Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events email gmoke@world.std.com
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Bioinspired Hybrid Locomotion For Miniature Robotics
Monday, 20 February
6:30 PM
Harvard Microrobotics Lab, 60 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02140
Dr. Mirko Kovac, Katie Hoffman, Kevin Ma
Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory, http://micro.seas.harvard.edu/PLEASE
Dr. Mirko Kovac: Nature offers an almost limitless quantity of design solutions that allow small animals to move in natural terrains. Although animals share only a subset of their design requirements with robots, several of the design principles employed by animals can be used in robotics as well to allow them to improve their locomotion capabilities. In this talk, Dr. Kovac will give an overview of his PhD work at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL on jumping and gliding miniature robots. Further, I will introduce our work at the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory where we work towards the implementation of butterfly inspired gliding and soaring flight to our robotic flapping wing microrobots.
Katie Hoffman (Centipede Millirobot): Due to their ability to navigate a variety of terrains at high speeds, arthropods have been used as inspiration for legged millirobots. Many robots at this scale are modeled after cockroaches, with six legs and rigid bodies; however, the diversity of body morphologies found in nature leaves unanswered questions about the optimal number of legs for robustness and speed and how passive body flexibility can enhance locomotion on both flat and rough terrain. A segmented, many-legged centipede-inspired millirobot with a compliant body provides the perfect platform to answer these questions. Katie Hoffman will present the design, modeling, fabrication, and experimental results of a 20-legged centipede-inspired millirobot being used to understand myriapod locomotion.
Kevin Ma: Recent advances in the understanding of biological flight have inspired roboticists to create flapping-wing vehicles on the scale of insects. A coordinated effort toward achieving this goal is found in the collaborative Robobees project, being conducted at Harvard University. The project covers all aspects of the system, from the flight apparatus and power systems to the electronic nervous system for sensing and decision-making. The goal of the project is to create a coordinated swarm of small, insect-scale robots, for applications in distributed sensing, search and rescue operations, and assisted agriculture (robotic pollination). In this talk, Kevin will cover some of the challenges in building small flying devices and highlight the innovations that have been made to enable the mechanical design and fabrication of these tiny robots.
Dr. Mirko Kovac is Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory as part of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University in Cambridge, USA. He obtained his PhD with the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems under the supervision of Prof. Dario Floreano at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). He received his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) in 2005 with his Master Thesis carried out at University of California in Berkeley, USA. During his studies he was research associate with RIETER Automotive Switzerland, the WARTSILA Diesel Technology Division in Switzerland, and CISERV in Singapore. He has presented his work at several international conferences and in journals and has supervised more than 25 B.A./M.S. level student projects, one of which received the 2008 Foundation Annaheim prize for the best student project. In 2009 he won the JTCF Novel Technology best paper award at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS’2009) and the 2009 runner up best poster award at the research day at EPFL. His research interest is the conception and design of novel locomotion and control methods for mobile robots and their analogy in biological systems. Webpage:http://kovac.me
Katie Hoffman is a Ph.D. candidate in the Microrobotics Lab at the Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She obtained her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Bucknell University in 2008 and her masters degree in engineering sciences from Harvard University in 2010. Her current research interests include mechanical design, fabrication, and modeling of biologically-inspired ambulatory millirobots.
Kevin Ma is a graduate student researcher in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. He works on the aeromechanical design of the robotic bee, as a member of the NSF-funded Robobees project and the Harvard Microrobotics Lab. Prior to Harvard, he obtained his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010. His research interests include mechanical design, microfabrication, and bio-inspired robotic locomotion.
Meeting will be held at Harvard Microrobotics Lab, 60 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02140 (Please note the irregular date and venue)
After the meeting, there will be a no-host dinner with the speakers at the Cambridge Commons restaurant, 1667 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, http://www.cambridgecommonrestaurant.com/
This and other RAS meetings are open to the general public. For more information about the RAS Boston Chapter, contact Chapter Chair Peter Meyer at 617-244-5049 or p.j.meyer@ieee.org or visit http://www.robotics-boston.org/
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The Harvard Clean Energy Project: Helping Create Plastic Solar Cells
Science by the PInt
Monday, February 20
7 pm
Tavern in the Square, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Dr. Alan Aspuru-Guzik
https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu
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Tuesday, February 21
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Public Space 2.0 / Senseable City Symposium
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
All day
MIT, Building 9-554, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The Senseable City Lab is hosting a Symposium on Public Space and Social Media, organized by the Austrian artistic research project "Public Space 2.0". During the three days of this event, the participants will present and discuss their work on urban sensing devices together with researchers from the Senseable City Lab and highly esteemed visitors from Columbia University including Laura Kurgan, Carla Shedd, and Smita Srinivas.
Web site: http://www.strategies-research.ufg.ac.at/public_space/?page_id=918
Open to: the general public
This event occurs daily through February 23, 2012.
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact:
Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn@mit.edu
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Tuesday, February 21
noon
Boston Society of Architects, 290 Congress Street, Boston
The BSA Sustainable Education Committee together with BSA COTE will host Christoph Reinhart of MIT. He will give a presentation titled Building Performance Simulation – From Evaluating Performance To Suggesting New Forms. The event is scheduled for
Christoph defangs ;-) building performance simulation for design architects, and points to how performance simulation can form the underpinnings for better buildings and better designs. Practitioners, students and educators will all benefit. Please feel free to disseminate this invitation to colleagues and friends.
There are 1.5 LU/HSW/SD credits available, with the following Learning Objectives:
The use of computer-based performance simulations during design
The latest glare analysis techniques
How to teach energy simulations to architectural students.
The link between daylight simulations and occupant assessments.
Generating and using future climate files during building design
Please RSVP by sending an email to rsvp@architects.org, with SEC 2-21 in the Subject line.
If you cannot attend in person, please call in:
Conference call: 712 432-1620,
Participant Access Code: 456642#
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The Promises of Web-based Social Experiments
Tuesday, February 21
12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2012/02/hergueux#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast and archived on our site shortly after.
