[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - May 18, 2014
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun May 18 11:37:17 PDT 2014
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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Event Index - full Event Details available below the Index
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Monday, May 19
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11am xTalks: Expertise in Science and Engineering, How it is Learned and Taught
12:15pm Building Trust from the Bottom Up: U.S.-Chinese Engagement on Nuclear Issues
2:30pm Healthcare Privacy and Intellectual Property Rights Protection with Accountable Systems
3pm Roadmap to a "Bionic Ear"
5:30pm Challenge Demo Day 2014
6pm Bee-Wise...Know Your Fresh Pond Pollinators!
6pm Philippe Petit discusses Creativity: The Perfect Crime
8pm Nerd Night
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Tuesday, May 20
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8:30am Center for Future Technologies in Cancer Care
12pm Christoph Reinhart's Daylighting Handbook 1 - a new spin on an ancient topic
12pm Air pollution in China: Scientific and Public Policy Challenges
12:30pm You, me, and my computer
12:30pm Cytoskeletal Control of Bacterial Growth
6pm Book Launch: The Social Machine
6pm Hemlock: A Forest Giant on the Edge
6pm Race To Solar
6pm Boston Quantified Self Show&Tell #BQS16 (NERD)
6pm Harvard Extension School Master of Liberal Arts Thesis Forum
6pm Boston New Technology May 2014 Product Showcase #BNT41
6:30pm The EL SISTEMA Spring Concert: Sounds of the City, Music of the World
7pm Why Consumers Alone Can’t Save Our Fish
7pm Climate Change, False Solutions & Impacts on Communities
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Wednesday, May 21
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10am Enhancing Nuclear Security Culture Internationally
12:30pm "Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government.”
12:30pm Risk and Resilience in the Built Environment: Planning for Operational Resiliency
3:45pm Drilling Hotspots to Unravel the Mantle Wind
4pm Climate Dynamics of Condensible-rich Atmospheres
6:30pm "Edible Perennial Gardening and Landscaping”
6:30pm Hellstrip Gardening: Paradise at the Curb
7pm Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government
7pm Science in the News Lecture: Exploring Planets Near and Far
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Thursday, May 22
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12:15pm The Iraqi Refugee Crisis: Lessons for Syria and Beyond
5:30pm Global Pitchfest – Info Table
6pm MA Food Day planning meeting
6pm Yoga at the Museum: Art That Moves You
7pm Pecha Kucha Boston
7:45pm Promoting a Culture of Quality and Safety in a Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Environment
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Friday, May 23
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9am ReThinking Mindfulness
10:30am Human Wellness Influences Coastal Ecology - A Stakeholder Science Forum
4pm Farm Raising at South Street Farm!
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Saturday, May 24
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9am ReThinking Mindfulness
10am Indigenous Ecological Urban Presence
10:30am Boston’s Urban Forest Urban Orchards Bicycle Tour: Roxbury and Jamaica Plain
11am The Science of Soccer
7pm The Future of Technology: Benefits and Risks
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Tuesday, May 27
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12:30pm Post Arab Revolutions: What Social Media is telling us
6pm The Human Scale: Bringing Cities to Life
6:45pm Urban Farming: From Vision to Reality - A Swiss Perspective
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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
Ice Sheets and Sea Level: Is the Long Tail Attached to a Dragon?
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/05/ice-sheets-and-sea-level-is-long-tail.html
Connecting the Next Three Billion
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/05/connecting-next-three-billion.html
CO2eq
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/13/1299196/-CO2eq
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Monday, May 19
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xTalks: Expertise in Science and Engineering, How it is Learned and Taught
Monday, May 19, 2014
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 3-270, 33 Massachusetts Ave (Rear), Cambridge
Speaker: Carl Wieman
Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman will discuss how cognitive psychology research has illuminated what it means to 'think like a scientist or engineer' (i.e. expertise), and how those abilities are developed. In addition, he will connect that work to different teaching methods used in college science and engineering courses and show comparative data on the resulting learning of expertise that is achieved. He will also discuss the significance of the content expertise of the teacher in this process.
Dr Wieman currently has a joint appointment in physics and education at Stanford University. He also served as chair of the Board on Science Education of the National Academy of Sciences and was the founder and chairman of PhET, a web-based directive of University of Colorado Boulder which provides an extensive suite of simulations to improve the way that physics, chemistry, biology, earth science and math are taught and learned. Wieman worked on education reforms at the University of British Columbia and served as Associate Director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. In 2001, he won the Nobel prize in Physics. Wieman is a graduate of MIT (BS, '73).
xTalks: Digital Discourses
A forum to facilitate awareness, deep understanding & transference of educational innovations at MIT and elsewhere, xTalks fosters a community of educators, researchers, and technologists engaged in developing and supporting effective learning experiences through online learning environments and other digital technologies.
Web site: http://odl.mit.edu/events/carl-wieman-expertise-in-science-and-engineering-how-it-is-learned-and-taught/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): OEIT- Office of Educational Innovation and Technology, Science Policy Initiative, Office of Digital Learning
For more information, contact: Molly Ruggles
617-324-9185
ruggles at mit.edu
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Bussey Brook Meadow Research
May 19, 2014
Mon, 12:10 pm
Weld Hill Lecture Hall, Arnold Arboretum, 1300 Centre Street, Boston
http://arboretum.harvard.edu/research/research-talks/
GSD Students and Harvard Graduate School of Design
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Building Trust from the Bottom Up: U.S.-Chinese Engagement on Nuclear Issues
May 19, 2014
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Harvard, Nye A, Fifth Floor Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Open to the Public
Speaker: Tong Zhao, Stanton Nuclear Security Predoctoral Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
Related Projects: International Security, Managing the Atom, Science, Technology, and Public Policy
This presentation seeks to address the question of whether operational-level engagement between the United States and China increases China's trust towards the United States in their nuclear relationship. And if so, why is this the case and how does it take place?
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
More information at http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/?page=1
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Healthcare Privacy and Intellectual Property Rights Protection with Accountable Systems
WHEN Mon., May 19, 2014, 2:30 – 4 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, K354, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Health Sciences, Information Technology, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Data Privacy Lab
SPEAKER(S) Oshani Seneviratne
COST Free and open to the public
LINK http://dataprivacylab.org/TIP/index.html
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Roadmap to a "Bionic Ear"
Monday, May 19, 2014
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Refreshments: 2:45 PM
MIT, Building 32-G882, Stata Center, Hewlett Room, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Jérémie Voix , Université du Québec
Jérémie Voix is Associate Professor at École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) in Montréal and holder of the Sonomax-ÉTS Industrial Research Chair in In-Ear Technologies. Together with his team of researchers and students, he focuses on the development of various technologies designed to complement the human ear, from “intelligent” protection against extreme noise to hearing support and inset hearing diagnostics to the integration of advanced inter-individual communication systems. More fundamental research is also planned, particularly on the micro-harvesting of electrical energy using kinetic or thermodynamic processes integrated within a miniaturized in-ear device, in efforts to address future problems with regard to autonomy. One recent development, the Auditory Research Platform, will be presented to the CSAIL community who may take benefit from its versatility and portability for immersive in-ear audio processing for a wide range of applications from health monitoring to tactical communications.
More info available from: http://critias.etsmtl.ca/jvoix
Contact: Marcia G. Davidson, 617-253-3049, marcia at csail.mit.edu
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Challenge Demo Day 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
5:30 PM to 7:30 PM (EDT)
Harvard Innovation Lab, 125 Western Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-deans-health-and-life-sciences-challenge-demo-day-2014-tickets-11334021363
The Deans' Health and Life Sciences Challenge Demo Day 2014
Please join us at this year's Deans' Health and Life Sciences Challenge Demo Day. Our six finalist teams will showcase their exciting ventures and technologies to the Harvard/Cambridge/Boston community. The Challenge's Co-Chairs, Dean Nohria (HBS) and Dean Flier (HMS) will also announce the winners of the Bertarelli Foundation prizes, totaling $50,000.
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Bee-Wise...Know Your Fresh Pond Pollinators!
Monday, May 19
6 to 7:30pm
Water Purification Facility, 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, Cambridge
Pollinators are what keep the world growing, and Fresh Pond Reservation is no exception! Meet one of Fresh Pond’s beekeepers to learn about bee biology, ecology and what it takes to beekeep! We’ll get to see some bees up close and visit the Lusitania hives.
For more information contact Kirsten at klindquist at cambridgema.gov or (617) 349-6489. No registration necessary.
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Philippe Petit discusses Creativity: The Perfect Crime
Harvard Book Store
Monday, May 19
6:00 PM (EDT)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/philippe-petit-discusses-creativity-the-perfect-crime-tickets-11283995735
Cost: $5.00
Harvard Book Store welcomes famed high-wire artist PHILIPPE PETIT for a discussion of his new bookCreativity: The Perfect Crime.
Since well before his epic 1974 walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, Philippe Petit had become an artist who answered first and foremost to the demands of his craft—not only on the high wire, but also as a magician, street juggler, visual artist, builder, and writer. A born rebel like many creative people, he was from an early age a voracious learner who taught himself, cultivating the attitudes, resources, and techniques to tackle even seemingly impossible feats. His outlaw sensibility spawned a unique approach to the creative process—an approach he shares, with characteristic enthusiasm, irreverence, and originality in Creativity: The Perfect Crime.
