Our big summer event is tomorrow, Saturday, August 20th and here’s your clip and save cheat sheet. We hope to see you there! Note: One small change to the talks, at least one of them will be done suspended in air.

Details

Where: Fremont Outdoor Movies at N 35th and Phinney Ave
When: ThingOut starts at ~4:30pm. Ignite doors open at 7pm. Speakers are on at 8pm (or when the sun permits)
Cost: $5.00
Who can come?: All Ages Show
What to bring: blanket/sweater and a folding chair. Food and drink if you so desire (no alcohol, please).
More tips here

ThingOut Projects

Here are some of the groups and projects coming tomorrow.

• Jigsaw Renaissance
• ALTSpace
• Ada’s Technical Books
• Hand-powered Rail Car
• Tweeting Race Car
• Coil Gun
• Liquid Nitrogen Hovercraft for Squirrels

Ignite Speakers (actual order TBD)

George Dyson – Alan Turing: The first 100 years
Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954), conceived one hundred years ago, conceived the Universal Turing Machine in 1936: the common denominator that brings science and tech together.

Scott Berkun (berkun) Teaching Seattle How To Drive
From merging on I-5 to the snowpocalypse, we have proven, year after year, that our driving skills as a city are wanting. We are surprised by rain, confused by four way stops and baffled at how to turn two lanes into one. Here is a fun but ranty plan for teaching Seattle how to drive right.

Bryan Zug (bryanzug) How to be a Christian without being a Dick

Glenn Fleishman (glennf) Letterpress Revival
Letterpress printing was a dying art in the 1980s and nearly dead in the 1990s. Technology has revived it. You can now design on a computer, print out a plastic plate, and use 500-year-old technology that reconnects you to the mess and smell of ink, paper, binding, and industrial-age machines. Letterpress is messy, each print is unique, and it’s the antidote and complement to the perfection-with-abstraction of the Web, ebooks, and the rest. People crave real connection that the screen doesn’t provide. Letterpress puts you right up to the metal and pushes.

Jason Quick The Juggling Act of Life
As a professional one-armed juggler and inspirational speaker, I strive to make every show about an important aspect of being human in relationship with other humans. I am a juggling geek, a relationship geek, and a circus freak who loves to juxtapose the tragic with the comic in order to bring the audience to a new balance within the dialectics that define our lives: comfort and pain, self and community, task and maintenance, love and fear…I will make of these five minutes something you will never forget.

Bennett Haselton Circumventing Internet censorship around the world
My full-time job is working on software to help people in get around Internet censorship in countries like China and Iran, where the government filters what people can access on the Web. I can talk about the history of methods used by repressive government to censor the Web, and the parallel history of the tools for users to defeat that censorship. I will address some of the misconceptions that people have about the nature of circumvention software and the battle between the censors and the circumventors. And finally I will pose some of the (as-yet-unsolved) problems faced by the developers of circumvention software — problems that perhaps the geeks in the audience would enjoy taking home and thinking over.

Amber Straub (shadalicious) Unparenting – tips from a geeky mom.
Now that many of my geek friends are having children (I had mine in my early twenties, somewhat “early”) I want to share some shortcuts and musings that my partner and I have discovered on the way.

I will talk about some parenting rules that have been passed down that can reevaluated and rethought. Are bedtimes really necessary? Our daughter has never had an enforced bedtime, and yet she arrives to school on time every day. It’s ok to rethink and reevaluate how we raise children; it’s ok to try new things.

I will present some signs of being a crazy helicopter parent (not a good thing). Kids *can* be left alone. Kids *can* fly unaccompanied. Kids *can* walk to school alone.

I will point out how we are fostering curiosity and creativity, and how we are teaching personal responsibility, common sense, and early independence. How do we deal with consequences for actions, present rewards and handle necessary chores.

I will show some ways that she gets the attention and care that she does need and want, and how she is thriving with the freedoms afforded to her.

And for those who don’t have kids, I will ensure that the talk applies to those who have kids in their lives. Kids want to be related to as peers, not as “little snotty things that talk”.

Molly Nixon (thebeastieswee) mouse-o-nomics
Almost all of the medical advances we enjoy today were first tested in mice. Most what we know about human physiology was first studied in mice. However, the general public’s understanding of lab mice is usually limited to a few characteristics – they’re white, and they’re probably trying to take over the world.

In truth, all mice are not created equal (many of them aren’t even white!). Over the past century an entire industry has developed that is devoted entirely to the creation and production of lab mice. My talk will cover the factors that make some mice more useful than others, and the mouse-industrial complex that exists to meet the needs of modern science.

Beverly Sobelman (bev_sobelman) How to Run Away and Join the Circus
Mid-life career changes are all the rage these days. I went from software engineer to circus artist OVERNIGHT! Except.. I didn’t. I took a bunch of steps that happened to lead away from software and into a career as an aerialist. This talk will walk you through the steps that I took, in hopes that my story might inspire a few others to try something new and different – whether it leads to a new career or simply a great story to tell your grandkids.

Shawn Murphy (shawnmur) Naked Safety or How To Secure a Parade With Simple Psychology
Large events like parades, conventions, and conferences often require large private security forces to maintain order and security. In a post 9/11 world, we’re told that this is required for our safety. It’s possible to control large crowds, effectively and safely, by applying modern psychology instead of barricades.

The Fremont Solstice Parade draws tens of thousands of spectators, but the parade is secured with fewer than 25, unpaid, volunteers with no security background and less than 20 minutes of training.

Security is often a boring subject, but keeping the Fremont Solstice Parade secure, safe, and (barely) a good show are the essence of hacking and good geekery — it’s also surprisingly funny.

