This year the Geminid meteor shower peaks on the 14th, but numbers will be high from December 13th through the 15th. If we get clear skies the viewing should include fainter meteors since the moon will not be overhead during the event, which means 60 to 100 visible per hour, or better than 1 a minute on average. If you haven’t enjoyed a meteor shower before, stop by Meteor Watch to learn the basics. The really short version of the basics are be comfortable (chair, appropriate clothing, munchies and drinks, etc.) and keep looking at the sky.
It is October 13th, which means it is Ada Lovelace Day, the woman who invented computer programming in the early 1800s. There are quite a few postings on Twitter celebrating the women of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), along with radio and TV programs like this one from the BBC.
This weekend is World Maker Faire hosted by NYSCI, the New York Hall of Science. Don’t let the name make you think this is the big one; they call it World Maker Faire to honor the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York where NYSCI was founded. It is still large, since last year they had 85,000 visitors to the event. These things are a lot of fun, as creative people show off what they have been coming up with and inspire others to make things as well. There are close to a hundred different Maker Faire’s around the world, if you can’t make this one look at the Maker Faire web site and find one near you.
SIGGRAPH is going on right now, from August 9th to the 13th, and many of us are missing it. Here are a few videos explaining a couple of the tracks. While it isn’t as good as being there, a number of these individual programs will hopefully be captured and uploaded to their official SIGGRAPH You Tube Channel soon. While we wait for that, enjoy these teasers.
Since 1832 the Strasburg Rail Road has been running steam trains through Pennsylvania, and is the oldest continuously running steam powered train service in North America. So it is only fitting that in October it will be hosting the Steampunk unLimited, a festival of musicians, craftsmen, authors, and cosplayers taking place in and around the massive trains. Some of the musicians include Abney Park (the first track here), UnWoman (the second song on the page), and Frenchy and the Punk (the final track here). I couldn’t find their author listing, or I would have posted it here.
A UK site all about TV and Movies known as Flicks And The City was at Comic Con the other week, and apparently got permission to record and post a number of the panels there. The one I am posting here has all 5 of the DC Comics TV panels, for the shows Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham, and Supergirl. This isn’t the only panel they have posted, and they have a lot of other content including reviews and interviews and trailers of various types. Check out their web site and their You Tube Channel for many more videos worth watching.