Revision as of 04:23, 12 March 2021

From time to time we provide workshops which are open to the public. We usually have a push to host workshops in the spring and a couple times later in the year. This page holds upcoming workshops.
Past Workshops

March 2021

Plant Tower Workshop

Sunday, March 21st, 2021 -- 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

In cases of weather postponement,workshop may be moved to March 28th.

• Format: In-Person, outside
• Cost: $50 for the public, or $40 for Bloominglabs members
• Maximum Class Size: 3 students

Plant towers are a vertical garden that can house 50+ plants in 4 sq ft of space. Plant towers also contain a composting tube to allow users to easily return their vegetative waste back to their plants.

Participants will build their own plant tower and compost tube from a recycled food grade barrel. 2 hour class.

Introduction to Police Scanners

Tuesday March 23, 2021 -- 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

• Date: Tuesday March 23, 2021
• Time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
• Format: Virtual
• Cost: $15 for the public, or $10 for Bloominglabs members (all proceeds go to Bloominglabs)
• Maximum Class Size: 10 students

This two hour online workshop will orient the participants to the hobby of public safety radio scanning (listening to Police/Fire/EMS radio traffic), with a focus on listening in the Bloomington and Monroe County area.

We will present a brief history of public safety radio communications from one-way broadcasts up to multi-site digital trunking systems. Then we'll talk about and demonstrate the equipment required to receive these different systems, as well as show several online listening options for those without their own scanning equipment. Audience participation is strongly encouraged!

No special equipment is required, but participants will need a computer that can run video-conferencing software.

This is an introductory-level workshop, however later this year we will be hosting an advanced workshop where participants build a P25 digital police scanner from a Raspberry Pi computer and Software Defined Radios.

Pre-registration is required, and payment is due at time of registration. Paid participants will receive the video-conferencing link 48 hours prior to the workshop start time.

Please send any questions to contact@bloominglabs.org.

Intro to Police Scanners

General Public $15.00 USD Members $10.00 USD

Personal Mail Servers

Saturday, March 2xth, 2021 -- 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM

(20th or 27th, TBD)

• Format: Virtual
• Cost: $15 for the public, or $10 for Bloominglabs members
• Maximum Class Size: 15 students

Running your own email server can still be done and we’ll show you how in this virtual workshop. Doing it yourself gives you more freedom and control over what you can do with email. There are many different recipes, we’ll cover using your own domain names, mx records, Linux MTA configuration, and various services you can use to offload parts of the process if desired.

Origami: Bunnies+

Sunday, March 28th, 2021 -- 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

• Format: Virtual, pick-up kits
• Cost: $25 for the public, or $20 for Bloominglabs members
• Maximum Class Size: 9 students

Origami directions are almost their own language of hieroglyphs, and even with directions written out they can still be hard to follow. In this workshop I will walk through origami projects and compare the steps shown with how the directions are written. This class will walk though several designs, starting with bunnies for Spring!

April 2021

Rain Barrel Workshop

Sunday, April 11th, 2021 -- 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

In cases of weather postponement,workshop may be moved to April 18th.

• Format: In-Person
• Cost: $50 for the public, or $40 for Bloominglabs members
• Maximum Class Size: 3 students

During the summer months, lawns and gardens account for an average of 40% of household water useage. Water barrels can help to reduce water usage and bills by allowing you to tend to your lawn and garden using naturally harvested rain water.

Lock Picking for Sport

Saturday, April 24th, 2021 -- 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

• Format: Virtual, pick up kits
• Cost: Variable, TBD
• Maximum Class Size: 10 students (and up to 10 more at a future date)

Picking locks is a fun pass-time and we’ll show you how it’s done in this virtual workshop. We’ll start with our code of ethics and then dive into the picking. Lockpicks will be available for sale and delivered ahead of the virtual workshop. Locks will also be provided.

May 2021

Security Seals

Saturday, May 1st, 2021 -- 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM

• Format: Virtual
• Cost: $15 for the public, or $10 for Bloominglabs members
• Maximum Class Size: 15 students

A close cousin to locks are security seals and defeating them can be just as much fun as lock picking. If you need to detect if something has been tampered with in your absence then you want to understand what makes some seals better than others. We’ll cover many types of seals along with their pros and cons. We’ll also get into ink technology, chemistry, and how this relates to counterfeit product detection among other areas. Virtual workshop includes a seal practice kit delivered ahead of time.

Hosting Workshops

If you wish to host a workshop please look at Hosting_workshops.