What:
VHS will be opening its doors for another awesome Super Happy Hacker House (SHHH). Shhh is a day of hacking, show-n-tell, and socializing. Bring a project you’re working on, or just come down and find out what Vancouver’s hackers, crafters, and makers are working on. This time we will be starting early (12 noon) so we can hack on our projects all day!

We will be hosting a egg drop contest. Teams will be asked to build a egg transport vehicle (ETV) that can carry an egg from the height of ~8 meters safely to the ground below. The Egg drop contest will start around 7:30pm. Rules for the egg drop contest

Around 6pm we will stop for dinner with a Peroggiegeddon! ~10 bags of store bought perogies. Sour cream may be provided, No bacon unless you bring your own.

After the egg drop we will stay open till 1am (or longer) for hacking socializing.

Join us and BRING YOUR OWN CUP!
Extra geek points for geeky cups.

Agenda

• Peroggiegeddon starts at 6pm
• Egg drop contest starts at 7:30pm
• Lightning talks starting at 11pm.

When:
May 26th Saturday from 12 noon till 1am.

Where:
45 W. Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC. See video on how to get there

Who:
Everyone is welcome, member, non-member, guests, geek, dork, freak, maker, hacker, ect…

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/378697025499478/

Brent Lang sends us this article he wrote about VHS and the Maker Movement:  Maker Movement; Don’t know what it is?

One of Vancouver’s most creative and unique spaces is so obscure it takes a Youtube video to find it: through an alley, behind the blackbird-painted door across from some dumpsters, and up a creaky wood staircase.

VHS is featured in this Vancouver Observer article about the challenges that arts and cultural groups face in trying to find space for themselves in Vancouver.

Apologies to Rob. Rob! You are a good person and I am a monster for forgetting your name.

The Kaizen team last night put up the VHS banner over the lockers, did the dishes, cleaned out all kinds of cruft, tossed about 30 pens that didn’t work any more, and generally did a kick-ass job of making the space that much better. We found some plastic stock hidden in a box, a tool for picking edible bits out of walnuts, a two month old tub of rice that smelled like paint, and a package of delicious coffee flavored candies. Also, some weird powder that looked like cumin and made Loial’s tongue go numb.

Next Wednesday power tools will definitely be out in force.

Like all living things the Hackspace needs regular care to keep it healthy.

This Wednesday there were no less than 5 people at the space hauling, smashing, hammering, stacking, and disposing. They ripped out the old member storage and installed 16 new lockers. What a fantastic job they did. So clean!

Several people have expressed interest in regularly scheduled “hacking the space” nights. Anyone who wants to improve the space is welcome to come down on Wednesdays at 20:00. We might be sorting all the electronics one night and carpentry the next.  Depends on the Kaizen page on the Wiki. You’ve read some of the Wiki, right? Did you find the Easter egg?

So if you don’t have the time to get into a big project, try taking on these bite-sized bits of goodness. The door is also open for every day hacking, too.

Some people have round asses and some people have flat asses. If you’ve never been able to find a pair of hot pants to fit your very special ass, this hot pants party is your chance to learn how to customise some hot pants!

WHAT: Bring a pair of your own booty shorts / tighty whities / underwear to use as a pattern. If you own large scissors, bring ‘em. We’ve got fabric for up to 10 ten people, so please RSVP to cnorberg@makerfaire.ca to secure your spot, or bring your own fabric. By donation.

WHEN: Monday, April 16th. 7:30pm

WHERE: VHS located at 45 West Hastings. Entrance is through the back alley.

WHY: Parties, and many other occasions, are much more fun with hot pants. This party is to encourage people to get together, make hot pants, giggle, and get excited for Dr. Malabar’s Circus Spectacular; a fundraiser for Vancouver Mini Maker Faire.

Also, tickets for the Circus Spectacular went on sale today so, head over get yours. They are sure to go quickly so, don’t wait and tell your friends.

A brand new

LASER CUTTER

•  80 watts of cutting power, capable of cutting up to 1″ in certain materials
• 39″ x 30″ (100cm x 80cm) bed, with the possibility to feed through larger pieces of material
• Driver type: Micro Stepping Motor
• Max speed: 1000mm/s
• Resolution: 2500 DPI
• Location precision: < 0.01mm
• air assist nozzle
• sight laser for easier alignment of cuts
• industrial water cooler and fume extraction system
• hackable and upgradeable…

Some of the photos from the intro to puppet workshop we had at the hackspace on Monday 27 March, 2012
Thank you to everyone who came out, We had a great time.

Lock picking is the art of unlocking a lock by analyzing and manipulating the components of the lock device, without the original key. Although lock picking can be associated with criminal intent, it is an essential skill for a locksmith. Lock picking is the ideal way of opening a lock without the correct key, while not damaging the lock, allowing it to be rekeyed for later use, which is especially important with antique locks that would be impossible to replace if destructive entry methods were used.

Topics That we will be discuss:

What: A workshop on Locks & lockpicking
Where: VHS
When: March 29, 2012 7:30pm
Host: Val Polyakh
Bottom liner: Steven Smethurst

Crazy busy last night at the VHS.  I think I sat down a total of 5 minutes to solder something and the rest was flitting about wiring, taping, filming, collaborating, and cleaning.  So many faces, new and old.