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Welcome to Quelab Makerspace’s 2021 Fireless Fourth, list of ideas, amusements and demonstrations for the kid in all of us.  As always if you enjoy this post please share it with other families and friends and educators and kids who may benefit from this. 

I Adric, your humble blogposter has been collecting these ideas and demos and posting every year since 2011,  and while I love fire booms,  it’s fun to try and scour the internet for ideas that don’t need big flames!  Quelab is based in the middle of the Desert Southwest and fire danger is a real and growing thing in the western United States.  So hopefully some of these ideas will help you wile away the long hours until its dark enough to see a public display, or responsibly do your own small fireworks.   Remember to always have a hose in the ready,  and a bucket of water.  

Anyway on with the links! !!!!

A bit of a take on the typical alka seltzer film canister rockets. This one has some color and a base of sarch.  To give a washable tie dye effect plus a pop and zoom.  May need to source some other small snap top air tight containers since film cans are kinda rare these days..  Although Quelab’s darkroom might be able to spare a few.  https://gluesticksblog.com/sidewalk-paint-rockets 

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Super simple idea for those long hours waiting for after sunset to see the fireworks.  Lay out some paper on the ground,  or even a table thatsin the setting sun,  align toys on the sunny side,  trace the shadows when they look most awesome to you.  https://imgur.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/4IeQrQa

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Need to stay up on your Periodic table? Why not laminate some periodic table of the element images and then use a dry erase marker to play a game of battleship.  https://hackaday.com/2016/02/05/you-sank-my-dysprosium-periodic-table-battleship-game/#more-189363

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The Fourth of July is about fountains.  Well this one is uses  water,   and it’s flat.  https://youtu.be/D07aJB0Blzw 

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Daredevil. Looping pendulum, dripping weights on a line over a bar.  Makes for some nice long exposure pinwheels. 

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Milk plastic, moon boot print. 
https://milkit.com/milk-moon-print-mess-with-your-milk/ 

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Free idea  from the City of Albuquerque Museum,  how to do your own scratch art fireworks. https://www.cabq.gov/artsculture/albuquerque-museum/events/documents/fireworks.pdf

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Simple tape, and paper plate and cup, and tube marble tracks https://www.dollartree.com/diy-marble-track/idea-20/1803-34

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Need a little cool off?  How about a water balloon pinata?  https://www.dollartree.com/diy-water-balloon-pi%C3%B1ata/idea-201907-23 

Links to past years Fireless Fourth posts.

• https://quelab.net/19715/quelabs-fireless-fourth-2020/
• https://quelab.net/19628/2019-quelabs-fireless-fourth-links-and-ideas
• https://quelab.net/19560/2018-fireless-fourth-4th-of-july-links
• https://quelab.net/19439/quelab-2017-fireless-fourth-link-list
• https://quelab.net/19282/2016-fireless-forth-ideas-from-quelab
• https://quelab.net/19047/quelabs-annual-fireless-4th-collection-of-links/
• https://quelab.net/18426/quelabs-fireless-fireworks-2014-links-and-ideas/
• https://quelab.net/9114/quelabs-collection-of-fireless-forth-ideas/

Greetings Quelab Members!

The Quelab Board Of Directors Election will be held next month on Sunday February 21, 2021. Of the seven person Board of Directors, there are three Directors finishing out their two year terms (current Board Chair Ethan Moses, and Directors Adric Menning and Rebecca Snyder). You will be voting to elect three Directors. All current Quelab members are required to vote in the election, and we must reach the required voter turnout for the election to be considered “valid” (per the By-laws, a quorum of voters is required, that is, 53% of you). 

ELECTION PROCESS AND VOTING

Per the By-Laws, the Vice President (John Murray) is responsible for the Election; the team handling the election will consist of John Murray, John Benedetto, & Ethan Moses, with an assist from Josh Pederson (for OPAVOTE).  We plan to again utilize OpaVote for electronic voting (https://www.opavote.com/). There will be no paper ballots.  Voting will start on Wednesday 2/17/21 & run through Sunday 2/21/21. While we cannot hold an election party at Quelab as in previous years, we will have a virtual Election party that day, the 21st, held via ZOOM, starting @ 4:30 p.m. & running through at least 8:00 p.m..

