Minutes of the SIPB Meeting of 2017-03-06 The meeting was called to order at 19:30 by mcyoung. In attendance were Voting members: mcyoung, bpchen, dzaefn, emmabat, alvareza, pravinas, dukhovni, mmou | nchinda2 Associate members: bbaren, foner, quentin Prospectives: cela, aathalye, aleksejs, ignacioe, yczeng, robertch, khaines | twang6(?), lucyyang Guests: '() Administrivia: mcyoung: Welcome to the SIPB meeting! bpchen: Can we increase the allocation of Cluedump cables to $75? Last week foner asked for an allocation because he runs around plugging computers into things, he requested $50 but Apple hardware is pretty expensive. foner: I think that's what Alex suggested, I have no idea. mcyoung: Seconded. bpchen: Motion to white ballot? mcyoung: No objections? It passes. So, I decided we need an Office Czar, and I'm going to appoint one. I've decided to appoint ignacioe to Office Czar. He helped organize all these cables, and fix Door Pi, and given how neurotically he organizes his room, I figured he could organize this office. Do you accept? ignacioe: I accept. mcyoung: Anything else? Project Reports: aleksejs: I started working on a project called lmoddiff, it'll make lots of helpful information available in a helpful popup box that is not as ugly as lmod, and let you know when things change. It kind of works, some things are finicky, talk to me or read the email if you have questions / want to help. dzaefn: Is this open source/ aleksejs: It's open source under the MIT license, the source code is available on my github account, it's unfortunately written in Javascript. mcyoung: Why didn't you code it in Scala and cross-compile? foner: Still looking for Cluedumps presenters, I'll provide a table and food it'll be fun. I'd like to get some Cluedumps going this term. dukhovni: I'm working on Tech Solidarity. It is scheduled for march 28 cela: If anyone is interested in helping me with security for WebAFS, please talk to me. lucyyang: I'm working on swag, no one's settled on a shirt design. There's stickers and things: laptop stickers and camera stickers, but I've yet to find a company for laptop stickers that isn't sketchy. I will look more deeply, but normal stickers are easier. dukhovni: These are made by GawkStalk. foner: Local companies might be less sketchy than internet sticker companies. mcyoung: Anything else? Other: mcyoung: Anything for other? Really? khaines (added later): I updated the Sage repository again Other Other: foner: Parking on Mass Ave just extended another two hours to 8 pm. mcyoung: The last couple days have been much less warm than March should be. Also, should've been Other but CPW is much sooner than you think! Also, spring break is much further than you think. bpchen: In Haskell, the minimum of the pair (1,2) is 2. The maximum is also 2. mcyoung: Now we pass to the membership election. Membership Election: mcyoung: Who are you? aathalye: Hello everybody, I'm Anish, I'm a senior / M. Eng student. Also I may lose my voice. mcyoung: We've got a whiteboard! aathalye: I've done 2 Cluedumps, both security related. One was on easy security tips, the other was on PGP. I like crypto. cela: I'm cela, I'm a frosh, I've been working on projects like WebAFS, I helped at the Crypto Party, I'm helping with Scripts like with the ticket queue that's getting full. I also wrote a set of Zephyr cats named Zeroday and Furraday. dukhovni: Is that actually a whiteboard or is it a clearboard on a white wall? cela: Yes. mcyoung: Anything to add Anish? aathalye: No. bbaren: Anish how do you double space in PGP? aathalye: Ask bbaren for help. bbaren: PGP has already been double spaced. BTW now would be a good time to turn off your SHA-1 settings in PGP dzaefn: This is for either of you -- well nevermind but I was going to ask how do you double space having a Kerberos near that of another SIPB member's. dukhovni: Cel, how do you double space in AFS client? cela: First you remove things off the register because it's full, then you do it again because it didn't fix the problem. bpchen: Close your eyes, and taking turns name something sitting on laptop land's tables. cela: A bunch of people's arms. *various computers, cables, and office supplies are named* cela: A phone. bbaren: What kind of phone is it? cela: I'm gonna guess some kind of Android. aathalye: What other useful things go on tables? Probably phone chargers. mcyoung: I think this question has gone on long enough. bbaren: Each of you, what is your favorite book in the SIPB office and why? aathalye: Javascript: the Good Parts. It's *this* much smaller than the original Javascript. cela: I believe there's a binder of AFS documentation that no one showed it to me when I asked. mcyoung: I decided to take a classic question and make it more ridiculous. I'd like both of you to place your hands on these books of your choice. Have you, or have you ever been part of Students for a Democratic Society? cela: I have not. aathalye: I have not, nor have I ever been, but I must admit