Jerome Hergueux, Berkman Center Fellow
The advent of the internet provides social scientists with a fantastic tool for conducting behavioral experiments online at a very large-scale and at an affordable cost. It is surprising, however, how little research has leveraged the affordances of the internet to set up such social experiments so far.
In this talk, Jerome Hergueux will introduce the audience to one of the first online platforms specifically designed for conducting interactive social experiments over the internet to date. He will present the preliminary results of a randomized experiment that compares behavioral measures of social preferences obtained both in a traditional University laboratory and online, with a focus on engaging the audience in a reflection about the specificities, limitations and promises of online experimental economics as a tool for social science research.
About Jerome
Jerome is a PhD candidate in Economics at Sciences Po Paris and the University of Strasbourg. He is a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, where he works with Professor Yochai Benkler to develop new interactive survey methods to uncover the foundations and dynamics of interactions and behavior in online social spaces.
Jerome is mainly interested in applying economics' analytical tools to the understanding of the evolution of culture, broadly defined as any set of norms of cooperation shared by a group of individuals trying to overcome particular collective action issues (be it in online or offline settings). He then tries to assess the relevance of those norms for determining a wide range of economic outcomes at the community level.
Jerome originates from the French region of Alsace, near the German border. He holds an MA in Finance from the University of Strasbourg and a Master in International Relations and International Economics from Sciences Po Paris. Jerome speaks French, English and Arabic, and is heavily interested in the Middle East's politics and culture.
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Real-time Estimation of Distributed Parameters Systems: Application to Traffic Monitoring with Smartphones
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
4:00 PM (reception following)
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Alexandre Bayen, UC Berkeley
Abstract: The coupling of the physical world with information technology promises to help meet increasing demands for efficient, sustainable, and secure management of our built infrastructure and natural environment. A mathematical abstraction of the physical environment can be achieved in the form of distributed parameters systems, described by partial differential equations. Yet, initial and boundary conditions, and other model parameters necessary for complete characterization of these models are often unknown, driving the need for distributed sensing of the physical environment. Because of the nonlinearities and distributed nature inherent to these physical processes, efficient estimation algorithms to reconcile modeling and measurement errors in real-time remains an open challenge for many applications.
This work investigates the problem of real-time estimation of distributed parameters systems in the context of monitoring traffic, river flows and earthquakes. The recent explosion of smartphones with Internet connectivity, GPS and magnetometers is rapidly increasing sensing capabilities for numerous infrastructure systems. The talk will present theoretical results, algorithms and implementations designed to integrate mobile measurements obtained from smartphones into distributed parameter models of infrastructure systems. The models considered include Hamilton-Jacobi equations, first order conservation laws and systems of conservation laws. A new convex formulation of data assimilation and data reconciliation problems will be derived and demonstrated for some of these models. Other techniques developed will be briefly presented as well, relying on ensemble Kalman filtering.
The talk will focus mainly on a traffic monitoring system launched jointly by UC Berkeley and Nokia, called Mobile Millennium, which is operational in Northern California and streams more than 60 million data points a day into traffic models. The talk will also present two more recent applications of this research: the floating sensor network, for real-time riverflow reconstruction, and the iShake system, for smartphone-based real-time earthquake monitoring.
Biography: Alexandre Bayen received the Engineering Degree in applied mathematics from the Ecole Polytechnique, France, in July 1998, the M.S. degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in June 1999, and the Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in December 2003. He was a Visiting Researcher at NASA Ames Research Center from 2000 to 2003. Between January 2004 and December 2004, he worked as the Research Director of the Autonomous Navigation Laboratory at the Laboratoire de Recherches Balistiques et Aerodynamiques, (Ministere de la Defense, Vernon, France), where he holds the rank of Major. He has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley since January 2005, and an Associate Professor since 2010. He is the recipient of the Ballhaus Award from Stanford University, 2004, of the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, 2009 and he is a NASA Top 10 Innovators on Water Sustainability, 2010. He is the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the White House, 2010. His projects Mobile Century and Mobile Millennium received the 2008 Best of ITS Award for ‘Best Innovative Practice’, at the ITS World Congress and a TRANNY Award from the California Transportation Foundation, 2009.
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Is Europe Doomed?
WHEN Tue., Feb. 21, 2012, 4:15 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Lower Level Conference Room, Busch Hall, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Center for European Studies, co-sponsored by the Program on Constitutional Government
SPEAKER(S) Christopher Caldwell, senior editor at The Weekly Standard and contributor to the Financial Times and Slate
COST Free
CONTACT INFO Sarah Delude: sadelude@fas.harvard.edu
NOTE Introduction by Harvey Mansfield, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Government
Reception to follow
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Media Lab Conversations Series: Lawrence Lessig--"One Way Forward: The Outsider's Guide to Fixing a Republic"
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building E14, Third-Floor Atrium, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
MIT Media Lab Conversations Series
The new series Media Lab Conversations will host visionaries who work at the intersection of technology, art, and enterprise.
http://www.media.mit.edu/events/conversations
Lawrence Lessig is the director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard University, and a professor of law at Harvard Law School.
Prior to returning to Harvard, Lessig was a professor of law at Stanford Law School (where he was founder of Stanford's Center for Internet and Society), Harvard Law School (1997-2000), and the University of Chicago Law School. Lessig clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court.
For much of his academic career, Lessig has focused on law and technology, especially as it affects copyright. He is the author of five books on the subject, and has served as lead counsel in a number of important cases marking the boundaries of copyright law in a digital age. His current academic work addresses the question of "institutional corruption"???roughly, influences within an economy of influence that weaken the effectiveness of an institution, or weaken public trust. His current work at the EJ Safra Lab oversees a five-year research project addressing institutional corruption in a number of institutional contexts.
Lessig has won numerous awards, including the Free Software Foundation's Freedom Award, and was named one of Scientific American's Top 50 Visionaries. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.
