December 2014 Geek About Town
Hi everyone!
It got chilly so fast! Hopefully, you’re doing your best to stay warm during the holidays! Here’s a list of events to consider whether you’re out and about or prefer the comforts of indoors.
Tuesday, December 2: Queen Anne Science Cafe: “Third Party Trackers on the Web”
From the Pacific Science Center: “Privacy on the Web is an important issue these days. When you visit a Web site, your browser doesn’t just load content from that Web site. Mostly invisible to you, your browser also loads “third-party” content from other sources, including advertisements and social media widgets like the Facebook “Like” button. These third parties are able to “track” your visits to those sites and learn about your browsing behaviors. Join UW’s Franzi Roesner, Ph.D. for an overview of current research on Web tracking.”
Tuesday, December 2: 106.1 KISS FM Jingle Ball
From the event page: “STG Presents KISS 106.1 FM MAZDA Jingle Ball featuring Mary Lambert, Lindsey Stirling, Fences, Jake Miller, Rixton, Magic! at The Moore Theatre in Seattle on December 2, 2014.”
Thursday, December 4: Maria Klawe Public Lecture
From Wikipedia: “Maria Margaret Klawe (born 1951) is a computer scientist and the fifth president of Harvey Mudd College (since July 1, 2006).Although born in Toronto in 1951, she became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2009. She was previously Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University.”
Thursday, December 4: Burke Trivia Night at the College Inn Pub
From the Burke Museum Event Page: “The Burke Museum presents a monthly pub quiz for science buffs, culture gurus, and museum lovers. Bring your friends to the College Inn Pub and test your knowledge of the natural world. Compete with other teams for drink vouchers and other prizes. Teams are limited to 6 players. Cost: $5 per team.”
Friday, December 5: Nighttime Low Tide Beach Walks
From Seattle Aquarium: “Explore the beach during winter nighttime low tides with Beach Naturalist staff and volunteers. Discover what creatures we see on the beach at this time of year. Dress for the weather (bundle up!) and for tide pooling: boots, hats, gloves and a good flashlight are musts.”
Friday, December 5: The Seattle Alternative Boardgamers Meetup Group: Friday Gaming on Capitol HIll
From the Meetup page: “Fun and games on a Friday night. Come out and try a new game or bring a favorite to share with the group. We are always willing to teach the rules of a game you aren’t familiar with or learn a new game you bring in. (Note: This event occurs every two weeks.)”
Monday, December 8: Eastside Science Cafe: “Circadian Rhythms: Sleep And The Internal Clock In Children And Adolescents”
From the Pacific Science Center: “We notice our internal clocks a lot more when something throws them off track, whether that’s jet lag, a late night, or bright Seattle summer evenings. But how does it all really work, and how is it different in children and adolescents than in adults? Come to the December Eastside Science Café to discover more about circadian rhythms, what throws them off — and more importantly, what we can do to help keep kids and their internal clocks on a good track. With UW’s Michelle M. Garrison, Ph.D.”
Tuesday, December 9: Nerds Collide!: Movie and Trivia Night in Tacoma
From the Meetup page: “We’re hosting a movie night at Ah Badabing pizzeria. Every Tuesday we’ll be showing a DVD and engaging in some movie related trivia. We will start trivia at about 6:30 with 15 questions. The movie will start at 7:00 and there will be an intermission with 15 more trivia questions. We will reveal the winning team after the movie ends and the winning team will receive a free pizza on a following visit!
Movie Schedule/Trivia Schedule (Subject to change):
December 2: National Lampoons Christmas Vacation/Saturday Night Live Trivia
December 9: Nightmare Before Christmas/Holidays Trivia
December 16: Die Hard/Books to movies trivia
December 23: Muppet Christmas Carol/Muppet Trivia
December 30: Mixed Nuts/Nutty Trivia
Tuesday, December 9: Tacoma Science Cafe: “The Gold Rush In Space: How Asteroids Will Create The Biggest Economic Expansion The World Has Ever Seen”
From the Pacific Science Center: “In the future, history books will talk about this time as the moment when humans expanded economy and habitation into space and created the greatest economic expansion in human history…and asteroids were the catalyst that made it happen. This is why local asteroid mining company, Planetary Resources, is hard at work developing robotic spacecraft that will venture into the Solar System to find neighborhood asteroids in order to utilize them to help humans expand their economic sphere of influence into the Solar System. With Caitlin O’Keefe from Planetary Resources.”
Wednesday, December 10: Nerds Collide!: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Trivia Night
From the Meetup page: “Sharpen your Mr Pointys (or your teeth) and meet us at the Hell Mouth!
MAP THEATRE: Hosted by the inimitable Brandon Ryan, inscrutable Peggy Gannon and the incorrigable Shane Regan. For the 35th episode in our MAP Theatre trivia series, we bring you…BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Trivia Night!
General Admission:
$8 online advanced tickets
$10 at the door
And stick around afterwards to hang out and watch an episode of the show on the big screen after trivia! **PRIZES**
The MAP duo has put together some killer prize packages. Teams of 1-5 are welcome. Prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & last place, door prize, costume prize, and random other prizes for being awesome. You don’t have to be good at trivia … just come on down to ole Sunnydale and relive the Glorificus with us. **FOOD & DRINKS**
Central Cinema has table service; one of the things that makes it our favorite place.”
Wednesday, December 10 and Thursday, December 11: Mary Wells: What Would Mary Ann Do?
