Meeting notes 2020 01 05

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Here you can find the info from our 67th fhb meeting hold on fifth of January 2020 at 21h00 CET at our #foodhackingbase channel, oftc network, IRC.

Present Agenda

  • presentation support - (Algoldor) would like to suggest getting a microphone and speaker system for the next event so people who give workshops and presentations do not have to shout so much. Especially if someone gets a bit sick it is not easy to make thirty people hear what you say.
  • shops closed on 37C3 - (Lefrog) Please have a look at a calendar, shops will be closed on days 0, 1 and 2 at 37C3. That will be a challenge.
  • organisation of our events - (Lefrog) Several events happened at the same time on 36C3. We need to enter them on different rooms or only the last entered event will appear on the general program. I was informed by visitors about that problem and entered a second location "foodhackingbase2" on day 2, but we need to pay more attention at 37C3 and define at least 2 locations: like "kitchen" and "workshop table", for example.
    • We could use signs above tables, otherwise here we have info about the departments.
  • donations boxes - (Lefrog) Some people noted that there was lots of money in our transparent donation box in the morning. While we generally trust people at congress, we should not unnecessarily tempt them. Besides, there have been reports of locals without entry bands who entered the grounds for the wrong reasons. We may want to have better donation boxes next year and take care to empty them regularly.
    • (DenkBrettl) I actually have emptied the donation boxes fairly regularly. Also I emptied them every night before I went to bed, which was usually around 2:00. I then didn't come back usually until 12:00, so if people made lots of donations in the morning, this could have happened. I'm not sure how otherwise this would have ended up like you describe.
    • (Lefrog) Good. It was not a criticism. Someone noticed a 50€ note in the donation box and told me. My idea was not to impose more work on you, but to bring in closed boxes for the donation.
    • (DenkBrettl) I didn't take it as a criticism, sorry if it came out like this!
    • (Algoldor) We could have one or two bigger closed donation jars for people who would like to donate "safely" especially when no one is around. Otherwise keeping donation jars "open" seems to me nice but yes they have to be collected regularly.
  • pots and pans, hot plates - (Lefrog). At least one hot plate did not work, please check them beforehand. We also had less pots and pans, but this proved rather beneficial as it forced people to wash what they needed before cooking. We may want to go through the pile of pots and lids and discard the extra lids and the pots which do not work on induction plates.
  • spices - (Lefrog). We may need to go through our spice rack, throw away the old ones and regroup the ones we have in several pots.
  • plastic bottles - (Lefrog) Probiotic drinks need plastic bottles, which we now need to buy (orga went to glass bottles only). We bought the cheapest mineral water we could bet at Globus (0,11€), but there is a 0,25€ deposit on each bottle. As we used about 160 bottles, this amount to 40€, which we could have gotten back at Globus if we had not torn away the labels on the bottles.
    • (DenkBrettl) I also found the pouring away of the water quite a sad thing to do (I know there was no alternative, it's still sad). Having said that, I used google and it turns out that there's no way to buy these bottles alone at a cheap price it seems.
    • (Lefrog) I searched as well and came to the same unfortunate result. Moreover, we need bottles for sparkling water, as they need to resist pressure. We could consider buying them abroad, then there is no deposit. We would still need to pour away the water, though.
    • (DenkBrettl) That sounds like a plan for the moment!
    • (Algoldor) other alternative is to make the drinks in 10-25 l containers, pressured and fill them directly to the bottles or cups which people bring with them. It may be best option.
  • sink water heater - (Lefrog) We apparently got the water heater which failed after a few days at 35C3. This year, it failed after a day and we were told by C3Power that we were only entitled to cold water anyway. As washing is a huge problem at congress (my thanks to all the volunteers!), we took upon ourselves to exchange the heater. I would rather not have that at 37C3 and budget a replacement heater before the event. We may not be able to get one at 37C3 as there are more days when shops are closed.
    • (DenkBrettl) Well, one notable thing to be aware of is that I have hear rumours (more than once though) that 37C3 might not be in Leipzig but in Hamburg.
    • (Lefrog) Good to know, but then Hamburg is smaller. There were 17000 participants this year, while Hamburg could only fit 13000. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Communication_Congress
    • (DenkBrettl) I should have mentioned: not the CCH but Messe Hamburg is in the debate...
  • drying plates area - (Lefrog) I bought two plates racks for the drying area. It was an improvement, but we may want more next year. They cost a couple euros.
  • floor plan- (Lefrog) The floor plan was too cramped at some places, particularly the area between the wall and the kitchen and the area around the sink. People could not move behind the sink as it was next to one of the low benches which limits our area.
This is a floor plan of 36C3. In black, the wall and benches which we are not allowed to move. In red, the power block. In green the fridges.

