Earth: Still a Formidable Frontier

This weekend I finally got around to attending the Kinetic Sculpture Race in Baltimore. This is a cool event where contestants create man-driven floats (called Kinetic Sculptures) and "race" all around the city. It includes a water portion through the harbor, a sand pit, a mud pit, and a putt putt hole atop a pagoda.

My friends, Anne and Dwight, aka Dr. Spock and Star Trek Babe, piloted a 1/52nd scale replica of the Star Trek Enterprise through the streets (and shores) of Baltimore. While space may pose no threat to this ship, it unfortunately turned out to be a little low to the ground when it attempted the mud trap. Still, I think everyone had fun.

Some pics from this year's race:

The USS Enterprise (1/52nd scale)

A Star Trek Babe? (BTW, this guy is an ex-Marine and may kick my ass for posting this...but I say we are even because his legs look way better than mine in a pair of stockings.)

An impersonator of Dr. Spock - one can tell by the rubber bands she had to put on her fingers in order to give the Live Long and Prosper Sign

"Voodoo Air" is "dirigible travel as it never was" complete with a full Jazz band

The "Rocky Horror Picture Shoe" which ironically did not feature men dressed as ladies.

I would post more photos, but I think blogger limits me to five. You can check out more at the official web site, and find out who won some of the ridiculous prizes. Anne and Dwight won for Speed, but prizes are also awarded to the "Grand Mediocre Champion" (the sculpture that finishes dead in the middle); the "Golden Flipper" (the sculpture that manages to overturn and dump its occupants into the harbor most spectacularly); and the "Worst Honorable Mention" for the sculpture whose half baked engineering did not manage to deter its riders from attempting to finish the race.