TechXploration: Unlearn How Things Work

TechEploration is a meetup group that plugs you into the latest conversations about emerging tech, trends, and issues with the industry's top thought leaders. They also offer food, music, and networking opportunities along with their events. For more info on their latest event, just continue reading or head over to their webpage over here.

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Jay Silver will join us to launch the "invention kit for everyone": MaKey MaKey!

RSVP now to reserve your spot!

Food and Craft Beer @ 6:47 PM

Presentation, Demos and Q&A @ 7:19 PM

PayPal Town Hall

2161 North 1st Street, San Jose, CA (map)

What is MaKey MaKey?

Brought to life by an over 2,000% funded Kickstarter campaign, MaKey MaKey is "an invention kit for the 21st century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. It's a simple Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts doing art, engineering, and everything in between."

Wait, I'm a TechXplorer so I need more technical info than that...* (see below)

Ever played Mario on Play-Doh or Piano on Bananas? Alligator clip the Internet to your world and start inventing the future.

About Jay Silver:

• Creator of Drawdio, Singing Fingers, Scratch and MaKey MaKey!
• Maker Research Scientist, Intel
• PhD student, MIT Media Lab

Come Xplore:

• How the Maker Movement is transforming the prototyping of interactive systems
• What Intel and others are doing to support and learn from the Maker Movement
• Why you shouldn't (but could!) use your cat as a game controller =)

RSVP now to reserve your spot!

*MaKey MaKey is...

MaKey MaKey is a printed circuit board with an ATMega32u4 microcontroller running Arduino Leonardo firmware. It uses the Human Interface Device (HID) protocol to communicate with your computer, and it can send keypresses, mouse clicks, and mouse movements. For sensing closed switches on the digital input pins, we use high resistance switching to make it so you can close a switch even through materials like your skin, leaves, and play-doh. We use a pull-up resistor of 10-50 mega ohms. This technique attracts noise on the input, so we use a moving window averager to lowpass the noise in software, saving money on hardware filtering. There are six inputs on the front of the board, which can be attached to via alligator clipping, soldering to the pads, or any other method you can think of. There are another 12 inputs on the back, 6 for keyboard keys, and 6 for mouse motion, which you can access with jumpers via the female headers. If you wish to use a different set of keys, or otherwise change the behavior of your MaKey MaKey, you can simply reprogram it using the Arduino environment. By cutting a trace on the back of the board, you can disconnect the large pull-up resistors if you want to, which would be necessary in a small minority of Arduino projects. more info here.

Assyrian Food Festival Aug 18-19

There are a myriad of ethnic festivals in San Jose, but this is one I have never heard of before. This weekend in Willow Glen the Assyrian Food Festival kicks off. There is no entrance fee and there's even a free shuttle from Tamien Station. The food is in the Mediterranean genre with staples such as hummus, dolmas, and kebabs along with some unique cultural dishes. Sounds really interesting!

The festival will be centered around the Assyrian Church of the East on 680 Minnesota Avenue. For more festival info have a look at their website.

Source: The Merc

The Screwtape Letters Comes to San Jose

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Chicago, IL -THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS, the provocative and wickedly funny theatrical adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel about spiritual warfare from a demon’s point of view, comes to San Jose for two performances only.  The production will run at the San Jose Performing Arts Center, 255 Almaden Boulevard, Saturday, September 22 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The National Tour ofTHE SCREWTAPE LETTERS kicked off after a hit nine-month run at the Westside Theatre in New York City where it entertained 50,000 theatergoers.  Prior to that,THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS was a sold out hit in Chicago and Washington D. C. where it ran for a combined eight months.

Now in its second smash year,THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS’ National Tour has delighted capacity audiences in 50 major cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Seattle, Dallas and Houston.   Over 200,000 have seen this production on tour, which continues to attract a national following.

Associated Press callsTHE SCREWTAPE LETTERS “Devilishly funny!” The Chicago Sun-Times hails the productionas “Smart, sizzling entertainment!;” The Boston Globe raves that it is“Engrossing and Entertaining!” andThe Chicago Tribune says THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS is “Very smart...richly rewarding...exuberant theatricality!”

THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS creates a topsy-turvy morally inverted universe set in an eerily stylish office in hell, where God is called the “Enemy” and the devil is referred to as “Our Father below.”  The play follows His Abysmal Sublimity Screwtape, Satan’s top psychiatrist (due to his profound understanding of human nature), and his slavish creature-demon Toadpipe, as they train an apprentice demon, Wormwood, on how to ruin the life and damn the soul of an unsuspecting human on earth.  Screwtape is played by award-winning actor Max McLean.

Along withThe Chronicles of Narnia (includingThe Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe),The Great Divorce andMere Christianity, THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS is still one of Lewis’ most popular and influential works.  The book's piercing insight into human nature and the lucid and humorous way Lewis makes his readers squirm in self-recognition made it an immediate success.  When first published in 1942 it brought worldwide fame to this little-known Oxford don including the cover ofTime Magazine.

The idea for Screwtapefirst came to Lewis after listening to Hitler’s Reichstag Speech on July 19, 1940, while it was simultaneously translated on BBC Radio.  Lewis wrote“I don’t know if I’m weaker than other people, but it is a positive revelation to me how while the speech lasts it is impossible not to waver just a little… Statements which I know to be untrue all but convince me…if only the man says them unflinchingly.”