Join the conversation on Twitter: #MLTalks
Web site: http://www.media.mit.edu/events/2012/02/21/media-lab-conversations-series-lawrence-lessig
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Media Lab
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Book Launch: The Technologists
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
6:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building N51, MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Matthew Pearl
The MIT Museum welcomes New York Times bestselling novelist and Cambridge local Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow, and The Last Dickens, for the launch of his latest historical thriller The Technologists, published by Random House. This highly anticipated new novel, set in tumultuous nineteenth century Boston, explores the rise of M.I.T. and the battle between past and present, tradition and technology. The event will include a talk and reading by Matthew, a question and answer period, and your opportunity to purchase signed copies of the book on the very first day it is available.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/calendar.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact:
Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo@mit.edu
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CDD Forum - Shrinking Cities
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building 10-485, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
City Design and Development Lecture Series focusing on Shrinking Cities
Speaker: Daniel D'Oca - Interboro Partners
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact:
Sandra Elliott
617-253-5115
sandrame@mit.edu
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The Boston Globe's digital strategy: a peek behind the (pay)wall
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
7:00 PM
Boston Globe, 135 Morrissey Blvd., Dorchester
Jeff Moriarty, vice president of digital products, will talk about the Boston Globe’s digital strategy – the launch of the premium BostonGlobe.comalongside the advertising supported boston.com — and how the websites embody and renew the values and ambitions that have guided its parent newspaper for 139 years.
With more ways to present the news, tell stories, and convey data the Globe is pursuing new products and transforming its business across all of its print and digital brands.
RSVP at http://meetupbos.hackshackers.com/events/43943892/?a=ea1_evn&eventId=43943892&action=detail&rv=ea1&rv=ea1
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GreenPort Forum
Two New GreenPort Projects: Greening our Buildings and Neighborhood Kitchen
Tuesday, February 21 at 7:00pm
Cambridgeport Baptist Church, 459 Putnam Avenue, Cambridge
How can our neighborhood green up its buildings? How can GreenPort help make more energy audits, efficiency implementations renewables happen? House parties? Energy walks? A buddy system? We've got some ideas and would like to spark a discussion about what might work and how to start. Presented by Rosalie Anders. Rosalie works on climate issues for the City of Cambridge and is active in GreenPort.
GreenPort is starting a Neighborhood Kitchen--food prep, meal distribution and meal sharing for Cambridgeport. Sue Reinert and Sally Watermulder are initiating this. Sue is a Cambridgeport resident, member of Simplex Community Garden and a good eater. Sally is also a Cambridgeport resident, GreenPort Coordinating Committee member as well as a green building architect and community planner.
Come with your ideas for how we can launch these two important projects.
GreenPort envisions and encourages a just and sustainable Cambridgeport neighborhood
For more information, contact Steve Wineman at swineman@gis.net
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Wednesday, February 22
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Public Space 2.0 / Senseable City Symposium
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
All day
MIT, Building 9-554, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The Senseable City Lab is hosting a Symposium on Public Space and Social Media, organized by the Austrian artistic research project "Public Space 2.0". During the three days of this event, the participants will present and discuss their work on urban sensing devices together with researchers from the Senseable City Lab and highly esteemed visitors from Columbia University including Laura Kurgan, Carla Shedd, and Smita Srinivas.
Web site: http://www.strategies-research.ufg.ac.at/public_space/?page_id=918
Open to: the general public
This event occurs daily through February 23, 2012.
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact:
Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn@mit.edu
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Redressing Rightlessness: The Politics of Testimony in Japanese American Internment
WHEN Wed., Feb. 22, 2012, 12 p.m.
WHERE Robinson Hall, Lower Library, 35 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Part of a lecture series sponsored by the Committee on Ethnic Studies, the Department of History, and the Committee on History and Literature
SPEAKER(S) Naomi Paik, assistant professor of American studies, University of Texas, Austin
COST Free
CONTACT INFO estudies@fas.harvard.edu
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Making a Budget Deal: Why the DOD is Not the Problem...and Why It Can't be Exempted
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Mark Cancian, Director of Force Structure and Investment Branch, Office of Management and Budget
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Security Studies Program
For more information, contact:
617-253-7529
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Some Inconvenient Truths About Climate Change Policy: The Distributional Impacts of Transportation Policies
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
2:30p–4:00p
MIT, Building E51-376, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Chris Knittel (Sloan)
Web site: http://www.nber.org/papers/w17386.pdf?new_window=1
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT/Harvard Development and Environmental Economics Workshop
For more information, contact:
Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu
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Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy: "Lead Exposure and Behavior: Effects on Aggression and Risky Behavior among Children and Adolescents"
WHEN Wed., Feb. 22, 2012, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Kennedy School, Littauer-382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Sustainability
SPEAKER(S) Jessica Reyes
LINK http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k82245&pageid=icb.page443881
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Running a Collaborative of Artists
Wednesday, February 22
5:15-7:00 pm, Kennedy 406, MassArt, 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Five members of the Beehive, a design cooperative based in Machias, Maine, will be in residence in the Art Education Department from February 21-28. They will be visiting classes and studios, installing an exhibition in the Arnheim Gallery, and giving two public presentations.
The Beehive's mission is to create collaborative, anti-copyright images that can be used as alternative educational and organizing tools. Best known for their posters, the bees collaborate to create visual narratives that break down and deconstruct complex and overwhelming political/social issues.
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India Group Meeting - The Economic Lives of the Poor
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
7:00p–8:30p
MIT, Building 56-167, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
We will be discussing the paper "The Economic Lives of the Poor" by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, both professors of Economics at MIT. They later expanded this paper into their book "Poor Economics." A short summary of the paper is below. You can download the paper here: http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/bhagwan.chowdhry/Banerjee-Duflo.pdf. I will be summarizing the paper briefly at the beginning, so feel free to come even if you haven't read the paper.
