Weekly Update - Director QA Edition

SkullSpace!

With board elections around the corner, I thought I'd answer a couple of questions that sometimes come up regarding running for the board.

Q. What sort of responsibilities and liabilities do I take on if I join the board?

A. volunteer.ca has a great high level summary here: http://volunteer.ca/engaging-board-members. It's really not that scary so long as you follow the three basic principles listed there.

Q. Do we have directors' and officers' liability insurance?

A. Absolutely! We'd be insane not to. If you'd like to see the details, just let myself or any of the current board know.

Q. I haven't been groomed for leadership by the shadow cabal that secretly runs SkullSpace. Should I still run for the board?

A. Yes! As per usual, the shadow cabal has failed to groom anybody for leadership! We consider this failure nearly as egregious as the cabal's continued failure to exist.

Q. Am I cool enough to be on the board?

A. Oh man, have you met any of the past board members!? We're not exactly shining examples of cool. For example, I relax by watching old episodes of The Mindy Project on Netflix. Ron spends hours of his life painting mini-figurines for a game he doesn't even play any more. God only knows that Justin Lacko does in his spare time. Cool isn't required on the board.

Q. Are you trying to tell me that those mini-figurines aren't cool?

A. Okay, you got me there - those things are awesome.

Q. Damn right they are.

A. Hey, stick to asking questions.

Q. Fine. How do we get our name on the director ballot?

A. Email Nathan Wild! He's handling the electoral process this year.

Upcoming Events (2 Week Scope)

All of these events are on the SkullSpace Calendar. Check it out for more details!

Sunday February 15th - Mark Jenkins Birthday: Potluck, chess simul, and movie

A belated 2^5 -1 birthday party for Mark Jenkins.

7pm -> Potluck dinner (classroom)
7:45pm -> Mark vs everybody (willing) chess simul (classroom)
9pm -> Pitch a Movie (lounge)

All Skullspace members welcome (not a public event), bringing a gift or food not necessary.

Note, alcohol is not permitted at Skullspace and Mark isn't a drinker.

New Stuff

I'd like to send my thanks to everybody who's been troubleshooting our internal network over the last week. Extra special thanks to Les of Les.net for donating an awesome 48 port switch!

Edwin found his old iClicker! He also found it to be wonderfully hackable. Give him a shout if you want to use it for something fun:
https://groups.google.com/a/skullspace.ca/forum/#!topic/discuss/C9DIw6kZEjo

Meeting Agenda

6pm, February 10th, 2014
2nd Floor - 374 Donald Street

1. Call to Order
1. Ring the bell!
2. Introductions
3. Reading of Old Minutes
2. Old Stuff
1. Financial Update
2. Cleaners Update
3. Papers We Love Winnipeg
4. Upcoming AGM
3. Cool stuff
1. Open show and tell
4. It's over!

Weekly Update - Political Edition

SkullSpace!

Just a reminder that our Annual General Meeting is on February 24th! Nathan has once again offered to run the electoral process. If you're interested in running for a position on the board, please drop Nate a line at nathan.wild@gmail.com. The more people the better! We have a couple incumbents not running again, so a few new faces on the board are guaranteed. It's a fun job that helps you guide the future of SkullSpace!

Exciting!

Upcoming Events (2 Week Scope)

All of these events are on the SkullSpace Calendar. Check it out for more details!

Friday February 6th - Work From SkullSpace Day

Do you work from home? Are you the sort of person who's commute takes them from one room of their house to another? Have you deemed basic hygiene to be a waste of time? Have you forgotten the meaning of the word "Pants"? Have you lost track of where your beard ends and where your chest hair begins?

Rejoin civilization for one brilliant day. Come together with your fellow digital nomads on the first Friday of every month and work at SkullSpace. Just please, put some pants on.

New Stuff

The Winnipeg chapter of Papers We Love has recently been started by SkullSpace Winnipeg founder Mak Kolybabi.
Register for the next event here: http://www.meetup.com/Papers-We-Love-Winnipeg/

Prairie Dev Con is coming up at the beginning of March! It's a great conference for the programmer-minded amongst us. I'm not just saying that because I'll be talking there... but it does help!
http://www.prairiedevcon.com/

Meeting Agenda

6pm, January 27th, 2014
2nd Floor - 374
Donald Street

1. Call to Order
2. Introductions
3. Reading of Old Minutes
4. Old Stuff
1. Cleaners Update
2. Music Theory And Notation Presentation recap
5. New Stuff
1. Proposal to get rid of the blankets
2. Papers We Love Winnipeg
3. Upcoming AGM
4. Winter lull and a call for more events!
6. Cool stuff
1. Open show and tell
7. It's over!

