Energy (and Other) Events is a weekly mailing list published most Sundays covering events around the Cambridge, MA and greater Boston area that catch the editor's eye.
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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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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Minimal Energy Independence: Solar IS Civil Defense
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/04/1106179/-Minimal-Energy-Independence-Solar-IS-Civil-Defense
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Wednesday, July 11
Miniature science: How microfluidics is powering biology
Wednesday, July 11th
6-7pm
Broad Institute, 7 Cambridge Center, in Kendall Square in Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1114751
Paul Blainey, Ph.D.
Miniaturized lab-on-a-chip methods are being deployed as labor-saving devices in biological research, through the advent of a suite of microfluidics technologies. Microfluidics enables large-scale studies that provide the means to better understand, prevent, and treat human disease. Paul Blainey will discuss the promise of using microfluidics to transform our industrial infrastructure to operate more efficiently, while protecting the natural environment.
http://www.broadinstitute.org/education/midsummer-nights-science/midsummer-nights-science-2012
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Opportunity
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Boiler Rebate
If your boiler is from 1983 or earlier, Mass Save will give a $1,750 to $4,000 rebate to switch it out for a new efficient boiler that uses the same fuel (i.e. if you have oil, you have to continue to use oil) so long as it is installed by July 31, 2012.
Call Mass Save (866 527-7283) to sign up for a home energy assessment or sign-up online at www.nextsteplivinginc.com/HEET and HEET will receive a $10 contribution from Next Step Living for every completed assessment.
This is a great way to reduce climate change emissions for the next 20 or so years the boiler lasts, while saving money.
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CEA Solar Hot Water Grants
Cambridge, through the Cambridge Energy Alliance initiative, is offering a limited number of grants to residents and businesses for solar hot water systems. The grants will cover 50% of the remaining out of pocket costs of the system after other incentives, up to $2,000.
Applications will be accepted up to November 19, 2012 and are available on a first come, first serve basis until funding runs out. The Cambridge grant will complement other incentives including the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center solar thermal grants. For more information, seehttp://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/additional-resources/solar-hot-water-grant-program
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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).
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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ
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HEET has partnered with NSTAR and Mass Save participating contractor Next Step Living to deliver no-cost Home Energy Assessments to Cambridge residents.
During the assessment, the energy specialist will:
Install efficient light bulbs (saving up to 7% of your electricity bill)
Install programmable thermostats (saving up to 10% of your heating bill)
Install water efficiency devices (saving up to 10% of your water bill)
Check the combustion safety of your heating and hot water equipment
Evaluate your home’s energy use to create an energy-efficiency roadmap
If you get electricity from NSTAR, National Grid or Western Mass Electric, you already pay for these assessments through a surcharge on your energy bills. You might as well use the service.
Please sign up at http://nextsteplivinginc.com/heet/?outreach=HEET or call Next Step Living at 866-867-8729. A Next Step Living Representative will call to schedule your assessment.
HEET will help answer any questions and ensure you get all the services and rebates possible.
(The information collected will only be used to help you get a Home Energy Assessment. We won’t keep the data or sell it.)
(If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to call HEET’s Jason Taylor at 617 441 0614.)
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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.
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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.massclimateaction.net/calendar/events/index.php
http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
http://green.harvard.edu/events
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
http://boston.nerdnite.com/
http://www.meetup.com/
http://www.eventbrite.com/
http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/calendar
http://harddatafactory.com/mobileapp.shtml
http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/
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Monday, July 9
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The Hidden Beauty of Rainbows
Monday, July 09, 2012
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Walter Lewin, MIT Physics Professor Emeritus, educator and author of "For the Love of Physics"
These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television program without any compensation or credit.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars
For more information, contact: Nina Wu
ninawu@mit.edu
Monday, July 9
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The Hidden Beauty of Rainbows
Monday, July 09, 2012
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Walter Lewin, MIT Physics Professor Emeritus, educator and author of "For the Love of Physics"
These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television program without any compensation or credit.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars
For more information, contact: Nina Wu
ninawu@mit.edu
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Tuesday, July 10
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Narcotweets: Reporting on the Mexican Drug War using Social Media
Tuesday, July 10
12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2012/07/narcotweets#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.
Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Microsoft Research & Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Panagiotis "Takis" Metaxas, Wellesley College
In the last few years, the war among drug cartels and the Mexican authorities has intensified. It is a brutal war that has claimed the lives of many innocent people. Citizens, using Social Media have organized a communication network reporting daily on the dangerous zones of their cities. How did it start and how effective are they? In this presentation we analyze the information sharing practices of people living in cities central to the Mexican Drug War. We will describe the content, volume, and network structures of a microblogging corpus from several cities afflicted by this war. First, we will describe how citizens use social media to alert each other and comment on the violence that plagues their communities. Then we will examine how a handful of citizens aggregate and disseminate information from social media, many of whom are anonymous. We present our published and ongoing research (jointly with Eni Mustafaraj) on this phenomenon that we hope will expand our understanding of self-organized civic media efforts along with some of the challenges that these might face.
Bios
Andrés Monroy-Hernández is a post-doctoral researcher at Microsoft Research and a Fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. His main areas of research are social computing and social media. He is particularly interested in the design and study of online collaboration, communities for creative expression and civic engagement. His work has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, Wired, and has received awards from Ars Electronica, and the MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition. He was formerly a student at the MIT Media Lab and at the Tec de Monterrey in Mexico.
Panagiotis "Takis" Metaxas is a Professor of Computer Science and Founder of the Media Arts and Sciences Program at Wellesley College. Currently, he is a Visiting Scholar and Affiliate at the Center for Research on Computation and Society at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Dartmouth and has been a visiting scientist at MIT and at the Sydney University, Australia. His research interests are currently in Social Computing, Propagation of information and misinformation in cyberspace (including Web Spam) and Cognitive Hacking. His current project, aims to create semi-automatic tools that will help users evaluate the trustworthiness of the information they receive from Social Media.
Narcotweets: Reporting on the Mexican Drug War using Social Media
Tuesday, July 10
12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2012/07/narcotweets#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.
Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Microsoft Research & Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Panagiotis "Takis" Metaxas, Wellesley College
In the last few years, the war among drug cartels and the Mexican authorities has intensified. It is a brutal war that has claimed the lives of many innocent people. Citizens, using Social Media have organized a communication network reporting daily on the dangerous zones of their cities. How did it start and how effective are they? In this presentation we analyze the information sharing practices of people living in cities central to the Mexican Drug War. We will describe the content, volume, and network structures of a microblogging corpus from several cities afflicted by this war. First, we will describe how citizens use social media to alert each other and comment on the violence that plagues their communities. Then we will examine how a handful of citizens aggregate and disseminate information from social media, many of whom are anonymous. We present our published and ongoing research (jointly with Eni Mustafaraj) on this phenomenon that we hope will expand our understanding of self-organized civic media efforts along with some of the challenges that these might face.
Bios
Andrés Monroy-Hernández is a post-doctoral researcher at Microsoft Research and a Fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. His main areas of research are social computing and social media. He is particularly interested in the design and study of online collaboration, communities for creative expression and civic engagement. His work has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, Wired, and has received awards from Ars Electronica, and the MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition. He was formerly a student at the MIT Media Lab and at the Tec de Monterrey in Mexico.
Panagiotis "Takis" Metaxas is a Professor of Computer Science and Founder of the Media Arts and Sciences Program at Wellesley College. Currently, he is a Visiting Scholar and Affiliate at the Center for Research on Computation and Society at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Dartmouth and has been a visiting scientist at MIT and at the Sydney University, Australia. His research interests are currently in Social Computing, Propagation of information and misinformation in cyberspace (including Web Spam) and Cognitive Hacking. His current project, aims to create semi-automatic tools that will help users evaluate the trustworthiness of the information they receive from Social Media.
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Green tech Entrepreneur Forum & Brainstorming. Alternative Energy Systems
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
7:00 PM To 10:00 PM
Eastern Bank, 647 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Clean-Tech-and-Energy/events/71912632/
The Agenda is:
We will introduce ourselves and tell about our interest, expertise or work (1st hr)
You can give a ~3 to 5 minute elevator speach about your startup if you would like. (We will divide the 1st hour by # of people.)
