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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Greening the Empire State Building http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/10/1015400/-Greening-the-Empire-State-Building
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Editorial Comment: This may be getting a little unwieldy. The number of events may be getting out of control. In any case, let me know how this firehose start to the new academic year is working out.
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Broadband Wireless Communications at Very High Speeds: Challenges and Opportunities
Pingzhi Fan , Director Institute of Mobile Communications, Southwest Jiatong University
When: Sep 12, 2011 | 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Where: Maxwell Dworkin Building, DG135, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
In the blink of an eye, you may miss the 350 km/h high-speed train as it thunders by, not mentioning the 574 km/h French TGV track train (April 2007) or the 581 km/h Japanese JR-Maglev train (December 2003). Recently, there have been growing interests to deliver true broadband wireless internet services to high-speed train passengers. To provide the broadband wireless services in such a high mobility environment, a number of technical challenges should be tackled, such as the severe Doppler shift problem, fast fading channel characteristics, fast power control and fast handover issues. The focus of this talk is on the anti-Doppler problem techniques, mobility management and network architecture.
Speaker Biography: Pingzhi Fan, PhD(U.K.), Fellow of IET(IEE), CIE and CIC. He is currently a professor and director of the institute of mobile communications, Southwest Jiaotong University, PRC, and a guest professor of Leeds University, UK (1997-), a guest professor Shanghai Jiaotong University (1999-). He was a recipient of the UK ORS Award (1992), and the NSFC Outstanding Young Scientist Award (1998). He is the founding chair of IEEE Chengdu Section, the chair of IEEE BS VTS Chapter, the board member IET/IEE Asia Pacific Region, and served as the IEEE Region 10 EXCOM member and MD Chair in 2007/08. He served as the general chair or TPC chair of a number of international conferences, such as IWSDA’11, ICCT’11, CMC’10, WiCOM’10, IWSDA’09, ITW’06, SETA’06, ITST’06, VTC'05-Fall (TT), PDCAT'04 and IWSDA’01 etc. He also serves as the guest editor-in-chief of the IEICE Trans on Fundamentals, and guest editor or editorial member of several other international journals. He is the author of over 150 international English journal papers and Chinese journals, and eight books. He is an inventor of 25 patents. His research interests include broadband wireless communications, information theory & coding, etc. (http://sist.swjtu.edu.cn/imc/pzfan/)
Host: Vahid Tarokh
Contact: Kathleen LaFrance
kath@seas.harvard.edu
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Fall 2011 Brown Bag Series: Housing in the Commonwealth & Greater Boston
Monday, September 12, 2011 at 12:00 PM
The State of the Nation's Housing 2011
with Eric S. Belsky, Managing Director; Chris Herbert, Research Director; and Daniel McCue, Research Manager, Joint Center for Housing Studies
Harvard Graduate School of Design
48 Quincy Street, Gund Hall, Portico 123, Cambridge, MA
All events are free and open to the public.
For more information, contact Angela Flynn atangela_flynn@harvard.edu or (617) 495-7908.
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September 12 | Monday | ETIP/Consortium Energy Policy Seminar Series
Benchmarking and the Regulation of Electricity Distribution Companies
12-1:30| Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, Harvard, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA
Massimo Filipini
University of Lugano
www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/events.htm
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Monday, September 12, 2011
Science Impact Collaborative Luncheon
Speaker: Tijs van Maasakkers, PHD Candidate, DUSP and Assistant Director, Science Impact Collaborative
Time: 12:00p–2:00p
Location: MIT Building 9-554, 77 Mass Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Science Impact Collaborative Luncheon
The Art and Science of Creating an Ecosystem Services Market
Ecosystem services are the fundamental benefits we derive from the functioning of the environment. Efforts to create and restore ecosystem services may be facilitated by the creation of new "markets" at the watershed scale. In this presentation, the first case studies of efforts to create an ecosystem services market in the Willamette River Basin, in Oregon will be reviewed.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/dusp/epp/music/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): DUSP, EPP
For more information, contact:
Nina Tamburello
617.253.1509
ninat@mit.edu
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Monday, September 12, 2011
Price Volatility and Stability in Electric Markets
Speaker: Ralph Masiello, Innovation Director and Senior Vice President, KEMA; Jessica Harrison, Principal Consultant, KEMA
Time: 1:00p–2:00p
Location: MIT Building 56-154, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA
KEMA has recently developed analyses and simulations of the interaction of new classes of load behavior in energy markets. The analyses include the day ahead, hour ahead, and intra-hour / real time markets and their interactions. The new classes of load behavior include ?Dispatchable Demand Response? (under the real time scheduling and control of the market); autonomous Dynamic Price response (load reacting to market prices), and Self Optimizing Customers (with embedded generation/storage who can adjust their hourly load to published day ahead prices). The technical performance of different categories of generation as well as different end use loads (refrigeration, HVAC, water heating, lighting, etc) are considered.
The work exposes price volatility and instability in the different market time periods based on the penetrations of the different load classes. It also explores how market operations can be stabilized if the load elasticity is understood and considered in the market clearing process. The alignment of load dynamic performance (response time, duration of response, etc) with market periodicities is also explored. Some explanation of observed market dynamic behavior can be related to recent MIT work as well as economic theory (the Cobweb theorem) or to simplified feedback systems models and stability criteria.
Web site: web.mit.edu/mitei
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact:
Jameson Twomey
617-324-2408
jtwomey@mit.edu
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Monday, September 12, 2011
Starr Forum: Palestinian Statehood and the UN
Speaker: Dr. Husam Zomlot
Time: 3:00p–4:30p
Location: MIT E40-496, Lucian Pye Conference Room, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge MA
A talk and Q&A with Dr. Husam Zomlot
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Dr. Husam Zomlot, a senior adviser to Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath, served as PLO representative to the UK from 2003 to 2008, among other high-level posts. He was a fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center and is author of "State Formation in Palestine."
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, the Middle East Forum at Harvard's Center for Middle Eastern Studies
For more information, contact:
starrforum@mit.edu
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Connectomics
Hanspeter Pfister , Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University
When: Sep 12, 2011 | 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Where: Maxwell Dworkin Building, DG115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
Our modern ability to acquire and generate huge amounts of data can potentially enable rapid progress in science and engineering, but we may not live up that promise if our ability to create data outstrips our ability to make sense of that data. In this talk I will present some of my work in visualization and computer graphics -- or visual computing -- that addresses this challenge. In visualization we use graphical techniques to gain insights into the data, whereas in computer graphics we acquire data to enhance the fidelity of our models. After a brief overview of some of my previous work in graphics and visualization, I will focus on our work on visual computing in Connectomics, a new field in neuroscience that aims to apply biology and computer science to the grand challenge of determining the detailed neural circuitry of the brain. I will give an overview of the computational challenges and describe interactive visualization approaches that we developed to discover and analyze the brain's neural network. The key to our methods is to keep the user in the loop, either for providing input to our downstream reconstruction methods, or for validation and corrections of the reconstructed neural structures. The main challenges we face are how to visualize petabytes of image data in an efficient and scalable way, how to automatically reconstruct very large and dense neural circuits from the nanoscale-resolution electron micrographs, and how to analyze the brain's neural network once we have discovered it.
Speaker Biography: Hanspeter Pfister is Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. His research in visual computing lies at the intersection of visualization, computer graphics, and computer vision. It spans a wide range of topics, including bio-medical visualization, 3D reconstruction, GPU computing, and data-driven methods in computer graphics. Before joining Harvard he worked for over a decade at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories where he was most recently Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist. Dr. Pfister has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He is the recipient of the 2010 IEEE Visualization Technical Achievement award. He has authored over 40 US patents and over 70 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, including 18 ACM SIGGRAPH papers, the premier forum in Computer Graphics. He is co-editor of the first textbook on Point-Based Computer Graphics, published by Elsevier in 2007. You can contact him at pfister@seas.harvard.edu.
Contact: Gioia Sweetland
gioia@seas.harvard.edu 617-495-2919
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Monday, September 12, 2011
MIT Energy Club Information Session
Time: 4:00p–5:00p
Location: MIT, Building 1-190, 77 Mass Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Passionate about energy? Come learn about MIT's largest and most active student club with over 3000 members and more than 100 events a year. We will cover all the ways the MIT student energy community is working to tackle the energy challenge and how you can get involved. Representatives from the Energy Night, Energy Conference, Clean Energy Prize, and Energy Finance Forum will also be available. Pizza will be served!
Web site: www.mitenergyclub.org
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
energyclub@mit.edu
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Monday, September 12, 2011
Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell Electrode Microstructures: Making Sense of the Internal Framework Affecting Gas Transport
Speaker: Dr. Jeff Hanna, MIT
Time: 4:15p–5:15p
Location: MIT Building 1-242, 77 Mass Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Center for Energy and Propulsion Research Seminar Series
Optimal electrodes for solid-oxide fuel cells will combine high porosity for gas diffusion, high phase connectivity for ion and electron conduction, and high surface area for chemical and electrochemical reactions. Tracer-diffusion simulations are used to gain a better understanding of the interplay between microstructure and transport in porous materials. Results indicate that the coefficient of diffusion through a porous medium is a function of the details of the internal geometry (microscopic) and porosity (macroscopic). I report that current solid-oxide fuel cell electrodes produced from high-temperature sintering of ceramic powders severely hinder gas transport because the resulting structures are highly tortuous, complex three-dimensional networks. In addition, poor phase connectivities will assuredly limit ion and electron transport, as well as the density of active sites for power-producing reactions. With new access to a wide range of technologies, micro- and nano-fabrication capabilities, and high-performance materials, there is a new ability to engineer the fuel cell electrode architecture, optimizing the physical processes within, increasing performance, and greatly reducing cost per kilowatt. Even simple packed-sphere and inverse-opal architectures will increase gas diffusion by an order of magnitude, and provide a higher level of connectivity than traditional powder-based structures.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): RGD Lab
For more information, contact:
Patrick Kirchen
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Monday, September 12, 2011
from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM (ET)
Speaking Mathematically: Exploring How Students Align Mathematical Language with Narrative Description
Michelle Wilkerson-Jerde, Assistant Professor, Dept of Education, Tufts University
200 College Ave, Tufts, Nelson Auditorium, Medford, MA 02155
Tufts STEM Education Lecture Series
Open to the public. All are welcome.
