Meeting notes

From SkullSpace Wiki
Revision as of 13:24, 8 October 2014 by Nateloaf (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

2013 minutes are at Meeting_notes\2013

2012 minutes are at Meeting_notes\2012

2011 minutes are at Meeting_notes\2011

2010 minutes are at Meeting_notes\2010

Contents

October 7th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order 18:00: 22 members in attendance
  • Minutes were reviewed and approved without modification
  • Anti-Social
    • A lot of new people attended, but overall attendance was down.
    • Hacker Jeopardy was a raging success, so much so that it drew the crowd away from the DJs/social.
    • There was discussion about doing HJ and Social events separately in future so that we can focus efforts on activities appropriate to each event.
    • Silent auction was far better than expected. Major thanks to Amy and Ali for soliciting all the amazing donations!
  • Food hackathon
    • October hackathon theme is FOOD!
    • Food strikeforce will be meeting after this meeting. Expect exciting news shortly!
  • Financial update
    • see attached
  • Hacker Jeopardy Event
    • Brittany suggested we do another hacker jeopardy event in partnership with UofM
    • Looking at late January with Ralph Brown as a possible venue
  • Hackloween!
    • There will be an all night hacking session on October 31st!
    • Costumes optional
  • Zewy has a PC with Windows 10 preview installed on it.
    • Feel free to have a look!

September 30th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 18:00
  • Minutes from previous meeting were reviewed and approved without amendment
  • News
    • Nuit Blanche was awesome. Many members attended the Bike Jam and various other events. Adrian's exhibit was great and went all night long.
  • October hackathon: Food!
    • Sarah is looking for people to speak
    • Potluck! Bring whatever you can!
    • Talk to Nate for further details
    • Sarah will send email regarding gear list
  • Anti-Social: This Saturday!
    • Buy tickets from Jay / Brittany / Richard / Nate / other people
    • Be a less horrible person, buy a ticket
    • Mark has been working on Hacker Jeopardy and needs questions
    • If you want to volunteer for writing questions, talk to Richard / Mark.
    • We still need more prizes for the silent auction. Please talk to people about donations!
  • Ian's announcement
    • Octopi has signed a lease for their own space
    • Octopi will be departing over the next few weeks, but Ian has encouraged employees to retain membership
    • Ian has received a consulting engagement in the UK. Leaving November 2nd, but will be back every 4-5 weeks for 6 months.

September 23rd, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 18:00
  • Drink machine
    • We still have a drink machine! Why!?
    • Courtney was not able to find a buyer for the drink machine.
    • If anyone knows someone who would like to take this machine off our hands, please ask them to contact admin@
  • SkullCamp
    • Scheduling did not work our for the last planned event. It has been postponed, likely until spring.
  • Game AI hackathon
    • Hats off to Mak for putting in a huge amount of effort and getting the gameai.skullspace.ca site and a whole bunch of sample bots done. Presentation was excellent and everything worked perfectly, save a few complaints about the speed.
    • Ben did a genetic algorithm, which didn't really work
    • Despite all odds (and logic), 5bot and 6bot did relatively well
    • All in all the event was a success and paved the way for future more exciting game events (Battleship, Carcasonne, etc.)
  • The October hackathon topic will be FOOD!
    • Hacking food... Yum.
    • Topics may include (but are DEFINITELY not limited to) Cheesemaking, winemaking, and/or beer brewing
      • Members in attenance were interested in cheese and beer, but not wine.
    • The hackathon will also include some sort of (likely potluck) HACKSGIVING DINNER.
  • Antisocial: OCTOBER 4th
    • We need more prizes if our silent auction is going to be a success. Brittany has a pre-made begging letter, please contact her for a copy if you are able to help get donations.
    • Projector doesn't work well at out venue because of lighting, so we need a big TV.
    • Tickets are here today! Only $10 from SkullSpace board members and select members!
  • Mega super ultra meetup!
    • RampUp Manitoba held a supermeetup. Many SkullSpace members attended along with folks from Secret handshake, AssentWorks, PHP-UG, Ruby-UG, etc.
    • We have *a lot* of tech groups, and no central hub for them
    • Jay would like to throw an event that gets all these things together
  • Random things
    • SkipTheDishes and Bold Innovation Group are hiring!
    • National Microbiology Group is having an open-house group

September 16th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

September 9th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

September 2nd, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

August 26th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order 18:00 - 13 members present
  • Minutes from August 19th were reviewed and approved
  • Bike Hackathon was held this Saturday. By all accounts it was a great success. Many people attended and everyone had a great time.
    • Nate and Gorgeous-Mike built a stand for our loaner bike fleet.
    • Jordan, Nate and Stef procured and repaired three bikes to compose our initial fleet.
    • Bike Winnipeg Donated front and rear lights for each of these loaner bikes. We need someone to buy or donate three good quality locks.
    • Richard and Ben built SpokePOV kits. They were awesome! Richard has more kits available for sale, contact him if you are interested.
    • Contact Nathan or the board if you wish to make a donation to help offset some of the personal costs incurred on this project.
    • Next project will be to assemble a repair stand / tools. Natural Cycle will be donating something towards this cause! Nathan will keep on MEC and local shops in hopes of getting further donations of tools/parts.
  • Jay confirmed that we will not have a table at Comic Con this year, as all available spots have been filled.
  • Financial update: Things are looking up!
  • Recruitment of new members
    • Students
      • Gerri (in charge of coop for XXXXX) wants to give second year students a tour. XXXXX is coordinating this.
      • Zoe looked in to getting a table at RRC, but they are expensive.
    • Other community groups
      • At the start of SkullSpace, we recruited from lots of other community groups. We should do that more!
      • We should also make an effort just hang out with other groups (Secret Handshake, Winnipeg Skeptics, HAM Radio group, etc.) and be recognized.
  • Events
    • We had lots of events earlier this year and should definitely do more
    • SkullCamp is planned for Sept 12-14. date was changed due to a conflict with Nuit Blanche. Contact Ian (or see the mailing list) for details.
  • Freezer is now pretty much a drink fridge. thanks to Edwin for taking on this project!
    • It may still be running a little cold, so please don't put anything in there that you don't want freezing.
    • A log sheet will be going up for recording temperatures so we can get an idea of how it is working. Please log temps if you can.
  • Adjourned: 18:12