We also want to devote part of the meeting to thinking about the other topics that you'd like to discuss so that we have a productive semester. As always, feel free to email if you have suggestions (for future topics, or anything else). Also feel free to invite others who may find this of interest. You can also RSVP by going to this link: https://www.facebook.com/events/257397794335282/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): India Reading Group
For more information, contact:
Anna Agarwal
about-india-owner@mit.edu
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Thursday, February 23
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Public Space 2.0 / Senseable City Symposium
Thursday, February 23, 2012
All day
MIT, Building 9-554, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The Senseable City Lab is hosting a Symposium on Public Space and Social Media, organized by the Austrian artistic research project "Public Space 2.0". During the three days of this event, the participants will present and discuss their work on urban sensing devices together with researchers from the Senseable City Lab and highly esteemed visitors from Columbia University including Laura Kurgan, Carla Shedd, and Smita Srinivas.
Web site: http://www.strategies-research.ufg.ac.at/public_space/?page_id=918
Open to: the general public
This event occurs daily through February 23, 2012.
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact:
Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn@mit.edu
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Reviving Regulatory Reform
WHEN Thu., Feb. 23, 2012, 11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government
SPEAKER(S) Christopher DeMuth, Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute
CONTACT INFO Please RSVP to mrcbg@ksg.harvard.edu
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Balancing for Power: Syrian State Power and the Dilemma of Armed Group Allies
WHEN Thu., Feb. 23, 2012, 12:15 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Security Program
SPEAKER(S) Ethan Corbin, research fellow, International Security Program
CONTACT INFO susan_lynch@harvard.edu
LINK http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/5697/balancing_for_power.html
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MEI Speaker Series: Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States in the Arab Spring
WHEN Thu., Feb. 23, 2012, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building, 5th Floor, Harvard Kennedy School, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Conferences, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Middle East Initiative
SPEAKER(S) Gregory Gause, professor of political science, University of Vermont
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO middle_east_initiative@hks.harvard.edu, 617.495.5963
LINK http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/5678/saudi_arabia_and_the_gulf_states_in_the_arab_spring.html
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Come learn about gamification at GSUMMITx Boston
Thursday, February 23, 2012
6:30 PM
Microsoft NERD Center, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Sampson and Paul rooms (1st floor)
6:30pm - Featured Speaker w/ Q&A
7:15pm - Demo w/ Q&A
7:30pm - Play for a Cause - Gamification Workshop-like Game (hands on)
8:30pm - Mingle & Mangia (pizza & beer)
Speakers - Please contact us if you're interested in speaking about gamification. Gamification experience is necessary. Past speaking experience is preferred.
Demos - We're looking for companies to demo. Companies that have implemented game mechanics into their business strategy (not gamification platforms). Startups, med size and large organizations are all welcome.
Play for a Cause - If you're part of a non-profit or city/gov't dept and would like to have our group consult for your org, please reach out to us.
Play for a Cause is when we invite a non-profit organization in to present a problem to the audience. The audience then plays a game called 3-12-2...a workshop-like game that will help use some gamification knowledge to come up with solutions for the non-profit.
Free Event BUT - Since this is a free event, we know that some people will not attend even though they RSVP'd YES. If you know that you are coming or not coming, please update your RSVP. We purchase food and beer for these events and would prefer to have enough or not an overabundance of extras. It'll help us keep this event free and continue to put this event on in Boston. Thank you!
Filming - The event will be filmed by our Team for our blog.
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/gsummitx-boston/events/44600222/
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IDEAS Spring Generator Dinner
Thursday, February 23, 2012
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building W20-208, Lobdell, 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVPs are appreciated but not required - email globalchallenge-rsvp [at] mit.edu.
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/177378162363056/
Working on a project to help underserved communities? Need funding?
Want to recruit new members for your IDEAS Global Challenge team?
Want to get involved, but don't yet have an idea?
Come learn about IDEAS Global Challenge and hear what other teams are working on. This is the chance to pitch your idea and handmade poster to woo and recruit teammates or pitch your skills to get hired onto a team. With the next chance to submit an Initial Scope Statement two weeks away (3/2), here???s your chance to share your idea, meet teammates and form a team.
TO PITCH YOUR IDEA OR SKILLS
The evening will feature two recruitment open mic sessions with a prize for the best presentation! If you don???t want to pitch, come join to mix and mingle to meet potential teammates!
Open mic spaces are limited. RSVP to globalchallenge-rsvp@mit.edu with ???Generator??? in the subject to sign-up for a 60-second pitch opportunity. Include the following information in your email:
Choose:
* Category One: Recruit The IDEAS Dream Team
* Category Two: Get Yourself "Hired"
For more details, visit http://globalchallenge.mit.edu/events/view/212
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): IDEAS Global Challenge
For more information, contact:
Bina Choi
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Friday, February 24
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"Microbial Harvesting of Scarce Energy Metals: How can we make this a reality?"
Friday, February 24
8:30a.m.
Harvard, Center for the Environment, 24 Oxford St, 3rd Floor, Room 310, Cambridge
David Clarke
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EnergNOC: Demand Response Challenges
Friday, February 24, 2012
12:00a–1:00p
MIT, Building E51-376, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Nancy Riley and Amy Roschelle
Nancy Riley, Director of Product Management at EnerNOC, and Amy Roschelle, Senior Energy Market Specialist, will be discussing EnerNOC's demand response business and in particular, some of the challenges that the company currently face.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
energyclub@mit.edu
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A Landscape Architect in the Twin Cities: Western Settlement, Indian Mounds, and America's Most Radical Park System
Friday, February 24, 2012
2:30p–4:30p
MIT, Building E51-095, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Seminar on Environmental and Agricultural History
Speaker: Aaron Sachs, Department of History, Cornell University
Web site:http://web.mit.edu/history/www/nande/modTimes%202011-2012.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): History Office
For more information, contact:
Margo Collett
253-4965
history-info@mit.edu
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Catalysis with nanocrystals
Friday, February 24, 2012
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Ming Lee Tang, UC Berkeley & Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Chemical Engineering Department Seminar Series
See speakers, talk titles, and dates at http://web.mit.edu/cheme/news/seminar.html
Heterogeneous catalysts form the bedrock of industrial processes, yet little is understood in terms of structure-activity relationships. This is complicated by the fact that heterogeneous catalysts are not structurally identical, and that the catalysts change over the course of the reaction. Comprehensive characterization is necessary in order to determine the catalytic sites and hence mechanisms. In the first part of the talk, I present an amorphous molybdenum sulfide catalyst active for hydrogen evolution, photo-sensitized by semiconductor nanorods to produce solar fuel. The uniformity and large surface area of these molybdenum sulfide coated cadmium chaldogenide nanocrystals facilitate the structural and electronic characterization of the catalytically active species. In the second part of the talk, hydrogen uptake is monitored at the single particle level using darkfield spectroscopy. This non-invasive, in situ technique reveals that the hydrogen storage trajectories of plasmonic particles are shape dependent. Single particle studies of catalytic events allow measurements that would otherwise be obscured by ensemble averaging.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cheme/news/seminar.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Chemical Engineering Department
For more information, contact:
Melanie Miller
617-253-6500
melmils@mit.edu
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America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments (FREE Admission sponsored by Active Minds @ MIT)
Friday, February 24, 2012
6:00p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Darryl Roberts
FREE Admission, sponsored by Active Minds @ MIT. Refreshments will be served at 6:00. Opening remarks will begin at 6:45, followed by the film at 7pm. After the film there will be a panel discussion featuring the film's director Darryl Roberts, and experts in eating and body image issues.
