[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - December 20, 2015
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Dec 20 11:10:43 PST 2015
Energy (and Other) Events is a weekly mailing list published most Sundays covering events around the Cambridge, MA and greater Boston area that catch the editor's eye.
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events email gmoke at world.std.com
What I Do and Why I Do It: The Story of Energy (and Other) Events
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html
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Index
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Full event information follows the Index and notices of my latest writings.
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Monday, December 21
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6pm Exhibit Opening of "Roxbury: A History Explored"
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Tuesday, December 22
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6pm Connecting All The Things: A Discussion of IoT Networks, Security and Identity
6:30pm Saving the Himalayas
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Wednesday, December 23
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7pm Artificial general intelligence: savior, slayer, or not happening
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com
Japanese Solar Farms Are Not Like North Carolina Solar Farms
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/16/1460597/-Japanese-Solar-Farms-Are-Not-Like-North-Carolina-Solar-Farms
The Energy Context I See
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/12/19/1460992/-The-Energy-Context-I-See?_=2015-12-19T16:58:43-08:00
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Happy Merry New!
Take time for celebrating the return of light as we pass through the night of the year.
Energy (and Other) Events will be back after Christmas (or New Year's).
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Monday, December 21
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Exhibit Opening of "Roxbury: A History Explored"
Monday, December 21
6:00PM - 8:00PM
Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, 300 Walnut Avenue Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exhibit-opening-roxbury-a-heritage-explored-tickets-19967012873
About the Exhibit: The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists in partnership with the Grove Hall Neighborhood Development Corporation, Greater Grove Hall Main Streets, Earthos Institute, Dudley Square Main Streets, and the Mother Caroline Academy, is pleased to present Roxbury: A Heritage Explored featuring photographs by Hakim Raquib and Tony Irving. The exhibition will be on display Tuesdays-Sundays, 1-5 pm, through March 31, 2016, at 300 Walnut Avenue, Roxbury, MA.
Roxbury: A Heritage Explored offers a visual snapshot of some of Roxbury's most iconic sites recalling its architectural, social and political history from colonial times to the present. The exhibition is part of an ongoing, participatory process of developing the Roxbury Memory Heritage Trail and Public Art Corridor.
Among the images in the exhibition are the Shirley Eustis House from the colonial era, First Church in Roxbury built at the turn of the 19th century, Fort Hill Standpipe built just after the Civil War, Haitian Baptist Church which occupies the former Blue Hill Avenue Synagogue, Eternal Presence as a commissioned work by Roxbury-born John Wilson, the renovated Dudley Station, among other sites. Using computer enhancements and new compositional devices, the dramatic digital images often force viewers to look afresh at places that are familiar. Some works overlay multiple images to provide different simultaneous views of the same subject. Such devices increase the interpretative possibilities available to artists as they encourage us to see anew our everyday environment.
Also presented with the photographs are models of the first two markers proposed for launching the Roxbury Memory Heritage Trail. One marker identifies the original site of Roxbury Community College and the second identifies the site of a significant civil rights protest of the l960s. Tristan Govignon designed both markers.
Hakim Raquib and Tony Irving produced the photographs. Raquib is a member of the African American Master Artist-In-Residency Program (AAMARP) at Northeastern University and is internationally known for his fine arts photography. Many suites of work reflect his travels in such visually exciting places as Spain, North and East Africa, and throughout the Americas. As exciting are his evocative photographs of cultural extravaganzas such as the notable Boston Caribbean Carnival. Raquib's recent art explores new directions that combine photography with various other media to create daring installations that push the boundaries of photography. Tony Irving is active in greater Boston where he provides photography services to many corporate, institutional and individual clients. He also documents events in his community as a matter of personal interest.
About the Trail Project: The Trail will create an interactive network of heritage and historic sites, public artworks, and places of cultural or socio-historical interest generally located between Franklin Park and Dudley MBTA Station. Using new technologies, social and digital media, it will increase knowledge and appreciation of Roxbury's people and history through the exploration of its compact geography. A project of the Grove Hall Neighborhood Development Corporation, Greater Grove Hall Main Streets, Dudley Square Main Streets, Earthos Institute, the Trail has been partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, New England Fund for the Arts, and the Edward Ingersoll Browne Trust Fund of the City of Boston, and Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Celebrate the diverse heritage of our city and bioregion!
Openings are free to the public and all are invited.
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Tuesday, December 22
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Connecting All The Things: A Discussion of IoT Networks, Security and Identity
Tuesday, December 22
6:00 PM
Akamai, 150 Broadway, Cambridge, MA (map)
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/The-Security-of-Things/events/227274787/
While there's broad agreement that the world will soon sport an Internet of Things consisting of tens of billions of intelligent devices, there's still no consensus on how those devices will connect to each other, to their owner(s) or to the rest of the Internet. Existing wireless technologies, including Bluetooth, WiFi and 3G and 4G cellular networks are ill-suited to large distributed deployments - either because they lack the range and scale required for IoT, or because their processing and power demands are ill suited for use on small, inexpensive and low-power endpoints.
What's the solution? Who will be the IoT's "Ma Bell"? And - for this group - what features do emerging, distributed IoT network offer to protect the privacy and security of individuals and organizations that rely on them?
Our December Security of Things MeetUp will delve into these issues and others, featuring presentations by- and discussion with experts from leading commercial firms deploying IoT networks in the U.S. and abroad and groups exploring community-based, open source alternatives to get distributed IoT devices talking. I will update the group with the names of our speakers as soon as I have confirmed them.
Thanks once again to our friends at Akamai Technologies for sponsoring our event and to Inex Advisors and CyberSN. We'll be meeting in Akamai's lovely Cambridge headquarters at 150 Broadway in Kendall Square. You will need to have your name on the list to get past the lobby security and up to Akamai's offices, so remember to save your place.
Once again, we're doing a "ride along" with our friends in the Boston area Internet of Things MeetUp. And once again there will be limited room for attendees, so please RSVP at your earliest convenience.
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Saving the Himalayas
Tuesday, December 22
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street, Belmont
Maharaj K. Pandit, Ph.D., Hrdy Fellow (2015-2016), Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, Harvard University; Professor and former head, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi (India); Director of the Centre for Inter-Disciplinary Studies of Mountain & Hill Environment, University of Delhi; Director, the Himalaya Lab
The great Himalaya mountain range, known as the "roof of the world," affects the entire globe. Dr. Pandit has devoted a career to research on its complex ecology and the impact of increasing settlement, development, and climate change on this complex environment. In this program he explains both the urgent need for conservation in the Himalaya and the necessity of a interdisciplinary approach to studying its ecological systems. In addition to first-hand information about the situation in the Himalaya, we learn about the the Himalaya Lab's innovative research and education programs.
During his 2015-2016 Radcliffe fellowship at Harvard, Dr. Pandit will be working on his book, Life in the Himalaya, to be published by Harvard University Press.
Maharaj Pandit has been a fellow at the National University of Singapore since 2012, where he has also served as a visiting senior fellow in the University Scholars Programme and held an adjunct appointment in the Department of Geography. He was the director of the School of Environment Studies at the University of Delhi and later the head of the Department of Environmental Studies. Dr. Pandit is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences of India.
Pandit, M.K. 2013. The Himalayas Must Be Protected. (Nature 501:283).
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Wednesday, December 23
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Artificial general intelligence: savior, slayer, or not happening
Wednesday, December 23
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Four Burgers, 704 Central Square, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Cambridge-Science-Meetup/events/225600489/
At 7 pm we will order supper on individual bills. The talk won't begin till after supper, about 8 pm. A wireless mike and speakers will be available. People are welcome to gather earlier than 7 pm for conversation. --Murray E. Denofsky
In the 1960s many computer scientists predicted that in a couple decades computers would be able to do anything human minds could do. Led by the Department of Defense, specialized expert systems were developed that efficiently answered spoken questions in specific fields. Now research is refocusing on the original goal of artificial general intelligence that may develop into superintelligence.
Advances in technology, especially IT, are accelerating toward the singularity when machine intelligence can improve itself far better than any humans can. Superintelligent machines may then work toward restoring paradise earth or exterminating humans infesting it. Or civilization may well collapse long before the singularity.