What stage is your ideas or startup? What is your goal?
Tell what personnel or additional expertise, funding, etc. you are seeking,
Discussion and Brainstorming on (2nd hr)
ideas for viable moneymaking startups,
methods of collaboration, networking, forming teams & partnerships etc.
marketing, media, social media, ideas that have worked well for publicity
Agencies, websites, companies that assist startups
Boston Greenfest & Gov't opportunities.
What would you like to see in future meetups?
If time permits, there will be a presentation on alternative sustainable forms of energy, with an overview of various types and details of solar panels, converters and systems. Grid connection and interface issues will also be discussed. We may just briefly review this and save it for the next meeting if the group wishes.
This bank is near the center of Central Sq., where Prospect and Mass Ave cross, - there is a Starbucks on the Northeast corner of the intersection. Next to Starbucks is a Flower shop, and next to that is Eastern Bank. You can see the conference room thru the window, so just wave to us and we will let you in.
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Wednesday, July 11
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Biological, Bio-inspired and Biomimetic Nano- and Micro-structured Materials
Wed 7/11/12
4 pm
Brandeis, Abelson 333, 415 South Street, Waltham
Ullrich Steiner (Cambridge University)
Biological, bio-inspired and biomimetic nano- and micro-structured materials
This talk will revolve around the question how material scientists can take inspiration from nature in the creation of materials with targeted properties. The main motif is the question how pattern formation in nature is employed to manipulate a range of physical properties, encompassing effects such as surface wettabilty, mechanical touchiness, and a range of optical phenomena. his talk will revolve around the question how material scientists can take inspiration from nature in the creation of materials with targeted properties. The main motif is the question how pattern formation in nature is employed to manipulate a range of physical properties, encompassing effects such as surface wettabilty, mechanical touchiness, and a range of optical phenomena.
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Miniature science: How microfluidics is powering biology
Wednesday, July 11th
6-7pm
Broad Institute, 7 Cambridge Center, in Kendall Square in Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1114751
Paul Blainey, Ph.D.
Miniaturized lab-on-a-chip methods are being deployed as labor-saving devices in biological research, through the advent of a suite of microfluidics technologies. Microfluidics enables large-scale studies that provide the means to better understand, prevent, and treat human disease. Paul Blainey will discuss the promise of using microfluidics to transform our industrial infrastructure to operate more efficiently, while protecting the natural environment.
http://www.broadinstitute.org/education/midsummer-nights-science/midsummer-nights-science-2012
Midsummer Nights' Science is an annual lecture series that explores key advances in genomic research. This lecture series is held each summer, and is free and open to the general public. Midsummer Nights' Science at the Broad Institute takes place at 7 Cambridge Center, in Kendall Square in Cambridge. Come experience science!
The 2012 series will run on Wednesday evenings on July 11th, 18th, 25th and August 1st from 6pm to 7pm. Space will be limited, so we ask attendees to register ahead of time. Registration instructions for the 2012 series can be found here.
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The 2012 series will run on Wednesday evenings on July 11th, 18th, 25th and August 1st from 6pm to 7pm. Space will be limited, so we ask attendees to register ahead of time. Registration instructions for the 2012 series can be found here.
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Thursday, July 12
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Cambridge Open Archives Tour
The Egyptian Oracle
Friday, July 13
7 pm
Northeastern's Raytheon Amphitheater, Egan Engineering/Science Building, 120 Forsyth Street, Boston
Circle the City: Boston's Open Streets Initiative: Car-Free Corridor
Public VR will recreate an important religious event, the Oracle, from ancient Egypt's late period. Projecting our Virtual Egyptian Temple onto a wall opens the real space into the virtual, creating a shared continuum for audience and actors. The star is a virtual High Priest, controlled by a human puppeteer interacting with a live actor and the audience, who role-play the Egyptian populace. The high priest queries the spirit of the temple god, which is embodied in a ceremonial boat, carried by eight assistants. Fortunes will be told, judgments made, and blessings given. We will film the evnt, ask audience members what they learned, and have a general discussion afterward, all totaling 80 minutes. The information we gather will help us improve the show and inform our educational research. This was made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities, PublicVR, and Northeastern University. Our actors are from the Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline. No charge.
