Robothon This Weekend

If the idea of battling robots doesn't get your blood pumping, then we just don't understand you. With the Free Museum Day going on tomorrow we may go to this on Sunday, but it's a guarantee that at some point spanning_time will be attending Robothon. Here's the copy:

The Robothon is a national event that showcases the capabilities and technological developments in robotics from the amateur robotics community. At this event, people from around the world come together to present new robotic technologies, share ideas, meet fellow robotic enthusiasts, show off their robotic creations, and compete in many robotic competitions and activities.
The Robothon is FREE and open to the public.

The main goal of Robothon is to promote and educate the general public that science and technology is fun and exciting for all ages.

Robothon: Two full days of activities! Saturday & Sunday, Center House, Seattle Center, Seattle, Washington
10:00 am - 5:00 pm

The Latest Updates in RPS (and one unrelated thing)

Last week's usage of spanning_time's "expertise" in the paper for their story on the local resurgence of Rock Paper Scissors was funny. This week we were informed that our expertise also shows up in the September issue of Seattle Metropolitan for the same topic. We are apparently Seattle's go-to person for all matters RPS. We are as confused as we are amused by this. If anyone knows how to best leverage this notoriety, leave it in the comments. Thus far we've come up with:

1) Focus on esotericism
2) ???????
3) Profit!

In other news, Rocketboom has video coverage from the World RPS championships in Toronto. While the event itself is worthy of all the attention it receives, we found ourselves most drawn to the various t-shirts on display. Watch the video, and like us, yearn for the day when we can make trips to these events on some sort of "official business." [via endquote]

Lastly, spanning_timer and hardest of the hardcore RPS enthusiast Buster managed to get himself a guest spot on Lifehacker today, for a great post on setting attainable goals. Maybe he can help us figure out how with the things mentioned above...

SLOG Thievery

What better way to come back from a slow period than with some "repurposed content?" Well, in this case it can't be helped, since the SLOG has managed to catch wind of two very spanning_time notable events.

1) Some shoe obsessives are waiting outside Niketown for some new Jordan releases. spanning_time doesn't have much appreciaton for Jordans (they never did anything for us really), but this is still a group of people indulging their obsession, and well, we can't hate on that. We know if this were the right shoe we'd be right there with them.

2) Free Museums Saturday. It's been a while since we've made an art-related post, and this is an offer we're planning to utilize, so we're sharing the wealth.

This Saturday, September 30, is Museum Day, where participating museums across the country have a free day. The local museums taking part are: Henry Art Gallery, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Nordic Heritage Museum, Museum of History & Industry, Museum of Flight, and Wing Luke Asian Museum. Admission is also free at the Tacoma Art Museum and the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma.

You must have a Museum Day Card (good for two people) to get in free. Get it here.

Pillow Fight Club at Rebar

Pillow Fight Club (B.Y.O.P.)
1. tell everyone about pillow fight club
2. get drunk and beat on your friends
3. don't be an aggro asshole

@ Rebar, Saturday 9/23, 10pm

Unofficial Rule #4: don't forget to remove your glasses.

A Socially Responsible spanning_time Event

Go vote. Sure it's only the primary, but it still matters. Go make your voice heard (unless you've already made it heard via absentee, in which case you should treat yourself to a cookie. Actually, you should treat yourself to the cookie anyway. Cookies are tasty.)

Regarding Today

Today is:
1) Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrr!!

2) The day Rock Paper Scissors goes mainstream. Prepare to be challenged anywhere - at the bus stop, in the grocery store, in line at the coffee shop.

Weekend Preview

Here are four things of spanning_time interest this weekend (we already mention the Post Alley Block Party):

Rock Paper Scissors Tournament - Eventually we're due to make it past the first round. This time we're going with no strategy and all intuition.

Hump2! - It's local porn. If you've looked at anything related to The Stranger the last week or so, you already know all about it (and the fact that every viewing is sold out). Next year we're planning to set up a social experiment and head there for a first date. We believe hilarity would ensue.

Star Trek Convention - We're still in geek-recovery from PAX, so we couldn't handle this one. With PAX we were at least close to the target demographic. In this case, we're nowhere near it.

The Fair in Puyallup - We think we've found our next short-term food obsession. Deep fried Twinkies. We're headed to the Fair (and the Twinkies) next week, but if you're up to the crowds, you can head there for opening weekend.

*Extra Bonus Event!*
Northwest Salsa Congress - We think it'll be like watching that reality TV show, but in real life, and with more sequins. It's a chance to go watch people far more graceful than you are. Hooray for feeling inadequate!

Post Alley Block Party Saturday

This Saturday is the Post Alley Block Party, sponsored by Post Alley Pizza and Las Margaritas. Sounds like a lot going on, and it's all free, but here are the two points of interest from the press release:

- From Noon to three pm, kids can enter a paper airplane flying contest,take swings at a Piñata (full of gift certificates and goodies fromlocal merchants) and be entertained by street musicians, magicians, aMariachi band and clowns will come courtesy of the Petting ZooPlayers.

- Post Alley Pizza will be holding a "pizza eating contest" at 2:30 and prizes will be awarded for the most pizza eaten the fastest.

We're hoping the paper airplane contest gets opened up, and we have to admit to being more into watching the pizza eating contest than participating, since we're still recovering from Bumbershoot cuisine.

RPS Tournament Information Addendum

In our haste to bring you the scoop on the upcoming Rock Paper Scissors tournaments, we neglected to mention where the events are being held. Here's the updated information, with location included (we managed to get it right when we posted it to Upcoming.org). We've also checked on the first to ensure that it's open to the public (it is).

Sunday, September 10, 9pm-11pm @ Jillian's. Part of the "Bartender's Ball" (we don't really know what that means).

Friday, October 13 (ooh, eerie), 7pm-9pm @ The Baltic Room. Will bad luck befall our competitors, allowing us to finally get past the first round? We shall see.

Bumbershoot's Over: Now What?

Today we had funnel cake. We managed to wait until today, and it was all we knew it would be. We went for the Supreme, which comes topped with powdered sugar, whipped cream, and "strawberry" sauce. We found a place to sit and ate away. It was crispy, soft, sweet, and of course a bit messy. We took our time and made delicate work of our funnel cake, managing to keep the dropping powdered sugar off of our shoes (Nike Cortezes naturally). We finished the whole thing on our own, then walked around a bit feeling satisfaction in our discomfort. We're pretty sure we can wait another few years before the funnel cake craving makes a return. In the meantime, we're not sure what the next obsession will be. (How's that for a cliffhanger?)

A Bumbershoot Lesson

One tip for you readers, especially those of you on Capitol Hill (Capitol Hill Blog, feel free to steal this post).

If you're headed to Bumbershoot on a nice sunny day, you might be inclined to think "Hey, I'll walk there. It'll be good for me." And you'd be right. The walk to Bumbershoot is hardly painful, and with an iPod is a pleasurable experience. But realize this: The trip to Bumbershoot is done early in the day, when you've got plenty of energy and enthusiasm. Also, the trip to Bumbershoot is downhill. After eight hours on your feet and a disgusting mélange of crab cakes, potato chips, and Red Vines in your belly, the walk back home is nothing short of a death march. You'll be left cursing yourself for your poor judgment. Should you choose to venture back to the Hill by way of Denny, your cursing will increase ten-fold. Don't worry about how we know this. Just trust us on this one.

All You Need To Know About Bumbershoot

THEY HAVE FUNNELCAKE!!!!