[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - August 31, 2014
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Aug 31 11:14:46 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
Watt d’Or Exhibition of Swiss Energy Innovation Award Winners
Northeastern International Village, 1155-1175 Tremont Street, Boston
until September 14
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Monday, September 1
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10am Practical Options for Food Production Resilience in an Increasingly Variable Climate
4pm Bread & Puppet Theater: The Nothing Is Not Ready Circus
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Tuesday, September 2
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11am Annual Report on the Performance of the Massachusetts Health Care System
3pm Simons Center Workshop 2014: The Social Brain - New Opportunities for Discovery and Technology Development
6pm Boston Area Sustainability Group Presents: WATER
6:30pm Persuasive Design with Sebastian Deterding
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Wednesday, September 3
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12pm Agriculture and Climate Change: The Needs of Agriculture in a Warming Climate
12pm John Coltrane: A Love Supreme
6:30pm Restoring Balance with Noise: Science for the Public's Public Science Lectures
7pm Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change
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Thursday, September 4
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2pm Sustainability in the City of Austin, Texas
3:30pm HarvardX Open House
4pm Iran: Where Do We Go from Here?
4pm Emerson Accelerator Launch Event
4:30pm Security: Changing the Game
5pm Strategic Partners in Cleantech Panel Discussion #2: Legal and IP Considerations
5:30pm Opening Reception for Industrial Urbanism: Places of Production
7pm Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired To Ignore Climate Change
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Friday, September 5
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8:30am Internet Policy Symposium w/ Harvard's Institute of Politics and The Internet Association
11am From planning to learning “human-aware” robot movement
12pm Near-Term Climate Change: Projections and Mitigation
3pm The Library Beyond the Book
6pm Opening Reception for "...in the atmospheres” Exhibition by Deb Todd Wheeler
6:30pm Restructuring Science and Technology Governance in Developing Countries: Egypt a Case Study
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Saturday, September 6
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9am Open House at 81 Brent Street, Dorchester’s First LEED Platinum House
10am Exploring Boston’s Urban Forest
10am Doing the math on Energy Investments
1pm Demo Day for the MIT Global Founders' Skills Accelerator
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Sunday, September 7
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Disruption: free screenings
12:30pm Cambridge Carnival International
2pm Boston Street Medics Protester Health and Safety Training
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Monday, September 8
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12pm Webinar: Move Over, Big Data! How Small, Simple Models Can Yield Big Insights
12pm Using the Global Electric Circuit (GEC) to monitor Climate Change
4pm Why You Can't Find a Taxi in the Rain and Other Labor Supply Lessons from Cab Drivers
6:30pm The Ethics of the Human Genome Project
6:30pm Bill McKibben on Eaarth
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Tuesday, September 9
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8am Boston TechBreakfast: NewsUp, Upshot Commerce, Voice Dream, Robin, OpportunitySpace
12pm Robin Sproul, vice president and Washington Bureau Chief, ABC News.
12pm GSD Talks: Innovate: Wolfgang Rieder
12:30pm Berkman Center 2014-2015 Orientation: Tuesday Luncheon
12:30pm Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown
1:30pm Access, Equality and Molecular Diagnostics for Global Health
2pm Converting Biogas into Energy and Vehicle Fuel
4pm The Search for 100 Earths
6pm JFK Jr. Forum -- Ebola: Can We Avoid A Global Pandemic?
6pm People's Climate Rally Pre-Event: Change in Action
7pm Turbulent Summer: An Update on the Middle East
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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
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Watt d’Or Exhibition of Swiss Energy Innovation Award Winners
Northeastern International Village, 1155-1175 Tremont Street, Boston
until September 14
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Monday, September 1
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Practical Options for Food Production Resilience in an Increasingly Variable Climate
Monday, September 1
10:00am-4:00pm
Newton Community Farm, 303 Nahanton Street, Newton
RSVP at http://www.nofamass.org/events/practical-options-food-production-resilience-increasingly-variable-climate#.U_d98ksQ4s4
Cost: $55 NOFA members; $64 non-members
NOFA/Mass welcomes Dr. Christine Jones, an Australian soil biologist, researcher (www.amazingcarbon.com) and international educator about carbon sequestration in the soil. From Dr.Jones' essay “Farming for the Future”, "There is much that can be done 'on the farm' to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon and nitrogen, increase soil water-holding capacity and change the climate- rather than being changed by it." Come to one of these day-long workshops to learn with us and ask Dr. Jones your questions about soil carbon sequestration and how soils we depend on can be a climate change solution.
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Bread & Puppet Theater: The Nothing Is Not Ready Circus
Monday, Sept. 1, 4 pm performance (entire festival runs noon-5pm), rain or
shine
30th Annual Bread & Roses Heritage Festival, Lawrence Common, Lawrence, MA
01840
[Located in close proximity to the Haverhill commuter rail stop: Lawrence Station, less than 1 mile walking/biking distance.]
The Festival is free & open to all, festival donations welcome.
For more information: http://www.breadandrosesheritage.org, 978-794-1655.
Description: The Nothing Is Not Ready Circus is for the not yet existing upriser masses and their kids who need to practice their upriser skills by teaming up with butterflies, cockroaches and elephants. Lions, horses and dogs are also employed to invent the correct rhythmical patterns that fight planetary destruction. The boot flags of the 15th century peasant revolution
lead the way, with a lively brass band for accompaniment. Bread & Puppet’s "Circus" acts can often be politically puzzling to adults, but accompanying kids can usually explain them. Sourdough rye bread will be served and cheap art will be for sale after the performance. Presented as part of the 30th Annual Bread & Roses Heritage Festival, an open-air social justice celebration.
http://www.breadandpuppet.org
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Tuesday, September 2
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Annual Report on the Performance of the Massachusetts Health Care System
Tuesday, September 2
11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
One Ashburton Place, 21st floor, Conference Rooms 2 and 3, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/briefing-on-the-performance-of-the-massachusetts-health-care-system-tickets-12722885493
On Tuesday, September 2, Center for Health Information and Analysis will release its Annual Report on the Performance of the Massachusetts Health Care System — which, for the first time, will include a calculation of the Commonwealth’s Total Health Care Expenditures.