Weekly Update - Frostbite Edition

SkullSpace!

It's cold outside. Outside is a stupid place to be. Come to the space tonight and hack things with us instead.

Upcoming Events (2 Week Scope)

All of these events are on the SkullSpace Calendar. Check it out for more details!

Friday January 16th - January Hackathon: Ghost In The Shellcode

Join us as we spend the weekend working on the challenges in one of our collective favourite CTFs! Beginning on the evening of Friday, January 16th and going mostly non-stop through Sunday evening. http://ghostintheshellcode.com/

Sunday January 18th - Board Game Day

Come down to the space this Sunday for our semi-regular mostly bi-weekly card/board/tabletop having day! Drown out the harsh reality of the painful winter winds by throwing down with some friends. Raise all the sheep, eat all the meeples, plot all the routes, buy all the houses, conquer all the countries and cast all the spells!

SkullSpace will be open for gaming from 11am to 6pm. Bring a game to share or play one from our extensive collection. Come on down, bring a friend. See you there!

Sunday January 25th - The Basics of Music Theory and Notation

I found this fantastic description in the calendar:

This presentation will be intended to provide the basics of how to read music, and will also cover rudimentary elements of music theory. Areas covered include: The twelve pitches; clefs; accidentals; scales; key signatures; intervals; rhythmic notation; time signatures; basic chord progressions.

But I prefer to think of it as an intro to making cool noises.

New Stuff

Need a new video card or power supply? Colin will hook you up!
https://groups.google.com/a/skullspace.ca/d/msg/discuss/8torbQlCqjM/0jv1NQinx2YJ

Our friends and former room-mates over at Innovation Alley have a documentary premiere on the 16th! Check it out for a fun piece of Winnipeg history.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/innovation-alley-documentary-premiere-tickets-14878884143

Are you a lady? Do you want to learn how to code? You're in luck! Ladies Learning Code is holding an Event this Saturday called "Winnipeg: HTML & CSS for Beginners: Learn to Build a One Page Website From Scratch." Spots are going fast!
http://www.eventbrite.ca/e/winnipeg-html-css-for-beginners-learn-to-build-a-one-page-website-from-scratch-on-january-17th-tickets-14834106211

Meeting Agenda

6pm, January 13th, 2015
2nd Floor - 374 Donald Street

1. Call to Order
   1. Bell Rings
   2. Introductions
2. Reading of the minutes
3. Old Stuff
   1. Cleaners
   2. Introduction to Linux
   3. AGM is in one month!
4. New Stuff
   1. Ghost in the Shellcode
   2. Ladies Learning Code
5. Cool Stuff!
   1. Open show and tell!
6. It's over!

Weekly Update - 2015 Edition

SkullSpace!

A new year is upon us! Now that we've all had time to recover from holiday merriment and New Year's hangovers, we're kicking off 2015's meetings tonight at SkullSpace!

Upcoming Events (2 Week Scope)

All of these events are on the SkullSpace Calendar. Check it out for more details!

Sunday January 18th - Board Game Day

Come down to the space this Sunday for our semi-regular mostly bi-weekly card/board/tabletop having day! Drown out the harsh reality of the nip of fall in the air by throwing down with some friends. Raise all the sheep, eat all the meeples, plot all the routes, buy all the houses, conquer all the countries and cast all the spells!

SkullSpace will be open for gaming from 11am to 6pm. Bring a game to share or play one from our extensive collection. Come on down, bring a friend. See you there!

New Stuff

Have you been introduced to Linux yet? Would you like to be introduced to more Linux? If so, let Mark Jenkins know! He's hoping to supplement the Linux Foundation's "Introduction to Linux" edX course with in-person study sessions.

