2015 Programming
Our programming list for 2015 is now available! The titles and descriptions have been edited for clarity, brevity, and/or interest, so if you are a panelist, please look closely at your track to make sure your event is there.
THIS LIST WILL CHANGE. As our programming team receives new information and wrangles a schedule together, text will change and panels may be added or removed at any time. If you believe your event is erroneously not listed or its description is materially different from your event, please contact the track head for your event.
This Year at Penguicon now hosts our schedule and event descriptions as well as info on our Maker Market vendors, Featured Guests, Emeritus Guests of Honor, and of course our Guests of Honor for this year.
Action Adventure
| Action Photography | Dancers suspended mid-air, splashes of water frozen like glass, bullets exploding an apple? Maybe not the last one, but come see what it takes for a photographer to capture those surreal moments. |
| Adventure As A Way Of Life | Not everyone can get outside of their comfort zone as a matter of course. But that’s where the most treasure is. Let’s discuss the practicalities and challenges of not depending on a reassuring hobbit hole of stability; the necessary values and priorities; building resilience and flexibility toward change; and estimating risk and courage. |
| Archery in Hollywood | Robin Hood vs. Katniss Everdeen. Let’s take a look at Hollywood’s greatest archers and see what they got right and what they got wrong. Learn about what goes on behind the scenes in some of these famous films. |
| Archery Lessons! | Want to live out the experience of your favorite archers? Join us for a one-hour session where you will receive professional instruction from a level 3 certified JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Development) coach at nearby archery range. All ages welcome. USA Archery membership required. Applications will be available before the event for all who sign up. A range fee is required and equipment rentals are available. Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Beginning Kali | Learn more about the Filipino Martial Art of Kali, as seen in the Bourne movies and The Book of Eli. Blocks, strikes, counterattacks, footwork and Filipino Martial Art theory will all be discussed and demonstrated. |
| Beginning Silat | Come learn about the Indonesian martial art of Silat. There are hundreds of different kinds of Silat, this will be a generic introduction to some of the throws and take-downs found in this lesser known martial art. |
| Close Quarters Combat Martial Arts Demo & Seminar | Come watch a live martial arts demonstration, then learn the science and geometry of CQC Self-Defense system in a hands on seminar. CQC’s roots come from South east Asian arts such as Kali and Silat combined with Chinese styles such as Wing Chun and Bagua. Learn to defend yourself against punches, kicks, and tackles by applying simple principles of leverage, balance and angling. Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Combat Mindset | Ever wonder what goes through the mind of a person when they’re in a fight? What do they think about, and what are they doing when the fight starts? How does one prepare for a fight, any sort of fight? What does the phrase “”stay in the fight”” mean? Come learn from a martial artist and veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq all about what goes on inside the brains and minds of people who find themselves in some sort of combat. |
| Combat Taiji Class | Taiji (or “”tai chi””) is often studied for its health benefits, but it’s originally a combative martial art. Come learn some of the basic motions and exercises of Chen Taiji, one of the styles that’s still used and taught combatively; discuss how some of the principles of Taiji translate into combat; and walk away with some Internal Martial Arts conditioning exercises to incorporate in your training regimen. This class is pretty athletic! it’s a beginner Taiji class but requires general fitness, and some martial arts knowledge is helpful but not required. Wear loose / workout clothing. Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Fighting and Rhythm | Learn how rhythm applies to fights and fighting, and how you can use or break that rhythm to throw your own brand of dirty tricks into the mix. Will cover hand, stick, knife, and sword. |
| Freerunning/Parkour Academy | Ever wanted to learn parkour or freerunning? Join up with Phoenix Freerunning as we demonstrate and teach this unique discipline, from basic to advanced exercises. Parkour is a discipline using movement that developed from obstacle course training where runners aim to get from A to B in the most efficient way possible using only the human body and surrounding obstacles. It’s a great way to stay active without the boring routine of a work-out! |
| Geeks with Guns Virtual Range | Handgun shooting without the noise and recoil! Our virtual range features pistols with the same weight, feel and trigger action of a Glock 17/20, including weighted magazines for “”reloading”” exercises, but the only things flying downrange are photons! Professional range instructors can help newbies or experienced shooters alike learn the basics of handgunning in a completely safe environment. Whether you’re just learning the basics of shooting, want to maintain your training, or just have some “”shooting gallery”” style fun, make the GwG Virtual Range a must-go part of your Penguicon experience. |
| Gender Inclusion in Physical Activities | Gender segregation is often presented as necessary to support and promote female athletes. “”Separate but equal”” is inherently unequal and harms the segregated by undermining their inclusion. Like all forms of segregation, gender segregation reinforces harmful stereotypes, problematic binaries, and discrimination. This panel by two female martial-arts instructors and athletes will address how physical activities can be approached to positively support the inclusion of all genders. |
| Historical Shields | Learn to defend against swords and other weapons using a shield! Shields were used extremely commonly throughout history. They differed in manner of construction and materials, which affected the way they were used. In this active and hands on workshop you will handle several types of shields to provide a basis for understanding the considerations behind the techniques. Presented by Polaris Fellowship of Weapon Study, a western martial arts school local to Farmington Hills, MI. Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Open Source Martial Arts | Martial artists join in sharing and learning skills with other martial artists! There is much to be learned from practicing with those who study other styles and in other areas. Please bring any source material and equipment you have with you. Come ready to learn and share! Presented by Polaris Fellowship of Weapons Study, a western martial arts school local to Farmington Hills, MI. |
| SCA Fencing Demo | Come learn about fencing done through the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA)! The SCA is a practical historical group that strives to learn about and recreate the arts and sciences of pre-17th century life. Learn how to fence with one sword, two swords, bucklers, cloaks, and more! |
| Shillelagh: Irish Stick Fighting | Learn self defense techniques of the traditional Irish walking stick! This workshop draws from historical and living traditions. Participants will actively use techniques with others. Please bring short walking sticks and hand protection if you have them. Presented by Polaris Fellowship of Weapon Study, a western martial arts school local to Farmington Hills, MI. Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Teaching Martial Arts to Vulnerable Populations | In the US, those most at risk of violence are also those least likely to learn self defense: survivors of trauma and abuse, disabled persons, and those with medical problems that impair sensing, learning, communication, and/or movement. This session instructs teachers of martial arts and self defense on strategies and techniques for effectively working with individuals in these vulnerable populations. Included are approaches to maintaining motivation, adapting techniques and teaching methods for physical differences, dealing with psychological trauma, patterns of victimhood, and more. |
| Throwing Spears | Learn to throw spears! Spears are among the oldest weapons, and throwing spears has been used in many contexts through history into the modern day. Join us for instruction on technique and practice! Presented by Polaris Fellowship of Weapon Study, a western martial arts school local to Farmington Hills, MI. Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Western Martial Arts Demonstration | Enjoy demonstrations of swords, shields, spears, daggers, and other western martial arts weapons! Polaris Fellowship of Weapon Study teaches self defense using techniques drawn from European and other historical and modern sources. Come join us, ask questions about our techniques, training, sources, and have fun watching! |
After Dark
| BDSM: Defining your D/s Dynamic | A primer class on D/s dynamics. We will cover different types of dynamics, styles, history of D/s dynamics within the community, and methods for building a solid foundation for your D/s relationship, such as what to do if your partner has another partner, communication, and negotiating limits. |
| BDSM: Violet Wands | Zzzzzzzap! Spice up your bedroom life with an electrifying Violet Wand! Learn about these children of Tesla/Oudin and how to introduce them into your bedroom. Safety, techniques, and buying guide will be covered. |
| Cryptozoology and the Paranormal in the Great Lakes Area | Come learn about and discuss cryptozoology and paranormal wonders of our local area . |
| Dating Safety for the 21st Century | Dating is complicated. This class sheds some light on safely meeting and finding partners interested in BDSM, a polyamorous relationship, or a traditional dating partner. What are some red flags to look for? What can I do to be safe? |
| Flirting for Geeks | Come learn how to (and how not to) flirt from some of our local fandom’s biggest flirts. Not only is it laugh-out-loud funny, it’s an irreverent and honest reflection of love, sex, and fandom. Find ways to woo, methods for making friends, and how to avoid being that creepy guy that we all talk about between conventions. |
| How to Get Rid of the Paranormal | How to remove unwanted things/beings from life, home and being. Discussion of different practices and spells and ingredients that help to remove annoyances. After ghost hunting and magically cleansing many homes, I have found different things that work to remove attachments and parasitic paranormals. |
| Live Body Paint | Watch the magic happen as we transform our beautiful model into a work of art! Stop by throughout the evening and watch the paint come to life. Feel free to take pictures and ask questions of the artists and model. |
| Mark Reads Smut | Mark Oshiro of Mark Reads Stuff has a secret, awful, smutty thing to read. Guaranteed to be hilarious and dirty. You don’t want to miss this. |
| Open Kink | An guided discussion for those who enjoy talking about all things kinky. What is kink, what you enjoy about it, and everything else. Just bring your kinky ideas, and an openness to talk… or just to listen! |
| Rope Basics: Bedroom & Beyond | Bring your rope and comfortable clothes to learn the basics of tying up someone (consensually, of course!) in the bedroom! A partner is not strictly necessary (all of the ties in the class can be tied solo), but is helpful and fun. You’ll learn single & double column ties, bed post tie offs (which are also helpful camping), and, if time allows, a simple body harness. Also, a limited amount of rope will be on hand for those who’d like to participate but don’t have any. |
| Sex Toys with S&M | Ever wonder what a “”silver bullet”” is? Why was “”the rabbit intervention”” such a popular episode on Sex & the City? If I don’t use it, will I lose it? Shannon & Maggie (S&M) have been educating and empowering South East Michigan since 2007. Walk with them through the basics of introducing “”buzzing buddies”” into the bedroom. (18+ please) |
Anime
| Best Fighting Scenes in Anime! | What are the best overall fighting scenes in Anime to date? Which ones are most realistic? Which ones are just cool? We’ll explore everything from knife fights, gun fights, to plain fist fighting. Come and join us as we recap all your favorite fighting moments! |
| BoF: Why Are There So Few Adult American Animated TV Series? | Let’s talk about why most U.S. animated series are created for children when there is such a large market for adult animation abroad. |
| Philosophy in Anime | Sword Art Online asks us “”Is the real world virtual?”” Ghost in the Shell asks us “”Who has a soul, and what makes us human (or cyborg)?”” Avatar asks us “”What is good?”” while Psyco-Pass asks us “”When is society a trap?”” Come explore these thought-provoking questions posed by Anime! |
| Retro Roots Anime: Perfect Overload Lovely Superbash! | Drop in for a magical mishmash of menacing mecha, obnoxious aliens, daring detectives, bumbling baka, romance, thrills, and gratuitous destruction! Discover ancient (crudely-animated) treasures for the first time, or relive the heartwarming nostalgia of the years when none of your friends knew what this Japanese animation style was! We’ll sample some great series, and show highlights of notable movies as well. Cutoff is 1989- the year Tezuka Osamu (Astroboy, Kimba etc) died. “Seriously? The God Cannon Is A Beauty’s Keyword To Escape!” “Target! Locku On!” |
Costuming
| Attention to Detail: Taking Your Costume From Good to Great | The difference between a good costume and a great costume is in the details! That might mean the right foundation garments, or weathering and distressing so that your battle-worn character doesn’t look fresh off the armor manufacturer’s showfloor. It could be choosing the right materials and the right accessories. Don’t forget to perfect your character’s look for the best photos, because you’re going to want to show this off! |
| Beginning Cosplay | These days you can’t turn around at a con without seeing someone in costume and they look to be having so much fun! This panel is a primer to help you to join this awesome community. It will help you avoid some common missteps in creation as well as comfort, movement and confidence. |
| BoF: Closet Cosplay | Let’s talk about how you can build a costume from what you happen to have on hand. Come share stories about the costumes you didn’t know you already had tucked away in the midst of your day to day clothes, or costumes you pulled together in 30 minutes after a run to the hardware store. |
| BoF: Cosplay Model Figure Illustration | You spent all night/month/year working on your in-depth cosplay of your absolute favorite character. You get to walk around in it, have some pictures taken, and then set it aside until your next Con…or maybe never again. That’s just not good enough! Come and model it for some hopeful artists! Cosplayers and artists of all skill-levels, please join us! |
| Corset Making 101 | This class will cover the basics of making a corset, such as proper seaming techniques, setting a busk, and making boning channels and binding. Learn how to select proper materials and supplies, and ways you can save a few dollars and still have good results. Each step will be demonstrated as we assemble at least half of a corset in the class. |
| Creature Costumes | Learn different techniques in making werewolf, lizardman, and other fantasy / sci-fi creature costumes. |
| How to Lay a Crepe Wool Facial Hair | Learn basic hair laying techniques used in special effects and costuming to create the look of inexpensive, realistic facial hair. Techniques will be demonstrated on a volunteer, and supplies will be discussed. |
| How to Apply a Foam Latex Prosthetic | Learn how to apply a foam latex prosthetic, and blend and paint it to create a realistic special effect. Materials will be discussed and a pre-made prosthetic will be applied to a volunteer! |
| Junk Pile Wars | Dig through the pile of random costume bits and strike gold! Participants will have two hours to construct a costume using the supplies provided. Make a thing, win a prize! |
| Loving Your Cosplay Body | Let us help you build your confidence to do the cosplays that you really want to do regardless of your body type. We will also discuss strategies for dealing with people who feel that this is an invitation to ridicule. |
| Pattern Alterations for All Body Types | Since everyone comes in different shapes and sizes, it can be difficult to find a pattern or costume to match your cosplay idea. We will cover alteration techniques, and various other conversion or reimagining ideas in order to help you create the costume you really want. |
| Proper Fit of a Corset | We’ll cover a basic history of the corset along with common fitting questions. There will be a variety of different corsets, of different qualities and discuss how they effect fit, and what to look for in purchasing or making a corset. |
