Sunday, October 14, 2012

Energy (and Other) Events - October 14, 2012

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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Bullies Consider Themselves Victims
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/13/1144157/-Bullies-Consider-Themselves-Victims

Building Resilient Communities:  John Robb at the NYC Maker Faire
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/14/1144458/-Building-Resilient-Communities-John-Robb-at-NYC-Maker-Faire

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Monday, October 15
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GLOBAL SYSTEMS 2.0
Monday, October 15, 2012
9:30a–3:30p
MIT, Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, John Sterman, Rebecca Henderson, Jonathan Foley, and more.
Panel I: Ethics, Economy, and Environment
Panel II: Peace, Governance, and Diminishing Resources

Over 7 billion human beings, degraded environment, declining economies, and soaring consumerism???such is today???s world. We are at a crossroads and our future is perplexing. The challenges that we now face, as a world and as human beings, are both critical and complex; they demand a multi-disciplinary approach to solutions.

The forum will provide practical information from multiple disciplines with the aim of sparking ideas to address complex challenges in industry, academia, government, and the world at large through systems thinking and innovation.

Web site: http://thecenter.mit.edu/hhdl-mit-2012/10-15/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Varies
Tickets: http://thecenter.mit.edu/hhdl-mit-2012/10-15/

Sponsor(s): Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering Systems Division, Center for Collective Intelligence

For more information, contact: The Center at MIT
617-4-6030
DalaiLamaCenter@mit.edu

Editorial Comment:  This event costs money to register but it is the Dalai Lama and covers some of the essential problems confronting the world now.

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Strategies for Evolution and Sustenance of Network Ecosystem
Monday, October 15, 2012
Noon–1 pm EDT
Open to all
MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series register at http://sdm.mit.edu/news/news_articles/webinar_101512/webinar-shrivastava-network-ecosystem.html

Saujanya Shrivastava, SDM '11, Senior Product Manager, Amazon
About the Presentation
Managing a network platform business can be a complex proposition for the platform owner due to various intricacies that are associated with it. These platforms have distinct users, each having exclusive needs and requirements. Also, success of one side is closely interlinked to the success of the other.

This webinar attempts to implode various aspects of network platforms, helps to develop the understanding of the core concepts and develops key strategies for success of such platforms. It also shows that strategies involved in managing successful network platforms are different from those involved in managing legacy products, and only those companies that are able to understand these key differences are able to successfully create a vibrant ecosystem around the platform.
About the Series

The MIT System Design and Management Program Systems Thinking Webinar Series features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges.

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A Common Ground Approach to Societal Conflict Resolution
WHEN  Mon., Oct. 15, 2012, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE  Wasserstein 2004, Harvard Law School, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
SPEAKER(S)  John Marks, president and founder of Search for Common Ground, and Susan Collin Marks, senior vice president of Search for Common Ground
CONTACT INFO mhamlen@law.harvard.edu
NOTE  John Marks started his conflict resolution career at Harvard Law School, working under Roger Fisher before PON existed. Susan Collin Marks was one of the early conflict resolution practitioners in her native South Africa and was deeply involved as a facilitator and mediator during the transition from apartheid to democracy.
John founded Search for Common Ground in 1982, and he joined forces with Susan in 1994. Under their leadership, Search has grown into the largest organization in the field with 50 offices in 30 countries, using diverse methods to create a framework for fostering lasting peace. Their basic working principle is: Understand the differences; act on the commonalities.
Please bring your lunch. Drinks and dessert provided.
LINK www.pon.harvard.edu

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Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Researcher's Life for Me:  Lies, Thievery, and the Ethics of Computer Security Experiments
Monday, October 15, 2012
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Place: Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin 119, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Speaker:   Stuart Schechter, Microsoft

Abstract:  The study of human behavior as it relates to secure has raised numerous ethical dilemmas.  Should researchers be allowed to analyze databases of stolen passwords made public through others’ criminal acts?  Should researchers who identify compromised computers by spammers allow these computers to remain compromised in order to monitor how often people buy products from spammers?  Should researchers deceive participants and expose them to ruses indistinguishable from criminal attacks in order to determine how effective these attacks might be?

Researchers in all of the social sciences are moving into new ethical territory by running an increasingly proportion of their studies using online crowdsourcing systems, such Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.  These studies use a model of consent and disclosure envisioned at a time when researchers had personal interactions with participants.  These personal interactions not only offered participants to ask researchers to clarify the terms of a consent form or the use of deception, but they also allowed researchers to develop empathy for their participants and detect if a study might be causing more harm than anticipated.  With the introduction of online crowdsourcing, researchers may be out for a game of golf when their automated web forms obtain participants’ consent and disclose the use of deception.

I will present a series of experiments, in various stages of progress, to bring much-needed data to ongoing debates about research ethics.  We augment existing deception experiments so that, shortly after participants learn that we have deceived them, we can ask whether these participants feel the experiment should have been allowed to proceed.  In a second experiment, we survey prospective study participants to ask if they believe different types of studies, which we describe in more abstract terms, should or should not be allowed to proceed.  In a third experiment, victims of password data breaches are asked in what situations it is appropriate for researchers or others to use their password if it has already been made public by the attacker.

Our preliminary results show a remarkable difference between how participants feel about deception when it is presented in abstract, and how actual study participants feel after learning they have been deceived.  The results of our experiments also raise a new ethical dilemma for us, as ethics researchers.

Bio:   Stuart Schechter is a man of few accomplishments and so, the reluctant reader should be pleased to learn, his biography is correspondingly short.  Stuart researches computer security, human behavior, and occasionally missteps in such distant topics as computer architecture and, now, research ethics.  Those who have worked with Stuart rave about his “tireless efforts and disturbingly obsessive dedication… to brainstorming paper titles” and his knack for “carefully vetting ideas to expose every shortcoming… especially those ideas he cannot take credit for.”   Institutions that may or may not be re-evaluating their admissions or hiring policies as a result of past associations with Stuart include The Ohio State University College of Engineering (B.S.), Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Ph.D.), MIT Lincoln Laboratory (his happily-former employer), Microsoft Research (his less-fortunate current employer), and KAIST (to use a Facebookism, “It’s complicated”).

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"Comprehensive Tax Reform and US Energy Policy"
Monday, October 15
12:15pm - 1:45pm
Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge

Dale Jorgenson, Samuel W. Morris University Professor, Harvard

ETIP/Consortium Energy Policy Seminar
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/cepr/events.html
Contact Name: Louisa Lund louisa_lund@harvard.edu

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What Does Medicare D Share with LIBOR and Procurement Auctons: The Distortionary Effects of the Low Income Subsidy
Monday, October 15, 2012
2:30p–4:00p
MIT, Building E62-650, 100 Main Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Francesco Decarolis (BU)

Web site: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~fdc/Decarolis_MedPartD.pdf
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): IO Workshop
For more information, contact:  Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu

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Dean’s Inaugural Lecture. "Place, People, and Power: City Building in Postwar America"
WHEN  Mon., Oct. 15, 2012, 4 p.m.
WHERE  Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Radcliffe Gymnasium, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S)  Lizabeth Cohen, dean of the Radcliffe Institute and Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies, Department of History, Harvard University
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO 617.495.8600
NOTE  The inaugural lecture by new Radcliffe Institute Dean Lizabeth Cohen RI '02 will address a topic central to her work as a scholar of 20th-century American urban history. Americans after World War II increasingly equated being modern with suburban life, and cities struggled to retain their importance to the nation's economy and culture. "Urban renewal" seemed to promise a new future for cities, but today it is often dismissed as a huge mistake. In this lecture, Cohen will examine some of the places, people, and power structures behind urban renewal to reveal a more complex story of its admirable ambitions and undermining flaws.
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2012-lizabeth-cohen-inaugural-lecture

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Cycling and Walking for Sustainable Cities: Lessons from Europe and North America.
Monday, October 15th
4:30pm-6:00pm
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Piper Auditorium, Cambridge, 42 Quincy Street, Cambridge

Pucher will inspire you with a comprehensive look at changes happening around the country and the world. What makes cycling and walking so safe and convenient for daily travel in Dutch, Danish, and German cities? And what are US cities doing to catch up? Get highlights from his new book City Cycling and hear his advice on how to promote cycling and walking locally.

