Iffy Books | 404 S. 20th St., PHL

⚡️ Chip Set: A DIY Electronics Meetup
2023-03-23 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-13 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-27 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | 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 every month. 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)

🕰 How Does a Clock Work? with Scott Kip
2023-03-25 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Saturday, March 25th at 3:30 p.m., we’re hosting a free workshop on how mechanical clocks work, hosted by Scott Kip. See you there!
Register:

✏️ The Writing Room at Iffy Books
2023-03-29 17:00 - 19:00, 2023-04-05 17:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-12 17:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-19 17:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-26 17:00 - 19:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Wednesdays 5–8 p.m.
(5–7 p.m. the last Wednesday 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.

Reading Group: 'Ducks' by Kate Beaton
2023-03-29 19:00 - 20:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Wednesday, March 29th at 7:00 p.m. we’ll meet to discuss the graphic novel Ducks by Kate Beaton. See you there!

⚡️ Beginner Soldering Workshop
2023-03-30 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Thursday, March 30th at 6:00 p.m. we’re running a soldering workshop for beginners! Anyone can attend for free, but you’ll need to buy a circuit board with components for $6 to complete the project. Here’s what’s included in the kit:

1 x Weevil-shaped PCB
2 x LEDs
1 x 47k Ohm resistor
1 x miniature photocell
1 x 2N3904 transistor
2 x 220 Ohm resistors
1 x CR2032 coin cell battery
1 x 20mm coin cell battery holder

Register:

🎤 Audio Recording Basics
2023-04-01 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Saturday, April 1st at 1:00 p.m. we’re running a free workshop on the basics of recording audio. We’ll discuss mic technique, audio hardware, recording conditions, and software options. Everyone will get a chance to make a recording and start editing with Reaper.
We’ll have a computer available for everyone who signs up.
Registration is now closed. We’re planning to offer this workshop again, so stay tuned!
This event is free. Donations accepted.
Photo CC-BY Tm

Philly 2600 Meetup + TOOOL Meetup
2023-04-07 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, April 7th, 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.

☀️ Make a Solar Zoetrope
2023-04-08 13:00 - 15:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Join us on Saturday, April 8th at 1:00 p.m. and make your own solar-powered zoetrope! This workshop is suitable for beginners and kids. No experience necessary.
A zoetrope is one of several pre-film animation devices that produce the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs showing progressive phases of that motion. (Wikipedia)
Anyone can attend and draw animated clips for free. To build a zoetrope, you’ll need to buy a kit for $7.50.
This event is part of the DVAA Everyday Futures Fest.
Register:

🎤 A Reading with Steve Orth, Connie Yu, and Alexa Smith
2023-04-08 18:30 - 20:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Saturday, April 8th we’re hosting a poetry reading with Steve Orth, Connie Yu, and Alexa Smith. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., reading at 7:00.
See you there!

⚡️ Intro to Surface Mount Soldering
2023-04-09 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Sunday, April 9th at 6:00 p.m. we’re hosting a workshop on surface mount soldering. This is an intermediate-level workshop, so it’s best if you have some soldering experience already.
If you have a soldering iron, we recommend bringing it. If not, we’ll have some to share.
Anyone can attend for free, but you’ll need to buy a surface mount soldering kit for $4 to complete the project.
Register:

🌳 Letter Writing for Forest Defenders in ATL
2023-04-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Tuesday, April 11th at 6 p.m. we’re writing letters to ATL forest defenders, in solidarity with the ATL Week of Resiliency. See you there!

Virtual Meshtastic Meetup
2023-04-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Jitsi Meet (iffybooks.club), 19107
We’re hosting a virtual meetup on Tuesday, April 11th at 7 p.m. to help Meshtastic users across Philly get connected. Our goal is to make a wireless chat network across the PHL area using low-power LoRa radios.
➡️ Jitsi Meet Link
To join the Meshtastic chat, you’ll need a LoRa radio such as a Heltec LoRa32, LILYGO LoRa32, or LILYGO T-Beam. Here’s a full list of compatible devices. If you don’t have a LoRa radio, you’re still welcome to join the meetup.
Here are a few things we’re hoping to accomplish:
• Flash the latest stable Meshtastic firmware, version 2.1.5.23272da.
• Decide on a channel setting (e.g., Long Range Fast or Very Long Range Slow).
• Discuss Meshtastic device roles (client, router, router client, etc.).
• Set up a shared encryption key.
• Chat!
Here’s our zine on LoRa + Meshtastic from summer 2022, which is now slightly out of date. We’re working on a new version.

