[Noisebridge-discuss] existential threats to Noisebridge -- please read

[Tony Longshanks LeTigre]

Noisebridge is very fortunate to have you & Liz.

On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 11:29 PM, Danny O'Brien <danny at spesh.com> wrote:

> TLDR: we need your money, your vigilance, and your love
>
> In a meeting a few months ago, we Noisebridgians brainstormed a little
> on the risks we faced as a group. On one point we agreed: Noisebridge
> was engineered so that if it disappeared tomorrow for some reason, the
> documentation and the drive of its members would be sufficient to build
> something to replace it. But we also agreed that Noisebridge should die
> from something spectacular: the Bussard polywell fusion reactor we made
> of oyster mushrooms overloading, say, or the first stage retro boosters
> applied to the foundations failing from poorly 3D-printed O rings.
> Noisebridge should always go out with a (metaphorical) bang, not a real
> world whimper.
>
> Unfortunately we now have a few extremely boring threats to our
> existence. Whatever we think of drama or hacking or each other, I think
> we can safely say we are all opposed to boredom. If you care about
> Noisebridge, or you just enjoy having our dramatic ways in your inboxes,
> you can stop these threats and save Noisebridge.
>
> 1) Right now, we're short $3000 of our tradition three month breathing
> room of $15,000. As ever, this has a bunch of factors. Drive-by
> donations drop in the winter, because Noisebridge is coooold. Old hands
> have moved on, and new ones don't realise how much Noisebridge depends
> on their financial as well as practical support. Our rent went up in
> November, and we just paid our $2K annual insurance premium. The economy
> continues to suck.
>
> Whatver the reason, we're not taking in enough right now, and that
> cannot last for long. As it is, Noisebridge might not survive the
> summer, unless you give some tax-deductible money. In particular, if you
> use Noisebridge more than a few times a year, please set up a monthly
> subscription of $160, $80, $40 or even $10. If you already pay, please
> consider upping your donation (I just have). If you hate Paypal,
> consider a far cooler bitcoin donation, or a bank order, or cash -- we
> can give you the details. The more monthly donations we get, the less we
> have to worry about seasonal donation instability in the charitytron
> matrix.
>
> You can donate to Noisebridge here:
> https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Donate_or_Pay_Dues
>
> We accept Bitcoin at: 1B5sJQ6Wu6AmK9xG5YTic4Nszw4PS7UMAM
>
> 2) We got contacted by our landlord early at the New Year. Because of
> our opening hours (which are infinite) and our open door policy (which
> is always, and the actual gate was broken over Christmas), homeless folk
> have been coming in and sleeping in the stairwell and possibly elsewhere
> in the building. Our landlord likes us, but he's worried about the
> safety and happiness of 2169's other tenants. We have to listen to our
> landlord. We're going to have to, all of us, start making sure people
> don't use Noisebridge as somewhere to sleep from the cold of San
> Francisco. We're not going to make giant moats or spiked fences (well,
> actually, we might, but that's a different project.) But we are all of
> us, going to make sure we know who is coming into Noisebridge with us,
> and be firm at asking those who are sleeping at Noisebridge to leave.
> Remember, you can *always* ask someone to leave and come back to
> Noisebridge's Tuesday meeting if you feel they are being unexcellent.
> You should always be responsible for those who you let into the space.
>
> 3) Finally, our biggest existential threat: the health of us all. As
> many of us know, a close friend of Noisebridge's community, Aaron
> Swartz, took his life two weeks ago. You're invited to a shared memorial
> between Noisebridge and many others who miss him Thursday night, at the
> Internet Archive.
>
> http://blog.archive.org/2013/01/15/memorial-for-aaron-swartz/
>
> We have had a moment's silence for Ilya Zhitomirskiy, who hacked on
> Diaspora at Noisebridge. Before that we had a memorial, too, for Len
> Sassaman, another brilliant companion.
>
> One of our community's values is honesty, brutal honesty. That's why I'm
> not telling you everything is fine. But sometimes what we think is a
> healthy honesty hides our real vulnerability, or it is misused to
> inspire vulnerability in others.
>
> Mitch was one of the first to use hackerspaces to set up meetings to
> talk about depression among hackers. Noisebridge isn't just about
> Arduinos and giant fricking lasers. We come here to support each other,
> especially in our darkest times, and we work to support the wider hacker
> community.
>
> Please take care of each other. If we die, it will not be by our own
> hands, nor by those who might misunderstand us, but by giant robot
> hands, hugging their fleshy creators just a biiit too hard for our puny
> human tolerances. And we'll build it together, not alone.
>
> There will be a hackathon to continue Aaron's goals at Noisebridge on
> https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Aaron_Swartz_Memorial_Hackathon
>
> Be excellent to each other,
> d.
>
> p.p. Consenso
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>



-- 
*You should read my diaries after I die—I talk about you a lot in there.*
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