Gwen Rowe hacking parents and other authority figures
At the age of 9, Gwen is ready to share her favorite ways to beguile parents and others in charge. It is much easier to convince grandparents to do what you want. A simple please with a cute look goes a long ways But the real big challenge comes in when you need to convince parents or other adults not already enamored with you to do what you want. This talk is full of techniques explained by a kid that can be used to charm and convince nearly anyone.

Techniques including:

• it was your idea,
• its educational, I will learn from it
• one for you, one for me

I will take care of it

• oops (aka forgiveness v. permission)
• quoting
• the power of reasons – because I said so is not a reason
• Robots!

Pascal Schuback (schuback) Tech; Disasters and YOU! (Geek approved road trip!)
Crowd sourcing has always been around but with the current technologies, its capabilities have grown tremendously. This presentation will focus on the use of these tools in an environment vastly growing by the number catastrophic events around the world. The month of September is National Preparedness Month and with that CrisisCommons, a volunteer technical community that connects people and organizations who use open data and technology to innovate crisis management and global development, will be going on a road trip. (ROAD TRIP!!!)

Catherine Carr (mamatweeta) You Are Not Your SAT Score: A Crash Course in Multiple Intelligence Theory
As the head of Cranium’s editorial department for 8+ years, I got hooked on Dr. Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory, and I still find it to be a uniquely powerful tool for inspiration and general perspective-broadening. And in the current educational climate, when just about everything revolves around reading and math scores, I also think it’s incredibly important for the kids (and grown-ups!) in the crowd to hear these messages:

1. There are lots of ways (beyond just “reading” and “math”) to be smart!
2. We’re naturally inclined toward some of the intelligences, but we can improve and develop in any of them.
3. If something seems tedious or difficult to you, you can use the multiple intelligences to change your perspective.

Amanda Shumack (amandahoops) What is all the Hoopla?
We’re talking Hoop Dancing – a style of Advanced Hula Hooping that your parents NEVER did!

Amanda (aka Sirin) will talk of the hooping sub-culture and how this modern take on an old fitness craze has taken a very new and different look. It’s become such an addiction to some that they’ve built careers out of hooping, branched off the sub-culture into sub-sub-cultures such as fire hooping, hoop yoga, hoop aerobics and hoop dancing.

These silly circular kids toys are inspiration to people who are looking to get fit, have fun and it CANNOT be done without a smile!

Amanda will also do some LED hooping (yes, this hoop has LIGHTS, people!) and give all the details to anyone who is looking for more info on getting started or who just wants to see what crazy folks are coming up with to spend your free time.

WARNING: Hoop Addictions have started with less…

Jen Matson (nstop) Field Guide to Record Collectors
While everyone (of a certain age) remembers the first record they bought as a kid, only a small number of us end up loving the spinning slab of vinyl as much as the music itself.

Drawing on my own experience both as a longtime music geek and onetime used record store clerk, I’d like to present a High Fidelity-style Top Five List covering the most common habits and characteristics of that odd breed known as the record collector. Through a few profiles of collectors I have known and loved, I’ll cover such mysteries as:

- Why people own multiple copies of what appear to be the same record
- What is the proper record fair etiquette
- The sanctity of the first pressing

Even the most physical-format-shunning music fan should come away from my talk with a newfound understanding of (if not appreciation for) why we vinyl enthusiasts continue to lug our heavy boxes and crates of LPs and 45s around with us from place to place.

Deepak Singh (mndoci) #arseniclife
In a world of Twitter and blogs, scientific peer review takes on a new meaning. From press releases, to TV appearances, to controversy in the blogosphere, this talk will dive into the history of one of the more interesting hashtags that Twitter has seen. The #arseniclife controversy portends the future of peer review, and it continues to be great sideline viewing.

Has it been almost 4 months already? We’ll be posting all the videos from Ignite 13 very soon, but we’re super excited to tell you who is speaking at Ignite Seattle 14, on May 18 at the King Cat Theater!

We have a little surprise for the next Ignite Seattle. Don’t worry, we’re still doing 5 minute lightning talks, but we’ve shortened our line up to feature something special. The only trick is, we can’t tell you what it is, (although we may drop a few hints between now and then).

Without further ado, we present the speakers for Ignite Seattle 14

Ignite Seattle 14 Speaker List

Mehal Shah (mehals) Sociopathic Boardgaming: Fun for everyone.
You like board gaming, but lately the fun has gone out for you. Maybe you have a closet full of board games that never get played anymore. Maybe you have an hyper-competitive jackass attending your board game nights, who you feel ruins the fun for everyone. Maybe you just hate following a bunch of silly rules in your games and the fun goes away after half an hour. Let’s re-examine what makes board gaming great and see how we can modify existing games to make them fun again, and how turning up the hostility is often the best way to turn up the fun.

Sarah Novotny (sarahnovotny) living the OG lifestyle – Original Geek, that is
geeks have lead the most recent evolution of our society and some do it better than others. i’ve been incredibly curious about how geek praxis outside of a professional setting has contributed to geek success and would like to share a few ways i’ve found that geeks harness their obesssions and obsessive natures for fun and profit.

As a young geek i know said “feel free to make fun of me now, i’ll forgive you and maybe even hire you when we’re adults”.

Scott Ruthfield (scottru) How to Go to Kindergarten
When I was a kid, you started Kindergarten down the street, or maybe the Catholic school a few blocks away. Today, though, Seattle parents have an incredibly complex system of both public and private schools – and parents don’t know how to navigate it (or that there’s even anything to navigate).

