Pumping Station: One

Do you scan the pages of Readymade or Make, but rarely (if ever) build anything you see there? This is where you’ll learn how to change that. This will be a 3-hour hands-on workshop for beginner reuse-niks, and instructor Carl Boyd will be joined by a guest instructor, Khader Humied, a green designer + architect from New York:
http://www.metaformst…

This workshop will involve materials like wood, plastic and metal, and how to make and wire-up a lamp, and build some other things. Salvage wood and metal will be provided.

Attendance donation for workshop is $25, (full members only pay $10). This is requested in advance. This class will be very much like cooking or crafting classes at other institutions like Chopping Block or Lill Street, where you learn repeatable skills and walk away with finished items in your hand.

When: June 17, 6-9pm

Where: Pumping Station: One 3354 N. Elston Ave, Chicago

Signup and Pay: http://www.meetup.com/Creative-Reuse/

Click Link for an updated map: Network Map Link

When you connect to the network at Pumping Station: One by plugging in or via wireless, you are joining a very special network.

We’re one of the first networks to join with Agora Link.  Agora is the North American arm of a global Research network that is linking hackerspaces’ internal networks together into one awesome collaborative mesh.   We’re tied in with the ChaosVPN in Germany, and as of this past weekend we have 50 registered end points.  If interested, you can read more here:

• Agora Link Homepage
• ChaosVPN Wiki
• Periodically updated network map

What’s the payoff?  First up is a plan to host an international CTF competition using hackerspaces and other labs as the meeting points for teams. So look for more details on that in the near future.

More developments on this will be popping up throughout the next year.

This was co-posted from Matt’s “Openfly” blog post at NYC Resistor

Twitter: @agoralink

It’s that time again…the Unusual Musical Instrument Jam is this Friday, May 14, at 7pm, at Pumping Station: One.

Come to the space with all of your loud things. We’d love to see your circuit bent toys, electronic contraptions, loud computer programs, microcontroller gadgets, MIDI controllers, absolutely anything–whether it was intended to make noises or not. If you’d like to be a little offbeat and bring your “usual” musical instruments, those are welcome, too.

It’s free and open to members and nonmembers alike, so bring your friends. See you there this Friday night!

(Picture licensed Creative Commons BY-NC-SA, by MrAtrocity on Flickr.)

Photo by greenchartreuse on Flickr

Fire starters are an easy and convenient way to get a fire going without messing with loose newsprint or dry tinder only for it to go out when somebody breathes on it.  There as many recipes out there for these things as there are BBQ sauces. This one is my tried and true favorite of many.

Ingredients:

• Paper-based egg cartons (the classic kind, no plastic)
• Old candles (can be found for next to nothing at thrift stores)
• Sawdust (for flavor)

Instructions:

Melt the candles down in a pot/pan that you never want to cook in again.  This can be very dangerous so do use some common sense.  While the candles are melting, cut the bottom of your egg cartons out removing the lid and the flap on the opposite edge that holds the lid closed.

Once the wax has melted entirely so there are no solids left CAREFULLY pour them into your egg carton trays.  If you have a funnel, this would be a lot safer. (safety = 1 / fun)  While the wax is still in liquid form, sprinkle a generous amount of sawdust over the tops of each and let them dry all the way until they are room temperature again.

After they are all dry cut each individual pod (12 per carton) out with the peaks of the carton split equally.  This will make for an easy wick come lighting time.

Thats it!

Now you’re ready to start your charcoal grill, backyard foundry, etc. with minimal set up time and the best part is it can cost you nothing!  As with any open flame, it’s a good idea to have a fire extinguisher around too.

Here is the what I spent my weekend doing:

Friday: cut my new window blinds to size using the PS1 bandsaw

Saturday: filled, sanded, painted my window frames, hung the new blinds

Sunday: finished everything I didn’t complete on Saturday, and I made three batches of jam: I made orange marmalade, lemon-ginger marmalade, and apple-lemon jam.

Leave your weekend projects in the comments!

