Happy New Year!
Publishing a little earlier today to give you time to get down to the Polar Bear Plunge 🙂
Happening This Week
Mon. 1/1 11:00 am
Polar Bear Plunge
Free
Matthews Beach Park (Matthews Beach)
The most invigorating way to start your new year. “Jump in the water with a ginormous group of revelers welcoming in the new year with a sense of rejuvenation and renewal as we emerge. Costumes are festive energy are encouraged and we’ll help out with music and lots of photo ops. Warm refreshments will be served and a limited edition Badge of Courage will be awarded to all those who submerge in the icy waters of Lake Washington.”
#Community
Mon. 1/1 4:34 pm
Supermoon
Free
east/northeast sky
“A supermoon is a Moon that is full when it is also at or near its closest point in its orbit around Earth. Since the Moon’s orbit is elliptical, one side (apogee) is about 30,000 miles (50,000 km) farther from Earth than the other (perigee). Nearby perigee full Moons appear about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than full Moons that occur near apogee in the Moon’s orbit.”
#Science!
Tues. 1/2 7:00 pm
Science in the City: The Future of Transportation
$5.00
Pacific Science Center (Seattle Center)
“Transportation is being fundamentally transformed by the ACES (Autonomous, Connected, Electric & Shared vehicles). For 100 years, the automobile didn’t change much, but now technology is reinventing transportation. In this talk, Bryan Mistele, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of INRIX, a leading provider of real-time transportation information, connected car services and analytics worldwide, will show how technology is already impacting how we think of transportation, and what it will mean for the future.”
#Science!
Thurs. 1/4 10:00 am
WordPress Freelancers Meetup
Free
Good Shepherd Center (Wallingford)
“January’s Meetup for WordPress Freelancers will look at Gutenberg and other 2018 Trends. Please take time to watch the WordCamp talk about Gutenberg if you didn’t hear it live. You can also install and beta test it. Bring your thoughts on what trends we’ll see in 2018.”
#WordPress
Thurs. 1/4 8:00 pm
Moth StorySLAM
$10.00
Fremont Abbey (Fremont)
“AMBITION: Prepare a five-minute story about keeping your eye on the prize! Clawing your way to the top, cut-throat tactics or just keeping your nose to the grindstone. Practice, practice, practice can get you to Carnegie Hall and beyond…but some have made it via sabotage, nepotism or other nefarious calculations! Tell us of the quest to be king or queen of the mountain.”
#SEATalks
Fri. 1/5 5:00 pm
1-2-3 Totusek, Sparks, Jones
Free
Latona Pub (Greenlake)
Jazz and world music with Leif Totusek (guitar), Phil Sparks (bass), and Larry Jones (drums).
#SeattleWorldBeat
Fri. 1/5 8:30 pm
Afrocop
Free
Triple Door Musiquarium (Downtown)
“Seattle trio Afrocop performs improvised soundscapes of soul, afrobeat, breakbeat, sci-fi and jazz. Chicago native Noel Brass Jr. formed the band as a means to express his psychedelic gospel leanings.”
#SeattleWorldBeat
Sat. 1/6 6:30 pm
Dingolay
Free
Pam’s Kitchen (Wallingford)
“Get the new year started with some nice music and the best Caribbean food in Seattle. We’ll have the one and only Jeff ‘Bongo’ Busch on drums!”
#SeattleWorldBeat
Next Week
Tues. 1/9 5:00 pm
Seattle Greendrinks
Free
Royal Drummer (Ballard)
“Join us for the first Greendrinks meet up of 2018 at Royal Drummer! We’ll be hearing from our friends over at Sustainable Queen Anne about what they’ve been up to.”
#Community
Tues. 1/9 5:30 pm
New Tech Seattle
$10-20.00
Impact Hub (Pioneer Square)
“New Tech is the Northwest’s largest tech community. We’re the place where you make meaningful connections, enjoy great food and drinks, learn from the industry’s best, and have a fun night out. Most importantly, you’ll join an engaging group of go-getters, developers, founders, and professionals, and discover the people, partners, organizations, and resources to help you build your dreams.”
#Tech
Tues. 1/9 6:00 pm
Social Impact Networking Happy Hour
Free
Optimism Brewing (Capitol Hill)
“A casual and fun networking opportunity for professionals interested in social impact careers with nonprofits, government, or socially responsible businesses. Whether you’re currently employed or job searching, come out to meet new people, build your network, and learn more about social sector work happening in Seattle.”
#Community
Tues. 1/9 7:30 pm
Daniel Ellsberg
$5.00
University Temple Church (U District)
“With developing international discussions of nuclear conflict, it’s critical that we gather context for the policies and legacies of nuclear weapons. In his book The Doomsday Machine former high level defense analyst and legendary whistle-blower David Ellsberg offers us a first-hand account of America’s nuclear program in the 1960s, highlighting how our nation’s nuclear strategy has not fundamentally changed since the eras of late Eisenhower and early Kennedy.”