| Sewing 101 | This is a basic fashion sewing workshop to help with the construction of costumes. We will go over various stitching and construction techniques. Stitches will include but are not limited to french, ease, top, open welt, and flat felled. We will go over various zipper installs,a variety of pocket styles, and pleats and tucks. This class will be mostly demo, but if you have a machine of your own feel free to bring it and sew your very own samples – muslin will be provided, but bring your own thread. Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Silicone Casting for Cheap Bastards | Have you wanted to make stuff out of silicone, but don’t want to buy the expensive stuff? In this panel you will learn how to mold silicone things out of cheap and easily obtainable silicone caulk and cornstarch. We will cover the entire process from plaster casting to the silicone mixture and casting. Limited amounts of casting materials will be available. Bring small items to mold in plaster, then cast in silicone. Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Special Effects Makup: Jello Edition | Come find out about the cool effects you can pull off using unflavored gelatin as a base. |
| Taking Flight: Making Moving Bat Wings | With some pvc pipe, a heat gun, and fabric, flight is possible. At least, the appearance of flight! Come and learn how to make moving wings for any of your cosplay needs or if you’re just feeling batty. |
DIY
| Balloon Workshop | Tim shows you how to make balloon creations in this hands-on workshop! |
| Beginner’s Guide to Metalworking | Learn metalworking, welding theory and safety presented by two knowledgeable individuals whose combined experience totals 10+ years. Also, learn about why welding and blacksmithing is a useful tool to learn, and what you can do with different metals. |
| BoF: Electronics Projects Show and Tell | Show off electronics projects that you have been working on, and discuss how you made it! Robots! Wearable computers! Arduino! Raspberry Pi! Beaglebone! All and more are welcome. If you cannot bring the physical project to the event, bring a laptop or another way to show it to the group. |
| Crappy Floors: Turning Lemons into Lemonade | How to turn stained and damaged wooden floors into beauties. We will show how to strip, repair, design, layout, artistically stain, and refinish them into works of art at your feet. |
| DIY GoPro Mounts | Ever wonder how they get all the cool shots with the GoPro? Ever wonder how they got the camera to stay like that? Learn how you can make your own action cam mounts to help you get that million dollar shot! |
| DIY Mad Science | If you’ve ever seen the Southpark Episode where Butters, er, we mean Professor Chaos, tries to destroy the world by leaving the water faucet on overnight, you know that to be a true mad scientist, you need much cooler tools and designs. We think the world is pretty nifty as it is, but wouldn’t it be a better world with propeller driven cars, corn starch flamethrowers, and steampunk organ backpacks? Come learn how to turn ordinary objects into awesome objects from our mad scientist Guests of Honor! |
| Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Traditional Printmaking | Woodcut, wood engraving lithograph, etching, aquatint, silkscreen, prints. This presentation will help you understand the difference between these traditional printmaking techniques. You will see examples of each of these processes including the final print and the plate(s) it was printed from. Mr. Stolpin teaches printmaking, and has original prints in many collections including the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. Bring only your curiosity. |
| Geeks with Needles: Embroidery 101 | Come learn the basics of hand embroidery! Join us to learn some stitches and techniques that you’ll have plenty of time to practice. Materials will be provided, but spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Intro to Arm Knitting | Do you have 2 arms or similar appendages? Then all you need is some yarn, and you can knit! You can complete an entire scarf in the course of this session, and be introduced to the basics of knitting with no actual supplies required! Bring your own yarn, if you want specific colors, or feel free to use the yarn on hand. The chunkier the yarn, the better. Once you know the basics, you can make scarves, cowls, blankets, bags, or even a camouflage cover to hide your zombie-proof forest camp. |
| Intro to Finger Knitting | Do you have at least 2 or maybe even 4 fingers or similar digits? Then all you need is some yarn, and you can knit! You can complete an entire scarf to take home in the course of this session. Bring your own yarn, if you want specific colors, or feel free to use the yarn on hand. The chunkier the yarn, the better. It’s a great post-apocalyptic life skill. You’ll be the only one not freezing to death when the fuel has run out. |
| Miniatures Paint and Take | Enjoy a fun and relaxing session of painting miniature figures, even if you don’t think of yourself as an artist. We are happy to demonstrate several painting techniques, including drybrushing, washes, and face elements, including the always tricky eyes. Some free figures available (one per person per day). Find us in the small room at the back of the restaurant! |
| Miniatures Paint and Take | Enjoy a fun and relaxing session of painting miniature figures, even if you don’t think of yourself as an artist. We are happy to demonstrate several painting techniques, including drybrushing, washes, and face elements, including the always tricky eyes. Some free figures available (one per person per day). Find us in the small room at the back of the restaurant! |
| Miniatures Paint and Take | Enjoy a fun and relaxing session of painting miniature figures, even if you don’t think of yourself as an artist. We are happy to demonstrate several painting techniques, including drybrushing, washes, and face elements, including the always tricky eyes. Some free figures available (one per person per day). Find us in the small room at the back of the restaurant! |
| More Fun with High-Voltage Toys | This lively interactive session is for those interested in obtaining, building, fondling, and occasionally (accidentally?) hurting themselves with clocks, spinners, glowers, thermometers, blinking lights, nixies, VFDs, dekatrons. This is a DIY supply-sourcing and informational session with opportunity see and play with lots of different devices. Demonstrations of how to make a clock in 10 minutes for less than $100 in parts and newbie skills. |
| Penguicon Robot Build | Come help design and build a robot during the convention. Donations may be accepted depending on the robot design. No skill necessary to help but prior experience would be useful. Useful skills include familiarity with microcontrollers, structural design, costume design, programming, graphic design, and logic! |
Eco
| 12 Uses for a 5-Gallon Bucket in the Garden | Lots of fun surprises and ideas for making use of a 5 gallon bucket for a variety of tasks and purposes. 5 gallon buckets are readily available in stores or repurposed by gardeners of all skill levels to become everything from storage to planters. |
| Beekeeping for Sustainable Farming and Homesteading | An introduction to beekeeping for homesteading. Learn the tools of the trade, best practices, and harvesting techniques. |
| BoF: Homesteading | Come and share your homesteading experiences! |
| Conflict in the Garden | Gardens project a peaceful image, but having one can lead to a struggle against nature, pests, family members and even yourself. We’ll talk about methods of cultivating peace in gardening, including Integrative Pest Management, low maintenance gardening, choosing beneficial and native plants, easy vegetable plants, and self-motivation. |
| Farm Detroit: The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative | Join us for an overview of the story behind the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative, an in-depth explanation of each of its 15 different projects, and overall site development plan. Themes include: Detroit, blue & green infrastructure, social innovation, and social entrepreneurship. |
| Homesteading for the Beginner | Interested in learning how to live a more self-sustaining life? Come and see how you can get started on the homesteading path from two experienced homesteaders. Learn how they got started and what they have found to work. |
| How to Get Kids to Fall in Love with Gardening | Gardening together is a great activity for adults and children in home or school garden settings. What factors lead to success? This presentation will focus on positive relationships with gardeners/adults, being encouraged in curiosity and growing confident in knowledge, and exploring through cooking and eating simple foods. |
| Rethinking Urban Spaces | We’ll talk about the types of lands used (single vacant parcel, blighted multifamily flat, commercial space) and what is legal. We’ll use three examples: An Urban Farm, A Shipping Container homestead retrofitted on a preexisting blighted bungalow, and a Retention pond created from the basement of a blighted home. Participants will break into groups to come up with novel ideas for repurposing urban infrastructure together. Maybe we can come up with some truly innovative project ideas for real world use! |
| Small and Mid-Scale Chicken Production | Overview of Three Brother’s Farm and orchard egg laying and meat bird operations. Topics will include: brooding chicks, styles of outdoor housing, chicken processing and marketing and ideas on how to integrate chickens into plant agricultural systems. |
| Vermicomposting | Worms are our friends, especially when they help us get rid of the mountians of compostable trash in our lives. Learn how to keep your worms happy and your compost pile healthy. |
Film
| 2014: The Year in Review for Comics and Movies | The early success of the Spider-Man movies and the X-Men movies in the early 2000s opened the flood gates for more superhero movies to make it to the big screen. Following the success of The Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, there are even more movies on the horizon. We will have an open forum discussion on the upcoming movies including Avengers 2, Thor 3, Captain America 3, Ant-Man, and the coming Justice League movie. We will also discuss the all-important, all-consuming importance of story development and the “bad guys”. |
| BoF: Sherlocked! | Modern Sherlock Holmes has addicted much of sf fandom and pro-dom. Join fellow fans for on open discussion of BBC’s Sherlock 2010-2014. Includes s3 spoilers. We will ask up front if participants would prefer to avoid discussion of s4 spoilers. |
| BroMances Through History | What is a “”bromance””? “”Guy Love””? Walk with us through cinema history as we highlight the evolution of the bromance. From Felix & Oscar, Wayne & Garth, through Harold & Kumar, we will highlight through film that it is ok to have a “”hetro-lifemate””. |
| Dawn and Greg’s Film Roast | Go to the movies with Dawn and Greg as they add their own special brand of color commentary (a la MST3K) to make a bad movie into a good laugh. WARNING: May (OK, WILL) include severe laughter, adult language and off-color jokes. Not appropriate for young children or those who are easily offended, Ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex – if it’s not, it probably won’t get you through one of our shows, either. |
| Dr. Horrible Once More has Feelings | It’s a back-to-back sing-a-long for the Whedonverse at Penguicon. Come, sit a spell, and sing along to two of your favorite 45 minute shows. |
| Game Bangers, the D&D Parody Webseries Episodes 1-3 | Did you enjoy “”The Guild””? Did you love “”Gamers””? Then you’ll definitely love this webseries! In the not-so-distant future, D&D-Style Gaming has been made illegal. Come check out this Michigan-Made show that’s full of gamer humor, medieval combat and cop-show parody, but also has a compelling story-arc throughout the season. The writer/director will be on-hand, so be prepared to ask questions! For aspiring film-makers and fans alike. |
| Game Bangers, the D&D Parody Webseries Episodes 4-6 | Did you enjoy “”The Guild””? Did you love “”Gamers””? Then you’ll definitely love this webseries! In the not-so-distant future, D&D-Style Gaming has been made illegal. Come check out this Michigan-Made show that’s full of gamer humor, medieval combat and cop-show parody, but also has a compelling story-arc throughout the season. The writer/director will be on-hand, so be prepared to ask questions! For aspiring film-makers and fans alike. |
| Genre Silent Movies | The science fiction and horror form of movie goes all the way back to the initial days of cinema. Many people know about the big names like Nosferatu and Metropolis, but there are many more movies of significant interest and profound cultural importance to the geek community. This session will explore the common and easily (re)discovered movies from the silent era. Some excerpts (or a whole movie or two) will be shown. |
| Midnight Monster Movies with Dr. Bob | Midnight Monster Movies with Dr. Bob is a free midnight movie experience at the Gateway Film Center in Columbus, OH. On the second Saturday of every month, Dr. Bob brings horror host hi-jinks, William Castle-style gimmicks and science experiments to the audience. At Penguicon, we will present Christopher R. Mihm’s “”It Came From Another World!”” This film is a loving send-up of the alien invasion films of the 1950s. If you are a fan of “”The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera,”” you’ll LOVE this one! |
| More Than Human Vid Show | Come watch an awesome selection of fanvids (music videos created by fans) in some of your favorite fandoms (like Battlestar Galactica, Pacific Rim, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, etc.) themed around the con’s unofficial theme of human augmentation! |
| Mystery Spatula Theater | Mystery Spatula Theater 11, or MST11 for short, is our own fan version of the popular television show Mystery Science Theater 3000. Although more fromage than homage, the MST11 crew still have fun doing what the “”big boys”” do, this time with the “”Fantastic Four””! |
| Remembering Leonard Nimoy | As Mr. Spock on Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy created a character that is still influencing not only pop culture but scientific and space research. As a man, we have learned he is multi-talented and an ideal many of us hope our icons can live up to. Let us remember the man who was and was not Spock. |
| Scriptwriting Tips | Aching to write a script for that great movie idea that’s been bouncing around in your head? Come get some tips and tricks for how to get started on writing a script. |
| The Smithee Awards | The Smithee Awards watches Bad Movies all year long, then clips the best bad bits from the films and pits them together cage match style to go head to head (to head to head to head) with each other. 19 typical B-Cinema categories (Worst Science!, Stupidest Looking Monster!, Acting Appropriately Stupid! And many more!), 5 clips per category. Come for the whole show (Most Ludicrous Premise through Worst Picture) or come for a couple categories. Either way, if you even like bad films a little, we think you’ll enjoy The Smithee Awards more. The Smithee Awards are not particularly child safe as some of the clips contain nudity, violence or strong language, often all in the same clip. |
| The Walking Dead: A User Friendly Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse | This panel session will be an open discussion forum on the success of the “Walking Dead” series and some of the flaws and mistakes in the series as well. We will go into classic questions of survival during the zombie apocalypse. Where do you go? Where do you get resources? When do you dispatch your neighbor Fred who may or may not be a zombie? We’ll answer all of these questions and more at the panel session!! Don’t miss it. |
| Zombie Orpheus Presents: The Gamers: Natural One, Humans & Households and Dark Dungeons | Zombie Orpheus are a fan supported and creator distributed new media company with a focus on the kind of shows that could never get made in Hollywood—awesome, nerdy entertainment that you have the power to renew! Come check out three of their films: 1. The Gamers: Natural One (30 min) Natural One begins with a summons to Gary from his Canadian half-sister, Monica. She’s getting married and family tradition calls for her future partner to be vetted in-game-is he gamer enough to be worthy of the family name? 2. Humans & Households (30 min) Humans & Households follows a group of fantasy heroes on their day off as they sit down to enjoy a rousing role-playing game set in a mundane world of traffic lights, errant puppies, indoor plumbing, and other diabolical evils. 3. Dark Dungeons (40 min) Two college students are seduced into the evil cult of role playing games. |
Food
| Cheese, Glorious Cheese | Shannon and Maggie have based their entire relationship on cheese. Come sample their favorites and learn how to pair the stinkiest of Gorgonzolas to the sharpest of Cheddars. |
| Cooking With the Con Chair: Sushi! | Our illustrious Con Char and indefatigable Head of Programming take an hour out from their real passions (Con – duh!) to share one of their other passions – sushi! |
| Dark Chocolate Around The World | What makes one chocolate different from others? It’s not just how much cocoa or sugar it contains or how it’s processed. Different varieties of are grown in different parts of the world, and sometimes it’s the type of beans make for different flavor qualities. Join Cathy and Eric Raymond for a tasting session designed to show you how to tell West African chocolate from Ecuadorian. |
| Deconstructing Banana Bread | A talk about how varying different ingredients changes different aspects of the final product, as demonstrated using Grandma’s banana bread recipe as a baseline. |
| DIY Infusions and Liqueurs | Come see techniques for making homemade infusions and liqueurs! Techniques involving fruit, herbs and spices, alcohol bases, and sweeteners will be included. Must be 21+ to participate. |