Executive Director Áron Boros will hold a public briefing on the report for interested parties. To help ensure sufficient seating is available, we'd ask that attendees RSVP in advance.
The findings of this report will inform the Health Policy Commission’s 2014 Health Care Cost Trends Hearing, scheduled for October 6 and 7. The hearing will include a review of the state’s performance under the health care cost growth benchmark, using CHIA's calculation of Total Health Care Expenditures. Under the Commonwealth’s 2012 health care cost containment law, CHIA is required to complete and submit its report on the Massachusetts health care system 30 days in advance of the HPC’s hearing.
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Simons Center Workshop 2014: The Social Brain - New Opportunities for Discovery and Technology Development
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
3:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building 46-3002, Building 46 Atrium (3rd Floor), 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Ulrich Froriep, Alan Jasanoff; Isaac Kohane, Elizabeth Norton, Sarah Spence, Mriganka Sur
Simons Center for the Social Brain is excited to announce the 2014 Annual Workshop: New Opportunities for Discovery and Technology Development. Please join us to hear about current research and funding opportunities in understanding the social brain and its disorders, including autism.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/simons-center-workshop-2014-the-social-brain-new-opportunities-for-discovery-and-technology-tickets-12478957899
Sponsor(s): Simons Center for the Social Brain
For more information, contact: Alexandra Sokhina
617-324-7757
asokhina at mit.edu
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Boston Area Sustainability Group Presents: WATER
Tuesday, September 2
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
The Venture Cafe - Cambridge Innovation Center, 5th Floor 1 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sept-2nd-basg-presents-water-tickets-12452847803
Cost: $8-12
In partnership with Northbound Ventures, we're kicking off the fall season with 3 top-tier speakers to lead our discussion about water. Come hear, meet and engage with:
Brian Swett, Chief, Environment & Energy at City of Boston www.linkedin.com/pub/brian-swett/1/645/163. Brian will present key sustainability initiatives of the city focusing on water use and climate change planning for a rising tide.
Brooke Barton, Director of Water Program at Ceres www.linkedin.com/in/brookebarton.Brooke will share highlights of current research and trends in corporate engagement surrounding water scarcity risks and opportunities.
Dr. C. Adam Schlosser, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Global Change Science Deputy Director for Science, MIT Joint Program for Global Change http://globalchange.mit.edu . Adam will discuss the risks imposed on our water systems for developed & developing nations as a result of anticipated changes in our natural, managed and built environments.
Time is short and we all need to learn a boatload, fast. One of BASG’s explicit goals is that we learn as much as we can from each other, where the very diversity of the group is one of our most valuable assets. Come join the discussion, or hang out and listen. Meet those folks working hard to do what you’re trying to do and your paths have not yet crossed. We have a great time and really want to meet you!
Our format for the evening begins with informal networking followed by quick introductions all round before several lightening-speed presentations from knowledgeable folks. Using a modified IGNITE-style format, our speakers share their experiences and then we open the discussion to the group.
We’ll end the discussion with time left for more networking and sharing info on other local events. Hope to see you there!
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Persuasive Design with Sebastian Deterding
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Cambridge Innovation Center 5th Floor, Havana Conference Room, One Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Action-Design-Boston/events/198904792/
Sign-in at the front desk. Take elevators to the 5th floor. Find Sign for Havana Room.
Interest in persuasive design for behavior change has been growing rapidly in interaction design in the past years. In part thanks to that, we now have ample tools and pattern libraries to inspire us. What we are lacking, however, are focus and guidance in applying them. Usually, we get those from user research. But current research methods and deliverables arguably do not provide ready springboards.
On September 2nd designer and researcher Sebastian Deterding (http://codingconduct.cc/) with talk about how to use the Motivation Ability Opportunity (MAO) model as a tool to structure user research around a single behavior to be changed, and to guide subsequent design in prioritizing issues to tackle and ideating ways to tackle them.
Agenda:
6:30PM – Refreshments and Socializing
7:00PM – Start of Sebastian’s talk
8:00PM – End of Meeting
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Wednesday, September 3
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Agriculture and Climate Change: The Needs of Agriculture in a Warming Climate
Wednesday, September 3
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM EDT
webinar at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/297810802
Join us this fall for our continuing Wednesday webinar series focused on state and federal policies that could improve our region’s food system. The webinars explore in greater detail the policies and policy options described in our report, New England Food Policy: Building a Sustainable Food System.
All webinars are recorded and will be available at www.farmland.org/newengland. You will find these four webinars already posted there:
May 14: Introduction to the New England Food Policy Report and Project
June 18th: Organic Waste: Finding Uses for It in the Food System
July 16th: Frameworks for Regional Food System Collaboration
July 23rd: Reducing Farmland Conversion: State Land Use and Protection Policies
For a more detailed description of each of the webinars, please visit www.newenglandfoodpolicy.org
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John Coltrane: A Love Supreme
WHEN Wed., Sep. 3, 2014, 12 p.m.
WHERE Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Music
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Hutchins Center for African & African American Research
SPEAKER(S) Ingrid Monson, Quincy Jones Professor of African American Music & director of the Jazz Research Initiative, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO hutchevents at fas.harvard.edu
NOTE A Q&A will follow each lecture.
LINK hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu
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Restoring Balance with Noise: Science for the Public's Public Science Lectures
Wednesday, September 3
6:30 PM
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
Note: This lecture will not be recorded, so be sure to join the audience.
James J. Collins, PhD, William F. Warren Distinguished Professor, University Professor, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Director, Center of Synthetic Biology, Boston University; Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
Dr. Collins was a core founding faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. He is also Boston University's first HHMI Investigator.
Balance seems effortless --until you lose it. The loss of balance due to conditions such as aging, Parkinson's Disease, stroke or injury severely limits mobility. In this presentation, Dr. Collins explains the physical mechanisms of balance that most of us take for granted, as well as what causes the loss of balance. By applying a unique biophysics approach to the problem of balance loss, he developed a very effective solution: specially engineered lightweight wearable devices such as vibrating insoles and leg cuffs that deliver random mechanical "noise" signals to affected muscles. The mechanism that makes these restorative devices so effective is as fascinating as the devices themselves. And the devices represent a great advance for rehabilitative medicine. Dr. Collins is one of America's most innovative scientists, and his balance-restoration devices are just one area of his work.