Abstract:Mathematical and quantitative models are a powerful way to make sense of and navigate our world. But often, the ways we describe such models can seem unrelated to the events they represent. This is especially true when mathematical models are used to describe complex systems comprised of multiple, interacting entities. For example, we describe a population as "exponentially growing" even as we assume individuals' chance of reproduction remains constant over time; or as "stable" even as members are born and die.
In this presentation, I will describe DeltaTick: a set of simulation construction tools designed to help students explore the connections between the behavior of elements in a system, and the mathematical trends those behaviors produce. DeltaTick provides a new way for students to model patterns of change that emerge from multiple, interactive causes. I will then present my ongoing analysis of "The Real World Critics": three high school PreCalculus students who, over the course of a 40-minute session with DeltaTick, work to align their everyday understandings of population dynamics with the languages of rate and accumulation, probability, biology, and their peers. This alignment enables the group to explore what mathematical predictions they are able to make, how to test those predictions, and what kinds of phenomena can be appropriately represented using a given model.
Bio: Michelle Wilkerson-Jerde received her PhD from the Learning Science Program at Northwestern University. Wilkerson-Jerde's thesis was studying and building tools to support how high schoolers make sense of quantitative trends that reflect complex systems - systems where many interacting events and entities contribute to the same pattern. Understanding change over time in these systems can prepare students as active and informed citizens, provide them with new access point to formal mathematical topics such as calculus and differential/difference equations, and provide them a better foundation for entering the natural and social sciences. Some of Wilkerson-Jerde's work earned Best Student Paper from the American Educational Research Association's Special Interest Groups in Learning Sciences and Advanced Technologies for Learning. Currently Wilkerson-Jerde is an Assistant Professor in the Deptartment of Education at Tufts University.
For more Lecture Series, please go to http://ceeo.tufts.edu/News-and-Events-Seminars/seminars.html
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“Politics and the Divisions of Knowledge”
WHEN Mon., Sep. 12, 2011, 5 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Robinson Hall, Basement Conference Room
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Charles Warren Center
SPEAKER(S)
David Engerman (Brandeis)
David Kaiser (M.I.T.)
Louis Menand (Harvard)
CONTACT INFO lkennedy@fas.harvard.edu
LINK http://warrencenter.fas.harvard.edu/PanelFlyer.pdf
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News and Entertainment in the Digital Age: A Vast Wasteland Revisited
WHEN Mon., Sep. 12, 2011, 5 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School, venue to be announced
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Humanities, Information Technology, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Berkman Center for Internet & Society and Dean's Office at HLS
SPEAKER(S)
Featuring Newt Minow (former chairman of the FCC / Sidley Austin), Dean Martha Minow (Harvard Law School), Ann Marie Lipinski (Nieman Foundation), Jonathan Alter (Bloomberg View), Terry Fisher (Harvard Law School), Yochai Benkler (Harvard Law School), John Palfrey (Harvard Law School), Jonathan Zittrain (Harvard Law School), and many others
Special guests include Susan Crawford (Cardozo School of Law), Perry Hewitt (Harvard University), Ellen Goodman (Rutgers University School of Law - Camden), Reed Hundt (former chairman of the FCC), Kevin Martin (former chairman of the FCC / Patton Boggs), Nicholas Negroponte (One Laptop per Child), Tim Wu (Columbia Law School), Ethan Zuckerman (C4/Berkman Center), and others
COST Free, RSVP required
CONTACT INFO ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu
NOTE How do new networked communications technologies nourish or otherwise alter the wasteland? This event will facilitate a conversation that focuses on the relationship between market regulation and the public sphere, and what that means for media, political processes, democracy and civic discourse in the United States. Drawing on the participation of Newt Minow and other special guests along with faculty and fellows from the Berkman Center and Harvard, the event will explore the future of journalism and the role of the state in the construction of the public sphere.
RSVP Required as space is limited: cyber.law.harvard.edu…
LINK http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2011/09/vastwasteland
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Sous-vide Cooking: The Future of Healthy Cooking?
WHEN Mon., Sep. 12, 2011, 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Science Center C, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
SPEAKER(S)
Joan Roca (El Celler de Can Roca)
COST Free. All our welcome to attend.
LINK https://www.seas.harvard.edu/cooking
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9/12/2011
Discussion/Signing - Nassir Ghaemi
"A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness"
An investigation into the surprisingly deep correlation between mental illness and successful leadership, as seen through some of history's greatest politicians, generals, and business people.
Time: 07:00 PM-08:00 PM
The Harvard Coop Bookstore, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue and 18 Palmer Street, Cambridge, MA 02238
Location: Level 3
Contact (617)499-2000
http://harvardcoopbooks.bncollege.com/
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Tuesday, September 13
11 am
MA State House steps, Boston, MA
Former U.S. Senator and potential 2012 presidential candidate Mike Gravel is reportedly preparing a major announcement about the September 11th attacks. He will be joined by the Honorable US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Both of them are strong critics of the official 9/11 narrative and the Bush and Obama administrations.
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Tuesday, September 13, 12 p.m.
"Covering the White House in a Bare-knuckled Media Culture."
Jessica Yellin, chief White House correspondent for CNN.
Nye AB, Taubman Building, 5th Floor, Shorenstein Center, Harvard Kennedy School, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
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Rebuilding Japan
WHEN Tue., Sep. 13, 2011, 12:15 – 1:45 p.m.
WHERE Lower Level Conference Room,
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, 27 Kirkland Street at Cabot Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Sponsored by the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Robert Feldman, director of Economic Research Department and managing director, Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co., Ltd.
Michael Reich
Taro Takemi Professor of International Health Policy, and Director, Takemi
Program in International Health, Harvard School of Public Health
Theodore C. Bestor
Reischauer Institute Professor of Social Anthropology and Japanese Studies,
and Chair, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
COST Free
CONTACT INFO xtian@wcfia.harvard.edu
LINK www.wcfia.harvard.edu…
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Environmental Policy and Planning Welcome Lunch
Time: 12:30p–1:30p
Location: MIT Building 7-338, 77 Mass Avenue, Cambridge, MA
EPP Luncheon Series
Please join us on Tuesday, September 13th for an EPP welcome lunch! Catch up with EPP students and faculty, learn what we'll be working on this year and enjoy some delicious food (which will be available until we run out).
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): EPP, DUSP
For more information, contact:
Nina Tamburello
617.253.1509
ninat@mit.edu
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Indigenous technology design and its challenges
Christopher Hoadley, Educational Communications and Technology program at New York University
Tuesday, September 13, 12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor
RSVP required for those attending in person to Amar Ashar (ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu)
This event will be webcast (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast) live at 12:30 pm ET and archived on our site shortly after.
While many well meaning efforts bring technology design to bear on problems in developing economies, such as Google People Finder, One Laptop Per Child, etc., fewer efforts involve local participants or settings in the design process. I share some of our work on collaboration with youth, NGOs, and technologists in India, Nepal, and Bhutan, and highlight some of the challenges in trying to create indigenous design capacity in places like these. I explore an ecological metaphor of 'invasive and non-invasive species' for different types of technology in new settings, with an eye towards discussing what makes a technology 'invasive' and how healthy technological ecosystems might be developed.
About Christopher
Dr. Chris Hoadley is an associate professor and director of the Educational Communications and Technology program at New York University. He designs, builds, and studies ways for computers to enhance collaboration and learning. Hoadley has degrees in cognitive science, computer science, and education from MIT and the University of California at Berkeley, and currently his research focuses on collaborative technologies and computer support for cooperative learning (CSCL). Other interests include research on and through design, systems for supporting social capital and distributed intelligence (especially for educational reform), the role of informatics and digital libraries in education, the psychology of computer programming, sustainability education, and science and engineering education.
Hoadley is the director of dolcelab, the Laboratory for Design Of Learning, Collaboration & Experience. He is an affiliate scholar for the National Academy of Engineering's Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering Education (CASEE). Hoadley previously chaired the American Educational Research Association's Special Interest Group for Education in Science and Technology (now SIG: Learning Sciences), and served as the first President of the International Society for the Learning Sciences. For the 2008-2009 school year, he was a Fulbright Scholar in South Asia studying educational technology in rural Himalayan villages.
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September Growing GIBN Conversation
Employee Engagement in Sustainability Efforts
Date: September 13, 2011
Time: 2pm ET
Call-in information: (760) 569-9000, Code: 160031#
Please join us by sending your RSVP to info@digin.org
We will be joined by Asheen Phansey of Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corp. who will share thoughts and recent research on employee engagement for sustainability, and Randi Braunwalder of HP who will provide case studies of HP's work on employee engagement. We look forward to your participation.
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September 13
4:00–6:00 pm
MIT Building E19-623, 400 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
How the Hippies Saved Physics
David Kaiser, Professor of the History of Science, Department Head, Program in Science, Technology and Society, and Senior Lecturer, Department of Physics,
Knight Science Journalism Fellowships
With the exception of those marked "Fellows Only," our seminars are open to guests.
