Event Highlights for September 7-13, 2009

Fall weather is in full force and Philly’s tech events are starting to light up the calendar like summer fireflies.
This week has a handful of events that sound right down our alley, and we have a feeling you won’t have trouble finding one that interests you – or at least awakens the good person within.
Drew Olanoff’s tongue-in-cheek, not-sure-if-we-should-laugh-about-cancer fundraiser Blame Drew’s Cancer has made us re-think charity. It’s not about guilt anymore! It’s about Doing The Right Thing. Join Drew along with organizations like Open Chefame, Two Guys On Beer, IndyHall, LiveStrong, Taco Bell and more than a dozen musical performers on Wednesday for the Blame-A-Thon. The 24-hour fundraiser will happen throughout Philly and should be a blast, while simultaneously scaring the pants off that jerk called Cancer.
Also on Wednesday, don’t miss Creative Connects hosted by the BOSS Group, a mixer of local media professionals and Web developers. We’ll be darned if we said we don’t love the idea of those two getting together. Fall in love please, it’s a match made in heaven.
This Weekend, join Hacktory heads and analog and early digital computer enthusiasts at the Vintage Computer Festival in Jerz, a two-day event devoted to all things pre-Pentium. We recommend buying up some old tape drives and 2400 baud modems and trying to hack NORAD Wargames-style. The government will never expect an attack from a brute force app made in QBASIC.
Also on Saturday, join fellow Twitter folk at the Philadelphia Twestival. Hosted by Lucky Strike Bowling, this is the only chance you’ll have to play a game with fellow followers that isn’t hosted by Facebook. Damn if we don’t love us some Mafia Wars, but you’re gonna look great in those bowling shoes, we promise.
All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more.

Wednesday, September 9: Blame Drew’s Cancer‘s Drew Olanoff appears to be doing well with his tongue-in-cheek cancer fundraiser. He’s been featured in the Inquirer, Washington Post and Philadelphia City Paper. Recently, he’s partnered with LiveStrong and will host a 24-hour event in Philly Wednesday to raise awareness and cash: the Blame-A-Thon. Festivities will begin at IndyHall at midnight the morning of the 9th, where Drew’s Best Damn Tech Show podcast will tape and later, the crew will move over to La Colombe for a special breakfast edition of Open Chef-A-Me. At noon, festivities move to the North Star Bar in the Fairmount neighborhood. More than a dozen music acts will play at the well-known venue throughout the afternoon. One hundred percent of proceeds go to LiveStrong. We blame Drew’s Cancer for having to write this events post during a holiday weekend. All Day. Fairmount. DETAILS. [view more events]
Wednesday, September 9: We love a chance to mingle with media professionals and Web developers because, well, that’s kinda the space we here at Technically Philly are occupying. Wednesday, the BOSS Group and Philly Creative Jobs come together to host the free Creative Connects mixer at Alfa Bar. Figure out how to make some money off the Web, will yah? 5:30 p.m. Rittenhouse. RSVP. [view more events]
Saturday, September 12: Sometime when I was in elementary school, my Dad got hooked on ham radios and we’d spend many a weekend hitting up the local amateur radio festivals. It was so damn cool (and by cool I mean paralyzingly geeky) to see all that old analog equipment lying around. I haven’t been to an old school computer gathering like this weekend’s Vintage Computer Festival in New Jersey, but my guess is it’s just as fascinating. Hacktory members will be there in full force, and look forward to Don Miller’s No Carrier 8-bit chiptunes performance. All Weekend. Wall Township, New Jersey. DETAILS. [view more events]
Saturday, September 12: Recognizing a Twitter avatar in person is a daunting task. Truth is, those 16,000 pixels are just not enough for the real life jump. I’ve probably offended a handful of social networking friends because I have the facial recognition skills of a two-month old, but things should hopefully go a lot smoother at Philadelphia Twestival, a local meetup of Twitter-er-erers. Our advice? Get email addresses from those new friends, because who knows how long it’ll be until the next social networking takeover. Oh, and snap a picture and send them our way, please. I’ll finally figure out who everyone is, apologize profusely, and we can all get on with our lives. 1:00 p.m. Center City. RSVP. [view more events]
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