Further information at 617-435-0517, jeff@publicvr.org
http://publicvr.org/html/pro_oracle.html
The Cambridge Historical Society is hosting its fourth annual Open Archives Tour, July 9-12, 2012. MIT is participating along with eleven other organizations throughout Cambridge.
With the theme "Famous and Infamous", each archive will delve into their collections to display unique materials, including photographs, correspondence, ephemera, and more, offering a rare look inside some of Cambridge's most fascinating archives. There will be twelve archives featured over four days (three per day).
With the theme "Famous and Infamous", each archive will delve into their collections to display unique materials, including photographs, correspondence, ephemera, and more, offering a rare look inside some of Cambridge's most fascinating archives. There will be twelve archives featured over four days (three per day).
July 12, 3:00-6:00 pm
MIT Collections, featuring
MIT List Visual Arts Center
MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections
MIT Museum
MIT Collections, featuring
MIT List Visual Arts Center
MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections
MIT Museum
Web site: www.cambridgearchives.org
Open to: the general public
Tickets: www.cambridgearchives.org
Sponsor(s): MIT Libraries
For more information, contact:
617-547-4252
617-547-4252
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Lantern Festival - Free Community Event
Thursday, July 12, 2012
6:00 PM To 9:00 PM
Forest Hills Cemetery, 95 Forest Hills Ave, Boston
The Forest Hills Educational Trust's 14th annual Lantern Festival will be held on Thursday, July 12th with a raindate of Thursday July 19th at Forest Hills Cemetery.
Admission is free however parking is $10
You can get a lantern with a $10 donation
Suggest you bring, 1) bug spray 2) flashlight 3) drink and/or snack
A much-loved community event for Jamaica Plain, as well as Greater Boston, the Lantern Festival draws its inspiration from the Japanese Bon Festival -- a celebration each year when a door opens to the world of their ancestors allowing loved ones to send messages to the other side. It is a time when neighbors come together to share stories, celebrate, and honor the memories of loved ones.
Enjoy traditional Japanese dance from students of Showa Boston, Irish music from guitar and fiddle duo the Whiskey Boys, Chinese dragon dance from Gund Kwok and Grand Master Tsuji's Taiko drummers.
Forest Hills Cemetery is both a beautiful and historic place to visit. Besides the varied and interesting monuments and tombstones there is a wide selection of public art to view and a large variety of wildlife including hawks, herons and geese. E.E. Cummings, Anne Sexton and Eugene O'Neill are a few well known folks buried here.
This link has directionshttp://www.foresthillstrust.org/directions.html
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Friday, July 13
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Resonance and the Sounds of Music
Friday, July 13, 2012
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Walter Lewin, LIVE! Special Lecture Series
MIT Physics Professor Emeritus, educator and author of "For the Love of Physics," will be giving a unique series of public lectures at MIT.
These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television program without any compensation or credit.
These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television program without any compensation or credit.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars
For more information, contact: Nina Wu
ninawu@mit.edu
-------------------------------ninawu@mit.edu
The Egyptian Oracle
Friday, July 13
7 pm
Northeastern's Raytheon Amphitheater, Egan Engineering/Science Building, 120 Forsyth Street, Boston
Circle the City: Boston's Open Streets Initiative: Car-Free Corridor
Public VR will recreate an important religious event, the Oracle, from ancient Egypt's late period. Projecting our Virtual Egyptian Temple onto a wall opens the real space into the virtual, creating a shared continuum for audience and actors. The star is a virtual High Priest, controlled by a human puppeteer interacting with a live actor and the audience, who role-play the Egyptian populace. The high priest queries the spirit of the temple god, which is embodied in a ceremonial boat, carried by eight assistants. Fortunes will be told, judgments made, and blessings given. We will film the evnt, ask audience members what they learned, and have a general discussion afterward, all totaling 80 minutes. The information we gather will help us improve the show and inform our educational research. This was made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities, PublicVR, and Northeastern University. Our actors are from the Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline. No charge.