For more information contact John Foote at John_Foote@hks.harvard.edu

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Multitasking, Learning, and Incentives: A Cautionary Tale
Monday, October 15, 2012
5:30p–7:00p
Harvard, Littauer M15, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Roland Fryer (Harvard)

Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Applied Theory Workshop

For more information, contact:  Theresa Benevento

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CDD Forum - The New Urban Interface
Monday, October 15, 2012
6:00p
MIT, Building 10-485, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: Charles Marohn, Executive Director, Strong Towns

Following World War II, the United States embarked on the great social and financial experiment of suburbanization. While it created tremendous growth, opportunity and prosperity for a generation that had just lived through economic depression and war, the way cities and regions were being built -- spread out across the landscape -- would ultimately be extremely expensive to sustain, far greater than the relative wealth the approach would generate. The harsh legacy of this reality is what nearly every U.S city faces today. Charles Marohn joins DUSP Visiting Scholar Aaron Naparstek for a presentation and conversation on how America can get back to building strong towns.

http://www.strongtowns.org
Web site: http://dusp.mit.edu/cdd/event/cdd-forum-new-urban-interface
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, City Design and Development

For more information, contact:  Sandra Elliott
617-253-5115
sandrame@mit.edu

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Affects and Emotions for a Non-capitalist Cinema
Monday, October 15, 2012
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building E15-001, ACT Cube, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Jesal Kapadia, ACT Lecturer
What would a cinema that serves its subjects, rather than forces of capital, look like? A cinema of refusal, a cinematic non-form that breaks away from the conditions set by capital. A cinema made entirely of the process itself, that cannot be retained, that disappears and renews itself when recalled, that creates an unforgettable loss, but loss with value on the autonomous side.

The evening involves performing live annotations and screening of Kapadia's footage shot in Sikkim, India'a dialogue and call-and-response with the activists who went on a yearlong relay hunger strike. What kinds of subject positions would be needed to create this counter-aesthetic practice, one that contains the will to keep social justice alive?

Jesal Kapadia is an artist, co-arts editor for the journal Rethinking Marxism, and frequent collaborator with 16beaver group in NY. She has recently been appointed Lecturer at ACT.

Web site: http://act.mit.edu/projects-and-events/lectures-series/2012-fall/oct-15-jesal-kapadia-affects-and-emotions-for-a-non-capitalist-cinema/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free and open to the public
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture, MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology
For more information, contact:  Laura Anca Chichisan
617-253-5229
act@mit.edu

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Science and Cooking:  From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter."
Monday, September 15, 2012
7 p.m.
Harvard, Science Center Hall C, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge

José Andrés, Think Food Group, minibar, Jaleo

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Could This Happen? A free science/sci-fi event in Davis Square
 Monday, October 15, 2012
7:00 PM To 10:00 PM
Rosebud Bar and Grill, 381 Summer Street, Somerville, MA (map)

Join scientists and sci-fi enthusiasts for informal demonstrations and conversations about artificial intelligence, neural enhancements, human-robot interaction, robot rights, brain-machine interfaces, and more!

This event is free and open to the public.

The event is informal and interactive, and attendees are encouraged to ask questions about the technologies on display, as well as to network, drink, and be merry in the name of alll things science and science fiction.

Presenters include:
Dr. Mattias Scheutz, director of the human-robot interaction laboratory at Tufts
CJ Carr, who will demonstrate a meditation-manipulation neurofeedback system using Ableton Live and an EEG
Russell Hanson, who is doing work with brain-machine interfaces
Pete Dilworth and his dino-bot, Trudi
Kate Darling, MIT Media Lab social scientist focused on robot ethics, anthropomorphism, and robot sex

For more information, visit http://couldthishappen.com/?page_id=337

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Tuesday, October 16
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Keeping the Streets Safe for Children: Residential Mobility and Local Civic Engagement in Japan and the U.S.
WHEN  Tue., Oct. 16, 2012, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE  Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), CGIS Knafel 2nd Floor, 1737 Cambridge Street
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S)  Leonard Schoppa, associate dean for the social sciences, and professor of politics, University of Virginia

Moderator: Mary C. Brinton
Reischauer Institute Professor of Sociology, and Chair of Sociology, Harvard University
COST  Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO xtian@wcfia.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/schedule/schedule.htm

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Less Guns, More Violence: Evidence from Disarmament in Uganda
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
2:30p–4:00p
MIT, Building E62-550, 100 Main Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Laura Ralston (MIT)

Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Development Economics Workshop
For more information, contact:  Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu

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Software is Rebooting Journalism: Data Mining and Visualization in the Public Interest
Tuesday, October 16 2012
4:00PM to 5:00PM
MIT, Building 32-144, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Scott Klein and Jeff Larson, ProPublica
Scott Klein and Jeff Larson are from a special team at ProPublica that makes journalism using software instead of words and pictures. They produce "news applications ," which are interactive
databases that let readers find what's relevant to them in a large national phenomenon. Projects have included The Opportunity Gap, which uses data from the U.S. Education Department to show how poverty predicts access to education in each school district in the country; and The Message Machine, which uses crowdsourcing and a bit of machine learning to try to reverse engineer how the political campaigns are micro-targetting supporters in their email outreach.

Scott and Jeff will demo some of their work and talk about this new discipline within journalism, and are eager to convince as many MIT students as possible that the next generation of journalism may actually belong to the engineers.

ProPublica is a non-profit news outlet that produces investigative journalism. Since they first started publishing in 2008, ProPublica has received two Pulitzer prizes -- the first was
the first time an online outlet won one, and the second was the first time the award was given for a project that never appeared in print.

Contact: Sheila Marian, x3-1996, sheila@csail.mit.edu
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How to Start a 501(c)3 Social Enterprise: Learning the Legal and Governance Basics
WHEN  Tue., Oct. 16, 2012, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE  Taubman Building, NYE A, 5th floor, Harvard Kennedy School, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Classes/Workshops, Law
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations
SPEAKER(S)  Marion Fremont-Smith, Senior Research Fellow, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations

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Climate & Conflict: Is America Profiting from Climate Change?
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
6:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building N51, MIT Museum, 275 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: John Reilly

Part 2: Is America Profiting from Climate Change?
Here in the Northeast we enjoy warm summers and (relatively) low fuel prices, but what is the REAL impact of climate change on Americans? Join John Reilly, MIT economist and co-director of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, to discuss the short-term, long-lived, local, and global effects of our everyday environmental and economic decisions.

Soap Box: Climate & Conflict
The MIT Museum invites you to contribute to the debate about climate change as we explore fresh new perspectives on politics, profits, and conflict.

Web site: http://mit.edu/museum/programs/soapbox.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact:  Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo@mit.edu

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Law, History, and the 2012 Election
WHEN  Tue., Oct. 16, 2012, 6 – 8 p.m.
WHERE  Thompson Room, Barker Center
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Charles Warren Center
SPEAKER(S)  Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard Law School; Elizabeth Hinton, History Department; Alex Keyssar, Kennedy School; Kenneth Mack, Harvard Law School
Jed Shugerman (Harvard Law School)
A roundtable moderated by Jill Lepore (History)
CONTACT INFO lkennedy@fas.harvard.edu
LINK http://warrencenter.fas.harvard.edu/fsprogramschedule.html

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The Light in Her Eyes Documentary Screening
WHEN  Tue., Oct. 16, 2012, 6 – 8 p.m.
WHERE Sperry Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Film, Religion
SPONSOR Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, Center for the Study of World Religions, HDS Office of Academic Affairs
CONTACT Krystina Friedlander, 617.495.3379
NOTE  Houda al-Habash, a conservative Muslim preacher, founded a Qur’an school for girls in Damascus 30 years ago. Every summer, her female students immerse themselves in a rigorous study of Islam. A surprising cultural shift is under way—women are claiming space within the mosque. Shot right before the uprising in Syria erupted,The Light in Her Eyes, recently screened on PBS, offers an extraordinary portrait of a leader who challenges the women of her community to live according to Islam, without giving up their dreams.
The filmmakers, Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix, will be present for the screening to introduce the film and answer questions.