James Collins is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the American Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering.
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Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change
Wednesday, September 3
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store welcomes climate change expert and founder of the Climate Outreach and Information Network GEORGE MARSHALL for a discussion of his book Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change.
Most of us recognize that climate change is real, and yet we do nothing to stop it. What is this psychological mechanism that allows us to know something is true but act as if it is not? George Marshall’s search for the answers brings him face to face with Nobel Prize–winning psychologists and the activists of the Texas Tea Party; the world’s leading climate scientists and the people who denounce them; liberal environmentalists and conservative evangelicals. What he discovered is that our values, assumptions, and prejudices can take on lives of their own, gaining authority as they are shared, dividing people in their wake.
With engaging stories and drawing on years of his own research, Marshall argues that the answers do not lie in the things that make us different and drive us apart, but rather in what we all share: how our human brains are wired—our evolutionary origins, our perceptions of threats, our cognitive blindspots, our love of storytelling, our fear of death, and our deepest instincts to defend our family and tribe. Once we understand what excites, threatens, and motivates us, we can rethink and reimagine climate change, for it is not an impossible problem. Rather, it is one we can halt if we can make it our common purpose and common ground. Silence and inaction are the most persuasive of narratives, so we need to change the story.
In the end, Don’t Even Think About It is both about climate change and about the qualities that make us human and how we can grow as we deal with the greatest challenge we have ever faced.
"In 42 engaging, bite-size chapters, Marshall presents the psychological research demonstrating why climate change simply doesn’t feel dangerous enough to justify action and how we can trick our brains into changing our sense of urgency about the problem. His work is a much needed kick in the pants for policymakers, grassroots environmentalists, and the public to induce us to develop effective motivational tools to help us take action to face the reality of climate change before it’s too late." —Booklist
"The science of climate change is easy: burning fossil fuels creates greenhouse gasses that are warming our world. George Marshall reminds us about the hard part: connecting the wellhead to the tailpipe in people’s minds as soon as possible. Please read this book, and think about it. Let’s get to work." —Bill Nye
Contact : (617) 661-1515
info at harvard.com
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Thursday, September 4
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Sustainability in the City of Austin, Texas
Thursday, September 4
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
webinar at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/311818582/
When it comes to sustainability, Austin, Texas has a reputation for staying ahead of the curve. From developing the nation’s first green building program, to its recognition as a climate protection leader, to its involvement in pilot programs that helped to advance EcoDistrict developments and the STAR Community Rating System, Austin has been setting the bar for how to achieve a bright, green, livable city for decades.
This free, one-hour webinar, sponsored by Crescent Electric Supply Company, will feature Austin's Chief Sustainability Officer Lucia Athens, who will describe the City’s progress on initiatives in 10 Action Areas that have achieved tangible sustainability benefits for the Austin community.
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HarvardX Open House
WHEN Thu., Sep. 4, 2014, 3:30 – 5 p.m.
WHERE HarvardX HQ, 125 Mt Auburn Street - 4th Floor, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HarvardX
SPEAKER(S) HarvardX team
COST Free and open to the Harvard community
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.eventbrite.com/e/harvardx-open-house-tickets-12686247909
CONTACT INFO michael_rutter at harvard.edu
LINK http://harvardx.harvard.edu/event/harvardx-open-house
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Iran: Where Do We Go from Here?
WHEN Thu., Sep. 4, 2014, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS, Knafel 262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Center for Middle Eastern Studies
SPEAKER(S) Gary Sick, executive director, Gulf 2000, adjunct professor of international and public affairs, senior research scholar, Columbia University
CONTACT INFO lgmartin at fas.harvard.edu
NOTE This event is open to the public; no registration required. This event is off the record. The use of recording devices is strictly prohibited.
LINK http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/node/3700
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Emerson Accelerator Launch Event
Thursday, September 4
4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/emerson-accelerator-launch-event-tickets-12805935899
You're cordially invited to the Official Launch Event of the Emerson Accelerator.
We are excited to begin our first year with a speed-dating style meeting of the mentors and accepted student start-up, a short round of pitches from each start-up, and brief remarks from Emerson College President Lee Pelton. We are proud to meet at District Hall, a new home for innovation in Boston. After the event, we invite you to join us as we walk to WeWork South Station, where student start-ups have been granted a co-working space.
The Emerson Accelerator is a extra-curricular, two-year program dedicated to helping students start sustainable businesses before graduation. For more information, visit emersonaccelerator.com
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Security: Changing the Game
Thursday, September 4
4:30 – 5:30pm
BU, GSU Conference Auditorium, 775 Commonwealth Ave (Room 228), Boston
RSVP at http://www.bu.edu/met/security-changing-the-game/
Jennifer Lesser Henley, PMP, Director of Security Operations, Facebook
We are under constant threats—from APT to data breaches and vulnerabilities to surveillance. Yet together we all play a role in keeping people safe, and making the internet and the world a more secure place. And we do that through empathy and protection. Together, we can help not only combat the bad guys but humanize what Security means. And, by building a diverse pipeline of talented and skilled security professionals we will be able to change the game and change the world.
Please join us for a talk co-sponsored by Metropolitan College, the Center for Reliable Information Systems and Cyber Security (RISCS), and the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering.
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Strategic Partners in Cleantech Panel Discussion #2: Legal and IP Considerations
Thursday, September 4
5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Greentown Labs, 28 Dane Street, Somerville
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/strategic-partners-in-cleantech-panel-discussion-2-legal-and-ip-considerations-tickets-12728470197
Networking: 5:00PM to 6:00PM
Panel Discussion: 6:00PM to 7:00PM
Networking to follow
Joe Hadzima, Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan (developed and currently teaches the "Law for the Entrepreneur" course), will moderate the panel, comprising:
Hemmie Chang, Partner, Foley Hoag
Neil Ferraro, Shareholder & Mechanical Group Chair, Wolf Greenfield
Edward Lovelace, CTO, XL Hybrids
Zack Anderson, COO, Levant Power
Richard Daniels, GM, Carestream Advanced Materials
This is the second installment of a five-part speaker series sponsored by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. Our first panel featured a discussion on Corporate Strategic Partners versus Venture Capitalists, what each considers when investing in cleantech companies (see blog post for discussion summary). The goal of the speaker series is to educate the start-up community about the benefits, drawbacks and challenges of various types of strategic partnerships.
