Re: aug 12-15 meteor showers
This is the right area.
The Perseid meteor shower peaks between the 11th and 13th this year. From a very dark location 60 or more meteors an hour can be seen. This year, the moon is a problem, since it will be up most of the time after midnight when the highest meteor rates occur. This makes the sky brighter than the faintest meteors, so not all of of the 100 or more an hour that occur can be seen. Fortunately, the Perseids (debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle) are an old shower, so the meteors are brighter than many other showers.
The ZHR (shower rate under perfect conditions) may get as high as 150 per hour this year, but that is just a prediction, usually it reaches about 100 per hour.
The reason I suspect they mentioned it lasting through the 15th is bacause that's the weekend, but generally rates fall quite rapidly after the peak, so bySaturday night fewer will be seen.
The Perseids are actually active from about July 15th until August 24th, but the rates are low enough over most of that time that only meteor geeks like me watch.
To see the latest rates from data submitted to the International Meteor Organization, see this:
http://www.imo.net/live/perseids2009/
If you live in the suburbs, you will probably see half the rate displayed, if you live in the city, about 1/4 of the rate.
Meteor Wayne