Pumping Station: One

I’m one of Pumping Station: One’s newest members.  Ever since I attended my first meeting I fell in love with the atmosphere and people.  One of the first ideas I had was to figure out a way to reuse some of the old projects that are just gathering dust.

My idea came to me when Mitch Altman stopped by the space to teach a soldering lesson.  One of the kits that were offered was Adafruit’s mini POV.  This got me inspired to find a way to use the spoke POV kits that were currently on the TRON bike.  So I found an old fan, and replaced the blades with a scroll-cut plywood frame and attached the spoke pov kits to it.  After the POVs were attached I took some L brackets and extended the front cover so it would fit over the POVs.

So without further ado, Pumping Station: One’s newest fan:

No promises that DK or the big M will show, but there have been rumors...

This week Pumping Station: One turns two years old!  Not only are we older and wiser, but we’re getting bigger too!  As you may have read on this blog, we’ve recently doubled our footprint in our building, adding on another classroom and a dedicated workshop.  To celebrate and show off our new space, this Friday, April 15th, we’ll be throwing a birthday party and grand re-opening (not that we actually closed).  We’ll have making-related activities like electronics and desktop trebuchet kits early on, as well as a DJ and liquid refreshments.  The festivities start at 6 PM.  Donations of $5-10 at the door requested.

Feel free to RSVP.

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.

Closing Thoughts from the 2009 President

As I step down from my position as president, pass the reins to the 2010 board of directors, and become a normal member again, I want to look back at everything that led to the founding of PS:One and all the work we have done since then. I have had the distinct pleasure and honor of working with a literal army of like-minded and brilliant collaborators to create and work with some amazing organizations over the past few years.

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