| Flavored Popcorn! | Learn how to mix ingredients and seasonings to make various flavors of popcorn in this three-hour drop-in demo. Flavors can range from the usual- salt-and-butter and carmel corn – to the more adventurous- chili garlic and sea salt and vinegar! Come learn some tips and tricks and enjoy some tasty popcorn! |
| Homemade Herbal Butters, Oils, and Vinegars | One fast way to add big flavor to food is by using herb infused ingredients. Come learn a few simple techniques for making your own delicious concoctions; sample sweet, savory and spicy combinations while you are here; leave with ideas and several recipes to experiment with later. |
| Intro to Homebrewing Beer | In this panel, we’ll share various styles of homebrewed beer with the participants while briefly going over the science behind brewing. Participants will then learn of the various methods, ingredients and equipment they can use to brew their own beer, gearing up for May 3rd – National Homebrew Day! 21+ please |
| LN2 Fantasy and Science Fiction Ice Cream | Liquid nitrogen “”ice cream”” featuring flavors found in your favorite Fantasy and Science Fiction Universes: Butterbeer, Pangalactic Gargleblaster, and Sonic Screwdriver. These flavors all include alcohol – 21+ only. |
| LN2 Improvisational Ice Cream | Liquid nitrogen “”ice cream”” made with flavors we have on hand! Feeling creative? Speak up and we’ll see what we can do! |
| LN2 Inclusive Ice Cream | Liquid nitrogen “”ice cream”” made with dairy and/or sugar alternatives (soda slushies, soy milk, coconut milk, agave nectar, stevia). Alternative ingredients also available at other LN2 sessions, just ask! |
| LN2 Sunday Brunch Ice Cream | Ice cream made with liquid nitrogen, for a Sunday brunch! Flavors will include egg custard, orange, coffee, and cheesecake with a variety of toppings. Alternative ingredients available; we can make some non-dairy or sugar-free! |
| LN2 Volunteer Training | Come learn how to make LN2 Ice Cream so you can volunteer to help! |
| Open Soda Demo | Watch as Bill and Anthony actually make a two-liter of soda during a live demonstration. They’ll explain how to make it, why they use different processes, and take suggestions for flavors from the audience. |
| Penguicon Coffee Ritual | A solemn celebration of caffeination in our time-honored Penguicon tradition. |
| PenguiPasta With Some Sauce Bosses | Fresh pasta, tomato and alfredo sauce, all made from scratch. Simple ingredients, easy to do, etc etc etc. |
| Rethinking Your Food Plate | A meal doesn’t have to have meat to be tasty. Learn how to reduce your carbon footprint, cook for your annoying vegetarian friend, season with more than just salt, and participate in meatless Mondays. |
| The Brown Liquors | What’s the difference between Bourbon and Scotch? Is Tennessee whiskey any different from Irish? How? Why? Come hear how these different “”Brown Liquors”” are made, and what makes them unique from one another. And while your at it, find out for yourself by sampling a little of each.Must be 21+ to participate. Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| What the Heck is Switchel? | Switchel is also called swizzle, ginger-water, and haymaker’s punch, a ginger infused sweet and sour drink (think spiced lemonade). Since the 16th century, this drink has been used by farm hands and travelers to combat thirst. It is currently experiencing a renaissance at farmers markets as a nutrient dense alternative to sports drinks. At this class we will walk through making a batch of one recipe and several other regional variants will be available for sampling. |
Gaming
| Board Games for Young Kids that are Actually Fun | Let’s face it… board games for the younger geeklings in our life can leave a lot to be desired. Come and join us for an intro to some of the better games on the market right now that won’t make you want to watch paint dry. Demos will be on hand with a focus on games for those 10 and under. Sharing of your favorite game, either new or from your childhood, is welcome. |
| Bug House (Chess) Tournament | The first Penguicon Chess Tournament has arrived! Bug House games are extremely fast paced team play often involving shouting and some very non-traditional mechanics. Even if you don’t play chess, feel free to swing by and take a peak. This tournament will -not- be elimination, so expect to get 4-5 games in. There will be a sign-up sheet at Ops. Chess set availability is limited. Those that bring a set get first priority; second priority goes to those on the sign-up sheet, in order. Equipment: If you have a chess set or durable clock, please bring it. We do have a limited number of sets available for use. You need to know at least one variant of Bug House or Doubles Speed, get introduced at the earlier Learn Bug House event! As long as you understand the rules, don’t worry about not being good enough! |
| Carabande (aka PitchCar) | A skill-packed automobile race requiring intuition and dexterity. The cars are colored wooden disks which are flicked over the race course. With the right touch, they fly over the track, zipping around corners, and sweep between opponents’ cars in daring maneuvers. |
| Don’t Be That Guy | Don’t Be That Guy is a casual card game of pet-peeves. Players vote to see which person is most likely to be guilty of performing that activity. The loser is crowned “”That Guy.”” One example is driving slowly in the left hand lane. |
| Game Like a Pirate | Pirates often had time to kill, especially when there was no wind. So there were lots of games to be played, most often with cards or dice. Come learn and play several historical games known to have been played by pirates and other sailors of the 18th century. |
| Halaster’s Tea Party: A D&D/Pathfinder Dungeon Crawl | Come join the ultimate tabletop gaming dungeon crawl through the Ruins of Undermountain. Do you dare enter the playhouse of the mad wizard Halaster? He’s having a tea party and you’re invited as one of his honored guests. Who knows what horrors lay in wait around the next corner? This is a massive magical dungeon where Halaster may control a player’s fate. Will you live? Will you perish? Will you be transported to locations unknown? All characters are pre-made levels 6-12 and are ready for you to play. This is a drop-in and out game so you may come and go as you wish while continuing to play the same character. Some tabletop roleplaying experience recommended. |
| Halaster’s Tea Party: A D&D/Pathfinder Dungeon Crawl | Come join the ultimate tabletop gaming dungeon crawl through the Ruins of Undermountain. Do you dare enter the playhouse of the mad wizard Halaster? He’s having a tea party and you’re invited as one of his honored guests. Who knows what horrors lay in wait around the next corner? This is a massive magical dungeon where Halaster may control a player’s fate. Will you live? Will you perish? Will you be transported to locations unknown? All characters are pre-made levels 6-12 and are ready for you to play. This is a drop-in and out game so you may come and go as you wish while continuing to play the same character. Some tabletop roleplaying experience recommended. |
| Hanafuda Koi Koi | Save Oz, save the Earth, and have fun with your friends in the process! Popularized recently by the DIY film Summer Wars (2009), the Hanafuda or “”Flower Cards”” consist of a 48 card deck organized into 12 months represented by 12 seasonal botanical species. The rules and strategy are straightforward yet confounding to the newcomer. Come play with us! |
| Learn Bug House (Chess) | So, you know how to play chess – this is Penguicon, so bring on the chaos! “”Doubles Speed”” or “”Bug House”” is a fast-paced, team variant of chess that makes a heated game of Dominion look tame. It is anything but civilized, but a ton of fun. We’ll go over the basics, and then play a couple games. Please come knowing how to play a basic game of chess. If you attended the Learn Chess event, and understood the rules, that’s good enough. |
| Learn Chess | Ever been curious about chess? Need a refresher before the doubles tournament? This is the place to be. All skill levels welcome, as beginners will learn faster with additional coaches! Drag your friends along, too. |
| Learn to Play to Win at Hanafuda Koi Koi | Save Oz, save the Earth, and have fun with your friends in the process! Popularized recently by the DIY film Summer Wars (2009), the Hanafuda or “”Flower Cards”” consist of a 48 card deck organized into 12 months represented by 12 seasonal botanical species. The rules and strategy are straightforward yet confounding to the newcomer. Join us on a whirlwind tour to learn the game of Koi Koi from scratch, with enough strategy to take down Love Machine. |
| Lords of Waterdeep | Lords of Waterdeep + expansions is a fairly light strategy/worker placement board game for 2-6 players where players compete to recruit adventurers from around the city of Waterdeep to complete quests. Gain points and resources by completing these quests, buying buildings or hinder opponents using intrigue cards. Generally an easy game to grasp, so it can be explained in less than 15 minutes with 60-90 minutes play time. Note: this board game can be enjoyed even if you do not like DnD. |
| MovieMashups | MovieMashups is a casual movie-trivia card game where teams work together to guess the titles of famous movies. The twist is that each clue is two-or-more movie titles, and plots, characters, actors, and descriptions are mixed up. Example: An orca whale is a mascot for a candy manufacturer. He dreams of finding a golden ticket to return to life in the sea. Answer: Free Willy Wonka. |
| Poppycock and Tish-Tosh | Poppycock and Tish-Tosh is a steam-punk styled card game where players can cooperate with (or backstab) each other to defeat (or ally) a range of enemies. Each game has four rounds, three of which are drafting, the last is where players reveal which side they are on. |
| PowerPoint Improv | Volunteer presenters pick a slide deck they’ve never seen before from a list of titles on a variety of topics, and improv a comedic or serious presentation for up to 5 minutes. They don’t have to stick to the slides, as they’re just a prop! Audience members then ask questions about each presentation, or about the price of tea in China — they can improv, too! As improvisations accumulate, we can build off each others’ topics and Q&A sessions. Come play with us! |
| Roborally | It’s a slow day at the widget factory, so the central race computer has prepared a RoboRally tournament for the factory computers. You can be one of those computers. Navigate your robot across conveyor belts, over gears, and past pushers in your effort to be the first to touch all the checkpoints. But watch out for the other robots, not only are they trying to beat you to the checkpoints, but they might even push you off course. Don’t forget the lasers. Easy to learn, hard to master. |
| Tarot as a Gaming Tool | Want to get to know your character better? Need advice on what horrible fate should befall your players? Come learn how to use the reading of Tarot to help out your Table Top Gaming experience! |
| Tzolkin | The Mayan Calendar presents a new game mechanism: dynamic worker placement. Players representing different Mayan tribes place their workers on giant connected gears, and as the gears rotate they take the workers to different action spots. |
| Village | Each player will take the reins of a family and have them find fame and glory in many different ways. There is one thing you must not forget, however: Time will not stop for anyone and with time people will vanish. Those who will find themselves immortalized in the village chronicles will bring honor to their family and be one step closer to victory. |
Life
| BoF: Christians in Fandom | An open discussion for Christians who are fans. |
| BoF: Compliments Confidence | Ever had a compliment make your day? Ever wish you’d handled giving — or getting — a compliment more gracefully? Let’s talk a little about how to compliment someone thoughtfully, and options for responding. Then, we can practice giving and receiving compliments with each other. |
| BoF: Nerdy Tatoos | Have you proven your dedication to Star Wars by tattooing Jar Jar Binks on your arm? A mathmatical equation, a constellation, a formula for your favorite compound, or just the number 42? Come show off your nerdy tattoo (or get ideas for your very own) in this new birds of a feather! |
| BoF: Polyamory | Have a fun discussion with other nerdy people in open relationships of all kinds at this non-directed meetup. Feel free to bring a partner or three. |
| Communication for Geeks | Flame wars got you down? Come learn about techniques for better communication and conflict resolution. In its third year, this panel will cover the usual: active listening, nonviolent communication, facilitation, and conflict resolution. We’ll also discuss examples and opinions from current events in geekdom. |
| Cross Sections of Community: Better Living through Networking | Realizing we have the solution at hand can alter the course of a day or change our current existence. All around us communities are emerging: centered on sustainability, recreational interests, or philosophical commonalities – people are choosing to work cooperatively. Limited knowledge of the people with whom we interact leaves us missing out on mutually beneficial opportunities. We all have those “it’s a small world” moments, now let’s capitalize on them. |
| Destination Imagination: An Instant Challenge Workshop | One of the components of Destination Imagination is the Instant Challenge, which encourages improvisational collaboration of both a technical/practical and dramatic standpoint. Come try a few! |
| Doing What you Love: Turning Passions into a Business | Come find out about how to create a business going from concept to surviving your first year. Have your questions answered, from what do I have to file with the government, to how do I make people like me, to how can I make this profitable. Find out how to face your first rejection, how to evolve to fit your market, and what are reasonable expectations for your first year. |
| Engineer’s Guide to Self Defense | Come learn some skills for self defense! We’ll begin with a lesson, then those who wish to can jump right in to try out what they’ve learned! |
| Fitness Boot Camp | Fitness class with both cardiovascular conditioning and strength training using body weight and resistance band exercises. Come get your workout on to some geeky tunes! |
| Friendship at the Speed of Sound | Meeting people can be difficult and sometimes impossible to do as an adult. This is especially true if you find social settings overwhelming. Come to this panel to meet other attendees in a informal setting. Find people with similar interests to hang with while you are at the con. Conversation starters will be provided. |
| From Mono to Poly and Poly/Mono | Exploring polyamory can be a challenge for those new to it. Opening up a monogamous relationship is full of its own set of unique challenges. Discussions on opening up, training wheels for newbies, avoiding pitfalls, as well as dealing with those not avoided. Will also touch on what happens when one partner doesn’t want to date others as their partner moves into poly. |
| G33K Biathlon | Race to compete to finish various geeky and fitness tasks such as doing pushups and answering geek culture quiz questions. The winner is the individual who can complete all tasks the quickest! |
| How to be Excellent to One Another | Wondering about dating, consent, flirting, and all those other social interactions that leave a lot of geeks scratching their heads? We’re here to teach some of those social skills that don’t always make the most sense! |
| How to Improve Your Con Experience as an Introvert | Being introverted can make conventions stressful, no matter how awesome the people around you are. Find out what you can do to have a great con experience without wanting to crawl into a hole — and while you’re here, learn the differences between introverts, extroverts and ambiverts; why introverts rock; and (for extroverts) how to interact better with your introverted friends. Will include humor, handouts, research, and RIBBONS! |
| How to Stay Fit on the Road | Panel discussion on workouts that can be done anywhere, including equipment that is compact enough to take anywhere and how to properly use it. We’ll talk about different ways to anchor equipment for safety and efficiency, body weight workouts for when there are no anchors, and if time permits, a brief discussion about fitness related mobile apps. |
| How to Survive in the Corporate World When You’re Different | In many office environments, no one seems to notice your beliefs, gender preferences, hobbies or even gender, as long as you fit in with expectations. We’ll talk about how you can work in a Wonderbread office when you’re more of a spicy Rye. |
| Intro to MI Creativity and Destination Imagination | Destination Imagination is a program that encourages STEAM concepts in education from Kindergarten through university levels, while fostering a love of collaborative and creative logic. Come learn more about it with people involved on team and volunteer levels in the local organization! |
| Introduction to Blues Dancing | Have you always wanted to do partner dancing, but find keeping yourself within a set pattern constraining? Blues dance is an American idiom of partner dance that is freeform with limitless possibilities for creativity, including throwing out the partner bit and going solo. While blues dance gave rise to hip hop dancing, it also survives in modern culture as the awkward high school slow dance. Except real blues dance has more, well, pizzazz and a lot less awkwardness. No need for special shoes or a partner, comes as you are and we’ll help you learn to groove. |
