---
title: awesome island labs meeting
---

So we had three new faces at [Island Labs][labs] today. [Eric Forkosh][eric]
is an experienced inventor who brought a cool gsm development board. [Mary Ellen
Walsh][mary] is a charming writer who came to observe our group to help research
hackerspaces for Newsday. And Kent (whose last name I cannot remember!) is a
friendly and inquisitive photo/videographer that captured the meeting also for
Newsday.

Our [corn starch experiments][corn] have finally paid off! Laurie donated a
speaker that kupo and Tony wrapped with seran wrap. Jonathan hooked up the synth
and with the help of justin and kupo got some really crazy shapes and tendrils
to dance! Bill explained how non-newtonian fluids work and talked a bit about
the [near space launch][space].

Justin and Jonathan got the arduino to run a test program for a hobby servo,
while Jan and Eric worked out some equations on how much torque would be needed
to turn the doorknob for the [magic door][door] project.

In the holiday spirit, Chris soldered together an LED electric christmas tree!

Thanks for everyone who came out, with special thanks to Mary and Kent, who
really just let us do our thing, and were great company.

Pics will be posted soon!

[labs]: http://islandlabs.org
[eric]: http://narobo.com/
[mary]: http://maryellenwalshwriter.com/
[corn]: http://islandlabs.org/wiki/project:corn_starch_experiments
[space]: http://islandlabs.org/wiki/project:near_space_launch
[door]: http://islandlabs.org/wiki/project:magic_door