FHB36C3.jpg

The area around the walls was very cramped. On the other hand, we have lots of space on the top right which we did not use. As the probiotic drinks stand needs to be between black benches, I suggest to move everything one unit next year. This is a suggested floor plan:

FHB 37C3.jpg

Basically, we move the probiotic drinks from gap 4 to gap 5 and put the sink in front of gap 4, so that people can go around it by the gap. The rest is simply moved as is. This gives us more space for the round tables and would allow me to install a projection area around gap 1 (as I did at 35C3).
If we can't move the sink to the place on the plan (it needs to be connected to an underside channel), we can exchange drying area and sink on that plan. Then the sink is roughly at the same place as this year.


  • storage - (Lefrog) On the second plan, I put several tables between the walls. We use that area as storage space and it is a total mess. There were 2 tables next to the walls this year and they helped us organise things a bit. I suggest that we order more orga tables at 37C3, so that we can stack things under and over them. I also plan to bring hooks so that we can hang coats on the walls (someone brought coat hangers this year, but they were not widely used). We may also consider closing the area partially with a curtain, etc... Basically, we need to redesign the area.
  • electricity - (Lefrog) We need to put the electricity main box on a table. On the ground it can get wet, which is not good.
  • electricity 2 - (Lefrog) We have a tri-phase box. We don't really need it, so it can stay at home. But if we decide to use it (it would simplify a bit the connection of the north bench), we need to order a tri-phase dispatcher from C3Power. We also need the adapter from 32A to 16A tri-phase.
  • electricity 3 - (Lefrog) We lacked cables and multiplugs (of the normal, bi-phase kind). I asked C3Power and they say we can borrow some, but we need to order them beforehand. Their cables are also better than ours, as they are designed for wet areas. I suggest we order cables at 37C3.
On the second map, I added red squares for each high-power element (hot plate, sink water heater, oven). I did not put the experimental incubator, but we need to add it if it is present next year. Each of these red squares needs its own power cable, or we will overload the cable. The rest (lamps, small tools like a blender) can be plugged anywhere, as it uses comparatively little power. C3Power has 6, 12 and 25m cables (I think). We would need:
- 4 short cables (can be ours or can be C3Power 6m cable)
- 2 medium cables for north bench (we need 2, as we need power for 2 plates...): so 2x 12m
- extensions to the fridges and workshop tables 3x 12m
- extensions to the round tables and projector 1x 12m
- multiconnectors: at least one per cable, so at least 10 (these are the little black cables with one male plug and a triple female plug)
We would still need some cables and multiconnectors of ours, but the base cabling would be better.
  • (DenkBrettl) One thing I noticed is how often people ask the same things over and over - we should have some posters that describe the core principles of Fhb, like "1. You can use what you want, please clean it up afterwards. 2. If you use ingredients, please make a donation. 3. If you cook, please cook for more people."
  • (Suggested on IRC): have different coloured lights to help identify the various workshop tables.
  • (Suggested on IRC): have T-shirts or aprons for FHB members.


  • small Comments by Ben after the meeting:
- There was talk about adding a "three bucket" system in addition to the sink to streamline cleaning the dishes and relaxing the lack of space around the sink. That would be a system of three bigger containers, one for rough cleaning, one for complete cleaning and one for rinsing. Especially for lightly soiled dishes this could really help.
- I like the idea of "FAQ posters" very much, explaining the basics to people would free up time and might help with donations
- Having the rules formulated on posters (clean up after yourself) will help a lot I think
- The presentation desk as a central entry point for new people and as a handout space for food is a good idea, unfortunately we didn't really do that most of the time. I do understand that it is also due to a lack of people. We might try to appoint someone responsible for this, I think we might find someone.
- There are usually people who are not sure how to help, preparing a list of open tasks could help giving quick answers.
- I would like to streamline the "cooking large quantities, handout for donations" idea a little. Having semi reliable times for food and combining that with the presentation desk might help. This would also allow us to "block" the required resources for specific times only, making it clearer for everyone when they can't use certain things and at the same time that use is encouraged at all other times.
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