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Opening Reception for Industrial Urbanism: Places of Production
Thursday, September 4
5:30p–7:00p
MIT, Building 7-338, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Since the Industrial Revolution, cities and industry have grown and evolved together. Despite this shared past, popular notions of urban industry tend to focus on the negative aspects of manufacturing: pollution, environmental degradation, and the exploitation of labor caused by industry.
Industrial Urbanism: Places of Production moves the conversation beyond these overly-simplified and overly-negative characterizations. It explores the relationship between current urban planning practices and the types of places that are actually designed and designated for the production of goods today. In the midst of shifting labor markets, technological changes, and resurgent metropolitan growth, the need to reimagine the role of industry in our cities is greater than ever.
The exhibition reexamines how industry can create place, sustain jobs, and promote environmental sustainability, all within the urban fabric.
Exhibition Curators:
Tali Hatuka, Laboratory for Contemporary Urban Design, Department of Geography and Human Environment, Tel Aviv University.
Eran Ben-Joseph, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, School of Architecture + Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Web site: http://www.industrialurbanism.com/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): School of Architecture and Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact: Amber Sinicrope
617-258-9106
asinicro at mit.edu
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Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired To Ignore Climate Change
Thursday, September 4
7-8.30pm
Jamaica Plain Forum, First Church JP, 6 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain
George Marshall
Why, despite overwhelming scientific evidence, do we still ignore climate change? And what does it need for us to become fully convinced of what we already know?
George Marshall’s search for the answers brings him face to face with Nobel Prize-winning psychologists and the activists of the Texas Tea Party; the world’s leading climate scientists and the people who denounce them; liberal environmentalists and conservative evangelicals.
With witty and engaging stories, drawing on years of his own research, Marshall shows how the scientific facts of climate change can become less
important to us than the social facts – the views of the people who surround us. He argues that our values, assumptions, and prejudices can take on lives of their own, gaining authority as they are shared, dividing people in their wake.
He argues that once we understand what excites, threatens, and motivates us, we can rethink and reimagine climate change, for it is not an impossible problem. Rather, it is one we can halt if we can make it our common purpose and common ground.
More information at http://jamaicaplainforum.org/event/george-marshall-climate-change-denial/
http://www.climateconviction.org/index.html
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Friday, September 5
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Internet Policy Symposium w/ Harvard's Institute of Politics and The Internet Association
September 5, 2014
8:30 am - 1:00 pm
Harvard Kennedy School, Littauer Building 4th Floor, Malkin Penthouse, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Space is limited. RSVP required at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1BB64VXxHuAygjdMCFbk9tFquEByQZOBNggKTLn0BJyc/viewform?c=0&w=1
INTERNET POLICY SYMPOSIUM Agenda
8:45 am - OPENING REMARKS
9:00 am - WILL GOVERNMENTS BREAK THE INTERNET?
A roundtable discussion moderated by Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder and director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, on whether and how the Internet may be challenged by governments seeking to censor and monitor online speech and conduct, along with regulatory choices that impact private industry for good or ill.
11:00 A.M. - YOUR NEXT BIG STARTUP IDEA: WHY INTERNET POLICY MATTERS
A roundtable discussion moderated by Nicco Mele, author, The End of Big and adjunct lecturer in public policy at Shorenstein Center, Harvard Kennedy School, on Internet public policies broader implications for immigration, patent trolls and the sharing economy, which are all important to young entrepreneurs interested in starting their own Internet business.
12:30 P.M. - CLOSING REMARKS
Hosted by Harvard University's Institute of Politics, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and The Internet Association
More information at http://www.iop.harvard.edu/internet-policy-conference-0
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From planning to learning “human-aware” robot movement
Friday, September 05, 2014
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
MIT, Building 32-D463, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Jim Mainprice , WPI
Abstract: A robot acts upon its environment through motion. The ability to plan its movements is therefore an essential component of its autonomy. Motion planning is an area of research that has been widely studied in recent decades; however, the emerging subfields of assistive and collaborative robotics bring new constraints and new challenges to robotics research. Indeed, systems that are designed to help in daily tasks and work alongside humans must consider the safety and well being of the surrounding humans. Hence, robot motion planning algorithms have to reason on an explicit model of human capabilities and social behaviors. In this talk, I will present several planners able to generate motions accounting for such constraints that combine sampling-based approaches with stochastic optimization techniques to simultaneously address challenging workspaces. I will then present a coherent motion generation framework, embedding these algorithms, able to handle surrounding humans dynamically by reasoning on early prediction of human motion. While these methods are capable of generating safe and legible motions for high degree of freedom robots, careful tuning of the cost function is necessary, which is generally performed manually and can be quite unintuitive. Balancing the importance of each term of the cost function to generate motions with the proper tradeoff of efficiency, for the robot actions, and comfort for the human is key to our approach. I will present our current work to address this issue applying inverse optimal control to mimic the criteria at play in human-human collaborative manipulation. Finally, I will go over future directions and give insights on how to bridge the gap between planning and learning algorithms in the context of motion generation under human-robot interaction constraints.
Bio: Dr. Mainprice is a Post-Doc in the Autonomous Robotic Collaboration (ARC) laboratory at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He received his M.S. from Polytech' Montpellier, France, and his Ph.D. in robotics and computer science from the University of Toulouse, France, in 2009 and 2012 respectively. His research interests include motion planning, task planning, machine learning, human-robot collaboration and human-robot interaction. While completing his Ph.D. at LAAS-CNRS, he took part in the European community's 7th framework program projects Dexmart (DEXterous and autonomous dual-arm/hand robotic manipulation with sMART sensory-motor skills: a bridge from natural to artificial cognition) and Saphari (Safe and Autonomous Physical Human-Aware Robot Interaction). In 2013, he participated in the DARPA Robotic Challenge as a member of the DRCHubo team. He is currently involved in the Office of Naval Research project, Collaborative Robot Learning from Demonstration Using Hierarchical Task Networks and Attributive Motion Planning, and the National Robotics Initiative collaborative project between WPI and MIT, Adaptive Motion Planning and Decision-Making for Human-Robot Collaboration in Manufacturing.