MANDATORY

Per Quelab’s By-Laws, the Election “meeting” is mandatory for ALL Quelab members, and all members should vote for their choice(s) for Directors on the Board (even if that vote is “none of the above”).  Fortunately, voting electronically counts as “attendance”.  Electronic voting simplifies things for everyone, and we encourage people to vote early. We would still like to see as many people as possible at the virtual Election Party on the 21st, since there are so few opportunities nowadays to socialize & chat with other Makers.

NOMINATIONS

Nominations are now open. Any member can submit a nomination for someone to run for the Board. The nominee must be at least 18 years old, a resident of New Mexico, and does not have to be a Quelab member (but must be ~eligible~ to be a member of Quelab). Members can also nominate themselves (self-nominate). Once a nominee confirms their interest in running, they will have a chance to introduce themselves to the members.  We plan to post bios to the wiki from each nominee, though we are open to other avenues for you to meet the candidates (drop a line to board@quelab.net with your thoughts and suggestions). 

Nominations should be emailed to elections@quelab.net. 

Nominations close on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. at which point the final list of those running will be announced (though there is sometimes a day or two delay until all nominees accept or decline their nominations).

VOTE RANKING

When voting, everyone will be asked to rank the candidates that they want to vote for; they can rank as many (or as few) as they want. Unless they are voting for none or only one candidate, the candidates must be ranked (1st choice, 2nd choice, etc). The votes will be counted using a single transferable vote system. 

ADDITIONAL LINKS

• The list of Directors can be found at: https://quelab.net/wiki/doku.php?id=officers#board_of_directors
• This longer video introduces STV, or “Single Transferable Vote”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8XOZJkozfI – CGP Grey video, “Politics in the Animal Kingdom: Single Transferable Vote”
• This shorter “extra” video is easier to understand concerning the STV system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac9070OIMUg – CGP Grey video, “Extra: STV Election Walkthrough”

Sunday December 6 — Quelab Social Hour, Community Meeting, and Board Meeting (all online of course!) email us at info@quelab.net for more info

3:00 – 5:00 pm Quelab Board of Directors Meeting – Public welcome. Email info@quelab.net if you wish to add anything to the agenda

5:00 – 7:30 pm Quelab Happy Maker Social Hour starts at 5 pm, general meeting starts at 6, plus more time for chatting after the meeting – Connect & chat with other makers!

 
How to get the meeting link: link added to the calendar description at https://quelab.net/calendar/ shortly before the meeting, check our Facebook page or group, or email info@quelab.net 
All are welcome to attend any of the events!

Want to meet other makers in our community? Check out the Wednesday night “Hacknight Maker Chat”, every Wednesday, Special Techmas edition on December 16. The meeting link will be added to the calendar description at https://quelab.net/calendar/ shortly before the meeting, check our Facebook page or group, or email info@quelab.net 

Visit Quelab

Virtual tour available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyGAsxs8zwY

Currently in-person tours are by appointment ONLY (Masks required) Contact info@quelab.net to reach our volunteer team and set up your personal tour of our 10,000 square foot makerspace.

Quelab has a special on memberships to celebrate our 10th Anniversary! Visit https://quelab.net/membership/ Monthly memberships have the option to discount to $42.50, Annual $425.00 This rate reflects a 15% discount off our usual rates of $50 per month or $500 per year. These special rates are available for a limited time to make it easier for YOU to check out Quelab, we know this year has been difficult in many ways and we wanted to offer this. Do note these rates are optional, you also have the option of paying the regular rate to help support our not-for profit makerspace in being able to offer these special prices. Full details on the membership page. 

Why are there no orientations listed on the schedule? The membership steward will email you directly to set up your orientation time, there are no “drop ins”. Orientations have resumed, in very small groups according to the state orders — and your spot in the queue to do your orientation and get 24/7 access to Quelab will be in the order of sign ups. You can sign up now to reserve your spot, but your monthly billing will be paused until you attend an orientation. I really encourage you to go ahead and sign up now — our orientation classes must happen in much smaller groups than before! So the sooner you sign up, the sooner you will get your turn at orientation. Please email info@quelab.net if you have any questions.