Making the reader his accomplice, Petit reveals new and unconventional ways of going about the artistic endeavor, from generating and shaping ideas to practicing and problem-solving to pulling off the “coup” itself—executing a finished work. The strategies and insights he shares will resonate with performers of every stripe (actors, musicians, dancers) and practitioners of the non-performing arts (painters, writers, sculptors), and also with ordinary mortals in search of fresh ways of tackling the challenges and possibilities of everyday existence.
“I enjoyed the organization of chaos, the boldness of ideas, the insanity of Philippe’s visions, the extreme discipline of planning, and the passion of the feat. It inspires to create not only on a sound concept, but also on a whim or a spark. I was thoroughly able to identify with his highs and lows and it was a great pleasure to have one so freewheeling put his methods down in a completely personal way." —Julie Taymor
Tickets are also available at Harvard Book Store and over the phone at 617-661-1515.
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Nerd Night
Monday, May 19
8:00pm
Middlesex Lounge, 315 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Cost: $5
This month finds Nerd Nite Boston exploring alternative career paths with two nerdy design talks curated by the BSLA EPs and the BSA EPNet. Be there. Be square.
Talk 1: "BA…or BS: Landscape Architecture" by Landon Young
Landon is Director of Creativity and Innovation at William Jewell College, a National Science Foundation Fellow, a Kauffman Global Scholar, and Curator for the World Economic Forum. Landon earned a B.S. in Landscape Architecture, M.S. in Interdisciplinary Ecological Science and Engineering, and is currently pursuing a PhD from Purdue University.
Talk 2 by Siqi Zhu
Siqi Zhu is an urban designer and technologist whose work focuses on using place-based design and development strategies to improve challenging urban conditions and devising alternative methods of analysis, ideation, and communication to enhance that process. Currently a senior designer at Utile, a Boston-based architecture and urban planning practice, his notable projects include the Boston Complete Streets. Previously, he was a research fellow at MIT Senseable City lab, where he lead data visualization projects for corporate and institutional partners. He also completed a major interactive exhibit for the Singapore National Museum that explored the use of an universal "data browser" to narrate dynamic urban conditions. He hopes to bring some of the analysis and communication potential of the data visualization field back into the practice of urban design.
More information at http://boston.nerdnite.com/
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Tuesday, May 20
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Center for Future Technologies in Cancer Care
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
8:30 AM to 4:30 PM (EDT)
BU Photonics Center, 8 St Marys Street, Room 906, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cftcc-annual-symposium-tickets-8454157613
The Center for Future Technologies in Cancer Care focuses on translational technologies that meet a need in contemporary cancer care both in the United States and abroad. The Point-of-Care (POC) can be a home, primary care office, clinic, or other location, provided that the technology enables a task to shift from a more to a less sophisticated setting. Cost reduction is one metric on which technologies are judged, but an increase in positive patient outcomes and/or quality of life should be paramount. For example, an intervention that allows for chemotherapy drugs to be given at home, rather than in a special treatment center could both reduce costs and increase patent quality of life.
Join us for a day of scientific, technological, and clinical needs discussions.The symposium will showcase the projects supported by the Center over the last two years.
There will be a lunch poster session showcasing multiple projects that have been supported through the Center. Additionally, there will be posters on newly fundedprojects.
The CFTCC Symposium will have an invited guest speaker Shashi Murthy, Ph.D.
The Symposium Keynote speaker will be Brian J. Kirby, Ph.D.
Keynote Speaker: Brian J. Kirby, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Engineering in Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology
Brian J. Kirby currently directs the Micro/Nanofluidics Laboratory in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. He joined the School in August 2004. Previous to that, he was a Senior Member of the Technical Staff in the Microfluidics Department at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, where he worked from 2001-2004 on microfluidic systems, with applications primarily to counterbioterrorism. From 1996-2001 he worked as a graduate student in theHigh Temperature Gasdynamics Laboratory at Stanford University, where he developed laser spectroscopy techniques for imaging gases in flames for combustion and aerothermopropulsion applications. From 1994-1996 he worked as a graduate student in the Variable Gravity Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan, studying multiphase heat transfer processes; at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in Palo Alto, CA, studying fluid mechanics processes in hard drive stacks; and in the Gas Dynamics Research Laboratories in the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Michigan, studying soot formation processes in low-pressure diffusion flames.
Guest Speaker: Shashi K. Murthy, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University
Prof. Shashi Murthy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University. He holds secondary appointments as Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering and as Faculty Fellow in the Barnett Institute of Chemical & Biological Analysis at Northeastern University. In addition, Prof. Murthy is a Scientific Investigator at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston. He is also Northeastern’s institutional representative at CIMIT, a consortium of hospitals and universities dedicated to the integration of medicine and innovative technology. Prof. Murthy is a current member of the Features Advisory Panel to of the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry.
For more information on current CFTCC projects: http://www.bu.edu/cftcc/projects/
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Christoph Reinhart's Daylighting Handbook 1 - a new spin on an ancient topic
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
12:00 PM
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
Meetings are free and open to all, RSVP at
https://online.architects.org/bsassa/censsareqauth?p_url=evtssarsvp.display_page%3Fp_cust_id%3D__CUSTID__%26p_event_id%3D1324%26p_item_id%3DCTE_RSVP
Christoph Reinhard has written this guidebook for his students at MIT and for the profession as a whole. We will hear from him about the rules of thumb, the variations of daylight worldwide, and the health and productivity effects of daylight on a building's occupants.
Editorial Comment: Christoph Reinhard is one of the people behind the Cambridge Solar Map: http://en.mapdwell.com/cambridge
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Air pollution in China: Scientific and Public Policy Challenges
Tuesday, May 20
12pm – 1pm
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Tong Zhu (Peking)
Abstract: Severe air pollution in China has in recent years caused intensive public, media and governmental attention. Many questions need to be answered about the air pollution in China, such as how harmful is the air pollution, especially particulate matter [PM] 2.5 [mm]? Why suddenly so many reports about severe air pollution, is the air in China getting more polluted? How to design a policy that can control the air pollution most efficiently?
After having updated the national Ambient Air Quality Standards in 2012 and included PM2.5 as one of the critical air pollutants, in 2013, the Chinese central government released for the first time the “Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan.” The plan has set goals to reduce annual mean concentration of PM2.5 up to 25% in 2017 in different regions in China. If the ambitious goals were achieved, this could be the most significant air pollution reduction in such a short time that affects so many people in human history.
To achieve these goals, however, there are enormous scientific and public policy challenges to deal with. For example:
1. Identify the key components, size fraction of PM that have the largest health effects; and identify the sources of PM that has the most harmful effects on human health and ecosystem.
2. Reduce the uncertainty in health risk assessment.
3. Understand complicate chemical transformation processes in air pollution formation with intensive emissions from industry, power plant, vehicles, agriculture.
4. Interactions between air pollution, PBL, and atmospheric circulation at different scales.
5. The accountability, feasibility, effectiveness, and efficiency of air pollution control policies.
6. Integrate multi-pollutant control and achieve co-benefit with climate and energy policy.
7. Regional coordinated air pollution control.
The largest challenge in China for air pollution control remains how to strengthen the link between science and policy.
Speaker's website: http://cese.pku.edu.cn/
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You, me, and my computer
May 20, 2014
12:30pm ET
Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/05/mccarthy#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/05/mccarthy at 12:30pm ET.
with Lauren McCarthy, artist and programmer
Can we use technology to help us be more human? To smile more, to touch and to listen to each other? What if a computer could understand and make decisions about our social relationships better than we could ourselves? Would our interactions be improved by computationally determining what to do and say? What happens if we crowdsource our dating lives and actually find love? This is a discussion of attempts to understand these questions through an artistic practice involving hacking, design and self-experimentation.
About Lauren
Lauren McCarthy is an artist and programmer based in Brooklyn, NY. She is adjunct faculty at RISD and NYU ITP, a researcher in resident at ITP, and recently a resident at Eyebeam. She holds an MFA from UCLA and a BS Computer Science and BS Art and Design from MIT. Her work explores the structures and systems of social interactions, identity, and self-representation, and the potential for technology to mediate, manipulate, and evolve these interactions. She is fascinated by the slightly uncomfortable moments when patterns are shifted, expectations are broken, and participants become aware of the system.
At Sosolimited and Small Design Firm, Lauren has worked on installations for the London Eye, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, IBM, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello. She has also worked at Oblong Industries, Continuum and the MIT Media Lab.
Her artwork has been shown in a variety of contexts, including the Conflux Festival, SIGGRAPH, LACMA, the Japan Media Arts Festival, Share Festival, File Festival, the WIRED Store, and probably to you without you knowing it at some point while interacting with her.
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Cytoskeletal Control of Bacterial Growth
WHEN Tue., May 20, 2014, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Medical School, New Research Building - Room 1031, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Medical School
SPEAKER(S) KC Huang, Stanford University
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Book Launch: The Social Machine
May 20th, 2014 at 6:00pm ET
Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, Room 1019, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2014/05/socialmachine#RSVP
Judith Donath, Berkman Center Fellow
Online, interface designs fashion people's appearance, shape their communication and influence their behavior. Can we see another’s face or do we know each other only by name? Do our words disappear forever once they leave the screen or are they permanently archived, amassing a history of our views and reactions? Are we aware of how public or private our surroundings are?
