Press Kit: Difference between revisions

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'''Q: What sort of events does Noisebridge host?'''
'''Q: What sort of events does Noisebridge host?'''


A: “Nothing happened until after puberty. It's a common misconception that with
A: TODO
Macromastia you suddenly go from flat to giant when puberty hits. That's not the case; puberty
had been pretty normal for me, no less so than any other girl's actually. At 16, I had a respectable
D cup. Nothing weird, right? Totally normal pair of boobs. But then a little after I turned 17 and
went into Junior year, they started growing again. And I don't mean a little here and there. I mean
my boobs went from a D to an E cup literally overnight . I woke up and none of my bras fit. They
hurt like hell, and were sore all the time. And they didn't even stop there! This continued for like
two weeks. I would cut the tags off a brand new bra in the morning, and by dinner I was popping
out of it like a balloon. There were times when I was actually scared I was going to burst if
something touched them. My parents didn't know what to do, and even the doctors were
confused. Eventually a specialist was brought in, and at the end of Junior year i was diagnosed
with Bilateral Virginal Breast Hypertrophy.”
“That's a mouthful…” Dave said.
“It's an armful, is what it is. Basically my boobs were going to grow extremely fast in a
short amount of time, which they did. By the time I was diagnosed a few months later, I was a
32K cup. Let me repeat that cup size to you: 32 K . In high school. My tits were these giant flesh
 
Q: monsters growing off of my chest like I was part of some wacky science experiment, and my
skin could hardly keep up. My mom was fretting about rubbing them with lotion every night to
prevent stretch marks. And they called me so many different names in school. The worst was
Milky Millie, which is why those guys calling me a cow hurt so much more. And you know what
else? The doctors don't even know what causes Macromastia. Even worse, some people have the
same thing happen, but to only one breast. Not even both. In those terms I got lucky.”
“No kidding… That sounds like you'd be confined to bed or cursed with a messed up
back…”
“Right? But I got lucky, and instead both my tits grew to be enormous. Also lucky for
me, a little after after the diagnosis, their growth slowed down drastically. The doctors said they
would, but it was impossible to say when. But another common aspect of Macromastia is that the
growth never really stops, which brings us to today.”
I inhaled deeply before continuing, “Right now, my official bra size is a 32S. S. As in
'snake.’ That means my breasts add nearly 20 inches to my bust, at this moment. They don't even
make bras half that size regularly! And get this; they're still freaking growing. Can you believe
that? My boobs don't think they're already big enough. So now, starting college in my young
adult life, my tits are still growing at about a cup every two years. Based on the doctors last
physical.”
“I-I don't know what to say…” Dave admitted.
“You don't have to say anything. It's no one's fault, my boobs are just broken. One day I'll
be forced to get a reduction simply because they won't stop growing.”
“Have you considered doing that now?”
“Oh sure! But they don't do it on anyone under 21. I'll be a 32T or a 32U at least by the
time they'll touch me with a knife. Until then, I can't do any sports, I can't wear regular clothes, I
can't hug people without making it awkward, and I can't go anywhere without my tits being
watched. I can't even have kids because of the risk it will pose to my body when lactation starts!
I'm a freak with tits bigger than my own head that are always growing.”

Revision as of 18:06, 29 January 2018

Noisebridge has been a staple of the San Francisco hacker and technology and art scene for 10 years. We are a hackerspace where everyone is always welcome, where everything is free, with supportive community where anyone can come and explore and learn and make cool things.

Due to a series of anonymous complaints to the city planning and building inspection departments at the city (we believe with the intent of shutting down Noisebridge), our landlord has decided not to renew our lease, which ends August 2018.

Since Noisebridge first moved into 2169 Mission St., rents have risen considerably in San Francisco. Leases for comparable spaces are anywhere from 300-500% more than Noisebridge is currently paying, which well exceed Noisebridge's current funding sources.

We don't know where Noisebridge will end up, but our community is committed to providing a home for hacking and making in San Francisco. We believe that San Francisco needs a hackerspace that is open to as many people as possible as often as possible. We also strongly believe that the residents and guests of our town deserve a space to pursue their hopes, interests, and ambitions at their own pace in a safe space where lack of funds is no barrier to entry. This is what Noisebridge provides, and has provided for nearly a decade.

To continue this mission, Noisebridge absolutely needs to raise money at a much higher level then it has in the past. We have put a call for fundraising, asking for community members and friends of Noisebridge to become monthly donors.

Press Contacts

Please reach out to us - we'd be happy to answer any questions you have, or setup a time for a phone call or in person interview, or give you a tour of Noisebridge. You're also welcome to come to any of our events.

Official press contact: press@noisebridge.net (TODO - is this still active?)

You can also contact specific Noisebridge community members via their contact info in their bios below.

Please note: Feel free to take photos of Noisebridge, but some of our community members are very privacy concious, so please ask people for permission before photographing them, even if they're in the background of a shot. Usually most people will give permission.

Background on Noisebridge

Noisebridge is a hackerspace for technical-creative projects, doocratically run by everyone. We are a non-profit educational institution intended for public benefit. We have a 5,200 square-foot space located in the heart of San Francisco containing an electronics lab, wood shop, machine/metalworking shop, sewing/crafting supplies, two classrooms, music making areas, conference area, and library.