Web site: http://lsc.mit.edu
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Tickets: Lobby 16
Sponsor(s): LSC, MIT Active Minds
For more information, contact:
LSC
617-253-3791
lsc@mit.edu
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Wadah Khanfar: "One Year after Mubarak: The Past and Future of the 'Arab Spring'"
Friday, February 24, 2012
6:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building e14-674, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Wadah Khanfar
Wadah Khanfar is president of the Sharq Forum, an international think tank focused on political and economic development in the Arab world, and former director general of the Al Jazeera network. Under Khanfar's leadership, Al Jazeera offered to the world a front-row seat to witness the fall of dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt, and the wave of rebellion that swept the Arab world. A year later, Khanfar reflects on the hopes raised by the Arab Spring, the changes that have???and haven't???taken place, and the challenges Egypt and other countries face on the road towards democracy.
Khanfar's talk will be followed by a dialogue with Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab; Ethan Zuckerman, director of MIT's Center for Civic Media; and Mohamed Nanabhay, head of online at Al Jazeera English, as well as questions and answers with the audience.
Web site: http://www.media.mit.edu/events/2012/02/24/wadah-khanfar-one-year-aft
er-mubarak-past-and-future-arab-spring
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Media Lab, Center for Civic Media
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Saturday, February 26
------------------------------------
Alewife Wildlife Walk Series
Sundays, Feb. 26 and Apr. 15, 1 – 3pm
Saturdays, Mar. 10, 9 – 11am
Sponsored by The Friends of Alewife Reservation
Spring Migration, bringing songbirds and more through the coastal Northeast, will be in full swing for the best bird viewing opportunities of the year so bring your field glasses and guide books to join expert tracker naturalist David Brown in search of wildlife signs in this small but vital river floodplain forest in Belmont, Cambridge and connecting Arlington woodlands as we visit the precious local resource used to rest and refuel for the flight
Dress warmly and wear sturdy boots; terrain is rugged. Please note that this is an adult activity, but interested children are welcome with their parents. Little ones may need to be carried. Wetness requires boots. There is no cost; a donation is requested.
Meet at: The Alewife Reservation parking lot, Acorn Park Drive, off Rt. 2 Cambridge.
For additional information visit HYPERLINK "http://www.friendsofalewifereservation.org" \t "_blank" www.friendsofalewifereservation.org or call 617 415 1884
Sign up at HYPERLINK "mailto:info@friendsofalewifereservation.org" info@friendsofalewifereservation.org
Brown, an expert naturalist, has been giving walks for years at the Alewife Reservation and has published a professional assessment of the area "Biodiversity of the Alewife Reservation Area", available from FAR.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT PROGRAMS IN YOUR STATE PARKS VISIT http://mass.gov/dcr
MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND RECREATION
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Monday, February 27
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"Oil: The Next Big Surprises"
Monday, February 27, 2012
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Leonardo Maugeri, Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School
Contact Name: Louisa Lund
louisa_lund@harvard.edu
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TALK: Printing Functional Materials
Monday, February 27, 2012
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E14-633, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Jennifer A. Lewis
Abstract: The ability to pattern functional materials in planar and three-dimensional forms is of critical importance for several emerging applications, including energy harvesting, self-healing materials, and tissue engineering scaffolds. Direct-write assembly enables one to rapidly design and fabricate materials in arbitrary shapes without the need for expensive tooling, dies, or lithographic masks. Recent advances in microscale printing will be highlighted, including omnidirectional printing of flexible microelectrodes, pen-on-paper electronics, conformal printing of 3D electrically small antennas, and printed origami of lightweight metallic and ceramic structures. Ongoing efforts to scale up our filamentary printing approach to enable manufacturing of large 3D structures will also be highlighted.
Biographical Sketch: Dr. Jennifer A. Lewis earned a Sc.D. in ceramic science from MIT in 1991. She joined the faculty of the materials science and engineering department at UIUC in 1990, where she is currently appointed as the Hans Thurnauer Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and serves as the Director of the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory. http://colloids.matse.illinois.edu/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Media Lab, Professor Leah Buechley - HIgh-Low Tech group
For more information, contact:
Karina Lundahl
lundahl@media.mit.edu
--------------------------------------------
Digital Disease Detection: Harnessing the Web for Public Health Surveillance
WHEN Mon., Feb. 27, 2012, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE HSPH FXB Bldg., Room G13, 651 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HSPH Infectious Disease Epidemiology Program and the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics
SPEAKER(S) John Brownstein, associate professor, Harvard Medical School/Children's Hospital, Boston
CONTACT INFO lcoventr@hsph.harvard.edu
NOTE Open to the public.