Further information at 617-435-0517, jeff@publicvr.org
http://publicvr.org/html/pro_oracle.html
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Saturday, July 14
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FREE movie: Ghosts with Shit Jobs, featuring discussion with filmmakers, XKCD's Randall Munroe, and more!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
8:00p
MIT, Building 10-250
Speaker: writer/producer Jim Munroe, XKCD creator Randall Munroe, interactive fiction guru Andrew Plotkin, producer Anthony Cortese, actor Sean Lerner, and other cast/crew!
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"Ghosts with Shit Jobs" will be preceded by a conversation with writer and executive producer Jim Munroe, XKCD webcomic creator Randall Munroe (no relation), and interactive fiction guru Andrew Plotkin on the Future of Cultural Work. After the film there will be a Q&A with Anthony Cortese (producer), Sean Lerner (Oscar the Digital Janitor), Jim Munroe (writer/exec producer) and other cast and crew from Toronto!
In the future, jobs still suck -- but in whole new ways.
By 2040, the economy has flipped and North Americans are a cheap labour pool for wealthy Asian markets. A Chinese documentary show focuses on the "ghosts" (Cantonese slang for white people) unlucky enough to have been born into the slums of Toronto in a special report that translates as "Ghosts With Shit Jobs."
In the future, jobs still suck -- but in whole new ways.
By 2040, the economy has flipped and North Americans are a cheap labour pool for wealthy Asian markets. A Chinese documentary show focuses on the "ghosts" (Cantonese slang for white people) unlucky enough to have been born into the slums of Toronto in a special report that translates as "Ghosts With Shit Jobs."
Web site: http://lsc.mit.edu
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE
Tickets: 10-250
Sponsor(s): LSC
For more information, contact: LSC
617-253-3791
lsc@mit.edu
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Sunday, July 15
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July 15
Come out to walk, bike, dance, and roll on open, car-free streets in and between our parks! Circle The City is free and open to people of all ages.
July 15, 11 am-4 pm, car-free corridor between Franklin Park and Jamaica Pond. LivableStreets will be there with our "Red Line photo booth." Come take a picture on the "T" to win best "T snap shot" of the summer!
August 5, 10 am-1 pm, Rose Kennedy Greenway
Featuring a car-free corridor along the downtown waterfront.
Organized by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Boston Collaborative
for Food and Fitness, LivableStreets Alliance, Franklin Park Coalition, and the City of Boston.
July 15
Come out to walk, bike, dance, and roll on open, car-free streets in and between our parks! Circle The City is free and open to people of all ages.
July 15, 11 am-4 pm, car-free corridor between Franklin Park and Jamaica Pond. LivableStreets will be there with our "Red Line photo booth." Come take a picture on the "T" to win best "T snap shot" of the summer!
August 5, 10 am-1 pm, Rose Kennedy Greenway
Featuring a car-free corridor along the downtown waterfront.
Organized by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Boston Collaborative
for Food and Fitness, LivableStreets Alliance, Franklin Park Coalition, and the City of Boston.
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Monday, July 16
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Quantization and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
Monday, July 16, 2012
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Walter Lewin, LIVE! Special Lecture Series
MIT Physics Professor Emeritus, educator and author of "For the Love of Physics," will be giving a unique series of public lectures at MIT.
These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television program without any compensation or credit.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars
For more information, contact: Nina Wu
ninawu@mit.edu
ninawu@mit.edu
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Tuesday, July 17
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Mihir Sarkar Thesis Defense: "World Music Technology: Culturally Sensitive Strategies for Automatic Music Prediction"
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
4:00pm - 6:00pm
MIT Media Lab, E14-633, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Mihir Sarkar
Music has been shown to be an essential part of the human experience---every known society engages in music. However, as universal as it may be, music has evolved into a variety of genres peculiar to particular cultures. In fact, people acquire musical skill, understanding, and appreciation specific to the music they have been exposed to. This process of enculturation builds mental structures that form the cognitive basis for musical expectation.
