Things to do the weekend of Jun 1 - Jun 3, 2012

** Free Family Day at SFMOMA
Jun 3, 11AM-4PM; SFMOMA
http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib_events/events/2101

** Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival
Jun 2-3, 10AM-6PM; Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale
http://www.svcoc.org/2012SunnyvaleArtandWineFestival.html

** Chocolate and Chalk Art Festival
Jun 2, 10AM-5PM; Berkeley
http://www.anotherbullwinkelshow.com/chocolate-chalk-art/

** PI Clowns
Jun 1, 11AM-11:30AM; 12:15PM-12:45PM; Yerba Buena Gardens
http://www.ybgfestival.org/cgi-local/Calendar/

** Bug Fest
Jun 2, 10AM-4PM; Palo Alto
http://www.friendsjmz.org/events.html

** Orchid Exposition
Jun 1-3, Winchester Mystery House, SJ
http://www.realorchidgrowers.com/

** Hidden Villa Farm Tours
Jun 2-3; Los Altos
http://www.hiddenvilla.org/calendar/flat/date/2011-10-01 - Select June to see sign ups

** Birding for Kids and Their Families
Jun 2, Jul 7, Aug4, Sep 1; 10AM-11:30AM; Golden Gate Park, SF
http://www.sfnature.org/programs/bfk.html

** Downtown Los Altos First Friday
Jun 1, 6PM-8PM; Downtown Los Altos
http://www.losaltosfirstfriday.org/

** Art and Wine Festival
Jun 1-3, Foster City
http://www.fostercitychamber.com/art_and_wine

** Gem and Jewelry Show
Jun 1-3, San Mateo County Event Ctr
http://intergem-web.ungerboeck.com/wbe/wbe_p1_main.aspx?oc=10&cc=WBE105297

** Eco-Urban Festival
Jun 2-3, 10AM-6PM; SF Union St
http://www.unionstreetfestival.com/

** Ethnic Dance Festival
June Weekends; Fort Mason Ctr, SF
http://www.sfethnicdancefestival.org/main/preview_festival.asp#weekend1

** Accident - Photography Exhibition at Photo Gallery
May 17- Jun 30, Curator's Talk on Jun 1, 6PM-9PM
http://www.happenstand.com/sanfrancisco/events/8386-accident-photography-exhibition-at-photo-gallery

Eclipse 2012

This year solar eclipse was very special because you could see the "ring of fire" withing 2-3 hours drive from Silicon Valley.
We decided to save the drive and watch the eclipse from the neighborhood. It was quite impressive. After some try and error we figured that 4 pairs of sun glasses together are almost enough to see the Eclipse, but I'm planning to get an eclipse viewer for the future, especially with Transit of Venus across the Sun on Jun 5-6, 2012
You can check this website for info about safety of viewing solar events: SafeWithFilters
Even so I didn't have any special filters for my camera, I wanted to take pictures, and was pleasantly surprised with the results.

Summer Visitors Program at Lick Observatory

You can visit Mt. Hamilton Lick Observatory during day light hours, but usually they are closed for public when the stars come out.
You can visit Lick Observatory at night during summer. They offer Summer Concert Series: http://www.ucolick.org/public/music.html or Summer Visitors Program: http://www.ucolick.org/public/sumvispro.html

Summer Visitors Program (SVP) is a wonderful opportunity to observe skies through both the 36-inch Great Lick Refractor and Nickel 40-inch Reflecting Telescope. Each evening also features 2 speakers and local amateur astronomers outside the building with additional telescopes and interesting stories.
Summer Visitors Program is extremely popular. If you are interested, I suggest you try to buy tickets for the program the moment they come up for sale.
For safety reasons, children under the age of 10 will not be admitted to SVP or Concert Series.
Also keep in mind: the road to observatory is a real mountain road: narrow and windy.

You can buy tickets on line: Summer Visitors Program Tickets
Or by phone at UCSC Ticket Office: 831-459-2159
Ticket price is $7.50 plus service fee. 

Each Program has its own Ticket Sale date. Ticket sales start at 10:00 AM sharp:

May 15 for June 15 Program
May 17 for June 29 Program
May 22 for July 13 Program
May 24 for July 27 Program
May 29 for August 10 Program
May 31 for August 24 Program

2012 Programs

Friday, June 15

Doors open: 7:30 pm
Start event: 8:30 pm
Speaker: Graeme Smith, UC Santa Cruz
Talk: Globular Clusters: Fossils in the Sky

Friday, June 29

Doors open: 7:30 pm
Start event: 8:30 pm
Speaker: Brian Siana, UC Riverside
Talk: A Cosmic Mystery: What Destroyed the Universe's Atoms?