| Level up with HabitRPG | Learn about & share tips for HabitRPG, an open-source habit building program that treats your life like a Role Playing Game. After a brief intro for newbies, participants will share how they’ve used HabitRPG to have fun, develop better habits, Get Things Done, and gamify their lives. |
| LGBT Alphabet Soup | The words we use to describe ourselves are an important part of our identiy. This panel will examine the many different terms used within the LGBT Community and what they mean. |
| LGBT in Fandom | Join us for a group discussion on LGBT/Queer Culture within fandom. With a moderator guiding the discussion, we will share and discuss our experiences of being gender and/or sexual minorities within various fandoms. Let us talk about the challenges we have faced, the successes we have seen, and the opportunities there are for improving inclusivity and diversity within fandom. Those who attended the panel last year will want to join us again! As with any place at Penguicon, bigotry and harassment will not be tolerated. |
| LIVE PODCAST: Demon Lobster Presents “”Sanity Claws Radio!””” | Sanity Claws Radio is a Detroit-based podcast that covers the gamut of nerd culture! From videogames to fancy craft beers to boardgames, the crew of Sanity Claws Radio just loves to share in a good time. Please join them for this live and interactive radio show featuring our audience participation Q and A game called, “”I Can Top That!”” It should be noted that Sanity Claws Radio is not above plying the audience with prizes. Come and let your inner nerd be heard with Sanity Claws Radio! |
| LIVE PODCAST: Getting Drunk with Shannon & Maggie | It’s a three-peat! Shannon and Maggie are BFF’s and they like to drink, a lot. Join us as hilarity ensues while the ladies drink, eat cheese, and discuss the latest events in life and entertainment. Audience members can submit questions to be answered live during the recording to Shannon and Maggie or via Twitter at @ShannonsParty and @TheSexToyChick. Find us in the small room at the back of the restaurant! |
| Living in the Eye of the Storm: Neurodiversity in Relationships | The eye of the storm is a calm haven of beauty and peace but any number of things can push you beyond that center into a world of chaos and uncertainty. Relationships are difficult and even more so when you throw in neurologically different perspectives. Join the discussion to see how relationships can work despite one or both partners living with neurodiversity. |
| Night Vale Community Radio Hour | We are all the same color in the inside, screaming. Welcome to Night Vale. We’ll discuss characters, theories, the weather, and NOT the dog park. A Vague, Yet Menacing, Government Agency will record the proceedings, but you knew that already. |
| Pirate 101 | Imagine the coolest personage you can think of. Now imagine them as a pirate. Pirates are just cooler. We will imagine YOU as a pirate with this overview of pirate lingo, fashion, gaming, weaponry, food and drink. |
| Piratical Romeo and Juliet | Come see three fierce pirates, showing off their skills as they pirate everyone’s favorite bard, Shakespeare! Captain Duckman, his bride/first Mate Jenniveve, and new cabin girl Titania are out to provide their take on Romeo and Juliet, in a short and funny manner. It’s a Rennaissance Faire style interactive show! |
| Polyamory: Communication is Key | An interactive class on communication within a polyamory relationship. This class goes into common problems and communication issues in polyamory, tips to create your rules, and suggestions on what to do when those rules are broken. |
| Polyphasic Sleep How-To | Many people have now heard of polyphasic sleep — an alternative method of scheduling sleep that reduces overall sleep-need by replacing single daily blocks of sleep with more frequent short naps — and its many benefits (and challenges!). Come talk to the current longest-running polyphasic sleeper and author of the topic’s most comprehensive book for the gritty details on how to decide if it’s for you, develop a schedule, prepare for the change, and get through the tricky adjustment period. Bonus discussions may include “”napping in stores without getting caught””, “”how surprisingly difficult it is to fill several extra hours per day””, and “”drool: social tips & tricks””. |
| Qigong: How to Breathe Like a Steampunk Robot | Qigong is the art of using breath and focus to gain more direct mental access to your internal systems. Practicing it is relaxing and meditative, and getting skilled with it can help you target and relax stiff muscles, improve circulation, and accelerate healing. Come dressed in loose pyjama-type clothing to spend an hour trying it out and learning the “”steampunk robot”” technique for fixing your body with your mind. |
| Rathbone’s Pirate Magic Show | Rathbone the Pirate performs an interactive show of magic, illusion, and mind reading. |
| Sci Fi Vehicle Showdown | Come root for your favorite sci-fi vehicle from movies, TV, and comics. The audience will nominate a list of their favorite vehicles, the panel will discuss the pros and the cons of each vehicle, and they they battle! Each vehicle will be pitted against another vehicle March Madness bracket style. The audience will vote and the panel will decide ties(or maybe even veto the audience) until the winner is declared!!! Who will win, K.I.T.T., Batmobile, Ecto-1? Maybe even the stupid robot/motorcycle from M.A.S.K. Come and help decide! |
| Science Fiction Spelling Bee | Come test your genre knowledge in the most fantastically fictitious spelling bee ever! From Prydain to Arameri, TANSTAAFL to gafiate, Arrakis to Raxacoricofallapatorius, we’ll be waiting to see who can claim our prizes and the title (and the tiara) of Penguicon spelling champ of 2015! The top 15 will also receive a Penguicon spelling bee badge charm. |
| So You Want to be a Manager | Ah, the glamorous life of a manager! Or is it? Come hear a few voices “”from the trenches”” talk about what it’s really like to lead a team, what the job actually entails and some of the horrible – and horribly funny – stories of uncomfortable and embarrassing tasks we as managers have had to complete. |
| So You Want to Run a Race | From Color Races to Zombie Runs to Warrior Dashes, there seem to be races for all different interests. But what if you haven’t even done a 5k before? Heck, what if you haven’t even run around the block lately? Learn the basics of what is needed to prepare for your first race, from race selection to training and nutrition to the dos and don’ts of race day. Geared towards beginners. |
| Zombie Preparedness 101 | Are you ready for the Zombie Apocalypse? If you’re prepared for zombies then you’re prepared for anything! Join us for this workshop to learn steps to take in preparing for and responding to an emergency or disaster, in particular a zombie outbreak. Learn about the history of zombies, how to recognize the symptoms of zombie infection, alert and notification of zombie and other threats/hazards, what can be done to evade the undead, how to avoid detection/infection and surviving a zombie confrontation. Find out what to include in your Zombie Action Plan (ZAP), Zombie Emergency Preparedness (ZEP) Kit, and how to start your own local Zombie Emergency Response Team (ZERT)! Handouts and certificates of completion are provided to all attendees! |
| Spiritual Atheism and Personal Spirituality: Creating Meaning Outside Religion | The fastest growing religious category in the US is “unaffiliated,” which comprises approximately 16-20% of the population. Including spiritual atheists, agnostics, and those whose spiritual practices and beliefs don’t conform to any particular religion, individuals in this group use their own sense of awe, wonder, and connection rather than dogma to address existential questions and create meaning in their lives. This panel will examine techniques drawing on a myriad of sources including personal tradition, science, and the natural world to develop relevance and purpose in modern life. |
| Sports Fandom in the Geek Community | Sports and their fans are still easy targets for mockery by SF/F fans, even while athletes are watching The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones and playing World of Warcraft and Settlers of Catan. If we won the culture war, why are we still fighting it? |
| Surviving a Nuclear Holocaust | A look into the science of radiation protection including atomic theory, physics, radiation detection instrumentation, radiobiology, and, most importantly, applying the knowledge gained in practical exercises. Learn how you can survive and maybe prosper in the short and long term after a nuclear event. |
| Taking of the HMS Vigrinity | A dashing tale of gallantry and bawdiness, The Taking of the HMS Virginity is the story of two rival captains. The good and glorious Gloria Hymen, who’s never been broken, and the evil pirate Captain Richard Cranium… Come see who wins out in this adult oriented pirate themed renaissance festival style show! |
| The 10 Commandments of Networking | Networking is a powerful tool to meet new people, find better careers, sales leads, or even convince folks to hawk your needs to have 3D printers brought to your event on their wildly famous podcast. *wink* What are the basics to networking? What mistakes could lead to people actively networking away from you? Commandment #11? THOU SHALT COME TO THIS PANEL! |
| The Challenges of Gifted Children, Grown Up | Do you have multiple passions and callings? A deep need for meaning? Are you easily bored? Were you labeled gifted as a child? Gifted children don’t stop having special needs because they grow up. Come hear about the challenges that gifted children face when they become adults, how our community can support them, and what you can do to participate. |
| The Modern Agoras or Where Do We Meet? | The Ancient Greeks centred their communities around an open space in the middle where they would meet to do business, educate or socialize. In modern societies, where are these places in the real world and online? How has their role changed or stayed the same? |
| The Trials and Tribulations of the Artist’s Lifestyle | Join BluRaven C. Houvener (writer and illustrator of the Webcomic It’s Just Another Day) and Gabrielle Nettles (Founder of Bad Catholic Films LLC) for another year of laugh out loud mayhem as they regale you with tales of success and failure that they’ve faced reaching towards fame and fortune. Comments and questions are encouraged! |
| Thought Experiments: Guided Meditation | A guided meditation where attendees get to work with mind mapping, goal setting and thought experiments. Attendees will have a chance to write down and draw out what comes to their mind afterwards. |
| Using Your Geek for Good Instead of Evil | You’re the leetest of leet. You dream in code. Instead of helping prolong the problems of corporations for fun and money or creating state sponsored malware, what kind of good can you do with your skills? Why bother? Come listen to some people who are changing the world by sharing their technical abilities with others. |
| War on Cooties: Bringing Nerd Men and Women to the Same Game Board | Coming back for a second year, this panel takes nerd culture by the horns and wrestles with the cold hard truth: equal gender representation in nerd culture is slim at best. We will explore the the social issues, inequality, and perks that come with being a geeky woman, but no matter your gender, please join in! |
| Watching TV That Looks Like Me | For every gain in diversity of genre media properties, like Jason Momoa’s casting as Aquaman, we get the unrealistically white New York of Marvel’s Agent Carter. Or we see the long anticipated Captain Marvel and Black Panther movies pushed back to make room for yet another Spiderman. Are we at a tipping point, where diversity in media is slowly moving toward the norm, or are we just seeing tokens tossed our way? How can fans make an impact on the future of what we see on the screen?”” |
| Whose Geek Are You Anyway | Join a group for a fun, Whose Line Is It Anyway style panel, with a geeky twist! From Superman and Lex Luthor on Jerry Springer to super-villains in anger management, there’s enough fun for everyone, and once the laughs start rolling they don’t stop! |
| Winter Is Coming | We’ll take a look at the past seasons of Game of Thrones, the books, and the current season. Has the TV series lived up to the books? Will you continue watching the new season? What are you looking forward to seeing in future episodes? |
| How To Turn Imposter Syndrome Into A Superpower | We all feel imposter syndrome, especially in the worlds of tech, science and geek entertainment. We feel like we don’t deserve to be here, or to speak up. But maybe imposter syndrome makes us better at playing “”make believe,”” too. Can you use imposter syndrome to become more imaginative and creative? And to communicate better? Charlie Jane Anders will give a short talk about this, and also read a bit of her upcoming novel, All the Birds in the Sky. |
Literature
| 50 Years of Serling’s ‘Twilight Zone’: Still As Relevant as Ever | More than five decades after its premiere, “”The Twilight Zone”” is as relevant as ever. That staying power is almost as eerie as the show itself, considering the world has long since shifted past the Cold War. Yet, much of its commentary remains poignant. Taking down selfishness, narcissism, paranoia, standards of beauty, or whatever the weekly target may have been, Rod Serling and his writers would often refocus the lens on society itself, with the suggestion that we are the true monster. |
| A Beginners Guide to Self-Publishing | A discussion the ins and outs of how and where to publish your work. Topics will include formatting programs, editing, deciding who will carry your book, getting into bookstores, and advertising. |
| Acts of Shameless Self-Promotion | Come discuss and learn different methods of self-promoting your own work and getting people to notice. From book promoting to belly dance shows, there are tactics that work for everyone. |
| Author Reading: Jen Haeger and Sarah Hans | Join author and veterinarian Jen Haeger and author/editor Sarah Hans while they read and discuss their latest works. |
| Author Reading: Skeeter Enright and Karl Schroeder | Come and listen to GoH Emeritus Karl Schroeder and literature panelist Skeeter Enright read from their latest works and discuss everything from science-fiction to non-fiction. |
| Author Reading: Matt Betts and Ferrett Steinmetz | Join two of Penguicon’s favorite authors as they take the stage to read and discuss their latest works. |
| Author Reading: Nicole Castle and Ken MacGregor | Come and listen to two masters of the modern horror story read and discuss their latest works. |
| Author Reading: Steven Saus and Sean M. Davis | Come and listen to two authors voted most likely to become mad scientists read and discuss their latest works. |
| Beta Readers’ Importance | It made perfect sense when you wrote it, and when you read it. But then someone else says “”Why didn’t you look that up?”” or “”That’s not how that works!”” to your chagrin. This is why authors need beta readers. To catch things you miss, to know things you don’t — to see that blind spot. |
| BoF: But Is It Fantasy? | An open discussion about recent works which use Fantasy tropes, but which are not generally considered to fall into the umbrella of the fantasy genre. What defines genre fiction, and why are some works considered too “”mainstream?”” Why is fantasy so popular among items aimed at the YA market? |
| BoF: But is it Horror? | An open discussion about recent works which use Horror tropes, but which are not generally considered to fall into the umbrella of the horror genre. What defines genre fiction, and why are some works considered too “”mainstream?”” Does the presence of a supernatural being automatically qualify something as horror? |
| BoF: But is it Sci-Fi? | An open discussion about recent works which use Science Fiction tropes, but which are not generally considered to fall into the umbrella of the science fiction genre. What defines genre fiction, and why are some works considered too “”mainstream?”” Why did so many sci-fi fans dislike The Time Traveler’s Wife? |
| BoF: NaNoWriMo Meet-Up | NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, is an exhilarating, frustrating, possibly insane idea — write a 50,000 word novel in one month. One of the amazing aspects of NaNo, and one which sets it apart from the typical, solitary writer life, is the social aspect. Come meet other brave souls who have accepted the NaNo challenge. |
| BoF: Research vs. Faking It | You’ve read it. That book that used Hollywood physics. The story that isn’t a spoof but should be. The setting’s in your hometown but the author didn’t even check Google. Which is worse, an author blowing off research or faking things? What if the faking is done so well you let it slide? What throws you out of the story quicker? What do you wish authors would actually research every time? |
| BoF: Shadow Unit Round Table | Are you a fan of the Shadow Unit series by Will Shetterly, Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette, and Kyle Cassidy? Want to discuss the story, geek out about your favorite characters, or dissect the writing techniques? Come help us pick apart and enthuse over this book series! |
| BoF: Steampunk | Steampunk is more than a literary and cinematic sub-genre of science fiction. It has become an aesthetic encompassing costuming, diet, and more. Put on your waistcoat and join a discussion of all things steampunk. |
| Crowdfunding Your Way to Success | Crowdfunding has taken the world by storm. Learn about the different types of crowdfunding and the ways they can help your project become a reality. |
