Going to be in Washington, D.C. in May? Then you might want to attend the second annual The Future Is Here Festival at the Smithsonian on May 16th, 17th and 18th. Some of the speakers will include Patrick Stewart, Brian Greene, Adam Steltzner, George Takei, Stewart Brand, Sara Seager, Kim Stanley Robinson, David Brin, and The Mythbusters… and that’s just on one day! At the higher ticket levels the event also includes priority seating on Saturday night for the national premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past at the National Museum of American History, and Patrick will be taking questions from the audience afterwards.
My friend Shawn just celebrated his birthday the other week, and this is the cake his wife got for him. It is always a good thing to be appreciated for who you really are; happy birthday, Shawn!
To everyone who did make it this year, from all of us who wish we were there: Happy Mardi Gras, New Orleans! Hope you get the Baby in your King Cake! And nothing really says Mardi Gras quite so much as a song or three from Professor Longhair; enjoy.
My car got buried under the 19 inches of snow that fell last night and today, and then it changed to rain which made me hope it would wash it all away so I wouldn’t have to shovel. 30 minutes later it changed back to snow, laying just enough liquid water down to put a layer of ice over everything when the temperature dropped again. The folks on TV say we can expect another 4 to 6 inches of snow before it ends tonight. This year has kind of made me wish I owned a sled or a pair of skies, so I could get some entertainment out of the unusual weather. At the point I took this picture we were at about the 12 inches mark.
My own animated goodby to 2013, and just in time for the new year, you can grab a free download of the APOD’s 2014 calendar, the printable PDF from Astronomy Picture of the Day. You want to select the one for your hemisphere depending on which side of the equator you are on, and if you run it on your tablet or other electronic device it is filled with clickable links to the original images.
If you like gaming, check out Did You Know Gaming, they have a lot more than just this history of Doctor Who references in games. Their other site (sister site? friends doing similar stuff?) is Video Game Facts, which also has a ton of cool stuff. And yes, I will get over all the Doctor Who posts in a while, but it is still the 50th anniversary and I am still a bit stoked.