Author: CoolDMZ

"X-ray vision to see in between / Where's my kimono and my time machine?"

Maker Faire: not just for steam punks!

This weekend the Bay Area plays host to the fifth annual Maker Faire, held at the San Mateo County Event Center:

[Maker Faire] celebrates arts, crafts, engineering, green design, food, music, science and technology and brings together communities who embrace the DIY (do-it-yourself) spirit.

From butter to Halloween animatronics to MIDI controllers, there are programs on making just about anything you can think of.

Maker Faire
San Mateo County Event Center
May 22, 10am – 8pm
May 23, 10am – 6pm

What passes for science these days?

Thousands of intermediate grade elementary school students will be at the Capitol building on May 19 for “State Scientist Day.” The event is sponsored by the California Association of Professional Scientists, a group that one assumes knows a thing or two about science. The kids who attend this event, however, will probably still only know literally a thing or two about science when it is over, as some of the topics covered are “Fishing in the City” and “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle.”

I’m stretching a bit, as the other topics on State Scientist Day agenda do sound like hard science — chemistry, wildlife tracking and earthquakes for example. This event is my hook into discussing something I’ve been bugged by lately: the sorry state of science education in California.

Continue reading “What passes for science these days?”

RIP, wandering emu

Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy
How about this emu next
Creative Commons License photo credit: Vanessa Lynn.

Slow blog week, so let’s go ahead and talk about the poor “dispatched” emu. News10 (which is one of several news organizations which may or may not have run this same story at different times some of which may have been earlier than the posted time on the article on News10) reports:

SACRAMENTO, CA – CHP officials said despite attempts to chase, trap — even use a Taser — to subdue a stubborn loose emu, officers were ultimately forced to kill the wayward bird when the animal seemed determined to run into traffic on Interstate 5 near Sacramento International Airport Tuesday afternoon.

An important tidbit for would-be criminals is found further down on the page:

[T]he emu’s thick layer of feathers left the bird feeling little to no effect from the Tasers despite three separate jolts

Make us laugh, Sac Raggers…

Opa! Opa! all-you-can eat celebration May 18

Had a big family meal at Opa! Opa! on Saturday night, where a good time and a great deal of food was had by all, as per usual. Afterward, I was talking to owner Phil Courey outside the restaurant and he mentioned that May 18 they will be presenting their annual all-you-can-eat celebration! Twelve bucks for your fill of dolmas, gyros, falafel, spanakopita, and the rest of Opa’s delicacies.

He promises that the spread will run the length of the front window, and one assumes the line of customers will run the length of Jay Street to get in on that action.

Opa! Opa!
5644 J St.
All-you-can-eat buffet – $12
May 18, 2010, 5-9:30 PM

May is Bike Month in Sacramento

bike month sacramento 2007
cc by neighborhoods.org

Two-wheeled locomotion is all the rage this month in the Sacramento area. May Is Bike Month, sponsored by various local municipalities, public transit agencies, and government groups, is basically a massive jog-a-thon for cycling nuts, only instead of the marching band getting new uniforms, we all just get more time to enjoy cycling. The program’s goal for the area is to log one MEELLION miles, and they already have close to 1.25 million pledged.

Continue reading “May is Bike Month in Sacramento”

Music Circus director nominated for Tony


Marcia Milgrom Dodge

Marcia Milgrom Dodge, who directed “Guys and Dolls” at Music Circus last summer, was nominated today for a Tony Award for her directing of the revival of “Ragtime” on Broadway. She is the first director involved with Music Circus to be nominated for a Tony.

Dodge will return to Music Circus this summer to direct “Oklahoma!” in the 60th anniversary season under the tent (do they still call it that?) The Tony Awards are blowin’ up your television set on June 13th and I predict that “Glee” will somehow win an award.

Everybody always blames the driver

(Paging SinghCity…) The latest car-v-building incident has all the same details you’ve come to expect from this type of story: a car, a building, the moving one crashes into the stationary one. But this one has a twist… it was the driver’s fault! From KCRA.com:

SUV Hits Sacramento Convenience Store: Driver Error Blamed

Most of the time, the convenience store has it coming, what with all that delicious junk food just sitting there for the crashing.

Saturday is Free Comic Book Day!

Heads’ up, geeks: Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, which is a perfect day to head on down to your local comic book shop and see what’s new in paneled graphic entertainment. This year features a slew of interesting titles:

  • a mini issue of “Mouse Guard,” a spectacular book about a society of mice
  • “Iron Man/Thor” written by Matt Fraction and drawn by John Romita, Jr. which leads into the next chapter in the Marvel Universe
  • a “Green Hornet” issue written by Kevin Smith and tying into the upcoming feature film
  • an issue of “Atomic Robo“, an entertaining book about a WWII era robotic man
  • the first issue of “Irredeemable,” about a superhero who flips the switch and becomes a super villain

Continue reading “Saturday is Free Comic Book Day!”