Friday, July 13

Doors open: 7:30 pm
Start event: 8:30 pm
Speaker: Jonathan Fortney, UC Santa Cruz
Talk: Bizarre Planetary Systems Discovered by the Kepler Telescope

Friday, July 27

Doors open: 7:30 pm
Start event: 8:30 pm
Speaker: Adam Burgasser, UC San Diego
Talk: Dark Stars: The (Nearly) Invisible Universe of Brown Dwarfs

Friday, August 10

Doors open: 7:00 pm
Start event: 8:00 pm
Speaker: Tomasso Treu, UC Santa Barbara
Talk: What is the Universe made of? Cosmography with Gravitational Time Delays

Friday, August 24

Doors open: 7:00 pm
Start event: 8:00 pm
Speaker: Alice Shapley, UCLA
Talk: Galaxies and the Reionization of the Universe

Things to do this weekend of May 12-13, 2012

** Insect Fair
May 12, 10AM-5PM; Sanborn County Park
http://www.ysi-ca.org/#InsectFair

** Mother's Day Kid's Concert
May 12, 11AM-1PM; Downtown Redwood City
http://www.redwoodcity.org/events/mothersday.htm

** Hungarian Heritage Festival
May 12, 11:30AM-9:30PM; Belmont Twin Pines Park
http://hungarianheritagefestival.com/

** Teddy Bear Fair
May 12, 10AM-2PM; Cupertino
http://www.wvpc.org/children-and-youth/tbf.html

** Filoli Flower Show
May 10-13, Filoli Gardens
http://www.filoli.org/special-events-and-exhibits/flower-show.html

** How Weird Street Faire
May 13, Noon-8PM; Downtown SF
http://howweird.org/

** Spring Festival
May 12-13, Alameda
http://www.shopparkstreet.com/springfestival.html

** Asian Contemporary Art Week: May 12-19
See website for participating venues and events:
http://www.asiancontemporarysf.org/acaw/

Free lecture at Stanford

Spring Cubberley Lecture with Claude Steele, Geoff Cohen and Greg Walton - free and open to the public
Stereotype Threat: A Close Encounter. See it, Feel it, Fix it!
Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 6PM-7:30PM

https://ed.stanford.edu/events/spring-cubberley-lecture-stereotype-threat-close-encounter-see-it-feel-it-fix-it

Stereotype threat is the experience of anxiety in a situation where a person has the potential to confirm a negative stereotype about his or her social group. In school, stereotype threat can cause underrepresented students to perform below their potential. It can cause them to focus less on learning and more on the worrisome prospect of performing poorly. The sting of stereotype threat can be felt by anyone – male or female, black or white, Asian or Latino, young or old. But when the threat is chronic, it can contribute to enduring patterns of inequality in school and beyond. What can be done to reverse the effects of stereotype threat? Through a multimedia presentation, social psychologists, Steele, Cohen, and Walton will illuminate the experience of stereotype threat and highlight the powerful ways we can diminish it and close the achievement gap between groups.

Cool deals

"Mary Poppins" Opens in American Musical Theater of SJ May 29th through Jun 7th, 2012. 

Discounted tickets available through TravelZoo:
http://www.travelzoo.com/local-deals/South-Bay/Entertainment/16806

Rear and Side Orchestra seats are $27 (reg. $43), Mid Orchestra seats are $39 (reg. $63) and Front Orchestra seats are $45 (reg. $73) for the following performances:

• Tuesday-Thursday, May 29-31 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, June 3 at 6:30 p.m.
• Tuesday-Thursday, June 5-7 at 7:30 p.m.


Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos offers $20 deal for museum visit with half-hour Flight Simulator Experience for Up to Four people ($47 value)
You can get those tickets while supplies last till end of the day 5/10/12
http://www.groupon.com/deals/hiller-aviation-museum-1

Things to do this weekend of May 5-6, 2012

** A La Carte Art
May 5-6, 10AM-6PM; Mountain View, Castro St.
http://www.miramarevents.com/alacarte/

** May Fete Parade and Fair followed by Vintage Vehicle and Family Fun Day
May 5, 10AM; Downtown Palo Alto
http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/recreation/news/details.asp?NewsID=1740&TargetID=7

** Fit and Fun Fair
May 5, 11AM-3PM; Sunnyvale
http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityServices/CommunityServicesHotTopics/FitFunFair.aspx

** Norway Day Festival
May 5-6, 10AM-6/5PM; SF, Fort Mason Ctr
http://www.norwayday.org/

** Cinco De Mayo Festival
May 5th, 10AM-6PM; San Francisco
http://www.sfcincodemayo.com/

** Children's Day Festival in Japantow
May 5, 11am-4PM; San Francisco
http://www.jcccnc.org/events/apr-jun.htm#Kodomonohi
  
** "Sunday Streets" event creates miles of car-free roads for people to get out and get active in diverse SF neighborhoods.
May 6, 11AM-4PM; SF
http://www.sundaystreetssf.com/

** "Antidot" by Liquid Theatre (in Russian)
May 4, 7PM and May 6, 7PM; Marines Memorial Theatre, SF
http://www.sfiaf.org/2012Festival/artists/Liquid-Theatre.html

** Summer Program Kickoff ans Science Fair
May 5, 11AM-3PM; Berkeley
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=82732

** Cinco De Mayo Celebration
May 5, 4PM-7PM; Berkeley
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/CalendarEventMain.aspx?calendarEventID=11817

** Cinco De Maya Fiesta
May 5, 10AM-5PM; Sausalito, Discovery Museum
http://www.baykidsmuseum.org/programs-and-events/cinco-de-mayo-fiesta/

** Celebrate Mama
May 6, 11AM-4PM; Walnut Creek, Ygnacio Plaza
http://everythingkidsguide.com/festival-showcase/celebrate-mama

** May Day Show
May 5-6, Santa Cruz
http://www.paintedchairstudio.com/