This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

"I'm safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!!" That was NASA's @MarsCuriosity rover tweeting after successfully landing on Mars after a nerve-wracking but thrilling journey. Here's one of the pics that Curiosity sent back and here's a video that vividly describes what Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror probably were right before landing on Mars. As Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted, it was a reminder of what it feels like "to boldly go"!

A BIG thank you to one lovely fan - she baked me a super-awesome cake for my birthday that looks just like me on my business card! :) You can see a couple of pics of the cake on the left.

Senator Chuck Schumer has proposed a Nerd Bus route for the NYC tech startup community. The route will help connect all points of NYC’s tech boom including neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. The MTA has already announced plans for a bus route for the Brooklyn Tech Triangle connecting DUMBO, Downtown Brooklyn and the Navy Yard. Yes, NY Tech is happening!

Interested in the opportunity to pitch your startup idea to a judging panel including TechStars' David Tisch and Thrillist's Ben Lerer? Here's your chance. Deadline is Aug 10.

And now lets see what fun stuff is happening around town this week...

Startup Lunch
Lunch in the Soho/Tribeca area, with friends from WeWork Labs, the Varick St. incubator, New Work City and Green Spaces!
Monday (Aug 06), 1 p.m. @ The Cupping Room Cafe, 359 W Broadway

NYC Pinterest Meetup #3
With Brian Cohen (Chairman, NY Angels, first Angel investor in Pinterest and Co-founder of Launch.it), Alicia Navarro (CEO & Founder of Skimlinks) and Debra Schwartz (VP of Equity Research at Goldman Sachs).
Monday (Aug 06), 7 p.m. @ We Work Lounge, 154 Grand Street, Ground Fl

LatAm to NYC Cocktails by PulsoSocial
Come meet with Latin America's most promising entrepreneurs and growing technology companies as part of NYCEDC's LATAM to NYC Program hosted by PulsoSocial. Attending companies include Accesso Virtual, Contratan, Cotiza, Cows Love UFOs and more. (Yes, there's a startup called Cows Love UFOs)
Monday (Aug 06), 8 p.m. @ Hotel Americano, 518 W 27th St

August 2012 NY Tech Meetup
You know the drill by now. Five-minute rapid fire demos. A bunch of amazing new startups. Now hopefully you've managed to snag one of those elusive tickets!
Tuesday (Aug 07), 7 p.m. @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts, 566 Laguardia Place

Launch Party for SocialChange.is!
Beer, wine, organic drinks and snacks will be provided
Wednesday (Aug 08), 7 p.m. @ Alley NYC, 500 Fashion Ave, 17th Floor

Thinking Outside the Planet
NASA's Curiosity just landed on Mars. To commemorate this exciting milestone in space exploration, join Huge, Honeybee Robotics, Final Frontier Design and "Martian Summer" author Andrew Kessler as they discuss the latest research and technological advancements in space investigation.
Wednesday (Aug 08), 7 p.m. @ Huge BK, 45 Main St., Brooklyn

The F Word Party
Enjoy free food, drinks, music and desserts. And find out what the F word is. Founder? Failure? Your guess is as good as mine.
Thursday (Aug 09), 6 p.m. @ Wix Lounge, 10 W 18th St

Crowdfunding 101 Panel
Panelists include Sara Nodjoumi (film programmer and producer), Nancy Wolfe (producer, Fit To Print), Jayce Bartok (actor, Directory), Stella McGovern (cofounder, Crowdzu.com) and others.
Thursday (Aug 09), 6 p.m. @ Showbiz Cafe, 19 West 21st Street

Investor Feedback Forum
Investor Panelists include David Aronoff (Flybridge Capital Partners), Jim Estill (CanRock Ventures), Weston Gaddy (Bain Capital Ventures) and William Reinisch (Paladin Capital Group). Startup Pitches by Ethan Shen (Gabble On), Santiago Jaramillo (Talent Surfers), Gabriel Yarra (HomeSwap), Jamie Hamilton (Categorical Technology), Pritesh Damani (Fantasy Buzzer), Asaf Katzur (CareerSonar), Trace Cohen (Launch.it) and Antonio Tembleque (LinkingSport).
Thursday (Aug 09), 6:30 p.m. @ Microsoft, 1290 6th Ave