On May 5th, At 7pm

Pumping Station: One will be hosting Mitch Altman, the inventor of the TV B Gone and Brain Machine, and many others,  will be leading an electronics workshop on May 5th  that will teach complete beginners in less than 3 hours how to assemble, solder, and complete a TV B Gone.

After the class we may find the nearest electronics retailer and do a demonstration.

The cost of the class covers materials:

This includes one kit per participant

Members: 30$

Non-Members/Starving Hackers: 35$

Kits Available:

TV-B-Gone

Trippy RGB

Mignonette

Brain Machine

Plus many others, including a few of the Jimmie P. Rodgers line of kits.

Here’s the TV B Gone in action:

Confessions: The Meanest Thing Gizmodo Did at CES

Dr. Michael Sternberg of Argonne National Laboratory and the Carbon Super Computer will be presenting the talk:

Everything You Wanted To Know About Super Computers But Didn’t know Who to Ask.

If you’ve ever wondered what makes some computer so super, or just wanted to know how to start building your own, this would be the talk to attend, and bring questions. Why should I go with a AMD chipset or not? What’s a beowulf cluster? Why might I want to go with PlayStation 3’s. Plus much much more.

This talk is open to the public, seating is limited so show up early. This presentation will start right after the weekly meeting and is tentatively scheduled start at 8:30pm this Tuesday.

The Foreman Dog - by Jeff Kantarek

In case you thought otherwise, it turns out nerds aren’t exempt from proving their survival skills by cooking meat on an open flame from time to time.  To keep with tradition this Saturday, May 1st @ 3:00 we will be cooking out in one form or another, (The weather looks good as of this writing, so expect full force) and you are all invited to join us.

If you want to eat as well, we ask that you please bring something to share too.  We’re all excited to come out of our caves and kick off Spring/Summer this year with food, drink & good conversation so come on out, we need to attract the fire department like we did last year!

Hugs from the VP will be available too.

In The Laboratory by Henry Alexander

Art museums appear to be impenetrable fortresses after closing time. What is often unknown to the majority of the visiting public is that the majority of these collections are stored and cataloged outside of these main halls. In many cases up to 99% of museums’ collections are stored away never to be seen for decades, if that often.

Over the last 8 months I have researched the difference between movie museum security and the reality of museum security.

Just published is a some of my results in the Journal of Physical Security at Argonne National Laboratory.

You can find the article here.

Or here.

Lots of stuff going on with PowerWheels again this year. This time with a bit more press. Features on Make Blog and Time Out Chicago are out and about and let’s hope that keeps coming! It’s really exciting right now about all that is going on at PS:One. It’s pretty nifty and I have to say there’s a lot of people I’m thankful for that have helped make this happen. Before I rant on further about Powerwheels I’d like to spend time thanking them first. Here’s the short list:

• Shawn for making the powerwheel work before Notacon
• Hank for making that solid drive train
• Ryan for wiring, website work and being our Official Field-Trip Party Wagon
• Jordan for PR, emailing and working on the PW late into the night
• Nicky for proofreading almost anything I throw at her
• Jessica for buying the PW and working on that fancy packet
• Josh for welding things to other things
• Eric for pimping PPPRS to whomever is willing to hear about it
• Jeff for making sure we don’t stick our fingers in electrical sockets
• Sacha for ensuring we don’t Failboat so hard PS:one spins out of orbit
• Everyone at i3 for working with us and Maker Faire
• everyone else that have donated time and money that  I couldn’t remember off the top of my head

Let’s put this simple: This might be an event that I started, but this is event that everyone at the space is responsible for. You guys make this happen. Without your neighborly hacker help, this would never ever get off the ground. So I will continue thanking each and every one of you who have done your part. There’s just over three months to go before Maker Faire Detroit and if we keep this momentum, it’ll be great. Just wanted everyone to know that I’m proud of this space and all of its members.

Also, check out the PowerWheel trailer I finished last night to promote the event. I was sick when I did it so this is the result of Nyquil and Ibuprofen.

See you in Detroit!

-Your Friendly Neighborhood Sanctioning Body