The talk will present a summary of recent advances and their potential for good and evil. I’ll present an infographic on the subject and hope to learn more from members who know much that I don’t. Topics may include:
AI history and bottlenecks: Early optimism led to research splitting into various teams that communicated little with each other.
Possible applications: research, product development and marketing, language translation, speech recognition in any language and accent, tutoring, consumer product selection, cancer treatment by big pharma, warrior drones and robots to kill thousands, ideal partners for humans, reforming politics and ending war
Advanced technologies: The current shrinking of transistors is approaching its limit. Further progress depends on new technologies like carbon nanotube transistors, quantum computing, inexact computing, and cognitive computing that learns from interaction with humans and its environment
Intelligent personal assistants: perform tasks for an individual based on user input, location awareness, and access to information online such as weather, traffic, user schedules. Examples of such an agent are Apple's Siri, Google's Google Now, Amazon Echo, Microsoft's Cortana, Braina, Samsung's S Voice, LG's Voice Mate, SILVIA, HTC's Hidi, IBM's Watson, and Facebook's M.
Smart personal agents: perform ongoing tasks such as schedule management and restaurant reservation changes autonomously.
Cognitive computing such as IBM Watson: Understands natural language, extracts information from unstructured documents, and provides best rated answers. In 2011 Watson soundly beat the best human players at Jeopardy, and now has shrunk to the size of a desktop PC and its services are offered on free trial to consumers and businesses.
Dangers of Super AI: Depending on who first develops it, whether military, foreign powers, academia, or fastbuck corporations, results will vary. Presently 50 nations are developing AI warrior robots that may become stronger, faster and smarter than humans, able to swarm through a city, break down doors, and kill all who are judged dangerous, a Dick Cheney dream. Super AI may decide that humans are so warlike and mentally ill that to save AI and the planet, they must be exterminated by nuclear weapons, a power grid meltdown, or a virus pandemic.
Stages of AI: Superintelligence will grow in 4 phases:
1. Humans improve it until phase 2
2. Recursive Self-Improvement, better at designing itself than humans can, could do social manipulation and hacking, could be stopped if it causes trouble
3. Covert preparation, strategizing for long term goals
4. Overt implementation, can make heaven or hell on earth
Other: Transhumanism means humans and computers joined into cyborgs; the rights and responsibilities of human-smart robots and their programmers; downloading a human brain; Ray Kurzweil predicts desktop computers will equal human processing power in 2029, the singularity in 2045.
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Monday, January 4
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Perfect Forward Secrecy
Monday, January 4
1:00p–2:30p
MIT, Building 4-270, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Speaker: Andrew Sutherland
Over the past five years virtually every major website (Google, Facebook, Dropbox, Twitter, Amazon, Wikipedia, ...) has switched over to the ECDHE-RSA (Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral Rivest-Shamir_Adleman) protocol for secure key exchange. They have done this in order to achieve what is known as "perfect forward secrecy". I will explain how this protocol works, the mathematics that lies behind it, and why it is so important.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Mathematics, Department of
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Tuesday, January 5
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Boston TechBreakfast: Akili Software, Inc., Attollo Tech, Prattle, and More!
Tuesday, January 5
8:00 AM
Microsoft NERD - Horace Mann Room, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Interact with your peers in a monthly morning breakfast meetup. At this monthly breakfast get-together techies, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs share learn from their peers through show and tell / show-case style presentations.
And yes, this is free! Thank our sponsors when you see them :)
Agenda for Boston TechBreakfast:
8:00 - 8:15 - Get yer Bagels & Coffee and chit-chat
8:15 - 8:20 - Introductions, Sponsors, Announcements
8:20 - ~9:30 - Showcases and Shout-Outs!
Akili Software, Inc.: Savii Care - Michelle Harper
Attollo Tech: upace - Rachel Koretsky
Prattle: Prattle Central Bank Index - Evan Schnidman
*** OPEN ***
~9:30 - end - Final "Shout Outs" & Last Words Boston TechBreakfast
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BASG Jan 5: The Clean Energy Transition
Tuesday, January 5
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
Cambridge Innovation Center, Venture Cafe - 5th Floor, One Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/basg-jan-5-the-clean-energy-transition-tickets-19942311992
Cost: $10 - $12
It took longer than most of us would have liked, but universal recognition that we need a clean energy economy now seems undeniable. On January 5th, 2016, we will talk about how we get there together.
The evening begins promptly at 6:00 PM with a special one-hour screening of The Last Mountain from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Presentations and discussion thereafter will focus on the realities of the fossil fuel economy; how we, as citizens and communities, can help accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy; the challenges triggered by the transition; and how communities, organizations and each of us can participate.
What will make all of this real and personal are our speakers’ views into the struggles and successes of two communities right here in MA that are already living this transition -- Salemand Somerset, home of Brayton Point, our last operating coal plant.
Eric Grunebaum is Chief Business Development Officer at TeraCool LLC. He advises startup companies and facilities owners on clean energy and efficiency projects. Previously he was a real estate developer and producer of documentaries, including the theatrically released film, The Last Mountain, which focuses on coal, highlighting a WV community proposing a 328 MW wind farm on nearby mountain ridges rather than strip mining them for coal. Eric has also been active in efforts to bring revenue neutral carbon pricing to MA.
Christophe Courchesne is the Chief of the Environmental Protection Division at the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. Before this role, Christophe was a senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation's New Hampshire office where he focused on advocacy and litigation to fight climate change and advance clean energy. He has also practiced environmental, energy, and land use law with Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston and clerked at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for Justice Robert J. Cordy. Christophe graduated from Harvard Law and U Mass at Amherst.
Representative Lori A. Ehrlich is serving her fifth term as the State Representative for the Eighth Essex District, representing Marblehead, Swampscott, and Lynn. Lori holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from Lehigh University, an M.P.A. from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She has been a CPA for thirty years in one of New England’s large regional firms as well as managing her own practice. Prior to her 2008 election, Lori founded two public health nonprofits and led the charge to clean up coal ash from the drinking water for 80,000 residents in Salem, Beverly and parts of Wenham.
Join us and our co-host, the Sustainable Solutions Lab at U Mass Boston and the Conservation Law Foundation, for this conversation about the transition we are all working hard to speed along. Hopefully you’ll agree that there’s no better way to start into the new year. -- Carol, Holly, Tilly.
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#TechHubTuesday Demo Night - January
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
6:00 PM to 10:00 PM
TechHub, 3rd Floor 212, Elm Street, Davis Square, Somerville
Demo Night is a chance to see what the top startups are working on, these are the people that are changing the future of business & tech!
Follow the # all day to see other demos taking place in Bengaluru and then London.
Each startup has 5 minutes to demo their product in front of a live audience, it's not a pitch but an opportunity for each startup to explain (and show) what they have been working on. After each demo there is live Q&A with the audience. The idea is to foster innovation and iteration. It's not about slamming the presenter!
Afterwards, stick around for beer and wine, network or take a look round the space.
Agenda
6:00 - Doors open. Meet people and get your first drinks.
7:00 - 8:00 Presenters Demo
8:00.... Networking
Follow us https://twitter.com/TechHubBoston
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Upcoming Events
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Thursday, January 7
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EnergyBar!
Thursday, January 7
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
Greentown Labs, 28 Dane Street, Somerville
About EnergyBar: EnergyBar is a monthly event devoted to helping people in clean technology meet and discuss innovations in energy technology. Entrepreneurs, investors, students, and ‘friends of cleantech,’ are invited to attend, meet colleagues, and expand our growing regional clean technology community.
Light appetizers and drinks will be served starting at 5:30 pm
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When We Fight, We Win!: Twenty-First-Century Social Movements and the Activists That Are Transforming Our World
Thursday, January 7
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes author/activist GREG JOBIN-LEEDS, AgitArte’s DEYMIRIE HERNÁNDEZ and JOSÉ JORGE DÍAZ, and activists GIBRÁN RIVERA, STEVE MEACHAM, and LISA OWENS, and key artists and organizers from City Life/Vida Urbana, the Schott Foundation for Public Education, the Johnson Family Foundation, and more, will discuss the art and stories in When We Fight, We Win!: Twenty-First-Century Social Movements and the Activists That Are Transforming Our World. With an introduction by Greg, performances by AgitArte, and a lively Q&A. Points of discussion include how social movements intersect, key components of transformative organizing, why art and storytelling are crucial, and ways for aspiring activists to get involved.
