Closed December 24th & 25th
2022-12-24 - 2022-12-25
We’re closed December 24th and 25th. Sorry for the inconvenience!
We’ll reopen Wednesday, December 28th in room #2I, our new space on the second floor.

✏️ The Writing Room at Iffy Books
2022-12-28 17:00 - 20:00, 2023-01-04 17:00 - 20:00, 2023-01-11 17:00 - 20:00, 2023-01-18 17:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Want to get some writing done?
Come co-work with other writers from 5–8 p.m. at Iffy Books. Writers and projects of any type are welcome. The session will be organized into three 40-minute units of silent writing with 10-minute breaks and accountability check-ins in-between.
BYO coffee, water, computer chargers, notepads, etc. See you there!

🎊 We're open on New Year's Day
2023-01-01 12:00 - 18:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
We’ll be open from noon to 6 p.m. on New Year’s Day! Stop by and see our new space on the second floor (room 2I).

🔓 TOOOL Lock Picking Meetup
2023-01-06 18:00 - 21:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Friday, January 6th we’re hosting a TOOOL meetup from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Stop by and get some lock picking practice! All are welcome, including beginners.

🧸 Toy Quieting Workshop
2023-01-07 13:00 - 15:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Does your kid have a toy that’s so loud it’s driving you up the wall? Are you just curious about electronics and sound? Join us January 7th at 1 p.m. 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:

💻 Command Line Beginners Meetup
2023-01-12 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Thursday, January 12th from 6–8 p.m. we’ll host a meetup for folks who are learning about the command line. Bring a laptop if you have one! Any OS is fine: macOS, Windows, or Linux.
This will be an informal meetup, without a set program or start time. We’ll have a few command-line experts on hand to answer questions and demonstrate whatever tools people are interested in.

🎉 Spacewarming Party on the Second Floor
2023-01-13 18:00 - 21:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Friday, January 13th we’re having a party in our new space. It’s bigger, with windows! We’re in the same building, on the second floor in 2I. Stay tuned for more details.

Workshop: Spread ideas with a pocket wi-fi portal
2023-01-14 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Saturday, January 14th (3:30–5:30 p.m.) we’re running our workshop Spread ideas with a pocket wi-fi portal. You’ll learn to program a Wemos D1 development board (based on an ESP8266 chip) to make a wi-fi access point with a web server. Anyone who connects to the wi-fi network will see a web page made by you. We’ll also show you how to install a bare-bones anonymous chat program on your Wemos D1.
We’ll have Wemos D1 clone development boards available for $4. Bring a laptop if you have one!
📶 Spread ideas with a pocket wi-fi portal
📶 Screen reading PDF
📶 Print-imposed PDF
Register:

⚡️ Beginner Circuit Workshop
2023-01-15 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Sunday, January 15th at 3:30 p.m. we’re hosting an electronics workshop for beginners! We’ll use A Beginner’s Guide to Circuits by Øyvind Nydal Dahl as our guide.
This workshop is free to attend, but you’ll need to buy an electronics kit for $10 to complete the projects. The kit contains the parts you’ll need to complete all nine projects in the book A Beginner’s Guide to Circuits. We’ll also have copies the book for sale for $17.95. (9-volt battery not included. We’ll have batteries to share at the event.)
If you can’t afford $10 for the kit, email iffybooks@iffybooks.net and we’ll make arrangements.
Register:

Bleeding Control Basics
2023-01-19 19:00 - 20:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Presented by Philadelphia SRA, Bleeding Control Basics will go over first aid as it applies to severe bleeding. We will cover scene safety, injury assessment, basic bleeding control, and tourniquet application. This class doesn’t provide any kind of certification, and is just meant to provide essential information to as many people as possible.
This workshop is free.
Register:

🔊 Cassette + Vinyl Digitization Clinic
2023-01-21 12:00 - 19:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Saturday, January 21st we’re running an audio digitization clinic! Bring a cassette tape or record from noon to 7 p.m. and we’ll help you make a digital copy.
If you bring a laptop, we’ll show you how to do it yourself. We’ll also have a computer available to share.
Sign up for for a 1-hour time slot:
➡️ Register for 1 p.m.
➡️ Register for 5 p.m.
This event is free. If you want to donate, you can find us on Patreon and Venmo.
Photo by Stuart Childs (CC-BY)

💾🌾 Permacomputing Meetup
2023-01-22 13:00 - 15:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
We’re hosting a permacomputing meetup on Sunday, January 22nd at 1:00 PM EST. You can join us in person at Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St. #2I, PHL) or via Jitsi audio stream.
➡️ Jitsi Stream Link
Here’s a recording from our December Meetup:

📚 Reading Group: 'Too Like the Lightning' by Ada Palmer
2023-01-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
For our January reading group, we’ll discuss Ada Palmer’s Too Like the Lightning, a utopian vision of a world that has radically reimagined, among other things, transportation, citizenship, and communication. See you Wednesday, January 25th at 7 p.m.!
This event is free. Donations accepted.

