🎊 Make a Hand-Coded SVG Holiday E-Card
2025-12-11 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Learn to make an animated SVG file using a plaintext editor and web browser. No fancy tools needed!
Geany text editor
Sublime Text
Happy Birthday example file
Register
Registration for this event is now closed. Sorry.
Here's a link to future workshops in this series!

⚙️ Neo-Luddite Reading Group: 'Technics and Civilization' by Lewis Mumford (1st half)
2025-12-11 18:30 - 20:30
➡️ Virtual Meetup Link
Discord: Email neoluddite@victorgom.es for an invite!
Full schedule: victorgom.es/neoluddite
If you’re joining for the first time, I’d suggest you read this before anything else for brief context: What the Luddites Really Fought Against by Richard Conniff.The only expectation is that you read the chapter(s) of the book that’s listed for that meeting. You’re still welcome to participate if you haven’t done the readings as long as you are mindful. For each chapter, I’ve also noted some optional readings for context, so I’d suggest checking those out rather than reading ahead in the book. And remember, if you ever find yourself struggling with any of the readings or concepts, reach out! Either directly to me over email or to the entire group over discord.

⚡️ Beginner Soldering: Flashing LED Circuit
2025-12-12 13:00 - 14:00
In this workshop you’ll learn the basics of soldering by building a tiny oscillator circuit with two transistors and two LED lights. No previous experience needed!
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. Sorry.
Here's a link to future workshops in this series!

🚂 Model Internet Club
2025-12-13 10:30 - 12:30, 2026-01-10 10:30 - 12:30
The Model Internet Club is back! Join us every second Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for an informal meetup focused on building small-scale computer networks.
No registration needed for this event! If we run out of space we can expand into our back yard area.

🐢 Draw with code! An intro to turtle graphics using Python
2025-12-14 10:30 - 13:30
Drop in any time from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and learn to draw cool geometric pictures using Python! It’s just like Logo, the turtle drawing program that introduced a generation of kids to computers in the ’80s and ’90s.
☀️ Draw with code! An intro to turtle graphics using Python
☀️ Screen reading PDF
☀️ Print-imposed PDF
▶️ Project files on GitHub
No registration needed for this one! We’ll have lab computers set up, or feel free to bring a laptop.

✏️ T̶h̶e̶ ̶W̶r̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶R̶o̶o̶m̶ (canceled this week!)
2025-12-16 17:00 - 19:30
We’re canceling the Writing Room this week due to the freezing weather, and we’re taking the next couple weeks off for the holidays. We’ll be back in January!
Come co-work with other writers in three 40-minute units of silent writing. Writers and projects of any type welcome. 10-minute breaks and accountability check-ins between units. BYO coffee, water, computer chargers, notepads, etc.

🔄 Solder & Code: Pico Power Cycler
2025-12-17 13:00 - 15:00, 2025-12-18 13:00 - 15:00
In this workshop you’ll build a gadget that turns power on and off for a USB-powered device. Useful for rebooting solar-powered radios, making decorations blink, etc. No experience with soldering or programming required!
You’ll need to buy a kit for $11.50 to complete this project. Here’s what it contains:
– Pi Pico board with USB-C port
– IRFZ44N MOSFET transistor
– 22 AWG stranded wire pair (4″)
– USB-A port board
– twist tie wire (3″)
– 1″ heat shrink tubing (3″)
– 1/12″ heat shrink tubing (0.5″)
Instructions
Example code
Register
Registration for this event is now closed. Sorry.
Here's a link to future workshops in this series!