About When We Fight, We Win
Same-sex marriage, #BlackLivesMatter, the DREAM Act, the People’s Climate March, End the New Jim Crow, Occupy Wall Street, the fight for a $15 minimum wage—these are just a few of the remarkable movements that have blossomed in the past decade, a most fertile and productive era of activism. Now, in a visually rich and deeply inspiring book, the leaders and activists of these and other movements distill their wisdom, sharing lessons of what makes—and what hinders—transformative social change.
Greg Jobin-Leeds joins forces with AgitArte, a collective of artists and organizers, to capture the stories, philosophy, tactics, and art of today’s leading social change movements. When We Fight, We Win! weaves together interviews with today’s most successful activists and artists from across the country and beyond—including Patrisse Cullors-Brignac, Bill McKibben, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Karen Lewis, Favianna Rodriguez, Rea Carey, and Gaby Pacheco, among others—with narrative recountings of strategies and campaigns alongside full-color photos. It includes a foreword by Rinku Sen and an afterword by Antonia Darder.
When We Fight, We Win! will give a whole generation of readers the chance to celebrate and benefit from a remarkable decade of activism—a decade that shows just how ripe these times are for social transformation.
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Friday, January 8
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Ignite Craft Boston 2016
Friday, January 8
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EST)
MIT, Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Room 123, Cambridge
Craft, Community, and 5-Minute Talks
Ignite Craft Boston is an Ignite event with a crafty crowd. If you had 5 minutes on stage to talk about your crafty passion in Boston, what would you say? What if you only got 20 photos or visuals, and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world, folks have been putting together Ignite events to show their answers.
For more about this event please visit Common Cod Fiber Guild's website at: http://www.commoncod.com/ignite/
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Saturday, January 9
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The South Asian Anthropocene: Ecology and Society in South Asia in the climate era
Saturday, Janaury 9
10:00AM-02:00PM
MIT, Building 4-145, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Rajesh Kasturirangan, Research Affiliate
South Asia will dominate the Anthropocene in several ways: for one, it will have more people than any comparable region in the world, making it the most anthropocentric place in the anthropocene. Second, many of the challenges of this era will arguably surface first in South Asia: conflict over air, water and other natural resources, climate adaptation and migration, human non-human conflict and ideally, new ways of living within our means and with harmony in nature. The South Asian Anthropocene poses theoretical as well as empirical challenges to social scientists and humanities scholars who specialize in the sub-continent. Whether that scholar is an economist, a historian or an anthropologist, s/he will have to grapple with ideas that have traditionally been neglected in their scholarly communities. They will have to expand their horizon to include the non-human world in unprecedented ways; they will also have to create new philosophical and political conceptions for understanding these new developments. This seminar is an attempt to understand the South Asian Anthropocene by bringing together scholars working in the humanities and the social sciences. Our hope is that by exchanging ideas and empirical findings across disciplines, we will be better positioned to understand the future of South Asian societies.
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CITY OF THORNS: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp
Saturday, January 9
11:00a–12:00p
MIT Coop at Kendall Square, 325 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Ben Rawlence
Book talk and signing with author, Ben Rawlence, about his latest work, "CITY OF THORNS: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp."
Former Human Rights Watch researcher Rawlence (Radio Congo: Signals of Hope from Africa's Deadliest War, 2012) tells the distressing story of Kenya's vast Dadaab refugee camp, where nearly 500,000 people fleeing civil war in nearby Somalia live in a "teeming ramshackle metropolis" the size of Atlanta. Drawing on hundreds of interviews conducted during a series of extended visits to Dadaab since 2010, the author plunges readers into this hellish city of "mud, tents and thorns," where three generations of displaced persons have lived amid malnourishment and disease.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cis/eventposter_010916_cityofthorns.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
617-253-8306
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Sunday, January 10
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Neuroscience for Society: Aging Brain
Sunday, January 10
5:00 PM
MIT 5th floor Conference room, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Neuroscience-for-Society/events/226153507/
We all get old against our will. What’s changing in the brain? Let’s find it out.
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Monday, January 11
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Contemporary Geometric Beadwork: Open Source Innovation in an Ancient Field
Monday, January 11
10:00AM-11:00AM
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Kate McKinnon, Erik Demaine, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Martin Demaine, Technical Assistant, CSAIL
Kate McKinnon is bringing her intriguing wearable art project, Contemporary Geometric Beadwork, to MIT, and giving several lectures, a seminar, and two weeks of hands-on sessions. Explore the recent structural and design work in this ancient art, and learn how to apply this alluring type of modeling to your own ideas.
The scope of the project is explained in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uoCC9MJ2SM
Sponsor(s): Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab
Contact: Kate McKinnon, kate at katemckinnon.com
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Water and Food Security Seminar Series: Global Challenges of Water/Food Security
Monday, January 11
10:00AM-11:30AM
MIT, Building E51-145, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Chandra Madramootoo - Visiting Scholar, J-WAFS
An overview of global food demands and supplies and how water, limits to crop productivity, and other drivers such as food prices, population, and changing demographics and dietary patterns are affecting food supplies. Led by J-WAFS visiting scholar Chandra Madramootoo, former Dean, School of Ag. and Env. Sciences at McGill Univ. First of a 4-part series; attendees welcome at any or all sessions.
This seminar series will address a variety of global challenges around water and food security. Topics include limitations to water use in some selected large basins, surface water/groundwater interactions, the water-food-energy nexus, an overview of agricultural production systems in two agro-ecologic zones (tropical drylands and the wet humid tropics), and the linkage between food and nutrition security and health.
Presentation and discussion will be centered on technological, institutional, governance, and socio-economic constraints to small-holder productivity; water management challenges in the two agro-ecologic zones, and protection of natural resource systems in degraded agricultural landscapes. Specific topics will include irrigation and water conservation, drainage and flood control, irrigation value chains, and climate smart agriculture. The series is led by J-WAFS visiting scholar Chandra Madramootoo, James McGill Professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering at McGill University. Prof. Madramootoo was Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at McGill from 2005 to 2015.
This is a four-part series; attendees are welcome at any or all sessions.
Sponsor(s): Abdul Latif Jameel Worl Water and Food Sec Lab
Contact: Renee Robins, E70-1279, 617 324-6726, RROBINS at MIT.EDU
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Magnetic Fusion Energy: A Vision for Getting There Sooner
Monday, January 11
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 1-190, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Earl Marmar, Head of Alcator Project
This talk will introduce the nuclear fusion option for base-load electricity production using magnetic confinement of high temperature hydrogenic plasma. Starting from the basics of plasma confinement and heating, and reprising a little of the scientific history, we will turn to recent potentially game-changing technology developments in high-field, high-temperature superconducting magnets, which promise a new path for faster and less costly development of this virtually inexhaustible, carbon-free energy supply
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
For more information, contact: Paul Rivenberg
617-253-8101
info at psfc.mit.edu
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Billions and Billions of Planets and the Red Dwarfs That (Mostly) Host Them
Monday, January 11
7pm
The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Davis Square, Somerville
The Role of Business in Climate Change
Tuesday, January 12
6:00 PM
Back Bay Social Club,, 867 Boylston Street , Boston
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Climate-Action-Business-Association-Meetup/events/226058490/
The Climate Action Business Association helps local businesses take targeted action on climate change. We are using this meetup to build a community of like-minded businesses to chat, make connections, and share ideas. Also, we will be polling our members to find a good time that works for everyone!
More information at cabaus.org org
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The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley
Monday, January 11, 2016
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes ERIC WEINER, bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss, for a discussion of his latest work, The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley.
About The Geography of Genius
Travel the world with Eric Weiner as he journeys from Athens to Silicon Valley—and throughout history, too—to show how creative genius flourishes in specific places at specific times.
In The Geography of Genius, acclaimed travel writer Weiner sets out to examine the connection between our surroundings and our most innovative ideas. He explores the history of places, like Vienna of 1900, Renaissance Florence, ancient Athens, Song Dynasty Hangzhou, and Silicon Valley, to show how certain urban settings are conducive to ingenuity. And, with his trademark insightful humor, he walks the same paths as the geniuses who flourished in these settings to see if the spirit of what inspired figures like Socrates, Michelangelo, and Leonardo remains. In these places, Weiner asks, “What was in the air, and can we bottle it?”