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Boston New Technology Meetup Oct 2012 #bnt22
Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Wayfair 177 Huntington Ave Boston
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston_New_Technology/events/84231452/

Free event! October meeting of the Boston New Tech Meetup - 22nd edition!

Come learn about 8 innovative and exciting technology products and network with the Boston/Cambridge startup community!  Each presenter gets 5 minutes for product demonstration and 5 minutes for Q&A.  Please follow @BostonNewTech and use the #BNT22 hashtag in social media posts: details here.

Products & Presenters:
ShoutAbout / @ShoutAboutNews - Engagement tool for media sites helps readers take constructive actions in response to news. (Mat Morgan / @MatMorgan) http://shoutabout.org
Prospective Plus / @ProspectivePlus - Common job application for quickly recruiting better entry level candidates. (Phoebe Farber) http://prospectiveplus.com Tech: Coldfusion
Taxi Right Now / @TaxiRightNow - Taxi Reservation mobile app finds you the closest available taxi ride. (Sam Garzon) http://taxirightnow.com Tech: iOS
ActivePepper / @ActivePepper - Mobile application helps people find sports partners and sports activities nearby. (Yasi Baiani / @Yasaman) http://activepepper.com Tech: iOS, JavaScript, AJAX, JAX-RS, Java, Mongo
Politoscape (George Ko)
Timbre / @TimbreApp - Location based music app connects users with local artists, concerts and performances. (Zachariah Reiner / @ZSR5) http://timbreapp.com Tech: iOS
Mapocosm / Map Explorer - Mobile app with innovative features for exploring and sharing custom maps! (David Asher / @AsherDavid) http://mapocosm.com Tech: Android
AutoBike / @EvolveTheBike - Automatic shifting bicycle maximizes comfort and minimizes complexity. (Sean Simpson / @SeanSimp) http://evolvethebike.com
Agenda:
6:00 - Setup time for presenters
6:30 to 7:30 - Networking with beverages and Pizza provided by Babson College
7:30 to 9:00 - Presentations, Q&A

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Climate Catastrophe:  Let's Talk About It
Tuesday, October 16
7:00pm
Cambridgeport Baptist Church, 459 Putnam Avenue, Cambridge (corner of Magazine Street and Putnam Avenue)

Presented by GreenPort Co-Founder Steve Wineman

From melting in the Arctic to a summer of record heat, drought and fires in the US, the indicators of climate catastrophe are mounting.  Meanwhile governments across the planet fail to take needed measures, and global emissions continue to rise.  This forum will confront a critical question: have we reached the point where we should  acknowledge that catastrophe is no longer avoidable?  Based on Steve Wineman's provocative essay “Crossing the Chasm: From Denial to Acceptance of Climate Catastrophe” (available athttp://gis.net/~swineman/files/Crossing%20the%20Chasm.pdf), join us for a discussion of our thoughts and feelings about the unfolding collapse.

GreenPort envisions and encourages a just and sustainable Cambridgeport neighborhood
For more information, contact Steve Wineman at steven.wineman@gmail.com

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IDEAS Generator Dinner
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building 50-140

The IDEAS Global Challenge is an annual event where student teams compete to win up to $10,000 to launch their innovative projects that make a positive change in the world.

MAKE YOUR IDEA HAPPEN
Pitch your idea to recruit teammates!
Pitch your skill set to get recruited!
Or just come and meet wonderful people!
RSVP at http://bit.ly/UPOCTN to reserve a spot for your pitch

Web site: http://globalchallenge.mit.edu
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): IDEAS Global Challenge
For more information, contact:  Daniel Mokrauer-Madden
globalchallenge@mit.edu 

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Wednesday, October 17
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Materials Day 2012 Seminar and Poster Session
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
8:00a–6:00p
MIT, Building W-16, Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

MATERIALS FOR ENERGY HARVESTING
Seminar and Poster Session

Materials for Energy Harvesting will be the focus of this year's Materials Day. Material and the performance considerations will be related to piezoelectric, thermoelectric and photonic systems. A range of applications will be addressed including portable devices, sensing, transportation and others. Materials Day activities will include a one-day conference featuring speakers from both inside and outside MIT. A student poster session will follow, featuring 50 to 100 posters with up-to-the-minute research results from the broad materials research communities in MIT's Schools of Engineering and Science.

Web site: http://mpc-web.mit.edu
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Materials Processing Center
For more information, contact:  Fran Page
617-253-5179
fmpage@mit.edu 

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"How Syrian Activists and Rebels Have Redefined Social Media to Change Society."
Wednesday, October 17
11:45 a.m. 
Harvard, Taubman 275, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge

Speaker Series with Deborah Amos, Middle East correspondent, National Public Radio.

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The Future of Aircraft Carriers
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E40-496

Speaker: Robert ( Barney) Rubel, Naval War College

SSP Wednesday Seminar
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Security Studies Program
For more information, contact:  617-253-7529
valeriet@mit.edu 

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ELECTION 2012: IS THE RIGHT TO VOTE UNDER ATTACK?
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM (EDT)
Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont Street, Function Room, First Floor, Boston

Do America’s Polling Places Provide Equal Access to All Voters?  How Widespread is Voti ng Fraud?  What is the Balance Between Voti ng Access and Voti ng Security?
Hear from a panel of lawyers, academics and experts:
Moderator
Deborah Becker, News Anchor, WBUR, Boston
Panel
Prof. Rachael Cobb,Chair, Department of Government, Suffolk University;  Lisa Danetz, Senior Counsel
DEMOS: Ideas and Actions to Promote the Common Good
Olivier Kozlowski, Chairman, Mansfield Board of Selectmen

Lunch will be provided
For questions, please call Jessica Lowenthal at ADL
617-406-6337
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From Piloting to Sensemaking: What Cognitive Science can Learn from Cognitive Engineering
Wednesday Oct. 17
2:00-3:30
MIT, Building 33-116, 125 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

John Flach, Department of Psychology, Wright State University

This presentation will review classical work directed at the performance of human-machine systems to consider general implications for cognitive science. A fundamental thesis will be that practical applications provide a strong ‘test’ of the theories and the metaphysical assumptions that shape basic science. It will be argued that application is an essential touchstone for protecting cognitive science from becoming a cargo cult science that spins its wheels studying epiphenomena (e.g., nonsense problems) that provide little insight into human experience.  Fundamental questions will be raised about the nature of scientific explanation (e.g., causality?); about the relations of mind, matter, and what matters; and about the dynamical coupling between perception and action.

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Experimental Studies of the Interaction Between Ecology and Evolution in a Natural Ecosystem
October 17
3:00 PM
Harvard, Main Lecture Hall, BioLabs Building
 
David Reznick, University of California, Riverside
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Mormons, Evangelicals, and the New Restorationism
WHEN  Wed., Oct. 17, 2012, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Fong Auditorium, 110 Boylston Hall
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Humanities, Law, Lecture, Religion, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Charles Warren Center
SPEAKER(S)  Mark Silk, Trinity College, Hartford; with commentary by University Professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

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Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy. "Learning and Experimentation in the North Dakota Bakken Shale"
WHEN  Wed., Oct. 17, 2012, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard Kennedy School, Littauer-382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S)  Thomas Covert
LINK http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k89370

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"Europe at a Crossroads: The story of Greece and what it reveals about structural problems in the Eurozone. "
Wednesday, October 17
4:30-6:00 p.m. 
Knight Seminar Room, Walter Lippmann House,  One Francis Avenue, Cambridge

 Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution with George Papandreou, former prime minister of Greece, and Richard Parker, economist, political consultant, and Harvard Kennedy School lecturer. Co-sponsored with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Nieman Foundation and the Shorenstein Center.

