean?

The Sparkfun staff, having realized they forgot the last part of their float, rush to the truck to retrieve the pedals so Pete can wheel them back into the race.

Willy Wonka's Mardi Gras Float!

This time, no matter how crowded the lot, E.L. Ed was going to see where he parked. Even in full sunlight, he knew this backup plan would work.

THIS IS A TEST

If you see anything besides a man on a motorcycle, you might be on drugs.

This is what happens when a Mechanical Engineer wires up an RGB LED Matrix.

"Thro me somethin' Mister!"

"Honey, look what I got at Maker Faire! The guy even sold me the sweet matching outfit and there's room for the kids in the back!"

Who needs Ductape when you have Sugru!

Somebody just let out the magic smoke

What does that run on, Rainbows?

I like to dream yes, yes, right between my sound machine...

I just heard that gay church weddings has been legalized in Denmark... Let's go!

Bob shows off his disposal method for expired Sugru packages.

"And this is how sparkfun treats their employees in summer vacations"

The future of transportation.

"Up in Smoke 2" In theaters .... I forget.

John was quite pleased to finally find a use for all of his used bubblegum.

"The Ghost Rider is not often seen during the daytime hours."

So which LED indicates the power is on?

Coincidentaly, the bike weighs as much as the dope he smoked to enable him to come up with the design...

Contact Lady Ada, an E-textile project waiting to happen.

"Sure, it was colorful. But did'ja see the dump truck???"

The first time machine arrives...from the 60s.

"Welcome to the Migratory Temple of the Eternally Comfy Couch! Please fasten your safety lines when boarding, as we've lost several supplicants down the back of the cushions today…"

Frankly, the truck interests me more, just like the rest of of the crowd. Your vehicle lacks a certain, um, manliness...

Bob, if you are going to ride your motorcycle, you need to wear your sunglasses. I don't care if you think they make you look weird.

It is important to proudly display your failures as well as your successes.

When Orange County Choppers finished the commission for the Rainbow Bright theme bike, the build was rejected for not adhering close enough to the spirit of the brand. It was ultimately sold to Timothy Leary's son as a rememberence to his dad and growing up during the Wonder Years.

Neverland Weed Rehabilitation Program for Dustin Hoffman

"Excuse me, I think I missed my turn. Can you give me directions to Woodstock?"

Rob, fond of medieval traditions, took too seriously the quote "show the pride of hunting" when he slew that dragon.

Sparkfun's rebuild of the Wonkamobile!

In this instance, the picture really is "... worth a thousand words."

Jerry, having been denied entry into the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, says to his little girls "Here is 10 lbs. of glitter, a bunch of neon paint, crepe paper, and paper mache. Have at it."

Here is a sample of what the new Sparkfun product boxes should look like.

This float was made entirely of recycled tissue from the unicorn latrine after a steady diet of Fruit Loops.

Roger reminds us what the Honey Nut Bee was like during the 1960's (Yeah Baby!)

Tired of entertaining Children, Barney stapled confetti on himself and started driving in a human-engine motorcycle to amuse Makers.

Going to maker faire since the 60s... before it was cool.

Some people take a ride on there "steel horse", I take a ride on my "plush worm."

Billy was always ignored in high school; he liked to play with his computers. Now everyone stares at him and wants to be him!

"not sure if I'm on LSD or someone likes candy"

One of Batman's less successful vehicle creations.

And Roger never again had a problem remembering where he parked.

"check out my sweet ride"

Dude, what was in that burrito you gave me...

Pay no attention to that man behind the steering wheel!

"I don't need a single day to express my pride!"

Where's my Oompa Loompas?!

"Hop aboard the pinatamobile.... There's free candy!"