👁️ Intelligence History Reading Group: 'The Achilles Trap' by Steve Coll
2025-12-17 19:00 - 20:30
This month we’re readingThe Achilles Trap Saddam Hussein, the United States and the Middle East, 1979-2003 by Steve Coll
🎧 Get the audiobook on Libro.fm
The Achilles Trap masterfully untangles the people, ploys of power and geopolitics that led to America’s disastrous war with Iraq and, for the first time, details America’s fundamental miscalculations during its ruinous, decades-long relationship with Saddam Hussein.
Beginning with Saddam’s rise to power in 1979 and the birth of Iraq’s secret nuclear weapons programme, Steve Coll traces Saddam’s motives through understanding his inner circle. He brings to life the diplomats, scientists, family members and generals who had no choice but to defer to their leader – a leader directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, as well as the torture or imprisonment of many more. This was a man whose reasoning was impossible to reduce to a simple explanation, and the CIA and successive presidential administrations failed to grasp critical nuances in his paranoia, resentments and inconsistencies – even when the stakes were incredibly high.
Using unpublished and underreported sources, interviews with surviving participants, and Saddam’s own transcripts and audio files, The Achilles Trap is a remarkable picture of a dictator who was convinced the world was out to get him and acted accordingly. A work of great historical significance, it is the definitive account of how corruptions of power, lies of diplomacy and vanity – on both sides – led to avoidable errors of statecraft: ones that would enact immeasurable human suffering and forever change our political landscape.

🎵 Cassette Mixtape Session
2025-12-20 10:30 - 12:00, 2025-12-21 10:30 - 12:00
Bring a playlist on your phone/computer and we’ll help you record it to an audio cassette tape. We have plenty of tapes to share!
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. Sorry.
Here's a link to future workshops in this series!
This workshop is now full. We'll offer it again soon!

❄️ Closed December 25th
2025-12-25 08:00 - 17:00
We’ll be closed on December 25th. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Photo CC-BY Alexey Kljatov

🧸 Toy Quieting Workshop
2025-12-27 10:30 - 12:30, 2025-12-28 10:30 - 12:30
Is there a toy in your house that’s so loud it’s driving you up a wall? Are you just curious about electronics and sound? Join us for a hands-on workshop on how to quiet or silence kids’ electronic toys. Bring an electronic toy to modify and we’ll walk you through the steps.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. Sorry.
Here's a link to future workshops in this series!
This workshop is now full. We'll offer it again soon!

🎶 Breadboard MP3 Player Workshop
2025-12-30 12:00 - 13:30
Stay tuned for details!
Instructions & example code
Here’s what’s included in the kit:

Pi Pico board with USB-C port  & pre-soldered header pins
DFplayer MP3 Player module
3W speaker
830 tie point breadboard
2-prong screw terminal
4 push buttons
single-core wire (16″)
mini wire cutter/stripper tool
M2 screw

Here’s what else you’ll need:

microSD card
USB-C cable w/data
small Phillips screwdriver
wire cutters/scissors (optional)

Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!
This workshop is now full. We'll offer it again soon!

📡 Meshtastic 101
2025-12-31 13:00 - 14:30
Join us for an introduction to Meshtastic, an application that lets you send private text messages over the air using pocket-sized LoRa radio transceivers. We’ll show you how to flash the latest Meshtastic firmware to the device, customize the settings, and start chatting with your friends.
Here’s a link to our zine on LoRa + Meshtastic.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!
This workshop is now full. We'll offer it again soon!

🪐 Speculative Futures Reading Group
2025-12-31 19:00 - 20:30
The Speculative Futures Reading Group meets on the last Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m.!

🕰️ Closed January 1st
2026-01-01
We’ll be closed on New Year’s Day. Sorry for the inconvenience!

💻 Philly 2600 Meetup
2026-01-02 18:00 - 20:00
> The Philly 2600 meeting is a monthly gathering of local hackers, phreaks, nerds, geeks, activists, tinkerers, developers, infosec professionals, and other interesting people.

🔄 Solder & Code: Pico Power Cycler
2026-01-04 10:30 - 12:30
In this workshop you’ll build a gadget that turns power on and off for a USB-powered device. Useful for rebooting solar-powered radios, making decorations blink, etc. No experience with soldering or programming required!
You’ll need to buy a kit for $11.50 to complete this project. Here’s what it contains:
– Pi Pico board with USB-C port
– IRFZ44N MOSFET transistor
– 22 AWG stranded wire pair (4″)
– USB-A port board
– twist tie wire (3″)
– 1″ heat shrink tubing (3″)
– 1/12″ heat shrink tubing (0.5″)
Instructions
Example code
Register
Registration for this event is now closed. Sorry.
Here's a link to future workshops in this series!
This workshop is now full. We'll offer it again soon!