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Syria: Implications for the Fall of the Regime and Beyond
WHEN Tue., Sep. 13, 2011, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Middle East Initiative, Belfer Center
SPEAKER(S) Najib Saliba, professor of history, Worcester State College
LINK http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/5558/syria.html
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011
MIT Energy Club Opening Social
Time: 5:00p–7:00p
Location: MIT Building E14-648, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA
Come kick off the semester right at the MIT Energy Club Opening Social and get to know all the outstanding people that are making a difference in meeting the energy needs of tomorrow today. Hosted on the 6th floor of the Media Lab with refreshment, drinks (cash bar) and a gorgeous view of the Charles River, this is one event you do not want to miss.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
energyclub@mit.edu
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Throw it Against the IDEAS Wall @ MIT
Time: 5:00p–8:00p
Location: MIT Building 32, Stata Student Street, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA
t=0 / a festival of entrepreneurship at MIT
WHAT IS IT?
Lots of people taking over MIT?s Stata Sreet to throw ideas against the wall for a big brainstorming, meet and greet and explore session. The goal: help ignite ideas that can be carried forward as entrepreneurial pursuits, social impact projects, and much more. We believe that innovation often starts with knowing the right question(s). Many areas (health, education, sanitation, appropriate technologies, and much more) will be represented.
To be thrown against the IDEAS wall: The problems worth solving. The ideas worth spreading and the futures worth building.
Come join. Come explore. Bring your questions. Bring your inventions, creations and tinkerings. Bring your creativity.
This is one of the kick-off events for t=0, a festival of entrepreneurship being held at MIT.
Web site: http://globalchallenge.mit.edu/events/view/170
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Tickets: globalchallenge@mit.edu
Sponsor(s): MIT IDEAS Competition, Public Service Center
For more information, contact:
Kate Mytty
5-5474
globalchallenge@mit.edu
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September 11: Memory, Vision, Practice
WHEN Tue., Sep. 13, 2011, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
WHERE Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Graduate School of Design
SPEAKER(S)
Krzysztof Wodiczko, Harvard GSD
Erika Naginski, Harvard GSD
Mark Jarzombek, MIT
Kirk Savage, University of Pittsburgh
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO events@gsd.harvard.edu
NOTE The context of the recent September 11 commemoration, during the opening of the WTC Memorial as well as memorials in other U.S. cities, asks for analytical and critical reflection, and design imagination regarding the past, the present and the future of memorials.
Present day discussion on “temporary memorials,” “counter-monuments, or “fleeting monuments” demands renewed historical, theoretical, design and artistic discussion on the aim, function, form, commemorative programs, methodology and technology of a memorial.
LINK http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/events/september-11-memory-vision-practice.html
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Dorkbot Boston - September Edition
9/13, 7:30 p.m. @ Sprout
Open Source Research
Our special guest speaker will be Avery, an active participant in the global network called DIYBio, which brings encourages empowers citizens to do their own biological research. Avery will talk about open source research and DIY bio's mission.
Directions to Sprout: (http://thesprouts.org/studios)
339R Summer St. / Somerville, MA / 02144 — "we're in the back, down the driveway to the left of the red apartment building"
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September 14 and 15
Current TV 24 Hours of Green Programming
WHAT IS 24 HOURS OF REALITY?
24 Presenters. 24 Time Zones. 13 Languages. 1 Message. 24 Hours of Reality is a worldwide event to broadcast the reality of the climate crisis. It will consist of a new multimedia presentation created by Al Gore and delivered once per hour for 24 hours, in every time zone around the globe. Each hour people living with the reality of climate change will connect the dots between recent extreme weather events — including floods, droughts and storms — and the manmade pollution that is changing our climate. We will offer a round-the-clock, round-the-globe snapshot of the climate crisis in real time. The deniers may have millions of dollars to spend, but we have a powerful advantage. We have reality.
http://climaterealityproject.org/
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CitySprouts
September 14, 11-1, with *BYO picnic* lunch
Morse School, 40 Granite Street, Cambridge, MA
CitySprouts introduces school gardens as a core element of children's public school education. Learn more about this successful model, tour the outdoor classroom garden, and find out about the innovative teacher support plan they have designed to ensure an effective and enjoyable experience for teachers and students (for example take a peek at City Sprouts' Essential Plant and Design List on the network webpage). Jane S. Hirschi, Founder and Executive Director will be on site to facilitate the tour and answer any questions about this remarkable program.
Based in Cambridge, MA, CitySprouts school gardens ensure that hands-on learning, environmental stewardship, and the experience of growing and eating food becomes part of the public education all children receive.
Please RSVP to Becky or Margaret at Appleton Farms: afeducator@ttor.org
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Defense Strategy in a Time of Budget Austerity
Speaker: Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Forces, U.S. Dept. of Defense
Time: 12:00p–1:30p
Location: MIT E40-496
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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Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Energy 101 : Biofuels
Speaker: Mark Wright
Time: 12:30p–1:30p
Location: MIT 3-133
Energy 101 Series
Presenting the basics of various energy-related topics.
Energy 101 lectures on biofuels. FREE FOOD.
Web site: http://www.mitenergyclub.org/events-and-programs/energy-101
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
aziz_a@mit.edu
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Discovering Knowledge from Massive Data and Social Networks,
ECE Distinguished Lecture Series with Professor Alok N. Choudhary
4:00 pm on
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Location:Photonics Center, 8 Saint Mary’s St., Room 211
URL:http://www.bu.edu/ece/files/2011/08/dl.choudhary.09.14.11.pdf
Refreshments will be served outside Room 339 at 3:45 p.m.
Abstract: Knowledge discovery in science and engineering has been driven by theory, experiments and more recently by large-scale simulations using high-performance computers (HPC). Modern experiments and simulations involving satellites, telescopes, high-throughput instruments, imaging devices, sensor networks, accelerators, and supercomputers yield massive amounts of data. At the same time, the world, including social communities, is creating massive amounts of data at an astonishing pace. Just consider Facebook, Google, articles, papers, images, videos and others. But, even more complex is the network that connects the creators of data. There is knowledge to be discovered in both. This represents a significant and interesting challenge for HPC and opens opportunities for accelerating knowledge discovery.
In this talk, followed by an introduction to high-end data mining and the basic knowledge discovery paradigm, Professor Choudhary will present the process, challenges and potential for this approach. He will present many case examples, results and future directions including (1) mining sentiments from massive datasets on the web; (2) real-time stream mining of text from millions of tweets to identify influencers and sentiments of people; (3) discovering knowledge from massive social networks containing millions of nodes and hundreds of billions of edges from Facebook, Twitter and other social network sites (e.g., can anyone follow presidential campaigns in real-time?); and (4) discovering knowledge from massive datasets from science applications including climate, medicine, biology and sensors. The talk will be illustrative and example-driven and may include one or two live demonstrations.
About the Speaker: Alok Choudhary is a John G. Searle Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Northwestern University. He is the founding director of the Center for Ultra-scale Computing and Information Security (CUCIS). Professor Choudhary was a co-founder and VP of Technology at Accelchip Inc. in 2000, a company that was eventually acquired by Xilinx. He received the National Science Foundation's Young Investigator Award in 1993. He has also received an IEEE Engineering Foundation award, an IBM Faculty Development award, and an Intel Research Council award.
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September 14 | Wednesday|
Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy
Intermittency and the Value of Renewable Energy
4:10-5:30| Littauer 382, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
Gautam Gowrisankaran
University of Arizona
www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/events.htm
------------------------------
"Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure: Creating Value by Design"
WHEN Wed., Sep. 14, 2011, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy St, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Business, Conferences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at Harvard GSD www.gsd.harvard.edu…
SPEAKER(S) Peter J. Park, former planning director of Milwaukee and Denver
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO Infrastructure@gsd.harvard.edu
NOTE The looming cost of maintaining and building transportation systems in the U.S. is staggering, while overcoming decades of automobile-dominated sprawl has become a national imperative. Peter Park will discuss approaches to infrastructure that are reshaping cities in ways that enhance linkages between transportation and land use, demonstrate new possibilities for urban regeneration, and create places of lasting value.
LINK http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/events/peter-park-sustainable-transportation-infrastructure-creating.html
Editorial Comment: This event is part of A Roadmap to Sustainable Infrastructures & Green Cities Conference from September 14-16, 2011, at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Cost: $50 student, $100 academic or non-profit, $250 professional. Looks like it could be worth it.
---------------------------
Revolutionary Changes for Revolutionary Needs
WHEN Thu., Sep. 15, 2011, 1:15 – 2:15 p.m.
WHERE Bell Hall, 5th Floor Belfer Building, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government
SPEAKER(S) Paul O'Neill, former U.S. Treasury secretary
CONTACT INFO Please RSVP to MRCBG@ksg.harvard.edu
NOTE Lunch will be served.
LINK http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/events.htm
-----------------------------
Thursday, September 15, 2011
CTL Distinguished Speaker Series
“Performance-Driven or Bust: The Future of Federal Transportation Policy”
Joshua Shank, ENO Transportation Foundation President and CEO, will be discussing future prospects for federal transportation policy.
Time: 12:30pm
Location: MIT Building W20-407, 84 Mass Avenue, Cambridge, MA
---------------------------
Brazil Studies Program Seminar - Experiences in Innovative Community Journalism in Brazil
WHEN Thu., Sep. 15, 2011, 12 – 2 p.m.
WHERE CGIS South, S-050, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Education, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
SPEAKER(S) Gilberto Dimenstein, journalist, Folha de São Paulo, founder, Catraca Livre and Cidade Escola
CONTACT INFO brazil@fas.harvard.edu
NOTE A Brazilian lunch will be served.