August 19th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 18:00 - 17 Members present
  • Minutes from August 12th were reviewed and approved.
  • School is resuming. We need to recruit more students!
    • Ashira will look in to seeing if we can set up tables at orientation week events at U of M, U of W and RRC.
    • Sarah will assist.
  • Financial update
    • We are currently running with a small operating surplus (not counting donations).
    • Octopi will be leaving shortly which will remove approximately $160 in monthly revenue. This will leave us with a small shortfall each month.
  • Comic Con exhibitor tables are all booked. Jay will check with Ariel at AssentWorks to see if he has co-booked us a space.
  • Bike Hackathon: NEXT SATURDAY
    • Bike Hackathon is coming up next Saturday. It will run from 10am to ???
    • Current plan is to have an open discussion/brainstorming session starting at 10:00. Guests will include Mark Cohoe (Bike Winnipeg) and Anders Swanson (Active Transportation Consultant). Topics will include software and hardware-based bike/route tracking applications.
    • 12:30 to 14:30: Jordan will deliver some workshops on basic bike maintenance and tire/tube maintenance.
    • 14:#0 to whenever: Jordan and Nate will help people fix their bikes.
    • 12:30 to whenever: Richard and Ben will work on building bike-themed electronics, SpokePOV kits, etc. (NOTE: Richard has these available for sale!)
    • We will also be working on the three SkullSpace fleet bikes, and their stand.
  • SkullCamp: Nate suggested that we look at moving the projected date for the SkullCamp event. The date we had originally picked conflicts with Nuit Blanche, which a lot of members plan to attend.
  • Adjourned: 18:50

August 12th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 18:00
  • Minutes from August 5th were reviewed and approved
  • Please contact Edwin if interested in helping out with the freezer-to-fridge conversion project
  • Justin looking for a decent PC for Hyperspin project
  • Bike hackathon August 23rd: See Facebook or contact Nathan for details
  • Adjourned: 18:06

August 5th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

July 29th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 18:00 - 14 Members present
  • Previous minutes were reviewed and approved
  • August 23 - Bike Hackathon
  • Defcon planning
    • Defcon is coming up. A number of members are attending. Put your name on wiki page if you can
    • Precautions if you are paranoid:
      • Don't bring any electronics you care about not getting pwned
  • Social
    • Coming up in September-ish
    • Waiting on confirmation of venue. If you have suggestions, please talk to Brittany.
  • Central Canadian Comic Con is coming up in OCtober.
    • Ashria is interested in coordinating our presence there
  • Drink machine
    • We could convert the drink machine into a parts dispenser.
    • The issue is not just power use, but also how much space it takes up.
    • Most members are in favour of selling it
  • Baby changing station
    • We are still waiting on landlord's permission to undertake this project
  • Fire alarm and occupancy permit status
    • We are still waiting on Colin Stanners
    • Things may progress faster if we could find someone else to take over at least part of his duties
    • Next week after the regular meeting we will have a short meeting to discuss what is left to do
  • Meetup
    • We currently have a Meetup group that Brittany has been paying for.
    • We need to change credit card on this account off of Brittany's
  • Octopi
    • Octopi will be leaving the space sometime after September
    • This will cause roughly $160/month loss per month of income
  • Show and Tell
    • Edwin has an Apple Newton at the space for a few weeks that people can play with (he will recycle it at the end of that time)

July 22nd, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 18:00
  • Project Euler Hackathon
    • Out July hackathon was all about math and programming.
    • In true Mak fashion, Mak managed to solve his big problem (the hexagonal orchard) the night before.
    • Several people worked as a group worked on a problem to find infected sheep within a flock
    • Topic was well received. We may do another math-themed event, possibly tying in speakers, activities with a broader reach.
  • Mailing lists are now all back up!
    • Lists are now hosted on google servers and should be fully operational.
    • Major thanks to Jay for getting this critical piece of our infrastructure back online!
  • Financial update
    • Current membership (~60 full members and ~20 students) provides income that is roughly equal to our current operating expenses
    • Good job everyone! Keep up the good work.
    • All members/friends/family are encouraged to buy gift cards. They end up costing you nothing and SkullSpace makes a percentage. Contact Courtney for details.
  • State of the space
    • Please make an effort to clean up after yourselves. There were a lot of fruit flies in the space this weekend due to open garbage containers and food waste left lying around.
    • Garbage can be emptied in the bin in the alley between our building and the Yellow Dog.
    • We do not have commercial recycling pick-up. Please consider bagging the recycling and taking it home to deposit in your bin at home if you are able.
  • August Hackathon
    • The August Bike hackathon has been moved back to August 23 (which also happens to be Jay's 30th birthday!)
    • There will be workshops on bike repair, tire patching, EL wire decorations
    • We will be hosting some discussion / workshops surrounding the development of GPS-enabled electronics and smart-phone apps for bikes
    • We will be building up a storage rack and up to three bikes to keep at SkullSpace as loaners for members and friends to use.
    • NOTE: Due to the amount of workshop content, we will be starting at 10am instead of the usual noon.
  • Drink machine - can we get rid of it?
    • The drink machine has a huge energy cost to operate and takes up a large amount of space.
    • we can replace it with a higher efficiency fridge
    • No one opposed removal of the drink machine provided we had a suitable replacement
    • We could also get rid of the upright freezer. It is usually mostly empty and we could make due with the smaller freezer in our existing refrigerator.
    • Edwin suggested we might be able to convert the upright freezer into a drink fridge. Molly may be able to offer guidance.
  • Baby change station
    • Colin C. is meeting with the landlord to ask if we can mount a baby changing table to one of the bathroom walls. He will report back.
  • Adrian is doing a street art demonstration August 1
    • It will be in the alley behind the Frame Arts gallery on Ross. Bring your own teacup!
  • Movie night this Friday
    • We will be watching a timeless classic for the ages called "The Prodigy". It promises to induce genuine eye bleeding.
  • Adjourned: 18:35