If you might have a kid entering Kindergarten someday, and you’re the kind of person who builds a 10-column spreadsheet to pick the next flat screen TV, you might want to know how this process works – and how to optimize for your own family.

Nathalie Molina Niño (globalmisfit) Life lessons from a [recovering] Alpha Male
Since launching her first internet dot com at 21, Nathalie’s been neck deep in high-tech, masculine, start up juice. She recently left Seattle, her dream home and a $100M business she helped found in order to chill out, meditate and continue her path as a recovering Alpha Male in relaxing New York City. During her first return to her beloved Seattle as a special guest at SIFF 2011′s opening GALA, hear Nathalie as she comes out publicly about her personal experience as a global business misfit and how it took nearly killing someone for her to realize she needed to rethink how businesses work.

Geoff Smith (lookatlao) How To Shoot Better Food Porn
Why: With the advent of food-focused social media and celebrity chef bloggers—not to mention understaffed magazines—food photography is everywhere. Everybody is taking photos of what they eat and very few are doing it right.

What: I would like to identify the four major enemies of good food porn and offer simple solutions on how to avoid them. The presentation will show real-world examples of failed attempts at shooting good food porn and the necessary steps and equipment needed—both purchased and improvised—to make your food porn better.

This presentation will be funny and informative and there will be immediate take aways as well as a few hints on how to take things to the next level for those so inclined.

Teresa Valdez Klein (TeteSagehen) The art of subvertising on Facebook
All of us have been conditioned from birth by our families, our friends, and marketers to want (or not want) certain things. And while I’m a big fan of Facebook, I have this theory that it reinforces social conditioning in some pretty insidious ways.

In this talk, I’ll explain how I used Facebook’s self-serve advertising platform to combat the social pressure cooker.

Dominic Holden (dominicholden) The Tunnel

Erica May (ericaannemay) How Social Games about Farms Ruin Your Life
Do you sit at work saving up your virtual currency for a Shetland Pony? Do you create Facebook profiles for your cats, dogs & infants just so that you can ensure your crops are properly hydrated? What has our world become when people actually decorate their virtual barns for Christmas? Did you pre-order Farmville for Dummies on Amazon.com? Let’s take a peak at the illusive look at how virtual farms are ruining your life and pretty much the entire planet one virtual seed packet at a time.

See you there

Mark your calendars – May 18th, 2011, King Cat Theater. Doors open at 7pm, talks start at 8.

Whew. Ignite Seattle 13 is TONIGHT at 7pm at the King Cat Theater in downtown Seattle. Lots of good submissions, lots of deliberations and debates, but finally, read more for the speaker list for Ignite Seattle 13.

This week is also Global Ignite Week (along with 60+ other Ignites around the world). As a part of GIW, Ignite Seattle is trying to raise money for local education projects via Donor’s Choose. At Ignite we’ll be handing out donation cards that can be applied. Once you get a card you’ll be able to apply the amount to any of these projects (feel free to go there now and check them out).

It’s a bit of a competition between 9 other Ignites. You can see how we are doing compared to everyone else by clicking here.

See you tonight!

Andrew Woods (awoods) The Gentle Art of Karaoke
I love karaoke. I do it often and with vigor. A lot of people believe they cant sing, and therefore never try to karaoke. I believe differently. Everyone has the ability, they just need a little strategy and guidance. I’ll give them some so they get started, with some infographics and humor for good measure.

Amanda Koster (salaamgarage) I may have had more impact on a cheeseburger…
Doral Chenoweth: a viral video (made by a flip camera) of a homeless guy with a great voice spread like wildfire and his life was changed forever. A very simple act of grace, a few hours on the computer and pow, massive impact. SalaamGarage: thousands of dollars spent, thousands of miles traveled, pro gear and award winning media makers with social media at their fingertips capturing stories of people in dire need. Where is the impact? What’s wrong with this company? SalaamGarage, several years later.

Kevin Moore (kevmoo) The Art of Engineering. The Science of Design
Science, Art, Engineering, Design are the four corners of creative culture, but they represent terms that are often misused and misunderstood.

I’d like to explain their relationship. It clarifies and distinguishes what are often blurred differences while also freeing us from the baggage of degree programs and job titles. Using anecdotes from some brilliant and diverse friends along with some lewd humor from famous physicists, I paint a pretty compelling picture.

Or at least funny and entertaining one.

Nate Beck (jnbeck) Searching for Adam Savage
Modern cell phones frequently include a camera and a GPS. Even if a GPS is not included, cell phone towers can be used to establish the location of the phone. Image formats include special headers that can be used to store this information, so called EXIF tags. In this talk, I will describe the process that was used to find the information that many consumers (including celebrities) unknowingly broadcast out on the internet.

Jonathan Evans (jhewiz) Infants: The Terrifying Danger of a UX Edge Case
Those of us in the UX world focus on how to satisfy users. However, when we use the term “user experience,” we ignore one persona: Age < 2. They are the ultimate edge case; approximately 3% of the population, but with a grand scheme to take over the planet. Right now, millions of babies are growing up in a world that appears actively user-hostile. Using my own daughter as a test subject, I’ll show you how to minimize their rage and lingering resentment and make the world a better place for the people who will be changing our bedpans in fifty years.

Jeremy Bingham (captain_tenille) Your Moral Panic Over Triceratops is Wrong
There was a lot of wailing and tooth gnashing recently about how Triceratops wasn’t real, because it was just a younger form of Torosaurus. You can all rest easy; there are rules to naming dinosaurs, and scientists have to follow them. You may be laying awake at night worrying about your favorite dinosaur being taken away, but they didn’t rename that dinosaur from your youth just to be mean. If you know how paleontologists name dinosaurs, you’ll finally be able to rest easy.