Contact: Julie A Shah, julie_a_shah at csail.mit.edu
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Near-Term Climate Change: Projections and Mitigation
Friday, September 5
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Harvard, Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Abstract: While anthropogenic climate change is a long-term phenomena, anthropogenic influences on climate will also be felt in the near-term. New work examining the near-term rate of climate change will be presented showing that the rate of global and regional changes will soon be increasing to well above background levels. The talk will then examine the potential for short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs) to reduce near-term climate change. Forcing agents with relatively short atmospheric lifetimes, short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), are a potentially attractive mitigation target since they offer the prospect of reducing near-term anthropogenic climate change. Much of the work in this area has focused on black carbon and methane. The potential for near-term climate mitigation by SLCFs was analyzed and shown to be smaller than previously estimated. Climate and atmospheric inertia reduce the near-term SLCF mitigation potential well below equilibrium values. SLCF mitigation potential has a high uncertainty, which was also assessed. A large portion is due to uncertainty in carbonaceous aerosol emissions and aerosol forcing in general.
Email: xilu at fas.harvard.edu
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The Library Beyond the Book
Friday, September 5, 2014
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Jeffrey T. Schnapp and Matthew Battles
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Opening Reception for "...in the atmospheres” Exhibition by Deb Todd Wheeler
Friday, September 5
6-8pm
Miller Yezerski Gallery, 460 Harrison Avenue, Boston
…in the atmospheres
In this atmosphere, an atmosphere that scuba divers call 1 bar (101325 pa of pressure), we breathe the air, a perfect mixture of gases that we instinctually suck into our bodies… it’s our atmosphere, and we inhabit it and fill it with our expulsions: the things we shed, we expel, expunge….off and away… a scream, an emotion, things we are done with, byproducts of living, of productivity…. The residue of making…. extra chemicals, turpentine, wrappers, fumes, all that stuff we want to disappear, and leave us with the treasure we made…. By-products be gone! Evaporate into the other atmospheres, up into the stratosphere, or down the drain, flushed away into the vast and uninhabitable depths of space and sea… but you know the planet’s cycles spit it all right back at us…. oceans return flotsam to the shores, evaporated liquids rain back down- nothing is truly gone forever, nothing dissipates into thin air… it’s just not true. It will always return to us, tangible hauntings of our own productivity.
The “clouds” that stream from the power plant, emissions from the process of making power dissipate into the atmosphere, join the clouds that are already up there. What is the difference, really except for a few chemical configurations…. Thinking about “nature” as a construct, as an idea that looks the way we want it to. If I print these images using the nostalgic early technology of the sun print, crop out the source of the “cloud”, are they then beautiful? Can you live with that aestheticization and fakery to convince you that the natural world isn’t already gone, taken over by our residue?
What does it mean to be productive? As an artist it certainly is the goal, as a society we strive for it. In the global market we aim to produce goods and services that are valued. But what is the cost of all this productivity? ...in the atmospheres is a solo exhibition of images and objects inspired by the residue of production, the things that leak out in the process, the slag- things we wish would disappear…
More information at http://www.milleryezerskigallery.com/
617 262 0550
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Restructuring Science and Technology Governance in Developing Countries: Egypt a Case Study
Friday, September 5
6:30p
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
The MIT Egyptian Student Association (ESA) is delighted to invite you to the second "Distinguished Alumni Lecture." MIT Alumnus Professor Aly El-Shafei will give a talk followed by a Q&A session on Restructuring Science and Technology Governance in Developing Countries.
Web site: https://www.facebook.com/events/562507797186940
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Egyptian Student Association
For more information, contact: Mohamed Siam
clubegypt-board at mit.edu
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Saturday, September 6
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Open House at 81 Brent Street, Dorchester’s First LEED Platinum House
Saturday, September 6
9 AM to 5 PM
81 Brent Street, Dorchester
See how efficient Dorchester's first LEED Platinum home is up close and learn about resources available and steps you can take to make your home efficient. Presentations include: those from Energy Advisors about the importance of weatherizing your home; efficient lighting, fixtures and mechanical systems that allow for energy savings; and more.
Choose a session to RSVP at http://www.81brent.org
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Exploring Boston’s Urban Forest
Wednesday, September 6
10am-4pm
Cambridge DPW, 147 Hampshire Street, Cambridge
Cost $15.00 but free with promo code TREES
RSVP at http://earthwatch.org/expeditions/exploring-bostons-urban-forest
How are our most important neighbors—our cities' trees—faring? Find out while exploring one charming city.
Urban forests are more than pretty: they mitigate climate change, improve psychological health, filter pollutants, and increase oxygen levels.
Cities are made up of buildings and streets, but between and among human structures are thousands of trees that make up the urban forest. Earthwatch is collaborating with the arborist of the City of Cambridge, just across the river from Boston, to collect data to study and protect the 18,000 trees that make up the city's critically important urban forest.
You'll be trained in techniques for identifying species, measuring and observing individual tree samples, and uploading data via mobile apps. During the course of the day you'll work in groups, exploring Cambridge's urban forest and collecting data on the health, growth patterns, and impact on buildings and streets of individual trees.
You'll help build a growing database of information needed to understand how trees positively impact urban areas and what trees need to survive and thrive in stressful environments.
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Doing the math on Energy Investments
Saturday, September 6, 2014
10:00 AM
Pavement Coffee House, 736 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/BU-Energy-Network/events/202695772/
We'll be around the big table at the back.
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The Fall 2014 Mid-Cambridge Plant Swap
Saturday September 6
12 to 2 pm
Fayette Park (off Fayette Street, across from the former Longfellow School and library, near corner with Broadway), Cambridge
Rain date—in case of DOWNPOUR—is Sunday, Sep. 7, 12-2
Bring anything that's growing in too much abundance in your garden. Elegant packaging not required, but please write down plant names. We expect to have perennials, biennial seedlings, seeds, houseplants, catalogs, pots, and lots of "whatever." Nothing to swap? Come anyway—meet other gardeners!