In “The Social Machine”, Judith Donath addresses topics such visualizing conversations and networks; portraying identity with data and history; delineating public and private space, and bringing the online world's open sociability into the face to face world. “The Social Machine” is a manifesto for balancing legibility, social responsibility and innovation -- and a manual for designing radically new environments for social interaction.
About Judith Donath
Judith synthesizes knowledge from urban design, evolutionary biology and cognitive science to design innovative interfaces for on-line communities and virtual identities. A Harvard Berkman Faculty Fellow and formerly director of the MIT Media Lab's Sociable Media Group, she is known internationally for her writing on identity, interface design, and social communication. She is the creator of many pioneering online social applications; her work and that of the Sociable Media Group have been shown in museums and galleries worldwide. Her current research focuses on how we signal identity in both mediated and face-to-face interactions, and she is working on a book about how the economics of honesty shape our world.
She received her doctoral and master's degrees in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and her bachelor's degree in History from Yale University.
Links:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/social-machine
http://vivatropolis.org/judith/
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Hemlock: A Forest Giant on the Edge
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
6:00pm
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street 1st Floor, Cambridge
Special Presentation & Book Signing with David R. Foster, Director, Harvard Forest, and Professor, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; and Aaron Ellison, Senior Research Fellow in Ecology, Harvard Forest, and Adjunct Research Professor, Departments of Biology and Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
For millennia, eastern hemlock trees have held irreplaceable cultural value and created unique forest habitat across New England. Today, eastern hemlocks are disappearing from our forests, falling by the tens of thousands as prey to an exotic insect foe. In the new book Hemlock: A Forest Giant on the Edge, eight Harvard Forest researchers reflect on eastern hemlock's irreplaceable value to human culture, ecosystems, and scientific research. Two of the book's authors, Harvard Forest director David R. Foster and ecologist Aaron Ellison, will explain connections between eastern hemlock's modern decline and the larger challenges facing nature and society in an era of habitat fragmentation, native species loss, and global climate change.
Free and open to the public
http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php
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Race To Solar
Tuesday, May 20
6 PM to 8 PM
Carpenter’s Center, 750 Dorchester Avenue, Boston
Through the Race to Solar program, eligible nonprofits can acquire a solar electric energy system for their school, house of worship, food pantry, community center, or other building owned by their nonprofit organization.
A solar investor will own, repair and insure the panels, selling the green electricity back to your nonprofit at a rate typically lower than the organization currently pays the utility company.
The Race to Solar will help 40 nonprofits get solar installed, totaling 1 megawatt of clean, renewable energy in our communities. Through reducing the sales and marketing costs for the installer, HEET has secured a great rate and contract with SunBug Solar.
To qualify for the program your nonprofit must:
1. Participate in NSTAR’s Direct Install energy upgrade in your nonprofit.
The no-cost energy evaluation can be scheduled at your convenience. The assessor will create a report of the potential work for you to choose from. The work is 70% rebated and the remainder can be paid with a zero interest 12 month loan. The work lowers the electricity bill by 30% on average.
2. Persuade 5 small local businesses to get a no-cost energy evaluation.
This work helps your whole community become more sustainable both economically and environmentally. HEET will assist you in signing up the businesses.
3. Join a free energy-tracking online site.
Tracking with wegowise will help you quantify your savings and can help you spot future problems with your plumbing or heating systems before the problems become catastrophic.
To learn more about the program, attend a Race to Solar Workshop. Please RSVP for one of the following workshops, as refreshments and food will be provided:
For more information about the program contact info at HEETma.org, call 617-HEET (4338)-350, or http://www.heetma.org/race-to-solar/
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Boston Quantified Self Show&Tell #BQS16 (NERD)
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Microsoft NERD New England Research & Development Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/BostonQS/events/170552132/
Cost: $7.00/per person
Please come join us on Tuesday, May 20th for another fun night of self-tracking presentations, sharing ideas, and showing tools. If you are self-tracking in any way -- health stats, biofeedback, life-logging, mood monitoring, biometrics, athletics, etc. -- come and share your methods, results and insights.
We're happy to hosted by our friends at Microsoft. Be sure to RSVP early to grab your spot! Come to meet new people, check out new hands-on gadgets and tools, enjoy healthy food, and learn from personal stories.
6:00 - 7:00 pm DEMO HOUR & SOCIAL TIME
Are you a toolmaker? Come demo your self-tracking gadget, app, project or idea that you're working on and share with others in our "science fair for adults." If you are making something useful for self-trackers – software, hardware, web services, or data standards – please demo it in this workshop portion of the Show&Tell. Want to participate in Demo Hour? Please let us know when you RSVP or contact Vincent at vmcphillip at gmail dot com for a spot.
7:00 - 8:00 pm IGNITE SHOW&TELLS
If you'd like to talk about your personal self-tracking story, please let us know in your RSVP or contact Joshua at joshuakot at gmail dot com, so we can discuss your topic. In your talk, you should answer the three prime questions: What did you do? How did you do it? What did you learn?
8:00 - 9:00 pm MORE SOCIAL TIME & NETWORKING
Talk to the speakers, chat with new and old friends, ask other people what they're tracking, and generally hang out and have a great time.
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Harvard Extension School Master of Liberal Arts Thesis Forum
WHEN Tue., May 20, 2014, 6 – 9 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Graduate School of Education, Larsen Hall 106, 14 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Humanities, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University Extension School Master of Liberal Arts Program
COST Free; open to Harvard staff and students. Harvard ID required.
CONTACT INFO chuck_houston at harvard.edu
NOTE Tuesday night, May 20: Focus on Humanities and Social Sciences
Wednesday night, May 21 Focus on Behavioral and Biological Sciences
12 graduating Master's Degree students present their thesis research in 15-minute per speaker Ted-Talk style format.
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Boston New Technology May 2014 Product Showcase #BNT41
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, 41 Berkeley Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston_New_Technology/events/179298672/
Free event! Come learn about 7 innovative and exciting technology products and network with the Boston/Cambridge startup community! Each presenter gets 5 minutes for product demonstration and 5 minutes for Questions & Answers. And yes, we will have chairs! Please follow @BostonNewTech and use the #BNT41 hashtag in social media posts: details at http://www.meetup.com/Boston_New_Technology/pages/Help_Promote_BNT_Meetups_and_Companies!/
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The EL SISTEMA Spring Concert: Sounds of the City, Music of the World
Tuesday May 20
6:30pm
East Somerville Community School, 50 Cross Street, Somerville
Richard G. Saunders, Director of Music
Somerville Public Schools
81 Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA 02143
rsaunders at k12.somerville.ma.us
617-625-6600 x6143
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Why Consumers Alone Can’t Save Our Fish
Tuesday, May 20
7pm
NE Aquarium, 1 Central Wharf, Boston
http://support.neaq.org/site/Calendar?id=105305&view=Detail
Dr. Jennifer Jacquet, clinical assistant professor, New York University
Seafood is one of the only wild foods (aside from mushrooms) that Westerners eat with any regularity, and demand for it is only increasing. This talk discusses the rise of consumer-based initiatives to save the world's marine life, such as seafood wallet cards and the Marine Stewardship Council’s eco-label for wild-caught fish. The principle that consumers should make a point of choosing products that reflect their ideals is a good one, but there are also challenges with initiatives that focus on end consumers—particularly because they ask us to engage as consumers rather than as concerned citizens and relate to fish as a commodity rather than as wildlife. Register here.
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Climate Change, False Solutions & Impacts on Communities
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
7:00p–8:30p
MIT, Building 4-237, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge (accessible from 77 Massachusetts Avenue)
Speaker: Mr. Jiten Yumnam
Jiten Yumnam, a journalist , human rights and environment activist from the state of Manipur will be sharing with his experience and work in Manipur and across North East region of India. He will also talk about land, forest, water and community rights over natural resources and discuss on impacts to local community and environment.
Web site: https://www.facebook.com/events/286479048186062/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): AID-MIT, AID-Boston
For more information, contact: Sanket Navale
6174158955
sanket at mit.edu
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Wednesday, May 21
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Enhancing Nuclear Security Culture Internationally
WHEN Wed., May 14, 2014, 10 – 11:30 a.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Center Library (Littauer-369), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Law, Science, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Project on Managing the Atom
SPEAKER(S) Kara De Castro has over 20 years of experience working to enhance nuclear safety and security internationally. From April 2011 to October 2013, she worked directly for the National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy (DOE), leading international nonproliferation projects and providing support as an Acting Deputy Office Director. As of October 2013, Ms. De Castro is the DOE Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.
For more than 10 years, Kara De Castro led the Department of Energy sponsored project to enhance nuclear security culture in the Russian Federation. She jointly planned and designed the systematic program that includes a sound regulatory basis, a comprehensive training program, and assessment tools. She also led the establishment of nuclear security culture enhancement programs in Ukraine and Belarus. Kara De Castro has worked closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and has drafted nuclear security culture guidance documents for use in the IAEA program.
Kara De Castro started her career at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) working to enhance safety at Russian and Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plants. Ms. De Castro later became the Head of BNL’s Consolidation and Sustainability Group, supervising the group providing technical support to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s International Material Protection and Cooperation Program.
