*UPDATE* – HSC makes the Finals for the Element14 Great Global Hackerspace Challenge

*UPDATE #2* – HSC wins the Element14 Great Global Hackerspace Challenge

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Feltronics from Quincy Acklen on Vimeo.

Come to the forum and discuss your thoughts about our scheduled classes and workshops, also suggest your ideas for some that you would like to see!

Classes and Workshops Forum

Though it would have been cool to see it floating in the middle of the enclosure, we would have probably lost points for killing someone. Magnetic Cupcakes: #1 #2

So we ended up making a very nice less than lethal cupcake instead. We believe that Revelation Space will find it both tasty and well attached to its enclosure.

They should receive the cupcake-y goodness some time this Friday January, 21st in the Netherlands. Until then we will just have to wait to see if our efforts were enough to get that cupcake there in one piece.

Surely it will make it. Surely.

On a receiving note, we can’t wait to see what our friends to Northwest in Calgary, Canada have whipped up for us. No doubt that whatever Protospace.ca sends us it will be awesome. As of now we don’t know when it will arrive, but we will post pics/vid when it does!

You know I would say the best part of this ‘Cupcake Hacking’ experience (besides it not being a tuesday meeting) was explaining what we were doing to non-hackerspace people. The looks we got walking around Charlotte with the cupcake cube were priceless…but once we flipped the box over and they realized how hard it must be to secure something so soft and squishy so it can hang upside down for 4000+ miles…well then they understood where the challenge was and why we were doing it.

Well, sort of.

So Now we wait. To pass the time we will play Tic-Tac-Throw(ie).  A game so new that we are still writing the rules…But how can you go wrong with a game called Tic-Tac-Throw(ie) ??

Here are some additional pics from our cupcake hacking endeavors:

We are very excited to be participating in the Global Hackerspace Cupcake Challenge!

The goal of this event is to mail a cupcake to another hackerspace and have it arrive in pristine condition.

We have asked Revelation Space in The Hague, Netherlands to accept our cupcake. That is 4160+ miles away in a straight line!

In the spirit of international cooperation Protospace in Calgary, Canada has offered their cupcake to HSC. That is nearly 2000+ miles away in a straight line!

Thank you for thinking of us Protospace…we are waiting patiently with milk.

Many of the participating hackerspaces will be streaming their progress live via ustream. You can see our stream here.

[more cupcake fun]

[discuss this event in our forum]

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[HSC Billing]

New to HSC? Come and say hi on the Forum or IRC (or email) before signing up!

Extra Soupy Twist,
Max Wallace
Hackerspace Charlotte

[need to know how to get there?]

Hi.

My brain hurts, so let’s go with quick. Please insert your own obscure references and bad in-jokes. Do cool things with stuff.

(0!!!!!!) We are leaving the Meetup group at the end of this month. Do switch to the Google Groups list at http://groups.google.com/group/hscupdate, or in the front box at hackerspacecharlotte.org.

(1) Meeting Tuesday night, 7:30P, HSC. Bring your stuff. We’ve got shelves and everything. If it is bigger than a breadbox, check in on the Google Spreadsheet in the forums at http://www.hackerspacecharlotte.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=41 before hauling it in so we have a good place to put it.

(2) Soft opening this Sunday, November 21st. Starts at 2P. There’s a locksport event with the fellows from FALE, and we’ll be giving Access Devices to charter members in exchange for signed liability statements. Unless the shipment of Access Devices doesn’t make it in time – then we’ll do something Clever.

(3) Charter Membership period is now closed.

(42) Still stuff to work on at the space, if you’re interested. Ask around, here, on the irc, the forums, the Twitter, the Facebook, and we’ll find an creative way for you to help out.

Soupy Twist,
Max Wallace
Charlotte, President Hackerspace

From: Max Wallace
Sent on: Monday, November 8, 2010 7:03 PM

Hi all,

short:

(0) Almost done with HSC setup/cleaning/painting/setup. Still some painting to be done, you kooky people, you.
(1) Charter members – doors are so close to closing, it is time to really think about squeaking through.
(1) FAQs, Space Rules – LAW AND CUTLERY IS ALL THAT STANDSnobody really thinks that.
(2) Soft and Grand Openings – we have dates. You may bring dates. Save the dates. Dunno from what.
(3) Opening Details. Step 1 – open. Seek no further direction.
*** (3a) Charter Members get Access Devices at the soft opening, November 21st. It’s okay to feel all tingly reading that. ***
(4) Bring Your Stuff This Tuesday – really? Seriously? O RLY? Y, RLY.

So. Week Nine. Basic training is nine weeks. The Packers took nine weeks this year to remember how to play football. And it took nine weeks from drinking coffee to loading up with stuff. More on that later.