Game Night: Solarpunk Futures
2023-01-26 18:30 - 20:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Thursday, January 26th at 6:30 p.m. we’ll play a round of the tabletop storytelling game Solarpunk Futures.
Solarpunk Futures is a storytelling game where players imagine the pathways to a desirable world from the perspective of a utopian future. Players use a deck of cards to remember Ancestors and work together using Tools and Values to overcome a set of real-world Challenges. Through dialogue and collaborative worldbuilding, collective and visionary narratives emerge of a new society, along with plausible scenarios for how to get there.
Solarpunk Futures is a project by Solarpunk Surf Club, led by members Nick Lyell & Max Puchalsky
Illustration by Solarpunk Surf Club, licensed under CC BY NC SA 4.0
Register:

Philadelphia Creators Meetup
2023-01-28 13:00 - 15:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
A new meetup for creators in Philly! You can find more info on Facebook: Philadelphia Creators Meetup

✏️ The Writing Room at Iffy Books
2023-02-01 17:00 - 20:00, 2023-02-08 17:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Wednesdays 5–8PM (except the last week of the month)
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.

Letter Writing for 6 Forest Defenders in Atlanta Denied Bail
2023-02-02 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Thursday, February 2nd at 6 p.m. we’re hosting a letter writing event for six Atlanta Forest defenders who have been denied bail. Bring a pen!

🔓 Philly 2600 Meetup + TOOOL Meetup
2023-02-03 18:00 - 21:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
The Philly 2600 meetup will be at Iffy Books on Friday, February 3rd, starting around 6:00 p.m.
> The Philly 2600 meeting is a monthly gathering of local hackers, phreaks, nerds, geeks, activists, tinkerers, developers, infosec professionals, and other interesting people.
We’re also hosting a meetup for the Philadelphia Chapter of the Open Organization of Lockpickers:
> Come join us for our monthly First Friday Open Pick Night at Iffy Books! Whether you’re a novice who just stumbled upon LockpickingLawyer, a seasoned safecracker, or somewhere in between, come join us for a evening of fun as we pop some locks.

🧲 Data Destruction Day
2023-02-04 13:00 - 17:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Saturday, February 4th we’re hosting a data destruction event at Iffy Books. Join us at 1 p.m. for a workshop on several command-line tools for securely deleting data on magnetic drives (shred, wipe, and srm). We’ll also discuss full-disk encryption. Bring a laptop and/or external hard drive for hands-on practice!
From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. we’ll provide tools and assistance for anyone who wants to destroy some data. Drop by any time! We’ll have a large electromagnet for wiping magnetic drives and tape, as well as a nail gun for destroying any kind of storage device.
In the spirit of leaving no trace, we aren’t doing registration for this event. Mark your calendar now!
This event is free. Donations accepted.

🔊 Make your own MP3 boombox
2023-02-05 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Join us at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 5th and make your own MP3 boombox! We’ll use the DFPlayer Mini MP3 player board (below), which has an SD card slot and a built-in 3-watt amplifier. You’ll set up the MP3 player controls on a breadboard, connect speakers and a battery, and mount everything in a cardboard enclosure.
We’ll have a kit available for $15. The kit includes a DFPlayer Mini board, two small breadboards, an 18650 battery, and several other parts you’ll need. (If you can’t afford the kit, you can still join us for the project.)
Please bring scavenged speakers if you have them! (We’ll have speakers to share, but we aren’t 100% sure we’ll have enough for everyone.) Old computers speakers, speakers from broken CD players, and over-the-ear headphones are likely to work well. 3-Watt speakers are ideal, but you can experiment with other sizes.
You’ll also need a Micro SD card (32GB or smaller). We’ll have 16GB SD cards for $5.