This link can be traced back through history: Darwin’s theory of evolution gelled while he was riding in a carriage. Freud did his best thinking at this favorite coffee house. Beethoven, like many geniuses, preferred long walks in the woods.
Sharp and provocative, The Geography of Genius redefines the argument about how genius came to be. His reevaluation of the importance of culture in nurturing creativity is an informed romp through history that will surely jumpstart a national conversation.
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Tuesday, January 12
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Water and Food Security Seminar Series: Agriculture Systems in Tropical Zones
Tuesday, January 12
10:00AM-11:30AM
MIT, Building E51-145, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Chandra Madramootoo - Visiting Scholar, J-WAFS
Agriculture production systems in two agro-ecologic zones: This seminar will describe agricultural production systems in the wet humid tropics and the arid/semi-arid tropics, including cropping patterns, nomadic systems, and soil resources. Led by J-WAFS visiting scholar Chandra Madramootoo, former Dean, School of Ag. and Env. Sciences at McGill Univ. Second of a 4-part series; attendees welcome at any or all sessions.
This seminar series will address a variety of global challenges around water and food security. Topics include limitations to water use in some selected large basins, surface water/groundwater interactions, the water-food-energy nexus, an overview of agricultural production systems in two agro-ecologic zones (tropical drylands and the wet humid tropics), and the linkage between food and nutrition security and health.
Presentation and discussion will be centered on technological, institutional, governance, and socio-economic constraints to small-holder productivity; water management challenges in the two agro-ecologic zones, and protection of natural resource systems in degraded agricultural landscapes. Specific topics will include irrigation and water conservation, drainage and flood control, irrigation value chains, and climate smart agriculture. The series is led by J-WAFS visiting scholar Chandra Madramootoo, James McGill Professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering at McGill University. Prof. Madramootoo was Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at McGill from 2005 to 2015.
This is a four-part series; attendees are welcome at any or all sessions.
Sponsor(s): Abdul Latif Jameel Worl Water and Food Sec Lab
Contact: Renee Robins, E70-1279, 617 324-6726, RROBINS at MIT.EDU
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Wednesday, January 13
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Water and Food Security Seminar Series: Water Management for Food Security
Wednesday, January 13
10:00AM-11:30AM
MIT, Building E51-145, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Chandra Madramootoo - Visiting Scholar, J-WAFS
How can we better manage water to increase food security? This seminar will address strategies such as new irrigation and drought protection technologies to boost food production in tropical drylands, and drainage water management systems. Led by J-WAFS visiting scholar Chandra Madramootoo, former Dean, School of Ag. and Env. Sciences at McGill Univ. Third of a 4-part series; attendees welcome at any or all sessions.
This seminar series will address a variety of global challenges around water and food security. Topics include limitations to water use in some selected large basins, surface water/groundwater interactions, the water-food-energy nexus, an overview of agricultural production systems in two agro-ecologic zones (tropical drylands and the wet humid tropics), and the linkage between food and nutrition security and health.
Presentation and discussion will be centered on technological, institutional, governance, and socio-economic constraints to small-holder productivity; water management challenges in the two agro-ecologic zones, and protection of natural resource systems in degraded agricultural landscapes. Specific topics will include irrigation and water conservation, drainage and flood control, irrigation value chains, and climate smart agriculture. The series is led by J-WAFS visiting scholar Chandra Madramootoo, James McGill Professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering at McGill University. Prof. Madramootoo was Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at McGill from 2005 to 2015.
This is a four-part series; attendees are welcome at any or all sessions.
Sponsor(s): Abdul Latif Jameel Worl Water and Food Sec Lab
Contact: Renee Robins, E70-1279, 617 324-6726, RROBINS at MIT.EDU
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China's Housing Development Strategy in the "New Normal"
Wednesday, January 13
12:30p–2:00p
MIT, Building 9-427, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Please RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinas-housing-development-strategy-in-the-new-normal-with-dr-ting-
Speaker: Dr. Ting Shao
Please join us for a roundtable discussion with Dr. TING SHAO, a Tomorrow Foundation Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
As China has entered into a new development phase of "balanced transition" (also known as the "new normal"), the housing sector is facing tough challenges in maintaining the previous growth rate. In this turning point, the question of how to cultivate new development strategies for both the government and private sectors represents an urgent task. Dr. Shao's talk will focus on three issues:
1. How to understand the existing market situation;
2. How to evaluate housing policies; and
3. How to design a new strategy for stabilizing the real estate sector.
Dr. Shao obtained a Ph.D. degree in economics from Fudan University. He is a researcher on the housing market and land institution at the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council of China. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, studying the housing market, land institution, and economic growth of China. He participated in the publication of two books: Urban China: Toward Efficient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Urbanization and China 2030: Building a Modern, Harmonious, and Creative Society, both by the World Bank Group.
Lunch will be provided.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact: Heather Mooney
617-417-1699
hmooney at mit.edu
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Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning
Wednesday, January 13
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge,
Harvard Book Store welcomes Yale University Professor of History and award-winning author TIMOTHY SNYDER for a discussion of his latest book, Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning.
About Black Earth
In this epic history of extermination and survival, Timothy Snyder presents a new explanation of the great atrocity of the twentieth century, and reveals the risks that we face in the twenty-first. Based on new sources from eastern Europe and forgotten testimonies from Jewish survivors, Black Earth recounts the mass murder of the Jews as an event that is still close to us, more comprehensible than we would like to think, and thus all the more terrifying.
The Holocaust began in a dark but accessible place, in Hitler's mind, with the thought that the elimination of Jews would restore balance to the planet and allow Germans to win the resources they desperately needed. Such a worldview could be realized only if Germany destroyed other states, so Hitler's aim was a colonial war in Europe itself. In the zones of statelessness, almost all Jews died. A few people, the righteous few, aided them, without support from institutions. Much of the new research in this book is devoted to understanding these extraordinary individuals. The almost insurmountable difficulties they faced only confirm the dangers of state destruction and ecological panic. These men and women should be emulated, but in similar circumstances few of us would do so.
By overlooking the lessons of the Holocaust, Snyder concludes, we have misunderstood modernity and endangered the future. The early twenty-first century is coming to resemble the early twentieth, as growing preoccupations with food and water accompany ideological challenges to global order. Our world is closer to Hitler's than we like to admit, and saving it requires us to see the Holocaust as it was -- and ourselves as we are. Groundbreaking, authoritative, and utterly absorbing, Black Earth reveals a Holocaust that is not only history but warning.
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Urban Planning Film Series: The Overnighters, by Jesse Moss
Wednesday, January 13
7:00PM-9:15PM
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Desperate, broken men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local pastor risks everything to help them. Winner, Special Jury Award for Intuitive Filmmaking: Documentary, 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
"Might bring tears to your eyes\ldots a blue-collar meditation on the meaning of community and the imperative of compassion.''---Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times.
Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, 617 253-2024, EGLENN at MIT.EDU
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Thursday, January 14
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Water and Food Security Seminar Series: Water/Food Security for Smallhold Farms
Thursday, January 14
10:00AM-11:30AM
MIT, Building E51-145, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Chandra Madramootoo - Visiting Scholar, J-WAFS
This seminar addresses the technological and socio-economic constraints to water and food security for smallholder farmers. Topics include why smallholder farmers are slow to adopt new crop varieties, agronomic practices, and irrigation. Led by J-WAFS visiting scholar Chandra Madramootoo, former Dean, School of Ag. and Env. Sciences at McGill Univ. Last of a 4-part series; attendees welcome at any or all sessions.
This seminar series will address a variety of global challenges around water and food security. Topics include limitations to water use in some selected large basins, surface water/groundwater interactions, the water-food-energy nexus, an overview of agricultural production systems in two agro-ecologic zones (tropical drylands and the wet humid tropics), and the linkage between food and nutrition security and health.
Presentation and discussion will be centered on technological, institutional, governance, and socio-economic constraints to small-holder productivity; water management challenges in the two agro-ecologic zones, and protection of natural resource systems in degraded agricultural landscapes. Specific topics will include irrigation and water conservation, drainage and flood control, irrigation value chains, and climate smart agriculture. The series is led by J-WAFS visiting scholar Chandra Madramootoo, James McGill Professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering at McGill University. Prof. Madramootoo was Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at McGill from 2005 to 2015.