LINK http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/brazil/events/dimenstein-2011-09
------------------------------
Computational Sustainability Seminar: Infrared Street Scanning
Speaker: Sanjay Sarma, MIT Mechancial Engineering
Date: Thursday, September 15 2011
Time: 3:00PM to 4:00PM
Refreshments: 2:50PM
Location: MIT 32-D463 (Star Conference Room), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA
Host: Brian Williams, CSAIL
Contact: Zico Kolter, kolter@csail.mit.edu
Relevant URL: http://projects.csail.mit.edu/compsust/seminar_f11/
Abstract: US buildings built after 2000 consume 40% less energy than those built before 1950. Given that between 25 and 40% of the energy consumed by US buildings goes toward heating and cooling, and most US buildings were built before 2000, energy-oriented retrofitting is a key initiative that has drawn billions of dollars in terms of investments and incentives from the the federal government and state governments. The problem is that much of the retrofitting, also called weatherizing, is being done with a broad brush. Identifying the problems -- leaks, construction deficiencies, damage -- is painfully time consuming and expensive. I will present our work in viewing buildings from the street using long-wave infrared (LWIR), which can be used to estimate the temperature of a surface. On a cold day, a building with good insulation should have a cold surface; if the surface is warm, low thermal resistance is the likely cause. This can be used to pinpoint the places where retrofits should be applied, ensuring a better return on the investments that home-owners and governments make. We have built a system similar to Google Streetview, but using LWIR, which can, in principle, be used to assess building stock on a national scale and help prioritize repairs.
Bio: Sanjay Sarma is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He co-founded the Auto-ID Center at MIT and developed many of the key technologies behind the EPC suite of RFID standards now used worldwide. He was also the the founder and CTO of OATSystems, which was acquired by Checkpoint Systems (NYSE: CKP) in 2008. He several on the boards of GS1, EPCglobal and several startup companies. Dr. Sarma received his Bachelors from the Indian Institute of Technology, his Masters from Carnegie Mellon University and his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. Sarma also worked at Schlumberger Oilfield Services in Aberdeen, UK, and at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories in Berkeley, California. His current research interests are street scanning, sensing, RFID, logistics and manufacturing.
---------------------------------
Thursday, September 15, 2011
FYI--MIT Political Science Distinguished Speaker Series:
Forum on Rebuilding the American Economy
co-sponsored with PIE (Production in the Innovation Economy)
Richard Locke, Susan Hockfield, Ron Bloom, Robert Solow
Time: 3-6pm
Location: MIT, Wong Auditorium, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA
-------------------------------
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Atomic Level View toward Electrode Surfaces in Solid Oxide Fuel and Electrolysis Cells
Speaker: Prof. Bilge Yildiz
Time: 4:00p–5:00p
Location: MIT Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA
Materials Science and Engineering Seminar Series
The series is sponsored by the Center for Materials Science and Engineering, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Materials Processing Center. Join the materials science and engineering seminar mailing list at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/matseminars
A major contributor to the performance limitation in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) and Electrolysis Cells (SOEC) is the slow kinetics of the oxygen exchange on the electrode surface. Design of novel materials with highly active surfaces requires an improved fundamental understanding of the surface atomic and electronic structures that control the kinetics of the reactions and ion transport. In this seminar, I will present how new in situ characterization methods and first principles-based computational methods together enable us to probe the reactivity and transport mechanisms in SOFC/SOEC materials. In particular, we rely on in situ scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy at high temperatures to reveal the dynamic changes in the reactivity of electrode surfaces. Correlations of the electronic and chemical state to the electrocatalytic activity on the surfaces of dense thin-film perovskite oxide electrodes will be presented, including the recently discovered effects of lattice strain and hetero-interfaces.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Materials Science & Engineering, Materials Processing Center, Materials@MIT
--------------------------
4:00–6:00 pm
MIT Building E19-623, 400 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
Society's Nervous System: Building Effective Government, Energy, and Public Health Systems
Alex "Sandy" Pentland, Director, Human Dynamics Laboratory; Director, Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, MIT
Knight Science Journalism Fellowships
seminars are open to guests
--------------------------------
10 Years after 9/11: The State of Our Affairs
WHEN Thu., Sep. 15, 4 p.m. – Fri., Sep. 16, 2011, 3 p.m.
WHERE Science Center, Lecture Hall D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
Tsai Auditorium, CGIS South
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on Constitutional Government
DIRECTED BY Harvey Mansfield
-------------------------------
The Durability of Authoritarianism Reconsidered: Lessons of the Arab Spring
WHEN Thu., Sep. 15, 2011, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, WCFIA, Bowie-Vernon Room (K-262)
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
SPEAKER(S) Eva Bellin, Myra and Robert Kraft Professor of Arab Politics at Brandeis University
CONTACT INFO Elizabeth Lawler: elawler@wcfia.harvard.edu
NOTE This is a session of the Middle East Seminar.
LINK http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/seminars/middle_east
-------------------------------
How Watson Learns Superhuman Jeopardy! Strategies
Speaker: Gerry Tesauro, IBM Research
Date: Thursday, September 15 2011
Time: 4:30PM to 5:30PM
Refreshments: 4:15PM
Location: MIT Building 32-123, 33 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA
Host: Leslie Kaelbling, CSAIL
Contact: Colleen Russell, 3-0145, crussell@csail.mit.edu
Major advances in Question Answering technology were needed for Watson to play Jeopardy! at championship level -- the show requires rapid-fire answers to challenging natural language questions, broad general knowledge, high precision, and accurate confidence estimates. In addition, Jeopardy! features four types of decision making carrying great strategic importance: (1) selecting the next clue when in control of the board; (2) deciding whether to attempt to buzz in; (3) wagering on Daily Doubles; (4) wagering in Final Jeopardy. This talk describes how Watson makes the above decisions using innovative quantitative methods that, in principle, maximize Watson's overall winning chances. We first describe our development of faithful simulation models of human contestants and the Jeopardy! game environment. We then present specific learning/optimization methods used in each strategy algorithm: these methods span a range of popular AI research topics, including Bayesian inference, game theory, Dynamic Programming, Reinforcement Learning, and real-time "rollouts." Application of these methods yielded superhuman game strategies for Watson that significantly enhanced in its overall competitive record.
Joint work with David Gondek, Jon Lenchner, James Fan and John Prager.
Gerald Tesauro is a Research Staff Member at IBM's TJ Watson Research Center. He is best known for developing TD-Gammon, a self-teaching neural network that learned to play backgammon at human world championship level. He has also worked on theoretical and applied machine learning in a wide variety of other settings, including multi-agent learning, dimensionality reduction, computer virus recognition, computer chess (Deep Blue), intelligent e-commerce agents and autonomic computing. Tesauro has a PhD in theoretical physics from Princeton University.
---------------------------
Venture Cafe Night with Microsoft Bing! Findable and Fundable #SEO #Food #Swag
Thursday, September 15, 2011 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM (ET)
The Venture Cafe at Cambridge Innovation Center, 4th Floor, 1 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142
Come for a fun night of learning, mingling, food and swag! Microsoft Bing will be on-site at Venture Cafe with a special visit from Duane Forrester, Bing's SEO expert and author of two books: How To Make Money With Your Blog and Turn Clicks Into Customers. Shasta Ventures' Jacob Mullins (investors in Mint.com), will kickoff the evening by talking with startups about how to become fundable.
Visit the swag table to obtain your own Bing startup love kit (neat gadgets inside) and learn about Microsoft Bing's startup program from Bing Senior Program Manager Betsy Aoki.
5-6 p.m: Jacob Mullins of Shasta Ventures talks with startups about being fundable
6-8 p.m: Mingle with Duane Forrester, Microsoft Bing and Jacob Mullins, Shasta Ventures to ask your questions, gain answers over food and drink
Duane Forrester, Microsoft Bing
Duane Forrester is a Sr. Product Manager with Bing’s Webmaster Program. Previously, he was an inhouse SEM running the SEO program for MSN in the US &
Americas. He's also the founding co-chair of SEMPO's In-House SEM Committee, was formerly on the Board of Directors for SEMPO and is the author of two books: How To Make Money With Your Blog & Turn Clicks Into Customers. Duane was a moderator at www.searchengineforums.com and maintains his own blog at www.theonlinemarketingguy.com. When writing for Search Engine Land, Duane's main focus was on in-house search marketing, both what it took to manage it, and who folks were in the industry.
Jacob Mullins, Shasta Ventures
Jacob joined Shasta Ventures in the summer of 2011 bringing with him a wealth of experience from many sides of the modern day startup industry. Before Shasta, Jacob joined Microsoft to help design and launch the BizSpark program, Microsoft’s first initiative tailored specifically for early-stage startups. As US program lead, his focus was working with all constituents of the startup ecosystem, from early-stage incubators, investors, service providers, and more, to
help align mutual interests for the startup’s success. At the time of his leaving, BizSpark had over 35,000 members in over 100 countries. Prior to Microsoft, Jacob was the “business guy” at VentureBeat.com leading all non-editorial efforts including revenue generation, advertising relationships and strategic partnerships with companies like The New York Times and IDG. During college, Jacob co-founded a nutraceutical company with significant international operations in South Africa. As CEO, he led this startup to become a publicly traded-OTC company that manufactured and distributed three product lines: a dietary supplement, gum, and energy drink, in retail, online, and direct marketing channels. Jacob is the co-founder and Chairman of the Beverly Mullins Memorial Scholarship, a scholarship at UC Berkeley that offers financial assistance to non-traditional aged single parents who are defying all obstacles in the pursuit of education. Jacob has a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University.