Jaime Waliczek (jerboadance) Don’t be dense: how to pick the right foods
How do you decide what and when to eat? Do you wonder how to navigate all the nutrition information out there? Do you want to be healthier, lose weight, or have more energy? Living a balanced lifestyle does not have to be hard, require a lot of time, or make you feel deprived. It turns out that the nutrient density and volume of the foods we eat affect our satiety more than the calories eaten and intuitively consuming foods will naturally decrease your intake. Find out some easy ways to shift your eating to meet your health goals.

Brett Horvath Learn Through Chaos: Why not getting a degree can be the best decision you make
I’ll touch on my own story as a drop-out, returning to university as a professor, my efforts at educational reform, how the Internet has been surprising ineffective at providing good learning, but getting better (what I call the “curriculum crisis”) how universities are about to be massively disrupted by the information revolution, and then 45 seconds on what we can do about it.

Beth Goza (bethgo) Not so down and out in the Magic Kingdom. My true adventures of flying solo at Disney World.
I’m definitely not the first or the last person to spend a significant amount of time at Disney World alone. However, I’m probably one of the few people who has dissected every aspect of my trip to discover what amazing secret benefits there are to doing the Disney solo. From the “single rider line” to “crowd parkour” there are definitely some perks to being a party of one. I’ll be sharing all these benefits as well as some snapshots of this last visit (benefit #62: you can stop any time you like to take as many pictures as you want). Finally, and probably the best benefit of all, I discovered that I can pretty much do anything on my own and still have a seriously kick-ass time doing it.

Bradford Stephens (LusciousPear) How to Lose A Political Campaign: Inside The War Room
So many of us have done it: screaming at CNN or CSPAN (especially during election season): Who is this hack?! How could they say that? How did that Senator get re-elected after being caught in diapers with his mistress?.

I’ve run Presidential and U.S. house campaigns, and had access to the best in the business. I’ve been there, on the inside, and I want to tell you. Politics is both far more mundane than you think, and more horrific than you realize — bipartisanly.

But most of all, it’s often hilarious.

Laura Williams (laurawilltweet) The Dalai Lama’s Guide to Event Planning
In 2006, I was the Volunteer Director for the Seeds of Compassion. Seeds of Compassion is to date, the most highly attended series of events in Washington State history. We hosted 5 days of panel discussions, a benefit concert with Dave Matthews & Death Cab for Cutie, and an inter-spiritual dialogue with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

As an organizer and a planner I needed to pull off 5 days of major events, in less than 6 months, with more than 1500 volunteers — and I had to do it all with a compassionate intention. YIKES!

Leo Dirac (leopd) Advanced Co-Housing Techniques
Living with other people is super rewarding, but comes with many challenges. I’ll present lessons from the trenches of a large group house. Including: practical advice on financial and legal concerns of buying a house with friends; how to get a crazy complicated loan; what to put in your owners’ contract; wisdom on encouraging social behavior and maintaining good relations.

Simon Winder (robotbugs) The natural gas gold rush
Oil may have peaked but natural gas is on a rise. Just a few years back people thought the US was going to have to import its gas, but from 2007 new technology has opened up vast shale deposits in Texas and Pennsylvania and small farming communities are overrun with drilling rigs. The price of natural gas has collapsed leading to a scramble to create an export industry. Internationally, the trade in liquified natural gas is expanding at an increasing pace to meet the needs of emerging markets. All this means that domestic renewable fuels investment is being crushed by the double whammy of low energy prices and political uncertainty around expired biofuel subsidies. I talk about who stands to lose and who stands to benefit.

twisted monk branding happiness or how I sold your mom bondage rope
Have an idea or new business? Understanding what you are selling, who you are selling to and where those customers are hiding. As learned by a paid, professional pervert.

erfon elijah (mighttees) My secret life as a celebrity twitter impostor
Two years ago, for about 5 months, I lived a secret double life. It was at that time that, though some celebrities were beginning to embrace twitter, most still didn’t know what it was and weren’t using it. There were no verified accounts, no way to know who was who. This is my story.

Aaron Hockley (ahockley) It Seems Everyone’s a Photographer Nowadays. That’s Important. And Awesome.
As a hobbyist-turned-professional photographer, I’ve heard all sorts of folks in the photo industry lament the fact that it seems everyone thinks they’re a photographer. Whether it’s an iPhone with Hipstamatic or a sub-$500 DSLR, photography has never been more accessible and shareable.

Tell your friends! Ignite Seattle 12 is tonight! 7pm at the King Cat Theater. It’s $5 at the door, and there’s a bar. Be sure to get there on time, as there’s a great team-based ice-breaker game planned before the talks.

In case you missed the speaker announcement, here are the speakers and their topics (in no particular order):

Scott Berkun (berkun) How to write well, instantly, ever time
There is talk of the death of writing, but writing is everywhere: in email, Facebook, text messages, we write now more than ever. It’s true much of it is bad, but we’ve mostly sucked at writing for as long as we’ve had words. Berkun, author of a popular blog and three bestselling books, will explain all you need to know about writing essays, books, blogs and everything else, in 5 short minutes.

Emily Chen (tenshiemi) Paring Life: Have Less, Live More
Last year I did an end of the year apartment purge of everything I considered junk. When I returned home from Value Village I was shocked by how much stuff I still had. I experienced a flash of inspiration and decided to commit myself to getting rid of something every day for a year. Every item is posted on my blog and free to any requester. I’m now over two hundred days in and I would like to share what I’ve learned along the way and strategies for optimizing your possessions for happier living.