This is a four-part series; attendees are welcome at any or all sessions.
Sponsor(s): Abdul Latif Jameel Worl Water and Food Sec Lab
Contact: Renee Robins, E70-1279, 617 324-6726, RROBINS at MIT.EDU
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SPARC: A Small Tokamak for Changing Climates
Thursday, January 14
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building NW17-218, 175 Albany Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Brandon Sorbom, Zach Hartwig, Bob Mumgaard, Daniel Brunner
This talk will introduce the SPARC concept- a minimally-sized, viable tokamak designed to rapidly advance fusion energy by combining non-traditional funding, innovation strategies borrowed from modern high-tech ventures, and recent advances in high-temperature high-field superconductors.
Web site: http://www.psfc.mit.edu/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
For more information, contact: Paul Rivenberg
617-253-8101
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2016 – Cybercrime Reloaded: A Look Back and a Look Ahead
Thursday, January 14
12:00 PM EST
Webinar at https://securityintelligence.com/events/cybercrimes-relentless-progress-in-2015-a-year-in-review/
As Q4 draws to a close, it is time for the annual review of what cybercrime has evolved into in the year past. Nowadays, it is no surprise to anyone in the know that cybercrime losses will top 2 trillion dollars by 2019, or that cybercrime costs the average U.S. firm $15 million a year. The reason for this rapid and relentless escalation is because the world is no longer dealing with hackers and thieves – rather, 2015 marks the true domination of the Internet by Eastern European mob organizations.
Join our live crimeware-focused session to learn about the methods and trends that shaped cybercrime in 2015, and find out what we expect to see in 2016.
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Sustainability Made Real
Harvard Business School Association of Boston
Thursday, January 14
5:30 PM to 8:00 PM (EST)
Harvard Business School, Aldrich 207, 60 Harvard Way, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustainability-made-real-tickets-19809055418
Cost: $0 - $60
Sustainability has taken on a global importance few subjects ever will obtain. Lots of companies, both small and large, have Sustainability Initiatives. But, what do they really mean? What are companies really doing? Join us for an evening with leaders from around the world that are flying in to share their experience and insights with us.
From making products to packaging those products to discarding our products and packaging, choices we make every day have an impact on our economy, our environment and our future.
Our evening will be led by Bill Carter of Ashoka.
Bill is a former EPA official, McKinsey consultant, and now head of Ashoka’s, the non-profit agency leading social entrepreneurship and inspiring change makers around the world, work in Africa and head of their Sustainability efforts. Whether Bill is in Africa or helping leaders in Asia develop technologies that help all of us achieve our Sustainability goals, Bill’s vision and insight are well regarded and respected.
Joining Bill are experts from around the globe.
Gary Chamness founder and CEO of Chamness Technologies: Gary is truly at the forefront of American innovation in the creation of compostable products including plates, bowls, and packaging solutions of all types. From his plant in CA, or in his headquarters in Iowa, Gary and his team are proving that sustainable solutions make money. Over the past 20 years, Gary’s other companies have progressively and efficiently mastered disposal of non-toxic waste, composting, dewatering, dredging, and land application solutions. Gary will share with us why brand name companies are now calling his company and what a difference sustainability can make for all of us.
Michihiko Iwamoto, CEO and founder of JEPLAN, is flying in from Japan to join us. JEPLAN Creates New Recycling Infrastructures & Management Systems that are forever impacting how the entire country of Japan approaches sustainability. Mr. Iwamoto spearheaded a decade long national effort in Japan that increased PET bottle recycling from 20% to 85%. Today his company is introducing a new generation of "total recycling" plants as older plants based on less efficient technology are retired. Just one of JEPLAN's initiatives has led to the recycling of four of the seven million cellphones that Japanese consumers discard every year. JEPLAN will build its first independently owned facility in 2017, whose purpose is to recycle cotton and plastic products into bio-ethanol. Michihiko will share with us what it takes to make sustainability solutions a business and a reality no matter where you are.
Leonard Parker founder of EnNovus Group. Leonard is a leader in the Sustainable Packaging World. Leonard’s EnNovus Group utilizes new technologies for carbon reduction through the implementation of a new sustainable technology, process systems, and the source reduction or elimination of plastics in packaging. Leonard is at the forefront of creating greener packaging systems through technology and innovations and will share how and with whom with us.
Agenda:
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.: Check-in, social hour, sandwiches and refreshments
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.: Discussion and Q+A
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UNITE on the Maker Movement
Thursday, January 14
6:30 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
Cantina, 320 Congress Street, Boston
Cost: $0 - $16.82
Winter’s UNITE will focus on the Maker Movement. Our panel of experts will dive into what it takes to be a maker, drawing from the perspectives of multiple facets of the maker industry. Cantina’s Senior Vice President of Innovation, George White, will be moderating our panel discussion. Panelists include:
Anne Hathaway, Maker Innovation Program Manager at Etsy
Peter Zink, Lecturer and Research Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Boston University
UNITE on the Maker Movement will be hosted by Cantina, located at 320 Congress Street. Join us for an evening of of networking and great design discussion!
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Wednesday, January 20
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Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, Forum on Data Privacy
Wednesday, January 20
8:30am
MIT, Building 32-123, Ray and Maria Stata Center, Kirsch Auditorium, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP required at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forum-on-data-privacy-convened-by-the-massachusetts-attorney-generals-office-tickets-19411752073
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is pleased to join with the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and TechNet to host a Forum on Data Privacy. The event takes place on Wednesday, Janauary 20, 2016, from 8:30 am until 12:00 pm, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ray and Maria Stat Center, Kirsch Auditorium, Room 32-123, in Cambridge, MA
Access to consumer data allows businesses to better serve their customers and to develop and deliver transformative products and services. However, unpredictable, unclear, or ineffectual privacy rules and protections threaten the trust, goodwill, and ultimately the investment necessary to support a robust, data-driven economy.
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office is committed to working with all stakeholders to promote innovation, competition, and consumer privacy. To inform our consideration of these important issues, the AG's office, Berkman Center, and our co-hosts invite participants to join us in shaping a new partnership with a candid exchange of ideas and concerns.
In advance of this meeting the AG's office is particularly interested in hearing your perspectives regarding the following issues.
Do innovative technologies and methods by which businesses collect, share, and use consumer data (e.g. Internet of Things, Big Data, mobile devices/applications, cloud computing) create privacy concerns or compliance challenges? If so, how could these concerns or challenges be resolved or overcome?
Is there a need for more definitive rules or guidance from government or self-regulatory bodies regarding the commercial collection, use, and protection of consumer data? If so, what rules or guidance should be put forth?
As experts on consumer privacy issues or as participants in data-driven businesses, are there problematic business practices you observe that threaten consumer privacy?
Could the Massachusetts Data Breach Notification Act (Mass. Gen. Law c. 93H) be amended to better promote consumer privacy in light of changing technologies? If so, how?
If you would like to respond, please reply in writing by Friday, December 11th to dataprivacy at state.ma.us.
We are currently in the process of developing a forum agenda and panel composition, which will be informed by responses to the questions above. If you are interested in participating or have recommendations for speakers, please contact Assistant Attorneys General Sara Cable (617.963.2827) or Mike Firestone (617.963.2027) or email dataprivacy at state.ma.us. RSVP information to follow.
Please note that all submissions may become part of the public record and subject to public disclosure. We look forward to hearing from you.
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Planning, Funding, and Implementing Transportation Projects in the Real World (or How It Really Works)
Wednesday, January 20
1:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building 9-450, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Eric Plosky, Kate Fichter
As a vital and complex element of any urban or regional environment, transportation infrastructure both affects and is affected by land use patterns, economic development policies, political power-brokering and environmental resources, and so offers a lens through which to study many of the choices and constraints available to today's planners. This seminar will offer a practice-oriented overview of the issues, players and trends most relevant to contemporary transportation planning, as taught by two MIT/DUSP alumni currently working in the field.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact: Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn at mit.edu
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Aging Brain Seminar Series: Dr. Bradley Hyman
Wednesday, January 20
2:00p–3:00p
MIT, Building 46-3310, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Bradley Hyman
Aging Brain Seminar Series
The Aging Brain Initiative is dedicated to conquering Alzheimer's disease and the dementias of aging through fundamental research into how the brain ages in health and in decline. This multidisciplinary, highly collaborative effort is spearheaded by the Picower Institute and the MIT School of Science. It brings together experts in neuroscience, bioengineering, biology, computer science, artificial intelligence, medicine, health economics and health policy. Their mission is to deliver the basic research that makes possible new tools, technologies and pharmaceuticals to address the challenges of brain aging, always with the aim of moving knowledge quickly from bench to bedside.
