Emily Lakdawalla – Looking For Life In The Solar System – Christchurch – 26 September 2018

What

Looking for Life in the Solar System

An Astronz Public Lecture

Emily will tour the solar system to inform the audience about the variety of different science missions actively exploring our solar system right now, with emphasis on the scientific motivations for their exploration (our origins and the search for life), with lots and lots of pretty pictures. She will share some of the the recent scientific discoveries made. The talk will include some of the latest images from the current missions.

Emily Lakdawalla is an internationally admired science communicator and educator, passionate about advancing public understanding of space and sharing the wonder of scientific discovery. Emily came to The Planetary Society in 2001 to oversee a portion of the Society’s Red Rover Goes to Mars project, an education and public outreach program on the Mars Exploration Rover mission funded by LEGO.

She ran worldwide contests that selected and trained high school students to travel to Pasadena to participate in rover operations training exercises in 2002 and then in actual Mars Exploration Rover mission operations during January and February of 2005.

She was awarded the 2011 Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Sciences Journalism Award from the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society for her blog entry about the Phoebe ring of Saturn. Asteroid 274860 was formally named “Emilylakdawalla” by the International Astronomical Union on July 12, 2014.

She received an honorary doctorate from The Open University in 2017 in recognition of her contributions in communicating space science to the public.

This is a free public lecture on behalf of Astronz, in association with the Canterbury Astronomical Society and the University of Canterbury.

When and Where

7.00 – 8.30pm on 26 September 2018

University of Canterbury,  C1 Lecture Theatre – Arts Road, Ilam, Christchurch.

How Much

Free. Admission by ticket only. Book here.

NZ Conservation Week – 15-23 September 2018

What

Conservation Week is run by DOC each year to encourage people to get involved in nature and help to take care of it.

Each year DOC works with community groups across Aotearoa to spread the conservation message. It’s a nationwide celebration of kiwis pitching in to help our native plants and animals. We invite you to join us by:

When and Where

Events listed by DOC or Eventfinda.

More

This Conservation Week, nature is asking for your help. DOC. 15/09/2018.

Te Wiki Tiaki Ao Turoa/Conservation Week call to action for nature. NZ Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage on 15 September 2018.

Women In Engineering Meetup – Auckland – 25 September 2018

What

We’re thrilled to be having our first meetup on Tuesday 25th September 2018 at 6pm.

We’ll start with wine, nibbles and networking from 6:00pm and then begin our panel discussions at 7:00pm, with the evening wrapping up by 8:30pm so you can be home for a late dinner. Please feel free to bring along any friends or colleagues who you think would enjoy the evening.

Please do let us know if you’re able to attend so we can organise catering.

We look forward to seeing you there.

About

The Auckland Women’s Engineering Meetup is a group where women in Engineering (and those who wish to explore the industry) can connect and share experiences.

Come and join us as we share our stories; how we got into Engineering, our journeys as professional Engineers, challenges that we’ve faced and overcome and celebration of our successes!

We want to learn about current goings on within the industry, new initiatives and opportunities to help develop not only the skills of Women Engineers in Auckland but to help raise the profile of Engineering as a career for new Women Engineers of all ages.

When and Where

Manpower Albany
Building E,
42 Tawa Drive,
Albany
Auckland

Tuesday, September 25, 2018
6 pm to 8:30pm
Every 4th Tuesday of the month until November 26, 2018

How Much

Free

More

25 September Women In Engineering Event
Women In Engineering – Auckland Meetup Group

CHCon (Christchurch Hacker Conference) – Christchurch – 25-27 October 2018

What

CHCon is a conference for security professionals and hackers in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is for anyone interested in software, hardware, and physical security in tech.

  • Training will be run on Thursday 25th October
  • Presentations on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th.
  • Badge and locksport challenges will be run throughout the main event

When and Where

UCSA Events Centre,
90 Ilam Rd,
Riccarton,
Christchurch

Training Day
Thursday 25 October 2018
8am – 5pm

Main Event
Friday 26 and Saturday 27 October 2018
9am – 6pm

How Much

For the Main event

General Admission  $70
Students/Unwaged  $35

Tickets for Training sold separately, prices to be confirmed.

More

Chcon Website
Chcon Main Event Schedule
Tickets

Running things in Go / Go modules fishbowl conversation – Auckland – 18 September 2018

What

GO AKL is a Auckland based meetup group for anyone interested in Go programming language. We will try to organise regular meetups with talks by members and guests. Depending on interest we can also consider organising Go hacking sessions.

This month we will be having one speaker followed by a ‘fishbowl conversation’.

Dmitry will be speaking to us about ‘running things in Go’ – lessons and advice for running Go apps in production.

Then we will have a fishbowl conversation on [at least one of] the following topics:
* Go modules and dependency management
* Go2 and Generics

Fishbowls are a fun format to conduct a group conversation, and you’re welcome to participate or spectate as you feel. Both these topics are hotly debated in the Go world, and this feels like an interesting time to discuss each one. We’ll vote on a topic and see how far it takes us – we don’t necessarily have to cover both.