Lewisdedicated it to his close friend J. R. R. Tolkien who had expressed to Lewis that delving too deeply into the craft of evil would have consequences.  Lewis admitted as much when he wrote “Though I had never written anything more easily, I never wrote with less enjoyment . . . though it was easy to twist one’s mind into the diabolical attitude, it was not fun, or not for long. The work into which I had to project myself while I spoke through Screwtape was all dust, grit, thirst, and itch. Every trace of beauty, freshness, and geniality had to be excluded.”

THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS is produced by New York City based Fellowship for the Performing Arts. Max McLean serves as Artistic Director.  Executive Producer and General Manager is Ken Denison of Aruba Productions. Scenic Design is by Cameron Anderson, Costumes by Michael Bevins, Lighting Design by Jesse Klug, and Original Music and Sound Design by John Gromada.

The performance schedule forTHE SCREWTAPE LETTERS is Saturday, September 22 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.  Tickets are available in the following price tiers: $59, $49 and $39.  There are a limited number of premium seats available for $89 and student seats for $25 (student ID required).  For groups of 10 or more (including student groups) call 866.476.8707.

To purchase tickets, visitwww.ScrewtapeonStage.com,call 408.792.4111 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p,m,or visit the box office at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, 150 W San Carlos St., San Jose (in advance) or theSan Jose Performing Arts Center box office, 255 Almaden Boulevard, San Jose (day of).    

Content Magazine Pick-up Party Tomorrow

My favorite publication is having a "Pick-Up Party" over at Willow Glen's newest Gastropub, The Table. This eatery is owned by Jim Stump (A.P. Stumps & Los Gatos Brewing Co.) so my expectations are high for the food and drinks. Hop on in anytime between 6 and 8pm, pick up the best San Jose-oriented magazine on the planet, throw back a few drinks/appetizers, and hang out with the awesome staff of Content!

The address is 1110 Willow Street and the Facebook page for the event is here.

Corazon Flamenco at Santa Clara University!

Arte Flamenco de San Jose is throwing their annual flamenco show next week in Santa Clara University's Mayer Theater. Past performances have been stellar and this is definitely something worth adding to your calendar. Next week's event is also the sole source of funding for this nonprofit organization, so the proceeds are going to a great cause! Full info below:

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Can't make it to Seville Spain this year for the Flamenco Bienal?  Come to Santa Clara to fill your soul with flamenco music, song and dance!

Arte Flamenco de San José, a non-profit organization since 1992, provides an opportunity for student dancers, semi-professionals, and professionals to exhibit their talents in our annual show, "Corazon Flamenco" - The Heart of Flamenco, on Sunday, August 26, 2012 at 3:00pm at the Louis B. Mayer Theatre at Santa Clara University.  Call 408-280-5332 for tickets, $20 General Seating or $25 for Limited Reserved Seating.

Join us, as we bring to you a little bit of Spain, on a Sunday afternoon with a beautiful concert of Flamenco guitar, song and dance with colorful traditional costumes and choreography.  The concert features professionals and the students of Arte Flamenco de San José and stars Carola Zertuche, singers Roberto Zamora and Regina Elmore will be accompanied by guitarists David Gutierrez and El Espigote.

DevineGrind Coffee is Open Downtown

I have several posts coming about new eateries in Downtown San Jose. There have been a ton of new places that have opened recently, many of which are exceptional and unique to Downtown San Jose. I'm hoping that DevineGrind will be one of those places. While I haven't visited this new coffee shot yet, so far I have heard good things and it has a great 4 star rating on Yelp.

DevineGrind sits at the corner of Devine and 2nd Streets, near St. James Park (an area currently under-served by restaurants). They serve coffee, espresso, tea, Italian sodas, smoothies, freshly squeezed juices, pastries, and sandwiches. DevineGrind also has an enclosed patio area and free WiFi. The shop is family owned and the service is standing out in the reviews so far. These are exactly the types of places we should try to support versus the cookie-cutter cafes like Starbucks and Peets.

Thanks to Luke (who also provided the photo) and Silvia for the tip.

Happy Birthday Car 124!

Come celebrate the 100th birthday of of History San Jose's signature red Trolley #124 today in History Park. All of the details are below:

Starts: Sunday, August 12th 2012 at 11:00 am
Ends: Sunday, August 12th 2012 at 4:00 pm

Part of the Family Days Series: History San Jose Members get in free to all four events!

Join Online

Happy Birthday Car 124! The second in a series of four Family Days will be Sunday, August 12th, when we celebrate Trolley #124’s 100th Birthday. Ride this signature red Trolley, hop aboard a Horse Drawn Car, or try pumping the Hand-car. Come see our Vintage Vehicles including fire engines, the stage coach, one of the first electric cars, and Model T’s.

Kids can create crafts, and everyone will enjoy the live music of the Peninsula Banjo Band at 3:00 on the plaza. Even the San Jose Giants will help us celebrate! We will be offering free tickets to that evening’s game to anyone attending the birthday party (while supplies last). Food will be available for purchase.

Location: History Park
Admission: History San Jose Members are free! $8 per adult, $5 for seniors and students with a valid ID. Children five and under are free.
Hours: 11am – 5pm; Main Activities 12pm – 4pm

Two San Jose Petitions

Today I would like to plug two change.org petitions floating around related to San Jose. The first is a petition to save the Mount Umunhum Radar Tower pictured below, which is a historical remnant from the cold war. The current plan is to tear down down all buildings on site before converting this area to public use, with the potential exception of this tower if enough people speak out. We do not have many physical icons or landmarks in the south bay, so if you want to fight to save this one just head over here.

The second one is entitled "San Francisco Giants stop holding San Jose Hostage: Give San Jose back to the A's so MLB and the city of San Jose can thrive." Yup, I think that title pretty much sums it up. You can sign this one right here.

Hat tip to John for submitting these two.