We provide infrastructure and collaboration opportunities for anyone interested in programming, hardware, crafts, science, robotics, art, and technology. We teach, we learn, we share. With no leaders, we have one rule: "Be excellent to each other".

Noisebridge was one of the first hackerspaces in the US, along with Hacktory, Hack DC, and NYC Resistor, which all started in 2007, inspired by hackerspaces in Europe, like the Metalab in Vienna and c-base in Berlin.

Noisebridge is as open as possible. Typical "open hours" are from 11:00am-10:00pm, however this varies greatly depending on scheduled events and who is using the space on any given day. New visitors are welcome any time (all ages, all skill levels), as long as someone is in the space and able to answer the door.

Bios

Bios on key people to interview about the space (with 1 paragraph of their story, headshot-type photo, and contact details)

Ruth Grace Wong

Ruth Grace Wong

Hi, I'm a Site Reliability Engineer at Pinterest by day and a manufacturing nerd at night. My goal is to learn how to work with both software and hardware at scale, because I think these skills will empower me to make the biggest positive impact. I do lots of sewing and laser cutting projects at Noisebridge, including a DIY iMac and my Leave Me Alone Sweater, which went viral and made me some money via Betabrand. To me, Noisebridge is a supportive community where people are super generous with their time and knowledge, and people in the space have encouraged me to branch out and learn more about electronics hardware and shop tools. I've also met many people in the space which lead to collaborations (some of them paid!).

I love documenting and sharing my experiences and learnings related to DIY projects or manufacturing. This has lead to unexpected successes such as the Leave Me Alone Sweater, which I initially posted on Instructables, as well as a writing gig with Supplyframe Hardware about manufacturing, after writing about the annual Noisebridge China hacker trip (NoisebridgeChinaTrip7). I can be contacted at my full name at gmail.com.

TODO

  • Kyle
  • Lizzie
  • Victoria
  • Darryl
  • Jarrod
  • Mitch
  • J
  • Kevin
  • Trent
  • John Shutt

Projects

- 5 Minutes of Fame (video, live and archived streaming) Noisebridge's monthly series of lightning talks on widely diverse subjects - Flaschen Taschen - Danny's book scanner - Brain Machine (details) creates hallucinations and aids meditation by flashing lights and sound with special goggles

Leave Me Alone Sweater

Leave Me Alone Sweater

Noisebridge has a prolific sewing area, including a giant cutting mat, an industrial straight stitch machine and serger, and a few home sewing machines. Sewing is not as hard as some people think! I've been able to teach people with no experience basic sewing in an afternoon at Noisebridge. The sewing area has given me the opportunity to make projects such as my Egg Rug and Notebook Cover with Zip Pouch, but the most successful project I've made by far is the Leave Me Alone Sweater. It's a cowl neck sweater that can roll up over your head and be zipped close, for its Leave Me Alone mode. After I posted this sweater on Instructables, it went unexpectedly viral. Many publications picked it up, and it even aired on TV, on Live With Kelly. I did one run of sweaters with Betabrand, and now I'm setting out to learn about apparel manufacturing and produce them myself.

Photos

Videos

FAQ

Q: What is a hackerspace?

A: Hackerspaces are community-operated physical places, where people share their interest in tinkering with technology, art, craft, and other diverse topics, meet and work on their projects, and learn from each other. There are more than 2000 hackerspaces all over the world. (from http://hackerspaces.org)

Q: What is a hacker?

A: A hacker is someone who sees the world as full of resources. We use these resources in any way we can to improve our projects (which can be anything!). We see what works well, what doesn't work well, and we share with others. This is how we continually improve our projects, our communities, ourselves, and the world.

Q: Where does the name Noisebridge come from?

A: A "noise bridge" is a piece of electronic test equipment that injects noise into a system to see how it responds, so you can fix or improve it. Such a device is often used in RF electronics. We believe this is a good metaphor for what hackerspaces can do for society.

Q: What can people do at Noisebridge?

A: Meet techie, arty, and crafty folks; take a class or workshop; teach a class or workshop; use the power tools and electronic labs; make cool things; learn to make cool things; build something out of stuff on the hack shelves; use our library; surf the web; and so on...

Q: What does it mean that Noisebridge is do-ocratically run?

A: Doing excellent stuff at Noisebridge does not require permission or an official decision.

Do-ocracy - If you want something done, do it, but remember to be excellent to each other when doing so.

Typically when someone wants to do or change something big at Noisebridge, they bring it up at a meeting and it goes through our Consensus Process. If it's a smaller, more mundane thing, there's Do-ocracy. Do-ocracy tends to work just as long as our only rule is followed, to be excellent to each other. If someone nicely asks you to change something back, be nice back and just change it back.

Q: Who is in charge of Noisebridge?

A: No one is. No wait, we all are! Noisebridge is anarchically run, which means no one is in charge. We do have elected board members, but they strictly serve to statisfy the state's requirements for nonprofits. We make official Noisebridge decisions by consensus, which means the willing consent of all of our members. Decisions are typically made at our weekly meetings. You can read more about our Consensus_Process.

Q: How is Noisebridge currently funded?

A: We self-finance entirely through one-time and recurring donations from members and non-members alike. We also take donations for beverages, and take donations for our incredibly cool parties. Membership fees are $80 per member/month with a $40 "starving hacker" rate. However, no one needs to be a member to make full use of Noisebridge!

Q: What sort of events does Noisebridge host?

A: TODO