i3′s toys at Yelp’s party: Friday!

When you’re Yelp, and you’re throwing a big party at the Fillmore, where do you look for entertainment? A bunch of local outfits, including i3 Detroit, of course! We’re bringing the giant Connect Four and beanbag toss (I refuse to call it that other name), and Robot Fight Club, and the Squiggletrike, and maybe even the dangerously fast Power Wheels car #3.

It’s more than just a party, of course: Yelp is raising funds to support a Detroit charity: ”Real Life. My Music. is a nonprofit organization created to provide a musical and artistic outlet to inner city youth in Detroit“. Considering all the education cuts, that sounds like it fills an important gap!

It’s happening this Friday, 9/7. All the details are over at Yelp, and while the shindig is free, you have to RSVP to get in, so just go do that already. Oh, and bring a few bucks for the fundraiser. See you there!

(Can’t make the party but still want to support Real Life. My Music? They’re collecting donations online with Crowdrise, too.)

Open Shop Friday

TGIF! Or more specifically, TGIOSF.

That’s Open Shop Friday, the day each week when Metro Detroit’s oldest hackerspace explicitly invites non-members to come visit. (The rest of the time, it’s implicit, but some folks like a direct invitation. This is that.)  We’re at 1481 Wordsworth, in Ferndale. Ring the doorbell if it’s not already open!

I hear talk of welding, and Power Wheels bodywork, and who knows what else. — there’s always something unexpected! Any time after 6-ish is probably good, or just wait for that box at the upper right to say “the space is open for guests”.

Also, did you see the photo essay over at MetroMode this week? It’s called “Where Metro Detroit Invents”, and features photos and members of OCD, TechShop, and i3 Detroit. A tip of the hat to our colleagues! (Look closely, and you’ll see that the majority of photos in the series were taken at i3.)

Upcoming events at i3 Detroit, including two more classes

Friday, April 6, 5pm-10pm-ish: Open Shop Friday, holiday weekend edition! With so many members off work for the day, there’ll be someone around the shop earlier than normal to open the doors and host guests. This is an ideal time to drop in and see the space, meet the members, and work on a project!

Saturday, April 7 8pm-2am: Twisted Toys and Mad Scientists, Victorian/Steampunk show at District VII. (off-site) Several i3 projects and members will be there.

Thursday, April 12, 7:30pm: Arduino Meetup, newbies welcome. Good platform to get started in microcontrollers.

Friday, April 13, 7pm: Open Shop Friday for those sad souls not in Cleveland at the midwest’s finest tech/art/everything conference.

Thursday April 19, 7pm-???: Tabletop Gaming. Does Dominion ring a bell? How about Settlers of Catan? Guests welcome.

Friday April 20, 7:30pm: Lockpicking for Beginners. Please register for your seat now!

Saturday April 21, 1pm-4pm: Roadside Skills For Non-Greasemonkeys. Registration required. Learn to patch a puncture, install a spare tire, jump-start a dead battery, and more.

Friday April 27 thru Sunday April 29: Penguicon (off-site). Geek-interest conference, expanding to larger digs in Dearborn this year. Several i3 Detroit members are presenting, teaching, and otherwise involved. There may not be an Open Shop this day because most of us will be at the con.

(Also, hello Detroit News visitors! What do you hack? What do you make? Let us know in comments!)

Two i3 members selected as Real Best of Detroit

Real Detroit Weekly‘s annual Best of Detroit issue is out, and two i3 Detroit members are among those named – I’ll let the article speak for itself:

Best NOVELTY PERFORMANCE TROUPE – The Weird Sisters Circus

…”What Cheryl Willard, Irina Laura and Sarah Morgan do on those silken ropes is nothing less than a sublime balance of poetry and magic; three disciplined bodies amplifying the festive mood of a public event or three ethereal forms defying gravity before a rapt audience.”

The article doesn’t mention Cheryl’s recently-published book Feast Your Eyes, but it’s pretty cool too.

Best LOCAL ARTIST – Kristine Diven

“A renaissance talent worthy of a Renaissance City, Kristine Diven has managed to carve an admirable niche for herself since arriving in Detroit several years ago. An accomplished photographer, she reconciled the mirror images of time and beauty with her book Cathedrals of Decay.”…

It goes on to talk about the steampunk parties thrown at District VII.

So where would such artists go to practice, to brainstorm, and to broaden their talents? i3 Detroit, of course!

Also, a tip of the hat to “that other hackerspace” OmniCorp Detroit, who just got a cool writeup in the Metro Times. Cover story, even! Nice to see the media taking notice of all the cool stuff hackerspaces are doing…

Notacon CFP closes 2/10, early reg still open

It is April 12, 2012, the first day of Notacon. You are in the hallway 
outside the main presenation room. Through the open door east, you can 
see an enthusiastic presenter gesturing at her slides, and about two 
dozen people sitting in chairs. On the hallway wall is a printed 
schedule. West is another presentation room. South is the lockpicking 
area. The hallway continues north.

> LOOK AT SCHEDULE

The schedule reads "NOTACON 9 ROOM 1 FRIDAY 
3pm Milkymist: video synthesizers at the cutting edge of open source hardware 
4pm Reverse-engineering for fun and profit 
5pm Game Maker: Crash course in video game programming 
6pm Creating parsers using standard UNIX tools 
..."

> GO NORTH

You are in the hallway outside the hardware hacking area. To the east, 
attendees and off-duty conference staff are crouched over soldering 
irons, modifying the circuitry on their conference badges. One appears 
to have been converted into a small vehicle, scooting around the table. 
Someone hollers "It works! It's transmitting my callsign!" To the west 
is the pool. To the north, a "PIXELJAM" sign adorns a closed door with 
music thumping behind it. The hallway continues south.

> INVENTORY

Between your pockets and your backpack, you have: 
A Notacon 9 conference badge circuit board with nothing soldered to it. 
Your cellphone. (2003 called, they want their Nokia back.) 
A half-empty bottle of Bawls energy drink. 
A printed conference program, folded open to the puzzles section. 
A cheap set of lockpicks. 
A menu from the sushi joint across the street. 
Two 4GB USB flash drives. 
A towel with "Hilton" embroidered in the corner.

Man, what a weird dream! Good thing it isn’t actually April yet, because the discounted pre-registration happens much earlier. Notacon, the longest-running (and coolest) tech/art/hack conference in the midwest, has just extended that discounted reg period, and for anyone whose ambition extends to submitting a presentation, good news! The Call for Proposals closes on February 10, there’s still time to sneak one in…