| E-Books: An Examination of the Current State of Digital Publishing | Years ago there was a panel at Penguicon about the rise of the e-reader and what it meant for the world of publishing. It’s safe to say that digital reading is not going to be a passing fad, but it does not appear to be the death of paper publishing that it was once seen to be. The panel will examine how things have changed for authors, readers, and publishers and how things have stayed the same. While we may examine the Hatchette vs Amazon debate, it will be in terms of how it has affected things, not taking sides. |
| Editing for the Uninitiated | You’ve finished your masterpiece, now what? Our panelists discuss the importance of the editing process and how to turn your unfinished gem into a gleaming diamond. |
| From Batgirl to Buffy & Beyond: Librarians in Pop Culture & Real Life | Librarians are everywhere — in comics and literature, on tv and in the movies, and even at your actual library. What is the public fascination with librarians, and what’s with the stereotypes? This presentation looks at representations of librarians in popular culture, discusses the bespectacled shushing “”Marian the librarian”” trope, the “”sexy librarian”” of pulp and porn, the disproportionate number of librarians in cozy mysteries, and the more recent “”librarian as mystical gatekeeper”” device found in characters as diverse as Rupert Giles and the Librarian of Unseen University (ook!) Finally, we’ll look at what actual librarians are doing these days, and how they might surprise you. |
| How is Game of Thrones Breaking the Rules of Story Telling? | Main characters die, the popular characters never win, and our expectations are thwarted at every turn. How has it become so popular? |
| How To Be A Critic: Writing Reviews for Fun and Profit | Do you like to read, watch movies and television, play video games, and listen to music? Of course you do! Do you want to share your opinions about what you have read, watched, played, or listened to? Why not? Would you like to get paid, or at least be able to read/watch/play/listen to new material for free? The panelists will discuss the ins and outs of writing reviews, finding or building platforms for your reviews, and where to acquire material to review. |
| How to do Dystopia | The Hunger Games, Divergent, Mad Max — dystopian settings are populating books shelves and movie theaters, especially when it comes to the Young Adult market. The panel will discuss the popularity of the dystopian future and what makes one believable. |
| Larval Writers Panel | Sometimes panels with very successful writers on them are intimidating or a bit non-applicable to folks just dipping their toes in the ink, so to speak. This panel has writers struggling to find success sharing their triumphs, woes, insights, and experiences with other aspiring writers. |
| Making the Fantastic Believable | Ghosts, lycanthropes, robots, elves, even vampires that sparkle in the sunlight, what does it take to make the utterly fantastic believable to your readers? The panel will discuss the research and decision process which goes into making good (or in some cases ridiculous) characters. |
| Marketing Online Content with Social Media | A quick exploration of social media tools that are useful in marketing online content (like blogs, webcomics, books, and more) via social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. What works, what doesn’t, and how you can maximize your digital footprint with a non-existent marketing budget. |
| Plotting vs Pantsing – An Author’s Dilemma | There are two main strategies to writing: plotting and pantsing. Plotters spend months and sometimes years meticulously planning their characters and stories, while pantsers just write everything on the fly. Which method makes a for a better story? Does it depend on the story? Come hear the pros and cons of each method and get a general feel for what makes writers tick. |
| Poetry Slam | Words are powerful, but we can’t all be novelists. Spoken word performances have taken the internet by storm in a very powerful and positive way. Come and share your poem, soliloquy, personal mantra, or other short personally written piece. Depending on participation you may be limited on time. |
| Polytheist Religions for Writers | Many fantasy (and SF) worlds have their own religions. However, we often assume that religions with more than one deity work the same as more familiar monotheist ones, or we rely on simplistic retellings of mythology or “”shaggy god stories.”” Which writers do a good job weaving ‘the gods’ into their stories? How did different polytheist cultures interact? What features of historical (or current) polytheist religions can we use to enrich our worlds and generate plot points? |
| Pros and Cons of Writing for Examiner.com & Yahoo’s Associated Content | Have you considered writing for Examiner.com or Yahoo’s Associated Content? Join us for a discussion of the good and the bad, and how this compares to writing for magazines. Will will also cover how to build your writing portfolio and setting deadlines for yourself. |
| Rejection: Dealing with the Dark Side of a Creative Life | For every book that is accepted, painting that is sold, or movie that is made, there are a slew which are not. The panel of artists from various disciplines will share their mechanisms for coping with rejection and relate what they do to keep pressing on. |
| Speculative Fiction Poetry | SF, Fantasy, and Horror: it’s not just for fiction any more. There are more and more markets opening for Speculative Fiction poetry, we’ll talk about where to send your work. |
| Steampunk Guns in the Real World | The history of firearms is filled with fascinating designs that fit right into the Steampunk genre. This look at real world guns that fit the Steampunk theme is designed to inspire and delight fans. We’ll discuss the technology behind these real world examples and how they could fit into the Steampunk world. |
| Story Structure: What Is It, and Can It Make Your Writing Zoom? | Got a story that doesn’t move, or just seems a bit flat? Can’t figure out what comes next, or how to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion? Maybe it needs some structure! What’s the story type- Milieu, Idea, Character, or Event? Will a Three-Act arrangement give it some shape, or would the Hollywood Formula make more sense? We’ll look at different story structures, using movies we’ve probably all seen as examples. |
| Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing | What are the pros and cons of each? We all know the success stories of the rare few, but what about the heartaches? Is the goal still to just get noticed by a traditional publisher or has self-publishing gained legitimacy? The panelists will also discuss small/specialty presses. |
| What Is NaNoWriMo? | It is a simple concept: write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. Is it a good writing exercise? The panelists will talk about their own NaNo experiences, discuss what they have done with their NaNo works, and answer questions. |
| You Can’t Kill The Undead | Year after year we wonder if this will be the year that people get sick of zombies and vampires. Year after year we get a resounding no from the audience. Join us as we explore the most recent explorations of the undead and brainstorm with us, wondering what may be on the horizon: angels, ghosts, demons? |
| You got your SCIFI in my… | You got your Science Fiction in my horror! And my Urban Fantasy. And my romance. Join us for a discussion of blending other genres into scifi and vice versa. We’ll discuss some good examples of what mixes worked and what didn’t in the literary world. |
Mayhem
| Chaos Machine | The Chaos machine returns to shape your wildest engineering imagination into a functioning beacon of collective brilliance. Find some old friends or new acquaintances to help build the machine from the ground up! |
| Find Tux | Can you find Tux at Penguicon? Look for the Penguin Plushie and you can keep it! |
| Find Waldo | Where’s Waldo? He’s somewhere amidst the rest of the hordes of awesome Penguicon attendees. Look for Waldo and his friend the Wizard anywhere in plain sight. If you find them, you will be rewarded! |
| Free Fates Fortune Telling Booth | Find a token, bring it to the booth in the lobby, and randomly generated predictions will be given to you! You may also write a short question and receive a Yes or No answer in return. Hours of operation posted at the booth. |
| Giant Jenga | Stop by and play some (enormous) Jenga with your friends, or meet new people. No writing dirty things on the blocks! You’ll just have to use your imagination. |
| Google Ingress Dead Drop | Something special will be hidden in the con area Friday evening. A picture and clue will be posted. If you find it, you can keep it! |
| NUET Scouts | The Scouts are at it again! The Nearly Useless Entertainment Team is back for another year at Penguicon, bringing you fun, mayhem, and shenanigans. Find us wandering the con to see what we have planned this year. |
| Pengicon Picture Bingo | Snap a picture of each clue and you will be rewarded! Go to Registration, Ops, or the Greeter table to get started! |
| Retro-style Video Games | Find David Gazdowicz’s awesome games in the lobby… and play them! |
| Ribbon Fairy | Look out for the Ribbon Fairy! If you find her, you can trade her a ribbon for a ribbon! |
| Scavenger Hunt | Go on a fun hunt around the con! The first 25 people to complete the tasks will win a 3D printed object! Other prizes too! To begin, find Mat in the Maker Market between 1 and 6 pm on Saturday |
| The World Around You Is Not What It Seems… | A WAR is being fought right HERE right NOW. The fate of all humanity is in your hands. You look up from your phone: is that guy on the corner just walking his dog, or is he an Ingress Agent from the other side about to attack your neighborhood? Meet at Lawrence University courtyard to learn new skills and gain experience playing ingress for your faction. If you want to carpool, meet at the fountain in the lobby at 4:45. If you drive over, meet at Ockham’s Wedge sculpture in the enter of the quad area near the Taubman Student Services Center at 5:00. |
| Where in the World? | Wondering where people are coming from to go to Penguicon? Stop by and tag the city you came from on the World, US or Michigan map! |
Music
| #teamswoop Q&A | Who is #teamswoop? What is #teamswoop? Swoop isn’t just fun to say. Swoop is a lifestyle. Embrace the swoop. Confused? Come ask questions. |
| Chip Music Open Mic | Do you fancy yourself a chip artist? Come throw down a few tracks and prove it! |
| Chip Music: Not Just Bleeps and Bloops | For quite a while chip music or “”chiptunes”” has been considered a novelty/joke genre of music. Come meet some artists who are pushing the boundaries of their old game consoles and creating some beats with a more mainstream appeal. |
| Chip Rave w/ #teamswoop | Join #teamswoop for some chiptunes awesomeness! |
| DJ Set: DJ Seanni B | Kick it in the dance party zone while DJ Seanni B throws down some ghettotek and juke tracks. Booty shaking is NOT optional. |
| DJ Set: Justin Alex | Come kick off our Friday night DJ sets wit Justin Alex as he spins his nerd themed mixed genre set of electro, house, dub, trap, jungle, happy hardcore, and trance! |
| DJ Set: Walk in Circles | Armed with a crate full of records, Walk in Circles is gonna make it sound like a 2000s UK rave up in this joint. |
| Hand Drumming for Beginners | Hand drumming for beginners focusing on Middle Eastern and drumming for dancers. Bring a drum. Extra drums may be available. |
| Performance: 2d6 | 2d6 is here to rock the Penguicon stage! In 2009, in Youngstown, Ohio, a runaway cat and dog were just trying to find their way home. When they found a pair of mystical 6-sided dice, they were transformed into men who couldn’t stop rapping. It was terrifying and a little upsetting to everyone involved. Now it’s 2015 so strap on your spats and lace ’em tight to prepare for high-energy nerd-themed hip-hop with a lot of hyphenates! 2d6’s rhymes are about the geekiest of geek topics: DIY conventions, Boba Fett, Amedeo Avogadro, daikaiju, geek girls, and the like. |
| Performance: Derwood Bowen | An up-and-comer from Westerville, OH, Derwood Bowen has been recording comedy songs, including parody songs, for 10 years, and has been a frequent contributor to the Sideshow at thefump.com. His live shows are enhanced by the usage of props, small tidbits and jokes, and occasional audience participation. If you’re in need of a laugh, this show may be what you need! |
| Performance: Mikey Mason | Mikey (She Don’t Like Firefly, Best Game Ever) is a full-time standup comedian whose work has been featured on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio, DrDemento.com, Nerdist.com, MTV Geek News, SyFy’s Blastr.com, Time Magazine’s Techland, and on theFuMP.com. He has made multiple appearances both on NBC and at the legendary House Of Blues, headlined on all four coasts and performed at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, Geek Media Expo, Browncoat Ball, and RPG conventions across the US. |
| Performance: My Parents Favorite Music | Steffeny “”Steffo”” Messinger refers to her pseudonym/moniker “”My Parents Favorite Music”” for the video game and pop culture influenced music she writes, produces, and records independently. Releasing albums as pieces of the map to a mysterious island, she tours the country bringing clever wordplay and a colorful presence to her musical adventure, and every listener is welcome to be a part of the MPFM story. ? ? |
| Performance: StarF | StarF is a hip hop artist from Minnesota who primarily functions within the nerdcore community. He occasionally yells at a microphone and calls the results music. Once in awhile he likes to go out in public and shout at groups of people much to their confusion, calling it a performance of this aforementioned music. If you’ve ever wanted to experience the excitement of some guy who likes to LARP as a rockstar yelling words at you in rapid succession over wonderfully bass-laden instrumentals it would be in your best interest to see StarF perform. |
| Performance: Tom Smith | There’s every other singer out there… and then there’s Tom Smith. Tom is NOT your ordinary comedy musician. With the lyrical complexity of Ashman and Sondheim, the vocal fireworks of Meat Loaf, the comedic timing of Robin Williams, and the dynamic physique of the Skipper from Gilligan’s Island, the only thing he won’t do is be boring. |
| Pirate Rock by Rathbone and the Blades of Fortune | The Pirate industry has a lot of employment turnover, due to battle deaths, being eaten by sharks, capture and execution, and death [other]. The last survivors of Stone Crazy Pirates have recruited some new mates to sing and play rockin’ sea shanties for you, and you can sing along if you like. Costumes encouraged! Boisterousness encouraged! Courage encouraged! |
| Rad Women in Music | Everybody knows about the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Hank Williams, the Sex Pistols, and Muddy Waters. Everywhere you look, music history has been written about men. What about the ladies? They existed in blues, country, and rock ‘n’ roll. Join us for a discussion on rad women in music history. Then, at the end, tell us your favorite women in rock and beyond. |
| Surviving As an Independent Musician | It’s hard out there on the streets. Are you a musician trying to get noticed? Or a fan wondering how musicians keep up with work/school/life while still having time and energy for creativity? Come snag some advice from some of the hardest working folks in the area. |
| Turning Your Hobby Into Your Profession | Nationally touring comedian and geek rock musician Mikey Mason discusses the process that allowed him to turn comedy into his full-time profession, and how using these ideals and principles might help you do the same. The conversation will not be limited to comedy, music, or performing, but can touch on many, if not most creative hobbies. If you dream of doing what you love for a living, this is the panel for you. |
| Vinyl Mixing 101 | Drop in with the #teamswoop crew and get a rundown on basic vinyl mixing. Get a feel for concepts like beatmatching and counting phrases, and hey they might even give you your very own DJ name! |
Penguicon Events
| 2014’s Con Chair Roast | Our fearless leader has finally found something to fear – a roasting by his friends and underlings! It’s probably all in good fun, but don’t expect everyone to be sober. |
| Closing Ceremonies | As we officially shut down another amazing, exciting year for Penguicon, come hear about how it went, and what we’ve got our eye on for next year. |
| Costume Contest | This year we are making the costume contest a little more informal. This means no Muster, Paperwork, or Registration. You simply show up at the Geek Prom at the right time (9:45!) and say you want to enter. From there it is in the hands of our MC and N.U.E.T.! Come down for some fun and awesome costumes, and maybe enter for a chance to win some cool prizes. Best of Show will receive a free badge to Penguicon 2016! |
| Creating Safe Spaces | How can we create safe spaces for people of all varieties at the convention, and in our lives outside of fandom? Join a discussion with our staff (including the con chair) and those who have ideas on how we can do better on inclusivity and promoting consent. |
| Geek Prom | It’s a Timey Wimey prom! Come dressed in your finest formalwear (we’ve heard bow ties are cool!) or choose a costume from anywhere in space and time and join the Costume Contest! Join us for music, dancing, and fun at Penguicon’s Geek Prom! Special performance by DJ Stu! |
