[Noisebridge-discuss] report from Mitch

[Mitch Altman]

Hey Everyone,

I just finished my month as artist in residence at AS220, a really cool artist space in Providence, RI.  They have a lot of great things going on there, and I had a great time!  I helped out with a project that automatically graffitis mustaches on faces in any video stream, but is intended to be used for the talking heads on FOX News -- check out these smug assholes:
http://flickr.com/photos/wurx/2800447960/in/set-72157606964352472/
The project includes a switch to change from Mustache-Mode to Liar-Mode, waywhich graffitis LIAR across their foreheads.  :)

I did three workshops at AS220, all popular and well attended, where about a hunderd people successfullly made Brain Machines, TV-B-Gones, and Trippy RGB Lights.  Half the people had never made anything ever before.  Many of these people told me later that they are now wanting to make more cool things with microcontrollers!  Very gratifying.  I'm hoping that Noisebridge can spread this kind of thing  further!

Here's a video of my final project there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGG8JH8itwE
Imagine a bunch of little lights (maybe 20 or 40 of them), on a table,
each about the size of a chess piece. Each is independent of the other.
You arrange them around on the table any way you want. Each one
continually slowly changes colors on its own. When you wave your hand
over them, it creates waves of colors that follow your hand.

I'll be doing another Brain Machine making workshop at HacDC this coming Sunday, the 7th, at 2pm:
http://hacdc.org/
So, if you know anyone in the DC area who'd like to attend, please pass along the info.

I'm in NYC now, where I'll be hanging out with friends, including NYC Resistor (the hacker space here).  I'll also be on Off The Hook (a hacker radio show on WBAI, a non-profit community station here) on Wednesday, 7pm Eastern time:
http://stream.wbai.org/
This week's show will be all over American electoral politics.  And in case you haven't heard, Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now (with studios at WBAI) got arrested at the RNC.  Our democracy is going through difficult times...

After NYC and DC I'll be in Chicago for a bit to help my brother deal with my mom's stuff.  And while I'm there I'll be checking out the developments at HacChicago, a new hacker space forming there.

I'll be back in town on the 21st.  Followed in quick succession by ToorCon on 23-Sept (where we'll have a hardware hacker space set up), The Wonderful World of Wonderment at the Castro Street Fair on 5-October (the Fair itself is boring, but The Wonderful World of Wonderment section should be incredible! -- I'll have a Brain Machine tent there, complete with a real live Dream Machine, pillows, and plenty of appropriate fabulous decor), and the Austin Maker Faire on 18-October.

Please feel free to join me in any or all of the above events.

When I come back, a briliant German hacker I've hung out with in Chaos Congresses in Berlin is joining me as an intern for three months.  Does anyone have a space where he can crash for a day or two or week or month (or three months)?  He can pay some rent for the space.  Please let me know if you know of any possibilities for that.

We are very close to sending in the bylaws for incorporating Noisebridge.  A non-profit lawyer is checking them over for us now before we send them in.

All the best with the EFF space.  I look forward to following the developments there.


Anyways, I look forward to seeing you all when I get back home to SF!


Cheers,
Mitch.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/attachments/20080902/2453ca54/attachment-0002.html>