CONTACT INFO atom at hks.harvard.edu
LINK belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu…
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"Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government."
Wednesday, May 21
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Harvard, Fainsod Room (Littauer 324), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Discussion with Aneesh Chopra, former (and first) U.S. Chief Technology Officer. Co-sponsored with the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government.
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Risk and Resilience in the Built Environment: Planning for Operational Resiliency
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM EDT
Webinar Registration at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/499994241?utm_source=May+2014+Event+Update&utm_campaign=May+2014+Events&utm_medium=email
Risk and Resilience in the Built Environment: Refining the role of Developers and Property Managers
Resilience in the built environment has been a hot topic since super storm Sandy. But resiliency is more than just the physical environment - its also the operations of our companies and organizations within those facilities. Resilience of organizations and communities rests on three pillars: People, Processes and Places (technology and infrastructure). Community and organizational Resilience is a function of how each pillar can compensate for possible (and probable) deficiencies in the other two. While developers and property managers have developed an expertise in mitigating and preparing for risks related to “places”, the first two pillars could be better integrated into project planning and property management practices.
To be able to achieve systemic resilience it is important to understand the nature of the “people” and “process” pillars. Using the “risk” and “resilience” lenses, this presentation will outline the psychological and cultural elements that make up the “people” pillar, and the organizational dynamics that comprise the “process” pillar. Finally, we will review practical issues related to planning and management of the “places” pillar that can mitigate risks associated with “people” and “processes”.
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Drilling Hotspots to Unravel the Mantle Wind
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
3:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
MIT, Building 54-915, Green Building Lecture Room (the tallest building on campus)
Anthony Koppers, Professor of Geology and Geophysics, Oregon State University
Earth's ancient mantle experienced dramatic motions that can be unraveled by drilling hotspot volcanoes. ODP Leg 197 revealed large-scale mantle movements between 80 and 50 million years ago shifting the location of the Hawaiian hotspot almost 15° from north to south. This calls up the question whether such a “mantle wind” is experienced by other hotspots in the Pacific as well? IODP Expedition 330 went out to answer that question by drilling the Louisville seamount trail in the South Pacific. In this lecture we will explore the drilling evidence from both the Hawaiian and Louisville hotspots to better understand their ancient motions and consequences for plate tectonics and mantle convection.
A reception in Building 54, Room 923 precedes the talk.
All are welcome.
If you have any questions regarding the lecture, please contact Jennifer DiNisco at 617.253.2127 or jdinisco at mit.edu. Reservations not required.
Sponsored by the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, MIT.
College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
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Climate Dynamics of Condensible-rich Atmospheres
WHEN Wed., May 21, 2014, 4 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Geological Museum, Haller Hall (Room 102), 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Origins of Life Initiative
SPEAKER(S) Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, University of Chicago
CONTACT INFO origins at cfa.harvard.edu
LINK origins.harvard.edu
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"Edible Perennial Gardening and Landscaping”
Wednesday, May 21
6:30 PM
Brookline Public Library, 361 Washington Street, Brookline
A 90 minute power point presentation featuring the variety of trees, shrubs, vines, canes, and herbaceous perennials that can be grown to produce fruits, nuts, and vegetables in New England, will be presented at by naturalist and landscaper John Root. Admission is free. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Brookline Commission for the Arts, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
More information at bountifulbrookline at gmail.com
http://www.bountifulbrookline.org
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Hellstrip Gardening: Paradise at the Curb
WHEN Wed., May 21, 2014, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, Jamaica Plain
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Arnold Arboretum
SPEAKER(S) Evelyn Hadden, author
COST $15 member, $25 nonmember
TICKET WEB LINK my.arboretum.harvard.edu
TICKET INFO 617 384-5277
CONTACT INFO adulted at arnarb.harvard.edu
NOTE From coast to coast, overlooked landscapes languish in parking strips and alongside driveways and alleys. These semi-public spaces don't often support healthy lawns, but they can host thriving gardens that add beauty and provide ecological services, dramatically improving their surroundings. Evelyn Hadden will address issues such as car, foot, and paw traffic; utility and maintenance equipment; restricted root zones, contaminated soil; covenants and city regulations and present dozens of plants and ideas for increasing the green in your neighborhood. For discussion purposes, send images of successful hellstrips you have seen, or alternatively, plantings that haven’t lived up to the challenges to:adulted at arnarb.harvard.edu.
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Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes ANEESH CHOPRA, the first Chief Technology Officer of the United States government, for a discussion of his book Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government.
Over the last twenty years, our economy and our society, from how we shop and pay our bills to how we communicate, have been completely revolutionized by technology. As Aneesh Chopra shows in Innovative State, once it became clear how much this would change America, a movement arose around the idea that these same technologies could reshape and improve government. But the idea languished, and while the private sector innovated, our government stalled, trapped in a model designed for the America of the 1930s and 1960s.
The election of Barack Obama offered a new opportunity. In 2009, Aneesh Chopra was named the first Chief Technology Officer of the United States federal government. Previously the Secretary of Technology for Virginia and managing director for a health care think tank, Chopra was tasked with leading the administration’s initiatives for a more open, tech-savvy government.
Inspired by private sector trailblazers, Chopra wrote the playbook for governmental open innovation. In Innovative State he offers an absorbing look at how open government can establish a new paradigm for the internet era and allow us to tackle our most challenging problems, from economic development to affordable health care.
“For years, Aneesh Chopra has been at the forefront of integrating modern technologies from the private sector into government, to the benefit of all Americans. With Innovative State, he takes us on the journey that led to where we are today and shows us how far we have to go.” —Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google
“Aneesh Chopra’s Innovative State is must-reading for anyone interested in tackling America’s biggest problems. We’ve seen how new technologies have dramatically changed the media industry, and Chopra shows how we can use them to remake our government.” —Arianna Huffington
Contact: (617) 661-1515
info at harvard.com
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Science in the News Lecture: Exploring Planets Near and Far
WHEN Wed., May 21, 2014, 7 – 9 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Pfizer Lecture Hall (B23), Malinckrodt Chemistry Lab
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Science in the News
SPEAKER(S) Anjali Tripathi
CONTACT INFO sitnboston at gmail.com
NOTE Come hear a Ph.D. student give an engaging and accessible lecture on his or her cutting-edge research. No prior knowledge necessary! Free refreshments!
LINK http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/seminar-series/
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Thursday, May 22
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The Iraqi Refugee Crisis: Lessons for Syria and Beyond
May 22, 2014
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Harvard, Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Open to the Public
Speaker: Jill Goldenziel, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
Despite the existence of international law designed to protect people fleeing persecution, the international community's response to population displacement varies greatly, with some people given access to resettlement in the West while others are summarily returned to their countries of origin. What explains variation in the international community's response to cases of population displacement? In this seminar, Dr. Goldenziel will explain how the political and security interests of the United States determines if, when, and how the United Nations will call mass population displacement a refugee crisis and provide those displaced with humanitarian assistance.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
More information at http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/?page=1
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Global Pitchfest – Info Table
Thursday, May 22, 2014
5:30pm - 7:30pm
Venture Café (Café Table) @ CIC, One Broadway, Cambridge
Ask Swissnex representatives about the Global Pitchfest 2014, to be held on June 16th at District Hall. Find out how t o compete with entrepreneurs from all over the world for the title of Globa l Pitchfest Champion.
More informationat http://www.swissnexboston.org
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MA Food Day planning meeting
May 22nd
6:00-7:00
Downtown Crossing 62 Summer Street, 2nd Floor, Boston
RSVP: rose.arruda at state.ma.us
MA Food Day is October 24
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Yoga at the Museum: Art That Moves You
Thursday, May 22, 2014
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building N51, MIT Museum, 275 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-that-moves-you-tickets-9908422358
Cost: $10, pre-registration required.
Speaker: Sculptor Anne Lilly, Yoga Instructor Lorraine Shedoudi
Enjoy a yoga class in the MIT Museum's kinetic art exhibition, "5000 Moving Parts." Participating sculptor Anne Lilly, and Lexington-based yoga instructor Lorraine Shedoudi explore how practicing yoga surrounded by artwork can change your physical and mental approach to your own practice.
Please bring your own yoga mat.
Pre-registration required through Event Brite.
Open to: the general public
Tickets: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-that-moves-you-tickets-9908422358
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact: Andrew Hong
617-324-7313
andhong at mit.edu
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Pecha Kucha Boston
Thursday, May 22, 2014
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM (EDT)
Cambridge, MA
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/pecha-kucha-boston-tickets-11465885773
Come see 8 inspiring talks on Art , Design , Technlogy and Artisanal Chocolate making.
Presentations by:
Jeff Bartell- http://dxboston.com/speaker/jeff-bartell/
William Brierly- http://sodadrinkerpro.com/
Dave Schlafman- http://cloudkid.com/
Eric Gulliver- http://thenonfictioncartel.com/
Kelvy Bird http://www.kelvybird.com/
Jenny Wolahan- Small and Casual Productions
Spindler confections- http://spindlerconfections.com/
Edwina Portocarrero http://obm.media.mit.edu
More information at
http://www.pechakucha.org/cities/boston
http://tinyurl.com/mudwdtn
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Promoting a Culture of Quality and Safety in a Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Environment
WHEN Thu., May 22, 2014, 7:45 – 9:15 a.m.