July 15th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 18:00 - 17 members in attendance
  • Previous minutes were reviewed and approved.
  • July Hackathon (Project Euler!)
    • Set of hundreds of math problems which should be solved using small programs.
    • The event will be eight hours 8 hours of collaborative programming!
    • Still no consensus on how to properly pronounce Euler.
  • Butterfly labs auction update
    • Nobody bought the BTC miner for the $30 asking price. The device will be going to eBay.
  • August Hackathon (Bikes!)
    • We will be doing bike fixing and bike pimping
    • We hope to establish a functional bike workshop here at the space!
    • Nate put together a donation request letter, will be distributing it to local bike shops
    • The date has changed a few times - it will be firmly the 23rd!
    • Talk to Nate or Jordan for details.
  • Library meeting
    • We sat down with the library and reviewed what we had collected in Trello
    • We settled on a couple of things that they liked and will be exploring them further.
    • We have yet to start on the actual projects
  • Mailing list update
    • Discuss is up! Send an email to skullspace-discuss+subscribe@googlegroups.com
    • Admin is up! Email us as skullspace-admin@googlegroups.com
    • Announce is coming soon.
  • Fringe Fest is coming up!
    • We are going to try and attend some shows as a group
    • Talk to Courtney for details
  • VM Server
    • In August, Mark will be doing some upgrades
    • Mark is interested in doing a presentation on either:
      • What the features are and how to use the VM server
      • What technology is used and how it's leveraged
  • Adjourned: 18:16

July 8th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 18:00 - 18 members present
  • Mailing lists are now on hosted on Google Groups
    • addresses are skullspace-discuss@googlegroups.com, skullspace-admin@googlegroups.com, skullspace-announce@googlegroups.com
    • Discuss and Admin lists are functional. Announce list will be up soon
    • Please contact Alex W. if you are not back up yet or require assistance.
  • Group orders
    • We are eligible for a hackerpsace discount at sparkfun.com. This works out to about 20% off of most of their products.
    • Richard did a group order recently and another order will be done soon - talk to Richard R. if you did not get a confirmation in the last one
    • There will be an Adafruit order soon too!
      • they sell SpokePOV kits, which we might put together in a workshop at the bike hackathon.
  • July Hackathon: Project Euler - math problems + programming
    • Scheduled for Saturday, July 19th. Please see Facebook/Meetup for details.
  • August Hackathon: Bikes!
    • Natural date of the August hackathon would be August 16th. Nathan proposed that we move it ahead to August 2 instead of third Saturday so that it will coincide with the Rainbow Trout Bike Jam
    • Hackathon topics will include:
      • Bike repair
      • Building loaner bikes for shared use at the space.
      • Building a bike repair stand at the space.
      • Building electronics for lighting up your bike, speedometers, etc.
      • Keep an eye on the mailing list / Facebook / Meetup if you want to get in on a group order for parts
  • Bitcoin miners
    • Alex, Mark, and Ian (via a 2 out of 3 scheme) hold about 0.5 BTC on behalf of SkullSpace
    • An older 5Gh/s unit will be on sale - talk to Mark if you want to place a bid (starting bid of $30, which Mark says is over priced). Proceeds from the sale will go into the BTC fund for SkullSpace
  • Public library partnership meeting will be held immediately after member meeting.
    • Please attend if you are interested in participating.
  • Molly has an A/C unit that SkSp can use, if we are interested
    • Molly is also able to weld a bike rack for hackathon and/or just to sit outside for parking!
  • Projects
    • We should discuss projects more, perhaps having regular "show and tell" at member meetings?
    • Another project could be a web interface/database with member photos, interest, and availability status (ie. are you at the space) (opt-in)
    • We could have a computer cycling images and interests so we can get to know the community better and to foster collaboration
    • Edwin has projects he would like to work on with people
      • LLVM target for C64
      • Mini rail gun

July 1st, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • No meeting due to Canada Day holiday.

June 24th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order 18:00 - 17 members present
  • Minutes from June 17th meeting were reviewed and approved.
  • June Hackathon: Music!
    • The hackathon went very well, lots of people, lots of talks on various topics from hardware to music on youtube to the history or classical music
    • Thanks to Jordan, Ric, Richard, Robert, Sarah and everyone else who brought instruments for people to share. The hackathon ended with a jam session that went late into the night (with no complaints from neighbours!)
    • Good job to everyone for advertising: keep up the good work!
  • Library partnership
    • Jay is working on it again. Anyone who is interested should see the Trello board, and contact Jay.
  • Social planning
    • Sir John Franklin Community Centre (same place as last time) is under renovations and isn't taking bookings until last minute for us. This may rule it out as a venue.
    • Most other venues don't have split spaces for Hacker Jeopardy and dancing
    • Please contact Brittany if you have any venue suggestions
  • July Hackathon: Project Euler
    • Come on down and hack on some mathy code and eat some snacks!
    • Bring your mathy friends, and your programming skills
    • combine your skills and work together to solve challenges.
  • Alarm testing
    • The fire alarm on our floor does not work. Colin is looking into getting it fixed
    • The signal to trigger doors in the event of a fire or power loss is also not working
    • We may need to contact alarm company to do a fix, hopefully can be the same person coming to fix the alarm bell.
    • When plugging things in, try not to chain a bunch of extension cords
  • August Hackathon: Bikes!
    • Nate couldn't be here, but has suggested that we make the August Hackathon theme Bikes.
    • We could build a bike repair stand for the space and put together 2-3 loaner bikes to keep at the space for people to share.
  • Winnipeg Urbanists are meeting at library this Thursday
  • United Way coworking space talk
    • Courtney and Jay went to hear what there was to say, but it was not very relevant
  • Music jamming after hackathon inspired some to propose a monthly jam session with recordings
    • could also get "the midnight choir" to come down
    • they teach people how to sing some songs and then do some recordings
  • Eating bugs
    • Someone will be giving a presentation about insect-based foods Saturday at 7pm at the space (with samples!)