--------------------------------------------
How Mobile News Will Save TV Journalism
WHEN Mon., Feb. 27, 2012, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Bowie Vernon Room (K262) Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Information Technology, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR WCFIA Canada Program
SPEAKER(S) Kevin Newman, journalist
COST Free and open to the public and off the record
CONTACT INFO canada@wcfia.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/seminars/canada/schedule
------------------------------------
Targeting the Poor: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia
WHEN Mon., Feb. 27, 2012, 4:10 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE 79 John F. Kennedy St., Taubman Building, 5th Floor, Room Nye A, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S) Rema Hanna, Harvard Kennedy School; moderator Elizabeth Osborn, director, Harvard Kennedy School Indonesia Program
COST Free
CONTACT INFO Trisia Bantacut: Trisiawati_bantacut@hks.harvard.edu, 617.494.8156
NOTE Rema Hanna will discuss her recent research, "Targeting the Poor: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia," co-authored with Vivi Alatas, Abhijit Banerjee, Julia Tobias, and Ben Olken. This research systematically tests the effectiveness of targeting strategy for anti-poverty cash transfer program in Indonesia, namely, proxy-means test, using data on assets to predicts income; community targeting, using villagers own rank; and hybrid method. In particular, it examines the ability of each approach in identifying the poor and providing of satisfaction with transfer recipient list. Not only evaluating if the elite capture reduces community informational advantage, the research also observes if community has widely shared objective function beyond per-capita income. Understanding cost and benefit of targeting strategy is of practical importance for public policy makers, poverty-alleviation specialist, and for anyone interested in anti-poverty measures, especially in developing countries with, typically, substantial informal sector and lack of reliable earning records.
LINK http://ash.harvard.edu/Home/News-Events/Events2/Targeting-the-Poor-Evidence-from-a-Field-Experiment-in-Indonesia
-----------------------------------
Future of Energy: "California’s Low Carbon Energy Future"
WHEN Mon., Feb. 27, 2012, 5 p.m.
WHERE Austin Hall North, Harvard Law School, 1515 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Law, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University Center for the Environment
SPEAKER(S) Mary D. Nichols, chairman, California Air Resources Board
CONTACT INFO Lisa Matthews: matthew@fas.harvard.edu
NOTE Nichols will discuss the state’s pioneering climate policies and the future of energy in California and beyond.
LINK http://environment.harvard.edu/events/2012-02-27/future-energy-mary-d-nichols
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Five members of the Beehive, a design cooperative based in Machias, Maine, will be in residence in the Art Education Department from February 21-28. They will be visiting classes and studios, installing an exhibition in the Arnheim Gallery, and giving two public presentations.
The Beehive's mission is to create collaborative, anti-copyright images that can be used as alternative educational and organizing tools. Best known for their posters, the bees collaborate to create visual narratives that break down and deconstruct complex and overwhelming political/social issues.
Schedule of Beehive Events at MassArt:
February 27 - March 14 Arnheim exhibition
Monday, Feb. 27, 7:00 - 8:30pm opening
Wednesday, February 22, 5:15-7:00 pm, Kennedy 406, MassArt, Boston
Presentation on running a collaborative of artists and activists
Monday, February 27, 5:00-7:00 pm, Tower Auditorium, MassArt, Boston
Presentation on the True Cost of Coal Banner
The Beehive Collective releases their innovative graphic, "The True Cost of Coal: a visual exploration of Mountaintop Removal coal mining and Resistance"
Two years in the making, "The True Cost of Coal" is an elaborate narrative illustration that explores the complex story of mountaintop removal coal mining and the broader impacts of coal in Appalachia and beyond. The image is the culmination of an intensive and collaborative research process, as the Beehive methodology centers on first hand story-sharing. To create the poster, the Beehive interviewed hundreds of community members throughout the Appalachia region. "We feel it?s
extremely important to gather our information from as close to the source as possible," a Beehive illustrator says.
The Bees craft visual metaphors and weave them together in a patchwork "quilt" of personal stories. In their interactive picture-lectures, the Bees lead audiences through an engaging, larger-than-life banner version of the graphic, interweaving anecdotes, statistics, and history. The experience prompts discussion and understanding of contemporary struggles about energy and coal, while honoring the deep legacy of the Appalachian experience. Upon seeing the graphic, Tanya Turner of Pineville, KY said, "This image is changing Appalachia. Appalachians are taking back Appalachia and this image is a tool for that change."
***********
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Upcoming
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JOURNALISM, ADVOCACY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Tuesday, February 28
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Austin Hall West, Harvard Law School, 1515 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe and staff writer at the New Yorker, will speak on "Journalism, Advocacy and the Environment."
Contact Name: Jake Levine jake.c.levine@gmail.com
-----------------------------------
4th Annual Boston Bike Update
with Nicole Freedman, Director of Boston Bikes, City of Boston
Tuesday, February 28
5:45-8:30 pm
Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall, 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116
5:45 pm Transportation community showcase: meet each other, & learn what
different groups are doing to make Boston a world-class bicycling city (Rabb lobby)
6:15 pm Presentation by Mayor Menino
6:30 pm Presentation by Nicole Freedman
7:30 pm Q&A/Discussion
8:45 pm Social hour @ Solas, 2nd floor, 710 Boylston Street (right next to the library)
Hosted by LivableStreets Alliance. Free and open to the public.
If you see the orange LivableStreets biker around town, take a pic and post to ourFacebook wall & Twitter for chance to win prize before event!
Have you taken a ride around town on a Hubway bike yet? Has there been a new bike lane installed in your neighborhood this past year? Have you heard about the Boston Bike Network Plan? If yes, then you know that 2011 has been a big year for bicycling in Boston.
For the fourth year in a row, LivableStreets Alliance will host the annual Boston Bike Update event. Nicole Freedman, Director of the Boston Bikes Program, will present her fourth report on past achievements, challenges, and future goals of the Mayor's effort to create a "world class bicycling city." Come hear details on the Hubway bike share, the Bike Network Plan, parking facilities, youth programs, festivals, and more.
Special guest, Mayor Menino, will speak about his "car is no longer king policy" for the city. Introduction will be by Steve Miller, LivableStreets Board Member.