Gregory Heller (gregoryheller) SCRUM Project Management For Wedding Planning
What happens when two people with project management experience decide not to hire a wedding planner and instead run their wedding planning through a modified SCRUM project management process? Certified SCRUM master, Gregory Heller will share his experience and lessons learned. Consider this a geek’s guide to planning the perfect wedding.

Mandy Sorensen (mandercrosby) Fleas, worms, and other nasty parasites: what they are, and why should you care?
Sure you’ve got a dog or cat at home. Are you sure you don’t also have a small population of nature’s most industrious little buggers hiding in your carpet or in your yard? Odds are, you do and you just don’t know about it. What you should know about the most common creepy crawlies out there.

Phil Thompson – Chemistry of the Cocktail
The chemistry and history of the cocktail, the flip.

Buster Benson (busterbenson) Virtual goods can improve the quality of your real life experiences
I’m building a social game, Health Month (healthmonth.com). As gamification has gained popularity, there has been a lot of discussion about whether or not points/badges/etc cheapen experience, lose value over time, or just simply ruin everything.

Alissa Mortenson (foolissa) Making Collaborative Art that Doesn’t Stuck

Adam Philipp (mypatents) How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Software Patents
Its seems there is nothing more reviled in geekdom than the software patent. It is lambasted from the left and the right from the ivory tower to the grass roots. It seems that it is singlehandedly to blame for the colossal failure of all progress in the field of computer science and stifles innovation and development of all the best products.

Beth Buelow (coachbethb) 5 Reasons Introverts Rock the Business World
The myth: Introverts are shy, socially backward and quite possibly all serial-killers-in-waiting.

The truth: Introverts are among the most famous, wealthy and successful people on the planet.

A five-minute look at what happens when introverts unleash their super-powers in the business world and beyond (and how to tell if YOU might be a member of Club Introvert).

Ellen Kowalczyk (elleliz) Got a minute?
Does your work / life balance look more like work / work / life balance? Feel like you’re constantly behind? Forget and lose track of the important things you meant to do? I’ll share a few ways to get back in control of your time and be more successful and more relaxed at the same time.

James Callan (scarequotes) Five big things grammar nazis get wrong about language
So sometimes you use “it’s” where you should’ve used “its.” Unfortunate? Yes. A sign that the sky is about to collapse all over our precious English language? Contrary to what a persnickety bunch of chicken littles would have you believe, no. Language is an art and a science, and grammar nazis need to be fiercely resisted as they browbeat us all with their ignorance of both.

Joel Grus (joelgrus) How to Be Funny
It’s easy to be popular if you’re rich, or good-looking, or good at sports. But the rest of us have to be funny if we want people to like us. Acclaimed writer, humorist, and data analyst Joel Grus has spent years of research and experimentation uncovering the basic principles of humor. In this 5-minute talk, he’ll teach you how to master these principles and make people laugh.

Karen Cheng (karenxcheng) How to Solve a Song
It’s happened to all of us – you hear a song that you don’t want to like. You try to resist, but you can’t. By the end of the song, you’re tapping your foot and singing along. Why are some songs so irresistibly catchy?

I used to think it was magic. But when I looked closer, I had an epiphany – It’s actually just math. Songs are catchy because they’re scientifically engineered to be that way. I’ll show you how.

Jason Carmel gives a very useful “Practical Guide to Covering Your Ass, or Defamation and Twitter” Ignite talk.

1 Day until Ignite Seattle 12!

Jason Preston and Mónica Guzmán came to Ignite to tell us How to Have An Argument (that doesn’t end with legal fees). They were also an Ignite first – a tag team!

2 Days to Ignite Seattle 12!

Vj Vijai spoke in February 2008 about “Hacking the Technical Interview” using a mix of NLP, hypnosis, and jedi mind tricks – along with a good mix of humor and wise one-liners like “You don’t have to be the best, you just have to be better than the rest of the candidates.”

3 Days to Ignite Seattle 12!

Dave “Don’t Call Him Davey Jones” McClure was a speaker in August of 2007. He came to Ignite Seattle to talk about an his unusual collection of metrics for startups in a pirate-themed system he calls “ARRRR!”

4 Days to Ignite 12!

We’ve heard stories from people who want to come to an Ignite event, but miss out simply because they simply didn’t hear about it in time. With Ignite Seattle 12 less than a week away, this seems like the perfect time to sign up for the Ignite Seattle Email Newsletter! No need to miss an event just because you forgot to check the Ignite Seattle website, we’ll remind you!

In addition to reminding you about upcoming events, we’ll be sending out pictures, videos, and other extras in the days after the event!

So register now, and then swing by the King cat Theatre on December 7th at 7:00pm for Ignite Seattle 12!

Rob Gruhl is one of the few people on the planet who actually enjoys the process of buying a new car. He was invited to speak to Ignite Seattle in August 2007 to share his secrets on how to buy a new car without getting screwed in the process!

5 Days until Ignite 12!

Ignite Seattle 10 is next Monday! As part of our effort to get organized and make this the most awesome Ignite yet, here is a quick run down of some important details for attending.

• Ignite Seattle 10 will be on Monday June 14th. Doors will open at 7:00, icebreaker/game starts at 7:30, talks start at 8:30. The bar will be open the entire time.
• As usual, the event is at the King Cat Theatre, 2130 6th Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98121.
• 21 only. We know there are younger people who would like to attend, but the venue is just not set up for it.  We are looking at possibly doing an all ages Ignite, and we encourage you to let us know if you would like to help make that happen!
• Admission is $5 at the door. Cash only (small unmarked bill greatly appreciated). The folks at the door are volunteers, so please be patient with them if they don’t count so well. Yes, you can use your credit card at the bar.