June 17th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to Order
    • Jay chairing. Daniel taking notes.
    • 16 or so people here - so quorum met.
  • Introductions
  • Reading Last Week's Minutes
    • Minutes approved form last wek.
  • Event Strikeforce
    • meeting after this meeting to discuss what done so far, to see what coming up next
    • Hackathon to be discussed - a Saturday, noonish...all we have so far...email going out tomorrow?
  • Fundscript - pay Courtney..she'll break your kneecaps
  • Finances
    • no spreadsheet this month. Looking roughly the same, Hacker jeopardy got us $550. It covered two months worth of deficit.
    • Board members are still owed $2000 or so...it is being reduced monthly by their regular donation
    • thank you to the board members who participated in that
    • other prepaid dues are helpful
    • get involved - community building - active people bring more active people
  • Doors not closing
    • remind people that the door need to be carefully closed
  • Event Strikeforce
    • meeting after this meeting
  • Co-working spaces
    • discussion put on by united way - different co-working spaces spoke about the idea - Courtney can discuss it better
    • added to next week's agenda
  • Cool stuff working on
    • working on old stereo amps -- speakers and dj equipment are here for the hackathon
    • Thermin+Guitar! the SkullStrat
    • discussion of the 14-year-olds who used the default password on the Bank of Mtl ATM
  • Adjournment

June 10th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 20 members in attendance
  • Minutes read / accepted
  • Hacker Jeopardy was great, 50+ people attended.
    • Might need a bigger venue next year
    • We made $558.45
  • Fundscript update
    • If you ordered cards, Courtney will find you
  • Next hackathon (21st) is a Music hackathon
    • People are organizing things
  • IDGA gamejam coming up
  • Ron is doing a talk on pentesting and DNS (today, after meeting)
  • End of meeting!

June 3rd, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 19:00 (28 members in attendance)
  • Review of previous meeting minutes: approved without correction
  • Old business
    • Hacker jeopardy (Ron): tickets are still available. Please contact Jay, Alex, Richard or Nate if you need some. This is an important fundraiser and will be a great time. Please come join us!
    • Library partnership update (Jay): Partnership with the library is progressing. They would like us to work on programming that can be delivered to youth. This is an important outreach opportunity. If anyone is interested in participating, please contact Jay. Jay will be meeting with library on Friday to review potential project options.
    • Newark/Element14 update (Ben): We still have the option of taking advantage of Element14's offer to provide free gear in exchange for a blog post.
    • Schwag strikeforce update (Nate): Nathan, Colin C. and Ian are coordinating an order for T-shirts and good quality stickers. Ian has agreed to finance this so there is minimal risk to SkullSpace. Please contact Nathan ASAP if you are interested in getting a shirt so that we have an idea how many to order. He needs to know size and style (logo or text).
    • Wiki/web hackathon (Alex): We had our first wiki/website hackathon this Sunday. It was attended by seven members. Tasks have been broken out onto a dedicated board in the SkullSpace Trello
  • New business
    • June hackathon - Music (Nate): The planning strikeforce for the June hackathon will be meeting immediately after the member meeting. Please attend if you would like to participate! Collaboration will be done via a dedicated list in Trello.
    • July hackathon - Project Euler (Jay): The July hackathon will be Project Euler. It will include talks on how some problems were solved as well as opportunities for people to work on them collaboratively. There will also b a lively debate on the proper pronunciation of “Euler”. Please contact Jay or Mak for more info, or stay tuned to the Trello.
    • Comic Con (Ben): C4 is last weekend in October and we will once again have a presence there. Please think of possible projects to showcase and consider setting aside time to volunteer to man our booth.
    • Winnipeg JS User Group (Jeremy): The Winnipeg JS user group will be meeting at SkullSpace on June 18. If you are interested in JavaScript, please try to attend.
    • Partnership with IEEE Young Professionals (Troy): IEEE YP is a group catering to engineering / technology grads. Troy is interested fostering a partnership to deliver some workshops. The group was generally in favour of this.
    • Doors (Colin S.): Our doors are confusing and like to trap people inside (or outside) the space. Please do not touch the ambiguously labeled switch unless you understand what it does as leaving it in the wrong position can overload the power supply and lock the doors.
    • Graphic design course (Rylaan): Rylaan would like feedback on what applications to use for the graphic design course that he is planning. General concensus was that open soure applications would be prefered.
    • DNS Talk (Ron): Ron is doing a talk at B-Sides Montreal and will be doing a dry run at the space. The topic will be Pentesting with DNS and it will likely be held next Tuesday. An email notification will be sent out. Everyone should come and provide Ron with “constructive criticism”.
    • Ron and Mak are working on a web service based replacement for Ida. If anyone has experience with front end web development and is interested in working on this project. Please contact them.
    • Adrian is looking for a food dehydrator the process old vtr t tapes
  • Adjournment: 18:35