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MTA Composer Forum presents Roger Reynolds
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
5:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building 14W-111, Killian Hall, Hayden Library Building

Speaker: Composer Roger Reynolds
Resource and Outcome, An illustrated presentation involving a performance (Gabriella Diaz, violinist), prepared texts, and informal remarks on creative fuel and how it influences one's work. Subject works: Kokoro (solo violin); not forgotten (string quartet); Work in Progress multimedia orchestral work on the writings of George Washington. 5pm, MIT Lewis Music Library, 14 E-109, (MIT Hayden Library Building). Reception to follow.

Web site: web.mit.edu/mta
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE
Sponsor(s): Music and Theater Arts
For more information, contact:  Clarise Snyder
mta-request@mit.edu

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Moodle - Learning with the Power of Open Source
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 
7:00 pm
MIT Building E-51, Room 315, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Joseph Guarino discusses Moodle, a Course Management System that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.

Boston Linux and Unix User Group
Contact http://www.blu.org

-------------------------------------

Cooler Smarter
Wednesday, 17 October, 2012
07:00 PM - 09:00 PM
Belmont Town Hall, Selectmen's Meeting Room, 455 Concord Avenue, Belmont

Jeff Deyette, co-author of the recent book with the same title, Union of Concerned Scientist
Learn practical steps that YOU can take now to substantially reduce your carbon footprint. We'll explore a number of options, many of which are no or low cost, that can have a meaningful impact.

Contact sustainablebelmont@gmail.com

--------------------------
Thursday, October 18
--------------------------

Global Cleantech Meetup 2012 - Innovation Tour, TiE Boston Open House
Thursday, October 18, 2012 
9:00 AM to 10:00 AM (PDT)
TiE-Boston, 101 Main Street, #1820, Cambridge
RSVP at http://globalcleantechmeetupopenhouse1-es2.eventbrite.com/?rank=299

As part of the Global Cleantech Meetup 2012, we are inviting cleantech professionals and students to network at a few Open Houses around Boston.
Attend the first Open House at TiE office from 9:00 to 10:00 am to meet & interact with TiE Members from the Clean Tech group!
TiE-Boston is a comprehensive eco-system for entrepreneurs with the mission to foster, encourage and support entrepreneurship in the New England region. TiE-Boston runs several vibrant programs to educate, mentor, network and inspire entrepreneurs in the community.    
See more at https://boston.tie.org/
More info about the Global Cleantech Meetup 2012 at: http://globalcleantechmeetup.com/

-----------------------------------

FAS MONTHLY ENVIRONMENTAL MOVIES/BROWN BAG LUNCH SERIES
Thursday, October 18, 2012
12-1pm
Harvard, Mallinckrodt 102, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Join us for screenings of the most inspiring TED talks on a variety of environmental topics. Every 3rd Thursday of the month,

------------------------------------

Marketing Cafe: The Road To Business Success Is Green And Ethical
Thursday, October 18, 2012
12 noon Eastern Time (replay available if your schedule doesn't cooperate)
http://authenticbusinessgrowth.com/business-success-green/
The Marketing Cafe™ is the online radio show that features simple, yet highly effective ideas for small business owners and solopreneurs like you who want to make a good living while making a difference in the world.

The topic of this show is how green and ethical business practices are not just the right thing to do, but can be a powerful path to profit, when you do it correctly. Some of the things we'll talk about include how to deal with the expense and hassle of being environmentally friendly, and how you can benefit from ethical alliances with your competition.

The featured guest for this show is Shel Horowitz, green marketing consultant and copywriter, and book publishing consultant.

Shel specializes in strategies and materials to reach green, socially conscious consumers with marketing that has THEM calling YOU. His latest book is Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green.

Your host is marketing results coach Mark Reinert, founder of Authentic Business Growth, LLC and the creator of the Business Growth Dojo™ the definitive business incubator for independent professionals and owners of small service-based businesses.

------------------------------------

#citychat No. 6 : Financing an Urban Farm
Thursday, October 18, 2012
2:00p–3:00p
Location: https://twitter.com/search/realtime/%23citychat

October's #citychat (https://twitter.com/i/#!/search/realtime/%23citychat) is going to be a collaborative, crowd-sourced brainstorm on creative ways for small urban farms and sustainable food ventures to grow and finance themselves. One farm in particular is looking for your ideas: Concrete Jungle (http://www.concrete-jungle.org/) of Altanta, Georgia.

If you are involved in urban farming anywhere in the world, please come to this #citychat to tweet your ideas and experiences.

@MITCoLab (https://twitter.com/MITCoLab) will introduce @cjungle (https://twitter.com/cjungle), and then we'll start brainstorm. @the_curioscity (https://twitter.com/the_curioscity) will be there to moderate the discussion and ask follow up questions. @the_curioscity came up with this incredible idea for a brainstorm #citychat.

It's easy to join the Twitter chat. Just follow #citychat on Twitter from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, October 18th. Even if you don't have a Twitter account, you can watch the conversation unfold here: https://twitter.com/search/realtime/%23citychat.

Web site: https://twitter.com/search/realtime/%23citychat
Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT Community Innovators Lab

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"Cinema on Fire: A Reporter's Take on History, Free Expression, and the Muslim World."
Thursday, October 18
2:30-4 p.m. 
Harvard Kennedy School, Belfer Library (L369), 3rd floor Littauer, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge

 Discussion with Steve Inskeep, host of NPR's Morning Edition; author ofInstant City: Life and Death in Karachi. Co-sponsored by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. RSVP: alison_barron@hks.harvard.edu.

-------------------------------------

Teaching Networks via 20 Questions
October 18, 2012
Refreshment at 3, Talk at 3:30pm
Tufts, Burden Lounge / Nelson Auditorium
Speaker: Mung Chiang, Princeton

Abstract:  How does Google sell ad spaces and rank webpages? How does Netflix recommend movies and Amazon ranks products? How do I influence people on Facebook and Twitter, and can I really reach anyone in 6 steps? Why doesn’t the Internet collapse under congestion, and does it have an Achilles’ heel? Why does each GB of 4G data cost $10, and how come WiFi is slower at hotspots than at home? How can Skype and BitTorrent can be free, and what’s inside the cloud of iCloud?

These are some of the 20 questions raised in a new undergraduate course created at Princeton: "Networks: Friends, Money, and Bytes." It quantifies foundational ideas in technology, social, and economic networks, and attracts students from engineering, science, and economics. The course’s content cuts across the boundaries of different types of networks without losing domain-specific functionalities. The course's pedagogical approach is "Just In Time": orienting the entire course around 20 Questions about networked life and only introduces the mathematical languages as needed.

I'll discuss what I learned through teaching this course (www.network20q.com) about networking research and curriculum development.

Biography:  Mung Chiang is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, and serves as the Director of Graduate Studies in Electrical Engineering. His research on networking received the 2012 IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award, a 2008 U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, a few young investigator awards, and several paper awards including the 2012 IEEE INFOCOM Best Paper. He was elected an IEEE Fellow in 2012. His technology transfer resulted in a few commercial adoptions and a 2007 Technology Review TR35 Award, and he founded the Princeton EDGE Lab in 2009. He serves as an IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer 2012-2013, and wrote an undergraduate textbook “Networked Life: 20 Questions and Answers.”

----------------------------------

From Sorcery to Science: How Hollywood Physics Advances Computational Engineering
Thursday, October 18, 2012
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 32-124

Speaker: Eitan Grinspun, Columbia University

Seminars in Computational Science and Engineering
ABSTRACT: Blockbuster films depend on computational physics. The focus is on models that capture the qualitative, characteristic behavior of a mechanical system. Visual effects employ mathematical and computational models of hair, fur, skin, cloth, fire, granular media, and liquids. This is scientific computing with a twist. But techniques developed originally for film can also advance consumer products, biomedical research, and basic physical understanding. Here at MIT, they are used to investigate geometric nonlinearities in the mechanics of thin structures.

I will describe computational models based on discrete differential geometry (DDG). The focus is on the formal geometric structure of a mechanical system. We build a discrete (hence readily computable) geometry from the ground up, mimicking the axioms, structures, and symmetries of the smooth setting. Problems addressed via DDG include dynamic evolution of thin visco-elastic structures, granular media, and the tying of tight knots.