--------------------------------------------------
Thursday, September 15, 2011 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM (ET)
Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University presents
THE REAL PAPER: JOURNALISM THEN & NOW
with Harper Barnes, Jan Freeman, Laura Shapiro, Paul Solman, and Mark Zanger
moderator Monica Collins
September 15, 6:30-8 pm
C. Walsh Theater
(Boston, MA 02114) Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University presents “The Real Paper: Journalism Then & Now” with Harper Barnes, Jan Freeman, Laura Shapiro, Paul Solman, and Mark Zanger; discussion moderated by Monica Collins. Thursday, September 15, 6:30-8 pm. Admission is free and open to all. C. Walsh Theater at Suffolk University, 55 Temple Street, Boston, MA. Wheelchair accessible and conveniently located near the Park St. MBTA Station. For more information, call the Ford Hall Forum at 617-557-2007 or visitwww.fordhallforum.org.
Ford Hall Forum Vice President and former The Real Paper journalist Monica Collins assembles this riveting The Real Paper reunion withHarper Barnes, Jan Freeman, Laura Shapiro, Paul Solman, and Mark Zanger. Hear how this free alternative weekly newspaper’s laudable format of an employee-run collective was, ironically, its undoing as the opportunity to sell arose, as did interpersonal conflict. Their experience with The Real Paper yields surprising views on modern-day journalism, including sustainable and fair business models, the future of free newspapers in a world of internet media, and whether journalists in today’s economy should strike out on their own.
Further background information on participants:
Harper Barnes is a longtime editor and cultural critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and has written for Rolling Stone and the Washington Post. He is the author of the novel Blue Monday and Standing on a Volcano: The Life and Times of David Rowland Francis, a biography of Woodrow Wilson's ambassador to Russia.
Monica Collins created and writes “Ask Dog Lady,” a humor/lifestyle column about dogs, life, and love that is syndicated to 400+ newspapers nationwide. Collins also hosts the radio program, “Ask Dog Lady,” on 980 WCAP in the Merrimack Valley. She is a regular guest on “The Callie Crossley Show” on WGBH-FM in a continuing series called “Pup Culture.” Collins is also a communications consultant and media strategist for non-profit organizations. A former staff writer and media critic for USA Today and the Boston Herald, Collins has written for the Boston Globeand various magazines, such as USA Weekend, ForbesLife Executive Woman, Ladies Home Journal, Vogue, and, of course, The Real Paper.
Since 1997, Jan Freeman has been writing the Boston Sunday Globe's weekly language column "The Word". She worked as an editor at The Real Paper, Boston and Inc. magazines, and the Boston Globe, where she was a science news editor until she launched her weekly column on English usage. She is the co-author of Ambrose Bierce's Write It Right: The Celebrated Cynic's Language Peeves Deciphered, Appraised, and Annotated for 21st-Century Readers.
Laura Shapiro currently writes as a columnist for Gourmet.com, Gourmet magazine’s website. Formerly, Shapiro worked as a columnist at The Real Paper and after that worked for sixteen years as a writer for Newsweek. There, she covered food, women’s issues and the arts and won several journalism awards for her work. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Gourmet, Granta, The American Scholar, Gastronomica, Slate and many other publications. Her first book was Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century. She is also the author of Something from the Oven: Revinventing Dinner in 1950s America and Julia Child.
Since 1985, Paul Solman has been a business and economics correspondent for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. A business reporter for WGBH Boston since 1977, Solman was the co-originator and executive editor of PBS's business documentary series, ENTERPRISE. Solman was also the founding editor of The Real Paper as well as the East Coast editor of Mother Jones magazine. Solman began his career in business journalism as a Nieman Fellow at the Harvard Business School in 1976. His reporting has won him several Emmys and two Peabody Awards. Solman has also served as a Professor at the Harvard Business School, teaching media, finance and business history. He also co-authored the book, Life and Death on the Corporate Battlefield. In addition, Solman is the presenter and author of Discovering Economics With Paul Solman, a series of videos that accompany McGraw-Hill introductory economics textbooks. Solman also lectures on college campuses and has written for numerous articles including for Forbes magazine.
Since 2007, Mark Zanger has worked as the Director of Communications for the Coalition of Families and Advocates for the Retarded. Also, a seasoned journalist, Zanger has worked as a freelance writer and restaurant critic for the Boston Phoenix since 1981. Zanger has published five books most of which are related to his work as a restaurant critic. He has previously served as chief editor of delphiforums.com, op-ed editor ofMetroWest News, and Public Information Officer for Oxfam America, Inc. Before that he served as Editor-in-Chief of The Real Paper from 1975 through 1980. Zanger studied English at Yale University.
-----------------------------------------------------
Thursday, September 15, 2011
The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars
Speaker: John Tirman
Time: 5:30p–6:30p
Location: Fainsod Room, Littauer Building, 3rd Floor (324), Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA
John Tirman, Executive Director and a Principal Research Scientist at MIT's Center for International Studies, will speak about his recent book, "The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars" published by Oxford University Press.
The talk will be followed by a book signing at the Harvard COOP at 6:45pm, 1400 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA.
This event is sponsored by the Middle East Initiative and the Outreach Center at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
starrforum@mit.edu
---------------------------
Garbage: Learning to Unsee
WHEN Thu., Sep. 15, 2011, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford St., Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
SPEAKER(S) Robin Nagle, director, Draper Program in Humanities and Social Thought, New York University and Anthropologist-in-Residence at the New York City Department of Sanitation
COST Free
CONTACT INFO 617.496.1027
LINK http://www.peabody.harvard.edu
---------------------------
Thursday, Sept 15, in Cambridge
*Note times for 2 separate events - same day, same location:*
doors will open at 6:15 for ContelPro 101, and again at 7:25pm for Sen
Mike Gravel's presentation
*
6:15 - 7:20pm:*
1) The invisible fist: a film screening of /Cointel Pro 101/
Cointelpro 101 exposes illegal surveillance, disruption, and outright murder committed by the US government in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Cointelpro refers to the official FBI COunter INTELigence PROgram carried out to survey, imprison, and eliminate leaders of social justice movements and to disrupt, divide, and destroy the movements as well. Many of the government's crimes are still unknown.
Through interviews with activists who experienced these abuses first-hand, with rare historical footage, the film provides an educational introduction to a period of intense repression and draws relevant lessons for the present and future. America's regimes are prepared to deploy COINTELPRO-like repression whenever popular movements threaten the established order.
COINTELPRO 101 is nothing like the all-too-common soft, liberal documentary... It is a film that makes plain the fact that all of your problems of today, from war, to incarceration, to banking crises, joblessness and environmental catastrophe, still exist because movements to do away with them suffered and continue to suffer the greatest levels of repression from the most powerful state apparatus in world history. And worse still, as Black Panther Party veteran Kathleen Cleaver states unequivocally, unlike the official Counter Intelligence Program of previous decades, today's version is perfectly legal.
"Many of the techniques used would be intolerable in a democratic society even if all of the targets had been involved in violent activity, but COINTELPRO went far beyond that." Final report of the Select Committee to study governmental operations, 1976
"We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now." Martin Luther King, Jr
*7:30pm*
2) Sen Mike Gravel on reopening an investigation into 9/11
SENATOR MIKE GRAVEL will speak on the National Initiative for an independent investigation of 9/11, and on the Birth of the Citizens 9/11 Commission Campaign. 9-11cc.org
*When/where*
243 Broadway, Cambridge - corner of Broadway and Windsor,
entrance on Windsor
*rule19.org/videos
Please join us for a stimulating night out; bring your friends!
free film, free refreshments, & free door prizes.
[donations are accepted]
"You can't legislate good will - that comes through education." Malcolm X
*UPandOUT film series - see rule19.org/videos
-----------------------
"New York's Sustainable Streets"
WHEN Thu., Sep. 15, 2011, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy St, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Conferences, Environmental Sciences, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at Harvard GSD www.gsd.harvard.edu…
SPEAKER(S) Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation
COST Free and open to the public
NOTE The talk will highlight the Department of Transportation’s success in transforming the city’s streetscapes through the design and construction of major sustainable infrastructure projects.
LINK http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/events/lecture-by-janette-sadik-khan.html
---------------------------
Thursday, September 15, 2011 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM (ET)
Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University presents
THE REAL PAPER: JOURNALISM THEN & NOW
with Harper Barnes, Jan Freeman, Laura Shapiro, Paul Solman, and Mark Zanger
moderator Monica Collins
September 15, 6:30-8 pm
C. Walsh Theater
(Boston, MA 02114) Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University presents “The Real Paper: Journalism Then & Now” with Harper Barnes, Jan Freeman, Laura Shapiro, Paul Solman, and Mark Zanger; discussion moderated by Monica Collins. Thursday, September 15, 6:30-8 pm. Admission is free and open to all. C. Walsh Theater at Suffolk University, 55 Temple Street, Boston, MA. Wheelchair accessible and conveniently located near the Park St. MBTA Station. For more information, call the Ford Hall Forum at 617-557-2007 or visitwww.fordhallforum.org.
Ford Hall Forum Vice President and former The Real Paper journalist Monica Collins assembles this riveting The Real Paper reunion withHarper Barnes, Jan Freeman, Laura Shapiro, Paul Solman, and Mark Zanger. Hear how this free alternative weekly newspaper’s laudable format of an employee-run collective was, ironically, its undoing as the opportunity to sell arose, as did interpersonal conflict. Their experience with The Real Paper yields surprising views on modern-day journalism, including sustainable and fair business models, the future of free newspapers in a world of internet media, and whether journalists in today’s economy should strike out on their own.
Further background information on participants:
Harper Barnes is a longtime editor and cultural critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and has written for Rolling Stone and the Washington Post. He is the author of the novel Blue Monday and Standing on a Volcano: The Life and Times of David Rowland Francis, a biography of Woodrow Wilson's ambassador to Russia.
