“Life is like underwear, should be changed twice a day.”¹ If you’re forced to choose one or the other this weekend, choose life. Laundry is boring.

Geek Out

Look directly at the sun. This week’s lunar eclipse was all well and good, but as far as heavenly bodies go, it doesn’t get much more heavenly than the sun. After all, the sun is the source of all existence on the planet, and what has the moon done for us lately? The tides? Oh, clap clap, moon, you’re really pulling your weight.

Every Saturday, members of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York City gather at the Conservatory Water in Central Park to observe Sol. AAA members provide equipment, and while you can bring your own, make sure you have all the right filters if you like your corneas the way they are. The observation is canceled when there is excessive clouds or rain, so while the forecast doesn’t look too bad as of this writing, check it again before you head out. After all, the sun will still be there next Saturday. I hope.

Sit in traffic. The Department of Transportation recently installed a left-turn signal at an intersection near my home to improve traffic flow. The signal has reduced logjams, but for a few reasons, it has also led irate motorists to drive on the wrong side of the road with disturbing frequency. I think this is fascinating, not just because I don’t own a car, but also because traffic in a large city is an endless study in unforeseen consequences. I realize I may be in a select group of New Yorkers who consider traffic savant Gridlock Sam a personal hero, but if you’re of like mind, you might enjoy Too Much Traffic! Is Congestion Pricing the Answer? at CUNY’s Newman Conference Center on the 25th. OK, not technically the weekend, but if you leave now, you can beat the traffic. (Rimshot.)

Geek In

Laugh. Pop-science show Radiolab premieres its fourth season on WNYC AM 820 tonight at 7:00. You can listen to episode #401, “Laughter,” via the Radiolab site or on an actual AM radio, I suppose. If you’re new to Radiolab, the three previous seasons are available for download, and they make for a good listen (although some of the earlier stuff skirts dangerously close to This American Life territory). And as a preview of the new season, check out this video experiment, which verifies the long-held hypothesis that a joke is miraculously funnier when the boss tells it.

Assassinate the king. This week’s weekend game recommendation is Citadels, a city-building card game that isn’t really about city building at all, but rather about deception. At the beginning of a round, each player picks a character that she thinks will advance her goal of completing a lavish city. The trouble is, if you make the obvious choice, you’re open to attack from your opponents, so you have to conceal your motives. When your Assassin snuffs out the other guy’s King, it feels like picking up an inside straight on the river. I got my copy of Citadels at The Compleat Strategist; you can find it anywhere fine games are sold.

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1. According to some guy with clean BVDs. ↑