As a concrete example, I will present a unified treatment of viscous fluid threads and elastic Kirchhoff rods, demonstrating canonical coiling, folding, and breakup in dynamic simulations. The method is used in the latest Hollywood films, Adobe Photoshop paintbrushes, surgical training software, and physics labs. The computations are in quantitative agreement to experimental data for a variety of nonlinear physical phenomena.

Web site: http://computationalengineering.mit.edu/events/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for Computational Engineering
For more information, contact:  Barbara Lechner
blechner@mit.edu 

------------------------------------

How Microbial Communities Impact Our Health and Environment
Thursday, October 18, 2012
4:00p–5:15p
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Eric Alm, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Biological Engineering Seminar Series

Web site: http://web.mit.edu/be/news/seminars.shtml
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Biological Engineering
For more information, contact:  617-253-1712
be-acad@mit.edu 

---------------------------------------

Hot Copy! Covering the Science of Climate Change
Oct 18, 2012
4:30-6pm
MIT, Building E19-623, 400 Main Street, Cambridge

Justin Gillis, The New York Times
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/author/justin-gillis/

---------------------------------------

Askwith Forum: Powering Social Change with Data: A Bully Case Study
WHEN  Thu., Oct. 18, 2012, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERELongfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Forum, Lecture, Question & Answer Session
BUILDING/ROOM Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME  Amber DiNatale
CONTACT EMAIL  askwith_forums@gse.harvard.edu
CONTACT PHONE  617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED No
ADMISSION FEE This Askwith Forum is free and open to the public.
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
NOTE  Speakers: Nancy Lublin, CEO, and Jeff Bladt, data scientist, DoSomething.org
Nancy Lublin, CEO of DoSomething.org and Jeff Bladt, data scientist at DoSomething.org, will present initial findings on perceptions and trends of bullying in US secondary school by current students. All data was mined from a Facebook application, The Bully Project, which was launched in April 2012 by DoSomething.org with support from the Einhorn Foundation and the film Bully. The application was originally intended to offer students a forum where they could grade the prevalence of bullying at their school by answering eight close ended questions about the frequency, variety and location of bulling at their schools, as well as giving them one opened question on how they would like to see the issue addressed. The Bully Project application was open to any Facebook user and was expected to reach 15,000 people in the two months it was scheduled to be active.

In the first ten days over 21,000 people installed The Bully Project on Facebook and graded their schools. Plans to discontinue the app after two months were scrapped and to date over 183,000 users have reported on bullying. This wealth of data has been utilized by DoSomething.org to analyze the relationship between basic demographic characteristics (gender, state, grade in school, type of school, etc) and reported bullying prevalence, as well as the impact of various parties (teachers, students, etc) intervening on reducing instances of bullying.
In addition to covering the initial findings from the bullying data, Jeff will also discuss the role of big data at DoSomething.org, one of the largest non-for profit organizations focused on youth activism with over 2 million youth taking part in national campaigns last year. At DoSomething.org data is not an ends unto itself, but one of the organization most powerful tools in increasing scale and impact. Every major organizational change is now data driven and the results have been dramatic: membership is doubling every three months and back-and-forth communication with teens have increased thirty fold.

----------------------------------------

Urban Films: The Age of Stupid
Thursday, October 18, 2012
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building 3-133

Urban Planning Film Series
A mostly-weekly series showing documentary and feature films on topics related to cities, urbanism, design, community development, ecology, and other planning issues. Free.

THE AGE OF STUPID (2009): A man living in the devastated future of 2055 looks back at footage from our time and asks, ???why didn???t we stop climate change when we had the chance???? Directed by Franny Armstrong.

Web site: http://www.urbanfilm.org
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact:  Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn@mit.edu 

--------------------------------------

"Work on the City"
Thursday, October 18, 2012
6:30p–8:00p
MIT, Building 7-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Michael Sorkin, Distinguished Professor Spitzer School of Architecture, CCNY; Principal, Michael Sorkin Studio
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture
For more information, contact:  617-253-7791

----------------------------

We're Not Broke: Film Screening and Panel Discussion
WHEN  Thu., Oct. 18, 2012, 6:30 p.m.
WHERE  Wiener Auditorium, Ground Floor, Taubman Building, HKS, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Film, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR ASH Center, MASSPIRG
SPEAKER(S)  Phineas Baxandall, MASSPIRG; Chuck Collins, Institute for Policy Studies; Archon Fung, HKS
CONTACT INFO Bruce_jackan@hks.harvard.edu, 671-495-7548
NOTE  America is in the grip of a societal economic panic. Lawmakers cry "We're Broke!" as they slash budget, lay off schoolteachers, police and firefighters, crumbling our country's social fabric and leaving many Americans scrambling to survive. Meanwhile, multibillion-dollar American corporation like Exxon, Google, and Bank of America are making record profits. And while the deficit climbs and the cuts go deeper, these corporations--with intimate ties to our political leaders--are concealing colossal profits overseas to avoid paying U.S. income tax.
"We're Not Broke," is the story of how U.S. corporations have been able to hide over a trillion dollars from Uncle Sam, and how seven fed-up Americans from across the country, take their frustration to the streets . . . and vow to make the corporations pay their fair share.
Following the screening, panelists Phineas Baxandall, MASSPIRG; Chuck Collins, Institute for Policy Studies; and Archon Fung, HKS will discuss whether the tools of American democracy have proven powerless in regulating business on the critical issue of taxation.
LINK http://www.ash.harvard.edu/Home/News-Events/Events/We-re-Not-Broke-Film-Screening

------------------------------

Mirror Planet:  The Search for Our Planet's Twin
WHEN  Thu., Oct. 18, 2012, 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE  Phillips Auditorium, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Poetry/Prose, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
SPEAKER(S)  Michael Lemonick
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO 617-495-7461, pubaffairs@cfa.harvard.edu
NOTE  In 1995, the first planet orbiting a sun-like star was discovered by European astronomers. Since then more than 2,000 additional planets have been found (many of them by astronomers at the CfA), and the search for exoplanets - and especially for an Earth-like planet that could support life - has gone from an obscure subspecialty in astrophysics to the hottest field around. Michael Lemonick will talk about his new book "Mirror Earth," which chronicles that search and introduces the men and women who are carrying it out. Among other things, you'll learn why that widely acclaimed "first planet" may really have been the second, and how the CfA was part of the real first discovery years earlier.
LINK http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/events/public_events.html

-----------------------
Friday, October 19
-----------------------

Second MIT Presidential Election Conference
Friday, October 19, 2012
7:30a–5:45p
MIT, Building E15, Bartos Theater

Speaker: Expert panelists from MIT and elsewhere
We will be hosting a panel of world-renowned experts who will debate the fairness of the electoral college, the proposed alternative national popular vote, voter ID, and other critical voting issues.
Web site: cesf.mit.edu/electoral2012
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Sociotechnical Systems Research Center, Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals
For more information, contact:  Laura Dorson
617-324-9622
ldorson@mit.edu 

------------------------------------------

"The Future of the Global Airline Industry"
Friday, October 19 
12:00 to 1:00pm. Lunch to be served shortly before noon.
MIT, Building 32-124, Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Sadiz Gillani
This interactive session will address key trends emerging in the airline industry over the next decade, including winners and losers as well as major challenges and opportunities.
Bio:  Sadiq Gillani is a Senior Vice President at Lufthansa Group, responsible for developing the Group's strategic direction. He was previously a partner with Seabury, a boutique airline consultancy and was based in New York and Sydney advising airlines across the globe including Air Canada, Qantas, US Airways, Malaysian and Etihad. 

Mr. Gillani served as the Chief Commerical Officer of Webjet, a startup Brazilian low cost carrier, based in Rio de Janeiro. He also supported with the launch of two US startup carriers.

Mr. Gillani started his career at Bain & Company, the stategy consultancy, in London and Johannesburg, and is a British Citizen.

He completed his MBA at Harvard Business School and holds a BA and MPhil in Management Studies from Cambridge University. He is a keen traveller, having visited over 100 countries, and has lived on 6 continents.