May 27th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Call to order: 19:00
  • Upcoming events:
    • June 1 wiki/web hackathon: a group of members are getting together to work on revamping our online presence. All members of all skill levels are encouraged to hello out.
    • June 6 Work from SkullSpace day: our monthly "Work From SkullSpace Day" is June 6th. Please come telecommute from the space if you are able!
    • June 6 Hacker Jeopardy: Ron's Hacker Jeopardy event is coming up on the night of June 6th. It is going to be a great time. Tickets are limited, contact Jay, Ron, Alex, Richard or Nate if you would like one.
    • June 7 Cryptoparty: Join us for our next Cryptoparty. Daniel will be talking about one-time pads and RSA. Colin will be presenting on liberation technology (Tor, OTR, etc.).
    • June 8 game day: Our next card/board/tabletop gaming day is in two weeks.
    • June hackathon: The June hackathon is MUSIC HACKING. Please see the trello / Web site for details.
    • July hackathon: The July hackathon will be PROJECT EULER Please see the trello / Web site for details.
  • Strava: SkullSpace now has a group on Strava.com, a running / walking / cycling social media site. Everyone who runs, walks, hikes or bikes should join up. http://www.strava.com/clubs/skullspace
  • Trello: The event strikeforce has established a Trello board to track and plan events for the space. All members are encouraged to check it out and contribute as much as possible. For access, please contact Brittany, Ben or Nathan.
  • Courtney will be doing regular gift-card orders on the 15th and last day of every month. The gift-card fundraiser is an excellent way to raise money for the space without incurring any personal cost. See www.fundscrip.com for a list of gift cards that are available and order lots of them.
  • Element 14/Newark is offering to sponsor us with parts (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc.) in exchange for writing a blog about the projects we use them for. This is a great potential source for parts and supplies and may help stimulate some projects.
  • Museum devices: Robert, Richard, Alex[1] and Nathan met with David from Typha Communications. This company works with community museums to develop interactive exhibits. We are going to explore making some of these devices for educational purposes and possibly to generate some revenue. Anyone interested in helping with a museum strikeforce is encouraged to meet in the classroom after this meeting.
  • Library partnership. Jay will be reaching out to members to help develop programming we can deliver at the library. This will put us in front of a large audience. See the Trello board, or contact Jay for information.
  • Please contact Nathan if you would like to order shirts with the Skully logo, or the white and organge text. We are assessing demand for sizez/styles before getting shirts ordered.
  • CIPS is looking for a volunteer to assist with their upcoming charity golf tournament. If anyone is interested in helping out, please contact Robert.
  • The 3D printer is working great! Jason did a 13 hour print job and it came out perfectly.
  • Minutes were reviewed / approved by concensus.
  • Adjourned: 18:30

May 20th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

Minutes

  • Call to order: 18:00
  • Review of minutes
  • Updates
    • Finance (Ben)
      • Ben presented update financial projections. New projections have been done excluding potential fundraising as none of this income has been guaranteed.
      • The board has loaned approximately one month's expenses to the organization. This is intended to buy time to do fundraising and not to prolong it's demise.
      • We will be in the red in two months time without new members and/or fundraising.
      • Shortfall is such that if every member donated $4 per month we would be in the black.
    • Occupancy permit (Jay)
      • We have all of the required hardware for the automatic fire alarm door-release. Colin will schedule a fire alarm test. This will need to be done in conjunction with the alarm company, landlord and other tenants.
      • Colin is awesome. Please don't die.
    • Network infrastructure (Ian T.)
      • SkullSpace now has a dedicated IPv6 network, wired and wireless!
    • Newark/Element14
      • Newark/Element14 approached us to establish a sponsorship / partnership. They would provide us with parts, kits, etc. In exchange for us writing a blog post about their use.
      • If anyone has a project that they would like to do, please contact Ben.
    • Strikeforces
      • Wiki / Website Hackathon: will be meeting shortly. Colin C. is coordinating this project.
      • Event planning strikeforce will be meeting immediately after the member meeting. Great things in-store!
      • Anti-Social 2.0 is progressing. We are awaiting confirmation on the availability of the venue before picking a date.
      • Library partnership: The Winnipeg Public Library has approached us to develop programming. At this point they are interested in having us deliver SkullSpace-themed programming
      • Jay will be meeting with them on Friday to explore options.
      • Hacker Jeopardy: Ron is organizing a one-night Hacker Jeopardy event on June 6th. Everyone buy tickets and come have fun! Tickets are available from Ron, Nathan, Richard and Jay.
  • Popcorn machine: discussion deferred until existing popcorn machine departs. Nate will be restocking it (and snacks) on FRI.
  • Bread machine: we have one, please feel free to use it. Siu has not been able to get it to make anything resembling bread, and would love it if someone else would see if they have better luck.
  • Cryptoparty
    • The next Cryptoparty will be on June 7th!
    • Colin C. will be presenting on Liberation Technology (Tor, PGP, OTR, etc.)
    • Daniel will be presenting on one time pads / RSA
  • New printer installed! It is on the network at 172.30.6.46. Thanks to Russ for getting this set up.
  • Donor 'membership' level.
    • We discussed the idea of adding a non-voting “friend of SkullSpace” membership tier.
    • This would be a way for remote members and casual users of the space to make regular contributions via PAD.
    • This was unanimously approved.
  • Son-of-Skullotron project is progressing. Hopefully there will be a model to review shortly.
  • Office dividers: Brittany suggested a few office dividers would be a good addition to the classroom, both to help funnel traffic into the space when there are events in the classroom, and to serve as a notice board.
    • Sean offered to pay for them.
    • Jon and Nate offered to pick them up.
  • Adjournment: 18:45

May 13th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

May 6th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

Apr 29th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

Apr 22nd, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

Apr 15th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

  • Reading of minutes
    • Hydro reading submitted
    • Tabletop day was a great success
    • Yuri's night happened
    • Donation boxes for snacks and drinks are in place. They are separate so that we can track them individually.
    • The Skullotron - some folks were talking about a miniaturized version. Talk to Nate
    • Nate is going to try to get some art for the space. If you're interested in helping with that, talk to Nate.
    • Budget meeting will be happening on the 22nd, after the regular meeting. Talk to Ben
    • Pile o' doom: You have 1 day to get stuff from the pile
  • Special meeting
    • 6th of May.
    • Brittany stepped down, so we need to elect another member
    • Everybody should run
  • Financial stuff
    • Financial situation details are available upon email request
    • If anybody would like to do some fundraising events, big or small, please don't hesitate to ask for help
    • Brittany is hoping to do a social sometime in August
  • Yuri's Night
    • It went great, according to Ian
    • Lots of booze was consumed
  • PlaidCTF!
    • We kind of sucked this year
    • But it was a good time
    • We ended up in 37th place, of ~530 scoring teams

