Eric Wilner: upcoming events

Once again we brave the elements atop the local hills to prove our mettle, or just work off our overindulgences, on the first day of the year. We'll start from Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve and venture into Russian Ridge, Monte Bello, and/or Long Ridge. If the weather's nice, we can go to the top of Borel Hill to see what the Bay Area looks like in the new year. We'll probably cover about 7-8 miles, returning to the carpool point around midday. Dress for the weather (rain does not cancel), and bring water and trail munchies. Meet at carpool point #6.

The world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were laid on stream or stone,
When... Oh, sorry, that's Durin's Day, not Darwin's.

Anyway, it's Darwin's birthday! I'm not doing anything special for it this year, but check out the Darwin Day site.

The fifteenth day of February is an occasion for purifying your city and warding off evil spirits. Does your city council sacrifice two goats and a dog every year? If your city is chronically impure and overrun by evil spirits, perhaps it's time to revive the ancient ritual!

What better way to spend a weekend than to hang out in a hotel full of singing science-fiction fans? Consonance is the convention for Northern California filksingers; many Big Name Filkers from out of the area also show up. See the official website.

Sound the pibroch loud and high
From John O'Groats to the Isle of Skye!
Let all the Clans their slogan cry
And rise tae follow Charlie!

The Jacobite Rebellion ended on the 16th of April, 1746, as Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highlanders, armed with claymores, marched across a bog toward a line of English troops armed with muskets. There's a lesson about asymmetrical warfare in here, which some people still don't appear to have learned.

Big gathering of crazy people of a fannish bent. Literary science fiction fans, Trekkies, SCAdians, costumers, etc. See the official Baycon web site.

A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a brush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

Carry a towel with you today, May 25, in memory of Douglas Adams. www.towelday.kojv.net

On the eighth of June in the year 793 of the Common Era, the Northmen came from the sea to pillage the monastery at Lindisfarne. This marked the beginning of the Viking age, which officially ended in 1066 with the Battle of Hastings.

At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
What say the reeds at Runnymede?
The lissom reeds that give and take
That bend so far, but never break.
They keep the sleepy Thames awake
With tales of John at Runnymede.
-- Rudyard Kipling

Magna Carta was signed on the 15th of June in the year 1215 of the Common Era. Go out and overthrow a king today!

We know well what life can tell:
If you would not perish, then grow!
And today our fragile flesh and steel
Have laid their hands on a vaster wheel,
With all of the stars to know

That the Eagle has landed;
Tell your children when.
Time won't drive us down to dust again.

- Leslie Fish, "Hope Eyrie"

Apollo 11 landed 20 July 1969.
Apollo 17 returned to Earth 19 December 1972, and no one's been back since.
History: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo.html

Arrr! The Nineteenth o'September be Interrrrnational Talk Like A Pirate Day! A day for celebratin' the life o' the brigand! When timbers are shivered and lillies are livered, and every last buckle is swashed!

The Viking Age, which officially began with the sacking of the monastery at Lindisfarne in 792 CE, officially ended with the Battle of Hastings, 14 October 1066 CE. See my hat for details.

In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very unhappy, and been widely regarded as a bad move.

According to Bishop Ussher's calculations, the Universe was created at noon (no, I don't know what time zone) on the 23rd of October, 4004 BCE.

The long-range weather forecast calls for a fine winter's day with a possible asteroid impact. How many times in your lifetime do you get a chance to watch an asteroid hit the Earth? Let's hike up to a mountaintop and get a good view! Location and time TBD as the forecast firms up.

There's another possible asteroid impact on the long-range forecast. This is one to watch from a safe distance! We'll look for a good (high) vantage point, and watch as the cities crumble, the tsunami washes the coast away, and/or whatever other disasters befall. Bring hiking boots, binoculars, and survival gear & supplies for 3 years.