Win a Maker Faire package from CNET News

Win a Maker Faire package including four tickets and a T-shirt by submitting your best 150-word idea on how to use do-it-yourself to remake America.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET Networks)

In just 16 days, Maker Faire, the annual do-it-yourself nirvana, will be returning to San Mateo, Calif., and you could be there courtesy of CNET News.

Last month, I posted an entry here offering 20 free Maker Faire passes for the best 150-word submissions on how you would use DIY to remake America. Unfortunately, I didn't receive enough submissions to make it a particularly competitive contest. So we're changing the game a little bit.

Instead of offering 20 people one free pass to the May 30 and 31 event, I'm going to offer five packages of four tickets plus a Maker Faire T-shirt. And if you are one of the people who sends in one of the five most impressive submissions, one of those packages will be yours.

The challenge remains the same: Give me 150 words on how you'd remake America the DIY way. If you've already sent me a submission, don't worry, I still have it.

For everyone else, please send me your submissions by the end of the business day on Monday, May 18.

If you're within striking distance of the Bay Area and you've never been to Maker Faire--I've been to all three in San Mateo, plus the 2007 edition in Austin, Texas, and I can tell you that it's nothing short of a blast--or even if you have, you should definitely be there. And you could either pay $30 in advance for a weekend pass (or $50 at the gate) or you could get in for free.

It's up to you.

Well, not entirely. The actual decisions will be made by my celebrity judge, Make magazine senior editor Phil Torrone. But if you've got a great idea, I'll do my best to nudge him in your direction.

On June 22, Geek Gestalt will kick off Road Trip 2009. After driving more than 12,000 miles in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the Southeast over the last three years, I'll be looking for the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation and more in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and South and North Dakota. If you have a suggestion for someplace to visit, drop me a line. And in the meantime, join the Road Trip 2009 Facebook page and follow my Twitter feed.

[adkman1956]

I can't use the tickets, but the shirt would be cool. I feel everyone should grow a garden. Veggies can be eaten fresh, canned, or frozen. Everyone can garden on some level. In addition to providing healthy chemical free food, it also cuts down on truck transport issues. Very simple and simple to do. Flower gardens, in addition to looking good, can help cut global warming by taking in CO2 and giving off O2. Victory gardens should be more than a sound byte. They should become a part of everyone's life.

[amoration]

DIY Solution: Neighborhood Energy Centers can be run on top of your existing neighborhood association building (wind turbine, solar or other renewable resource) can be immediately turned into an electric fueling station for cars, even community-owned electric lawnmowers, bikes and transit resources. Energy is lost in wire transit so use the electricity where you produce it -- on your own street, within your community.

We'll be at Maker Faire with @lightningtemple's Interactivation , a musical instrument with tesla coil plasma speaker in the center that shows great promise as one way to amplify the reach and minimize the waste of electrical energy in sound production.