WHERE Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, Room 10, 2nd floor
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Medical School
SPEAKER(S) Gary C. du Moulin, associate professor of drug regulatory affairs, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University
CONTACT INFO debra_milamed at hms.harvard.edu
NOTE Technology Assessment in Health Care Seminar Series, final meeting of AY 2014.
Continental breakfast served.
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Friday, May 23
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ReThinking Mindfulness
Friday, May 23, 2014
9:00a–5:00p
MIT, Building E51-115, Wong Auditorium, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: various
RSVP at http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
The mindfulness movement has grown in a remarkable way in the past few years and is accelerating. Where has this movement come from? Where is this movement going? What has been accomplished by it? What are the further applications? What impact can it have on the wellbeing of individuals and of society as a whole? ReThinking Mindfulness seeks to promote a probing and constructive conversation - and as provocative as necessary - about the mindfulness movement.
Join some of the leading thinkers and practitioners to explore and enhance our understanding of this modern phenomenon with ancient roots.
Speakers: Bhikkhu Bodhi, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Alan Wallace, Tenzin Priyadarshi, Chade-Meng Tan, Joi Ito, Pat Christen, Pattie Maes, Kevin Slavin, Tinsley Galyean, Judson Brewer, Christopher Germer
Web site: http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Tickets: http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
This event occurs daily through May 24, 2014.
Sponsor(s): Buddhist Community at MIT, Religious Life, Media Lab, Prajnopaya at MIT
For more information, contact: The Ven. Tenzin LS Priyadarshi
617-324-6030
metta-request at mit.edu
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Human Wellness Influences Coastal Ecology - A Stakeholder Science Forum
Friday, May 23, 2014
10:30a–12:15p
MIT, Building E38-300, 292 Main Street, Cambridge
Each speaker presents their scientific findings, then answers questions from the audience. Please join us in the E38-300 conference room to listen, learn and participate in this stakeholder social science forum.
SPEAKERS
Julie Simpson, MIT Sea Grant
Project: A Risk Analysis for Emerging Contaminants in Massachusetts Coastal Waters
Jonathan Runstadler, MIT Department of Biological Engineering
Project: Influenza Ecology in the Ocean Environment: Environmental Persistence, Viral Adaptation, and Transmission between Seabirds and Marine Mammals
Matt Charette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Project: Development of an Automated Seepage Meter for Quantifying Submarine Groundwater Discharge in the Coastal Zone
MIT Sea Grant Stakeholder Forum Series
The MIT Sea Grant Stakeholder Forums provide an opportunity for our funded researchers to present their research and current findings to their peers and the public. Audience members and other presenting researchers are encouraged to ask questions and engage in dialogue. The goal of the series is to promote peer-to-peer networking, to connect research to those who can benefit from and apply the findings of MIT Sea Grant funded research, and for MIT Sea Grant to receive input on outreach programs whose goal is to deliver economic, social, and environmental benefits.
Web site: http://seagrant.mit.edu/press_releases.php?ID=478
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Sea Grant
For more information, contact: Gayle Sherman
(617) 252-1617
gsherman at mit.edu
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Farm Raising at South Street Farm!
May 23, 2014
4:00 - 7:00 pm
South Street II, Somerville
Want to support the South Street Farm? Come volunteer with us at our “Farm Raising” on May 23 from 4-7pm at the extended South Street Farm site, 138 South Street. We will be preparing the beds and planting the first seeds! Come prepared to get dirty and celebrate spring. Volunteers of all ages are welcome.
The South Street Farm is a collaborative project of Groundwork Somerville’s Green Team and Green City Growers. The farm site will be maintained and managed by youth from Groundwork Somerville. Look for produce grown at the South Street Farm at the Union Square Farmer’s Market and the Mystic Mobile Market this summer!
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Saturday, May 24
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ReThinking Mindfulness
Saturday, May 24, 2014
9:00a–5:00p
MIT, Building E51-115, Wong Auditorium, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: various
RSVP at http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
The mindfulness movement has grown in a remarkable way in the past few years and is accelerating. Where has this movement come from? Where is this movement going? What has been accomplished by it? What are the further applications? What impact can it have on the wellbeing of individuals and of society as a whole? ReThinking Mindfulness seeks to promote a probing and constructive conversation - and as provocative as necessary - about the mindfulness movement.
Join some of the leading thinkers and practitioners to explore and enhance our understanding of this modern phenomenon with ancient roots.
Speakers: Bhikkhu Bodhi, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Alan Wallace, Tenzin Priyadarshi, Chade-Meng Tan, Joi Ito, Pat Christen, Pattie Maes, Kevin Slavin, Tinsley Galyean, Judson Brewer, Christopher Germer
Web site: http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Tickets: http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
This event occurs daily through May 24, 2014.
Sponsor(s): Buddhist Community at MIT, Religious Life, Media Lab, Prajnopaya at MIT
For more information, contact: The Ven. Tenzin LS Priyadarshi
617-324-6030
metta-request at mit.edu
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Indigenous Ecological Urban Presence
Saturday, May 24
10am-1pm
Alewife Reservation Parking Lot, Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge
Indigenous Ecological Urban Presence by Professor David Morimoto, Lesley University Understand and learn natural history from Lesley University Natural Science teacher, who has an ongoing program in South America for students. He studies the Alewife Reservation with students and Biology professor, Amy Mertl, and sees the urban wild ecosystem as an important field study destination for students, and an area which must be preserved for future generations.
Contact: 617-710-6177 or FAR at 617-415-1884
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Boston’s Urban Forest Urban Orchards Bicycle Tour: Roxbury and Jamaica Plain
Saturday, May 24
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Roxbury Crossing T Station 1400 Tremont Street, west of 1200 Columbus Avenue, Roxbury
Boston is full of urban orchards, but do you know where they are? Come join a leisurely bike ride through Jamaica Plain and Roxbury to discover apple, pear, cherry and plum trees. Bring your bike and helmet, water and a snack. Registration required by contacting 617-542-7696 or iinfo at bostonnatural.org
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The Science of Soccer
Saturday, May 24, 2014
11:00a–2:00p
MIT, Building N51, MIT Museum, 275 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Get ready for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and discover the physics behind soccer. Compete in juggling competitions and learn the secret behind the perfect penalty kick with MIT Professor John Bush. Refreshments will be served with music by Receita De Samba. Presented in collaboration with MIT-Brazil.
11:00 am: Embaixadinha soccer ball-juggling competition. Compete for Adidas World Cup Brazuca soccer balls!
12:00 pm: Learn about the physics behind soccer with MIT Professor John Bush
1:00 pm: Musical performance by Receita De Samba with accompanying Brazilian refreshments
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/calendar/may-24-2014.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free with Museum admission
Sponsor(s): MIT Brazil, MIT Museum
For more information, contact: Andrew Hong
617.324.7313
andhong at mit.edu
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The Future of Technology: Benefits and Risks
Future of Life Institute
Saturday, May 24, 2014
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EDT)
MIT, Huntington Hall, Building 10-250, 222 Memorial Drive, Cambridge (or halfway down the Infinite Corridor and up one floor)
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-of-technology-benefits-and-risks-tickets-11489887563
The coming decades promise dramatic progress in technologies from synthetic biology to artificial intelligence, with both great benefits and great risks. Welcome to a fascinating discussion about what we can do now to improve the chances of reaping the benefits and avoiding the risks, moderated by Alan Alda and featuring George Church (synthetic biology), Ting Wu (personal genetics), Andrew McAfee (second machine age, economic bounty and disparity), Frank Wilczek(near-term AI and autonomous weapons) and Jaan Tallinn (long-term AI and singularity scenarios).
Alan Alda is an Oscar-nominated actor, writer, director, and science communicator, whose contributions range from M*A*S*H to Scientific American Frontiers.
George Church is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, initiated the Personal Genome Project, and invented DNA array synthesizers.
Andrew McAfee is Associate Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business and author of the New York Times bestseller The Second Machine Age.
Jaan Tallinn is a founding engineer of Skype and philanthropically supports numerous research organizations aimed at reducing existential risk.
Frank Wilczek is a physics professor at MIT and a 2004 Nobel laureate for his work on the strong nuclear force.
Ting Wu is a professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Personal Genetics Education project.
http://www.thefutureoflife.org/events
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Tuesday, May 27
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Post Arab Revolutions: What Social Media is telling us
May 27th, 2014
12:30pm ET
Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/05/othman#RSVP
This event will not be webcast, but video will be posted afterwards at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/05/othman
Dalia Othman, Berkman Fellow
Since that fateful Youtube video of Mohamed Bouazizi started circulating in Tunisia, people started labeling the 2011 revolutions that sparked across the Arab World as the Facebook and Twitter revolutions. While that is not the case, it is undeniable the role that social media played in those and other revolutions that are emerging across the world. Taking a social networked analysis approach, I will talk about the initial findings of ongoing research being conducted on the Arab Blogosphere and Twitter maps from various countries in the region. This analysis has helped identify key actors in the region (and in some cases the absence of certain actors) in addition to the links between them. It is a fundamental step and a foundational one that will support building a knowledge base and that will help understand the flow of information and conversations -if any- between different activists in the region, while offering a position to study the tactics used by activists in the region to support their cause.