This will be our first meetup with this kind of format – naturally we’ll keep things friendly and inclusive, and agree on some ground rules to ensure that everyone feels comfortable.

In the meantime feel free to connect via the Gophers slack community, on the #auckland channel (sign up via https://invite.slack.golangbridge.org/ ).

When and Where

Tuesday 18 September 2018
6pm – 8pm

Movio
2.4 / 30 St Benedicts St
Eden Tce
Auckland

How Much

Free

More

Meetup page for this week’s event
Meetup page for Go AKL

Armageddon Expo – Auckland – 19-22 October 2018

What

Aucklands ASB Showgrounds will be host to three and a half days of Gaming, Wrestling, Animation, Cosplay Costuming, Amusements, ESports, TV and Movie stars and much more!

With one of our largest guest lists ever, meet international TV and Movie stars from Doctor Who, Shadowhunters, X-Men, Addams Family, Runaways, Supernatural, Stargate SG1, Supergirl, Harry Potter and so many more. Meet animation voices from RWBY, Mass Effect, Attack on Titan, Yuri on Ice and more. Comic creators, animation portfolio reviews, screenings, cosplay events with international cosplay stars Jessica Nigri and others.

PLUS, NZ’s biggest gaming displays from PlayStation, Nintendo, Logitech, Total Interactive, OMEN, Warner Brothers and more, with a huge ESports arena, gaming events and activities.

Numerous collectible companies from all over the world with merchandise unavailable anywhere else in NZ as well as huge sale areas from EB Games and MightyApe.

With special Music events, Gaming displays and releases as well as Special advance previews, Armageddon is THE entertainment event for NZ not to be missed.

When and Where

ASB Showgrounds
217 Green Lane West
Epsom, Auckland

Labour Weekend
Friday 19th October – 6pm to 9pm
Saturday 20th October – 9am to 6pm
Sunday 21st October – 10am to 6pm
Monday 22nd October – 10am to 5pm

How Much

Adult One-day entry (Friday, Sunday, Monday) – $26
Adult Saturday Entry – $28
Adult Three-day pass – $70.00
Premium Pass – $349
Ultra Pass – $1249

Various other discounted passes for Students and Children.

More

Armageddon Expo Auckland Website

NetHui Southland – Invercargill – 16 October 2018

What

NetHui is a collection of New Zealand’s most diverse and interactive Internet community events. InternetNZ has helped bring the NetHui experience to New Zealanders interested in the future of the Internet since 2011 – they have been held in cities, towns and at your house via live streaming.

What happens at a NetHui?

A NetHui is about discussions, not presentations – participants set topics and lead conversations amongst all of the attendees. While there are plenary sessions with keynote speakers to bring participants together at the beginning and end of each day, most of a NetHui is dedicated to breakout sessions, often with multiple sessions running concurrently. This format deliberately creates smaller groups so more voices can be heard.

A NetHui feels very different to most events. The collaborative conversations between participants draws in views and expertise that is often overlooked. People share their own experiences as well as their expertise, so it is rare for a NetHui session to end without everyone feeling like they learned something new – even if they were experts in the topic to begin with.

Is NetHui for me?

Of course! NetHui is for everybody who has an interest in the challenges and vast opportunities the Internet presents, the policies and regulations around access and use of the Internet, or anyone that simply wants to talk about the Internet.

A NetHui is empowering for participants because everyone’s views, opinions and contributions are valued equally at NetHui. People of all ages, backgrounds, genders and ethnicities are encouraged to attend. A respectful, open attitude towards others is expected from all participants, speakers, exhibitors and volunteers. Put simply, if you’re looking for a safe, open, inclusive space to engage with your community about the Internet and all that goes with it, then NetHui will be your kind of place.

And if you can’t attend a NetHui in person, you can get involved in the conversation online: Every NetHui session is live-streamed, and we have live-chat so you can participate. We also have people making collaborative online notes of the sessions.

How is the programme for a NetHui decided upon?

To build a NetHui programme, the public are invited to submit ideas for the things they’d like to talk about. People with similar topics are linked up and asked to prepare and facilitate a conversation during a NetHui Breakout Session. The ideas raised by the community also inform the creation of panel discussion topics, and the invitation of panelists and keynote speakers, both of whom lead bigger discussions in NetHui plenaries. The programme development process starts months before a NetHui, to engage widely with the community and allow groups time to flesh out their topics and prepare.

When and Where

9am – 5pm
Tuesday 16 October 2018

Ascot Park Hotel
Corner of Tay Street and Racecourse Rd,
Invercargill

How Much

$30 for standard tickets

More

Nethui Southland Website
Draft Programme
About Nethui

TransTasman Mah Jong Tournament – Upper Hutt – 14-19 October 2018

What

Hurry hurry, calling all mah jong players – there are only 3 weeks left for you to register for our terrific TransTasman tournament here in Upper Hutt, October 15-19 2018.