In this thesis, Sarkar argues that in order for machines to perform musical tasks like humans do, in particular to predict music, they need to be subjected to a similar kind of enculturation process by design. This work is grounded in an information theoretic framework that takes cultural context into account. He introduces a measure of melodic and rhythmic entropy to analyze the predictability of musical events as a function of prior musical exposure. Then he discusses computational models for music representation that are informed by genre-specific containers. Finally he proposes a software framework for automatic music prediction. The system extracts a lexicon of melodic and rhythmic primitives from audio, and generates a hierarchical grammar to represent the structure of a particular musical form. To improve prediction accuracy, context can be switched with cultural plug-ins that are designed for and trained by specific musical instruments, genres, and performance styles.
In controlled listening experiments a culture-specific design fares significantly better than a culture-agnostic one. Hence Sarkar's findings support the importance of computational enculturation for automatic music prediction. Furthermore he suggests that in order to sustain and cultivate the diversity of musical traditions around the world it is indispensable that we design culturally sensitive music technology.
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Upcoming
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Upcoming
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Sustainable Business Network Presents A Special Film Screening of "Fixing the Future"
Wednesday, July 18
7:30pm
AMC Loews Boston Common, 175 Tremont Street, Boston
As part of a national event, Boston is one of dozens of cities hosting screenings of the documentary Fixing the Future (http://fixingthefuture.org/). Host David Brancaccio (of public radio's Marketplace and NOW on PBS) visits people across America that are attempting a revolution: the reinvention of the American economy. Featuring communities using innovative approaches to create jobs and build sustainability, Fixing the Future inspires hope and renewal in tough economic times.
Join us for the screening and an exclusive on-screen panel discussion after the movie, followed by tips from SBN and other partner organizations on what YOU can do to fix the future!
$12 Admission
Group discount available for purchase of 15 or more tickets ($7.50/ticket)
For tickets please visit: http://bit.ly/MRNVEK
RSVP on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/440951739272442/ and tell your friends about it!
For more information please contact Amara at amara@sbnmass.org
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The future of local jazz radio — An open meeting of Greater Boston's jazz community
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
6:00pm until 8:00pm
Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street, Mezzanine Conference Room, Boston
WHO IS INVITED
Members of the jazz community and allies inside and outside the arts world who share our concerns
PURPOSE
To forge ties, agree on goals, and begin developing strategies for collaborative action to address the immediate issue of WGBH's withdrawal from weeknight jazz programming and the broader issues of local jazz radio and the place of the music in our city's cultural life
FORMAT
Conversation led by JazzBoston board members Emmett Price, musician and Chair of African American Studies at Northeastern University, and José Massó, community activist and announcer/producer of ¡Con Salsa! on WBUR FM.
Members of the jazz community and allies inside and outside the arts world who share our concerns
PURPOSE
To forge ties, agree on goals, and begin developing strategies for collaborative action to address the immediate issue of WGBH's withdrawal from weeknight jazz programming and the broader issues of local jazz radio and the place of the music in our city's cultural life
FORMAT
Conversation led by JazzBoston board members Emmett Price, musician and Chair of African American Studies at Northeastern University, and José Massó, community activist and announcer/producer of ¡Con Salsa! on WBUR FM.
Contact http://www.jazzboston.org/
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Robotics Design Meetup
Friday, August 3rd
7:30 pm
Artisans Asylum 10 Tyler Street, Somerville
Hello all,
Think robots are cool? Like free drinks and food?
