What motivates us to do what we do? How do we find meaning in doing it? What makes us choose what we choose? Can we do better? What is important? Can we thrive and feel excellent, regardless of particular outcomes? These questions may now be more pressing than ever in our most interesting of times.
Throughout our lives we tend to go with the flow of what is happening, making choices by default. Where do those choices come from? In the face of the rapidly changing and challenging times that we live in, personal and political, social and economic, can we find motivation to do what we do? Can we actually improve anything? Can we find and maintain enthusiasm to move forward into the unknown and feel good about our choices, regardless of outcome? Mitch will draw from lessons learned (and re-learned), doing his best to face the challenges while often haphazardly wandering through his 68 years on the planet. This talk will attempt to address these existential, important questions that we all face (whether consciously or not).

Anyone can learn to solder! It is useful and fun. This workshop is for kids of all ages (and anyone of any age). Learn to solder by making a cool badge that you can wear and blink wherever you go. The “I Can Solder!” badge kit is a very simple open hardware kit that anyone can use for learning to solder. There will also be a fun overview of how it works. This workshop is for total newbies to learn to solder.

Learn to solder together a way cool, powerful music synthesizer - and learn how to make cool music, sound, and noise with a computer chip! For total beginners. Participants will learn to solder well for life, learn the basics of digital signal processing, and bring home a working performing music synthesizer that is Arduino compatible, open-source, and has a touch-keyboard and a built-in speaker/amp.

This is an invitation to get together and geek out over music synthesizers, music synthesis, making sound, and creating music. Hardware, software - anything goes! All are welcome to come and talk synths, play synths, share projects, learn, and share. Some attendees have made their own synths at workshops at HOPE_16 - please bring them! Please feel free to bring any synth or sound-making device. Everyone welcome - no need to bring anything but your interest in music, sound, and noise!

Learn how to light up LED strips with a cheap Arduino and make your life trippy and beautiful! For total beginners - no knowledge needed at all. LED strips have become really inexpensive. And many people have created easy methods of controlling the color and brightness of individual LEDs in LED strips. This workshop will show you one easy and fun way to control LED strips, and to make them do what you want. You’ll learn everything you need to know to use existing Arduino programs - and how to hack Arduino programs - to control the colors in your world with LED strips.