6 ms·

NY Hackers: Breadpig & LEGO are hosting our first Hack Club on Jan 14

44 points by kn0thing 16y ago

ilovecomputers 16y ago
If this becomes successful after planning a number of different Hack Clubs, please do something like TEDx where others who wish to accumulate the powers of geekistry (cough like me) can work off your experience via online resources. That way we can successfully organize our own Hack Clubs (getting geeks together, especially undergrads, is a difficult challenge as I am learning right now). The secret location thing is also a fun idea. We have two events around here that do something like that. There's this hippy fest that emails its newest desert location for subscribers to go to and get high at the next day. We also have an underground alternative rock organizer that picks random locations across the county. Yesterday, they hosted a few bands at a Post Office. Oops, sorry for the tangent. Anyways, I can imagine a wave of Hack Clubs, popping up across the world and each Hack Club will be like chess boxing, where, instead of chess, you have tinkering and instead of boxing, you have slapping and alcohol intoxication.
- Chrysaora 16y ago
  We would love that! After doing a few, we'll definitely look into putting together a tutorial for how to organize a Hack Club yourself. The more, the merrier!
  - kn0thing 16y ago
    Yes, this is a model we want copied all over in cities where geek culture languishes. Having lived in SF & Cambridge, I'm not worried about either of those cities, but I know there are plenty others like New York that could use self-organized Hack Clubs to bring hackers together to simply make cool stuff.
    - ilovecomputers 16y ago
      I wouldn't say New York is lacking a geek scene. They have a major hackerspace of all things: http://www.nycresistor.com/ http://www.nycresistor.com/
      - kn0thing 16y ago
        You're right, it's not lacking a geek scene, I'd just like to see more light-hearted-let's-just-build-something events where no one has to be worried about a business-guy telling them about his/her "next big thing." In that vein, although I'm still YC's Ambassador to the East, there will be no Y Combinator pitching.
  - sachitgupta 16y ago
    What about the 'non-geeks' learning how to hack :D? I'm finally at a point where I can make a functional page with PHP and ZEND! Also - on ilovecomputers' point, I've organized a TEDx event and I'm helping with another right now; I'd be happy to help organizing online resources or anything else!
alexophile 16y ago
It's a good thing you've got massive nerd cred; the cynical part of me keeps imagining a suit from LEGO dressed down and hanging under the guise of a "referee," then getting the contact info from the top placing competitors in order to give them the final part of their prize... Although, if a job offer from LEGO engineering is the most nefarious thing going on, I wouldn't exactly call that a dastasrdly plan.
- kn0thing 16y ago
  There will be LEGO employees flying in from Denmark for this, but they'll be very obvious (and simply excited to spectate!) LEGO is thrilled about doing a feel-good-project with breadpig (uncorporation) and the geeks of New York. All of the mindstorms left over from the Hack Night are being donated to a notforprofit we work with down in Jamaica (Lego Yuh Mind) that uses them to teach schoolchildren about engineering. http://www.hallsoflearning.com/ http://www.hallsoflearning.com/
- Chrysaora 16y ago
  Alexis and I met with the "suits from LEGO" who are flying in. This is one of their laptops: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crimsonninjagirl/5252144238/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/crimsonninjagirl/5252144238/ Also, they shared hilarious stories with us about making LEGO napalm and gave us some cool LEGOs for answering a trivia question about Blade Runner. They are absolutely people I'd hang out with and I'm glad they're peaceful Northern Europeans or else I'd be concerned they were going to take over the world with LEGOs. tl;dr Suits from LEGO are awesome.
  - kn0thing 16y ago
    Careful, there are LEGO Gatling guns... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp48bL5jgjQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp48bL5jgjQ
ayb 16y ago
This sounds fun! I look forward to figuring out where it is :-)
Breefield 16y ago
So excited for this – I just had to ditch 3 boxes of mindstorms during my move to NYC.
mtalantikite 16y ago
Great to hear, I'm in the middle of organizing something similar in Brooklyn (still trying to nail down the space). Totally agree, too many business/marketing/networking centric events in NYC and not enough hacking.
- apgwoz 16y ago
  Come out to hack and tell: http://www.meetup.com/hack-and-tell http://www.meetup.com/hack-and-tell. We'll have the next one at the end of January.
Sukotto 16y ago
Will this be a kid-friendly event or is it only for those of us in our second childhood?
- kn0thing 16y ago
  Kids rock! Just keep in mind it'll run from 9pm to 9am :)