Mar 18th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

Members present: not recorded

  • Reading of minutes
    • Wiki updates
    • Electrical updates
    • Fire extinguisher
    • Donation tracking/lockboxes
    • Meme cookbook
    • Yuri's night
    • Brewery tour
    • Jordan Justice became a member
  • Fire extinguishers
    • Alex purchased at a cost of ~$102, slightly more expensive than expected
    • Nobody objected to repaying Alex
    • Two fire extinguishers
      • 2A-10B-C located near the front (main) door
      • 1A-10B-C located near the rear (fire escape) door
    • They are not mounted yet
  • Plexiglass box for donations
    • Jeremy brought it down
    • Requires some modifications
      • Slot to be added
      • Lock to be added
  • Server electrical
    • Upgrade was funded by Ian
    • Two new 20 amp circuits have been installed
    • Load has been split between the two circuits
    • Before installing more servers, please seek approval
  • Netops mailing list
    • The list has fallen victim to endless amounts of spam
    • New list will be created and not archived
    • The board will discuss with members of this list regarding power usage for non-critical machines
  • Wiki updating
    • AMichael began revising some pages
    • AMichael added dates to some events
    • Nothing else significant to report
  • Yuri's Night
    • Party at the museum!
    • We can get /very/ creative with our presence
    • A member asked "What is the goal/purpose of us having a presence?"
    • Answer: "Not to sell anything. Just to raise awareness and hopefully make the event more fun."
    • April 12th - contact Jay for more information
  • Brief financial update
    • More complete financial update for the previous calendar will be next week
    • We are "uncomfortable" with less than three months of rent in our bank account at all times
    • We currently have ~$2400 in our bank account
    • Our expenses per month are ~$2500
    • Cian asked (paraphrased) "At the AGM, our balance was much higher. Why the discrepancy?"
    • Alex responded: "The last date on graph was 3 months ago, in December."
    • Our membership dues (not including donations) are $2200, so we are not losing much per month but we need to be careful
    • Cian asked (paraphrased) "Why did we drop from $5000 to $2000?"
    • Ben explained that the graph was likely generated between collecting member dues and paying rent
    • The board's thorough report next week will provide a much clearer picture
    • Cian suggested that the board include cash flow projections in the report
    • A member asked about the hydro bill. The board said they will be doing meter readings in the future to prevent wild swings in bills.
  • Bathroom maintenance
    • Sean replaced the paper towel holder in the men's washroom
    • He will replace the one in the women's washroom, but would like to reimbursed. ($30)
    • The repayment was approved
  • Half Pints
    • The tour is a go
    • March 22nd at 1pm
    • First come, first serve. Contact Jeremy[1] for more details
  • Tabletop day
    • GameKnight and Imagine have been approached for sponsorship
    • Planning for the event is underway
    • Having some SkullSpace ambassadors would be nice
    • April 5th - contact Nate for more information

Mar 11th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

Members present: Cian, Brittany, Courtney, Nate, Jay, Alex, Colin, AMichael, Zoe, Stef, Ben, Alex, Brian, Robert K, Edwin, Sean

  • Agenda and minutes
    • Ideally, the board sends the minutes out on Saturday/Sunday
    • They were late last week
    • Aside: once minutes are posted, they become "official" and cannot be changed, so delays are expected
  • Reading of minutes postponed until the end of the meeting
  • Protelec automatic door unlocking
    • No update yet
    • Action item: Colin C will talk to the landlord and Colin Stanners about this forward and provide an update in the future
  • Fire extinguishers
    • Alex volunteered to buy two small ones and bankroll them
    • Show of hands was taken to pay Alex back, majority said "yes"
    • Stef suggested we find out what we require to pass an inspection and buy those instead
    • Action item: Alex to buy extinguishers
  • Wiki updates
    • Many pages are out-of-date and a lot of them are ugly
    • SkullSpace has changed a lot and the wiki has not kept up
    • Brittany is looking for some people to help with this
    • AMichael stated that he is organizing a strike force to handle this issue
  • Electrical upgrades and server hosting
    • The circuit is approaching overload
    • The quote is $250 to effectively double our capacity
    • Possible solutions
      • Negate the need by getting rid of non-critical servers (VM sever, mailing list, DNS)
      • Fund the upgrade through crowdfunding
      • SkullSpace can pay for it if the membership agrees
    • Rich from Voi offered additional Internet service dedicated to the servers
    • Find out the interest level for people who have machines in the rack?
    • Member comment: "if we upgrade the power, it's not a free-for-all, the power still costs us"
    • Action item: the board will discuss with the server owners and gauge crowdfunding interest
  • Donation tracking
    • Proposal: obtain cash boxes that allow deposit but require a key for withdrawal
    • Jeremy volunteered to donate a plexiglass box that he owns
    • How many lockboxes are required?
      • Donations
      • Drinks
      • Snacks
      • 3D printer
    • Lockboxes with non-unique keys are acceptable
      • Stef was asked about the 3D printer box - he indicated that he did not require access to it
      • No other boxes need to be opened by members that are not on the board
  • Reading of the minutes
    • Discussed the AGM
    • Discussed the general and student member audits
    • Discussed the splitting of the calendars into community
    • Covered the meetup, and that everybody can create events (not just Brittany)
    • Discussed the CODE event
    • The membership in attendance was not asked to approve the read minutes
  • Meme cookbook
    • If anybody is interested in resurrecting the meme cookbook, talk to Nate
    • Needs a lot of work, but Nate is confident we could publish it and sell it someday
    • Ideas
      • Asking Wil Wheton or Penny Arcade to write a foreword
      • Organize with them for the proceeds to go to charity
    • Brian proposed that we simply start working on it as a blog, and then we'll put it all together
    • AMichael suggested that this will be positively affected by the wiki cleanup
  • Recurring community events
    • Nate proposed that we have a rotating list of events to mention during meetings to keep members informed
  • International Tabletop Day
    • ITD is an event organized by the folks that run the "Tabletop" web series
    • This year's day is April 5th
    • SkullSpace is hosting a get-together for International Tabletop Day
    • Talk to Nate for more information
  • User groups and using the space
    • The PHP user group was here, and it went very well
    • The Android user group wants to have their meetings here as well
    • If you want to book the space, email admin@lists.skullspace.ca or talk to Colin Childs
  • Yuri's Night
    • April 12th at the Manitoba Museum's Science Gallery and the Planetarium
    • Action item: Brittany will follow up with Jay about getting a table or having some other kind of SkullSpace presence
  • Brewery tour
    • Jeremy has a contact at the Half Pints brewery, and might be able to organize a tour
    • By show of hands, many people were interested in doing that
    • Jeremy will email the mailing list to gauge interest
  • New members
    • Jordan Justice became a full member today
  • Adjournment