That’s it for now, we hope to see you there for another great Ignite night.

Not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’re getting a bit more organized here at Ignite Seattle. So much so that we’ve identified a few things we could really use some help with for our next Ignite on Monday, June 14th.

If you’re a fit for one of the following, please fill out the “I’d like to help form below” and we’ll get in touch.

• Door Help
  We need one more volunteer to help collect money and stamp folks at the door. This is the second time we’ve charged $5 for the event and having more dedicated people to move things along will help a ton.
   
• Lighting Setup / Board Oversight
  Do you know anything about event lighting? Are you technical/mechanical person who likes to figure things out? Our needs are pretty simple but we need someone to meet with the venue, coordinate setup, and push a few buttons during the event.
   
• Spot Light
  Relatedly, we need a volunteer to run the spotlight during the event. Again, even if you’ve never run a spot before, if you are a technical/mechanical person who likes to figure things out, why not give it a go?
   
• Projector Shepherd
  We need someone to aim / focus the projector and then make sure it doesn’t come unplugged. Let me tell you that this is a very important role. Bad things happen when the projector goes down in a room of geeks.
   
• Runners
  We always need something at the last minute. Grabbing food for all the volunteers. Helping setup the Make mixer activity. Filling in for the volunteer who got stuck on the 520. Join us. It’ll be fun.

Last night, Ignite Seattle had the honor of winning the “Best Event for Startups” at the Seattle 2.0 awards. We won entirely through the community nominating us and voting for us, so we wanted to say a big “thank you”. Ignite Seattle would not be as fantastic an event as it is without your feedback, your talks and your participation. Thanks so much from all of us!

Techflash has a story on the event last night. Scroll down for a pic of Randy, Bryan and myself accepting the award. You can see a few more pics on the Seattle 2.0 Facebook page. We’ll see you on June 14th!

Always wanted to give an Ignite Seattle talk? Do you have an idea for a 5-minute talk that’s been burning inside of you, crying to get out? Or do you have an idea that you think is a little bit crazy, but you’re figuring “what the hell, I’ll submit it anyway”.

To be considered for the next Ignite Seattle, we need your submissions by this Friday, May 14th. We’d love to have you on stage.

Submit your talk here.

Ignite Seattle 10 is happening on June 14th and talk submissions are open. If you have a 5 minute talk that will inspire, teach or just make people think then throw your hat in the ring. We’ll take ~16 speakers (and no repeats from last time). Get your talk in by May 14th.

Submit your talk here.

If you need inspiration about “How and Why to Give an Ignite Talk,” Scott Berkun can help you out. We’ll have talks from the last Ignite Seattle posted here soon, say stay tuned.

Ignite Seattle #9 is this Thursday! It’s going to be at the King Cat Theatre. Doors open at 7:00PM. To cover rising costs the door price will be $5.

It’s one of 65+ Ignite events happening around the world right now. You can follow the action at http://igniteshow.com and on Twitter with the #giw tag.

Ignite Seattle Details
Ignite Seattle will feature ~15 speakers. Doors will open at 7:00PM. The gumdrop building contest starts at 7:30PM and the talks will start at 8:30PM. We have had our venue costs go up significantly and we will be charging $5 at the door.

Synapse!
We’d like to welcome Ignite Seattle’s first sponsor! Synapse designs nifty products.

Sponsor Ignite Seattle
We are looking for more sponsors. You’ll be put on the website, tweeted about, thanked profusely at the event and have the heart-warming knowledge that you helped make Ignite possible.

21+ Only
Unfortunately, due to pressure from the State Liquor Board the King Cat is no longer able to support a mixed age crowd. This sucks. We know it sucks, however we can’t expect the venue to risk losing its license. Right now the King Cat is the only venue in town that is feasible. If you know of another let us know.

Global Ignite Week
What started in Seattle has spread around the world. During the first ever Global Ignite Week there are ~65 events happening on 6 continents. On Thursday there will be over 30 events.

http://IgniteShow.com/Seattle
Ignite has launched a video portal. There are almost 40 cities represented with several hundred videos aggregated together. Start with Seattle, but definitely check out other cities’ talks.

Top 10 Reasons You Should Go To Ignite
Mashable wrote up a very insightful list of reasons to come to Ignite. If you need help getting your housemate to join you for the evening, send it to them.

Speaker Line-up
Randy has posted them.

Ignite Seattle 8 is tonight! As always we have a cornucopia of speakers talking about a variety of geek topics. The doors to the King Cat Theatre open at 7:00. The talks start at 8:30 PM. It makes “cents” to bring your art hat for tonight’s warm-up that starts at 7:30pm.

Here’s the line up (in order of appearance):

Eugene Lin – iPhoning my way to retirement, $.70 at a time
I want to be rich. Steve Jobs promised it. App after app, the Apple gods got angry with me. Until finally, with nothing but an accelerometer, two dozen naked women, and the nation of Japan, I had a story to tell.

Arianna O’Dell (arianna) How to Sneak into Bars
I am a 19 year old student at the University of Washington. Most people don’t know this because they never ask. I’ve been attending networking events all summer and most people think I’m out of school and already graduated.

Benjamin Franklin – Intellect: without an outlet in the world
Do we remain in awe of Ben Franklin’s capacity and accomplishments or do we take on his mantle of “Doing the best with what we have” and look at our issues and do something about them? Better yet, WWBFD? [Brady's note: This is going to be a presentation by someone done as Benjamin Franklin. You can learn more on his site.

