I had my first published piece for 2016 this week, which was one of those great stories you just stumble across. My friend Shane was giving me a tour of Makerspace Milwaukee, which is an amazing place in Bay View. Woodworking shops, metal work, electronics, fabrics, 3-D printing, a huge, well organized space. If you can imagine it, it probably can be built there.

Well, as a long-time fan of the BBC sci fi show Doctor Who, you can imagine my delight when we turned a corner and saw a full size, totally impressive Dalek. Exterminate!

Of course, I had to ask Shane all about it and he told me about Dalek Asylum Milwaukee, a Dalek building collective working together to build Daleks to break a world record for Most Daleks Assembled in One Place at One Time. Wow! I pretty much look at everything I look at and determine if there is potential for an article and this one was an immediate YES. I think even if you are not a Whovian, a collective build to beat a world record is interesting. I thought Milwaukee Record might be into the story, and they were.

Here’s the story: “Dalek Asylum Milwaukee Assembles Record-Exterminating Army of ‘Doctor Who’ Villains.”

I went down to Makerspace to talk to Dalek Asylum Milwaukee and was really impressed with their craftsmanship and attention to detail. They let me climb into one of their Daleks to take it for a test spin. I was skeptical I would fit since I’m hella tall, but I did. It moves on an electric wheelchair base and was a pretty smooth ride.

I’m really excited to see the day when the record is beat and an army of Daleks descends on Maker Faire. What a sight that will be!