Monica Collins created and writes “Ask Dog Lady,” a humor/lifestyle column about dogs, life, and love that is syndicated to 400+ newspapers nationwide. Collins also hosts the radio program, “Ask Dog Lady,” on 980 WCAP in the Merrimack Valley. She is a regular guest on “The Callie Crossley Show” on WGBH-FM in a continuing series called “Pup Culture.” Collins is also a communications consultant and media strategist for non-profit organizations. A former staff writer and media critic for USA Today and the Boston Herald, Collins has written for the Boston Globeand various magazines, such as USA Weekend, ForbesLife Executive Woman, Ladies Home Journal, Vogue, and, of course, The Real Paper.
Since 1997, Jan Freeman has been writing the Boston Sunday Globe's weekly language column "The Word". She worked as an editor at The Real Paper, Boston and Inc. magazines, and the Boston Globe, where she was a science news editor until she launched her weekly column on English usage. She is the co-author of Ambrose Bierce's Write It Right: The Celebrated Cynic's Language Peeves Deciphered, Appraised, and Annotated for 21st-Century Readers.
Laura Shapiro currently writes as a columnist for Gourmet.com, Gourmet magazine’s website. Formerly, Shapiro worked as a columnist at The Real Paper and after that worked for sixteen years as a writer for Newsweek. There, she covered food, women’s issues and the arts and won several journalism awards for her work. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Gourmet, Granta, The American Scholar, Gastronomica, Slate and many other publications. Her first book was Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century. She is also the author of Something from the Oven: Revinventing Dinner in 1950s America and Julia Child.
Since 1985, Paul Solman has been a business and economics correspondent for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. A business reporter for WGBH Boston since 1977, Solman was the co-originator and executive editor of PBS's business documentary series, ENTERPRISE. Solman was also the founding editor of The Real Paper as well as the East Coast editor of Mother Jones magazine. Solman began his career in business journalism as a Nieman Fellow at the Harvard Business School in 1976. His reporting has won him several Emmys and two Peabody Awards. Solman has also served as a Professor at the Harvard Business School, teaching media, finance and business history. He also co-authored the book, Life and Death on the Corporate Battlefield. In addition, Solman is the presenter and author of Discovering Economics With Paul Solman, a series of videos that accompany McGraw-Hill introductory economics textbooks. Solman also lectures on college campuses and has written for numerous articles including for Forbes magazine.
Since 2007, Mark Zanger has worked as the Director of Communications for the Coalition of Families and Advocates for the Retarded. Also, a seasoned journalist, Zanger has worked as a freelance writer and restaurant critic for the Boston Phoenix since 1981. Zanger has published five books most of which are related to his work as a restaurant critic. He has previously served as chief editor of delphiforums.com, op-ed editor ofMetroWest News, and Public Information Officer for Oxfam America, Inc. Before that he served as Editor-in-Chief of The Real Paper from 1975 through 1980. Zanger studied English at Yale University.
-----------------------------------------------------
GreenDrinks Meetup at the Liberty Hotel with special guests from FreeGeek!
Thursday, September 15, 2011, 7:00 PM
The Liberty Hotel
215 Charles Street , Boston, MA
We're planning on the rear-back patio unless it's raining, in which case look for us in Clink
This Meetup is particularly interesting because we'll have some representatives from FreeGeek Providence there to discuss a monster e-waste recycling event they're having in Boston in a few weeks.
FreeGeek is a pretty impressive non-profit, they're entirely volunteer run, and have a great process for assuring that all recycled electronics are handled sustainably and ethically, right here in the U.S.A. Supporting them is easy, as they know what they're doing and are making a big difference on a number of levels, not the least of which is freeing me of a lot of old computers and electronics cluttering up my apartment.
FreeGeek will be looking for volunteers to help them collect electronics at an event they're hosting with MicroCenter (exact date tbd), so if you're looking for a way to make a difference while having fun and meeting some great new people in the process, the FreeGeek folks can give you all the information you need.
Please RSVP on the Meetup Page here so that I can get a fairly accurate headcount for the folks at the Liberty. I know we've had a few... well... let's say "hiccups" in communication with them in the past, but it's just such a good venue and so accessible that I'm going to give them a pass and make it great with them this time. So come on out!
http://www.meetup.com/Green-Drinks-Boston-Cambridge/events/32661172/
** Just a heads up, I would really love to find a couple of local sponsors for this event, mainly so that we can offer free recycling of monitors to a number of people who bring them. General electronics are all collected absolutely free of charge, but the monitors are harder to recycle and therefore command about $10 from the person looking to get rid of it.
Woudn't it be cool if your organization sponsored such a cool local event? There could be some great brand exposure and connection with sustainability and technology. If anyone's interested please let me know.
---------------------------------
September 16, 2011
New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable:
Two Timely Topics:
FERC Order 1000 (Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation Requirements);
and
The Future of Solar in New England
Raab Associates presents:
The 124th NE Electricity Restructuring Roundtable
Date: Friday, September 16, 2011
Time: 9:00 am to 12:30 pm
Foley Hoag LLP
155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor
Boston, MA 02210
On July 21, FERC issued Order 1000, its long-anticipated, 600-plus page rule on the future of transmission planning and cost-allocation in the United States. According to Chairman Wellinghoff, "The Final Rule will profoundly affect the development of our nation's transmission system in coming decades." One of the many unique features of this Order is the requirement for integrating federal and state energy policies (e.g., RPS) in transmission planning and implementation.
Please join us at our next Restructuring Roundtable as we learn aboutFERC Order 1000 and discuss its ramifications and implications for New England transmission and non-transmission alternatives. The panel will begin with a succinct synopsis by Mason Emnett, Associate Director of FERC's Policy Office, and a lead FERC staffer on Order 1000. Mason will be followed by a panel of three discussants who will reflect on how this order will likely impact transmission, renewables, and other resource planning and implementation in New England.
Heather Hunt, Executive Director of the New England States' Committee on Electricity (NESCOE), will lead off the panel with reflections garnered from the six New England State PUCs on Order 1000 and an update on NESCOE's coordinated competitive renewable procurement and new interstate transmission siting collaborative. Peter Flynn, President of FERC Regulated Businesses at National Grid, will provide a transmission owner's perspective, and Seth Kaplan, VP of Policy and Climate Advocacy at Conservation Law Foundation, will offer an environmental perspective.
Our second panel focuses on the Future of Solar in New England. With photovoltaic prices continuing to drop due to technology breakthroughs and increasing economies of scale, coupled with new solar-related state policies, PV installations in New England are on the rise. Our panel starts off with international solar expert, ChrisPorter, Lead Downstream Analyst, Photon Consulting, who will talk about the international technology and price progressions and how they may impact solar supply and demand in New England. DOERCommissioner Mark Sylvia will then discuss the evolution of solar-related policies in Massachusetts, including the Commonwealth's unique SREC market and net metering rules. We round out the panel with two leading solar developers as they discuss both the opportunities and on-going challenges of developing solar projects throughout New England: Dan Leary, President, Renewable Energy Solutions, Nexamp and President of the Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE), and Bryan Miller, VP of Energy Policy/Sustainable Energy at Constellation Energy.
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Friday, September 16, 2011
Civil Infrastructure Systems: The Key To Sustaining And Sustainable Economic Development
Speaker: Dr. Kenneth Strzepek
Time: 12:00p–1:00p
Location: MIT Building 1-150, 77 Mass Avenue, Cambridge, MA
M.Eng. Friday Seminar Series
A weekly presentation by industry experts.
"Civil Infrastructure Systems: The Key To Sustaining And Sustainable Economic Development"
presented by Kenneth Strzepek, Research Scientist, Center for Global Change Science, MIT; Senior Research Fellow, United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economics Research; Professor Emeritus Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Colorado
Web site: For information on our speaker see:
http://globalchange.mit.edu/people/staff.php?id=126
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact:
CEE MEng Program
617-258-8685
laurenm@mit.edu
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Some New Ways to Look at Atmospheric Oxidation
William Brune , Distinguished Professor of Meteorology, Penn State University
When: Sep 16, 2011 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Where: Pierce 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
Speaker Biography: http://www.met.psu.edu/people/whb2
Contact: Brenda Mathieu
bmathieu@seas.harvard.edu 495-5745
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Date: 9/17/2011 - 9/17/2011
Time: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location: Microsoft New England R&D Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
Audience: Developers, designers, usability professionals, accessibility experts, and anyone interested in making content accessible
Twitter: #a11ybos
Description: Join passionate developers, media specialists, designers, usability professionals, and accessibility experts to share knowledge and learn at the second Boston Accessibility Unconference.
Doors open at 8 am for registration and a continental breakfast. Sessions (including a keynote address by Larry Goldberg, Director at WGBH National Center for Accessible Media) start at 9 am. Lunch and snacks will be provided. Use the registration form to indicate any dietary preferences.
Register at http://cait.co/node/1
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Saturday, September 17, 2011
Bhopal - Sound of Struggle : 26th Movement
Speaker: Pavitra Kumar
Time: 6:00p–7:30p
Location: MIT Building 14W-111, Killian Hall, 77 Mass Avenue, Cambridge, MA
A benefit concert for the victims of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Disaster.
1) Piano Sonata No. 8 in B flat major, Op. 84 (Sergei Prokofiev, 1890-1953)
2) Nocturne for Piano "Homage to John Field", Op. 33 (Samuel Barber, 1910-1981)
3) Piano Sonata in E-flat minor, Op. 26 (Samuel Barber, 1910 - 1981)
4) Sonata in F major for Violin and Piano (Felix Mendelssohn, 1809 -1847) with Frank Graves
Open to: the general public
Cost: $10 (General) $5 (Students)
Tickets: rkhanna24@gmail.com or call 617-610-4120
Sponsor(s): MIT Students for Bhopal
For more information, contact:
Karthik Shekhar
217 979 9852
kshekhar@mit.edu
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THE THIRD ANNUAL URBAN-AG FAIR
CELEBRATING LOCAL GARDENS, GROWERS AND FOOD
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
MT. AUBURN STREET AND WINTHROP PARK (between Eliot and JFK), Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA
The Urban-Ag Fair will showcase incredible locally grown fruits and vegetables in a judged competition. Visitors may sample recipes prepared using local ingredients and get tips from local experts on gardening topics like composting, container gardening, and raising chickens and bees.