More details can be found here:
https://groups.google.com/a/skullspace.ca/forum/#!topic/discuss/nlE2QF1ZIHc

Our friends and former room-mates over at Innovation Alley have a documentary premiere on the 16th! Check it out for a fun piece of Winnipeg history.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/innovation-alley-documentary-premiere-tickets-14878884143

Meeting Agenda

6pm, January 6th, 2015
2nd Floor - 374 Donald Street

1. Call to Order!
   1. Ring the Bell!
   2. Introductions!
2. Reading of the minutes!
3. Old Stuff!
   1. 24 Pull Requests Recap!
   2. Game Tournament Recap!
4. New Stuff
   1. Cleaners!
   2. AGM is in one month!
   3. New events for 2015!
   4. Innovation Alley documentary
   5. Introduction to Linux
5. Cool Stuff!
   1. Open show and tell!
6. It's over!

Weekly Update - Tonight's SkullSpace meeting is guest-starring Ron Bowes

SkullSpace!

Last weekend was an interesting weekend for us at SkullSpace. Ron came back from the states for a visit! Hacker Jeopardy was inflicted upon us! Some of us even escaped a nuclear meltdown - or whatever the puzzle equivalent of one is.

But the fun is not over yet! Tonight we're having a very special SkullSpace meeting! Former-president-for-life Ron Bowes will be attending, and possibly running tonight's meeting.

He just doesn't know it yet.

Upcoming Events

All of these events on on the Skullspace Calendar. Check it out for more details!

Saturday December 20th - Hackathon: 24 Pull Requests

This holiday season, we're going to give people the gift of code. In conjunction with 24pullrequests.com we're going to get together for a day of giving back to the open source projects that have made our lives better. We'll be a pack of caffeinated hacker Santas, delivering joy to open source projects around the world.

New Stuff

Hacker Jeopardy was fantastic! Thank you all for coming out! On a personal note, I'm happy - and a little bit shocked - that you guys didn't completely destroy any of the new Jeopardy hardware.

Eight of us went to check out therealescape.ca. We're proud to report that we survived with plenty of time to spare, although we didn't quite snag the record time. All in all, I'm impressed with the quality of the puzzle.

Meeting Agenda

6pm, December 9th, 2014
2nd Floor - 374 Donald Street

1. Call To Order
   1. Ring the Bell!
   2. Introductions!
2. Reading of the minutes
3. Old Stuff
   1. Hacker Jeopardy Recap
   2. Real Escape Recap
4. New Stuff
   1. 24 Pull Requests Hackathon
   2. Epic Video Game Doubles Quadrathalon Tournament
   3. Financial Update
5. Cool Stuff
   1. Open show and tell
6. It's over!

After the meeting, a few of us will be heading over to Vertical Adventures for wall climbing. Anybody is welcome to join!

Weekly Update - Imminent Jeopardy

I'm happy to report that our blog is being slowly risen from the dead! From now on you can find announcements and interesting stories posted there.

In other news, four more days until hacker Jeopardy!

Upcoming Events (2 Week Scope)

All of these events are on the SkullSpace Calendar. Check it out for more details!

Friday November 7th - Work From SkullSpace Day

Do you work from home? Are you the sort of person who's commute takes them from one room of their house to another? Have you deemed basic hygiene to be a waste of time? Have you forgotten the meaning of the word "Pants"? Have you lost track of where your beard ends and where your chest hair begins?

Rejoin civilization for one brilliant day. Come together with your fellow digital nomads on the first Friday of every month and work at SkullSpace. Just please, put some pants on.

Saturday December 6th - Hacker Jeopardy: Ron's Revenge

SkullSpace legend tells of a man named Ron. A man who built SkullSpace with his own bare hands... and with the help of the bare hands of a lot of other people. Personally, I used gloves for most of it.

Not content just presiding over SkullSpace, Ron joined forces with a man known only as Mak. Together they wrote questions - challenging and puzzling questions that would be inflicted upon the people at SkullSpace. And thus, SkullSpace's Hacker Jeopardy event was shamelessly ripped off from DEFCON born.

On December 6th, Ron is back. And where Ron goes, jeopardy follows.

Join us at the Ralph Brown Community Center! Tickets are $10!

