Meeting Notes 2022 05 24

These are the notes from the The 679th Meeting of Noisebridge.

Date: 2022_05_24

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Note-takers: Wolf, LX

Moderators: LX

Introductions

• LX: Gamebridge on Wendesdays (6-8 PM as of this week, 8-10PM is AI); also helps with events, wiki, signage--ask me for help with them!
• Mike: Came to NB a long time ago, he/him/they, AR/VR/WebXR, hoping to start a VR class (not necessarily gaming specifically)
• Megan: slightly hearing impaired; method developer for analytical chemistry, knows VBA/C++, looking to learn more coding (automating handling lots of data)
• Mark: he/him/his, studying chemistry, currently learning data science, wants to learn about machine learning, also interested in Gamebridge
• Frank (AKA Power Beam Spacer) - advocate for space development, physics (it's been a century since General Relativity, 1860s was electrodynamics) - metamaterials (engineered materials, eg modified refractive indices, bose consensate). Also member of Seniors for Disability action; workspace.
• Leon (any pronouns): high performance computing, studying CS
• Wolf - he him - tried VR for the first time today!
• Mohsim (pronounced Mossin), he/him - recently moved close by, learned coding recently, built project on React to automate résumé writing (just paste the job posting, is the idea).
• Dave, he/him, electronics and code.
• Cloud, working on lighting at NB.
• Chris, part of NB a long time, helping Cloud and others with lighting
• TJ, he/they does AI on Wednesdays.
• Carl, helped with Flashen Taschen, currently writing a Flutter app.
• Elan, he/him/they, Wikipedia/Wikidata-related things, NLP and ML, more recently painting and music.
• Dane, he/him, zine hacker.
• Matt (XW), here randomly over time.

Excellence

Our One Rule is to Be Excellent to Each Other.

• Mike: Reciprocity, golden rule, treat others as yourself
• Leon: Participating is excellent! Being here and doing things is the best thing for the space. Also communication, make sure to avoid overstepping boundaries.
• Dave: "one rule", but we actually have a bunch; but you don't need to know them all as long as you follow the one.
• LX: We have a poster! Also if you feel like excellence is a problem (for you or others), consult the Anti-harrassment policy or the wiki pages about Excellence. There are some steps (roughly 7) you can take as needed. (listed on that page).
• Abel; local (22 years), street musician. Donated some amps etc.

Short announcements and events

• Mike: Would like to set up a class about VR, looking for interest. Will be at Gamebridge tomorrow to elicit interest; come and chat! (Gamebridge is also available via the Discord if you're not there in person.)
• Gamebridge (6-8PM Wednesday) is in several languages: C#/Unity, Godot/JS, and others.
• Frank: Seniors and Disability Action is thinking about restarting a wheelchair repair clinic with technitians; somewhere between every 2-6 weeks; NB might host? Further details forthcoming.
• Carl: Good news! In Hayward, applied for funding to fund a makerspace; voting ended last Friday and they won it! ($29k) https://sungallery.org/makerspace/
  • 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏

Jitsi is currently down (giving 502 error)

Try https://8x8.vc/noisebridge instead? <-- works for me!

New members/philanthropists

New membership system! This should be on the Wiki somewere with all the benefits, there's also some nice forms that explain it.

• Woz, Farley, Dane, and Wolf become members tonight.
• Hungry Bogart became member last week and wasn't in the notes.
• mohsin is applying for associate member and seeking sponsor. He's interested in making ML resume builder.

Financial Report

Finances

• we need a new treasurer and financial report. We might be getting one but LX isn't certain.
• We probably lost a lot of value in our crypto assets which we have been gradually selling.

Spending Needs

Gotta spend money on XYZ (i.e. Gate, wiring etc.). WHO CAN SIGN THE CHECK OR LEND THE CREDIT CARD!?!?! It doesn't matter if we agree to do something and it can’t be paid for.

• LX: Currently pricing out a big 5 layer NoiseCurtain.

Fundraising Update

• LX: Planning an event at Valencia City Streets (a street fair) - a Maker Faire-like booth to invite people to NB (more participation than funding) - "Sunday Streets", July 10. https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Sunday_Streets Also invite some other hacker spaces (there are a lot in the Bay Area).
  • Is this related? https://artyhoodsf.com/valencia-art-corridor/

Big C Consensus Items

Discuss proposals, members can block pending changes; we try to get everyone (even non-members) to agree. (There's another poster on the wall for this!)

Consensus Items

• There was a COVID-related item, but it's still in commitee
• Woz: Front door has a lot of problems; want to empower Elan and team to work on it, preauth $2k in potential modifications (with landlord's consent, of course).

  • Elan will be given the authority to make physical changes to our building and spend money from the general fund up to $2000 for the purposes of making our front door easier to use, enable ADA accessibility and help ensure that the door closes automatically for the purposes of security. All physical changes should still be run by the land lord. This pre-authorization expires after 90 days

  • LX: Expedited Consensus under accessibility preauthorization.
  • LX: https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Expedited_Consensus
  • LX: Consensed by expedited consensus due to long-standing agreement that this needs to be done and accessibility improvements being preplanned as part of the move.

Discussion

Wheelchair clinic

• Frank: are there any unclaimed lockers the wheelchair clinic could be used?
• LX: Parts are large, but we have a cabinet needing a new lock (formerly "HAM radio") that would be suitable.
• LX: Get in touch with LX, probably Lizzard (assuming)?, Frank.
• LX: Also have an accessibility guild (recently put down tape, planning Stairivator). There are #accessibility channels on Discord, Slack.

Club Mate

• Matt: Club Mate?
• LX: Liz knows how to get it, we just need to do it. Need moar!

VR server

• Mike: A VR server on the local network would be helpful.
• LX: Switch over there, feel free to plug in!
• Mike: DHCP? Static IPs?
• LX: Talk to #rack in Slack.
• Mike: This way we can do multi-user VR!

Do-ocratic Task Board

Participation also means doing stuff to contribute to the space. Propose new tasks or pick some tasks from Github, from what needs to be done around you, or whatever, and see if someone will sign up to work on that task. Anyone can sign up and it's a great way to show you are contributing!