Coming Soon!
Web site: https://picower.mit.edu/cms/events/aging-brain-initiative-seminar-series-with-dr-bradley-hyman/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
For more information, contact: Najat Kessler
617-452-2485
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Urban Planning Film Series: Public Housing, by Fred Wiseman
Wednesday, January 20
7:00PM-9:15PM
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
This cinema-verite documentary captures daily life at the Ida B. Wells public housing development in Chicago. The film illustrates some of the experiences of people living in conditions of extreme poverty, including the work of the tenants council, street life, the role of police, job training, drug education, teenage mothers, dysfunctional families, elderly residents, nursery school, and after school teenage programs.
Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, 617 253-2024, EGLENN at MIT.EDU
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Thursday, January 21
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Private and Public Storytelling: How to Use Digital and Traditional Technologies for Social Change
WHEN Thu., Jan. 21, 2016, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall, Harvard Yard, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Film, Humanities, Information Technology, Lecture, Social Sciences, Theater
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Office for the Arts at Harvard
SPEAKER(S) Neal Baer
COST Free and open to the public; registration required
CONTACT INFO 617.495.8676
DETAILS Neal Baer EdM ’79, AM ’82, M ’95 is a pediatrician and television writer who combines his passion for medicine and storytelling to challenge audiences' views on a spectrum of social and political topics. His credits include the TV series “Under the Dome,” “ER” and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” and he is the founder of Global Media Center for Social Impact, which uses new media to promote health initiatives around the world. Baer will discuss how compelling stories have the power to transform popular culture and catalyze social change in such areas as health, immigration, racial justice, America’s prison crisis, the environment, LGBT/gender equality, education, reproductive health and rights, and more.
LINK http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/event/wintersession2016-neal-baer?delta=0
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Dying to Forget: Oil, Power, Palestine, and the Foundations of U.S. Policy in the Middle East
Thursday, January 21
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building E40-496, Lucian Pye Conference Room, 1 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Irene L. Gendzier
Book talk and signing with author, Irene L. Gendzier, about her latest book, "Dying to Forget: Oil, Power, Palestine, and the Foundations of U.S. Policy in the Middle East."
Irene L. Gendzier presents incontrovertible evidence that oil politics played a significant role in the founding of Israel, the policy then adopted by the United States toward Palestinians, and subsequent U.S. involvement in the region. Consulting declassified U.S. government sources, as well as papers in the H.S. Truman Library, she uncovers little-known features of U.S. involvement in the region, including significant exchanges in the winter and spring of 1948 between the director of the Oil and Gas Division of the Interior Department and the representative of the Jewish Agency in the United States, months before Israel's independence and recognition by President Truman.
About the Author:
Irene L. Gendzier is professor emerita in the Department of Political Science at Boston University. She is also the author of "Notes from the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East" and "Frantz Fanon: A Critical Study", and she is a coeditor, with Richard Falk and Robert Lifton, of "Crimes of War: Iraq."
Books will be available for sale at the event
Refreshments served
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cis/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
617-253-8306
lkerwin at mit.edu
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Innovation in Transportation Series
Thursday, January 21
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Venture Cafe – Cambridge Innovation Center, 1 Broadway, 5th floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19ZSmBnmcInxZhUjyahrevaMunOeifqtM6yb05FvUcjk/viewform
What new things can be done to get us moving in Kendall Square?
We need your brain power and innovations to solve Kendall’s transportation challenges. How can we use technology to tell us about Red Line train arrivals, capacity on the cars? How can we communicate about other options when Red Line is down? What are the top ten apps for transit through Kendall? How do we use commuter rail corridors more efficiently? Please join us, we need you!
Hosted by Venture Café Foundation and Kendall Square Association in partnership with MassDOT.
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Boston Talks Happy Hour: The Future of Food
Thursday, January 21
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EST)
WGBH, 1 Guest Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-talks-happy-hour-the-future-of-food-tickets-19360509806
Cost: $11.54
The future of food is on the menu.
A Smarter Happy Hour
Grab your friends and join us for WGBH’s take on happy hour—inspiring conversation plus wine and local craft brews for $5 a glass. Hear from and connect with local experts in a variety of fields while enjoying the great company of your neighbors from Boston and beyond. Each event combines short speaking programs, drinks, and a chance for you to join the conversation.
Meet the Host
Edgar runs WGBH's Curiosity Desk, where he digs a little deeper into topics in the news, explores the off-beat, and searches for answers to questions posed by the world around us. His radio features can be heard on 89.7 WGBH's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and his television features can be seen on WGBH's Greater Boston. Follow him on Twitter @ebherwick3.
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Sweating the Small Stuff: The Fun and Fear of Near-Earth Asteroids
Thursday, January 21
7:30 pm
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge
Jose-Luis Galache, CfA
The explosion of an asteroid over Russia in 2013 caught by hundreds of dashcams, and the perennial reminder of the dinosaurs' demise due to an earlier, and bigger, asteroid impact, serve to illustrate the fear that asteroids may inspire in us. But near-Earth asteroids, our closest neighbors in the Solar System, also offer hitherto unimagined opportunities for exploration and resource harvesting. They might even be the stepping stones we require to seed the solar system with space colonies. The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, located at the CfA, is on the front line of asteroid discoveries and is vital to the research of asteroid scientists the world over. We'll explore its inner workings and how it contributes to both the fun and fear of near-Earth asteroids.
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Friday January 22
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The Future of Computation in Science and Engineering: "BRAIN + MACHINES"
Friday January 22
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST
Harvard, Science Center Hall B, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ebvv64nr261f5f27&llr=odyvocsab
This year's symposium on the Future of Computation in Science and Engineering will focus on the converging fields of neuroscience and computer science/machine learning. BRAIN + MACHINES will bring together machine learning experts, neuroscientists, academic researchers, and scholars across several fields to discuss what we can learn from the study of structure and function in the brain and efforts to reverse-engineer the brain. The implications of replacing the human brain with machines and the related benefits and risks for society will be considered. Other topics to be explored will include how treatments for brain-related problems are being developed through better understanding of the brain led by advances in technology and computation.
Contact: Sheila Coveney
Institute for Applied Computational Science, Harvard University
617-384-9091
computefest at seas.harvard.edu
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Monday, January 25
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Contemporary Geometric Beadwork: Wearable Sewn Beadwork as a base to Model, Explore, and Animate Structure
Monday, January 25
10:00AM-12:00PM
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Kate McKinnon, Erik Demaine, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Martin Demaine, Technical Assistant, CSAIL
Kate McKinnon is bringing her intriguing wearable art project, Contemporary Geometric Beadwork, to MIT, and giving several lectures, a seminar, and two weeks of hands-on sessions. Explore the recent structural and design work in this ancient art, and learn how to apply this alluring type of modeling to your own ideas.
The scope of the project is explained in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uoCC9MJ2SM
Sponsor(s): Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab
Contact: Kate McKinnon, kate at katemckinnon.com
Contemporary Geometric Beadwork-Lecture
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Tuesday, January 26
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Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections): A History of the Religious Battles That Define America from Jefferson's Heresies to Gay Marriage
Tuesday, January 26
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes Boston University professor STEPHEN PROTHERO, bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One, for a discussion of his latest book, Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections): A History of the Religious Battles That Define America from Jefferson's Heresies to Gay Marriage.
About Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections)
In this timely, carefully reasoned social history of the United States, Stephen Prothero places today’s heated culture wars within the context of a centuries-long struggle of right versus left and religious versus secular to reveal how, ultimately, liberals always win.