The entire event is free, open to the public, and family-friendly. Cooking demonstrations by local chefs and Cambridge school student growers will be held throughout the day, along with talks on gardening topics. Prizes will be awarded for fruits, vegetables, flowers, honey, eggs, baked goods, preserves/pickles, and beverages, in the categories of tastiest, biggest, prettiest/most creative, most interesting/funny-looking, and student grower (under 17).
For basic info and application forms: http://www.harvardsquare.com/Home/Articles/The-Third-Annual-Urban-Ag-Fair.aspx
Please return the forms by September 8. You can also download forms from www.harvardsquare.com
Questions? hsba@harvardsquare.com or 617-491-3434
For more info/updates: http://www.urbanagfair.com/index.html
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“Sustaining Life in a Climate Changing World: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity”
Sunday, September 18, 7 pm
Cary Hall, Lexington
Organized by LexGWAC, Admission Free
Speaker: Aaron Bernstein, MD,MPH, Acting Associate Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School and pediatrician at Children’s Hospital, Boston
Dr. Bernstein’s talk will focus on the intersection of climate change, biodiversity and human health in this century.
info@lexgwac.org
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Upcoming
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GreenPort Forum
The Next Big Thing
Greenport has had great success generating and incubating innovative, community building responses to global warming and climate change. These include HEET and the Climate Emergency Congress. What project(s) should Greenport take on this year – district heating? A neighborhood food center? Cooperative neighborhood solar hot water installations?
What are your ideas? Come join us at the first fall forum to discuss your ideas and think about action plans!
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011
7:00 P.M.
Cambridgeport Baptist Church
459 Putnam Av, Cambridge (corner of Magazine St. and Putnam Av)
GreenPort envisions and encourages a just and sustainable Cambridgeport neighborhood
For more information, contact Steve Morr-Wineman at swineman@gis.net
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Wednesday, September 21st, 2011, 7:00 p.m. Sustainability and Portland's 5 Ecodistricts: A Discussion with Garry Sotnik
Join us for a a round table discussion with sustainability economist, Garry Sotnik,visiting from the hub of environmental innovation, Portland, Oregon. Presenting his paper on Portland's five ecodistricts, an initiative launched in 2009 in Portland, OR, to catalyze the city’s transition process towards sustainable development, Garry will also share his analysis on adaptability: What does it mean to adapt? What is required for adaptation? And what can be done to assist human systems (e.g. households, communities, regions, etc.) in adapting? He will then open the floor for an open discussion on the role of community organizing within the environmental movement, the ideas of connectedness and resiliency in the face of climate change, what could movements in Boston learn from the large-scale and well-subsidized efforts in Portland, similarly, what can the Ecodistrict Initiative learn from grassroots and multi-focus social change organizing?
encuentro 5
33 Harrison Avenue
5th Floor
Boston, MA 02111
Close to Chinatown, Downtown Crossing, and Boylston T stops
www.encuentro5.org
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Join us for the Greater Boston Slow Money Entrepreneur Showcase!
Thursday, September 22
6pm – 9pm
Non-Profit Center
89 South Street, Boston
South Street Conference Center
We will be bringing together investors, sustainable food entrepreneurs and leaders working together to rebuild our local food system. Learn about investment opportunities and how you can participate in rebuilding local economies based on the principles of soil fertility, sense of place, care of the commons and economic, cultural and biological diversity.
For investors: The Entrepreneur Showcase will provide access to sustainable food and farming businesses at different stages of development from start-up to expansion of existing businesses. The businesses and initiatives are also seeking different levels of financing — from small loans to major capital, as well as donations. Greater Boston Slow Money encourages investors of all resource levels to attend including institutional, individual, accredited, and unaccredited investors. This showcase event is not an offer to sell securities or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities.
For Entrepreneurs: The Showcase is a tightly produced event. Each entrepreneur will have five minutes and 6 slides to tell their stories, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A from the audience. Presenters will also benefit from the networking opportunity specifically designed to encourage and elevate investor dialog. Throughout the event, your collateral will be available for attendees, and you will be mentioned in all promotional materials for the event.
The Entrepreneur Showcase offers all the advantages of a traditional venture fair and many more. Because of the shared vision that brings us all together, it is an unparalleled opportunity for you to build relationships with investors and entrepreneurs from all over the region. We are confident that, if chosen to participate, you will have opportunities to make important connections that add value to your enterprise.
Given the relatively short time horizon, please submit your application no later than Wednesday, August 31, 2011. Demand for participation in the Showcase is high; spots will fill up.
To apply: send an email to gbslowmoney@gmail.com and we will send you the application. It is free to apply, but costs $25 to present and take advantage of this exciting opportunity.
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Date: 9/22/2011 - 9/22/2011
Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location: Microsoft New England R&D Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
Audience: Members of Online News Assoc/Hacks Hackers
Description: Journalists, developers and designers: Come join Hacks/Hackers Hacking @ ONA, the first annual Hacks/Hackers hack event at ONA's annual conference, sponsored this year by Knight-Mozilla News Tech Partnership. Meet new people, make new friends and prototype projects at the Microsoft NERD Center on Sept. 22. What we produce together at the all-day hackathon will help shape the future of news and civic information. Hacks/Hackers will provide delicious food, snacks and beverages from great local establishments to keep you going as you demo, not memo, your ideas.
$20 for non-members of the Online News Association
Register at https://ona.site-ym.com/events/register.asp?id=165276
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September 24
Moving Planet: A Day to Move Beyond Fossil Fuels
On Sept. 24th, 2011, on the streets of Boston, join a worldwide event – Moving Planet – calling on our elected leaders, businesses and communities to get serious about moving beyond fossil fuels. Come on bike or on foot, by boat, carpool or public transportation! Come with your community, your organization, or simply yourself to help make one big, bold, beautiful statement:
We have the power to build a secure, healthy, just and sustainable future for our children and our planet!
http://moving-newengland.org/
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Waltham Farm Day
Saturday, September 24th 2pm-5pm
Waltham Fields Community Farm
240 Beaver St., Waltham
RAIN OR SHINE!
Waltham Fields Community Farm will be hosting Waltham Farm Day on Saturday, September 24 from 2pm-5pm in celebration of the 5th Annual Massachusetts Harvest for Students Week and the Let’s Move Waltham initiative. Waltham Farm Day is a free eventand all are welcome to come out for an afternoon of family-friendly volunteering, educational activities, and harvest-time fun! Ongoing activities will include cider-pressing, live music by Royer’s One Man Band, a demonstration of techniques for cooking healthy meals with farm-fresh produce presented by Healthy Waltham, chicken and bee activities hosted by the Waltham 4-H Clubs, and a variety of games, art projects and gardening activities for children and adults.
The City of Waltham Mayor’s Office is sponsoring a free shuttle service which will be available to transport event attendees from Waltham Common (right across from the train station) to the farm starting at 2pm.
We hope you can join us for some harvest-time fun!!
Sincerely,
Ms.Jericho Bicknell
Education and Volunteer Coordinator
Waltham Fields Community Farm
240 Beaver Street
Waltham, MA 02452
(781) 899-2403 ext.2
www.communityfarms.org
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Cambridge Community Center Winter Market
Cambridge's first Winter Market is coming to the Cambridge Community Center. The market is expected to run every Saturday from January 7th to April 28th 2012. The market will take place inside the gym of the community center. We are currently looking for volunteers to help with setup and breakdown of the market.
We are also holding advisory committee meetings where we will be discussing the details of the market.
The first meeting will take place on September 27th 2011.
If you would like to attend please request an invitation by emailing Jose Mendez the Director of Marketing and Outreach atjosem@cambridgecommunitycenter.org.
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"Creating More Sustainable Suburbs: Lessons from Around the World"
A Conversation with Paul Lukez
Tuesday, September 27, 7:30pm
Arlington High Learning Commons, 869 Massachusetts Avenue
Organized by Sustainable Arlington in collaboration with Arlington Community Education
Across the globe, suburbia and its by-products have evolved into a complex array of urban conditions that consume an ever-increasing portion of our landscape and resources. What can be done to make the modern metropolis more sustainable? Based on his research in the US, China and Europe, architect Paul Lukez will discuss new models for building more sustainable environments and consider how they apply to Arlington and other local communities.
Paul Lukez is the author of Suburban Transformations and the forthcoming Transforming the Mid-Polis.
This event is the first in Arlington Community Ed’s Tuesday Night Conversation series moderated by Fortune magazine editor-at-large David Whitford.
Admission is $5. Advance registration is recommended. For registration information use this link
and use CODE: TC001, or call 781 316-3568.
For additional Arlington Community Education class offerings, visit http://arlingtoncommunityed.org/index.php.
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HONK!
SIXTH ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF ACTIVIST STREET BANDS
September 30 – October 3
events based in Davis Square, Somerville, Harvard Square, Cambridge, & Boston Harbor
ALMOST ALL EVENTS FREE AND OPEN TO EVERYONE [THE FRIDAY NIGHT KICKOFF & SUNDAY NIGHT BOAT CRUISE ARE VERY AFFORDABLE!]
HONK!: the worthy craze sweeping the nation – from Boston to Providence to Brooklyn to Austin to Seattle -- and every Fall back to Boston, with HONK! bands migrating from far and near, descending upon the HONK! epicenter, where festival participants (including the audience) can gaggle, gander, and generate the gregarious racket that signifies the HONK! experience.