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Demo Day for the MIT Global Founders' Skills Accelerator
Saturday, September 6
1:00p–4:30p
MIT, Building W16-Kresge, 48 Massachusetts Ave (Rear), Cambridge
The MIT GFSA Demo Day will showcase the most passionate and talented founders at MIT and their innovative, world-changing companies. From the dorm rooms to the labs, our unique teams are solving the toughest problems across Commercializing Space, Connected Devices, HealthTech, and many more. Get your first look at these game changers in beautiful Kresge Auditorium.
We'll have some amazing speakers sharing knowledge and inspiration with the crowd, as well as presentations and demos by the GFSA 2014 teams.
A networking reception with food and drinks will follow the pitches, where you can meet the founders and learn more about their companies and technologies.
Web site: http://gfsa14demoday.eventbrite.com/?aff=eventsmitedu
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: RSVP at http://gfsa14demoday.eventbrite.com/?aff=eventsmitedu
Sponsor(s): Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
For more information, contact: Chris Snyder
617-253-8653
trustcenter at mit.edu
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Sunday, September 7
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Disruption: free screenings
Contact http://act.350.org/event/disruption/search/ to find times and places locally.
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Cambridge Carnival International
12:30pm - 6:30pm
Kendall Square, Cambridge
More information at http://cambridgecarnival.org
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Boston Street Medics Protester Health and Safety Training
Sunday, September 7
2-4pm
Bikes Not Bombs Hub, 284 Amory Street, (the Brewery Complex), Jamaica Plain
This session will cover the basics of buddy and affinity group safety, weather-related illness, police/arrest safety and advocacy, special needs and chronic illness awareness, and post-action emotional self-care. The focus of this training is on injury and illness prevention, staying safe in the streets, and knowing what to do when you don't know what to do. There is no cost to attend the session, but please RSVP by Thursday, September 4th at http://tinyurl.com/PCMBosHS.
Please email bostonstreetmedics at riseup.net with any questions.
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Monday, September 8
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Webinar: Move Over, Big Data! How Small, Simple Models Can Yield Big Insights
Monday, September 08, 2014
12:00p–1:00p
Webinar at http://sdm.mit.edu/news/news_articles/webinar_090814/big-data-vs-small-models.html
Speaker: Richard C. Larson, Ph.D., Mitsui Professor of Engineering Systems and Director of the Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals, MIT
MIT System Design and Management Program Systems Thinking Webinar Series
This series features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges.
About the Presentation
Today's emphasis on big data and data analytics may leave some folks thinking that management and policy insights can only arise from the analysis of millions of data entries. Nothing could be further from the truth! Sometimes less is more. In fact, an excess of numbers can engender more headaches than insight.
In this talk, managers and policymakers will learn how simple mathematical models of systems can improve intuition and lead to better decisions. Dr. Larson will provide concrete examples from his professional research and consulting engagements, then discuss general applications to industry. He will cover:
Flaws of averages-what they are and how to avoid them;
Square root laws-how to apply them to locating facilities and more;
Singularities-why and how managers of service systems must schedule idle time for servers or face huge waiting lines (aka the "elbow effect");
Simple difference equations-how to use them to discover major system instabilities when inputs are year-to-year gross revenues;
Going viral-how a major demography parameter can apply to exponential explosiveness in many business sectors; and
Lateral thinking-and how it can sometimes make a problem go away.
Learn to cut to the chase, see the big picture, and stay out of the weeds!
A Q&A will follow the presentation. We invite you to join us.
Web site: http://sdm.mit.edu/news/news_articles/webinar_090814/big-data-vs-small-models.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free and open to all
Tickets: See url above.
Sponsor(s): Engineering Systems Division, MIT System Design and Management (SDM)
For more information, contact: Lois Slavin
617-253-0812
lslavin at mit.edu
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Using the Global Electric Circuit (GEC) to monitor Climate Change
Monday, September 8
12pm – 1pm
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Colin Price, Tel Aviv University
MASS Seminar
mass.seminar at gmail.com
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Why You Can't Find a Taxi in the Rain and Other Labor Supply Lessons from Cab Drivers
Monday, September 8
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E51-151, 2 Amherst Street, (70 Memorial Drive), Cambridge
Speaker: Hank Farber (Princeton Univeristy)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Public Finance/Labor Workshop
For more information, contact: economics calendar
econ-cal at mit.edu
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The Ethics of the Human Genome Project
Monday, September 8
6:30p–7:30p
MIT, Building W20-303, Private Dining Room # 3, 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder and guests speakers from the MIT community and beyond
The amazing work around the HGP points toward unprecedented possibility, and also brings ethical questions - old and new - to the forefront. Our bi-weekly class will feature discussion of the science and the ethics, with a focus on how traditional Jewish source can be bought to bear.
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
This event occurs every 2 weeks on Mondays through December 8, 2014.
Sponsor(s): Hillel (MIT)
For more information, contact: Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder
heyrabbi at mit.edu
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Bill McKibben on Eaarth
Monday, September 8
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Lesley University, Marran Theater, 34 Mellen Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/clas-reads-bill-mckibbens-eaarth-tickets-12567380373
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Tuesday, September 9
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Boston TechBreakfast: NewsUp, Upshot Commerce, Voice Dream, Robin, OpportunitySpace
Tuesday, September 9
8:00 AM
Microsoft NERD - Horace Mann Room, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston-TechBreakfast/events/155723012/
Interact with your peers in a monthly morning breakfast meetup. At this monthly breakfast get-together techies, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs share learn from their peers through show and tell / show-case style presentations.
And yes, this is free! Thank our sponsors when you see them :)
Agenda for Boston TechBreakfast:
8:00 - 8:15 - Get yer Bagels & Coffee and chit-chat
8:15 - 8:20 - Introductions, Sponsors, Announcements
8:20 - ~9:30 - Showcases and Shout-Outs!