| Guest of Honor Social Hour | Get to know our Guests of Honor as we all get together for some cocktails. Meet us in the bar! |
| Opening Ceremonies | Join our con chair, Nuri Gocay, the Con Committee, and our Guests of Honor as we open this bad boy up for the weekend. You never know what surprises might be in store! |
| Penguicon 2016 Planning Meeting | Making a successful Penguicon requires at least a year of organizing, planning, and partying. Do not skip the partying! Join us for the first planning meeting with the 2016 ConChair, Scott Kennedy, and his selected Con Committee. If you you want to contribute to Penguicon next year, or you just want to see how we make it happen, join us! |
| Penguicon Board Meeting | You’ve done the convention, you’ve met the staff, and you’ve even socialized with the ConCom. But what about those *other* Penguicon people? Those shadowy figures that create the multi-year rules, have their fingers on the money, and cause a ConChair to mysteriously appear every year in a puff of penguin-scented smoke? Ever wonder what the Penguicon Board of Directors does in their secret sanctum, and where they are taking Penguicon? Come to the Board of Directors meeting and see! |
| So This is Your First Penguicon? | Our chair, Nuri, will talk about how he first joined Penguicon, and give you a tour of what’s awesome (everything!) here. If you’re new to Penguicon and you want to get to know the event, this is the panel for you! |
Science
| Aerospace Engineering for Beginners | The Bureau of transportation estimates that one out of every three american adults has flown in an airplane in the last year. Think about what a miracle that is. As Neal Stephenson so eloquently put it, all those people, “strapped into bad chairs, stuffed into an aluminum tube aslosh with jet fuel,” hurtling through the atmosphere at up to 85% of the speed of sound. What goes into that modern day miracle? What kind of things do you learn as an Aerospace Engineering Doctorate Candidate? Come listen to Albert Manero, who just happens to be one! |
| Asteroids, Near-Earth Objects, and Meteorites | The discovery rate of asteroids and near-earth object has exploded in the last decade due to advances in imaging technologies. Bob discusses Solar System formation – where asteroids, comets, and meteorites came from, and their history. Also discussed are the Chelyabinsk, Tunguska, and K-T impact events. Bob will bring pieces of his meteorite collection for audience members to see and handle! |
| Better Living Through Neuroprosthetics | Cynthia Chestek, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering for the University of Michigan, will talk about the wide range and scope of neural prostheses already on the market, and where we are today relative to where science fiction had imagined we might be. |
| Creative Destruction | Is the nature of creativity really a destructive force? Progress is not necessarily a linear, geometric progression but rather destructive stimulus often precede creativity and explosive growth. We will discuss what this means from several perspectives, including economic theory, cosmology, ecology and technology. |
| The CSI Phenomenon | A critical look at the hit show through the eyes of a fan with a masters in forensic science. We’ll analyze specific clips to see what the show does right and what it does wrong, and talk about some interesting aspects of forensic science. |
| Cutting Edge Neuroscience or Science Fiction | Another exploration of the fine line between the field of neuroscience and science fiction. Cutting edge neuroscientific research tends to sound more like science fiction year by year. Can you tell the difference between science fiction and cutting edge neuroscience? See if you’re up to date on the latest developments in the understanding of man’s most complex machine, the human brain! |
| Everything You Thought You Knew About Genetics is A Lie | Most of what you learned in your basic biology classes about genetics isn’t actually true. From independent assortment to acquired trait inheritance to the Central Dogma itself, advances in technology and new discoveries have turned the traditional basic teachings of genetics on their head. We’ll explore many of these oversimplifications and you’ll get a chance to ask if things you thought were real are just convenient science fibs! |
| Help Cure Cancer with Citizen Science | From SETI@home to flying video game space ships, everyone can contribute to scientific research. The internet makes it easy for you at home to help cure cancer, participate in protein folding research and classify distance galaxies. |
| Misconceptions of Scienctific Work | Mathematicians are crazy loners that slave in front of chalkboards every second of every day in a singular pursuit of the next great theorem. Chemists pace their labs full of brightly colored chemicals and glass tubing that could have only been designed by Rube Goldberg trying to get their reactions correct. This panel will visit some of the most incorrect misconceptions in modern culture, and the most interesting, and try to set the record straight as to what our scientists are actually doing all day. |
| Neuroscience of Dream Engineering | Morpheus, the Greek God of the dream world, was said to sneak into men’s dreams at night to deliver messages from the Gods. Modern neuroscience has tackled ancient myth, and external manipulation of the sleeping mind is now a reality. Come learn about the latest in dream engineering, memory consolidation, lucid dreaming, and even dream recording. |
| SciComm: Communicating Science to the Public | People are not naturally uninterested in what is happening in science and mathematics. Science Communication does what it can to tell everyone the stories of science in an engaging and interesting way, but it is not an easy task. An approach that works for astronomy could well fail when talking about new mathematics research. This panel will gather together people who communicate science for a discussion about the tools and techniques they use to tell mathematical and scientific stories, and about their successes and their failures. |
| Science Fiction is Now Science Reality | Science fiction authors have been writing about futuristic concepts for longer than any of us can remember. Moore’s law, though, has us flying into the future at speeds faster than what any of us have previously comprehended. Things only imagined by creative minds are coming to reality in exciting, and sometimes terrifying ways. Come join some authors and technologists as they talk about science fiction themes that are now a reality and what’s coming next! |
| Small Bodies in the Solar System: Beyond the Asteroids | It’s been a big year for space exploration, with comets and the Kuiper Belt getting some special attention from Rosetta and New Horizons. With potentially trillions of objects in our solar system beyond Neptune, we are finally starting to understand comets and their origins. |
| Telescope Observing: The Moon | Join us outside to observe the moon at first quarter. Observe via telescopes and other instruments made available to view the moon and Jupiter. |
| Telescope Observing: The Moon | Join us outside to observe the moon at first quarter. Observe via telescopes and other instruments made available to view the moon and Jupiter. |
| Telescope Observing: The Sun | Join us outside to check out the sun in all its glory! Observe via telescopes and other instruments made available to view the sun. |
| Telescope Observing: The Sun | Join us outside to check out the sun in all its glory! Observe via telescopes and other instruments made available to view the sun. |
| The Dawn Mission at Dwarf Planet Ceres | The Dawn spacecraft will approach the Dwarf Planet Ceres in February of 2015, and go into orbit of Ceres in the Spring of 2015. In this lecture, Bob discusses the Dawn spacecraft and its ion propulsion system, its 2011 visit to the asteroid Vesta, and new photos and scientific findings about Ceres. It, and several other “”planets”” got demoted to asteroid status in the 1850’s. Ceres’ status was updated to “”Dwarf Planet”” in 2006, along with Pluto. |
| The Ethics of AI | If we develop an artificial intelligence that talks like a human, thinks like a human, and acts like a human, it will be fair to expect it to abide by the same social contract as a human. The problem is that if Artificial Intelligence comes to pass it is very unlikely that it will be anything like a human. This brings us to the very hazy area of the ethics surrounding AI. What rules do we have a right to enforce on a living entity that is nothing like us? How dangerous is it to develop something that we will not be able to fully understand and will be able to think a lot faster than us? What if AI is actually kind of dumb? |
| The Future of Bionics | In the beginning, bionics were expensive things sold by large companies. Now, we’re 3D printing them for less than a fancy dinner, and soon, we’re going to be controlling them with our minds! What will the future hold for people who use these devices to make their lives richer? Will we be bionic people? Will we be better…stronger…faster? |
| The Science Behind Superheroes | Do you wish you could regenerate tissues like Wolverine, possess the indomitable strength of Captain America, or see in X-ray vision like Superman? Advancements in fields like epigenetics, neuroprosthetics, and stem cell therapies may finally allow the wonders of our favorite comic books to step into the realm of plausibility. Come learn more about the science behind superheroes! |
Tech
| A Tale of Two Sinclairs | The early “personal computer revolution” in the UK was influenced by two models of personal computers, the ZX-81 / Timex-Sinclair 1000 (mentioned in context with the ZX-80) and the QL. Gaming was profoundly influenced by the ZX Spectrum, the important successor to the ZX-81. We’ll talk about their general architecture, software and hardware, as they provide insights into the history of Sinclair Computers (a major UK computer company of the 1980’s), and how both the computer industry and it’s market were rapidly changing in that era – with lessons for today. Both computers will be discussed in technical detail and put into historic context. |
| Advanced Python | Following an Intro to Python, we’ll go though a few programs showing examples of a number of python features. Here is your chance to see some python code in action. We will walk though using a simple python program to for a text based program. Then we’ll take a look at extending that program to use graphics. Last we’ll take a look at ORM for handling database processing. |
| Advancements in 3D Printed Firearm Technology | The last year has seen significant advancements in the capabilities of 3D printed firearms. Continual development of older designs has led to printed firearms with round counts over 1000 with no signs of failure. New actions have been developed which exploit the strengths of 3D printed material. And for the first time, functional 3D printed magazines have been demonstrated. Come get up to speed on the current state of 3D printed firearms, get some hands-on time with some of the latest iterations, and participate in a discussion on the interplay between technology and basic human rights. |
| An Introduction to Docker: What are Linux Containers? | Heard about Docker and curious to know more? In this talk Nathan LeClaire, an engineer at Docker Inc., will go over some of the “”what””, “”why””, and “”how”” of Linux containers. Docker has emerged as an exciting new way for developers to build, ship, and run applications and eliminate the pain of moving them from computer to computer. We will be going over the fundamentals, as well as the direction the technology will be heading in the future. |
| Artemis & Wine: Space Travel on a Budget | Wonder how it can be affordable to run a windows game that requires six computers? Come find out how it’s done, with extra tools to make it more immersive at almost no additional cost! We’ll show you the tricks used to make the Linux Bootable USB drives, ‘behind the bridges’, and what extra tools they include. |
| Bash Scripting 201 | Please join us having gone to Bash Scripting for Beginners or have equivalent knowledge. This presentation will cover mathematics in bash, arrays, and functions. |
| Bash Scripting for Beginners | The only prerequisite for this class is having seen a command prompt. We’ll cover from the whole shebang through variables, conditionals, and loops. |
| Become a Greybeard Sysadmin | Most systems administrators must find their own career path, but it’s a lot easier if you take advantage of those who have gone before you. This panel discussion between three systems administrators who have been in the business for decades will cover how the business has changed, how we expect it to change, how to expand your skills, and what you can do to take your systems administration career to the next level. Come learn from our mistakes. You don’t have time to make them all on your own. |
| Biohacking: Upgrading the Human Body | A mix of technology, DIY, and mayhem – biohacking is a particularly interesting offshoot of the maker renaissance. We will be discussing the physical and psychological process of upgrading the human body, the potential for humanity, the impact of h+ on society, and more! Please join us for a panel discussion, and maybe volunteer to get yourself upgraded live on stage with an xNT NFC implant from Dangerous Things! |
| BIOS Hacking with the Raspberry Pi | Using the Raspberry Pi as an inexpensive eeprom programmer to hack a Macbook’s BIOS. |
| BoF: Ingress | Join Linda Besh to talk Ingress! She can answer all of your Ingress questions and give you details about the AP gain event. |
| BoF: Python | Python is one of the most popular and flexible languages in use today. Come and discuss this with your fellow enthusiasts. Have a favorite module that you would like to let to share? Want to meet other in the area that are using python? Just want to find some out something new about python? This is a place what it can happen. Lighting talks about python welcome by emailing [email protected] in advance. |
| Building a Career in IT | Considering a career in IT or looking to advance your existing career? Technical professionals at the top of their field tell you how they got there and how to avoid the pitfalls on your way to the top. |
| Building Hands for Our Charity | Come help our charity assemble hands, fresh off the 3D printers, which we will teach you to assemble! Join Jen, Ivan, Albert, our local e-Nable volunteer Aaron, and some of the Penguicon Con Committee as we thread cables and melt plastic. Also learn how you can print and assemble hands, at home, for those helped by Enabling the Future! |
| Building the “”Great Beast of Malvern””” | One of us needed a new computer. One of us kicked off the campaign to fund it. One of us assembled the massive system. One of us installed the software. We were never all in the same place at the same time. All of us blogged about it, and had a great time with the whole folderol. Come hear how Eric “”esr”” Raymond got his monster machine, with ‘a little help from his friends’ scattered all over the Internet. |
| Cloud + Open Source + Microsoft = Azure | Microsoft does open source? Yes! Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform with support for Linux virtual machines, node.js, PHP, Python, Android, iOS, Hadoop, Chef, Puppet, and more. In this session, we will demonstrate some of Azure’s power, including its machine learning capabilities. You will walk away with the resources to get started in the cloud. |
| Community Organizing Tech Roundtable | Free and open-source software is making it easier to organize communities for collaboration, activism, and more. What’s new and exciting in community tech? How can it help you? How can we make it better? Edward L. Platt, MIT staff developer and i3 Detroit co-founder, will demo a few applications and facilitate a roundtable for builders and users of software for community organizing. |
| Continuous Delivery: Make Software Config and Deployment Quick and Painless | We are going to explore continuous delivery as a solution to the arduous problems of configuration and deployment management. Begone long hours of painful, error-prone releases! This method should make config and deployment, painless, easy and quick. This is an intermediate level topic for those familiar with software development. |
| Contributing to OSS – Navigating Community | Hacking Open Source Software is the entire point of its existence. Change what you don’t like, fix what doesn’t work for you, and enjoy. But what about getting your patches accepted by the project? [email protected] and other participants invite you to this discussion on navigating communities, finding acceptance for your contributions, and becoming part of the bigger communities of Open Source Projects. |
| Cryptoparty, Penguicon Edition | Everyday encryption for the general public. Learn to protect your hard drive’s data, browse the web anonymously, encrypt your email, and more in this hands-on workshop. Absolute beginners are welcome; we will have volunteers on hand to provide you with software and help you learn to use it. Bring your laptop along to get the most from hands-on activities in this session. |
| Designing Industrial Control Systems to Resist Cyberattack | Industrial Control Systems are late arrivals to the “”Internet Age,”” and many of the connectivity options which are available for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) were not designed with network security in mind. Vendors can take years to fix known vulnerabilities, or in some cases just seem to ignore them outright. The internet has brought once remote, disconnected devices within reach of “”bad actors”” everywhere – network-based attacks on controls systems are on the increase. Fortunately, spending time in the design phase can overcome a majority of these problems at minimal expense, protecting your system through its architecture. This class will discuss the design of PLC systems and the network communications options which are available today, and how to select components to minimize external attack surface. |