Wendy Chisholm (wendyabc) Challenge your assumptions. Innovate. Change the world.
Most designers are taught to design for the average user and as a society we hold many assumptions about the characteristics of those users. However, products are used in unexpected ways and by unexpected audiences.

Jeremy Bingham (captain_tenille) An Astronomical Viewing Shelter on the Cheap
Using your telescope in the city can be frustrating with all the stray light all over the place. You can’t do much about the skyglow, but you can shield yourself from stray light sources nearby.

Jon Bell (jonbell) Usability Beyond the Classroom
It wasn’t until I spent a year at frog design as a developer that I realized everything I learned in art school was either wrong, outdated, or only told half the story.

Peter Wilson (peterwil) Google vs. Microsoft: An Insiders Guide
Google vs. Microsoft: where will the battles be fought, how will each companies strategies and blind-spots impact the outcomes, and who will win? The speaker spent 9 years at Microsoft and 4 at Google, and so thinks he knows something about this…

Scott Berkun (berkun) Everything you need to know about philosophy in 5 minutes
I’m the sad owner of a philosophy degree. I’m convinced i can give people a better education in philosophy (and make them realize how much they already know and love philosophy) in 5 minutes than I got in 4 years.

Part 2

Mike Tyka – Cubes in the Sky
We went through about 10 designs each trying to achieve the same goal of somehow raising the 15x15x15ft Groovik’s Cube, weighing near 4000 lbs 10 feet in the air within a fairly tight budget.

Richard Bailey – More blink in less time? Manufacturing electronics for art projects.
The Groovik Cube required a custom surface mount circuit board for each of the 56 facets. Early estimates showed that this would require well over 150 hours of time to accomplish. The Groovik electronics team created an assembly line and produced 90 boards in one day.

Sarah Schacht (sarahschacht) Overcoming Cacophony: Making Gov 2.0 Work for You
What can you do, as an individual to make your voice heard in the lawmaking process and what tools do you use? Learn how to make your email float to the top of a pile of thousands, how to stand out from the crowd, and how to do so without losing your sanity.

Veronica Sopher (Shih_Wei) Jewelry: It’s What Geeks Know!
Elizabeth Taylor and Ivanka Trump may have their own jewelry lines, but it’s geeks like you/us who are the experts in jewelry. Yes, it takes a real geek to know jewelry, cut through the salesperson’s bs, and shop like a pro. Let me show you why.

Norman Guadagno (thinktone) Amazon Archaeology OR Swimming In Our Own Clickstream
Every time we buy from Amazon, we give their algorithms a little more information about ourselves (or at least the things we buy). But, do we have our own algorithms to help us make sense of purchase after purchase across time? What can we learn about ourselves through the things we buy?

Dylan Wilbanks (dylanw) Everyone Core Dumps: Death and Loss For The Geek
We are all going to die. But handling loss is something geeks struggle with. Learn three things you should do when a friend dies, three things you shouldn’t do, and ways you can preserve your existence online.

Greg Dunlap (heyrocker) How to not suck at pinball
Pinball is hard. Luckily, getting better at pinball, not great but respectable, is actually pretty easy.

Jason Carmel (defenestrate99) Defamation and Twitter – A Practical Guide to Covering Your Ass
I will provide a few practical ways that might protect your right as an American to roast the bejeezus out of the asshats of the world, without getting sued into oblivion.

Ron Burk (ronburk) Three Strange Definitions of Computer Programming Legendary computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra once said: “Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.” But if programming is not about the computers, what IS it about?

See you there

We’re excited about Ignite Seattle and we hope to see there. If you are tweeting about the event, use #is8 and if you are taking photos, please add them to our Flickr group and/or Facebook page.

Ignite Seattle 7 is happening on August 3rd and talk submissions are open. If you have a 5 minute talk that will inspire, teach or just make people think then throw your hat in the ring. We’ll take ~16 speakers (and no repeats from last time). Get your talk in by July 1st.

Submit your talk here.

We’ve already got two great speakers lined up. First, I’m happy to welcome back Rob “How To Buy A Car” Gruhl with a talk on How To Take Photographs (check out his photos on Flickr ).  Second, we’ve lined up Matthew Amster-Burton, local food writer and author of Hungry Monkey (AKA How to raise a foodie).

We had over 500 people in attendance at the last Ignite event in April, with great talks by:

• Jen Zug (Sanity Hacks of a Stay-at-Home Mom),
• Hillel Cooperman (The Secret Underground World of Lego)
• Ron Burk’s viral hit (The Psychology of Incompetence)

If you need inspiration about “How and Why to Give an Ignite Talk,” Scott Berkun can help you out.

Ignite will be held once again at the King Cat Theater (map). We look forward to seeing you there!

There are many ways to stay up-to-date on the newly revived Ignite Seattle.

Ignite Mailing List – We have an announcement list for keeping you uptodate. We only send out 1-2 mails per month. The content is limited to Ignite news and other similar events from the Ignite community. You can sign up here. Only Ignite organizers can send mail to this list.
IgniteSea on Twitter – If 140 character sound bites are more your speed, follow us @ignitesea.
Ignite Seattle Blog – You’re reading this post on the blog. You can also subscribe via RSS.
Local Seattle Blogs – Seattlest, Seattle 2.0, The Big Blog and Techflash all let their readers know that Ignite was happening.
Ignite Site – Ignites are happening around the world every week. You can keep track of all of them (including Seattle) on the central Ignite site.

See you soon!