Join us at this public forum on bicycle planning in Boston, and join us afterwards for a social hour.
--------------------------------------------
"Drones: the New Frontier of Warfare and Spying"
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
7:00pm until 10:00pm
Friends Meeting, 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge
Description
U.S. use of drones for warfare and spying has become routine. The use of drones increased dramatically under the Obama administration. Pentagon funding for drones is scheduled to increase by up to 60 percent while other programs are being cut. Drones have been used for targeted killings in Pakistan,. Afghanistan and Yemen. One in three U.S. warplanes are now drone piloted. Drones have also been used for surveillance in the U.S.
Learn more about this new instrument of war and plan together about how we can respond.
Bruce Gagnon - Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
Nancy Murray - American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts
Matthew Hoey - Military Space Transparency Project
For more information contact:
boston.wilpf.org -- 617-244-8054 or www.justicewithpeace.org -- 617-383-4857
-----------------------------
2012 FARM SHARE FAIR! ::
Thursday March 1st @ 5:30-8PM | Free Admission
The Argenziano School in Union Sq @ 290 Washington St / Somerville
We’re bringing lots of local farms to the city! Meet the folks who grow your food, and sign up for a local CSA share to get weekly fresh veggies!
A CSA share is a weekly box of fresh/delicious/natural veggies (and sometimes meat/fish) delivered by local farms to convenient pickup spots within our community.
* Presented by theMOVE | more info @ www.farmsharefair.org
* Sponsored by Rafiki Bistro + Craigie on Main
* Co-sponsored by Somerville Climate Action + NOFA/Mass + Somerville Community Health Agenda + Union Square Main Streets
------------------------------
Landlord Profitability Workshop
Saturday, March 3
9am to noon
MIT Student Center, 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Water bills high?
Tenants keep moving out?
Hefty common area electricity bills?
Bed bugs, rats, or mice?
Too much garbage?
Choose from several short talks. Ask questions of the experts:
Sam Corda, Water Department Director
Michael Blasnik of Blasnik Associates
Wegowise Utility Tracking
Winn Management’s Energy Coordinator
And others!
Get answers from the experts.
Get paid for solar panels
Sign up for free email water-use alerts
See a free infrared scan of your building
We’ll only have room for 100 attendees.
Reserve your spot and learn more at http://www.HEETma.com
Sponsored by HEET, the Cambridge Energy Alliance, and the Sustainable Business Network.
------------------------------
The Massachusetts Pirate Party will be hosting our first conference -
*Politics: share, remix, reboot*. It will be all day on March 10th at the Democracy
Center in Cambridge. More details and registration at: http://www.masspirates.org/blog/conference/
So far we have the following talks:
*David House*, a researcher at MIT who helped set up the Bradley Manning Support Network, will be giving a talk entitled: *Going toe-to-toe with the state: navigating the challenges of a digital activist*.
*Shauna Gordon-McKeon*, organizer for the Boston Sunlight Foundation, will talk about some of the programming projects transparency activists are using to open up government data.
Writer and publisher *Cecilia Tan*, and *Shane Bugbee* will be on the *Tales from the Net: Making a living at being creative* panel.
*Michael Anderson* will give a talk called *Fight Ridiculous With Ridiculous: The Guerrilla Tactics of Fair Use*.
Also, *Conor Sherman* will give a talk called *Stranger Danger: Don't Click that Link Even If They Offer Puppies and Candy*.
Finally, we will have a number of talks by Pirate Party members, including:
Exploring Kopimism* by *Lauren Pespisa*
Patents Upending* by *Erik Zoltan*
Fair Use for Activists* by *Chris Walsh*
How to Run for Office* by *James O'Keefe*
We will also have time for open discussion of where the Pirate Party should go and what issues we should focus on.
We will be showing open or public domain films in the evening.
We hope you can join us on March 10th.
------------------------------------
Statewide Farm to School Convention
March 15, 2012
Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA!
Come hear how inspiring food service directors, educators, students, parents, and community members are building connections between schools and farms in Massachusetts - and learn what you can do to further those connections.
This year's convention will feature Curt Ellis, Executive Director of FoodCorps, and Abbie Nelson, Vice President of the SNA in VT and Director of VTFEED, as well as six workshop tracks:
New Ideas for Locally Grown in School Cafeterias
Farm to School for Very Young Students
New Strategies for Expanding Farm to School Sales
Models for Successful Agriculture-Based Education
Community Connections
New Initiatives in Colleges and Other Institutions
Register at http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103105356625-127/Convention+Registration+Form.pdf
----------------------------
MUSIC 2.0: TOOLS + TECH FOR MUSICIANS, MARKETERS, AND MANAGERS
3/19/2012
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Microsoft New England R&D Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
Description: Boston + New England have an impressive number of companies creating tools and technologies to help promote and fund music projects. We also have a vibrant and diverse music community. Music 2.0 keeps connecting the two for the benefit of both.
With 200+ attendees, at both the 2010 and 2011 events, they were terrific evenings, pulling together many of the music, tech, and event companies from Greater Boston.
For 2012, we are going to have more music-related companies present, quick updates from some companies that presented in years past, and more time to meet friends new and old (read: networking!) and a chance for companies that are hiring to press the flesh with folks who are job hunting.
Music 2.0 is a terrific event for:
Musicians of every genre (rock, hip hop, jazz, folk, classical, electronic, opera, etc.)
Marketing folks from venues, arts organizations, etc.
Managers and agents
Investors
Members of the media
Promoters and presenters that work at venues, music organizations, etc.
Register at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2870380385
---------------------------------
Transition to a New Economy Conference
March 30th - April 1st at Harvard University
Speakers include: Richard Heinberg Post Carbon Institute and Juliet Schor Boston College and others
Apply online and find out more at http://www.economyfutures.org/
Early application deadline: Feb 15
Final application deadline: Feb 21
--------------------------------
It is with a sense of gratitude and deep joy that we announce the Art and Soul program at Wellesley College will be hosting three of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers this spring. The Grandmothers will give a talk at Houghton Chapel on Thursday, April nineteenth at seven p.m. The theme of their talk will be Planting Seeds for Seven Generations: Making Change. The Grandmothers will share their cultural treasures and life experience, in support of our community’s exploration of an ethics of wholeness, which can bring about a sustainable future for the generations to come.