NewsUp - Andrew Schuster
Upshot Commerce - Neal Kaiser
Voice Dream - Winston Chen
Robin - Zach Dunn
OpportunitySpace: OpportunitySpace online marketplace - Alexander Kapur
~9:30 - end - Final "Shout Outs" & Last Words
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Robin Sproul, vice president and Washington Bureau Chief, ABC News.
Tuesday, September 9
12 P.M.
Harvard, Taubman 275, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
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GSD Talks: Innovate: Wolfgang Rieder
WHEN Tue., Sep. 9, 2014, 12 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Stubbins 112, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Graduate School of Design
COST Free and open to the public
LINK www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/events/wolfgang-rieder-innovate.html
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Berkman Center 2014-2015 Orientation: Tuesday Luncheon
Tuesday, September 9
12:30 pm
Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein West B Room (2nd Floor), 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/09/openhouse#RSVP
Free and Open to the Public
Learn more about the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and join our community
Follow the Berkman Centaur! This event is part of a series of kick-off activities for the 2014-2015 academic year. If you are student, faculty member, fellow, interested member of the public, or lover of LOLcats, we welcome you to join us at one or more of these gatherings.
Learn more about the Berkman Center for Internet & Society -- and its network of researchers, activists, faculty, students, technologists, entrepreneurs, artists, policy makers, lawyers, and more -- in an interactive conversation lead by Faculty Chair Jonathan Zittrain. If you’re curious about connecting with our research, our community, or our events, or are just generally interested in digital technologies and their impact on society, please join us at our first Tuesday lunch of the academic year on September 9th on the Harvard Law School campus.
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Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown
WHEN Tue., Sep. 9, 2014, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), 2nd Floor, CGIS Knafel, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Gregory Jaczko, former chairman, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2009-12); Kenji Tateiwa, manager of nuclear power programs, Washington D.C. office, Tokyo Electric Power Company; Herman Leonard, George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Management, Harvard Kennedy School, and Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; moderated by Susan Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics and director, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
LINK http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/calendar/upcoming
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Access, Equality and Molecular Diagnostics for Global Health
Tuesday, September 9
1:30pm - 2:30pm
Room 521, Wyss Institute, 3 Blackfan Circle, 5th floor, Boston
Speaker: Cathie Klapperich, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Director, Center for Future Technologies in Cancer Care, Boston University
Many new and exciting portable molecular testing technologies are emerging for application in both personalized and global medicine. The potential to provide fast, isothermal, and quantitative molecular diagnostic information to clinicians in the field and at the bedside will soon be a reality. What many of these technologies lack is a robust front end for sample clean up and nucleic acid preparation. Such technologies would enable many different downstream molecular assays. The Klapperich Laboratory for Diagnostics and Global Healthcare Technologies is focused on the design and engineering of manufacturable, disposable systems for low-cost point-of-care molecular diagnostics. We have invented technologies to perform microfluidic sample preparation for bacterial and viral targets from several human body fluids including, urine, blood, stool and nasowash. These technologies include nucleic acid extraction, protein extraction, microorganism enrichment and/or concentration and small-scale dialysis. We are currently working on devices for the detection and quantification of HIV, hemorrhagic fevers, infectious diarrheas, influenza, MRSA and cancer biomarkers.Projects include detection by PCR, isothermal amplification, and novel optical techniques. Our main application area is global health. We consider assay development, device design, sample flow, storage and transport all opportunities to drive down the cost and increase the accessibility of molecular tests in the developing world.
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Converting Biogas into Energy and Vehicle Fuel
Tuesday, September 9
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
webinar at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/832731910
Do you have a supply of biogas? If it’s not being turned into electricity, heat or vehicle fuel, it needs to be put to work! Converting Biogas to Energy and Vehicle Fuel will describe how sites around the world are converting biogas from wastewater treatment plants, industrial digesters and landfills into electricity, heat and vehicle fuel.
Sponsored by Unison Solutions, Inc., this free one-hour webinar will explain how waste to energy systems work and provide a number of case studies from across the country.
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The Search for 100 Earths
Tuesday, September 9
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 4-349, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Speaker: Debra Fischer, Yale
The search for exoplanets is motivated by the question of whether life exists elsewhere. This drives our interest in the detection of planets that are similar to our own world: rocky planets with the potential for liquid surface water and plate tectonics; worlds that might harbor life that we can recognize. Importantly, we will need to discover not just a few, but hundreds of these worlds to eventually gain a statistical understanding of whether life is rare, common, or ubiquitous and ground-based telescopes offer an ideal platform for carrying out decade-long surveys. It is critical for follow-up studies (imaging, atmospheric studies) that these planets orbit nearby stars. In this talk, I will discuss how we plan to take what we've learned and push on to the next frontier: our plans for a next generation spectrograph, EXPRES, to carry out a search 100 Earths with the Discovery Channel Telescope.
MIT Astrophysics Colloquium
Web site: http://space-live.mit.edu/events/all
Open to: the general public
Cost: no charge
Tickets: n/a
Sponsor(s): Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
For more information, contact: Debbie Meinbresse
617-253-1456
meinbres at mit.edu
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JFK Jr. Forum -- Ebola: Can We Avoid A Global Pandemic?
Tuesday, September 9
6:00pm
Harvard, Kennedy School, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
A Panel Discussion with:
Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH, FACEP, Director, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative; Professor in the Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health
Dyann Wirth, Ph.D., Richard Pearson Strong Professor and Chair, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health; Co-chair of the Infectious Diseases Initiative, The Broad Institute
Sheila Burke (moderator), Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy; Faculty Research Fellow, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
For more on this forum, please visit http://forum.iop.harvard.edu/content/ebola-can-we-avoid-global-pandemic
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People's Climate Rally Pre-Event: Change in Action
Tuesday, September 9
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Kingston Station, 25 Kingston Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/peoples-climate-rally-pre-event-change-in-action-tickets-12797382315
Learn more about the most vital issue facing our planet today – Climate Change - and discover how you can have an immediate and direct impact.
Come hear Cathy Ann Buckley, a Climate Reality Speaker, discuss the first-hand implications and science behind global warming, the UN Climate Change forumand how you can be part of this century’s Woodstock equivalent:
People’s Climate Rally
in New York City on September 21, 2014
Learn how you can affect climate action on the planet today and why this is the most pivotal event yet on climate.