About Dalia
Dalia Othman is a Berkman Fellow and Visiting Scholar at MIT's Center for Civic Media. At Berkman, Dalia has been looking at online civic engagement in the Arab World, focusing on analyzing the Arab Blogosphere and Twitter maps of various countries within the region. She dedicates the rest of her time exploring different themes around digital storytelling and is currently building a resource platform that will help communities tell powerful stories online.
Prior to Berkman, Dalia was an Associate Professor teaching New media at both Bard College- Abu Dis and Birzeit University. She was also the Senior Manager of Community Project at Souktel Inc. - a mobile services company that designs SMS platforms for the aid of local communities across the globe.
Understanding the land-ocean contrast in the responses of temperature and the hydrological cycle to climate change
Tue, May 27
12:30pm – 1:30pm
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Mike Byrne (MIT)
Abstract: Observations and climate models show a pronounced land-ocean contrast in the responses of surface temperature and the hydrological cycle to global warming: Land temperatures increase more than ocean temperatures, low-level relative humidity increases over ocean but decreases over land, and the water cycle has a muted response over land in comparison to ocean regions at similar latitudes. A comprehensive physical understanding of these land-ocean contrasts has not been established, despite the robustness of the features and their importance for the regional and societal impacts of climate change.
Here we investigate land-ocean contrasts in temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation minus evaporation (P-E) under climate change using both idealized and full-complexity models. As in previous studies, we find enhanced surface warming over land relative to the ocean at almost all latitudes. In the tropics and subtropics, the warming contrast is explained using a convective quasi-equilibrium (CQE) theory which assumes equal changes in equivalent potential temperature over land and ocean. As the CQE theory highlights, the warming contrast depends strongly on changes in relative humidity, particularly over land. The decreases in land relative humidity under warming can be understood using a conceptual model of moisture transport between the land and ocean boundary layers and the free troposphere.
Changes in P-E over ocean are closely tied to the local surface-air temperature changes via a simple thermodynamic scaling; the so-called "rich-get-riche
r" mechanism. Over land, however, we show that the response has a smaller magnitude and deviates substantially from the thermodynamic scaling. We examine the reasons for this land-ocean contrast in the response of P-E by analyzing the atmospheric moisture budget. Horizontal gradients of surface temperature and relative humidity changes are found to be important over land, with changes in atmospheric circulation playing a secondary role. An extended thermodynamic scaling is introduced and is shown to capture the multimodel-mean response of P-E over land. The physical mechanism behind the extended scaling is discussed.
Speaker's website: http://web.mit.edu/byrnem/www/
MASS Seminar
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The Human Scale: Bringing Cities to Life
Tuesday, May 27
6:00 pm
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
RSVP at https://online.architects.org/bsassa/evtssareg.custid?p_event_id=1248
By 2050, 80 percent of the world's population will live in urban areas. Life in a megacity is both enchanting and challenging. Matthew Lister from Gehl Studio in New York City will lead a Q&A after the screening.
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Urban Farming: From Vision to Reality - A Swiss Perspective
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
6:45 PM to 9:15 PM (EDT)
swissnex Boston, Consulate of Switzerland, 420 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/urban-farming-from-vision-to-reality-a-swiss-perspective-tickets-11545572117
The idea of supplemental food production beyond rural farming operations and distant imports is not new and has been used during war times and the Great Depression when food shortage issues arose. As early as 1893, citizens of a depression-struck Detroit were asked to use any vacant lots to grow vegetables. They were nicknamed Pingree's Potato Patches after the mayor, Hazen S. Pingree, who came up with the idea. He intended for these gardens to produce income, food supply, and even boost self-independence during times of hardship.
In 2010, New York City saw the building and opening of the world's largest privately owned and operated rooftop farm and the City of Boston approved a new rule making it legal to start a commercial farm inside citiy limits in December of last year. But urban farming is not only popular in the USA. In Switzerland, the start-up company Urban Farmers launched its business in July of 2011 and started a fresh revolution.With its past success in mind andwith modern technology, urban agriculture today can be something to help both developed and developing nations.
Please join us for presentations and a panel discussion with Urban Farmers from Switzerland and Boston, representatives from academia and local government as well as a food consultant to discuss questions like how does the Swiss landscape in UF looks like today? Pros and Cons of acquaponics; How sustainable will urban farming be in the futur? What factor plays climate change and urban pollution in UF? How important can UF become in securing enough food for everyone?
Program:
6:45 - 7:15: Doors open, registration and refreshments
7:15 - 8:00: Welcome and presentations by panelists
8:00 - 8:45: Moderated Q & A session
8:45 - 9:15: Networking Reception
About the speakers:
Didi Emmons, Food Consultant and author, Boston
Andreas Graber, Founder and Director R&D of "Urban Farmers", Zurich
Edith Murnane, Director of Food Initiatives, City of Boston
Jennifer Hashley, Project Director, New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, Tufts University
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, May 28
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Computing the Future: Celebrating 50 Years of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
MIT, Building 32-123, Stata Center, Kirsch Auditorium, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
More information at http://mac50.csail.mit.edu
Cost: $50
Fifty Years of Robotics; Now the Practical Payoff
Rodney Brooks, Rethink Robotics, Inc
Tales from the Blocks World
Matt Mason, Carnegie Mellon University
Dynamic Robots
Marc Raibert, Boston Dynamics
Aerial Robots: Computing in the Sky
Russ Tedrake, MIT CSAIL
The Analysis Revolution in Genomics and Modern Medicine
Manolis Kellis, MIT CSAIL
Akamai: From Theory to Practice
Tom Leighton, Akamai Technologies
Everyday Life in a Data-Rich World
Jon Kleinberg, Cornell University
The Evolution of Proofs in Computer Science
Yael Tauman Kalai, Microsoft Research
Quantum Computing and Fundamental Physics
Scott Aaronson, MIT CSAIL
Towards a Theory of Trust in Networks of Humans and Computers
Jeannette Wing, Microsoft Research
Harmonizing Technology with Society
Latanya Sweeney, Harvard University
On the Benefits of Coordination – Before, During, and Even After the Fact! – in Differential Privacy
Cynthia Dwork, Microsoft Research
The Scalable Commutativity Rule: Designing Scalable Software for Multicore Processors
Nickolai Zeldovich, MIT CSAIL
Time Sharing vs Personal Computing
Ivan Sutherland, Portland State University
The End of Moore's Law and the Future of Computing
Bill Dally, Stanford University
How I invented Ethernet at MIT Project MAC 1969-1972
Bob Metcalfe, The University of Texas at Austin
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Technology's Promise: Can It Create Social Mobility?
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
8:00 AM to 11:30 AM (EDT)
The Langham, 250 Franklin Street, Wilson Ballroom, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/technologys-promise-can-it-create-social-mobility-tickets-11529678579
Mayor Martin Walsh, Keynote Address
Other Participants:
Tiziana Dearing, Associate Professor of Macro Practice, Boston College School of Social Work; former president, Catholic Charities of Boston;former Executive Director of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University
Melissa Dodd, Boston Public Schools, Chief of Staff, former Chief Information Officer for BPS
Edward Glaeser, Glimp Professor of Econmics, Harvard University and Director, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
Paul Peterson, Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Editor-In-Chief of Education Next
Nigel Jacob, Co-Founder/Co-Chair, Boston’s Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics; Urban Technologist in Residence, Living Cities
Travis McCready, Vice President for Program at the Boston Foundation; former Executive Director, Kendall Square Association; former COO & CFO, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.
The Rappaport Institute’s spring conference will bring together political, industry, and academic leaders to explore the potential for greater Boston’s technology leadership to address social inequality and improve social mobility. It will explore technology’s promise in the spheres of school, life, and work. The conference will also examine current efforts in greater Boston to link our vibrant technology community with disadvantaged communities and how we should structure future efforts.
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Lessons from an Outlier Case: The Indian Nuclear Tests and Theories of Nuclear Proliferation
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
10:00-11:30 a.m.
Harvard, Fainsod Room, Littauer-324, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Open to the Public
Speaker: Sven-Eric Fikenscher, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
Related Projects: Managing the Atom, International Security, Science, Technology, and Public Policy
Past research on the demand-side of nuclear proliferation largely suggests that states cross the nuclear threshold as a result of material cost-benefit calculations, provided that they have the technical ability to do so. Common explanations for a country’s decision to go nuclear highlight its lack of security, the scientific community’s interest in acquiring nuclear weapons, and an “inward-looking” government’s desire to boost domestic support. However, a separate literature emphasizes normative and psychological elements, such as the lack of norms and democratic institutions, as well as the worldview and emotions of leaders.
India’s decisions to conduct nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998 and taking preparations for tests but ultimately refraining from carrying them out in the early 1980s, 1995, and 1996 present a challenge to both meta-theoretical approaches. While most of the above-mentioned concepts cannot explain India’s nuclear policy, others might account for some incidents but are hard to reconcile with all. This triggers the question of what we can learn from the empirics to make the theoretical arguments more conclusive. It is suggested that substantial insights about the blind spots of several proliferation models can be derived from the broader IR theories invoked by the respective propositions.
