The first in a series of conversations on community building in the Hacker Community in Washington DC and beyond! Part of HacDC’s Grand Opening Week.
The great resurgence in community building on the part of the greater hacker community over the past 10 years is not coincidental. Responsibility lies in parallel influences including a generation raised on the hacker ethos established by the Boomer generation, the precipitous decline of the price point for entry level experimentation and prototyping, more than two generations of obsolescent technology ripe for the hacking, and the perennial motivation to showcase and compete in the meritocracy of inventors and artisans that characterize a Western approach to innovation and political activism. Hardware hacker communities are by necessity meat space phenomena, dealing as they do with chunks of matter and not just the electrons and code that the software hacker communities have condensed around.
Join representatives from DC’s Make:*, Dorkbot*, and Hac* organizations in the first of a series of talks aimed at defining the best way to use each organization’s mission to grow the region’s burgeoning community in a synergistic manner.
The quintessential hacker movie, War Games, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with a special 1-night only showing on the big screen. (Wired ran a feature article about the movie today, as well.)
There is a Planypus event page where you can sign up (to let me know to look for you/save you a seat in our section), with a link to buy tickets online.
If we get a big enough crowd, we can do a happy hour/dinner before or after the movie. Perhaps a WOPR at Burger King.
HacDC’s effort at the Last Hope was a roaring success! Thanks to all who participated in the Hackerspace Village and HackersMart! We’ll definitely be bringing those to a con near you very soon (as in, after we get some sleep!)
And congrats to Eliot for his CNet mention! Mail us your HOPE links and writeups, info@hacdc.org
Thanks to DCist - http://tinyurl.com/5spogg - I got inspired to rip apart an extra SmarTrip card I had lying around for when friends/family visit me in the D.C. area. Unfortunately for them, they will now have to buy the day-long pass until I am done playing!
To start, today I took the extra card and soaked it in acetone for about an hour and after that time I was able to rip off the initial plastic of the card. After that hour-long of soaking you’ll find the card becomes very flexible and if you attack the corners with tweezers you’ll eventually realize the 3 layers of the card. The face of each side should peel off rather easily, although a minute amount of force is required.
If you take a look at the images you’ll see that all of the electronics (controller, antenna) are now exposed and we can start to play. My girlfriend just handed me a Faraday flashlight with a GIANT coil of magnet wire inside of it, so now we’re working on extracting that wire to use as the antenna for the smarTrip’s microcontroller.
We’ve actually been open since late April, but we haven’t had an official grand opening ceremony yet.
So, since we’ve been waiting a while to get around to it, why not make it a full blown week? Jens Ohlig from C4 and Johannes Grenzfurthner from Monochrom and the Metalab will be on hand to help us celebrate.
Here’s the list of events so far.:
Tuesday, July 22: Weekly Member Meeting and Special Event Afterwards! (8:30 PM in the Sanctuary)
Wednesday, July 23: monochrom presents LAW AND SECOND ORDER. (8:30 PM in the Sanctuary)
Thursday, July 24: (Tentative) DC Dorks Into the Future:Â A town hall meeting with members of DorkbotDC, MakeDC, and HacDC.
Friday, July 25: HacDC invades The Brickskeller! Come by and enjoy great beer with your favorite group of hacker space members! (The Brickskeller, 1523 22nd St NW, 8:30 PM - 2:00 AM)
Saturday, July 26: Paying homage to Grace Hopper. Come join us for Lunch in Columbia Heights and an afternoon outing to Arlington National Cemetry to pay tribute to “Amazing Grace”. (Meet at HacDC at Noon). Then join us back at HacDC as we prepare for our Sunday opening!
Sunday, July 27: OUR OFFICIAL GRAND OPENING CEREMONY! Join us for our official grand opening ceremony! At 8:00, join us as our members receive their Black Lab Coats. Our “commencement” address will be given by Jens Ohlig, one of the key figures behind the Global Hackerspace Movement. Lots of projects and other things shall be on display throughout the day. (HacDC opens at 3:00 PM, Ceremony at 8:00 PM with reception to follow)
We’re still planning these events, and they’ll all get their own blog post soon! E-mail info@hacdc.org if you can donate or have something to contribute to our grand opening!
What happens when Lightning fries the ethernet port on your Mac? Better hope you have Phil Shapiro and Firewire on your side…
Last week a friend of mine called me to say her iMac G3 had been struck by lightning. It no longer worked on the Internet and she desperately needed to be back online.
Happily, I had picked up a donated iMac G3 computer a day before from a school that was no longer using it. I took a 6-pin to 6-pin Firewire cable with me when I headed over to her house….
Many hoped, few believed, the rumors conflicting, the souls aflame, cats and dogs sleeping together, but in the end we made it!
Four years after the celebration of the 10th birthday of Metro Olografix, at fans’ request, the summer camp will come back to let us spend a few hot August days together again, among arrosticini and glasses of wine and swims and talks - oh my! - in neat little Pescara.
“Ardetec li cannilicchie!”
* - We’re not actually talking about the Italian Embassy il vero, which happens to be on 3000 Whitehaven St NW. We’re talking about the guys who always have really great Grappa at all the events they attend (and put on!)
+++ monochrom
+++ LAW AND SECOND ORDER
+++ An evening in Washington DC
=== Wednesday, July 23 at 8:30 PM
=== 1525 Newton St NW (Enter on Newton, Church Sanctuary)
This is the first publicly announced event for HacDC’s “Grand Opening Week” July 21-27
When you want aerial imagery from below 1,000 feet, a tethered balloon is the obvious solution. Hang a few high-res cameras from it and see the area from a unique perspective!
Weather permitting, Curt Westergard of AirPhotosLive will be at the HacDC space around 3:00 pm today (Saturday, July 5th) to demonstrate his aerostat photography rig. Come learn how it works, visit the space, and hang out! We’ll have a fridge full of cold drinks.
HacDC is a non-profit organization and space dedicated to technical, artistic and social collaboration. We are technologists, tinkerers, crafters and codemonkeys who call DC home. We collaborate across disciplines for the benefit of cultural, charitable and scientific causes. We create, learn and teach as a group, inviting our neighbors around the block and around the world to join us!
Approach on the 16th St side of the building. Look for the red doors. We are on the third floor. Follow the signs to our space after signing in with the guard.