Mar 4th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

  • Introductions
  • Reading of minutes
    • AGM last week
      • New board elected
        • Alex Weber
        • Ben Bergman - Financials
        • Brittany Postnikoff
        • Colin Childs
        • Courtney Lofchick
      • Events from last year discussed
  • Audits
    • Student membership audits
    • General membership audit
    • What is a membership audit?
      • Making sure we have financials backed up for every member
      • Making sure we have forms and the like
      • In short, due dilligence
  • Calendars
    • Colin split the calendar into two calendars
      • One for community events
      • One for SkullSpace events
    • Kevin V. wrote a calendar webapp
      • API integration with Meetup?
      • API integration with Google Calendar?
  • Meetup
    • Lots of people ask Brittany to add events
    • Anybody can add events if they are subscribed as a SkullSpace member (???) (5:28)
  • CODE
    • People from Meetup showed up
    • People scrummed
    • Not much happened at the space
    • Pizza, ideas, and then people went home
    • Mark Jenkins put in a lot of work
      • when-ei.ca
  • External community emails (8:35)
    • Once per week, generate a digest of some kind?
    • Forward with the meeting reminder?
    • Bring up during the meeting
  • Adjournment

Feb 25, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Alex, Mark, Michael, Kevin, Jason, Courtney, Nate, Ian, Cian, Brittany, Edwin, Jay, Sean, Thor, Dave, Ric, Colin, Jeremy, Nishan, Stefan

Annual General Meeting 2014

  • Year in review
    • Alex presented with some pictures throughout the year
    • Events
      • CTFs, user groups, social, cryptoparties, Comic Con, hack-a-thons,

movie nights, Peg Jam, Freeze Frame, CDC, game nights

    • Financial update
      • A proper one will be coming, but summary is we are stable
    • The future
      • Fire safety
      • Occupancy permit
  • Bylaw changes
    • Late dues
      • Intent is to remove some process and make it smoother for the board
    • Minutes being read
      • Intent is to ensure minutes are taken and agreed upon by members
      • Could be implemented as a policy if the bylaw is voted down
  • Board nominees
    • Cian, Brittany, Courtney, Alex, Colin, Sue, and Kenny
  • Vote results
    • New board: Ben, Colin, Courtney, Brittany, Alex
    • Both bylaws passed

Feb 18, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Courtney, Brittany, Ben, Stefan, Ric, Thor, Brian, Edwin, Sean, Colin, Ian, AMichael, Adrian, Alex, Marcel, Troy, Kevin, Rob

  • Nominations closed today
    • 8 people running
    • Last minute nominations allowed, but earlier the better
  • Door is almost ready to open when fire alarm goes off
    • Last part is getting building panel connected, which is locked
    • Fire alarm might not even work
      • No battery and no phone line - landlord should bring in alarm company
    • Remote access needs to be tested
  • LES.net upgraded our phone line
    • Calls now last more than 30 minutes!
    • No MTS landline needed anymore
  • Coinfest last weekend
    • First Bitcoin ATM in Winnipeg!
  • David - heritage/community museums
    • Looking for interested members to help create interactive electronic exhibits
      • Push button activated sounds for guessing game
      • Electric fire glow
      • Lit routes on map
      • Fibre optic lights modified to be activated by motion sensor or push button
      • And more!
    • Many small contracts available
  • Raspberry Pi users group this weekend
  • Booking the space is awkward right now
    • Suggestion made for a webpage for applying to use the space
  • Wiki needs updating
    • Brittany will be working on this, contact her if you are interested in helping out
  • Switch inside for when we are open
    • Notification on website/IRC/Twitter?
    • Light in the window?
  • Next hackathon - Manitoba retro computing
    • Winnipeg was the BBS capital of Canada at one time
    • Some speakers already contacted, more being contacted
      • Les
      • Bill Reed
      • Michael Gelespie

Feb 11, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Ian, Mark, Marcel, AMichael, Brian, Colin C., Courtney, Alex, Kevin, Thor, Stefan, Troy, Rob, Cian, Edwin, Ben, Zewwy, Colin S., Dave, Ric

  • You have less than a week to nominate yourself for the board
    • Email admin and Nathan
  • Crypto currency day last weekend - success
    • Slides will be posted on discuss
  • Crypto party last weekend - success
    • People can learn about privacy protecting technology and do key signing
    • Everyone should come to the next one
  • Door hardware - no news
  • CDC Feb 20
    • 3rd year
    • 10 high school teams
    • No more volunteers needed
    • Virtual env. for students to secure
    • Feel free to come by and hang out
  • Sci-fi skirmish day coming up - info on discuss
  • AGM Feb 25
    • Email coming to paid-up members with voting codes
      • Make sure you are paid up by the 15th!
  • Big hydro bill
    • Likely due to air conditioning for the summer
    • Will check if the bill is est. or act.
    • Will look into going on a budget
  • Things that annoy Ian
    • Booking the space and not showing up
      • Please email pics of the space to admin so we can use it to show off to potential renters
  • Dedicated IPv6 network being installed by Voi
    • CDC storage servers will be installed here on that network, Octopi donating blade server for VMs
    • Early stages, nothing bought yet, still discussing
  • MTS Future First providing stuff like shirts and scholarships, sponsoring CDC
    • Talk to Cian if you are interested
  • By-law amendments
    • Can be policy instead of by-law - vote against by-law if this is your choice
  • PHP users group tomorrow