More information at http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/?page=1
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Thursday, May 28
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Computing the Future: Celebrating 50 Years of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Thursday, May 28, 2014
8am - 12:30pm
MIT, Building 32-123, Stata Center, Kirsch Auditorium, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
More information at http://mac50.csail.mit.edu
Cost: $50
Turtles All the Way Down
Greg Papadopoulos, New Enterprise Associates
Graduate Education and Research in the Information Age
Daniel Huttenlocher, Cornell Tech NYC
Some Surprising Lessons Learned while Creating a Real MOOC-based Masters of Science
Charles Isbell, Georgia Institute of Technology
Small, n=me, data
Deborah Estrin, Cornell Tech NYC
The Right Thing: Things We Hit, Things We Missed, Things Still Left To Do
Tom Knight, Ginko Bioworks
Teaching Computers to See
Antonio Torralba, MIT CSAIL
Modeling Brain Connectivity from Functional MRI
Polina Golland, MIT CSAIL
Reflections of an Entrepreneur on Experiences at MIT Then and Now
Ray Stata, Analog Devices, Inc
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SOLUTIONS with/in/sight: Bridging the Gap in Pancreatic Cancer
Thursday, May 29, 2014
6:00p–8:30p
MIT, Building 76-156, Koch Institute at MIT, 500 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Tyler Jacks, David Livingston, Mandar Muzumdar, Elazer Edelman, Robert Langer
Get a clinician's perspective on the challenges of pancreatic cancer, and explore novel approaches and technologies for its treatment with MIT's Elazer Edelman and Robert Langer.
This evening networking event features new research from the Bridge Project, a collaboration between the Koch Institute and Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), designed to bring bioengineering, advanced cancer science, and clinical oncology together to solve today's most challenging problems in cancer research and care.
Web site: http://withinsight-may-2014.eventbrite.com/?aff=webcal
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Tickets: register online
Sponsor(s): Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research
For more information, contact: Vanessa Alviti
617-324-2169
valviti at mit.edu
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Friday, May 30
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Radcliffe Day
WHEN Fri., May 30, 2014, 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
WHERE Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Panels include
From Civil War to Civil Rights: The Unending Battle to Vote
Gender and the Business of Fiction
What is Life? The Science and Ethics of Making New Life in the Laboratory
COST $15 (Includes all Radcliffe Day activities)
TICKET WEB LINK https://secure.post.harvard.edu/olc/pub/HAA/event/showEventForm.jsp?form_id=166580
CONTACT INFO events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
NOTE Ever since the ratification of the 15th amendment in 1870, the United States has grappled with the ideal of universal suffrage. Recent obstacles include the Supreme Court decision invalidating key parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, passage of voter-ID laws, and proposals for redistricting. This panel will explore why and how the world’s greatest democracy has long struggled over which of its citizens can vote.
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2014-radcliffe-day
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Traffic Advisory, From Rome to the North End: Life without driving
May 30, 2014
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
Price: Free and open to the public.
Register by emailing rsvp at architects.org with "Traffic 5/30” as the subject line
Traffic Advisory is delighted to welcome Ignazio Marino, the Mayor of Rome, to mark the kick-off of the summer program. Since taking office in 2013, Mayor Marino, a daily bike commuter himself, has focused his attention on improving Rome’s transport system by pedestrianizing the most historic archaeological sites in the city. This unprecedented policy has turned Rome into a more bike-friendly place while reducing pollution levels and helping preserve ancient monuments. During his presentation, Marino will share his plan on how to make Rome a more sustainable city and articulate the broader mobility shift that is taking place in car-obsessed Italy, the home to supercar makers like Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini.
The Traffic Advisory speaker series is part of Overhaul: The 2013-2014 Transportation Series, sponsored by the Barr Foundation and organized by the Boston Society of Architects and the Boston Foundation for Architecture, is bringing together leaders from across North America and Europe to talk to us about the role that 21st century transportation can and should play in adapting to a new period of transformative change.
More information at http://www.architects.org/programs-and-events/overhaul-2013-2014-transportation-series
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Saturday, May 31
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Greenovate Community Summit
Saturday, May 31,
10am - 5pm
Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School
The Summit is a one-day event that's all about empowering the Boston community to address climate change and help make Boston the greenest, most climate-prepared city in the U.S. The Summit will include world-class speakers, interactive workshops and trainings, the Greenovate Boston Awards Ceremony, and a Marketplace of Ideas to showcase local innovations, products, and services. Participants will also have the opportunity to provide direct input into the 2014 Climate Action Plan update.
Register online at http://summit.greenovateboston.org. Space is limited!
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Depaving Party
Saturday, May 31
11:00 to 1:00pm
235 Cardinal Medeiros Avenue, Cambridge (near the Kendal Square Cinema)
Rain date: Sunday, June 1st from 11:00 to 1:00pm
Please sign up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFFZbE1OS05XblFXYl9EQUc2UzVKcmc6MQ
“Under the pavement, the dirt is dreaming of grass.”— Wendell Berry
DePAVE the WAY!
Be a part of the greening of Cambridge
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Big Data - Big Future
Monte Jade Science and Technology Association of New England
Saturday, May 31, 2014
5:30 PM to 9:00 PM (EDT)
Microsoft New England Research and Development (NERD) Center, Conference Center First Floor, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/big-data-big-future-tickets-11531692603
Cost: $10.00 -$20.00
Monte Jade Science and Technology Association of New England will host a seminar on “Big Data – Big Future” on May 31, 2014. This is inspired by the overwhelmingly positive response to our annual event last year entitled “Big Data is Transforming Global Healthcare”. Big Data projects are being implemented across major industry and market sectors. Can Big Data really deliver on big promises and bring big benefits? Or is it just big hype? We will have distinguished speakers discussing how they turn Big Data into gold in their fields and potential resources in this arena. There will be light dinner provided at sign-in and a networking session at the conclusion of the presentations with some light refreshment.
Panelist and Speakers:
Michael Chang, Ph.D - Big Data in Finance Michael serves as the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder at Flyberry Capital, LLC in Cambridge, MA focusing on exploiting global internet data for quantitative and systematic trading.
Leland Cheung M.B.A - Big Data, Policy and Resources Leland Cheung has been honored to serve as a City Councillor for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts since 2009. The son of immigrants, Leland developed a deep appreciation for American values and the importance community participation. Guided by these principles, he ran for office on the platform of strengthening the community and creating opportunities for the next generation.
Yu-Fei Wei, Ph.D - Big Data in Healthcare Dr. Wei is the founder and managing partner of a stealth-mode startup. Their technologies help churning big data into actionable business intelligence to improve care quality and lower cost for the healthcare system, which has become mission-critical under the Affordable Care Act.
18.00 - 18.30 Sign in and light dinner
18.30 – 18.35 Welcome Remark
18.35 – 18.55 Big Data in Finance by Michael Chang, Flyberry Capital
19.00 – 19.20 Big Data, Policy and Resources by Leland Cheung, Cambridge City Council
19.25 – 19.45 Big Data in Healthcare By Yu-Feng Wei, Stealth-mode startup
19.50 – 20.10 Panel Discussion
20.10 – 21.00 Networking session
Please use code "ILUVMJNE" and select "others" for early bird registration.
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Sunday, June 1
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“THE WORLD ACCORDING TO David Rovics, Jimmy Tingle and the Afro D All Starz”: An Open Media Boston Fundraiser
Sunday, June 1, 2014
3:00-5:30 pm
Spontaneous Celebrations, 45 Danforth Street, Jamaica Plain
Donation: $20
$15 for Seniors & Students
Early Bird Special: 2 for $30 (if purchased by May 16)
For tickets and tax-deductible donations: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/662250
In his song “A Brief History of the Orange Line” David Rovics tells the story of how activists prevented state and federal transportation officials from building an eight lane highway through Boston’s Roxbury and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods. It was 1972 when then Governor Francis Sargent finally cancelled plans for the construction.
But the idea that people from varied backgrounds and with limited resources can unite and win a social and political battle is timeless. Even as current issues seem intractable, it’s this spirit of remembering and honoring past accomplishments that informs much of Rovics’ music (www.davidrovics.com).
Just back from a trip to Europe, the musician and activist will bring his “songs of social significance” to Spontaneous Celebrations in Jamaica Plain on Sunday June first for a show called “THE WORLD ACCORDING TO David Rovics, Jimmy Tingle and the Afro D All Starz.” In a musical and comedic event that features multiple headliners, Rovics will be joined by stand-up comedian and political humorist Jimmy Tingle (www.jimmytingle.com) and the hip-hop, jazz and soul blending, “socially-conscious, community-minded” sounds of the Afro D All Stars (www.facebook.com/afrodallstarz).
The show is a fundraiser benefitting Open Media Boston (www.openmediaboston.org), the non-profit, metropolitan progressive news outlet. The six year old digital publication features “news from the ground up,” and covers stories about community and labor organizing, free speech and human rights, economic democracy, arts and technology. The organization co-hosts the annual Digital Media Conference bringing “…together progressive technologists and activists to talk about cutting edge developments in media and technology from the perspective of grassroots movements for social justice.”
For more information: http://www.facebook.com/events/1394559584159941
617-431-OMB1 (431-6621)
info at openmediaboston.org
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Tuesday, June 3
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HEET Fundraiser for Mapping Natural Gas Leaks
Tuesday, June 3
6 to 8 pm.