Sunday December 7th - Board Game Day

Come down to the space this Sunday for our semi-regular mostly bi-weekly card/board/tabletop having day! Drown out the harsh reality of the nip of fall in the air by throwing down with some friends. Raise all the sheep, eat all the meeples, plot all the routes, buy all the houses, conquer all the countries and cast all the spells!

SkullSpace will be open for gaming from 11am to 6pm. Bring a game to share or play one from our extensive collection. Come on down, bring a friend. See you there!

Update: Board game day has been canceled due to an awesome community event.

New Stuff

Robert is interested in running a talk on CouchDB and PouchDB! Let him know if you're interested in listening to a talk on CouchDB and PouchDB.
https://groups.google.com/a/skullspace.ca/forum/#!topic/discuss/-shxSVXwThA

Meeting Agenda

6pm, November 25th, 2014
2nd Floor - 374 Donald Street

1. Call to Order
   1. Ring the Bell!
   2. Introductions!
2. Reading of the minutes
3. Old Stuff
   1. Festivus Party Recap
   2. Blog update
4. New Stuff
   1. Ron's Revenge - Hacker Jeopardy
5. Cool Stuff
   1. Open show and tell
6. It's over!

Weekly Update: Festivus Edition!

Those of you who tried to attend last weeks meeting may have been thinking "This is an awesome space, but where is everybody?" Well, I'll be honest with you: we cancelled the meeting on the spot so we could all run down to a bar and celebrate a member's birthday. Because when it comes down to it, we're all about shamelessly picking the option that's more fun.

Speaking of options that are more fun, Hacker Jeopardy tickets are here! Swing by tonight to pick up tickets to the best thing happening in Winnipeg on the night of December 6th!

We're also holding a Festivus Party at the space this weekend! It's a great chance to show your family and friends what you get up to.

Swing by to tonight's meeting to learn more! We'll try not to get distracted by birthdays this time.

Upcoming Events (2 Week Scope)

All of these events are on the SkullSpace Calendar. Check it out for more details!

Saturday November 29th - Festivus Party

Celebrate November 29th at SkullSpace! Bring your friends for a big open-house at the space. There will be music - but none of it will be Christmas music! There will be cookies! There will be more cookies! This is a great opportunity to show off the space to friends and family.

Saturday December 6th - Hacker Jeopardy: Ron's Revenge

SkullSpace legend tells of a man named Ron. A man who built SkullSpace with his own bare hands... and with the help of the bare hands of a lot of other people. Personally, I used gloves for most of it.

Not content just presiding over SkullSpace, Ron joined forces with a man known only as Mak. Together they wrote questions - challenging and puzzling questions that would be inflicted upon the people at SkullSpace. And thus, SkullSpace's Hacker Jeopardy event was shamelessly ripped off from DEFCON born.

On December 6th, Ron is back. And where Ron goes, jeopardy follows.

Join us at the Ralph Brown Community Center! Tickets are $10!

Sunday December 7th - Board Game Day

Come down to the space this Sunday for our semi-regular mostly bi-weekly card/board/tabletop having day! Drown out the harsh reality of the nip of fall in the air by throwing down with some friends. Raise all the sheep, eat all the meeples, plot all the routes, buy all the houses, conquer all the countries and cast all the spells!

SkullSpace will be open for gaming from 11am to 6pm. Bring a game to share or play one from our extensive collection. Come on down, bring a friend. See you there!

New Stuff

Robert is interested in running a talk on CouchDB and PouchDB! Let him know if you're interested in listening to a talk on CouchDB and PouchDB.
https://groups.google.com/a/skullspace.ca/forum/#!topic/discuss/-shxSVXwThA

Videos of talks from last year's Security BSides Winnipeg Conference are now online!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNQOGXlvuAhv4b1MRrv4TGQ

Meeting Agenda

6pm, November 25th, 2014
2nd Floor - 374 Donald Street

1. Call to Order
1. Ding dong merrily on high
2. Festive greetings and introductions!
2. Heart-warming tales of the last meeting
3. A visitation from the Ghost of Meeting's Past
1. Comp-sci hackathon recap
2. Blog update/apology for lack of blog update
3. Vending machine update
4. A visitation from the Ghost of Meeting's Present
1. Door access issues and stranger danger
2. Ron's Revenge - Hacker Jeopardy
3. Festivus Party!
5. Presents!
1. Open show and tell
6. It's over!