| DIY Bionics with 3D Printers | A Prosthetic resource reports that a lower extremity prosthesis (leg) can range in cost from $5,000 to $50,000. An upper extremity device (arm) can range from $3,000 to $30,000. Why pay an arm and a leg for an arm and a leg? Learn how you can use your 3D printer to produce prosthetics from open source designs for $30 in materials. Take it a step further and add biological sensing electronics for less than $250. |
| DIY Non-Profit: How to Structure a Non-Profit Using Open Source Technology | In an increasingly competitive market, the non-profit sector is undergoing a paradigm shift. Traditional charity models (i.e. foundation funding, annual giving, estate planning, million dollar grants, bake sales, etc.) are quickly becoming irrelevant, but with increasing access to open-source technology, so too is the barrier to entry for running a successful non-profit. This presentation will focus on outlining best-practices for using free technology to build a sustainable organization from the ground up. Case studies will include the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative and will cover social media, crowd-funding, task-management software, web development, geomapping, 3D & graphic design, and industry secrets. |
| DIY Movie Making with OpenShot | Whether you’re making a vlog with a webcam and screen capture, shooting short videos of your cats with your phone, or studying the effects of gamma rays on man in the moon marigolds using stop-action photography, the last step is editing clips into a coherent message. Ubuntu Studio edition comes with Openshot (as well as a lot of other tools). Clif will show how to assemble clips, zoom and pan, generate title screens and make a movie. No previous experience required. |
| Droid tk | Need a working demo but don’t have a full development system? Your ‘droid tablet or phone becomes a complete development environment when you install a simple text editor and the Tcl/Tk interpreter. Tcl/Tk supports graphics, sockets, interaction with sensors and more. Clif will introduce Tcl/Tk’s Droid features and show how to write an application for the ‘droid. |
| Eric S. Raymond: Ask Me Anything | Ask ESR Anything. What’s he been working on? What’s he shooting? What’s he thinking about? What’s he building in there? |
| Firewalls with pfSense | Learn how to set up and configure pfSense, the open source network firewall distribution based on the FreeBSD operating system. I will be covering loading pfSense, configuring interfaces, setting up a VPN that will work windows & linux, and explaining how to setup and use some of the popular plugins |
| Free Geek in the Motor City or How to Recycle for Fun and Profit | Come learn the story of Motor City Free Geek, a volunteer driven organization dedicated to the repair and distribution of computers, responsible recycling of electronic waste, and teaching of free and open source software. Meet some great people and discover how you too can take part in this effort to work for a sustainable future. |
| Getting Apps Working on Wine | Discussion of technical problems with application installation and operation on Wine in a Linux environment. Dependencies, tools, DRM/copy-protection, support resources, and AppDB test submissions will be covered. |
| Getting Involved in the Open Source Community | Whether you are into circuitry, soda, 3d printing, DIY furniture, or software, there is an open source community for you. This panel answers questions like “”How do I find them? What can I do to introduce myself? How can I help?”” |
| Getting Started with BeagleBone | This hands-on workshop shows you how to take a BeagleBone Black, an open hardware computer that runs off your laptop’s USB port, from out-of-the-box to blinking an LED in under 5 minutes. We’ll get you to the Linux command prompt and introduce you to programming electronics with JavaScript. Bring a laptop if you can! Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Getting Started with BeagleBone | This hands-on workshop shows you how to take a BeagleBone Black, an open hardware computer that runs off your laptop’s USB port, from out-of-the-box to blinking an LED in under 5 minutes. We’ll get you to the Linux command prompt and introduce you to programming electronics with JavaScript. Bring a laptop if you can! Spots are limited – please sign up at Ops! |
| Getting Things Done (GTD) under Linux | The Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology by David Allen is a popular way to not only get things done but also to clear away distractions and achieve focus. Craig Maloney details how he uses GTD under a Linux environment, using tools like Todo.txt, Tagspaces, Dropbox, and text files. He’ll also cover some useful tips and tricks for setting up and honing your own GTD system. |
| Hacking Outside the Box: Internet of Things | With the emergence of the Internet of Things, pretty much everything you use on a daily basis — from your car, to your thermometer, to your pacemaker — are vulnerable to attack. Are manufacturers of these non-typical computing devices using good security methodology? Can you fool a car into unlocking itself with a simple setup? What other fun devices have computers that can be fiddled with for fun or profit? |
| Hacking Your Writing and Editing Toolbox | Ever feel like parts of the editing process is a lot of repetitive, boring, tedious work? The sort of thing that a computer really should be able to do for you? Learn how to write MS Word add-ins to make your life easier! We’ll use freely available tools to create an add-in that helps you track down problem words in your manuscript. Some computer programming experience is suggested. The finished project will be made available open source via GitHub. |
| How To Be A Real Developer In Two Easy Steps | Have some imposter syndrome? Worried that you aren’t a *real* developer? You’re in luck! There’s an easy, anybody-can-do-it two-step process you can follow to conquer your fears and become a Real Developer. What are those two steps? Well…that’s where it gets complicated. Come with Anne as she recounts her path into the world of software development, overcomes her fears, questions the nature of reality, and shows off a super cool Ruby script. |
| How to Get (and Keep) a Tech Job | To get a professional job, you must be adept at phone and Skype screening interviews. Once you get a job, you might be expected to program for 3 browsers plus Android and IOS devices, flawlessly. Or as a tester, you’ll want to know mobile testing tools plus the Agile environment. We’ll talk about all this, and more! |
| I2P Invisible Internet Project | The Invisible Internet Project (I2P) is a computer network layer that allows applications to send messages to each other pseudonymously and securely. Uses include anonymous Web surfing, chatting, blogging and file transfers. |
| Independent SW/HW: Bucking Big Industry for Fun and Profit | Sure, there are juggernauts in software and hardware industry, but if you want to do it yourself, what kinds of challenges are you going to run into? Come listen to our panelists talk about their experiences with going against the grain as independent software and hardware producers. |
| Google Niantic Lab’s Ingress Game | Some people play games at home – Ingress players travel their neighborhood and the world to play because the world is their game board. Two factions battle for humanity’s future in real time and in real places. Join local members of both global factions as we demo game play, outline the in-game storyline, and share our love for this unique and highly engaging game. Opportunity to level up and try your hand in a battle for control of Lawerence Technological University afterwards. There will be ribbons — choose your faction! |
| Intro to Zenoss | An Introduction to Network Monitoring utilizing the Zenoss Monitoring System. Topics covered will include configuration, managing monitored hosts, SNMP, SSH, and basic remediation. |
| Introduction to Kanban Boards | A lean, visual, Just-In-Time software scheduling system. Visual scheduling system, which uses pre-defined units of work as input and displays them in various states of completeness. |
| Introduction to Machine Learning with Python | Machine learning in Python with scikit-learn. Classification, regression, and clustering. |
| Introduction to Python | This talk is all about introducing people to the powerful programming language called Python. It will include everything from it’s history to hidden tips and tricks about Python. This talk is for beginners. |
| IPv6: So Fetch, It Hurts | IPv6 adoption has been slow, abysmally slow. Hundreds, if not thousands of blogs exist that proclaim IPv6 is ready for the world, and yet, 99%+ of all Internet traffic is still the legacy IPv4 protocol. Why? Existing IPv6 advocacy has focused on technical users leading the charge, and adoption of deployment methodologies that were obsolete before IPv4 address exhaustion was even considered a major issue. Another approach is needed. Ask the ISP network engineer your questions! |
| Key Signing Party | In this hands-on event, participants will learn how the web of trust model works and perform identify verification with fellow attendees. We will do so in a manner compatible with CAcert.org, so you can use the resulting identify assurance to issue your own free SSL certificates, code signatures, etc. With a little additional work, you can also become an assurer of your own right at Penguicon. We will also exchange OpenPGP keys if you have them, so bring your key fingerprints with you! Participants need to bring at least two forms of ID — at least one of which must be a government issued ID showing birthdate. Having your own notebook computer able to output PDFs files greatly simplifies things, too. New users are expected to show up at the start, but returning participants from Penguicon Keysigning events and any CAcert.org assurers may show up one hour in. |
| KEYNOTE: Data and Goliath | If you’re even remotely concerned about internet security and privacy, you cannot miss this panel. If you’re even slightly knowledgeable about either of these topics, you’ve most likely heard of Bruce Schneier. Rumors are he PGP signs his grocery lists so that he can detect if someone has tampered with his milk. He has testified before Congress, is a frequent guest on television and radio, has served on several government committees, and is regularly quoted in the press. In his spare time, he’s also the Chief Technology Officer of Resilient Systems, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center, and a board member of EFF. He also has written 12 books, and has 250k readers of his blog, Schneier on Security. He’ll be speaking about his new book “”Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World.”” |
| KEYNOTE: The Camera Panopticon | The Matrix got it backwards: we don’t live in a simulation controlled from a tangible world, we live in a tangible world that is increasingly being controlled by simulations. But what does this mean for our future? How does technology affect human rights and democracy, and vice-versa? Aral embarks on a journey through algorithms and surveillance to reveal how the friendly façade of ‘free’ service providers like Google and Facebook belie a darker underbelly. |
| Leading FLOSS Projects | There’s more to leading a free/open-source project than just releasing your code into the wild. Edward L. Platt, MIT staff developer and lead developer of Seltzer CRM, will discuss best practices and lessons learned. Bring your questions and share your own experience. |
| Learn to Program in One Hour! | Don’t know anything about programming? Want to get a crash course from an expert programming teacher? Come join Erika Carlson from Detroit Labs and GirlDevelopIt! as she drops some programming science on you for an hour. You may not be coding Shakespeare by the end of the hour, but you’ll be well on your way to Hello World! |
| LIVE PODCAST: IT in the D | What do a bunch of IT guys talk about at the bar? Come find out why they have over 200,000 listens each week and witness the fun, the awesome, the epic amount of beer that is consumed by IT in the D! |
| LIVE PODCAST: Sunday Morning Linux Review | Tony, Mat, and Mary record an episode of their popular Linux podcast, the Sunday Morning Linux Review |
| Live RFID Implantation! | Is RFID the Christian “”Mark of the Beast?”” Is it a way for the Government to track you? There’s no gigantic conspiracy or Biblical End-of-Times here, just really awesome tech that can help you unlock your doors, phone, make electronic payments, contain your medical information, and all kinds of other fun stuff. Join Amal from Dangerous Things as he implants RFIDs into anyone who wants them in a safe and sterile manner! He’ll have kits for sale, too. |
| Maria DB and Ubuntu Cloud | This workshop will get into some of the nitty gritty details of deploying MariaDB in a cloud. We’ll be deploying to Amazon Web Services and Azure with multiple node configurations, including load balanced master/slave clusters with monitoring. |
| MariaDB: The New MySQL in your LAMP Stack | We’ll help you understand what MariaDB is all about, the new features it has compared to MySQL, and why you want to use it. Learn about cool features that focus on security, user management, multi-source replication, keeping your slaves as fast as your master, and a lot more. |
| Neal Stephenson’s Metaverse – Science Fiction, or near Reality? | In Stephenson’s Snow Crash (which was written in 1992, mind you!) the Metaverse was a futuristic version of the internet based on virtual reality, augmentations, cryptocurrencies, and corporations run amok. Individually, these themes are all very relevant and very real — but are we on the way to alternate realities powered by these emerging techs? What could the future look like? Did Neal Stephenson get it right more than 20 years ago? |
| Notes from “”DHS Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity 301″” | The Department of Homeland Security offers a free, week-long training class in protecting and securing industrial control systems form cyber attacks. The classes are held monthly at a DHS facility in Idaho Falls and consist of classroom time and a ten-hour red-team/blue-team attack/defense scenario. The presenters attended the course in February 2015 – now they would like to share their notes and impressions with Penguicon. If you are involved with industrial automation in any way, this session will let you know what the training class provides, and help you decide whether a trip to Idaho Falls should be in your future. For what it’s worth, both presenters were on the winning team – Go, Defense! |
| OpenBSD Tour | OpenBSD is an open source operating system that emphasizes security and reliability. Come take a tour! |
| Our Adventures into Indie Games | Mahjong House was the first commercial video game from DisjointedImages. Come listen to how we developed the game, how it was a success (and failure), and get some tips on venturing into the world of indie game development yourself. |
| Pack-a-thon | Linux distributions don’t package themselves. Show up and help make it happen! We will all join together to package software of the attendees choice so it’s easier for the community to use. Help will be available for all the intricate details of RPM packaging, but DEB packagers are also welcome. Please come with either knowledge of Linux software packaging or prior attendance at the RPM Packaging Workshop. Please bring a notebook running a Linux distribution (or remote access). |
| Practical Home Networking Using a Linux Router | It is becoming common these days for people to have a home network. But doing it with open software is even better. Come and learn from the host of Sunday Morning Linux Review. |
| RPM Packaging Workshop | Wonder how RPM packages are put together? Want to learn how to do it yourself? This session will be a mix of presentation, and a workshop where everyone follows along with packaging a few simple, pre-selected source tarballs. A notebook running an RPM distribution (or remote access) is strongly preferred, but not required. Stick around for the Pack-a-thon, and you can put your skills to use with your own software. |
| Scheduling: The First Academic Paper About Penguicon | Come learn about why scheduling a convention like Penguicon is Hard (with a captial H). In early 2013 the TuxTrax project, a fully open source convention scheduling software package for Penguicon started development. One of the developers, Jeffrey Quesnelle, dived deeper into the math behind scheduling the convention and turned it into the first peer-reviewed academic paper about Penguicon: Integer programming models of certain NP-Complete convention scheduling problems. |
| Securing Back-Office Business Processes with OpenVPN | High level discussion of the virtues of virtual private networking with an explanation of the differences between PPTP and SSL PKI VPNs. |
| So You Want to Yell at the Internet… Do it Through a Podcast! | Think you’re hilarious? Have opinions that the world HAS to hear? Have a hobby that you would like to share with others through internet audio? Then it’s time to podcast! Learn how to yell at the internet with the cast of Demon Lobster and Drunk S&M! Mature language warning! |
