On Wednesday, March 7th, at 9pm on the top floor of the Campus Center (whichever conference room is open), I will be giving a small, informal presentation on respirator safety (care, selection, etc) and basic first aid/health-and-safety tips for volunteers going down to New Orleans. If you are interested and want to be notified of the details, email me at howtobreakstuff_at_gmail.com.
So, Gavin and I have been taking inventory over at our beloved workspace, the Labs of Albert and Albert... Everything is in order: disassembled lawnmower engines, old car parts, hacksaws, respirators, maps of the Antarctic--the list goes on and on. But there are some new toys that would just make our day and assist in a whole bunch of projects. I, for one, have my eye on a nice entry-level Oxy-MAPP cutting/welding torch. Gavin just wants oodles of fountain pens. Also a saws-all.
And so, to that end, we announce the How to Break Stuff Sketchy Equipment Fund Bake Sale. Next week, weather permitting, we will be selling baked goods, probably outside of the Campus Center, to supplement our tool box. So pitch in. It's a good cause. And will probably lead to more breakage of stuff.
The staff of How To Break Stuff has been hard at work on figuring out new and unique ways to break things like bodies and machines that don't run on blood and oxygen.
After years of research, I've determined that racing an alleycat for track bikes with no breaks in the middle of winter, just a few days after a snowfall, would be a terrific way to break my body, my bike, or both.
It's called Monster Track and it holds a special place in alleycat lore as the biggest, most infamous, most prestigious race there is.
The first section had 160+ riders hauling ass up 1st Avenue in Manhattan. I was lucky enough to be included in a little bit of sweet helmetcam footage, which can be found in better, non-Youtube style here and, of course, here:
However, the research did not pay off, and I managed to break neither body or bike during the race. Data from the afterparty remains to be analyzed.
What with the recent and not-so-recent (and highly admirable) work that friends of mine have been doing in New Orleans, I figured it would be fitting to spread this zine across the internet. It is An Activist's Guide to Health and Safety in New Orleans, and can be found on the website of STORM-NYC, an activist medical health collective.
Hopefully this can be useful to any other readers of How To Break Stuff who plan to go to NOLA again, or who know people planning to go to NOLA again. Knowledge is power, safety is strength, and bodies are tools to keep in good working order.
Wesleyan has received it's first snow of the year, and with that I foresee a Saturday night rife with trying to slide interesting combinations of things down Foss Hill at high speeds.
Hello, and welcome to How to Break Stuff. Don't take us too seriously. Take us just seriously enough. Sometimes we know what we're talking about. If you have a question about Love or Tinkering send us an email at howtobreakstuff@gmail.com, and we'll reply with a post of something witty, useful or both.
Gavin and I have broken a fair amount of shit in our day. We know what's up.
-Evan