The HONK! phenomenon was born 6 years ago in Davis Square spurred on by a need of a certain species of street band to congregate and celebrate their social activist side. HONK! lets the good times roll while being ever mindful that some bad times need fixing. HONK! believes that street-wise music can be the agent of change for the better. HONK! is the universal tongue for hey-wake-up-and-pay-attention!
This year there will be honk-like opportunities galore with outdoor band concerts in Davis, spilling over into Harvard Square and surrounding neighborhoods, and for the first time ever, splashing out into the Boston Harbor. Rain or shine from September 30 through October 3, HONK! will release its clarion call throughout the Boston-area – a call to wage peace, harmony, and just plain fun.
The confirmed HONK! band count is currently almost 30, with one to two new ones being added weekly. But when the final count is in, there’ll still be plenty of chances for folks to jump in at the last minute and join the merry fray. For example, individual musicians not connected to any particular HONK! band are invited to participate on Sunday, October 2nd, in the impromptu “community band” which will be part of the gigantic HONK! Parade to Reclaim the Streets for Horns, Bikes and Feet.
Take note that in previous years HONK! has been held on Columbus Day weekend, but due to the 2011 dates conflicting with Yom Kippur, the festival has been scheduled a week earlier. Festival updates can be found at www.honkfest.org, http://twitter.com/honkfest, and www.facebook.com/honkfestival, or by calling 617-383-HONK (4665).
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HEET is organizing a workshop on reducing energy bills in larger buildings on Oct. 1st. It's being run by Marc Rosenbaum, an award-winning building systems analyst, and sponsored by Mass. Interfaith Power and Light. People-in-the-know murmur Rosenbaum's name with awe. Paul Eldrenkamp of Byggmeister fame will moderate.
The workshop will take place in the First Church in Cambridge, a large historical building being used in a wide variety of ways such as a homeless shelter, childcare center and office space.
During the workshop we will be guided through the church to examine its problems, then in small groups design a longterm plan going forward to reduce the church's energy use. Rosenbaum will comment on each of the plans to help us learn.
We're assembling a star-studded cast of guides to teach folks about how the building systems work and what can help.
We will also have a NSTAR representative explain available rebates, and the president of New Generation Energy talk about a great new financing mechanism for raising money through a community for energy efficiency.
We want to leave people with the practical knowledge about buildings and financing to reduce their building's energy use.
The workshop itself is on Sat. Oct 1st from 9 am to 5 pm. Lunch will be provided and the cost is only $75. Normally Rosenbaum's classes cost 3 times that.
Here's more info https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OVgK56hrB7m2roHQ2KW9cUysRnbMzJNi5e1HCf_rueI/edit?hl=en_US, and the sign up formhttps://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dDljTHE3V0VGcnFEWWZlU3pTTGtVUXc6MQ#gid=0
Please post the info wherever you can or mention it to all who might be interested. I think it will be a very helpful workshop.
We only have room for 100 attendees, so people might want to sign up soon.
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ENDING THE ENDLESS WARS AND OCCUPATIONS
Saturday, October 1, 2011 9am to 5pm Suffolk University, Boston
Register Online Now!
Keynote speaker
NOAM CHOMSKY
2011 from Egypt to Libya: Triumph and Turmoil in the Arab world
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The Conference
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Fall 2011 marks ten years since 9/11, the War on Terror, the Afghanistan War, and the founding of UJP. The US/NATO bombing of Libya is the latest in the
series of wars. Domestically, greed is rampant and serious problems are getting worse. Few peace and justice activists can remember a more troubling time.
How did we get here and how can we change things?
What can we learn from the historic events in Egypt, where the people triumphed against huge odds, and the workers of Wisconsin?
How can the peace movement continue its work to end the wars and cut the military budget while also building cooperation with the economic and racial
justice movements?
We want a peaceful foreign policy based on democracy to focus on the pressing economic and human problems that must be solved.
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Featuring Presentations by:
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Kathy Kelly
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Report from Afghanistan and Iraq
Ann Wright
former U.S. Army Colonel
Report on the Gaza Flotilla and Palestine
Michael McPhearson
National Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice
Connecting to the War at Home
Will Hopkins
Iraq Veterans Against the War and New Hampshire Peace Action
The crisis and youth today
Max Elbaum
War Times/Tiempo de Guerras
Fighting for Peace Against an Empire in Decline
Patricia Montes
Centro Presente
How the wars affect immigrant rights at home
Registration Fee: $15, includes morning coffee and pastry. Free for Suffolk University students and faculty with ID. ?No one turned away.
Register online at http://justicewithpeace.org/ten-years-after-registration
Lunch: $10 - pizza, salad and drink, served in Donahua Building cafeteria.
Directions: Take the T to Park Street or Government Center.
Suffolk University, Donahue Building, 41 Temple St.
Do not confuse Temple Street with Temple Place.
Registration opens at 9am at the Donahue Building, 41 Temple St.
Sessions will be held in Donahue and in the C. Walsh Theatre next door.
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The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future public hearing
October 12, 2011
Harvard Medical School Conference Center, 77 Louis Pasteur, Longwood, Boston, MA
BRC Draft Report to the Secretary of Energy http://www.brc.gov
The Blue Ribbon Commission On America’s Nuclear Future is a Presidentially-mandated group composed of 16 people to make recommendations for national radioactive waste policy. The record of the work the Commission has done over the last year--available on-line in video form, transcript, written testimony, and public comments all posted at http://www.brc.gov
These additional meetings in September and October are to collect public comments on the Commission's draft recommendations. The full draft report is available here: http://www.brc.gov/index.php?q=announcement/brc-releases-their-draft-full-commission-report
The Commission website states: All public are welcome to attend. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged but not required. Information about registration will be available in the near future. The meetings will not be video webcast. Transcripts of the meetings will be available on the website, along with all written comments anyone chooses to offer. Comments can either be made directly to the website at www.brc.gov or by email to:CommissionDFO@nuclear.energy.govand via US postal mail:
Mr. Timothy A. Frazier
Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20585
Comment deadline is October 31, 2011. NIRS will share a more complete set of comments for sign-on in October.
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Opportunity
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AC Swap – The Cambridge Energy Alliance’s window air conditioner swap program is in progress. Residents can obtain a voucher for $125 if they swap an inefficient window AC unit for an Energy Star rated model This is a limited time offer. Go to the CEA website for participation details:http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/a-c-swap
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Free Solar Panels for Houses of Worship
From a recent Mass Interfaith Power & Light (http://mipandl.org/) email
"We've recently been talking with DCS Energy (http://www.dcsenergy.com/) who has an unbeatable offer: if your site qualifies, they design and install the panels at no cost, don't charge you for any electricity, and donate the system to your house of worship after five years. Your only costs will be for a building permit, possibly a structural engineer to verify that your roof can support their weight, and any preparatory work such as roof work or tree removal. If solar panels are so expensive how can anyone give them away for free? First, there is a federal grant program that is only available until November that pays for 30% of the cost of the system. Then there is an accelerated depreciation option that gives certain kinds of investors another tax advantage. Finally, the state awards a special allowance called a "Solar Renewal Energy Credit" (SRECs) to owners of solar electricity systems which are sold at auctions to utilities who buy them to meet their requirements under the Massachusetts' renewable portfolio standard. DCS is betting that the price of these SRECs will remain high. Jim Nail, president of MA IP&L, has talked to DCS Energy and is currently having them prepare a proposal for his church, St. Dunstan's Episcopal in Dover. Jim says, "The references I've talked to have been quite positive about the program and the company has been very responsive. "If you think your site might qualify, contact Peter Carli, pete@dcsenergy.com, with the address of your house of worship and your contact information. He'll take a preliminary look at your site and advise you if it meets their criteria."
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Young World Inventors Success!
Young World Inventors (http://yinventors.wordpress.com/) finished their Kickstarter campaign (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1036325713/youngworldinventorscom) to fund insider web stories of African and American innovators in collaboration successfully.
New contributions, however, will be accepted.
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What you need to know: The Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur (YSE) Competition is a global competition created by Staples Foundation and Ashoka to recognize exceptional young people using innovation and technology to advance social change and improve their community and the world.
Who’s eligible?: Young people (age 12-24), living anywhere in the world, are eligible to apply.
Dates and details: Apply online between June 22 and September 19, 2011.
For more information: http://ashokayouthcompetition.org/
--
Laura Sampath
MIT International Development Initiative
77 Mass Ave, 10-110
Cambridge MA 02139
617.253.7052
Sign up for the 2011 Yunus Challenge Facebook page: yunus2011@groups.facebook.com
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Resource
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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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The presentations from the recent Affordable Comfort National Home Performance Conference are available online at
http://2011.acinational.org/downloadable_resources
Lots of good information from what some call the best energy conference in the USA on Deep Energy Retrofits to Community Energy Challenges with details on insulation, heat flow, energy metering, ducting, hot water, and many, many other topics. If you are a practical energy wonk, this should make your eyes light up.
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Free Monthly Energy Analysis
CarbonSalon is a free service that every month can automatically track your energy use and compare it to your past energy use (while controlling for how cold the weather is). You get a short friendly email that lets you know how you’re doing in your work to save energy.
https://www.carbonsalon.com/
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Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
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Artisan Asylum http://artisansasylum.com/
Sprout & Co: Community Driven Investigations http://thesprouts.org/studios
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://fhapgood.fastmail.fm/site02.html
Boston Area Computer User Groups http://www.bugc.org/
http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
http://sustainability.mit.edu/
http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
http://green.harvard.edu/events
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
http://pechakuchaboston.org/blog/
http://boston.nerdnite.com/
http://www.meetup.com/
http://www.eventbrite.com/
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