Asgard, 350 Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square, Cambridge
Perhaps you've heard about the natural gas that leaks out of the pipes under our streets, but the problem is huge and literally buried.
Along with causing explosions and killing trees, these leaks hurt the climate because natural gas is a greenhouse gas 34 times more damaging than CO2. The gas leaks in Massachusetts hurt the climate more than all of Mass Save's energy-efficiency programs help it.
Once HEET learned that simple fact, it began to act on this critical issue, as always using our typical combination of education and community action.
Using a natural gas analyzer, we’re going to drive down every street in Cambridge and Somerville to map where the leaks are. We expect to find over 700 leaks.
The utilities do this mapping all the time, but they won't share the data even with city officials, much less with us residents. Instead they just pass the cost onto us by factoring the waste into the price we pay for the natural gas we use.
HEET will, for the first time, publish these maps to let cities know where the leaks are and how bad they are. Then we will organize residents to stop the very worst leaks and use this pilot program to create a national website where any community can do the same.
We'll have a raffle, bidding on a fine organic wine and other prizes. Get mildly drunk with illustrious enviro stars like the guy who helped write the Clean Water bill and the senior building scientist at Nest Labs. There isn't a lot of room so reserve now.
Please help us by contributing to HEET's fundraising campaign to map leaks in Cambridge and Somerville.
And please pass this info along to those who might be interested.
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Tuesday, June 4
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Boston Area Sustainability Group – “Bringing Sustainability to Your Community”
Tuesday, June 4
6:00 to 8:00 pm
Venture Café, Cambridge Innovation Center, One Broadway, 4th floor, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6656396461
Speakers are Susan Jennings, UMass Dartmouth Director of Sustainability; Peter De Bruin, VP of Environmental Sustainability, State Street Corp.; Ian Todreas, environmental consultant & co-chair of the Belmont Energy Committee; Mike Balin speaking on “Green Churches”; and Jim Newman, Linnaen Solutions.
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Thursday, June 5
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"Energy Obesity: An Appetite for Oil"
6:00 pm
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
Register at https://online.architects.org/bsassa/evtssareg.custid?p_event_id=1284
In a lively, image-rich presentation, Amanda Little, author of Power Trip:The Story of America's Love Affair With Energy, will explain "energy obesity," a nationwide phenomenon caused by the pervasive use of petrochemicals in nearly every aspect of American life. This event will be held on
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Film Premiere: Sacred Forest, Sacred Water
Thursday, June 5, 2014
6:00-8:00 PM
Le Meridien Cambridge, 20 Sidney Street, Cambridge
Cost: $25 in Advance
Please join EcoLogic Development Fund for a premiere of an original documentary film about the Maya Kiche of Totonicapn, Guatemala.
Los 48 Cantones is a 27-minute documentary film that explores an indigenous forest management system that pre-dates the Spanish colonization of the Americas. To this day, this community protects the 21,000 hectares of forest and the fresh drinking water it provides to the Maya Kiche of Totonicapn. A colorful and moving piece, the film presents various members of the community who share their experiences in an increasingly globalized world, and the struggle they face to maintain their ancestral way of life. This documentary is by brothers Julian and Thomas Moll-Rocek. Julian will be at the event to talk about the film and answer questions from the audience. The event will also feature a reading from Guatemalan writer Jennifer De Leon. Share this invitation with everyone who may be interested in joining us!
Enjoy a delightful array of complimentary hors d?oeuvres & a cash bar.
Contact Gina Rindfleisch at gina at ecologic.org
Space is limited, don’t miss out!
Juliana Field
Director of Development & Communications
EcoLogic Development Fund
25 Mt. Auburn Street, #203
Cambridge, MA 02138
E: jfield at ecologic.org; W: www.ecologic.org
EcoLogic empowers rural and indigenous peoples to restore and protect tropical ecosystems in Central America and Mexico.
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Saturday, June 7
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Hacking Journalism: Rethink how we create, disseminate, and consume media
Saturday, June 7, 2014 9:00 AM
to Sunday, June 8, 2014, 6:00 PM
MIT Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/hacking-journalism-rethink-how-we-create-disseminate-and-consume-media-tickets-11407617491?aff=eorg
MISSION: There is so much opportunity for new products in the media and publishing space, but figuring out what will succeed is no easy task. This hackathon will bring together journalists, developers, and designers to build out ideas to reshape the future of news.
EMPHASIS ON MOBILE: Together, we'll target mobile. Imagine the tools, products, and possibilities for news on mobile devices.
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Opportunity
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Intern with Biodiversity for a Livable Climate!
Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (BLC) is a nonprofit based in the Cambridge, MA area. Our mission is to mobilize the biosphere to restore ecosystems and reverse global warming.
Education, public information campaigns, organizing, scientific investigation, collaboration with like-minded organizations, research and policy development are all elements of our strategy.
Background: Soils are the largest terrestrial carbon sink on the planet. Restoring the complex ecology of soils is the only way to safely and quickly remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ground, where it’s desperately needed to regenerate the health of billions of acres of degraded lands. Restoring carbon to soils and regenerating ecosystems are how we can restore a healthy hydrologic cycle and cool local and planetary climates safely, naturally, and in time to ensure a livable climate now and in the future.
Our Work: immediate plans include
Organizing the First International Biodiversity, Soil Carbon and Climate Week, October 31-November 9, 2014, and a kick-off conference in the Boston area, “Mobilizing the Biosphere to Reverse Global Warming: A Biodiversity, Water, Soil Carbon and Climate Conference – and Call to Action” to expand the mainstream climate conversation to include the power of biology, and to help initiate intensive worldwide efforts to return atmospheric carbon to the soils.
Coordination of a global fund to directly assist local farmers and herders in learning and applying carbon farming approaches that not only benefit the climate, but improve the health and productivity of the land and the people who depend on it.
Collaboration with individuals and organizations on addressing eco-restoration and the regeneration of water and carbon cycles; such projects may include application of practices such as Holistic Management for restoration of billions of acres of degraded grasslands, reforestation of exploited forest areas, and restoring ocean food chains.
Please contact Helen D. Silver, helen.silver at bio4climate.org for further information.
781-316-1710
Bio4climate.org
SharedHarvestCSA.com
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Online Collaborative Explorations focusing on "Scientific and Political Change"
April-May 2014
Collaborative Explorations (CEs) are an extension of Project-Based Learning (PBL) and related approaches to education in which participants shape their own directions of inquiry in response to a scenario in which the problems are not well defined. The online CEs consist of live 60-minute sessions each week for a month and exchanges on a private community between sessions. The format is designed to address the needs of onlne learners who want to:
participate for shorter periods than a semester-long MOOC
dig deeper, make "thicker" connections with other learners
connect topics with their own interests
learn without needing credits or badges for MOOC completion.
In short, online CEs are "moderately open online collaborative learning."
Schedule:
April: Preparing people to be informed participants in political
debates about science, technology, and social change
May: Science-policy connections to improve responses to extreme
climatic events
Day and time is set to suit the people who register.
Open to the public--please spread the word.
For more information and link for registering:http://collabex.wikispaces.com
Organized in collaboration with UMass Boston's Science in a Changing World graduate track: http://www.cct.umb.edu/sicw
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Share an opportunity to take part in a fun project, One Day on Earth: Your Day. Your City. Your Future, a multi-city participatory media-creation event. On April 26th, 2014, hundreds of filmmakers, non-profit organizations, and inspired citizens in 11 U.S. city-regions will document stories that they believe most affect the future of their city.
The idea is to have people, organizations, and groups across the Boston region film on the same day within a 24-hour duration (on Saturday, April 26, 2014) to tell their stories. Video stories submitted to One Day in Boston will result in a 90 minute film — a localized version of One Day on Earth. Video submissions not included in the 90 minute piece will feature in a geo-tagged film archive featuring the people, stories, and events of Greater Boston. Participation is voluntary. You can make your own film, partner with a videographer/film-maker, or reach out to Cecily Taylor, producer of the Boston project at Cecily.Tyler at onedayonearth.org.
It is a great way to document stories about our lives, our families, our organizations, our communities, and our city. We encourage you to get involved and participate to showcase our city. You can learn more about this project by clicking on the following links:
One Sheet and Press Kit: http://yourdayyourcity.org/boston/2014/03/01/press-kit/
One Day in Boston - participate: http://onedayinboston.org/#participate
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/605133916238534/
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Climate Stories Project
http://www.climatestoriesproject.org
What's your Climate Story?
Climate Stories Project is a forum that gives a voice to the emotional and personal impacts that climate change is having on our lives. Often, we only discuss climate change from the impersonal perspective of science or the contentious realm of politics. Today, more and more of us are feeling the effects of climate change on an personal level. Climate Stories Project allows people from around the world to share their stories and to engage with climate change in a personal, direct way.
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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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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://www.mitenergyclub.org/events/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/events/index.php
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
Microsoft NERD Center: http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events: http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/calendar
High Tech Events: http://harddatafactory.com/Johnny_Monsarrat/index.html
Cambridge Civic Journal: http://www.rwinters.com
Cambridge Happenings: http://cambridgehappenings.org
Boston Area Computer User Groups: http://www.bugc.org/
Arts and Cultural Events List: http://aacel.blogspot.com/
Boston Events Insider: http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/
Nerdnite: http://boston.nerdnite.com/
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list