🚂 Model Internet Club
2023-04-14 18:00 - 21:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
The Model Internet Club meets again on Friday, April 14th at 6 p.m. Our goal is to build an offline network for fun and learning. We’ll have routers, switches, servers, and plenty of Ethernet on hand.
Last month we connected half a dozen computers to a switch, gave ourselves IP addresses with ip, and set up tiny websites with http.server. Fun!
Photo CC-BY Andrew Russell

🎤 Audio Recording Basics
2023-04-15 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Saturday, April 15th at 3:30 p.m. we’re running a free workshop on the basics of recording audio. We’ll discuss mic technique, audio hardware, recording conditions, and software options. Everyone will get a chance to make a recording with Audacity and start editing with Reaper.
We’ll have a computer available for everyone who signs up.
Register:

This event is free. Donations accepted.
Photo CC-BY Tm

💾🌾 Iffy Books Permacomputing Meetup
2023-04-16 13:00 - 15:00
Our next permacomputing meetup is on Sunday, April 16th 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.

🧶 Learn to Crochet!
2023-04-16 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Sunday, Sunday, April 16th at 3:30 p.m. we’re hosting a crochet workshop for beginners. We’ll have supplies to share, as well as yarn and crochet hooks for sale.
Register:

Photo CC-BY Connie

Bleeding Control Basics
2023-04-18 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Presented by Untitled Medical Collective in association with Philly 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.
If you have any questions about class content, reach out to untitledmedical@proton.me.
Register:

💻 Hackers' Assembly: Shodan for Defense
2023-04-20 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
This month’s topic will be “Shodan for Defense.”
The speaker for this month is Leonardo Serrano. Leonardo has spent the past 8 years running various events in the Philadelphia area and 5 years working in the security department of a small local ISP. In that time he’s picked up a few tricks with Shodan and a few other tools for identifying exposures as well as evaluating the length of exposures.
If any one is interested in speaking in May feel free to reach out.
-Leo

Details on Meetup

Raise the Sun: A QTBIPOC Zine Workshop
2023-04-21 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Raise the Sun: A QTBIPOC Zine Workshop on Friday, April 21st, 2023 will combine the spirit of Iffy Books’s zine collection and the aesthetics of solarpunk. We will discuss our relationships with the sun across our cultures and identities. We will learn how to make our own zines to share those experiences as we imagine and realize better worlds aligned with solar embodiment. We will center the ways in which QTBIPOC are leaders in the climate movement as we exist and breathe as our radical selves.

People who identify themselves as both Queer and/or Trans and with Black folx, Indigenous folx and/or People of Color are invited to participate in this workshop. A QTBIPOC space is a step towards ensuring these resources are accessible to groups that have been historically marginalized and are disproportionately affected by climate change.

This workshop is open to folx at all levels of experience, whether this is your first time hearing the word “zine” or you’ve got a personal distro running out of your bedroom. We’ll have zine-making supplies to share, but you may want to bring your own scissors.
Based on responses to a pre-workshop survey, Iffy Books will remain open during this event. But the workshop will be for QTBIPOC registrants only.

Register:

🌺 Let's Make Wildflower Seed Balls!
2023-04-22 13:00 - 17:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Stop by Iffy Books on Saturday, April 22nd from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and make your own seed balls with native wildflower seeds. We’ll have plenty of supplies to share!
This event is part of the DVAA Everyday Futures Fest.
Registration:

This event is free. Donations accepted.
Photo CC-BY Kevan Davis

🎉 DVAA Everyday Futures Fest Block Party
2023-04-23 12:00 - 17:00 | Da Vinci Art Alliace, 704 Catharine St., Philadelphia, PA, 19147, United States
We’ll be at the Everyday Futures Fest Block Party on Sunday, April 23rd, 12–5 p.m. at 7th and Catharine St. See you there!

📚 Reading Group: 'The Three-Body Problem' by Cixin Liu
2023-04-26 19:00 - 20:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Wednesday, April 26th at 7:00 p.m. we’ll meet to discuss the novel The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu.
Stop by Iffy Books and get a paperback copy for $17.99, or get the audiobook at Libro.fm.

Collide Zine Live Reading + Open Mic
2023-04-28 18:30 - 21:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Join us for a night to celebrate COLLIDE zine’s third issue at Iffy Books in the Vox Populi Art Gallery building in Chinatown.
Enjoy light refreshments and Iffy’s charming new space which hosts monthly events for avant-garde artists, poets and internet techies! Open-mic sign-ups will be available for anyone that wants to read from the zine or test a new piece in a small setting.
11 x 17 posters of featured Collide art and hard copies of Collide Issues 3 will be available for purchase!
Details on EventBrite

❤️ No Arena in the Heart of Our City Rally [Postponed 'til 6/10]
2023-04-29 11:00 | 10th and Vine St., 10th and Vine St., Philadelphia, PA, United States
Postponed until June 10th due to rain! Mark your calendar!
Chinatown has survived for 150 years because we fought to be here. Chinatown is one of the few remaining communities of color and low-income communities in Center City. We are here to stay. Join us on 4/29 6/10, 11 AM, at 10th and Vine.
RSVP here!