More information can be found on Mr. Gillani's web site: http://sadiqgillani.com.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Joel Carlson (scarlson@mit.edu) or Tatiana Peralta (tperalta@mit.edu).

-------------------------------------

Aerosols and Climate Models
Oct 19, 2012 
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Harvard, Pierce 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Steven Ghan , Laboratory Fellow, Pacific Northwest National Labs

Contact: Brenda Mathieu
bmathieu@seas.harvard.edu

-------------------------------------

Social Entrepreneurship at Harvard: Programs, Initiatives, and Courses
WHEN  Fri., Oct. 19, 2012, 2 – 3:30 p.m.
WHERE  Malkin Penthouse, Littauer Building 4th Floor, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University
SPEAKER(S)  A Universitywide panel discussion chaired by Chris Letts, Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in the Practice of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership; Interim Faculty Director, Hauser Center
NOTE  Featuring HKS faculty members John Haigh, Dick Cavanagh, Nathalie Kylander, and programs across Harvard including the Center for Public Leadership (HKS); Social Entrepreneurship Initiative (HBS); Office of Public Interest Advising of HLS; Harvard Innovation Lab; and the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations.
LINK http://hausercenter.harvard.edu/1462/october-19social-entrepreneurship-at-harvard-faculty-programs-and-research/

------------------------------

MIT Energy Night 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
5:00p–8:30p
MIT, Building N51, MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Avenue

The MIT Energy Night is a celebration of the ingenuity, innovation, and imagination of MIT faculty, researchers, students, and alumni. Hosted annually at the MIT Museum and organized entirely by students, Energy Night features over 70 academic poster presentations from every energy affiliated department at MIT as well as early stage start-ups based on MIT technologies. Last year, over 1300 people attended the Energy Night. The MIT Energy Night provides an ideal opportunity to see what energy at MIT is all about and engage with the MIT energy community, local energy professionals, and investors.

Event open to the public. Free drinks and hors d'Oeuvres will be provided.

Web site: http://mitenergynight.org
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club: Energy Night Subgroup
For more information, contact:  MIT Energy Night Organizing Team
enot2012@mit.edu
----------------------------------------

Food For Free (www.foodforfree.org) invites you to join us at our
Party Under the Harvest Moon
Friday, October 19th
6-10 p.m.
Morss Hall, Walker Memorial Building, MIT, 142 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

In addition to a silent auction, the event will include complimentary food and drink from several area restaurants including:

Andala Coffee House, Area Four, Baraka Cafe, Cambridge Brewing Co., Central Bottle, Chez Henri, Diesel Cafe, Emma's Pizza, Flatbread Pizza, Flour Bakery & Cafe, EVOO, Henrietta's Table, The Middle East Restaurant & Nightclub, Nubar, Ole Mexican Grill, Pacific Street Cafe, Redbones, Rendezvous in Central Square, Royal East Restaurant, Stone Hearth Pizza, Tables of Content, Upstairs on the Square, and more...

There will also be live music from One Thin Dime and the opportunity to meet and chat with Car Talk's Ray Magliozzi and Executive Producer Doug Berman, as well as Here and Now's host Robin Young.

This event is a fundraiser for Food For Free. Food For Free rescues fresh food—food that might otherwise go to waste—and distributes it within the local emergency food system where it can reach those in need.

Through a combination of food rescue, farming, and transportation services, we give food programs year-round access to fresh fruits and vegetables, while our delivery program brings food directly to isolated seniors and people with disabilities.

Our programs address not only short-term hunger, but obesity, diet-related disease, and other long-term health effects of food insecurity and poor nutrition.

In addition, food rescue—also called salvage or gleaning—reduces food waste.

To find out more:
Event: www.foodforfree.org/event
Tickets: http://www.foodforfree.org/ticket-sales
Auction preview: http://www.foodforfree.org/auction-preview
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Food-For-Free/147077179535?ref=ts

----------------------------------

Hack the Presidential Debates
Friday, Oct 19 (7-11 pm) Saturday, Oct. 20 (9-5 pm)
MIT Media Lab, E14-525, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA.
Free, but need to RSVP on the Hacks/Hackers Boston site. http://meetupbos.hackshackers.com/

Here’s a hackathon with a twist: A hack on a presidential debate *before* it’s held.

Analyze the debates, using whatever tools, data, or social media you want to use. We will make video/audio and transcripts available. Successful entries could be used by Boston.com or BostonGlobe.com, to analyze the fourth and final debate.

We are hacking before the fourth debate, so we’ll have raw material from the first three. Ideally the hacks can be implemented for the fourth and final debate.

Details: Material from the first three debates will be available before the hack starts. (The first three debates will be held: Oct. 3, Oct. 11, Oct. 16; all are from 9-10:30 p.m.)
Winners: Winners will be picked by a panel of judges.
Sponsors: The Boston Globe, the MIT Media Lab, & Hacks/Hackers Boston.
Who’s invited: Anyone who wants to hack
Refreshments: Of course!
Transportation/parking: Some on-street available; Kendall/MIT stop on the Red Line.

--------------------------
Saturday, October 20
--------------------------

HEET Energy Upgrade Party
Saturday, October 20
9 am - 1:00 pm
First Parish Church, 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dHhtWkw5MVlnYUVHRElEc2djVzVyS0E6MA

We'll be working inside and out to improve efficiency.

Projects include: winterizing windows, converting to LED lighting, installing low flow water fixtures, insulating hot water pipes and more…

Message from HEET:
More Churches Going Solar
With the help of HEET and Sunbug Solar, First Parish Church in Arlington will probably be getting 44 kW of solar electric panels installed on its roof.
If you know of other houses of worship who might be interested in getting solar panels installed and paying for it primarily out of the energy bill savings with no money down, please contact HEET at heet.cambridge@gmail.com

------------------------
Sunday, October 21
------------------------

Climate Change - Will we need geoengineering?
Sunday, October 21
7PM
Cary Memorial hall, 1605 Mass Avenue, Lexington

Lexington Global Warming Action Coalition is sponsoring a talk by Professor David Keith, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics at Harvard and Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School.   Prof. Keith is the winner of MIT's prize for Excellence in Experimental Physics works at the interface of climate science, energy technology and public policy. He is a leading world expert on geoengineering and was named by TIME Magazine as a Hero of the Environment. He is a dynamic and fascinating speaker and will talk on a subject at the forefront of climate change research.

This talk is free and open to all. Please go to www.lexgwac.org for more details.
Event Contact Info Nancy Nolan
Email:  nan.lex@verizon.net 

Editorial Comment:  I wonder if he will talk about ecological restoration and geotherapy or just concentrate on the many mechanistic plans that are now being advanced.

------------------------
Monday, October 22
------------------------

The Predictive State: Science, Autonomy, and the Future of the Indian Climate
Monday, October 22, 2012 
12:15pm - 2:00pm
Harvard, Room 100F, Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Martin Mahony (University of East Anglia/Harvard STS)

Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to sts@hks.harvard.edu by Thursday noon the week before.

http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/sts_circle/
sts@hks.harvard.edu

----------------------------------

"Oil Dependence: What Does it Really Cost Us?"
Monday, October 22, 2012
12:15pm - 1:45pm
Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
David Greene, Corporate Fellow, Energy and Transportation Science Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/cepr/events.html
Contact Name:  Louisa Lund
louisa_lund@harvard.edu

-------------------------------
The Political Economy of Saudi Crude Pricing
Monday, October 22, 2012
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E51-151, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Jennifer Peck (MIT)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Public Finance/Labor Workshop
For more information, contact:  Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu 

-----------------------------------

Digital State: Industrial Districts and the Emergence of Minnesota's High Tech Economy
Monday, October 22, 2012
4:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building 32-155, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Thomas Misa, Babbage Institute | University of Minnesota

STS Fall 2012 Colloquia
Wine and Cheese reception in the 3rd Floor Balcony of Stata from 3:30-4, followed by a lecture/discussion on topics of Science, Technology, and Society.
Web site: web.mit.edu/sts
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): HASTS
For more information, contact:  Randyn Miller
253-3452
randyn@mit.edu 

-----------------------------

China’s Environmental History over the Very Long Term
WHEN  Mon., Oct. 22, 2012, 4:15 – 5:45 p.m.
WHERE  Knafel Building, Bowie-Vernon Room 262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Harvard University
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies: Enviroment in Asia Series
SPEAKER(S)  Robert B. Marks, Whittier College
COST  Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO lkluz@fas.harvard.edu
NOTE   Robert B. Marks is Richard and Billie Deihl Professor of History at Whittier College in southern California. His most recent book is China: Its Environment and History (2012).
LINK http://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/event/robert-marks
------------------------------------

Starr Forum- Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
Monday, October 22, 2012
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Kamer Daron Acemoglu, John Tirman
A book talk with Daron Acemoglu
Co-author/ MIT economist and John Tirman, executive director MIT CIS
About the book: http://whynationsfail.com/ Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?

