Regular Member Meeting 2022 05 10

Time and Location

Date: Tue 10 May 2022

Called to order at 7:37pm by Michelle

Members present: Brian, Michelle*, Ken, John*, Oby*, Kevin

Members remote: all

Others present: Ulisses

Quorum

Quorum met? Yes

Old Business

1. Basement cleanup - "peel back the onion" of this large project to make progress this year; several did "Part 1 of 2" in April (?) weekend, going to do "Part 2 of 2" with volunteers in June. Organizers: John, Brian, and Michelle. John would like to see a facility that supports what people actually need in the future. Oby thinks "machine shop" is best-case-scenario for basement and more specialty stuff down there. Water wasn't present there, but still does occur when it rains heavily - see Mike/replacement to see if he did what he said and created a barrier to prevent it from getting wet. Safety concerns: chemicals in basement, possible mold even though cannot smell (may need mold detector & dehumidifiers / Brian thinks there are two dehumidifiers). Removing the 1-ton optical table or create an island with machine shop - either way need to remove the shelves (and the stuff on them) to make more room to move. Michelle will send out poll for June 4-5 or June 11-12.
2. Discuss purchase of new filament - Mostly inexpensive, need semi-clear plastic box that seals, need anhydrous dessicant (reusable beads), need two gallon ziploc baggies, and then lastly need the filament (PLA, PETG, couple rolls of Ninjaflex). Potential supplier: https://www.villageplastics.com/
3. Rockville Science Day:

• What Went Well / What We Did Right (include "Codes of Conduct")
  • kids interactive game handouts (Phil / Teresa)
  • made links to other organizations (Ulisses, other orgs)
  • well-attended member event, esp. post-covid
• Learnings
  • lots of kids or parents with kids
  • need to bring our own folding table
• What Needs Improvement
  • finding a stand that will support a video/monitor
  • social media presence / free PR
  • need new HacDC banner
  • need more reminders about event by HacDC
  • brochures need membership-details (Meetup, "cost-benefits")

New Business

• Ulisses - starting federated biology-combo group of labs; mostly graduate students or working professionals; space is hosted by Rockville Science Center
• New Orleans report-back -
  • Mesh Network - John would be open to partnering HAM Radio club on this project; Michelle reaching out to prof at Univ MD Baltimore County; Kevin says to reach out to Open Tech think tank in DC
    • DC Broadband Bridge - Kevin heard this used to be in DC
    • Project Byzantium
• PAR / Recycle Works (Philadelphia) back in the picture - owner of PAR has morphed organization into generic Windows computer training services; Michelle feels this does not
• WordPress work needed - Dreamhost needs us to upgrade to 8.1
• AI Machine Learning - Oby interested in restarting this; we started in 2020 on the first course and Oby ; should be a part of the newsletter to gauge interest

Adjournment

Adjourned by at ??? by ???