Though they may seem to be dividing the country irreparably, today’s heated cultural and political battles between right and left, Progressives and Tea Party, religious and secular are far from unprecedented. In this engaging and important work, Stephen Prothero reframes the current debate, viewing it as the latest in a number of flashpoints that have shaped our national identity. Prothero takes us on a lively tour through time, bringing into focus the election of 1800, which pitted Calvinists and Federalists against Jeffersonians and “infidels;” the Protestants’ campaign against Catholics in the mid-nineteenth century; the anti-Mormon crusade of the Victorian era; the fundamentalist-modernist debates of the 1920s; the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s; and the current crusade against Islam.
As Prothero makes clear, our culture wars have always been religious wars, progressing through the same stages of conservative reaction to liberal victory that eventually benefit all Americans. Drawing on his impressive depth of knowledge and detailed research, he explains how competing religious beliefs have continually molded our political, economic, and sociological discourse and reveals how the conflicts which separate us today, like those that came before, are actually the byproduct of our struggle to come to terms with inclusiveness and ideals of “Americanness.” To explore these battles, he reminds us, is to look into the soul of America—and perhaps find essential answers to the questions that beset us.
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Wednesday, January 27
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MIT on Climate = Science + Action
Wednesday, January 27
8:30a–5:30p
MIT, Building 32-123, Stata Center, Kirsch Auditorium, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
A Symposium Presented by the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) Co-sponsored by the Lorenz Center and the Houghton Fund
Speaker: Multiple MIT faculty
Touching on everything from the essentials of planetary climate through the complexities of Earth's climate system to the challenges of finding the will to act on our knowledge to address current climate change, the symposium features talks and discussion by faculty experts from across the spectrum of climate research at MIT, and keynote speakers Marcia McNutt (Editor-in-Chief of Science) and Justin Gillis (Environmental Science Writer for The New York Times).
Web site: https://eapsweb.mit.edu/events/2016/climate-symposium
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact: Kurt Sternlof
(617) 253-6895
kurtster at mit.edu
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Urban Planning Film Series: Herman's House, by Angad Singh Bhalla
Wednesday, January 27
7:00PM-9:15PM
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Herman Wallace may be the longest-serving prisoner in solitary confinement in the United States---he's spent more than 40 years in a 6-by-9-foot cell in Louisiana. Imprisoned in 1967 for a robbery he admits, he was subsequently sentenced to life for a killing he vehemently denies. Herman's House is a moving account of the remarkable expression his struggle found in an unusual project proposed by artist Jackie Sumell.
Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, 617 253-2024, EGLENN at MIT.EDU
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Thursday, January 28
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Implementing the Smart City
Thursday, January 28
6:00 PM
The MEME Design, 288 Norfolk Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Evenings-at-TheMEME/events/227297594/
Go around to the back (or loading dock) entrance. Our office is not accessible from the front entrance. Climb up the stairs to the top (5th) floor. There will be signs pointing the way. Street parking is available along Hampshire St.
The Smart City is not just an abstract vision of urban utopia; it is here, and it is here to stay. The grand promise is that the Internet of Things will help us iron out inefficiencies, using insights generated from Big Data to transform urban life. It promises to improve quality of life and manage the complex systems that make up the city's infrastructure. But what does that actually mean?
THE MEME invites you to an evening of conversation where we will look at how the Smart City is being created, piece by piece, to address the real challenges of life in the city. Join experienced leaders in the field as they discuss how they are researching, developing, and implementing new technology that will change the way we experience urban spaces.
Don’t miss out on the fourth event in THE MEME’s Internet of Things series. We have three speakers confirmed for the panel: Kristopher Carter (the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics), Jutta Friedrichs (Soofa), and Nicola Palmarini (IBM Accessibility / IBM Research).
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RPP Colloquium: Integral Human Development and the Moral Imagination: Implications for Religion, Development, and Peacebuilding
Thu., Jan. 28
6 – 8:30 p.m.
Harvard, Sperry Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
Religions and the Practice of Peace Colloquium Series
R. Scott Appleby, PhD, professor of history and Marilyn Keough Dean of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, is author or editor of more than 15 books, including The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation; The Fundamentalism Project; Peacebuilding: Catholic Theology, Ethics, and Praxis; and, most recently, The Oxford Handbook of Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding.
Integral Human Development (IHD), a concept articulated in Roman Catholic social teaching and resonant in other religious and secular traditions, levels a serious critique at narrowly technical and secular global efforts to build peace, eradicate poverty and provide basic human needs such as health care and education to underdeveloped societies. Reading IHD through the lens of Lederach’s rendering of the moral imagination allows us to envision and elaborate a sustainable partnership between professional development actors, peacebuilders, and religious communities. The talk will unpack and defend this argument.
The event will be moderated by HDS Dean David N. Hempton, Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies and John Lord O'Brian Professor of Divinity.
Space is limited. RSVP is required. Check back for RSVP info.
Launched by HDS Dean David N. Hempton in 2014, this monthly public series convenes a cross-disciplinary RPP Working Group of faculty, experts, graduate students, and alumni from across Harvard’s Schools and the local area to explore topics and cases in religions and the practice of peace. A diverse array of scholars, leaders, and religious peacebuilders are invited to present and engage with the RPP Working Group and general audience. A light dinner is served and a brief reception follows the program.
Join RPP’s mailing list and visit the RPP Initiative at http://hds.harvard.edu/faculty-research/programs-and-centers/religions-and-the-practice-of-peace
Gazette Classification: Lecture, Religion
Sponsor: Religions and the Practice of Peace Initiative
Contact: Liz Lee-Hood
Source: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d115684100
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Neuromarketing-palooza: Uncovering What Your Target Audience Is Feeling
Thursday, January 28, 2016
6:30 PM
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Neuromarketing-Meetup/events/226827015/
Emotions are the number one influencer of attention, perception, memory, human behavior and decision-making. And to that end, our featured speaker will be Gabi Zijderveld, VP of Marketing and Product Strategy at Affectiva (http://www.affectiva.com/), leaders in emotion analytics and insights. Gabi will be giving a demo of their technology, which delivers insights into people’s emotional engagement with anything from websites to brands, advertising, movie trailers and TV programs.
Making 'Em Click
In addition, we'll be covering the most effective methods for writing headlines that get more clicks. Headlines are everywhere we look online, whether in websites, blogs, articles, Tweets or emails. We'll be doing a deep-dive into the psychology of why people can't resist clicking on certain headlines yet ignore others. Learn to write irresistible headlines that drive attention, clicks and traffic.
The event is free, and so is the pizza.
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The Idealist: Aaron Swartz and the Rise of Free Culture on the Internet
Thursday, January 28
7:00 PM
(Doors at 6:30)
WorkBar, 45 Prospect Street., First Floor, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store and The Baffler welcome Slate correspondant JUSTIN PETERS and editor-in-chief of The Baffler JOHN SUMMERS for a discussion of Peters' book The Idealist: Aaron Swartz and the Rise of Free Culture on the Internet, a smart, lively history of the Internet free culture movement and its larger effects on society—and the life and shocking suicide of Aaron Swartz, a founding developer of Reddit and Creative Commons.
About The Idealist
Aaron Swartz was a zealous young advocate for the free exchange of information and creative content online. He committed suicide in 2013 after being indicted by the government for illegally downloading millions of academic articles from a nonprofit online database. From the age of fifteen, when Swartz, a computer prodigy, worked with Lawrence Lessig to launch Creative Commons, to his years as a fighter for copyright reform and open information, to his work leading the protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), to his posthumous status as a cultural icon, Swartz’s life was inextricably connected to the free culture movement. Now Justin Peters examines Swartz’s life in the context of 200 years of struggle over the control of information.
In vivid, accessible prose, The Idealist situates Swartz in the context of other "data moralists" past and present, from lexicographer Noah Webster to ebook pioneer Michael Hart to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. In the process, the book explores the history of copyright statutes and the public domain; examines archivists’ ongoing quest to build the “library of the future”; and charts the rise of open access, copyleft, and other ideologies that have come to challenge protectionist IP policies. Peters also breaks down the government’s case against Swartz and explains how we reached the point where federally funded academic research came to be considered private property, and downloading that material in bulk came to be considered a federal crime.
The Idealist is an important investigation of the fate of the digital commons in an increasingly corporatized Internet, and an essential look at the impact of the free culture movement on our daily lives and on generations to come.