Cookout with Tilt
Enjoy an afternoon of homebrew beer, smoked meats and veggies, tilt games, prizes and great company in the summer sun!
Saturday (Aug 11), 3 p.m. @ Backyard Brooklyn, 388 5th Ave, Brooklyn

More events on the horizon...
August NY Enterprise Technology Meetup (featuring keynote by Jive cofounder Bill Lynch) on Aug 14 @ Cooley
Startup tours for Developers: Conductor & GetGlue on Aug 16 @ Conductor
Aug 26: Nyc Tech Picnic – Chelsea Piers lawn at Sunset on Aug 26 @ Chelsea Piers Lawn
NY Games Conference on Sep 05 @ Museum of Jewish Heritage
Comedy Hack Day on Sep 08 @ Pivotal Labs NYC
FinovateFall 2012 on Sep 12 @ Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
Design for Manufacturing Summit on Sep 20 @ Dumbo Spot

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)

Discussing plans to ruin el Internet, probably.

Message Party founder Amanda Peyton was in for a rude awakening this morning when she tried to do the right thing. Rather than taking the Internet's word for it that the proposed Protect IP Act (PIPA) is inherently evil—"I know how myopic the tech world can be sometimes," she notes—Ms. Peyton decided to go to the source:  Senator Chuck Schumer, co-sponsor of the bill.

After protest from tech industry leaders and human rights groups, PIPA, in essence the Senate's version of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), is already being reconsidered by its author, Sen. Patrick Leahy (VT-D). Sen. Leahy is calling for more research. But as it stands, the legislation would subject a website that contains copyright infringing content to being de-indexed from search engines, blocked from ISPs, and stopped from doing accessing business services like PayPal.

Enough backstory. On her blog, Ms. Peyton, narrated what happened when she called up good ole Chuck.

The first question I asked was “why does the Senator support this legislation?”

The guy on the other end of the phone said: well, he’s a co-sponsor so he’s not changing his position.

He must have known why I was calling.

Asked the same question again. This time the reply I got this time was different: Senator Schumer is in favor of censoring the internet.

....

No one has been brazen enough to drop the C-word without hesitation. But this dude apparently had no problem with it. I said again: “So you’re saying Senator Schumer is in favor of censoring the internet?”

Yes.

He then backpedaled a bit, and mentioned that Schumer is in favor of censoring illegal activities on the internet. But still, the C-word.

I could hear the phone-answerer smacking his lips in the background, grinning and thinking: ALL YOUR CAT PHOTOS ARE BELONG TO US. on a centrally controlled website owned by Viacom.

If that rubs you the wrong way, not to fear: there's an (emergency) Meetup for that.

But there's another upside to this disappointing tale. When Ms. Peyton called, an actual human being answered the phone! "There’s no annoying menus, no transfers, no answering machines. Washington, please don’t ever change this." Everything else about Washington, however... big room for improvement.

CLARIFICATION: Ms. Peyton received a call from Sen. Schumer's office clarifying the senator's position:

1. It’s not just Hollywood – another big issue that they are trying to combat here is piracy related to physical products that are sold by overseas websites: counterfeit chips, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, etc.
2. DMCA is incredibly effective, but only for the companies that actually comply with it.
3. There have been some changes made to the bill already that take into account the concerns of the tech community. For example, yesterday one of the Senate sponsors said “he will recommend that the the Senate gives DNS blacklisting “more study” before moving ahead”.
4. The tech community is very important to New York State, and so are all the other industries here who support the bill (entertainment, manufacturing), and while the outcry from the opposition has been heard, it is also pretty recent. Back when they were researching the bill, they felt there was a balance of interest between those who were for and against it.