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

✏️ The Writing Room
2024-01-03 17:00 - 19:30, 2023-12-27 17:00 - 19:30, 2023-12-20 17:00 - 19:30, 2023-12-13 17:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
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.

☀️ [Postponed to Jan 27] Direct Solar Power Working Group
2023-12-30 13:00 - 15:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
We’ve postponed this event until Saturday, January 27th. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Join us from 1–3 p.m. on Saturday, December 30th for the first meeting of the Direct Solar Power Working Group. (We can change the name if people don’t like it.) Our plan is to discuss & experiment with methods for using solar energy without batteries.
We’re starting this group in response to the article Direct Solar Power: Off-Grid Without Batteries by Kris De Decker (August 2023), which focuses on using small solar panels to run computers, fridges, and heating elements for cooking. We’ll also discuss using solar thermal collectors for cooking and heating.
For our first meeting we’ll have a few 6-Watt solar panels to run tests with. Our goal is to find out what people are interested in and work our way up to bigger projects.

🎤 Audio Recording Basics
2023-12-27 15:00 - 17:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
On Wednesday, December 27th from 3–5 p.m. we’re running a 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.
Register:

🌻 Open 10–2 on Sunday, 12/24
2023-12-24 10:00 - 14:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
We’ll be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, December 24th! Our new address is 404 S. 20th. St, PHL.

🌇 Game Night: Solarpunk Futures
2023-12-22 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
On Friday, December 22nd at 6:00 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:

🧸 Toy Quieting Workshop
2023-12-17 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, 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 Sunday, December 17th from 3:30–5:30 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:

💾🌾 Iffy Books Permacomputing Meetup
2023-12-17 13:00 - 15:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Our next permacomputing meetup is on Sunday, December 17th at 1:00 PM EST. You can join us in person at Iffy Books (404 S. 20th St., PHL) or via Jitsi Meet.
➡️ 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)

🚂 Model Internet Club
2023-12-16 13:00 - 17:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
The Model Internet Club meets again on Saturday, December 16th, 1–5 p.m. Newcomers are welcome.
The network is up and running! We now have a DHCP server, a DNS server with custom domain names, and handful of websites running as virtual hosts in Apache. There’s a local bulletin board in the works, and we’re considering our options for connecting wi-fi access points.
We’re looking for websites to run on our local network! If you have an idea, email iffybooks@iffybooks.net or join us on December 16th.
Here’s a photo of our current setup:

🎥 subMedia Presents the Two Decades of subVersion Riot Porn Jamboree
2023-12-15 19:00 - 21:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
The Two Decades of subVersion Riot Porn Jamboree
Join the subMedia crew this December as we celebrate two decades cranking out anarchist propaganda. That’s right, subMedia has finally made it through its angsty teenager years. Before you know it, we’ll be setting riot porn to soft jazz! So before that happens and to mark this auspicious milestone, we’re throwing a series of screening events in select cities. A riot porn jamboree, if you will – culminating in a livestream screening party, where current and former crew members will be on hand to introduce some of our favourite videos, shoot the shit, and answer all your most burning questions.
So grab some popcorn, a crowbar and a gasmask to celebrate the way only subMedia can… with a two hour cavalcade of riot porn, direct from our projector to your eyeballs.
::TOUR DATES::
Dec 2 – Bloomington
Dec 14 – Baltimore
Dec 14 – Belo Horizonte
Dec 15 – Porto Alegre
Dec 15 – Philly
Dec 15 – Montreal
Dec 16 – NYC
Dec 18 – Hamilton
Dec 19 – Toronto
Dec 21 – Online Livestream

⚡️ Beginner Soldering Workshop
2023-12-14 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
On Thursday, December 14th 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:

🐧 [Postponed] Lo-fi image compression with ImageMagick
2023-12-13 18:00 - 19:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
We’re postponing this workshop. Stay tuned for updates!
On Wednesday, 12/13 at 6 p.m. we’re hosting a workshop on how to make glitchy, distressed images using the command-line program ImageMagick. We’ll be using Ubuntu Linux for the workshop, but it’s also available for macOS and Windows. We’ll provide computers.
If you’ve never used the command line before, that’s OK! This workshop series is intended for total beginners.