About the speakers:
Kamer Daron Acemoglu is a Turkish-American economist of Armenian origin. He is currently the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and winner of the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal.

John Tirman is the Executive Director and a Principal Research Scientist at MIT's Center for International Studies.

Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:  starrforum@mit.edu 

------------------------------

EPP Talk with Gus Speth
Monday, October 22, 2012
5:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building 7-431, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Author Gus Speth will betalking about his new book, America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): EPP
For more information, contact:  Nina Tamburello
617.253.1509
epprequest@mit.edu

-----------------------------

Water Lecture Series:  River Monster: The Epidemiology, Ecology, and Pathobiology of Cholera
WHEN  Mon., Oct. 22, 2012, 5 p.m.
WHERE  Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S)  John Mekalanos, the Adele H. Lehman Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and the Head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO 617.495.8600
NOTE  The Radcliffe Institute's Water Lectures Series will be relatively informal presentations by Harvard faculty, followed by discussion with attendees, on topics that approach water from multidisciplinary perspectives. The collegial events are intended to present, and potentially to link, faculty interests, in order to learn more about research currently under way and to foster connections across Harvard schools.
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2012-john-mekalanos-water-lecture

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"Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter."
Monday, October 22
7pm  
Harvard Science Center C, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Wylie Dufresne, wd~50.   

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Tuesday, October 23
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"Learning from Google."
Tuesday, October 23
12 p.m. 
Harvard, Taubman 275, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge

Speaker Series with Steve Levy, senior writer, Wired magazine; author of In the Plex.

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Why Electoral Integrity Matters
WHEN  Tue., Oct. 23, 2012, 12:25 – 2 p.m.
WHERE  Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), CGIS Knafel 2nd Floor, 1737 Cambridge Street
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S)  Pippa Norris, McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
COST  Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO xtian@wcfia.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/schedule/schedule.htm

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How to Start a Resilience Circle, including How to Have a One-to-One.
Tuesday, October 23
3pm ET (12pm PT)
Webinar registration at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/904558998

As you know, small groups are a great way to enhance community resilience in tough times, build a strong social movement to create change, and have fun. As Thomas Atwood put it recently, "Small consciousness-raising groups were the lynchpins of the labor movement, the civil rights movement, and the women’s movement."

Join me and Thomas for a disccussion about how to organize a group, including:
how to communicate about Resilience Circles and small groups with others
using “One-to-One” conversations to invite participants to your group (read more here)
finding participants through base communities and the “linking method”
different kinds of small groups that might work in your community, such as Resilience Circles or affinity groups.

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Upcoming
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October 24
Food Day
http://www.foodday.org//

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THE POLITICS OF HANDSOME
Thurs., Oct. 25
6:30-8 pm
Modern Theatre (part of Suffolk University), 525 Washington St., Boston. Wheelchair accessible and conveniently located near the Downtown Crossing stop on the MBTA Orange and Silver Lines.

Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University presents “The Politics of Handsome” with Paula Lyons, Joyce Kulhawik, Lauren Beckham Falcone, and Jan Saragoni; discussion moderated by Margery Eagan.  Admission is free and open to all. For more information, call Ford Hall Forum at 617-557-2007 or visit www.fordhallforum.org.

Mitt Romney, Scott Brown, Senator Rob Portman, and many other self-described conservatives are the "Mad Men" of politics, evoking the age of Don Draper with retro style. In the shadow of our first African-American president, is this trend a return to a simpler age of the Cold War and domestic abundance? What sparked the trend to run these slicked-back, chiseled-jawed politicians? Two wars, the horrible economy, the need for a "Dad" in the driver's seat to see the USA in a Chevrolet? This all-female panel of Boston personalities, Paula Lyons, Joyce Kulhawik, Lauren Beckham Falcone, Jan Saragoni, and moderator Margery Eaganwill explore some voters’ need to hearken back to when kids respected adults and neighbors knew each other. These days, when our government seems to be turning back the clock on women's issues, can style rescue us from weighty substance?

Further background information on participants:
Margery Eagan
Margery Eagan is a veteran columnist with the Boston Herald, a talk radio host, and a frequent guest on CNN, ABC, Fox News, and the Imus in the Morning radio show. Her commentaries include gender/women's issues, Catholicism, and politics. Eagan was hired as a general assignment reporter at the Boston Herald and started her own column in 1984. She served a "refining stint" as a senior writer at Boston Magazine, and returned to her column at the Herald, where she continues currently. She has received two nominations for GLAAD Media Awards in the category of Outstanding Newspaper Columnist. Eagan also currently co-hosts a morning talk radio show with Jim Braude on Boston's WTKK-FM. She is a frequent presence on local Boston area television, notably WGBH's Greater Boston, on which she often appears as a panelist on that program's Friday evening "Beat the Press" edition, summarizing and critiquing media coverage of the prior week's news events.

Lauren Beckham Falcone
Lauren Beckham Falcone is a sidekick on the “Loren & Wally Morning Show” on Boston’s WROR-FM. As the only on-air female member of the show, she reads the news, shares her thoughts on life, and joins in the general fun of the program. She was the winner of the show’s Dancing with the WROR Stars and donated the $500 prize to the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress. Falcone worked at the Boston Herald for almost 18 years most recently as a columnist writing about pop culture, politics, news and other hot topics of the day. An award-winning reporter and columnist for the Herald, she credits her current success as a pop-culture commentator to watching too much TV as a kid and scouring the Internet too much as an adult.

Joyce Kulhawik
Joyce Kulhawik, best known as the Emmy Award-winning Arts and Entertainment Critic for CBS-Boston (WBZ-TV 1981-2008), is currently lending her expertise as an arts advocate and cancer crusader. Kulhawik is the President of the Boston Theatre Critics Association and a Member of the Boston Society of Film Critics. Athree-time cancer survivor, she served as the Honorary Chairperson since 1983 for the American Cancer Society’s largest Spring fundraiser and, as a member of the Society’s Advisory Board, continues to raise millions of dollars for the Society and its First Hope Lodge in Boston. The American Cancer Society honored Kulhawilk with its National Bronze Medal Award for her work. She continues to perform as a Guest Narrator and has performed with the Boston Pops, the New England Philharmonic, Boston Musica Viva, the Boston Civic Symphony, and the Concord Orchestra.

Paula Lyons
Paula Lyons is an executive communications coach and senior communications consultant. As a sought-after speaker, writer, coach and media expert, she provides clients with the advice of a veteran with experienced on both sides of the podium and platform. Prior to joining Bates Communications in 2004, Lyons earned respect and accolades as a top-rated consumer reporter and familiar face on ABC’s Good Morning America, as well as two major market television stations in Boston, WBZ TV (CBS) and WCVB-TV (ABC). She won a number of regional Emmys for her work and for enterprise reporting from the Associated Press. Lyons is a regular panelist on National Public Radio’s weekly comedy quiz show, “Says You.”

Jan Saragoni
Saragoni & Company founder and President Janice M. Saragoni is a Boston native with more than 20 years experience in media relations, marketing and public affairs. Her firm’s experience in diverse business environments provides clients the ability to develop effective communications strategies and build important relationships that allow them to realize their goals. Saragoni has been named to several notable lists, including Boston magazine’s “Fabulous Forty” and its “Fifty Most Powerful People in Boston.” She is a regular on-air contributor to the “Emily Rooney Show” on WGBH-FM, where she co-hosts the “J-Squared” segment with WGBH-TV reporter Jared Bowen. Active in the public arena, Saragoni served as a director of several distinguished organizations including the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, the Massachusetts Lottery Commission, and the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus. She is a member of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF's Women's Lunch Committee and serves on the Executive Committee of Save Venice, an organization dedicated to preserving that city's artistic heritage.