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THERE’S BEEN SUCH FUMES, THE WORLD IS octarine!
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If you’ve worked on HSC these last few weeks and gone home covered in paint, paint flecks, things that aren’t paint or flecks — you have my long lasting appreciations. If you haven’t, well, there’s still time. Read the forum/calendar for details – but opportunities to get genuinely filthy for the good of the ‘space are dwindling. After these close, any opportunity to get genuinely filthy is going to be just for you. There are more than a few, those lucky few, who have transmogrified a cracked-out busted tool shop into a real hackerspace with nothing more than enthusiasm. And paint. So much paint. I feel like Lady Macbeth trying to wash her hands, and at least a dozen people have put in much, much more time and work than my sad little efforts. They deserve your recognition, your respect, and your thanks. Or a drink. Either way.

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I’M RUNNING OUT OF GOOD MONORAIL QUOTES. WHICH IS TIMELY, I’M NOT GOING TO NEED ANY NEXT WEEK
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Charter memberships – $100. 24 hour, round the clock access. You too, can enjoy an opportunity for a life of logistical levity for the next week – as in our bylaws, the period for new charter memberships closes on November 14, 2010. Which is next Sunday. After that, well, it gets a little more difficult to upgrade from a regular awesome Member to an Awesome Charter Member of HSC. So, doors are closing, they have been for a while, and as of next Sunday, Nov 14, they’re not going to stop if you put your foot in the way. So if your charter membership isn’t in by then – well, shouldn’t have stopped for that haircut.

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KNOWN UNKNOWNS AND THE UNKNOWN PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THEM
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FAQs. We still need some. As well as guidelines for the space – we still need some. max at hackerspacecharlotte.org. Know what else we need?

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ONE FOR US AND ONE FOR THEM – FOR ANY VALUE OF ‘THEM’ AND ‘US’
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The ‘soft’ open is November 21th. This is when we fully open the door to your creativity, your creations, and your cerebral conversations. At the soft opening, we’ll be thrilled to exchange (1) Access Device to Hackerspace Charlotte to every charter member who drops off their name, mailing addy, phone #, and a signed liability statement. There will be an email to follow this one in a couple of days with the finalized text of the liability statement, so it won’t be any surprise on Sunday, Nov 21th, when it comes time to acquire your very own Access Device. Hours to be determined. It’s a stealth opening – leave your Twitterati and reporters at home, please.

The big, public Grand Opening is December 3rd. Bring your friends, your family, your media reporters, your Twitter, your camera, and yourself. It’s going to be a bit of a thing. Also, think about bringing food. Hours to be determined.

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STILL SEEKING OPENING IDEAS – SCIENCE YES, DANGEROUS SCIENCE NO
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We’re still collecting ideas for the soft and grand openings. Drop in and drop off your idea in our forums, index.php, look for ‘Upcoming Events’. I look forward to your posts.

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THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE CLUTTER – LOAD UP, PEOPLE. THE LITTLE HAND SAYS IT IS TIME TO ROCK AND ROLL.
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Remember your ‘Move To Hackerspace’ boxes from way back in week five? Yes, this Tuesday, 7:30PM, at Hackerspace Charlotte, we’re going to start loading our ex-machine-shop up with stuff. Cool stuff to do things with. If the item you are bringing is for donation to the greater Hackerspace Charlotte community, which is awesome, let a board member know so we can mark it in our Notes Of Things HSC Owns and treat it accordingly with kindness. If it’s just for you, that’s also swervy cool – but do remember we only have 1200sqft. My rule of thumb – if it’s bigger than a breadbox, or has special requirements for power/water/regular feeding, ask on the forums before schlepping it. Schlep. It’s like a trip. Breadboxes are about the size of a loaf of bread or a half-gallon of milk. I don’t know how much that is in litres. After all, we’re probably going to only need one refrigerator – so do ask around before bringing. There are also going to be a couple of openings this week for load-in in addition to Tuesday night. Check the calendar at bit.ly/HSCcalendar for details.

In conclusion: we’re approaching the end of the beginning. Prepare yourselves, fellow Hackerites, for the Beginning of the Middle — yeah. There’s a good reason Tolkien didn’t use that one.

Soupy twist,
Max Wallace
President, Hackerspace Charlotte

Hackerspace Charlotte Notes, Things, Stuff, Meeting Tues @ 7:30P

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Hi everybody. It has been a little bit, so let’s catch up.

To start, the short version:
(0) It’s a real hackerspace. It’s your fault. But not yet.
(1) Meeting, cleaning, help paint. Colloids are awesome.
(2) FAQs – What should we have told you already? Trolling for content.
(3) Really, just wander around with a drink, with nowhere to sit? Let’s do something else for a grand opening.
(4) Fine, enforce your Lockian social contract. As long as…
(5) It always comes down to money, doesn’t it.