🪡 Hands-On Darning Workshop
2023-12-10 15:30 - 17:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Sunday, December 10th at 3:30 p.m. we’re hosting a darning workshop and mending session. Total beginners welcome!
Here’s our darning how-to zine.
Register:

🧸 Toy Quieting Workshop
2023-12-10 13:00 - 15:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, 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 Sunday, December 10th from 1–3 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:

📡 In-Person Meshtastic Meetup
2023-12-09 13:00 - 15:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
On Saturday, December 9th from 1–3 p.m. we’re hosting an informal meetup at Iffy Books for Meshtastic users. Stay tuned for details!
Meshtastic: An open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on affordable, low-power devices

🔔 BSidesPhilly 2023
2023-12-08 12:00 - 18:00 | Netrality Data Center, 401 N Broad St, Philadelphia, PA, 19108, United States
We’ll be at BSidesPhilly 2023 on Friday, December 8th! Stay tuned for more details.
➡️ Call for Speakers

🎊 First Day at 404 S. 20th Street!
2023-12-06 12:00 - 19:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Iffy Books is moving to a storefront! Very exciting! Starting on Wednesday, December 6th we’ll be at 404 S. 20th St., half a block from Rittenhouse Hardware. For the rest of December we’ll be open Wednesday–Sunday, 12–7 p.m.
See y’all in the new space!

⚙️ Neo-Luddite Reading Group: ‘The Human Use of Human Beings’ by Norbert Wiener
2023-12-05 18:30 - 20:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Our current book for the Neo-Luddite Reading Group is The Human Use of Human Beings by Norbert Wiener (1950, revised 1954). On Tuesday, December 5th we’re meeting to discuss chapter 8 through the end of the book.
Meetup link
After this book we’ll read Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin (could maybe pair it with chapters from Artificial Whiteness, unless we just feel like reading it in its entirety in the future.

🔥 Camp heater assembly & distro organization [canceled]
2023-12-03 18:30 - 20:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
We had to cancel this event due to unforeseen circumstances. Sorry for the inconvenience!

⭐️ PHL Fediverse Meetup
2023-12-03 13:00 - 15:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Sunday, December 3rd at 1 p.m. we’re hosting a meetup for folks who use federated services like Mastodon, Lemmy, and Pixelfed, as well as anyone who’s curious about learning more. Hope to see you there!

📙 Philly Zine Fest
2023-12-02 10:00 - 17:00 | Mitten Hall at Temple Univesity, 1913 N Broad St., Philadelphia, PA, 19122, United States
Philly Zine Fest is on Saturday, December 2nd from 10–5 p.m. at Temple’s Mitten Hall (1913 N. Broad Street). See you there!
Organized by The Soapbox. Sponsored by Temple University Libraries, with additional support provided by The Center for Humanities at Temple.

🔐 Philly 2600 Meetup
2023-12-01 18:00 - 21:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
This will be the last Philly 2600 meetup at the old Iffy Books location, 319 N. 11th St. #2I. Should be a good one!
> The Philly 2600 meeting is a monthly gathering of local hackers, phreaks, nerds, geeks, activists, tinkerers, developers, infosec professionals, and other interesting people.

Next week we’re moving Iffy Books to a storefront at 404 S. 20th St. We were originally planning to have this meetup in the new space, but our move date got pushed back. Sorry for any confusion!