the story is amusing. dzaefn: Is Miguel, or has Miguel ever been, a member of Students for a Democratic Society? cela: Wasn't he in a similarly named club back in high school? mcyoung: Not as far as the board knows, I pled the fifth. Now suppose there's a flood, and you have to take something from the office other than the In Case of Fire box. Assume the people are unsalvageable. cela: The computer I think is most likely to contain the most important souce code as possible. bbaren: Which one is that? cela: That's a good question, um...probably someone's laptop, so... aathalye: Put it on your own laptop. cela: How about your laptop? bbaren: My laptop is a Chromebook. aathalye: Probably Maxberry Pi, it's irreplaceable. bbaren: What is your favorite CPU architecture and why? cela: MIPS because it was useful when trying to compile C programs to weird architectures. aathalye: The Beta, because I know it best. aleksejs: If there's a flood and you can save everything in the SIPB office except one thing, which would you leave behind? cela: That piece of paper. bbaren: I got rid of all the phones but they came back! What is this? mcyoung: Do we have someone who's bringing stuff back into the office again? bbaren: I didn't get rid of them properly, I left them in a corner of the office. dzaefn: Sometimes people call asking if a certain person is in the office, which is useful. khaines: How many files can you store in AFS before it fails? cela: I don't know, a mid-size power of 2. aathalye: I don't know either, but it'd be cool to try. foner: Please don't. mcyoung: Anish, so you're, I understand, a fairly involved member of HackMIT. I find it surprising HackMIT and SIPB don't do many things together, why and what do you think we could accomplish? aathalye: First their interests don't necessarily line up, some of them are more interested in organizing events than in computing. But they definitely could benefit from people who have more computing expertise. Definitely being at each other's events is a good way to start and can be beneficial. dzaefn: Is there something you'd like to see change in SIPB? aathalye: I think one thing is, for someone who hears about SIPB for the first time, it's maybe kind of hard to know how to start. Like, is it weird to hang out around the office if I don't know anybody? I don't know if making joining a more structured process would be a good thing, but it's something to think about. cela: I think it'd be good to also just...make it easier for students to start coming to SIPB events. Though the reason I wasn't here earlier was just schedule conflicts, so I don't really know. mcyoung: Is there something we're doing right and should keep doing that way? cela: Despite the complexities of separating perspectives from members, it's a really interesting rite of passage, making sure people are seen as trustworthy and competent. aathalye: One thing I really appreciate is alumni involvement. We have a lot of interesting smart people in this room -- more than four years' worth, to talk to and learn from. mcyoung: Any more questions? dzaefn: Pick one object in the room that does not have a name, and give it a name. aathalye: Does that wall have a name? Can we call it Front of the Room? mcyoung: Motion rejected. cela: I suggest that wall ( with windows ) be the Fourth Wall. mcyoung: Do I have a second? alvareza: Second. mcyoung: The hall is now known as the Fourth Wall, forever more. Anish, you still have to name something. aathalye: (points at windows) Can we call that the Fifth Wall? dzaefn: Seconded. mcyoung: Sam, can you ask Cel the question? dukhovni: Cel, why do you want to be a member of SIPB? cela: There's lots of interesting people here doing interesting things, I want to know them better. Also, there's lots of interesting things I'd like to be a part of. And specifically, it is kind of a rite of passage, and gives you access like getting the office open, and access to fix things in like the machine room so I wouldn't have to ask people to get access. mmou: Anish, why would you like to be a SIPB member? aathalye: I think cela framed it nicely in two parts, why do I want to be affiliated with SIPB and why do I want to be a member specifically. It's almost an essential part of MIT infrastructure. mcyoung: Almost?! aathalye: MIT like couldn't survive without SIPB, which is kinda cool. I also think it's really cool that SIPB does a lot of educational programs. There are a lot of smart people here, and it's good we can get the community excited about computing. And as for being a member specifically, I don't even know if I'll be around next year, but I'd like to still be involved in SIPB. cela: Also I'd like to be more involved in elections. Not that you were a bad choice, Miguel. mcyoung: And on that bombshell, would everyone who's not currently a member please exit the room? cela 15-0-0 aathalye 15-0-0 cela: Is that paper in your mouth? The meeting was adjourned at 20:15. Minutes taken and submitted by emmabat.