We’ve got a bunch of great speakers this time! Check ‘em out below. Ignite Seattle 6 will take place on 4/29 at the King Cat Theatre. Doors will open at 7PM and talk will start at 8:30PM. We are very grateful to be getting sponsorship from Google, Biznik, and Phinney Bischoff Design House.

Roy Leban (@royleban) – Worst Case User Experience: Alzheimer’s
When the time came to move my father-in-law into an Alzheimer’s facility, I approached the problem as I approach any technical problem — I needed to meet the needs of the user, even if he didn’t know them and couldn’t express them. I crafted an experience (a UX) for him in his new home which meets those needs and I worked to make sure that the actual move itself did the same.

Ron Burk – The Psychology of Incompetence
Why does software suck so bad? Is it possible that a lot of us really smart computer programmers are, in fact… incompetent?

Dominic Muren (@dmuren) – Humblefacturing a Sustainable Electronic Future
We geeks love our personal tech. iPhones, Kindles, and Netbooks — these are the things we are quick to buy, and quick to trade up to stay on the bleeding edge. But in our wake we leave mountains of discarded, useless, and toxic ex-electronics. But must this necessarily be the case?

Jason Preston (@Jasonp107) – Goobye Tolstoy: How to say anything in 140 characters or less
Twitter’s greatest contr. to society is: any idea can be shared in 140 chars or less-beyond that, it’s just drivel. See how & why in 5 mins.

Jamie Gower – How to Set Up a Machinima Studio for $20 (or Hamlet: Armed and Dangerous)
The startling true story of the production of the climax from Hamlet that defied sanity—staged entirely in Starcraft: Brood War, a deeply-discounted, 11-year old computer game!

Chris DiBona (@cdibona) – The Coolness of Telemedicine
Remote medicine is coming a long way. Chris will run us through the latest.

Ken Beegle (@kbeegle) – Decoding Sticks and Waves
Yesterday’s breakthrough solutions are today’s historical curiosities. Such is the case of stick charts, which were once used to navigate the Marshall Islands. By observing the waves, wind and stars, select Marshall Islanders were able to find their way across the water. In 1898, Captain Winkler of the German Navy began decoding the stick charts, allowing us to understand how and why the charts worked. Using his experiences as a lens, we can look at the maps we’re building today and ask what type of historical curiosities will they become.

Maya Bisineer (@thinkmaya) – Geek Girl – A life Story
From being a tomboy, secretly hiding away my cousin’s hot-wheels cars at 5 yrs of age all the way to imposing geekiness on my own 2 year old by refusing her pink dresses . I WILL make a claim that we are a special breed of people that need special privileges in order to save our creed.

Dawn Rutherford (@dawnoftheread) – Public Library Hacking
Money tight? Want to save more for a rainy day? If you aren’t fully utilizing your public library, you might be wasting thousands of dollars a year!Librarian Dawn Rutherford will give you a quick trip through all your public libraries have to offer, and how to make the most of it, using tricks and tips gleaned from someone who has spent over half her life working or volunteering in them.

Mike Tykka – The Invention of the Wheel
It seems Nature has beaten man to almost every “invention” of his: Helicopters, Submarines, Electricity, Video Cameras, Supercomputers, etc. For the longest time i thought one notable exception was the wheel – seems hard to do out of flesh: think blood vessels; How do they attach? Then i started studying biochemistry and learned about proteins. Turns out nature has invented a full blown, reversible, proton driven turbine engine, many tens of thousands of which churn away in every one of the billions of cells in a human body.

Beth Goza (@bethgo) – Knitting in Code
Remember the joy of writing your first Hello World application? Do you still have a copy somewhere so you can gaze upon your coded baby steps into the world of binary goodness? In knitting, creating something beautiful is just like binary, with a series of knits and pearls you can dream up the most sophisticated of patterns. In the spirit of hi-tech meets hand-tech, I will show you how to convert your binary Hello World app into a pattern of stitches (think kint =1 pearl = 0), so that you can create, mount, frame and hang your Hello World genius for all to see.

Hillel Cooperman (@hillel) – The Secret Underground World of Lego
Get a glimpse of a thriving user generated content ecosystem that’s been around since long before the web. See an incredible example of a community, and how a large corporation has completely let go of control only to find incredible success despite and maybe because of the economic downturn.

Shelly Farnham (@ShellyShelly) Community Genius: Leveraging Community to Increase your Creative Powers
We’ve all heard that it’s a myth that creativity occurs in isolation. We’ve even heard about *group genius*, the ability for group with “flow” to create ground-breaking works of art or technology. Well, in this brief talk Shelly Farnham, social scientist and leading expert in community technologies, will take it to the next level and provide tips for how to leverage *community genius* to improve your creative powers.

Katherine Hernandez (@ipodtouchgirl) – The Mac Spy
I made a last minute decision to attend a meeting I somehow caught wind of. Assured of its importance, I flew down yet again, not even a month after MacWorld, to see what would happen at this 25 year reunion of the Berkeley Mac User Group.

Scott Berkun (Scottberkun.com)- How and Why to Give an Ignite Talk
To give a good talk you want to have a story. You have to be able to frame it. If you’re going to give an Ignite talk you have to do this really, really quickly.

Scotto Moore (Scotto.org)- Intangible Method
A digital fairy tale about a young woman who realizes that first person video footage from her own life is being posted to YouTube – before the events actually occur in real life.

Jen Zug (@jenzug) – The Sanity Hacks of a Stay At Home Mom
Drawing from her real life as a stay at home mom (as opposed to her imaginary life as a bar tender on Cape Cod), Jen Zug shares her parenting hacks to staying sane when the majority of her day is spent discussing the merits of Optimus Prime over Buzz Light Year.