Weekly Tuesday Meetings Change to Monthly 2nd Wednesday Meetings

We’ve been meeting every Tuesday for the last 1.5+ years. The time has come for a change. Instead of meeting on every Tuesday, starting now, we’ll meet monthly on the second Wednesday of the month.

Mark Your Calendar:

When: Every 2nd Wednesday of the Month (starting February 9th, 2011)
Where: Gumbo Labs, 4820 Banks Street, Upstairs at the end of the hall on the right.
What to Bring: yourself, your ideas, questions, sketches on napkins, an open mind and a bag of chips (seriously, feel free to bring snacks)
Agenda:

7:00-7:30pm: Show up, socialize, talk shop, eat snacks.
7:30-8:30pm: Monthly Topic/Presentation/Talk/Discussion/Project/etc. Check GumboLabs.org for a post about the current month’s topic.

February 8th Topic:

Automata Kinetic Art Sculpture Preparation and Brainstorming + Introduction to 555 timer (a handy piece of electronics)

Last year, Gumbo Labs put together a tree sculpture with recycled CD-ROM drives as leaves, plus eyeballs that sensed light and opened and closed the CD-ROM drives. It was a lot of fun. The Automata Exhibit is happening again this year and we’d like to make something awesome. Anyone interested, is welcome to join us (not just Gumbo Labs members). You can read more about Automata here. And here’s an article and a video that the Times-Picayune did last year.

We have this idea that we might kill two birds with one stone by making an art piece for Automata and at the same time, make something for the 555 timer contest. To that end, Leisa is going to give a SIMPLE introduction to the SIMPLE 555 timer chip and how to use it to make cool, useful, and/or artistic projects.  No special electronics knowledge presupposed. Following the presentations there will be lab time and some demos to play, along with brainstorming about what to make with them.  First 5 non-gumbo lab members will get a FREE TS556CN dual low power timer chip!