🏠 IndieWeb Homebrew Website Club
2026-01-04 18:00 - 20:00
Homebrew Website Club is a growing world-wide network of meetups for everyone who wants to take back their web experience from social media silos, and own their online identities & content, or just want support with blogging!

✏️ The Writing Room
2026-01-06 17:00 - 19:30
Come co-work with other writers in three 40-minute units of silent writing. Writers and projects of any type welcome. 10-minute breaks and accountability check-ins between units. BYO coffee, water, computer chargers, notepads, etc.

💾☀️ Permacomputing + Solarpunk Meetup
2026-01-07 18:30 - 20:00
The Permacomputing + Solarpunk meetup is the first Wednesday every other month at Iffy Books! You can join us in person (404 S. 20th St., PHL) or remotely via Jitsi Meet.
➡️ Virtual meetup link
From Permacomputing.net: Permacomputing is a more sustainable approach to computer and network technology inspired by permaculture. Permacomputing is both a concept and a community of practice oriented around issues of resilience and regenerativity in digital technology. In a time where computing epitomizes industrial waste, permacomputing encourages a more sustainable approach, maximizing hardware lifespans, minimizing energy use and focussing on the use of already available computational resources. We do this because humans are part of nature and technology is an extension of humans, and we acknowledge that technology has been used to harm nature. We want to find out how we can practice good relations with the Earth by learning from ecological systems to leverage and re-center existing technologies and practices. We are also interested in investigating what a permacomputing way of life could be, and what sort of transformative computational culture and aesthetics it could bring forward. If you want to know more, please start reading about what is permacomputing in essence, and then dive into its principles.
Permacomputing Aesthetics: Potential and Limits of Design Constraints in Computational Culture by Mansoux, Howell, Barok, and Heikkilä (2023)

🚧 Make Your First Website
2026-01-08 18:00 - 20:00
Make a home page like it’s 1999! Join us at Iffy Books for a new workshop called Make Your First Website, led by Ragman a.k.a. Richard Green. You’ll learn the basics of HTML and create a static site on the free hosting service Neocities. No experience necessary!
Please bring a laptop if you have one. We’re suggesting a $5–$25 donation for this workshop, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!
This workshop is now full. We'll offer it again soon!

⚡️ Beginner Soldering: LED Spinning Top
2026-01-09 12:00 - 13:30
For this class we’re building a spinning top toy with LED lights that flash when it spins. No previous soldering experience required!

Registration
Registration for this event is now closed. Sorry.
Here's a link to future workshops in this series!
This workshop is now full. We'll offer it again soon!

❤️ Soldering Practice: LED Heart Board
2026-01-09 14:00 - 16:00
Come out and get some soldering practice! This time we’re making a heart-shaped board with 22 LEDs, using an oscillator circuit to dim and brighten them at the speed you choose.
This project is ideal for folks who have soldered at least once before. Beginners are welcome to join us, but it may take you more than one session to finish. Working with a friend is encouraged!
The kit you’ll need to complete this project costs $5.50. We’re suggesting a $10–$25 donation for the class, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. Sorry.
Here's a link to future workshops in this series!
This workshop is now full. We'll offer it again soon!

🛠️ D̶i̶g̶i̶t̶a̶l̶ ̶P̶r̶i̶v̶a̶c̶y̶ ̶&̶ ̶A̶u̶t̶o̶n̶o̶m̶y̶ ̶W̶o̶r̶k̶s̶h̶o̶p̶ (postponed 'til March!)
2026-01-09 18:00 - 20:00
We’re postponing this workshop ’til March. Stay tuned for an update!
A workshop/discussion on digital security, tools, and divestment from big tech. Our goal is to find alternate platforms for organizing and day-to-day life.
Bring a laptop if you have one, but it isn’t required.

⚙️ Neo-Luddite Reading Group: 'Technics and Civilization' by Lewis Mumford (moved to Saturday!)
2026-01-10 18:30 - 20:30
