Silicon Valley celebrates ‘Nerd New Year’ on 11-11-11 for charity
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On Nov. 11, 2011, Silicon Valley will celebrate ‘Nerd New Year’ by counting down until 11:11 pm.
The resolution: Close off a major artery in Redwood City on Friday to hold a giant block party and raise money for 11 charities including the Redwood City Fire Department, according to organizers 106 Miles and Hackers and Founders. (Twitter hashtag #NerdNewYear)
Armchair numerologists will diagnose this geeky fascination with 11-11-11 as a classic case of finding meaning, patterns or any excuse to throw a big party in randomly occurring numbers.
‘Nerd New Year’ will feature two quintessential Silicon Valley activities: drinking and robot building (leaving ample opportunity for epic fails while operating heavy machinery, just saying).
‘They are friendly robots,’ organizer Adam Rifkin helpfully clarified. ‘We are into preserving humanity.’
And the robots are also friendly to the not so techno savvy, coming with a kit that includes a grid to construct your robot, software to program your robot to ‘do cool stuff’ and professional robotics experts on hand.
As an added enticement, attendees can explore the ‘festive parameters and monitor copyright infringement’ as three bands, fire dancers, stilt walkers, face painters and magicians entertain the crowd.
‘As the sun sinks behind its state-mandated horizon, the nighttime sky illuminates the ticking numbers of a 13-foot LCD countdown clock as it inches toward 11:11 p.m. After the countdown, guests can keep the party going for 49 additional minutes until the festivities draw to a close at midnight.’
And Groupon has a deal for you.
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