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Friday, January 29
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HBS Entertainment and Media Conference 2016
Friday, January 29
8:00 AM to 4:00 PM (EST)
Harvard Business School, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/hbs-entertainment-and-media-conference-2016-tickets-19894477919
Cost: $32.64 - $64.29
Entertainment and Media: The Future of Entertainment
Our annual conference brings together hundreds of HBS and Harvard University students, alumni, faculty, business leaders, and community members to hear from industry leaders. The conference features keynote addresses and panel discussions with senior business and creative executives from the industry’s leading corporations and investors.
Confirmed speakers include executives from:
Capitol Records
Centerview
CNN
Governor's Ball
HBO
LiveNation
Morgan Stanley
NBC/Universal
Seed & Spark
STX
... and more to come!
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MIT Meeting on Quantitative Ecology
Friday, January 29
11:00a–6:00p
MIT, Building 4-349, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Speaker: Organizers: Jeff Gore & Serguei Saavedra
This first meeting has the intention to build a network of researchers/labs located in the Boston area working in the field of quantitative/theoretical ecology. This meeting will allow presenters and attendees to introduce their research, exchange ideas, and explore potential avenues of collaboration.
Speakers: Otto Cordero (MIT), Elizabeth Crone (Tufts), Mick Follows (MIT), Jeff Gore (MIT),
Tarik Gouhier (Northeastern), Kirill Korolev (Boston University), Pankaj Mehta (Boston University), Babak Momeni (Boston College), Peter Morin (Rutgers), Michael Neubert (Woods Hole), Martin Polz (MIT), Daniel Rothman (MIT), Serguei Saavedra (MIT), Alvaro Sanchez (Harvard), Benjamin Wolfe (Tufts), Elizabeth Wolkovich (Harvard)
Attendance is free but REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED: Send name & affiliation to mit.qe.meeting at gmail.com Please mention if you would like to present a poster.
Open to: MIT and Participating Affiliated Instititutions
Cost: 0
Tickets: Send name & affiliation to mit.qe.meeting at gmail.com
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact: MIT Meeting on Quantitative Ecology
617-258-8685
mit.qe.meeting at gmail.com
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Global Game Jam 2016
Friday, January 29
5p - 11:45p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32-124 & 32-144, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world's largest game jam event taking place around the world at physical locations. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today's heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games - it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games, while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle. The GGJ encourages people with all kinds of backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity.
Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-game-jam-2016-at-mit-tickets-19781298396
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-game-jam-2016-at-mit-tickets-19781298396
This event occurs daily at 5:00p - 11:45p through January 29, 2016, and also on January 31, 2016 at 9:00a - 6:00p and January 30, 2016 at 9:00a - 11:45p.
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, MIT Game Lab
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cmsw at mit.edu
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Saturday, January 30
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Global Game Jam 2016
Saturday, January 30
9:00a–11:45p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32-124 & 32-144, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world's largest game jam event taking place around the world at physical locations. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today's heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games - it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games, while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle. The GGJ encourages people with all kinds of backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity.
Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-game-jam-2016-at-mit-tickets-19781298396
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-game-jam-2016-at-mit-tickets-19781298396
This event occurs daily at 5:00p - 11:45p through January 29, 2016, and also on January 31, 2016 at 9:00a - 6:00p and January 30, 2016 at 9:00a - 11:45p.
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, MIT Game Lab
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cmsw at mit.edu
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Sunday, January 31
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Global Game Jam 2016
Sunday, January 31
9:00a–11:45p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32-124 & 32-144, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world's largest game jam event taking place around the world at physical locations. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today's heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games - it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games, while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle. The GGJ encourages people with all kinds of backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity.
Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-game-jam-2016-at-mit-tickets-19781298396
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-game-jam-2016-at-mit-tickets-19781298396
This event occurs daily at 5:00p - 11:45p through January 29, 2016, and also on January 31, 2016 at 9:00a - 6:00p and January 30, 2016 at 9:00a - 11:45p.
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, MIT Game Lab
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cmsw at mit.edu
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Opportunity
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Special Holiday Offer
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The Ultimate Really "Green Gift"
Pearl's Premium Ultra Low Maintenance Lawn Seed
Truly Unique, Innovative & Amazing
Winner of MassChallenge Prize & Boston Museum of Science Award
An Eco-friendly grass that needs mowing only once per month!
Needs 1/4 the water of other grass. Guaranteed to sprout.
Stays green year round without toxic lawn chemicals.
12 inch roots sequester 4x the carbon to lessen climate change.
No need to tear up the lawn, plant right over existing grass.
5# bag covers 800 -1000 sq.ft. People, Pet, Pond & Planet Friendly TM
WWW.PearlsPremium.com. Put in Code "Holiday" for 20% off,
(offer good til December 31, 2015) tel# 508-653-0800 Jackson Madnick
A portion of your purchase helps us support the important work of Habitat for Humanity
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Where is the best yogurt on the planet made? Somerville, of course!
Join the Somerville Yogurt Making Cooperative and get a weekly quart of the most thick, creamy, rich and tart yogurt in the world. Membership in the coop costs $2.50 per quart. Members share the responsibility for making yogurt in our kitchen located just outside of Davis Sq. in FirstChurch. No previous yogurt making experience is necessary.
For more information checkout.
https://sites.google.com/site/somervilleyogurtcoop/home
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Cambridge Residents: Free Home Thermal Images
Have you ever wanted to learn where your home is leaking heat by having an energy auditor come to your home with a thermal camera? With that info you then know where to fix your home so it's more comfortable and less expensive to heat. However, at $200 or so, the cost of such a thermal scan is a big chunk of change.
HEET Cambridge has now partnered with Sagewell, Inc. to offer Cambridge residents free thermal scans.
Sagewell collects the thermal images by driving through Cambridge in a hybrid vehicle equipped with thermal cameras. They will scan every building in Cambridge (as long as it's not blocked by trees or buildings or on a private way). Building owners can view thermal images of their property and an analysis online. The information is password protected so that only the building owner can see the results.
Homeowners, condo-owners and landlords can access the thermal images and an accompanying analysis free of charge. Commercial building owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their images and analysis for a small fee.
The scans will be analyzed in the order they are requested.
Go to Sagewell.com. Type in your address at the bottom where it says "Find your home or building" and press return. Then click on "Here" to request the report.
That's it. When the scans are done in a few weeks, your building will be one of the first to be analyzed. The accompanying report will help you understand why your living room has always been cold and what to do about it.
With knowledge, comes power (or in this case saved power and money, not to mention comfort).
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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ
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HEET has partnered with NSTAR and Mass Save participating contractor Next Step Living to deliver no-cost Home Energy Assessments to Cambridge residents.
During the assessment, the energy specialist will:
Install efficient light bulbs (saving up to 7% of your electricity bill)
Install programmable thermostats (saving up to 10% of your heating bill)
Install water efficiency devices (saving up to 10% of your water bill)
Check the combustion safety of your heating and hot water equipment
Evaluate your home’s energy use to create an energy-efficiency roadmap
If you get electricity from NSTAR, National Grid or Western Mass Electric, you already pay for these assessments through a surcharge on your energy bills. You might as well use the service.
Please sign up at http://nextsteplivinginc.com/heet/?outreach=HEET or call Next Step Living at 866-867-8729. A Next Step Living Representative will call to schedule your assessment.
HEET will help answer any questions and ensure you get all the services and rebates possible.
(The information collected will only be used to help you get a Home Energy Assessment. We won’t keep the data or sell it.)
(If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to call HEET’s Jason Taylor at 617 441 0614.)
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Resource
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha at sbnboston.org
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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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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development
- http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info at bnid.org if you have any questions!
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Artisan Asylum http://artisansasylum.com/
Sprout & Co: Community Driven Investigations http://thesprouts.org/
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 at wellesley.edu
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Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at 60 colleges and universities at Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the Boston Area: http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
MIT Events: http://events.mit.edu
MIT Energy Club: http://mitenergyclub.org/calendar
Harvard Events: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment: http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard: http://green.harvard.edu/events
Mass Climate Action: http://www.massclimateaction.net/calendar
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
Microsoft NERD Center: http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events: http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/
Cambridge Civic Journal: http://www.rwinters.com
Cambridge Happenings: http://cambridgehappenings.org
Cambridge Community Calendar: https://www.cctvcambridge.org/calendar
Boston Events Insider: http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list