A note on training: Some areas and equipment at Quelab require additional training after your orientation. We are in the process of figuring out how to best resume these types of equipment training for Quelab members while maintaining appropriate social distancing and safety practices. Some trainings are back already and more are being added as we consider the best ways to implement things for the safety of all of our members. There will be waiting lists for some trainings on our most popular areas and equipment. 

(Post courtesy of #nmMakesMasks — I’ll keep this page updated with the latest info -Rebecca)

Thank you to all our sewists who have already dropped off masks! The Albuquerque Journal has an article about our efforts as well as those of other local projects. I’m so proud of our local sewing community!

Drop off masks at local fabric store Hip Stitch 2320 Wisconsin St NE, Albuquerque, 9 am-5 pm Mon-Sat. (or if you need to drop off at other times contact rebecca@quelab.net to get directions to a dropbox at a private home) No personal contact needed, there will be a box outside for you to drop off your masks. The box is next to their building in their private parking lot where the Hip Stitch crew can keep an eye on it during their workday and taken inside when the rest of the time. Be sure to use the box marked “EOC”/”Emergency Operations Center”. These masks are going to the Albuquerque Emergency Operations Center, they will see that the masks are washed after they receive them and distribute the masks to our first responders and essential city employees.

The Albuquerque Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is picking up on Tuesday and Friday afternoons so we can get these masks into the hands and onto the faces of our local essential city employees ASAP — to that end, we especially encourage drop offs before 1 pm on TUESDAY and FRIDAY

Patterns — after testing, current preferred pattern is the Missouri Star Quilt Co Fabric Face Mask. Generally people are using “option 2” with ties, as elastic is as hard to find these days.

Fabric and other materials for pick up — all pick up is now happening via Hip Stitch, last I have heard there are more materials on order and will arrive soon, check the Hip Stitch website AND Hip Stitch facebook (scroll down until you find the post about masks) — I highly recommend you check both of these to save yourself an unnecessary trip!

Join us for our hacknight/open house at Quelab, we are at 680 Haines Ave NW, Albuquerque

Schedule of events for Sunday November 3 
3 pm Quelab Board of Directors Meeting 
5 pm Social Hour/potluck — all are welcome, please bring a food item if you are able to do so
6 pm Community Meeting — updates on current and upcoming things at Quelab!
7 pm Open House “Hacknight” — Take a tour of Quelab and learn how YOU can become a member!

Other things to come to at Quelab:
Tuesdays — open house “hacknight”, 7 pm-10 pm
Sun Nov 10 — New Mexico Radio collectors club, 1 pm-4 pm
Tues Nov 19 — Quelab Members and friends Show and Tell, 7 pm (tours after)
Sun Dec 8 — New Mexico Radio collectors club, 1 pm-4 pm

Our Hacknights are a great place to learn more about Quelab. If you are thinking of joining Quelab, or just curious to find out more, this is the time to come and get a feel for our community of makers, tour our 11,000 square foot facility, check out the equipment in detail (everything from a wood shop to laser cutter to fiber arts to welding to darkroom to 3d printers, and too many more to list). A few members will be bringing some projects to check out and hands on maker stuff to share!

Those under 18 are welcome, but must be accompanied by an adult. Most of our equipment is “kid unfriendly” so plan to supervise any younger children closely, though we sometimes have a child friendly activity or two available.

Absolutely free to attend! All we ask for at the door is for people to check in. Quelab is a 501(c)3 organization and if you wish to offer a donation you are welcome to do so (https://quelab.wildapricot.org/donate/), but we don’t have anyone sitting at the door asking for a “donation” to attend our free Hacknight. 

Ready to join Quelab and can’t make Hacknight? Good news, attending Hacknight isn’t required to become a member, all you have to do is pay your membership fees and attend an orientation and you too can be a part of Quelab! You do need to register in advance for orientation, do that here: https://quelab.net/membership/

If YOU have an idea for something YOU are interested bringing to Hacknight — a presentation, a project, a maker activity to share — let us know! Drop us a line anytime at info@quelab.net