Register:

Philly ABC Letter Writing for Alex Stokes
2023-02-06 18:30 - 20:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Philly ABC is back with our regular letter-writing events this month featuring Alex Stokes, an antifascist prisoner sentenced to 20 years for defending himself and others from armed Proud Boys at the New York State Capitol on January 6th.
Alex is a journalist and artist from Albany, NY. He began documenting social unrest in 2014, and was arrested with over 200 protestors and independent journalists during #DisruptJ20 in Washington DC. He was injured during the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA, and has routinely attended Black Lives Matter protests in Albany throughout 2020. He also regularly exposed local white supremacist groups and members.
On January 6, 2021, multiple members of the Proud Boys—a nationwide far-right gang—gathered outside the New York State Capitol in Albany, NY in support of the larger “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington DC. A fight broke out with counter-protestors as one Proud Boy tased a Black man who had his hands in his pockets, and another beating a woman over the head with a flag pole. Alex was watching from the sidelines and ran to help those being attacked, at which point he was also assaulted and managed to fend off multiple attackers, injuring two of them, and helped get other victims away from the fray. The Proud Boys involved did not receive any charges. Alex was charged with first-degree assault, among other charges.
In November 2022, despite video evidence from multiple angles showing this very clear cut case of self defense, and despite the fact that no one died or received life-altering injuries, Alex was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison. His previous work and experience with exposing dangerous hate groups was inadmissible for his defense. The prosecution picked apart his social media accounts and portrayed his actions as premeditated. Alex is currently appealing the sentence. A fundraiser has been launched by the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund to ensure that his appeal case does not lack financial resources.
Join us this Monday at 6:30pm, at Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St. #3E). Snacks and letter-writing supplies will be provided. If you cannot make the event, please send Alex some love at:
Alex Contompasis #22B5028
Elmira Correctional Facility
PO Box 500
Elmira, New York 14901
We’ll also be signing birthday cards for political prisoners with birthdays in February: Veronza Bowers (February 4th), Kamau Sadiki (February 19th), and Oso Blanco (February 25th).
from the Philly ABC blog

⚡️ Chip Set: A DIY Electronics Meetup
2023-02-09 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Chip Set is a DIY electronics meetup at Iffy Books on the second and fourth Thursday of each month (starting February 2023). If you’re interested in circuits, microcontrollers, and/or single-board computers, stop by and make some friends! All ages and skill levels are welcome, including total newbies.
This is an informal meetup, without a set topic or agenda. Feel free to bring a project to show the group!
Photo by Raimond Spekking (CC BY-SA 4.0)

🐘 An introduction to Mastodon & the fediverse
2023-02-11 13:00 - 15:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Are you curious about Mastodon and the fediverse? Join us Saturday, February 11th at 1:00 p.m. for an introduction to federated social media with Nelson Chu Pavlosky. Nelson is an admin and moderator at jawns.club, a Philly-centric Mastodon server.
You’ll learn about Mastodon’s history, how it compares to legacy social media (e.g., Twitter), and how it fits into a wider constellation of social media services that can interact using the ActivityPub protocol.
We’ll help you set up a Mastodon account if you don’t have one, and we’ll recommend some people you might want to follow. See you there!
Register (optional but helpful):

🐘 Follow Iffy Books on Mastodon
This event is free. Donations accepted.

🔥 Make a DIY Tent-Safe Heater Pt. 1
2023-02-11 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On February 11th and 12th we’re hosting a two-day workshop on how to build a tent-safe heater that can burn isopropyl alcohol or ethanol.
Workshop Day 1: Making the burner
Workshop Day 2: Testing, wicking, caging
Register:
Note: We have limited supplies for this event. Don’t register unless you’re sure you can make it to both days of the workshop (2/11 & 2/12 at 3:30 p.m.)

image by heater bloc via twitter

💾🌾 Permacomputing Meetup
2023-02-12 13:00 - 15:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Our next permacomputing meetup is on Sunday, February 12th at 1:00 PM EST. You can join us in person at Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St. #2I, PHL) or via Jitsi audio stream.

➡️ Jitsi Stream 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.

🔥 Make a DIY Tent-Safe Heater Pt. 2
2023-02-12 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On February 11th and 12th we’re hosting a two-day workshop on how to build a tent-safe heater that burns isopropyl alcohol or ethanol.
Workshop Day 1: Making the burner
Workshop Day 2: Testing, wicking, caging
➡️ Register here
image by heater bloc via twitter