Originating from all four corners of the world, these 13 wise women elders and medicine women first came together in 2004 at a peace gathering. They represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Earth, all her inhabitants and the next seven generations. We are honored to host, as representatives of this Grandmothers’ Council, Grandmothers Rita and Beatrice Long- Visitor Holy Dance of the Lakota tribe and Grandmother Mona Polacca of the Hopi/ Havasupai/Tewa tribe. This event is open to all, as an offering to our circles of community. For more information about this event, contact Ji Hyang at 781.283.2793
*************
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Opportunity
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Cambridge Residents: Free Home Thermal Images
Have you ever wanted to learn where your home is leaking heat by having an energy auditor come to your home with a thermal camera? With that info you then know where to fix your home so it's more comfortable and less expensive to heat. However, at $200 or so, the cost of such a thermal scan is a big chunk of change.
HEET Cambridge has now partnered with Sagewell, Inc. to offer Cambridge residents free thermal scans.
Sagewell collects the thermal images by driving through Cambridge in a hybrid vehicle equipped with thermal cameras. They will scan every building in Cambridge (as long as it's not blocked by trees or buildings or on a private way). Building owners can view thermal images of their property and an analysis online. The information is password protected so that only the building owner can see the results.
Homeowners, condo-owners and landlords can access the thermal images and an accompanying analysis free of charge. Commercial building owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their images and analysis for a small fee.
The scans will be analyzed in the order they are requested.
Go to Sagewell.com. Type in your address at the bottom where it says "Find your home or building" and press return. Then click on "Here" to request the report.
That's it. When the scans are done in a few weeks, your building will be one of the first to be analyzed. The accompanying report will help you understand why your living room has always been cold and what to do about it.
With knowledge, comes power (or in this case saved power and money, not to mention comfort).
---------------------
Cambridge Energy Alliance is kicking off a brand new pilot project to make Cambridge more energy efficient and install more renewable energy one neighborhood at a time. Live Better Porter Square will simultaneously engage every sector in Porter Square; bringing together churches, schools, community gardeners, business leaders,
students and more!
The goals of this four month campaign are to promote community involvement, support the local economy, and highlight Porter Square as a model for the rest of the city.
Neighborhood Liaison volunteers will assist with planning and implementing outreach efforts, as well as community events. We are looking for individuals with an interest in community organizing, outreach, and event planning.
If you are interested in volunteering please sign up to attend the information and interview session on February 14th.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGhQRUFaRU85dVp1c244LVJnWERTaXc6MQ
We’ll be offering an interactive and fun half-day training session for Neighborhood Liaison volunteers on March 3rd.
Questions? Email Meghan at outreach@cambridgeenergyalliance.org
---------------------------
*J e s t e r*
**Facebook Profile
**
P a r a n o i d Z e n
jes...@paranoidzen.com*
http://www.paranoidzen.com
Hi All,
I am sending this out to a bunch of lists I'm on, so apologies for cross posting effects.
Our new forums are up and running, and they are free for all! We are aiming for this to become a place where Boston area collaborations, discussions and skill shares in audio, video, lighting, programming, hacking, and other various forms of 'making' happen.
Find them here: http://cemmi.org/index.php/forum/index
Since its early, I imagine they will go through some serious evolutions in terms of organization but we hope you will stop by and check them out. The forums even work on most mobile platforms :)
You can sign in using your Gmail, Google app, or Facebook credentials so there is no need to create a new account (we'll be adding a button to make that more obvious soon).
If you have any suggestions or changes, let us know, and if you are up for helping moderate, please reach out!
Many thanks, and I hope to see you there!
*********
-----------
Resource
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha@sbnboston.org
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Massachusetts Attitudes About Climate Change – An opinion survey of Massachusetts residents conducted by MassINC and sponsored by the Barr Foundation found that 77% of respondents believe that global warming has “probably been happening” and 59% of all respondents see see it as being at least partially caused by human pollution. Only 42% of the state’s residents say global warming will have very serious consequences for Massachusetts if left unaddressed. The 18 to 29 age group is more likely to believe global warming is appearing and caused by humans compared to the 60+ age group. African-American (56%) and Latino residents (69%) are more likely than white residents (40%) to believe global warming will be a very serious problem if left unaddressed. The MassINC report, titled The 80 Percent Challenge: What Massachusetts must do to meet targets and make headway on climate change (http://www.massinc.org/Research/The-80-percent-challenge.aspx), contains many other findings.
----------------------------------------------------
The presentations from the recent Affordable Comfort National Home Performance Conference are available online at
http://2011.acinational.org/downloadable_resources
Lots of good information from what some call the best energy conference in the USA on Deep Energy Retrofits to Community Energy Challenges with details on insulation, heat flow, energy metering, ducting, hot water, and many, many other topics. If you are a practical energy wonk, this should make your eyes light up.
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Free Monthly Energy Analysis
CarbonSalon is a free service that every month can automatically track your energy use and compare it to your past energy use (while controlling for how cold the weather is). You get a short friendly email that lets you know how you’re doing in your work to save energy.
https://www.carbonsalon.com/
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Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
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Artisan Asylum http://artisansasylum.com/
Sprout & Co: Community Driven Investigations
Greater Boston Solidarity Economy Mapping Project http://www.transformationcentral.org/solidarity/mapping/mapping.html
a project by Wellesley College students that invites participation, contact jmatthaei@wellesley.edu
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Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at 60 colleges and universities at Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the Boston Area http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
Boston Area Computer User Groups http://www.bugc.org/
Arts and Cultural Events List http://aacel.blogspot.com/
http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
http://sustainability.mit.edu/
http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
http://green.harvard.edu/events
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
http://pechakuchaboston.org/blog/
http://boston.nerdnite.com/
http://www.meetup.com/
http://www.eventbrite.com/
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