Computer and Science Related SIGs?

sentientbrendan asks: "I'm a University student home for summer vacation, living in the Greater Seattle area. While at school I have access to a lot of different clubs such as the ACM, Math Club, Anime Club, etc. Now that I am out of school, even though I have more free time to participate in them, I no longer have access to said clubs. I enjoy hanging out with intelligent technical people and discussing programming, math, science, physics, and so fort. I'm a serious student of a number of subjects and I like to hang out with people who either know their stuff, or are willing to learn about it. I'm especially interested in anything that has a Seattle chapter. It also definitely needs to be a group that still meets during the summer. I do attend 2600 meets, although I'm not that interested in security in particular. The informal atmosphere is nice and people tend to wander around Seattle at night after the meets, which is always fun. So Slashdot, what are your favorite tech/math/science clubs?"

Well, it is not in Seattle,

[Anonymous Coward]

but if you are in Pittsburgh, it is hard to beat the KGB! [cmukgb.org]

Linux LUGs, before/after meeting hangouts

[Anonymous Coward]

I would go to your local linux LUG, and then go out to eat/drink with the group that forms afterward. Search out the people who are talking about anything interesting, and not necessarily Linux.

HAM Radio groups are also good. Follow the same technique. If a group of people meets at a particular restaurant to eat before the meeting, join them.

There is a Seattle Robot Society, check it out. Wireless (as in 802.11, not the more general HAM) groups are common.

Even if these groups only meet once a month, you should be able to find enough groups in Seattle to have a meeting a week. Attend them, and note the guys who are in multiple groups.

Re:Linux LUGs, before/after meeting hangouts

[bastard42]

Attend them, and note the guys who are in multiple groups.

Yes, they are the creepy ones. Avoid them at all cost. Try to pretend you are someone else at each meeting, or at least arrange so you don't go to the same meetings. :)

Re:Linux LUGs, before/after meeting hangouts

[Kirruth]

Try to pretend you are someone else at each meeting, or at least arrange so you don't go to the same meetings. :)

...or stay at home and make soap: it's the yardstick of civilisation.

Re:Linux LUGs, before/after meeting hangouts

[bastard42]

And sell the rich their own fat back :)

3) PROFIT!!

PS Fight Club is way cooler than the Matrix. Tyler Durden would kick Neo's ass, virtually or not.

Some possibilities...

[jebiester]

If your into Star Trek - star trek clubs and conventions are a good place to meet like minded people, and a good environment

Some of my friends have a pretty big circle of people they know online on MMORPGs also - although you don't meet people face to face (Avatar to Avator I guess), and it's pretty addictive.

Let's Start one...

[Breakerofthings]

Let's all of us in Seattle start one, then.
Seems most appropriate to start a general Math/Comp/Sci SIG (oxymoron?), then fork off if/as the group grows.
Anyone interested? If so, I'll start us a Google Group or something, we can work out the details.

Re:Let's Start one...

[sentientbrendan]

I (story submitter) would be interested, of course. I have been thinking of starting my own club for a while.
A usenet group is an interesting idea, but might be a bit unwieldy for a local group. Maybe a website + forums would be best?
Anyway, if you are still interested in such a thing, you can get ahold of me at [e-mail], which I check at least once a week.

P.S. What do you think of the name Empirical Society?

Same boat

[ike6116]

I am having a tough time with all of this down time I have being a college student sans college. I am in MA, and would enjoy attending my local LUG but unfortunately I think it is comprised mostly of battle hardened 30 something sys-admins, nothing against them they're cool and all but I'd feel a tad out of place... I guess it's just going to come down to splitting time between work, the hillegass book and the occasional high school friend... I could re-install starcraft I suppose...

Seattle groups

[itwerx]

At least two that I know - Seattle Robotics Society and Wierd Science. SRS is the biggest bunch of geeks I ever met (I only went to one meeting). The other I've only know from their web page but they at least seem more light hearted about it.
What? Of course there's no links to any web pages! You call yourself a geek, right?
Getcher spatulate paddy-paws over to Google!

(In my day we had to type uphill both ways! Grumble, grumble... :)

P.S. You might have better luck with Seattle Wireless. I've met a couple of their folks and they're actually pretty cool.

Maths, science etc etc.

[boogy nightmare]

'I enjoy hanging out with intelligent technical people and discussing programming, math, science, physics, and so fort. '

Maybe you should have a go at spelling.

Here ya go

[Mork29]

Google [google.com] always helps. The first few results include:
Seattle HTML Sig
Java-XML Special Interest Group

Others searches are sure to yield more. I love how people don't even seem to try to do things for themselves anymore, but it gives me an excuse to post ;)

Mensa

[selfsealingstembolt]

Ever tried Mensa? Great people there, nice meetings and they have branches nearly everywhere.

Do you really want too?

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

I don't hang out in clubs or societies, even the maths/comp/sci type ones. This is mainly because I am a grade A loser, but also because I feel kind of silly sitting around listening to people go on and on about stuff you can tell they haven't a clue about.

Sometimes you just want to scream at them "STOP,STOP!! YOUR NOT MAKING ANY SENSE!! BUZZWORDS ARE NOT ENGLISH"But they'd probobly go on anyway. I've found a lot of groups are infected with types who take it too seriously and contaminate the others. And a

go outside

[Anonymous Coward]

Go outside, try to talk to normal people your age, etc.

Seriously, you don't want to waste your life only hanging aroudn with strange geeky guys.

Try to find some women.

Juggling clubs

[stereo_Barryo]

I have no explanation for this, but every juggling club I've visited is 50%+ geeks and the conversations on the side can be very interesting. In my club, in addition to the usual programming suspects, there is a guy who travels the world setting up nuclear explosion monitoring equipment and another who travels the world setting up secure satellite dishes and equipment. Always a great group! ( fairfaxjugglers.com for us, specifically )

good sigs

[AragornSonOfArathorn]

Just steal your sig like everyone else does.





....oh, you mean special interest groups... dunno

What do you want to do?

[peragrin]

Just pick one, if you don't fit in try another. I enjoy Sailing.Since I am poor I can't have my own boat, but the local racing scene always need help. Since then I get to sail once a week from May to October. I also have met a number of great people where you can be invited to hang out and go around being sociable.

for anybody.

1) get your ass off of Slashdot
2) turn your computer off(or just the monitor)
3) pick one
4) go for it,
5) if 4 sucks goto 3 else goto 6
6) have fun.
7) unlearn basic programming from 2 decades ago. Yes it's been that long.

The Art.

[Maljin Jolt]

It is written: Verily the magic is a mother of all science.

Actually, I am a co-founder and chairman of Sovereign League of Chaos Magicians. We are quite a liberal club, being opened to all sentient entities from any possible dimension.

However, entry level skill requirements for an entity to be recognized as sentient is currently set so high, that even after 11 years of league persistence I am still the one and only member.