For only $120 you can play four mornings, experience a Meet and Greet on the Sunday evening, and a lavish lunch for the prize giving on Friday; there are also extras you can book for – some wonderful side trips, including a Mystery Trip; a chance to sample some of Brewtown’s (our new name) award winning craft beers; and a full day out around our lovely region.

When and Where

15th – 19th October 2018
9am – 12:30pm each Day
Plus afternoon events

Upper Hutt Cosmopolitan Club
11 Logan Street, Ebdentown
Upper Hutt

How Much

$120 for Full Registraion
Additional for afternoon events

More

Website for Tournament

Erlang in Earnest, for Mixed Reality gaming – Auckland – 19 September 2018

What

Using Erlang in earnest – building a Mixed Reality, multiplayer, game engine embodying digital Agents – a beginner’s guide

Description: We have built a Mixed Reality game engine in .Net running in Azure. It works well, but scaling and cost mean it is not tenable as the business grows. We needed to build something that could be massively parallel, and scale without limit. We tried NodeJS. We rethought things, did some more research, and came up with Erlang. It took us a couple of years to find a way into the language, but once we found the right tools, getting started with Erlang took about two weeks. This talk will attempt to help you avoid a similar two-year trial period. With examples.

Short Bio: Dr Roy Davies is a computer scientist who went to the dark side and became interested in the human side of the cursor. Studying cognitive science and psychology prepared him for doing research in Mixed Reality in the 90s when it was still a new and amazing thing. Over the years, he has worked in academia and business, with a stint as a consultant, in both Sweden and New Zealand. His first introduction to ‘interesting’ languages was programming in Prolog, and building hard-wired computers to control robots for people with disabilities. Roy is currently the CTO of Imersia, but still gets his hand dirty by cutting code – leading by example.

Functional Programming Auckland

Come learn, teach, play with all things FP. We’ll see what people are into including some presentations and hack nights to try other cool languages etc. Haskell, Scala, Clojure, Lisp, ML, OCaml, Javascript, Erlang and all the others…

When and Where

Wednesday 19 September 2018
6pm – 8pm

Movio HQ
2.4 – 30 St Benedicts St
Eden Tce
Auckland

How Much

Free

More

Using Erlang in earnest – building a Mixed Reality
Functional Programming Auckland Meetup Group

NetHui West Coast – Greymouth – 11 October 2018

What

NetHui is a collection of New Zealand’s most diverse and interactive Internet community events. InternetNZ has helped bring the NetHui experience to New Zealanders interested in the future of the Internet since 2011 – they have been held in cities, towns and at your house via live streaming.

What happens at a NetHui?

A NetHui is about discussions, not presentations – participants set topics and lead conversations amongst all of the attendees. While there are plenary sessions with keynote speakers to bring participants together at the beginning and end of each day, most of a NetHui is dedicated to breakout sessions, often with multiple sessions running concurrently. This format deliberately creates smaller groups so more voices can be heard.

A NetHui feels very different to most events. The collaborative conversations between participants draws in views and expertise that is often overlooked. People share their own experiences as well as their expertise, so it is rare for a NetHui session to end without everyone feeling like they learned something new – even if they were experts in the topic to begin with.

Is NetHui for me?

Of course! NetHui is for everybody who has an interest in the challenges and vast opportunities the Internet presents, the policies and regulations around access and use of the Internet, or anyone that simply wants to talk about the Internet.

A NetHui is empowering for participants because everyone’s views, opinions and contributions are valued equally at NetHui. People of all ages, backgrounds, genders and ethnicities are encouraged to attend. A respectful, open attitude towards others is expected from all participants, speakers, exhibitors and volunteers. Put simply, if you’re looking for a safe, open, inclusive space to engage with your community about the Internet and all that goes with it, then NetHui will be your kind of place.

And if you can’t attend a NetHui in person, you can get involved in the conversation online: Every NetHui session is live-streamed, and we have live-chat so you can participate. We also have people making collaborative online notes of the sessions.

How is the programme for a NetHui decided upon?

To build a NetHui programme, the public are invited to submit ideas for the things they’d like to talk about. People with similar topics are linked up and asked to prepare and facilitate a conversation during a NetHui Breakout Session. The ideas raised by the community also inform the creation of panel discussion topics, and the invitation of panelists and keynote speakers, both of whom lead bigger discussions in NetHui plenaries. The programme development process starts months before a NetHui, to engage widely with the community and allow groups time to flesh out their topics and prepare.

When and Where

9am – 5pm
Thursday 11 October 2018

Tai Poutini Polytechnic
73-87 Tainui Street,
Greymouth

How Much

$30 for standard tickets

More

Nethui West Coast Website
Draft Programme
About Nethui