Feb 4, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Phoul, Sean, Alex, Thor, Ian, Cian, Stefan, Jeremy, Ben, A. Michael, Adrian, Edwin

  • AGM - 25 Feb.
    • Elect new board
    • Vote on two by-law amendments
      • Membership dropped if no payments for 3 months
        • Nominate yourself by Feb 17 ??pm
          • admin@skullspace.ca
      • Read minutes
    • Voting
      • You will get a token by email
      • Bring token to do your vote
      • OR give token to a proxy to vote on your behalf
  • Door & occupancy permit stuff
    • Getting fire extinguishers
    • Front door quote was really expensive - ~$2000
    • Colin Stanners will be fixing door himself next week
    • New drink machine process
      • If a drink is out, feel free to buy drinks at Giant Tiger, put receipt with name in cash box
  • CryptoParty
    • OTR & Tor - Phoul
    • Security from ISP perspective - Theo
  • Crypto currency day - Sat. at noon
    • Dogecoin "samples"
    • Crypto stuff regarding block chain
  • Big Hydro bill
    • Need to check if that is a reading or an estimate (might be overage from summer)
    • Keep some drinks in the fridge, only use drink machine for events
  • Beefs
    • If you schedule an event on the calendar, show up
      • Game day and movie night had people show up when no one was hear
  • CDC Feb. 20
    • If you are interested in helping kids fix sketchy networks, contate Nathan
  • Thanks to Dave for sorting out the electronics bench
    • There was a mediocre round of applause
  • Sunday RPG day
    • D&D style, combining many different games
      • Bring any game rules you have to make the system more robust
    • More info coming to mailing list soon

Jan 21, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Ben, Countney, Stefan, Michael, Alex, Thor, Phoul, Brittany, Marcel, Brian, Edwin, Ian, Rob, Jared, Sean, Aemilianus, Cian

  • International Table Top Day
    • Beginning of April
    • Nate is taking charge
  • CDC
    • This Saturday, Linux experts presenting Linux Security Part 2 with Jared and Theo
    • Preperation for CDC high schooler event Feb. 20
  • Hackathon
    • Ghost in the Shellcode - 20th place
      • Pretty impressive, considering we were a small team doing it part time
    • Jim's Unity talk at the last hackathon
      • Went well, Jim is willing to do more Unity talks in the future
  • The Annual General Meeting cometh - Feb 25th
    • Need signage for what is being voted on (ie. board and by-laws) 21 days prior to AGM
    • Board vote
      • Everyone that is interested in running for the board should nominate themselves
      • If you want to nominate someone, email admin@
      • You may nominate yourself the day of the election, but it is prefered that you do it sooner so your name can be on the ballots
    • Tabling of bylaw amendments / special resolutions
      • If you haven't paid your dues and haven't made special arrangements, your membership will automatically lapse (currently we need a vote by the board)
      • Probation period for new members, not just two week delay (other spaces have this)
        • Should this impact privelages, ie. voting?
        • Should they be required to be at a minimum number of events? (eg. 3 regular meetings and 3 other events)
        • Should members need to be vouched for by n number of full members by the end of their probation period in order to be a full member?
          • Execution could be complicated
          • Could be combined with complaints
          • Ian's perspectives (food for thought, perhaps need more discussion at a future meeting)
            • Is it in our best interest to make it harder to become a member?
            • Are we looking for people to improve our cash flow?
            • Are we looking to be just sustainable? More than sustainable? Should there be a membership cap? We are the most expensive technology group (other than AssentWorks) in the city
      • If there are any other proposed special resolutions, email the list
  • Fundraising
    • Bowling night?
      • All you can eat pizza/popcorn/soft drinks - $25/person ($20 without pizza)
    • Minigolf night?
    • Doodle coming for choosing date
      • Saturday is likely cheapest
  • Programming for Beginners course
    • Jan 27, for 6 weeks
    • lectures and assignments
    • Will be a very dense, professional course
    • $60
    • In SkullSpace classroom

Jan 14th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Brittany, Ian, Nate, Thor, Brittany, Courtney, Brian, AMichael, Ben, Jeremy, Phoul, Edwin. Sean, Ric, Colin, Alex, Stef

  • Financial update
    • We're stable
    • One social or other event per year covers unexpected expenses pretty easily
  • Our "Meetup" account
    • We have 80 people, lots of people that aren't members
    • If you want non-members to come, post your event on the Meetup
  • Minutes
    • A request was made to send an email when meeting minutes are published
    • Minutes should also be uneditable by the general public
  • Hackathon!
    • Ghost in the Shellcode CTF
    • Unity talk
  • Cleaning
    • The cleaner charges $100 for 3-4 hours of cleaning
    • Ian has been paying for it
    • Quick vote was taken: overwhelming "yes" for SkullSpace to foot the bill
  • CDC
    • 1/3 forensics, 1/3 presentations, 1/3 securing servers
    • February 20th is the big event
    • If you want to help out with the event, talk to Ian
  • Fire alarm/door locks integration
    • No news
  • AGM
    • The next Annual General Meeting is on the of February 25th
    • Please consider running for the board
    • Please consider any bylaws you would like to be modified
    • More information to follow
  • Comic Con
    • Pop Culture Expo is coming up
    • Last weekend in March (?)

Jan 7th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members Present: Ric, Thor, Jarred, Ian, Jeremy, Sean, Courtney, Alex, Nate, Jay, Brian, Stefan, Colin 2, Cian, Michael

  • Game Day
    • The place was left a mess
    • Please clean up after yourselves and please date your food
  • Missing Gloves
    • If you find them they belong to Dave Stewart
  • AGM
    • Will be Feb 25
  • Cleaner
    • Will be coming in Jan 13
  • Hackathon
    • Jan 18
    • Jim is giving a talk on Unity
  • Network Changes
    • See discuss
  • Meetings
    • This Saturday, 9:30-11:30 a server security talk for the CDC
    • The PHP user group is going to start meeting at the space
    • Game day is every second Sunday
  • Door
    • Ian will talk to Bob