44 points by kn0thing 16y ago

If this becomes successful after planning a number of different Hack Clubs, please do something like TEDx where others who wish to accumulate the powers of geekistry (cough like me) can work off your experience via online resources. That way we can successfully organize our own Hack Clubs (getting geeks together, especially undergrads, is a difficult challenge as I am learning right now). The secret location thing is also a fun idea. We have two events around here that do something like that. There's this hippy fest that emails its newest desert location for subscribers to go to and get high at the next day. We also have an underground alternative rock organizer that picks random locations across the county. Yesterday, they hosted a few bands at a Post Office. Oops, sorry for the tangent. Anyways, I can imagine a wave of Hack Clubs, popping up across the world and each Hack Club will be like chess boxing, where, instead of chess, you have tinkering and instead of boxing, you have slapping and alcohol intoxication.

Chrysaora 16y ago
We would love that! After doing a few, we'll definitely look into putting together a tutorial for how to organize a Hack Club yourself. The more, the merrier!
- kn0thing 16y ago
  Yes, this is a model we want copied all over in cities where geek culture languishes. Having lived in SF & Cambridge, I'm not worried about either of those cities, but I know there are plenty others like New York that could use self-organized Hack Clubs to bring hackers together to simply make cool stuff.
  - ilovecomputers 16y ago
    I wouldn't say New York is lacking a geek scene. They have a major hackerspace of all things: http://www.nycresistor.com/ http://www.nycresistor.com/
    - kn0thing 16y ago
      You're right, it's not lacking a geek scene, I'd just like to see more light-hearted-let's-just-build-something events where no one has to be worried about a business-guy telling them about his/her "next big thing." In that vein, although I'm still YC's Ambassador to the East, there will be no Y Combinator pitching.
- sachitgupta 16y ago
  What about the 'non-geeks' learning how to hack :D? I'm finally at a point where I can make a functional page with PHP and ZEND! Also - on ilovecomputers' point, I've organized a TEDx event and I'm helping with another right now; I'd be happy to help organizing online resources or anything else!

alexophile 16y ago

It's a good thing you've got massive nerd cred; the cynical part of me keeps imagining a suit from LEGO dressed down and hanging under the guise of a "referee," then getting the contact info from the top placing competitors in order to give them the final part of their prize... Although, if a job offer from LEGO engineering is the most nefarious thing going on, I wouldn't exactly call that a dastasrdly plan.

kn0thing 16y ago
There will be LEGO employees flying in from Denmark for this, but they'll be very obvious (and simply excited to spectate!) LEGO is thrilled about doing a feel-good-project with breadpig (uncorporation) and the geeks of New York. All of the mindstorms left over from the Hack Night are being donated to a notforprofit we work with down in Jamaica (Lego Yuh Mind) that uses them to teach schoolchildren about engineering. http://www.hallsoflearning.com/ http://www.hallsoflearning.com/
Chrysaora 16y ago
Alexis and I met with the "suits from LEGO" who are flying in. This is one of their laptops: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crimsonninjagirl/5252144238/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/crimsonninjagirl/5252144238/ Also, they shared hilarious stories with us about making LEGO napalm and gave us some cool LEGOs for answering a trivia question about Blade Runner. They are absolutely people I'd hang out with and I'm glad they're peaceful Northern Europeans or else I'd be concerned they were going to take over the world with LEGOs. tl;dr Suits from LEGO are awesome.
- kn0thing 16y ago
  Careful, there are LEGO Gatling guns... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp48bL5jgjQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp48bL5jgjQ

ayb 16y ago

This sounds fun! I look forward to figuring out where it is :-)

Breefield 16y ago

So excited for this – I just had to ditch 3 boxes of mindstorms during my move to NYC.

mtalantikite 16y ago

Great to hear, I'm in the middle of organizing something similar in Brooklyn (still trying to nail down the space). Totally agree, too many business/marketing/networking centric events in NYC and not enough hacking.

apgwoz 16y ago
Come out to hack and tell: http://www.meetup.com/hack-and-tell http://www.meetup.com/hack-and-tell. We'll have the next one at the end of January.

Sukotto 16y ago

Will this be a kid-friendly event or is it only for those of us in our second childhood?

kn0thing 16y ago
Kids rock! Just keep in mind it'll run from 9pm to 9am :)