🐜 Reading & discussion with José Alaniz, author of 'Puro Pinche True Fictions'
2023-11-30 18:30 - 20:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Thursday, November 30th we’re hosting an event with José Alaniz, author of the new book “Puro Pinche True Fictions” (FlowerSong Press).
Author/cartoonist José Alaniz has released a new prose/comics collection titled Puro Pinche True Fictions. The hybrid book collects short stories and comics, mostly set in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas/Mexico border. The stories reflect the author’s upbringing in this region as a second-generation Mexican-American, at times fusing folk beliefs with Bradbury-style science fiction. For example, “Tamales” sets the immigration narrative on Mars in 2063, when a migrant family makes the crossing in search of work via (malfunctioning) rocket.
Other stories, like “Genoveva” and “Where You Stop the Story,” retell painful family episodes going back years and generations. The comics section, “Electric Youth,” recounts incidents from Alaniz’s childhood in South Texas, some of them told in Spanglish. These range from nostalgic (like one showing how common and pleasant it used to be to cross the river to Reynosa, Mexico for family outings) to funny/gross (the author’s memory of stepping on a nail) to self-flagellating (the reimagining of ethnic self-loathing through a Star Wars metaphor). This collection will appeal to readers with an interest in contemporary Chicano fiction and comics.
About the author
José Alaniz was born in Edinburg, TX, in the Rio Grande Valley along the US/Mexico border. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993 with dual degrees in Radio-Television-Film Production and Russian Studies. He worked in Moscow, Russia as a journalist from 1993-1994. In 2003 he earned a PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.
Since 2003 he has worked as a comics scholar and professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and the Department of Cinema & Media Studies. He has published three monographs: Komiks: Comic Art in Russia (2010, University Press of Mississippi); Death, Disability and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond (UPM, 2014) and Resurrection: Comics in Post-Soviet Russia (Ohio State University Press, 2022). He has also co-edited two essay collections, Comics of the New Europe: Reflections and Intersections (with Martha Kuhlman, Leuven University Press, 2020) and Uncanny Bodies: Disability and Superhero Comics (with Scott T. Smith, Penn State University Press, 2019). He formerly chaired the Executive Committee of the International Comic Arts Forum (ICAF) and was a founding board member of the Comics Studies Society.
He has released three comics/prose collections: The Phantom Zone and Other Stories (2020) and The Compleat Moscow Calling (2023), both from Amatl Comix, and Puro Pinche True Fictions (2023, FlowerSong Press). His comics have also appeared in The Stranger, the Seattle anthology Dune, Tales From La Vida: A Latinx Comics Anthology (2018), BorderX: A Crisis in Graphic Detail (2020) and SCARFFF.

🌊 Speculative Futures Reading Group: 'The Great Derangement' by Amitav Ghosh
2023-11-29 19:00 - 20:30 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Wednesday, November 29th at 7:00 p.m. we’ll meet to discuss the book The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016) by Amitav Ghosh. Hope to see you there!
Get the audiobook on Libro.fm.

Are we deranged? The acclaimed Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh argues that future generations may well think so. How else to explain our imaginative failure in the face of global warming? In his first major book of nonfiction since In an Antique Land, Ghosh examines our inability—at the level of literature, history, and politics—to grasp the scale and violence of climate change.
The extreme nature of today’s climate events, Ghosh asserts, make them peculiarly resistant to contemporary modes of thinking and imagining. This is particularly true of serious literary fiction: hundred-year storms and freakish tornadoes simply feel too improbable for the novel; they are automatically consigned to other genres. In the writing of history, too, the climate crisis has sometimes led to gross simplifications; Ghosh shows that the history of the carbon economy is a tangled global story with many contradictory and counterintuitive elements.
Ghosh ends by suggesting that politics, much like literature, has become a matter of personal moral reckoning rather than an arena of collective action. But to limit fiction and politics to individual moral adventure comes at a great cost. The climate crisis asks us to imagine other forms of human existence—a task to which fiction, Ghosh argues, is the best suited of all cultural forms. His book serves as a great writer’s summons to confront the most urgent task of our time.

✏️ The Writing Room
2023-11-29 17:00 - 19:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Come co-work with other writers for 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.

Open 11-7 on Friday the 24th
2023-11-24 11:00 - 19:00 | Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.), 319 N. 11th St. #2I, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
On Friday, November 24th we’ll be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., which means we’re opening and closing a little earlier than usual.

Closed November 23
2023-11-23
We’ll be closed on Thursday, November 23rd. Sorry for the inconvenience!

✏️ The Writing Room
2023-11-22 17:00 - 20:00 | 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.
