[Bloominglabs-announce] Bloomington Geek Dinner Thursday (8-4), and Bloominglabs activities

[dosman at bloominglabs.org]

Greetings!
So what has Bloominglabs been up to lately? Our July 4rth Bloomington parade entry was a smashing success and our recent open house was amazing. Now that we have 1000 square feet of space at our disposal, projects have been springing up all over. Our new RFID door access system is coming along nicely with a successful test of the new build tonight. We now have a 42" lathe which is getting rebuilt. Part of the lathe rebuild included building an electrolysis rust removal system. Rusty parts sit in a water/soda ash bath for 24 hours with 12V applied, out comes parts that look nearly brand new. An electric 144-cue firework launch console was recently built at the space and tested at the last meeting. The Strand-Beast has been stomping around in the corner of the main room, and the electric wheel chair/robotic test platform is operating at peak capacity. We also had a crop of very nice Weller soldering stations appear at the space. The projector room recently hosted an awesome flight-sim and preparations for BugBot building is now under-way. If you've been lurking on our list and have not been to one of our events recently, you should come check us out, we have a lot happening! 

FYI, the next Bloomington Geek Dinner is at Opie Taylor's at 6pm:
http://www.bloomingtongeekdinners.com/2011/07/geek-dinner-august-4th-opie-taylors.html

Also we'll be at WonderLab August 13th from 1-3pm hosting the BugBot Workshop! Advance registration is recommended, contact WonderLab to register:
http://www.wonderlab.org/programs/calendar.shtml

Last but not least, don't forget about our workshop, "Getting Started with Arduino", August 23rd from 6:30pm until 8:30pm. It's limited to 6 people and the cost is $20. 
	• Who should attend: People who want to learn how to get started using the arduino board. Attendees will learn:
		• How to get the arduino software
		• Where to order a board
		• How to connect the board to the computer
		• How to connect LEDs to the board
		• The very basics of programming to write a small program to flash the LEDs.
	• The class attendees will be using a computer so basic knowledge of Windows and typing skills would be required. Kids are welcome but under 15 need to be accompanied by a parent.
	• Attendees are not required to bring anything and will leave with a hand out of material of the class.
	• Attendees will also have the option of purchasing an Arduino
	• Contact jsissom (at) bloominglabs (dot) org with questions or to reserve a space
	• This course is a good introductory course to how to use a microprocessor to people who have little programming or computer experience.

See you soon!
-Bloominglabs