I just don't know what to make of this.  Is it impressive?  Ridiculous?  Both?

I can appreciate that a lot of creativity, skill, patience, etc., went into it.  I'd never want to belittle someone for doing something that seems to me like a monumental waste of time.  And yet...

Scott Weaver's amazing piece, made with over 100,000 toothpicks over the course of 35 years, is a depiction of San Francisco, with multiple ball runs that allow you to go on "tours" of different parts of the city. It will be on display in the Tinkering Studio until June 19th!

I'll tell you what would be really impressive:  a life-size version of this model, created over hundreds of years using mixed-media, that people could "tour" using a motorized vehicle of some sort!  If it was  big enough, people could even live in the model city and create for themselves a kind of self-governing commune.  I'll bet people would come from all over the world to see a model like that!