Come share your robotics enthusiasm/thirst/hunger at August's Robot Design Meetup,
August, Friday the 3rd, 7:30pm, at Artisans Asylum (10 tyler st, Somerville, MA)
We'll be having at least the following, and looking for more:
Update on Project Stompy, its Kickstarter and example pieces of the full-scale parts (http://projecthexapod.com/blog/stompy-is-coming/)
ArcBotics' Codename Discbot and Wisp: low-cost educational robotics platform project and micro-quadcopter project
Your own project! let us know at joe@arcbotics.com
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/280823695357943/
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Saturday, Aug 4th: End Fossil Fuel Subsidies Day of Action
On August 4th communities across Massachusetts will engage in a day of action to call for an end to taxpayer support of deadly energy like coal, natural gas, and oil that wreak havoc on our health, environment, and climate. Subsidies that impede community based solutions at the time when we need them most. How could ending fossil fuel subsidies support your local work? Join us in taking action on August 4th to demonstrate how ending subsidies to deadly energy will improve our communities. Whether it’s shutting down coal plants, installing solar panels, fighting corruption, or weatherizing a house, we will voice our opposition to funding the richest companies at the expense of our health and wellbeing. Learn more, or Sign up to host or participate in an event in your community.
http://350ma.org/2012/07/end-fossil-fuel-subsidies/
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Sunday, August 5
Come out to walk, bike, dance, and roll on open, car-free streets in and between our parks! Circle The City is free and open to people of all ages.
August 5, 10 am-1 pm, Rose Kennedy Greenway
Featuring a car-free corridor along the downtown waterfront.
Organized by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Boston Collaborative
for Food and Fitness, LivableStreets Alliance, Franklin Park Coalition, and the City of Boston.
Come out to walk, bike, dance, and roll on open, car-free streets in and between our parks! Circle The City is free and open to people of all ages.
August 5, 10 am-1 pm, Rose Kennedy Greenway
Featuring a car-free corridor along the downtown waterfront.
Organized by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Boston Collaborative
for Food and Fitness, LivableStreets Alliance, Franklin Park Coalition, and the City of Boston.
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Opportunity
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Boiler Rebate
If your boiler is from 1983 or earlier, Mass Save will give a $1,750 to $4,000 rebate to switch it out for a new efficient boiler that uses the same fuel (i.e. if you have oil, you have to continue to use oil) so long as it is installed by July 31, 2012.
Call Mass Save (866 527-7283) to sign up for a home energy assessment or sign-up online at www.nextsteplivinginc.com/HEET and HEET will receive a $10 contribution from Next Step Living for every completed assessment.
This is a great way to reduce climate change emissions for the next 20 or so years the boiler lasts, while saving money.
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CEA Solar Hot Water Grants
Cambridge, through the Cambridge Energy Alliance initiative, is offering a limited number of grants to residents and businesses for solar hot water systems. The grants will cover 50% of the remaining out of pocket costs of the system after other incentives, up to $2,000.
Applications will be accepted up to November 19, 2012 and are available on a first come, first serve basis until funding runs out. The Cambridge grant will complement other incentives including the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center solar thermal grants. For more information, seehttp://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/additional-resources/solar-hot-water-grant-program
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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).
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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ
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HEET has partnered with NSTAR and Mass Save participating contractor Next Step Living to deliver no-cost Home Energy Assessments to Cambridge residents.
During the assessment, the energy specialist will:
Install efficient light bulbs (saving up to 7% of your electricity bill)
Install programmable thermostats (saving up to 10% of your heating bill)
Install water efficiency devices (saving up to 10% of your water bill)
Check the combustion safety of your heating and hot water equipment
Evaluate your home’s energy use to create an energy-efficiency roadmap
If you get electricity from NSTAR, National Grid or Western Mass Electric, you already pay for these assessments through a surcharge on your energy bills. You might as well use the service.
Please sign up at http://nextsteplivinginc.com/heet/?outreach=HEET or call Next Step Living at 866-867-8729. A Next Step Living Representative will call to schedule your assessment.
HEET will help answer any questions and ensure you get all the services and rebates possible.
(The information collected will only be used to help you get a Home Energy Assessment. We won’t keep the data or sell it.)
(If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to call HEET’s Jason Taylor at 617 441 0614.)
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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.
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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.massclimateaction.net/calendar/events/index.php
http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
http://green.harvard.edu/events
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
http://boston.nerdnite.com/
http://www.meetup.com/
http://www.eventbrite.com/
http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/calendar
http://harddatafactory.com/mobileapp.shtml
http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/
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