#Civics
Wed. 1/10 5:00 pm
Hacker News 44
Free
Atlas Workbase (Queen Anne)
“We’re bringing in the new year with an original presentation from XBox Cofounder Ed Fries. Along with his work on the XBox, Ed directed the Microsoft games division for many years. He is now an advisor and board member to various gaming and VR companies.”
#Tech
Wed. 1/10 6:30 pm
Pundamonium: The Seattle Pun Slam
Free
Peddler Brewing (Ballard)
“Pundamonium is a pun slam. That’s a kind of contest. One by one, 10 contestants have two minutes each to make puns based on prompts they have received ahead of time. Each contestant is immediately judged by five audience judges. The top four contestants go head to head in a final pun-off.”
#HauteSeattle
Wed. 1/10 7:00 pm
The Nordic Theory of Everything
Free
Kane Hall (UW Campus)
“Survey after survey has shown that Nordic countries offer their citizens a higher quality of life than what Americans today are generally able to enjoy. Journalist Anu Partanen joins us to discuss some surprising lessons the United States could learn from the successes of Nordic countries on education, health, gender equality, children’s well-being, and overall happiness.”
#SEATalks
Wed. 1/10 7:30 pm
The Science of “Breaking Bad”
Free
Kane Hall (UW Campus)
“Donna J. Nelson, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oklahoma and science advisor for the hit TV series ‘Breaking Bad,’ speaks about her experiences in Hollywood and how the worlds of science and film intersect.”
#Science!
Wed. 1/10 7:30 pm
La Casita and Comfort Food
Free
Royal Room (Columbia City)
“La Casita with Comfort Food is a group that began after travels to Matanzas, Cuba. It first became a Sunday jam session at an apartment in N. Seattle, earning the name of La Casita due to the size of the place. Having a range of influences in the group, Casita brings passion and creativity to a variety of Latin Standards from Mambo to Cha Cha to Guajira and Boogaloo.”
#SeattleWorldBeat
Thurs. 1/11 6:00 pm
Constitutional Stress Test: Can the Democracy Survive the Current President?
Free
Seattle University (Capitol Hill)
“Seattle University’s Institute of Public Service is pleased to welcome Washington State’s Attorney General, Bob Ferguson and former U.S. Deputy Attorney General, Bill Ruckelshaus, to discuss the health of the American democracy. Seattle University’s Larry Hubbell and Joni Balter will facilitate the conversation.”
#Civics
Thurs. 1/11 7:00 pm
UX Book Club
Free
Ada’s Technical Books (Capitol Hill)
“We’re starting the new year off with the datavis classic, ‘The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” by Edward R. Tufte. This is a traditional book club style meeting where we chat about the book as a group (not an author event or presentation). Feel free to join even if you don’t get a chance to read the book!”
#Design
Sat. 1/13 10:00 am
WordPress Contributor Meetup
Free
Uptown Espresso (South Lake Union)
“Come hang out with other WordPress users, designers and developers and contribute to the WordPress project. No previous experience needed – you just show up and we’ll help you find something to do.”
#WordPress
Sat. 1/13 2:00 pm
WordPress Study Group for Women
Free
Wallingford Community Senior Center (Wallingford)
“Women, this meetup is just for you! Bring your laptops, bring your questions, and bring your projects – we’ll get together to discuss WordPress, answer questions, show off what we’re doing, and help each other out. All levels of experience and expertise are welcome.”
#WordPress
Get Tickets Now for These Upcoming Events
Fri.-Sat. 2/2-3
Crosscut Festival
$15-95
Seattle University (Capitol Hill)
“The Crosscut Festival will bring together some of the boldest thought leaders in politics, business and social justice activism to be interviewed live on stage by some of the finest journalists in the Pacific Northwest.” Hat tip to alert reader Sherry H for bringing this one to my attention.
#Civics
Fri.-Sat. 2/16-2/17
The Jazz Epistles featuring Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya and Hugh Masekela
$46.50
Jazz Alley (Downtown)
“Legends of South African music reunite for a historic concert to tell the story of The Jazz Epistles, arguably the most important jazz album ever recorded in its country’s history. This music was almost lost forever — only 500 copies were made in 1959, buried, and rediscovered decades later after the tyranny of apartheid. These giants of South African jazz tell their story at this extremely rare and unique performance.”
#SeattleWorldBeat
Tues.-Wed. 5/1-5/2 7:30 pm
Pedrito Martinez Group
$28.50
Jazz Alley (Downtown)
Praise for Grammy-nominated Cuban percussionist Pedro Martinez: “Pedrito is a genius Working with him has been a revelation to me.” – Wynton Marsalis “The Pedrito Martinez Group is the real thing. They had the club JUMPING! It made me feel like a teenager!” – Quincy Jones
#SeattleWorldBeat