[Noisebridge-discuss] [Health] So, how many people live at noisebridge now?

[John Magolske]

>> haul all the couches off to the dump and replace them with
>> folding metal chairs"
>
> oh yes because i enjoy spending a good hour or so on my laptop
> sitting in my nice warm comfy metal chair.

My comment about folding metal chairs was a bit hyperbolic...sorry
about that. Actually, I really do appreciate comfy couches. When
using a laptop I find couches and low-slung chairs to be much more
ergonomic than upright chairs and tables.

> how about we just get couch covers? then all you'd have to do
> is take them off every now and then, shake out the couch candy,
> and wash them. sure it's not 100% as effective as replacing soft
> cushions with cold metal in bed bug deterrence but, you know,
> common.

For a couch cover to have any effectiveness at all against bed bugs,
it would need to completely enclose the couch, be made of a tight
weave fabric, and have zippers that seal the whole thing shut tight.
Such covers can be had for box springs & mattresses in the $70 - $100+
range (check out the Bed Bath & Beyond [1] and Keetsa stores in SF for
box spring covers & mattress covers respectively), but I don't think
they exist for couches. It would probably need to be custom-made and
rather expensive. Might be more interesting to make a custom couch [2]
with cushions that could be removed and run through the washer & dryer
(which definitely does kill bb's).

In any case, the main reason I bring this up is to draw attention to
the vulnerable situation we're in with respect to people sleeping
on couches at Nb. If one of our couches gets infested, it would be
non-trivial to un-infest it. Steaming the crevices could be somewhat
effective (and I certainly don't want to discourage steam-cleaning),
but if any bugs happen to crawl up inside a couch and make a home in
its frame, it would be really difficult to get rid of them. Placing
the couch in an oven and heating it to 120°F for a 4-5 hours or in
a freezer down to at least 32°F for a couple days would probably
do the trick. Most likely, an infested couch would just have to be
shrink-wrapped and hauled off to the dump. By far, the most effective
and least troublesome solution would be to prevent an infestation from
getting established in the first place.

> plus i thought we banned bed bugs a few weeks ago.

And what would go a long ways towards achieving this would be if
people were to refrain from overnight sleeping in the Nb space.
Without sleeping bodies to feast on, the bugs will not be able to
get established.

I understand too well the frustration of being stranded by public
transit systems that turn into pumpkins at the stroke of midnight.
And I can appreciate the comfort of being able to rest after being
absorbed in a project into the wee hours. Napping breaks are great!
Some relevant discussion: [3].

Personally, I think it would be an interesting challenge to create a
hacker space with some sort of sleep capacity to accommodate visitors,
enable multi-day hacking sessions with sleep-overs, etc. We can't
really do that in the space we're in now with the lease we have...and
there seems to be a range of opinion as to whether this is desirable
at all.

Regardless, please bear in mind that sleeping at Noisebridge,
particularly overnight (bb's tend to be most active in the 2-6am
range), essentially amounts to leaving food out for potential pests.

We avoid leaving dinner leftovers out overnight so that rats don't get
fed & come back for more. We do not know if bed bugs are present at
2169. It's entirely possible that they aren't. But we do know there
are rising levels of infestations occurring in SF (and many other
places as well). Having personally dealt with an infestation myself, I
assure you it can be a very costly and troublesome thing to eradicate.
Waiting until it's a problem before dealing with it would *not* be a
good strategy in this case.

If it does end up being necessary to sleep overnight, IMO the best
approach would be to pack (& take with you) your own sleeping bag,
and sleep on a folding metal cot with double-sided tape (carpet tape
is good) wrapped around or Vaseline smeared on the legs of the cot's
frame. Or place its feet in cups of oil or Tupperware tubs dusted with
talcum powder. And don't let any bedding touch the floor. Do some
research. Please be considerate to others who use the space.

*

[1] I just went to the Bed Bath & Beyond store in SF yesterday to find
    they were mostly sold out of box spring covers (only Twin & CA
    King left). They said Manhattan NY had completely depleted the
    stock. Interesting to note that the Colma store was not sold out.

[2] A dream I had a while back was to build custom furniture for the
    Noisebridge space well-suited to comfortably sitting & creating
    with a laptop & having everything right there ... couches with
    built in ethernet RJ45 jacks & retractable power cords for
    Thinkpads, MBPs, et al, USB charging ports, cup holders, flop-out
    writing surfaces & book stands, headphone-jacks & seat warmers ...
    you know, the ultimate experience when you want to sit down to use
    a laptop and get into the creative flow. I'm now thinking if I ever
    approach this overly-ambition project, something additional to
    toss into the mix would be extreme resistance to bed bugs & other
    pests. Not sure if it's something I'd have time for...maybe I'll
    sketch out some ideas & throw something up on kickstarter.

[3] Hacker News | Why Companies Should Insist that Employees Take Naps
    http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1732182


Thanks for reading,

John


-- 
John Magolske
http://B79.net/contact