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

Fri Jan 25 19:03:34 UTC 2013

Oh, but mommy, I want to feed the troll! This one looks so cute!

My argument is that Danny's letter is somewhat unanswerable, except in the
way the goodman Tony did. This is mostly because of the completeness of
Danny's thoughts, but also because

Firstly, there is quite a lot of talk about point #2, this was just new
information that I'm sure will find it's way into future conversations;
what Danny wrote here requires no new conversation, just a continuation of
our current ones. Maybe, maybe it would be appropriate for me to talk about
the time I had to ask the grocery store to let me into the basement so I
could close the elevator door that a person sleeping down there had
neglected to shut, like a dumbass, but it's not going to add much to the
conversation except stoke more hatred against the oogles.

Point #1 is unanswerable, except by people saying things like "Oh, I
donated $1000 on the New Year, so suck it Danny", or "When I'm a member,
we'll see about donations", or "I'm really fucking poor and have child
support payments, and I'm a month behind on rent", or "I was going to give
money (not really), but then I decided, 'Suck it Danny'". None of these are
particularly appropriate, and would be best left unsent. If there any
positive response to point #1 other than a quiet donation or a mention of
our financial state off list, I'd like to hear it.

OK,OK; let me apply my generous brain to this problem.... umm...
fundraiser! how have fundraisers done for nb? Do we know any bands? Do we
have any good personal relationships with local bars that could kick down a
keg or two? Do we know any tattoo artists? How does the landlord take to
large, late night parties, how do the police? What can we offer as a token
of our regard for attendees? Should we do a raffle or a grab-bag? How will
we handle people who think the whole party "should be" free? Does anyone
want to help organize this?

Point #3 is a hard one to talk about, and people who are comfortable
talking about how cool the panopticon is or how to get our free phone up
and working again may not be comfortable talking about depression. As one
who has been forced into this topic by more comrades offing themselves than
I have fingers to count them with, I am not one of those people, so here is
what you're going to get:
The whole subject demands the generation of novel ideas, often tailored to
the individuals at risk; such novel ideas, unfortunately, are the signature
thing a depressed person lacks. I don't know what response you are looking
for wrt "be excellent to each other", but demanding novel solutions of the
group is going to get you no-where. Enhanced communication and caring for
each other is about the only way to improve our lot as a whole; I'd combine
those two into "expressing our appreciation and love for each other more
honestly", but in response to you, that would just be snotty, wouldn't it?

Lastly, your writing is reminiscent of a yapping Pomeranian; I sincerely
hope you use some other account to write more constructive letters.

Dru out

On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 10:55 PM, Noisebridge Truth <
noisebridgetruth at gmail.com> wrote:

> It's amazing how many people have ignored this e-mail and yet have
> responded to other threads discussing Adam Swartz, Coursera, the door to
> gate telecom system, and tech mentoring--three of the four all relate to
> "free things" too.
>
> So Jake, Michael, Johny, Tony, Nicholas, James, and Garrett, have you
> decided to put up more money to help keep this place afloat or are you
> going to continue to willingly ignore this e-mail and let the space wither
> and die? How about you "anonymous" reader who has yet to pipe up?
>
> Poor Danny and Liz put his out there and only one person has yet to
> respond--beyond pathetic.
>
> Then again, it should be no surprise that this was ignored seeing that
> people are willing to take away from the space before contribute back:
>
> https://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/2013-January/034191.html
>
> When will Noisebridge no longer be the joke amongst other hackerspaces as
> the place for arduinos and homeless people?
>
> - Noisebridge Truth
>
> On 23/01/2013 11:29 PM, Danny O'Brien 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
> > _______________________________________________
> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
>

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@AndruByrne
CEO, Pachakutech
www.pachakutech.com/intro.html
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