From U Bookstore: “When Gilligan’s Island first aired in 1964, no one could have predicted the lasting impact it would have. But thanks to continuous reruns, the classic comedy and its memorable characters are known and loved by everyone from baby boomers to millennials—especially everyone’s favorite farmer’s daughter Mary Ann. In What Would Mary Ann Do?, actress Dawn Wells reflects back on her iconic role. She shares fascinating facts and fun memories from the show and reveals how much Mary Ann and her values were shaped by her own. She even offers a look at how Mary Ann would respond to the changes of the past 50 years and issues of today. Whether Mary Ann was your first crush or you’ve always thought the two of you would be great friends, join us for the chance to meet the woman who brought her to life at this special presentation and book signing with Wells.”
Friday, December 12: GeekGirlCon Board Game Night at Wayward Coffeehouse
From the Meetup page: “Do you love board games and enjoy teaching others how to play? Explore the board/card game hobby and meet folks happy to teach you their favorite board games! No pressure though, you can just come and play with folks who love playing games. And the best part about the GeekGirlCon game nights with our friends at Wayward? They are absolutely FREE with no cover charge!
Our group is inclusive and totally newbie-friendly. We play a wide range of modern board and card games as well as some classics. You might find King of Tokyo, Völuspá, Alien Frontiers,Locke & Key, Coup, Tokaido, The Resistance, Skull and Roses,Settlers of Catan, 7 Wonders, Toc Toc Woodman, FLUXX and many more!
Bring a game with you or just bring yourself. Join GeekGirlCon staffers, make some new friends, play some games, and enjoy some delicious organic, fair trade, and shade-grown coffee. There are also local pastries and vegetarian/vegan treats, if you get hungry during all that gameplay.”
Saturday, December 13: Double Jump!: Northgate Drawing Meetup
From the Meetup page: “Check out our brand-new Northgate drawing meet-up at the fabulous Dolce Impressions craft store (yes, that magical, mythical place where they carry EVERY COLOR OF COPIC SKETCH MARKER and sell them for $5.25 each!! XD).
Drop in for a fun, low-key afternoon of drawing time, group sketching games, and some anime/manga/geekery shop talk with your fellow artistic fanfolk. Bring along your sketchbooks, and also any favorite manga/artbooks and anything else you want to share with fellow fans, and let’s have a great time inspiring each other to be creative. 🙂
Attendance is capped at 10 for now (we’ll see how table space goes at this new location). So please do RSVP–the first 10 folks are in!”
Sunday, December 14: Wendy Liu Book Release Party
From U Bookstore: “In 1979, the U.S. and China officially established full diplomatic relations, paving the way for increased communication and interaction between the two countries and their citizens. In this collection of essays, Wendy Liu shares the stories of Washingtonians visiting China for the first time. Depicting visits as early as 1973 and as recent as 2008, the personal stories provide insights into both changing American attitudes towards China and changes in China’s political, cultural, and technological landscape. As we celebrate the book’s release at a launch party with Liu, we look forward to exploring her intimate look at Chinese-American relations even further.”
Wednesday, December 17: AWIS “Women in Game Design”
Recreational gaming makes up a huge part of the game design industry, but our love of electronic gaming is also driving rapid
innovation in the way that humans interact with and through computers, and research into the ways we learn and educate. However,
most games and the science around them are skewed towards the male experience because women only make up 11% of game designers.
Please join Seattle AWIS to discuss the broad scope of games design and research, and the emerging role of women in this
industry with our distinguished panelists:
Kim Swift, Senior Designer at Amazon Game Studios;
Holly Hirzel, Senior Producer and Program Manager at Microsoft Studios (XBOX),
Eleanor O’Rourke, PhD candidate at the Center for Game Science at the University of Washington Computer Science and Engineering Department, and
Jen Sward, Associate Dean and Principle Lecturer at DigiPen Institute of Technology.
Our panelists will discuss their specific programs, their research into human-computer interaction and game software design and
production, and their experiences working as women in the computer science industry.
Friday, December 26: GeekGirlCon Board Game Night at Wayward Coffeehouse
From the Meetup page: “Do you love board games and enjoy teaching others how to play? Explore the board/card game hobby and meet folks happy to teach you their favorite board games! No pressure though, you can just come and play with folks who love playing games. And the best part about the GeekGirlCon game nights with our friends at Wayward? They are absolutely FREE with no cover charge!
Our group is inclusive and totally newbie-friendly. We play a wide range of modern board and card games as well as some classics. You might find King of Tokyo, Völuspá, Alien Frontiers,Locke & Key, Coup, Tokaido, The Resistance, Skull and Roses,Settlers of Catan, 7 Wonders, Toc Toc Woodman, FLUXX and many more!
Bring a game with you or just bring yourself. Join GeekGirlCon staffers, make some new friends, play some games, and enjoy some delicious organic, fair trade, and shade-grown coffee. There are also local pastries and vegetarian/vegan treats, if you get hungry during all that gameplay.”
Friday, December 26: Green Lake Star Party
Saturday, December 27: Paramount Park Star Party
From the Seattle Astronomical Society: “The SAS organizes monthly star parties at Green Lake and Paramount Park which are free and open to the public. People of all ages and background, including children, are welcome. These events offer to all the opportunity for telescopic viewing of sky objects as well as educational interaction of experienced, knowledgeable astronomers with each other and with participants who may have limited or minimal understanding of astronomy. A typical star party gathering features observing through at least two or more different types of telescopes provided by SAS members along with the opportunity to ask questions, to discuss the observation process, and to learn about many astronomical topics: solar system objects, deep space objects, constellations, types of telescopes, and any other topic of interest.”
If you have any geeky events you would like to see on Geek About Town, email shubz@geekgirlcon.com. Please note that we reserve the right to include or exclude events from our list.
