We headed to Orchard Street on the island last night, planning to check out the Gizmodo Gallery. It was late when we got there and the gates were down. We were just about resigned to pressing our noses to the glass and gazing longingly at the lego death star when we spotted the time traveling DeLorean wedged up to the sidewalk. Josh Haldeman traded it for his Honda. Clearly he made the right choice. We jumped in the machine with every intention of hacking in, but had insufficient time. The fearless owner had to quit the Lower East Side for a game of Extreme Connect Four.
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Electricity .01 – Introduction to Electricity
Voltage, amperage, current, ohms. It’s enough to make your head spin if you’re just getting started making things with electricity. Electricity .01 will give you a handle on the big three of direct current and how to trade them off. After this class you’ll understand voltage, current and resistance, though not why they’re abbreviated E, I and R. We’ll be making electricity from scratch two ways, messing with multimeters, and rocking out with resistors. We will not, alas, be blowing anything up.
Sunday, November 16
1 1/2 hours, taught by Max Whitney
Meeting Photo 10-21-2008
Lemon Battery, Now With Real Lemons
I had enough with all this making-lemonade-from-lemons chatter and instead just made some light. It’s so freaking easy (provided you remember to grab the wire strippers before you head to the kitchen). Copper and zinc etching plates are probably $7 at your local art supply store. If you want some detailed instructions, check Danger’s Closet, but the better way to proceed is (a) look at picture, (b) implement.
Noisebridge – Our Neighbors on the Other Coast
As if to throw the gauntlet down before our friends to the north, the San Francisco Hacker Space Noisebridge signed their lease today. Take that Canadia!
Their new space is ground level (something we had once hoped for here in NYC). They’re also only a few blocks from the best jicama salad in the SFO region. They got started in February 2007 and have been working hard for over a year and a half. They’ve even managed to establish non-profit status*, so if you’re looking for somewhere to throw your stock market windfall (uh. oops. . . .) Anyway, we couldn’t be happier to congratulate them on their new home.
Read more about them at their site: http://noisebridge.net/
*Correction, per Al’s comment: They’re still in the process of establishing themselves as a non-profit. You can give them money anyway. Really. Psychology research says it will make you feel good.
Clean Well-lighted Optivisor
Bill picked up an optivisor for the space, and attached an LED lighting enhancement. My SMT sequin work just got a googolplex times easier.
Picture of the optivisor in action after the jump
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Hello World, The Old Fashioned Way
Adam goes old school and teaches C to the masses. C, child of B, influences almost all modern procedural languages. I like to believe it’s also the basis of the recent burst of semicolon tattoos.
Everything is made clear by his y-axis jazz hands.
This is Just to Say
At NYCResistor we learn, share and make things. Sometimes it’s necessary to let another Resistor know just how generous they have been.
If you had been there I would have asked first. Honest.
from Max
to Bre Pettis
subject I have borrowed the multimeter
This is just to say
I have borrowed
the multimeter
that was in
your yellow toolbox
and which
you were probably
saving
for 2 a.m. hacking
Forgive me
it was so useful
so beepy
and so right
— Max
(also the alligator clips.)
from Adam
to nycresistor
subject Note for George
This is just to say
I have used
some LEDs
that were in
your toolbox
and which
you were probably saving
for a POV display
Forgive me
they were clear-lensed
so shiny
and so blinky
-a
(I needed to build an 8×16 demo grid for Monday’s class; lemme know how much I owe you.)
These honor an old MIT 404 haiku and the William Carlos Williams poem which presumably inspired the MIT webmaster in ’96. The recording of WCW reading “This is just to say” is thanks to and linked from UPenn’s PennSound archive of poets’ reading their work.
Handy Dandy LED Resistor Calculator
Superbly handy LED circuit resistor calculator here. Put in your source voltage, forward diode voltage and forward current, get back a well-calculated wiring diagram. Woo! Arithmetic done by machines!