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YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A HACKERSPACE CHARLOTTE
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I’m sure you have heard. If not, well, we did it. People signed a lot of paper, money came in, money went out, and keys came in. We have a hackerspace. It’s even on the interwebs – seriously, google for “Hackerspace Charlotte”. Send email if doesn’t come up, that means I did it wrong -> max at hackerspace (guess where!) dot org. I want to thank you, you, especially you, and we definitely wouldn’t have done it if not for you. That said, not quite yet. Aw, man. Much like Gilda Radner, we’re not quite ready for prime time. There is some work to be done yet (wanna help?) but it’s close. I’m not in a position to name a date yet, but let us say this: if one carves a turkey before another is soldering something at 3:15A on Sunday morning – something went horribly wrong. A great deal of great people have gone great guns on getting the space cleaned out, up, and sideways; so

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PREP UPDATE – PEOPLE WHO SHOULDN’T BUY THEIR OWN DRINKS FOR A GOOD WHILE
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Like it says. There have been three cleaning/painting days – remember all that clutter? Gone. Remember the toolcage? Vanished. Fnord. All of that cool stuff on the shelves? Mostly still there and ready to be repurposed for our requirements – ask about our 108RPM paint sprayer. I and we (yes, you’re involved in this) really can’t do enough to thank and appreciate all of the dirty, filthy, smeggingly grimy labor that the volunteer cleaning brigade has put in. Wanna get in on this? There is still painting to be done, and other such things as needed. A core collective of craftsman is going to hang out after the Tuesday meeting, tomorrow, and do more painting. Why not hang out for a while, slap some stuff on walls? It’s cathartic. I’d love to be able to name names and single people out for accolades, but I’m bad with names. If you see someone tomorrow at the meeting who is really tired or wearing latex paint, say thank you. A lot. Twice. And then buy them something nice.

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TOMORROW, MEETING, @HSC, 7:30P, BRING SEATING OR A PAIR OF SEATINGS.
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It’s a quickie meeting, but still a good idea to show up wearing shaggy clothes just in case you are seized by the painting muse and want to help paint. Was that too blatant? TBD for the meeting tomorrow: doors and the locations thereof. Grand opening ideas and the locations thereof. (Hint: It’s at HSC). Also, start thinking about some

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THE UNWRITTEN RULE: WHEN NO APPROPRIATE RULE APPLIES, MAKE ONE UP
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Yeah, all the cool stuff has rules. Don’t look into the laser with remaining eye. Wear all appropriate safety equipment. Prop against a rock or something. All the cool stuff has rules, and that includes the HSC workshoppie. To ruthlessly abuse Kant, think about how to act, so that such action, if followed by everyone, could become universal hackerspace law. Here’s mine – no smoking inside. It messes up enjoyment of the primer fumes. What’s yours? This is part 1 of the three part audience participation mininewsletter. Ready for part 2?

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IF I HAD ONLY KNOWN NOT TO GET ON THE TRAIN WITH SPANISH FOOTBALL FANS IN 1998
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Part 3: Part of the problem we (yes, even you, again) have is that a hackerspace really doesn’t lend itself to a quick elevator pitch style explanation. Even more distressingly, not really, is that everyone wants to know different things about how we do, yes, cool things with stuff. Ha. So: what would you like to have known, or still want to know, or wish you’d been told; about the hackerspace idea? Either bring it up at the meeting tomorrow, 7:30P, HSC, or send to max at hackerspace (guess where!) dot org. I’m throwing this mostly at the dozen or so lurkers on our Meetup group. Seriously, come hang out with us at a meeting. We’ll even let you paint something, as long as it’s a wall.

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WHAT’S YOUR IDEA OF A PARTY? MINE HAS LIGHTNING.
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The second audience participation topic for today’s novel in progress is the grand opening party. To wit: let’s all show up and have a laugh. That said, I’ve been to plenty of slow plodding hackerspace grand openings where everyone is all jovial and distantly social, making small talk about that local sports team, and then the police show up. Let’s do something a little more hackerish. If you’ve got an idea, and I suspect you may, send that as well to max at hackerspace (guess where!) dot org. We’re also going to form a Grand Opening Committee soon – think about helping out. Hey, you know what would help out? Staying a little later tomorrow after the meeting to help paint. Okay, that’s enough. Paint!

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HAI I HAS A HACKERSPACE CAN HAS PLEDGE? AWSUM THX
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Remember ‘doors are closing’? Charter membership to Hackerspace Charlotte is still a reasonable, not adjusted for inflation, $100. Mr. Franklin, to those of you who are familiar with the device. That small kick-in will get you (1) Charter — you’ve gotta know by now. It’s 24hr access. I really can’t put any better shine on that. If the idea of showing up whenever you want appeals – checks payable to Hackerspace Charlotte, PayPal to Red Davies, our alpha president, who some people call Red. Red gets email. Red’s email domain is ‘critical integration’, in the commercial TLD. And we all know that domains do not have spaces. Best of luck with that, Canned Meat Filter!

Monthly dues are going to be $40, and the dues are due on the due date for dues of the First of December. that’s 12/1/10, or 1291208400. Had to look that up. Details on the starving hacker application process forthcoming. And that concludes our intensive three-week course.

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THANK YOU FOR READING, COME TO THE MEETING; DROP TABLE ‘Customers’; COMMIT;
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I have a lot more to add, like Friend us on Facebook, follow our twitters, read hackerspacecharlotte.org, register for the messageboard, but this is getting kind of long. And I’m pretty sure that sheriff saw me finish this up while driving. Yup, he did. Later, all.

Soupy twist,
Max Wallace