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CONNECTING FOR CHANGE: A Bioneers by the Bay Conference Presented by the Marion Institute
OCTOBER 26-28 2012 
NEW BEDFORD, MA
http://www.marioninstitute.org/connecting-for-change/register

A SOLUTIONS BASED gathering that brings together a diverse audience to create deep and positive change in their communities.  Join the movement.

Editorial Comment:  It costs money but there are many, many good speakers and programs and a pay-what-you-can scholarship option.

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The New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable Presents: The Future of Distributed Generation in New England
October 26, 2012
9 am to 12:30 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston

Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities Chair Ann Berwick kicks off our first panel, The Evolving Regulatory Landscape for Distributed Generation in New England, with a presentation on the Commonwealth's revised net metering rules (including the system/administrator of net metering assurance), and an introduction tothe DPU's soon-to-be-released Notice of Inquiry on Electric Grid Modernization.  Next,Christie Bradway, Manager for Renewable Power Contracts at Northeast Utilities, discusses Connecticut's new, innovative approach to supporting distributed generation through renewable energy credit (LREC & ZREC) auctions, and will share the results of the first auction.

Rounding out the panel is a joint presentation on the recently-filed consensus package recommendations of the Massachusetts DG Interconnection Working Group for a revamped DG interconnection process by co-presenters Fran Cummings, VP at Peregrine Energy Group (who represented SEIA and SEBANE in the Working Group) and Tim Roughan, Director of Energy & Environmental Policy at National Grid.  Fran and Tim also provide their respective DG and utility perspectives on the evolving DG-related policy landscape in New England.

Today, distributed generation (behind the customer meter) in New England is dominated by solar PV installations, with some CHP, small wind, and other niche technologies. Our second panel, Potential Next Wave DG-Related Resources and Technologies, explores a sampling of resources and technologies that could play an increasing role in the distributed generation field in New England, including fuel cells, anaerobic digesters (now eligible for net metering in MA), and shrouded wind turbines.  This panel also looks at the role that battery and other storage technologies can play in firming up distributed generation. We have assembled a wonderful panel of presenters from entrepreneurial DG-related companies, including:

Phil Giudice, CEO & President, Ambri Inc. (battery storage)
Charles Fox, Dir. East Coast Regulatory Affairs, Bloom Energy (fuel cells)
Wayne Davis, Co-Founder/VP Gov't Affairs, Harvest Power (anaerobic)
John Howe, Director of Public Affairs, FloDesign Wind Turbine Corp

Free and open to the public with no advanced registration
Slides and videos from previous Roundtables are available at http://www.raabassociates.org/main/roundtable.asp

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10th Anniversary of Interfaith Power and Light
Sunday October 28, 2012               
2-5 PM
1st Church in Jamaica Plain, 6 Eliot St, Jamaica Plain

BILL McKIBBEN on Building a Movement with Hope
Dialogue with Massachusetts faith leaders:
Rabbi Katy Allen, Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, Rt. Rev. Bud Cederholm and Sr. Alice Laffey
CONCURRENT BREAKOUT SESSIONS on:
How to Become a Builder of the Movement  - Marla Marcum-350.org
Energizing Congregations to be Climate Change Leaders - Jim Hunt, Grace Medford
Shrink Your Energy Bill &Carbon Footprint at Home and at your House of Worship-- Tom Nutt-Powell, MIP&L & Jason Taylor, HEET
MUSIC OFF THE GRID by Melodeego
All Are Welcome -- Donations Gratefully Accepted

For more information: Vince Maraventano at vince@MIPandL.org
RSVP at http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e6cs02ge80f52570&llr=evkqo7bab
 
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MIT Museum Discussion Series on Climate & Conflict
Oct. 30
N51, MIT Museum, 275 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Heat & Violence

Nathan Black, French Environmental Fellow a the Harvard Center for the Environment.

Soap Box: Climate & Conflict
The MIT Museum invites you to contribute to the debate about climate change as we explore fresh new perspectives on politics, profits, and conflict.

Web site: http://mit.edu/museum/programs/soapbox.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact:  Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo@mit.edu

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BUSINESS ETHICS AND OTHER OXYMORONS
Thurs., Nov. 1
7-8:30 pm
C. Walsh Theatre, Suffolk University

Nitin Nohria (Dean, Harvard Business School) and Tom Peters (Business Author);
moderated by Donna Carpenter (CEO, New Word City)

Two of the foremost minds on business, Nitin Nohria, Dean of Harvard Business School, and Thomas J. Peters, author of “In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies,” discuss teaching ethics to business students. Nohria and Peters share their wisdom on morally committing to your business, the misnomer of “corporate responsibility,” and teachable behavior versus intrinsic personal character. With guidance from moderator Donna Carpenter, CEO of New Word City, their conversation will span from partnering with others who aren’t ethical to serving the stakeholders. Between purpose and pay-offs, where are our principles in business today?

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I am pleased to announce that the *Massachusetts Restorative Justice Task Force *will convene a day-long summit *
Building Communities of Care Wherever We Are
Saturday, November 3, 2012
8:30am to 5:00pm
Harvard Law School, Cambridge
Registration and breakfast will be held from 8:30am to 9:00am and the conference will start promptly at 9:00am.

Building Communities of Care Wherever We Are is a day-long gathering that will equip participants with tools to build restorative justice and transformative practices.  We will use a "care lens" wherever there is an opening including:
Schools
Youth centers
Domestic violence and sexual assault centers
Faith communities
Prisons

We will explore perspectives, skills, practices and resources to use with different populations and settings. Participants will experience healing dialogue, peacemaking circles and other innovative approaches to create nurturing communities.

Key topics will include the following:
Examine our own mindsets;
Justice, integrity and community values;
Preventive approaches, hope and healing;
Restorative justice and transformative practices in specific contexts;
Circle practice; and
Building the world we want to create.

Space is limited so register today!  To reserve your spot, please register at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2DB9RY5

Please distribute this announcement to your networks!

We welcome organizations and networks that would like to sign on as conference supporters.  If your organization would like to sign on as a conference supporter, please contact Barbara Best, Children's Defense Fund at bbest@childrensdefense.org

Supporting organizations and networks will be listed in conference materials.

For questions or additional information, please contact Barbara Best,
Children's Defense Fund, bbest@childrensdefense.org (202.320.2328) or
Pierre Berastain, Renewal House, pberastain@uuum.org (214.957.0363)

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Censoring Children
Wednesday, November 7
7pm
First Parish (Unitarian Universalist), 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge

MIT's Noam Chomsky and Barbara Lubin of the Middle East Children's Alliance discuss A Child's View of Gaza,  the book of Palestinian children's artwork slated for exhibition
at the  Oakland Museum of Children's Art. The exhibition was canceled at the  last minute without explanation. Have children become pawns in a larger conflict? How has this come about? What does it say about the  possibilities for peaceful resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian  impasse?

Co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, Boston;  American Jews for a Just Peace;  and the Middle East Education Group at First Parish in Cambridge.

Cambridge Forum
617-495-2727
http://www.cambridgeforum.org
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL53E08C59DDCA4890

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Opportunity

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Where is the best yogurt on the planet made? Somerville, of course!

Join the Somerville Yogurt Making Cooperative and get a weekly quart of the most thick, creamy, rich and tart yogurt in the world. Membership in the coop costs $2.50 per quart. Members share the responsibility for making yogurt in our kitchen located just outside of Davis Sq. in FirstChurch.  No previous yogurt making experience is necessary.

For more information checkout.
https://sites.google.com/site/somervilleyogurtcoop/home

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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, see
http://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/

Cambridge Civic Journal  http://www.rwinters.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/Johnny_Monsarrat/index.html

http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/

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