Event highlights for the week of August 24 – August 30, 2009

We’re sick of this friggin’ humidity. Can we get an Aaa-men on that?

But it’s fine, really, because there’s plenty of indoor events with satisfying air conditioning on this week’s calendar—which brings joy to this farmer’s tanned writer—and plenty of ice cold brewski to go with it.

Often featured, always entertaining Duane Swierczynski will be signing autographs for his new comic at McGillan’s Tuesday, because Swierczynski made the Center City pub part of the story line. We’re crossing our fingers that if we keep posting about him, he’ll write us into his next comic. Pretty please?

Social Media Club gives back this week as it hosts a session on using tweets and fan pages for good. They’ve got some great speakers lined up who will share insight on using Web 2.0 for philanthropy, including representatives from Blame Drew’s Cancer, American Red Cross and Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Attending will be like the millennial version of helping an old lady across the street.

Wednesday, don’t miss Technically Philly and Geekadelphia’s first joint event, as we, along with TimeGate Studios, host a launch party for Section 8, a new Xbox/PC first person shooter at Tattooed Mom. Don’t miss it, if not for the free swag and cupcakes from Open Source Cupcakes, then for the tales I’m going to tell about missing just about every high school social event to play Quake2 with a 56k modem. I still say LPBs can eat it.

Later in the week, PhillyCHI is all about staying healthy and the Philly Chapter of International Game Developers Association hosts its August meeting. Details after the jump.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more.
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Friday Tech Links: Startup double takes, Solar industry coming to town and More

In which we link out to the tech news from Philly and elsewhere (when it matters) that slips through the cracks and make it way fun. See others here.

We found some redundancy in technology startup news this week.

Remember back in April, we introduced you to Stealth Rowing, which was constructing indoor training equipment for crew teams? Remember how you thought that was a novel idea and then forgot about it because no sensible person gets up at four a.m. to splash in the Schuylkill?

Well, maybe it wasn’t all that novel an idea.

As Inquirer business columnist Mike Armstrong reported late last month, two Philadelphia University graduates are rolling out the Benson rower, a piece of machinery that, yup, simulates rowing on open water. This city is silly with those silly narrow boats.

That isn’t it.

Callowhill-based Avencia has released two data-heavy, online mapping displays in recent weeks: on legislative data and election data. Well, there are other wonks in town. Mikey Armstrong, of Philadelphia Business Today fame, again introduced us to a player in startup bizarro world.

Center City-based neighborhood revitalization group the Reinvestment Fund has won some praise of late for its PolicyMap.com, a freemium-model display that maps block-by-block statistics on things like household incomes, foreclosures and employment.

The more the merrier, I suppose.

After the jump, Geekadelphia talks horror films, sex addicted principals on MySpace, the solar world comes to Philly and four other regional tech stories you need to read, including our most trafficked story of the week.

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Duane, how do you pronounce Swierczynski?

Earlier this week, we covered Northeast Philadelphia’s favorite graphic novelist Duane Swierczynski.

We talked about social media – his blogging and tweeting – and other junk.

But dude’s dry humor is too good to not enjoy twice. After a ride through YouTube, watch our favorite posted interview experience of Duane’s from years passed.

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Technically Not Tech: Graphic novelist Duane Swierczynski

Crazed graphic novelist and Philadelphia-native Duane Swierczynski isn’t the first comic-author using social media.

Last month, we spoke to the South Philly minds behind the Black Cherry Bombshells. But Swierczynski, 37, who has blogged since October 2004 and tweeted since last summer, recalls when fan chasing was a real game.

“I remember writing a fan letter to Clive Barker back in 1988, and I went through a lot of trouble trying to figure out the address, typing the letter, retyping the letter when I realized that I made a few bone-headed mistakes, and finally, waiting many, many weeks for a response,” Swierczynski said. “I still have the letter framed.”

“Now it’s extremely easy to reach out and say “yo” to your favorite writer. This is great, but perhaps some of the magic has been lost, too.”

That’s because fans of the man behind the newest editions of The Punisher for Marvel Comics can just get online and come find Duane Swierczynski in an instant.

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