| Social Engineering for Fun and Profit | Oh no! Tragedy! You get a phone call from your IT person in on a Monday morning saying that the rotator splint in your corporate Active Directory environment has crashed and that they need your password and VPN token numbers to restore your account immediately! You want to help him out, right? Wait, there’s something fishy about this guy on the phone! You probably wouldn’t fall for this social engineering attack, right? Come learn some of the best tricks of the trade of social engineering for fun and profit ^H^H^H^H^H to be sure you don’t fall victim to these wily schemes! |
| Social Network Analysis: NetworkX and Gephi | We’ll demo NetworkX and Gephi, two powerful, free/open-source tools for analyzing and visualizing social networks. Using these tools, we’ll analyze the social network of Penguicon panels and presenters. Topics include: centrality measures, co-affiliation, clustering, and visualization. NetworkX examples will assume familiarity with Python. Edward L. Platt is staff at the MIT Center for Civic Media. |
| Surveillance Can Be Fun: The Future of Civil Liberties in Tech | Come hear the Editor-in-Chief of Gizmodo talk about cloud surveillance, smart cities, biological data, and the bizarre world of tomorrow where privacy is temporary and your DNA is public access. |
| Swimming with Dolphin, the File Manager | Most Linux users know Dolphin as KDE’s flagship file manager. Spend this session walking through some of Dolphin’s powerful yet little-known features, including “service menus,” the list of actions that appears when you right-click on an item in Dolphin. Whether it’s resizing a batch of images or simply changing the color of a folder icon in Dolphin, there’s a service menu for that! |
| Tcl on Raspberry Pi | Tcl/Tk and the Raspberry Pi are both cheap and easy (to use). Tcl can use the Pi’s GPIO and i2c busses to control external hardware, execute compiled applications, process data and more. Clif will introduce Tcl/Tk and show how to acquire and process images, control stepper motors and interact with the real world. |
| Teaching Open Source in Schools | There are a lot of computer classes at schools, but they are usually programing with a lot of drinking of Microsoft Kool Aid. There are lots of open source tools out there that can do the same thing for free. This is a introductory level panel. |
| Test Driven Development to Write Less Code | Learn how to use test driven development and other agile principles to write less code and bring a more reliable product to market faster. Test Driven Developers write a test, and then write the code to make the test pass. This counter intuitive process ultimately results in writing less code that is more reliable and easier to extend. Intended for someone with a little programming experience, or somebody with a lot who wants to stretch themselves in new areas. |
| The Cloud is Your Free Hobby Computer | Thanks to Moore’s Law and weird business models on the Internet, a lot of computing power can be had free-of-charge. GitHub will keep & share your code; Cloud9 will let you edit it; Travis CI will test it; Heroku & Amazon will run it. This talk aims to describe ways to take advantage of services like these for fun and learning, as well as answering the question “”What’s the catch?”” |
| The Electric Library: Libraries in the 21st Century | Libraries are more than just books these days. Sure you may know about thinks like e-books but what about e-magazines and streaming video? Find out how libraries are changing as we explore their role in the new century and what they may have to offer you. |
| The IT Road Warrior | What does it take to become an IT Road Warrior? What are the gadgets, luggage, and contract requirements for living life on the road? |
| The Junior Developer Survival Guide | Are you new to the professional world of software development? Do you have new developers on your team? Are you wondering why college and the School of Hard Knocks did such a bad job preparing you to be a functional member of a high-performing team? Take some advice from a former junior dev who has walked the same path. We will discuss quick return actions that can be undertaken immediately, as well as long term, slow-burn investments in your career. This session will focus on technical and interpersonal advice to help make your first job search, entry-level hire, or first couple of years as a developer go smoothly. |
| The Other Singularity: Why We Will and Won’t be Wearing Computers | After 30-some-odd years of personal computing, the current master of our digital selves, the smart phone, falls totally short; yet it offers us a way to live a digital lifestyle – even if it is a little awkward when it testifies against us in court. Our desire to live in two worlds means we take our computers everywhere, setting the stage for the next pattern of computing. In this fun and energetic session, we will look to the future to see a vision for the next patterns of computing and discuss how the coming changes will create new classes of products and how they are already impacting the way we design for the future. |
| Security Onion | An exploration of the Linux distribution Security Onion. We will explore some of the tools included, and some real world use cases. |
| The State of Fedora | Fedora is one the most important Linux distros which serves as the proving ground for new technologies that may go into Red Hat. Hear Tom Callaway present a look at the current state of Fedora. |
| Tips and Tricks using ASP MVC 5 | We will be going through some lessons learned while using Asp Mvc over the year, including tricks like metadata conventions handling validation and dealing with dropdowns. |
| TOR: Layers of Anonymity | Tor is free software for enabling anonymous communication. Tor directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer network consisting of relays to conceal a user’s location and usage. Let’s peel back the layers. |
| Troubleshooting in Tech, Health, and Beyond | What do medical diagnoses and fixing build breaks have in common? Sarah (configuration management specialist) and Jennifer (medical doctor) will talk about approaches for figuring out whether something’s wrong, what is wrong, and possible fixes/treatments. Bonus: how to ask for help (in a way that will help people help you!) |
| Ubuntu Release Party | Come celebrate the release of version 15.04 of this highly popular Linux distribution – meet us in the bar! |
| Understanding and Protecting Your Privacy Online | Everyday it seems more of our daily lives are intertwined with our online identities, and yet it seems that there is ever less privacy online. Come learn how interested parties are monitoring you online, what drives their motivations, and steps you can take to mitigate your private information exposure. |
| Using RegEx in grep | This presentation will cover the regex available to you with the -E flag in grep. Prerequisite – have used grep to search files. |
| Virtual Reality Headset Demo with Game Face Labs | Come try Game Face Labs’ newest 3D printed, Android based, wireless virtual reality headset. It has a 2.5k pixel display, it runs native 3D movies, and does 2D to 3D conversion on the fly, all on Android! You know you want to take a peek. |
| Weaponized Malware: The Future of Cyber Warfare | You’ve probably heard of — or helped your parents remove — all sorts of malware. It ranges from simple stuff like popups and redirects all the way to encrypting your data and demanding bitcoin for safe decryption. What happens, though, when malware is industrialized by state sponsored groups? You may have read about the Equation Group — a shadowy group of State Sponsored hackers and coders — who have created malware that keeps persistence by rewriting your hard drive’s firmware. We’ll talk about recent examples of discovered cyber weapons, who is using them, what advanced features these programs have, and what it means for the future. |
| What Do Your Users Really Think? | User testing is becoming easier and easier to do for prototypes, ideas, software and websites, and can help you make a better product. Learn about some of the easy ways to get real user opinions to help make your designs more usable and useful. We will explore both free and pay sites, as well as offline techniques. |
| What’s New in KDE 5 | The KDE project has released Plasma 5, and with it comes many changes. Come learn what’s new in this latest popular open source desktop environment. Whether you’re already a KDE user, or just curious about desktops, you will learn something as we run down what’s new with an eye to the past. We will also spend some time contrasting the desktop to its competition in Unity and Gnome. |
| Why Can’t Ashley Sing | This talk will demonstrate the technologies used in a modern recording studio to make the difference between the sound musicians make live and what you hear in recordings. |
| Women in STEM Meetup | Enjoy a glass of wine and conversation with your peers about the issues, victories, and conflicts that face women in STEM careers. Find us in the small room at the back of the restaurant! |
| Virtual Reality Headset Demo with Game Face Labs | Come try Game Face Labs’ newest 3D printed, Android based, wireless virtual reality headset. It has a 2.5k pixel display, it runs native 3D movies, and does 2D to 3D conversion on the fly, all on Android! You know you want to take a peek. |
| Virtual Reality Headset Demo with Game Face Labs | Come try Game Face Labs’ newest 3D printed, Android based, wireless virtual reality headset. It has a 2.5k pixel display, it runs native 3D movies, and does 2D to 3D conversion on the fly, all on Android! You know you want to take a peek. |
Webcomics
| BoF: Homestuck | Love homestuck? Hate Homestuck? No matter how you may feel about it, there is no greater success story in the webcomic world than Homestuck. |
| Comic and Graphic Novel Writing | Writing for comics, graphic novels, and other sequential art forms is different from short story writing. Come learn the tricks of the trade. |
| Comics vs. Manga? Is There Really a Difference? | An in depth discussion of these two visual mediums. Is an ocean the only thing that separates them, or is it so much more? |
| Getting Started with the Michigan Comics Collective | Looking to get your feet wet in the world of comics but aren’t quite sure how? Come join the Michigan Comics Collective, a home-grown Michigan-based group of independent comic book writers, publishers, and artists for a fun and informational panel! |
| How to Start Up….and Keep Your Webcomic Going! | Do you like Webcomics? Do you read webcomics? Have you ever wanted to start one of your own? Join Laura Cascos and her partners from the 7+ year running webcomic Sidekick Girl and BluRaven C. Houvener, writer and illustrator of the 3+ year running webcomic It’s Just Another Day as they take you through tales of how they started up, got out there, and kept it going….and more importantly, how you can too! |
| Learn to Draw a Dragon | Join Terry Pavlet as he teaches you how to draw a dragon! |
| LIVE PODCAST: Snake Oil Comics | Snake Oil Comics is a comics and nerd lifestyle podcast recorded live from Coy’s Comics in Saginaw, MI. Hosts Travis McIntire, Devin Foether, and Jason Lloyd strive to support the industry they love by interviewing independent comic creators, talking about significant comic story lines or characters, and getting a comic shop owner’s perspective on what’s hot and what’s not. |
| The Rise of the Michigan Comics Collective | The Michigan Comics Collective is here to tell you more tricks of the trade, from the rise of the MCC to how it has assembled and helped some of the greatest Michigan based writers, publishers, and artists. |
| Webcomic Reading | Got a webcomic you love with all your heart that you’d just love to see read aloud by random people most likely snickering and giving funky voices to your beloved characters? Then come on in! |
| Webcomic Underdogs Meet and Greet | Webcomic Underdogs is an online organization with the mission of bringing together underground webcomic artists, writers, and publishers. Join us for a fun, exciting, and informational meet and greet that hopes to bring together many webcomic lovers and makers, and educate those that are interested in webcomics but have never quite known where to start. |
| You…You Don’t Like My Webcomic? | Sadly it happens to us all at one time or another…and people aren’t always so kind about it! Join Laura Cascos and Erika Wagner (the team behind the amazing Webcomic Sidekick Girl) and BluRaven C. Houvener (writer and illustrator of It’s Just another day) as they walk you through the ins and outs of how to cope with criticism and survive to create another day! |
Videogaming
| Artemis: The Starship Bridge Simulator | Come be a member of the bridge crew in Artemis, the Starship Bridge Simulator. One hour sessions throughout the weekend. |
| Artemis: The Starship Bridge Simulator | Come be a member of the bridge crew in Artemis, the Starship Bridge Simulator. One hour sessions throughout the weekend. |
| Artemis: The Starship Bridge Simulator | Come be a member of the bridge crew in Artemis, the Starship Bridge Simulator. One hour sessions throughout the weekend. |
| BoF: GamerGate — What have we learned? | In the past year, online communities and social networks have fragmented around the stated goals of gender representation and media impartiality when it comes to video games. In a post-GamerGate world, where do we go from here? |
| BoF: Storytelling in Video Games | What are the most amazing stories in video games? Let’s discuss how gaming is moving toward legitimate art and away from tropes. Some stories can only be told through interaction, and current games about depression, bureaucracy, novel writing, and even being famous on Twitter have to be played to be understood. Stick around for our “”most awful stories in gaming””. |
| BoF: XBox One vs. Playstation 4 — Who “”Won”” the Next Gen Console War?” | Now that there’s been time to experience both the XBox One and the Playstation 4, which system has come out on top? |
| Demon Lobster Presents “”Super Smash Bros. Community Let’s Play!””” | Have you ever wanted to participate in a Let’s Play? Or are you just looking for some chaotic video game fun? Join the crews from Demon Lobster and PlayWhatNow? for a rousing evening of 8-player Super Smash Bros. on the WiiU! For added fun, we’ll be recording the gameplay and filming video to compile a Let’s Play featuring the Penguicon community! Everyone is welcome for a fun evening of gaming and hilarity. |
| Hearthstone Fireside Gathering | Come join other players of Hearthstone for a Fireside Gathering. Bring your laptop and join a tournament with other players |
| If I Can Make a Video Game, So Can You! | Come learn from David Gazdowicz about how he created modern retro-style video games from the ground up, including game design, graphic design, cabinet fabrication and hardware installation. If he can do it, so can you! |
| Learning from your Guild Experiences | From helping others level up to coping with differing personalities, we’ll discuss some of the life lessons we can take away from being in a gaming guild. There’s a lot more than most people realize. |
| Minecraft 101: More than Tree Punching | Everything you never wanted to know about Minecraft – its origins, its mythology, the basic ins and outs of the game, and some of the really nifty things you can do with it. |
| Open Source and Homebrew Arcade | Open source… video gaming? Our volunteers have brought in cheap classic game consoles, console clones, Raspberry Pii, and Raspberry Pii like devices running various homebrew and open source games they have created. This is a great opportunity for those of us who build indie games in our free time to exchange ideas and see what other people are working on. It’s also an excellent time just to kick back with other convention participants and play a few games you’ve never heard of. |
| Opening Up Retro-Style Video Cabinets | David Gazdowicz created modern retro-style video games from the ground up. Join David in the lobby as he opens up the cabinets so you can poke around a bit at the inner workings! |
| Retro Games: Better than New | There has been a huge influx of interest in classic games. From Barcades to stores selling Retro Games, why, in a world of PS4s and XBox Ones, are we suddenly obsessed with Atari 2600s and Nintendo Entertainment Systems? What can modern game makers learn from our continued love of more simple games? |
| Retro Gaming: Come Play! | Come relive your youth as you play away the hours on a collection of retro gaming systems, including Atari 2600, NES, SNES and many others. |
| The Augmented Gamer | Video games and hardware are getting increasingly more complex and powerful. But, so are the resources available to gamers. Back in the 80s, a space trading game like Elite would call for a pad of paper to track prices between space stations. Today, players of the modern MMORPG EVE Online have spawned web services and dynamic spreadsheets to cope with market activity. Even World of Warcraft players have used code and spreadsheets to manage characters and gear. Some players and developers consider this cheating. But, for others, this is just the way games are played while living in the future. What do you think? Let’s discuss! |
| The Metagame: Video Game Debate | Which made you feel more in control, Kingdom Hearts or Madden 2015? Which had a better soundtrack, Jet Set Radio or Chrono Trigger? Our panelists will be given specific questions, and using a limited pool of games they must construct and present an argument answering that question. A panel of judges will weigh in on the arguments presented and decide a winner. After our pros go head-to-head, the audience will be given the chance to challenge the panelists and each other! |