Discover why being in the US at this time in history makes you a powerful agent of change.
Find out how easy it is to get there, and how hard it will be to forget.
Whether you are interested in action, education or just meeting folks with a passion toward protecting our planet, join us on September 9th at Kingston Stationin Boston for free appetizers, some drinks and inspiring conversation.
How are you getting to NYC? Problem solved.
We will be providing information on buses to and from the People’s Climate March, making your involvement a reality!
Cathy Ann Buckley is an MIT graduate. She began studying climate change professionally toward the end of her career as a transportation planner in the Boston region. She is a Climate Reality Speaker, a Environmental Defense Fund Lead Ambassador, and a committee member of the Sierra Club, 350MA, and Westwood Environmental Action.
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Turbulent Summer: An Update on the Middle East
WHEN Tue., Sep. 9, 2014, 7 – 9 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Emerson 105, Harvard Yard
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Hillel, co-sponsored with the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations; Center for Middle Eastern Studies; Funding for the Riesman Forum is provided by the Mandell and Madeleine Berman Foundation in memory of Robert Riesman
SPEAKER(S) Noah Feldman, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law; R. Nicholas Burns, Sultan of Oman Prof of the Practice of International Relations, HKS; Meghan O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Relations, HKS; Michael Ignatieff, Edward R. Murrow Professor of the Practice, HKS
COST Free and open to the public; priority seating for Harvard ID holders
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, September 10
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TEDMED Live BodyWisdom
Wednesday, September 10
9:00 AM to 10:00 PM
Cambridge Innovation Center, 1 Broadway, 14th Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/tedmed-live-bodywisdom-tickets-12853357739
“Unlocking Imagination in Service of Health and Medicine” is TEDMED's focus from September 10-12 as they welcome some of the most respected and undiscovered names in science, journalism, education, business and technology to their stage.
Dawn Jordan is your official TEDMED ambassador. Dawn teaches body/mind medicine and is the author of the forthcoming book Get Back Into Touch. BodyWisdom is her system for achieving inspired action by leveraging the intelligence of your body.
On September 10 Dawn will be streaming Sessions 1-4 of the TEDMED talks at the Cambridge Innovation Center and facilitating conversations with attendees at the end of each 90-minute session.
Register your seat today.
Follow this link to view all speaker bios: http://tedmed.com/event/stage2014
SESSION 1
Turn It Upside Down
This opening session of TEDMED 2014 introduces surprising insights that flip beliefs, question standard operating procedures, discard some closely held assumptions and lead to fresh insights about health and medicine. Below, we proudly introduce the speakers and artists for this session.
Farah Siraj
Global Humanitarian Musician
Ted Kaptchuk
Placebo Investigator
Elliot Swart
Smart Dermatologic Cameraman
Erica Frank
Virtual Medical School Pioneer
NANDA
Acrobaticalists
Jared Heyman
Crowd Wisdom Channeler
Thomas Goetz
Visionary Health Entrepreneur & Writer
Danielle Ofri
Reflective Physician
E. Bimla Schwarz
Women’s Health Truth-Teller
Sonia Shah
Social Justice Science Journalist
Heather Raffo
Global Witness / Artistic Healer
SESSION 2
We Just Don’t Know
This session explores the liberation that can happen when we recognize the limits of our knowledge – those transformational moments when we realize that the more we know, the more we realize how little we know. Below, we proudly introduce the speakers and artists for this session.
Rosie King
Storytelling Activist
Elizabeth Nabel
Medical Leader
Gary Conkright
Predictive Analytics Entrepreneur
Amy McGuire
Genomic Bioethicist
Zsolt Bognár
Concert Pianist
Daniel Webster
Gun Violence Preventer
Tig Notaro
Counterintuitive Comedian
Jeffrey Iliff
Glymphatic Scientist
SESSION 3
Flat Out Amazing
This session focuses on imagination at the far edge of possibility, featuring stories of the seemingly impossible acts, facts or events that should inspire and dazzle even the most cynical or sophisticated listener. Below, we proudly introduce the speakers and artists for this session.
Elizabeth Holmes
Medical Diagnostics Game Changer
Gail Reed
Cuban Health Care Expert
Diana Nyad
Open Water Swimming Champion
Marc Koska
Persistent Inventor / Global Life-Saver
Foteini Agrafioti
Biometrics Entrepreneur
Kitra Cahana
Incisive Photographer
SESSION 4
Stealing Smart
The session demonstrates how some of the best solutions to problems in health and medicine come from other worlds than the domain where the problem originated or is usually addressed. Below, we proudly introduce the speakers and artists for this session.
Dominick Farinacci
Worldly Trumpeter
Nina Tandon
Tissue Engineer
Zachary Copfer
Bio-Artist
Nora Volkow
Explorer of the Human Brain
Brian Primack
Media and Medicine Researcher
Ramanan Laxminarayan
Drug Resistance Economist
Barbara Natterson-Horowitz
Zoobiquitous Physician
Abraham Verghese
Attentive Physician / Passionate Storyteller
Drew Lakatos
Trauma Prevention Technologist
Leslie Morgan Steiner
Motherhood Investigator
Stephen Goldner
Clinical Trials Matchmaker
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From Micro to Nano in Solar cells and Batteries: Limitations and Possibilities
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
12:00a–1:00p
MIT, Building 34-401, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Light lunch at 11:30am.
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Vanessa Wood, ETH Zurich
Abstract: Transport in disordered solids remains poorly understood, leaving room for improvement in how these systems are used in devices. This talk presents examples of two different devices that incorporate disordered solution-processed solids - nanocrystal solar cells and lithium ion batteries - and demonstrates how optical and electronic techniques can be used to understand transport and develop guidelines for systematically improving device performance.
Brief Bio: Prof. Wood received her BS from Yale in 2005 and PhD from MIT in 2010. In 2011, she joined the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich as an assistant professor. Her research group works on implementing analytical approaches to understand and guide the design of optoelectronic and electrochemically active systems
MTL Seminar Series
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Microsystems Technology Laboratories
For more information, contact: Valerie DiNardo
617-253-9328
valeried at mit.edu
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Promoting Access to Farmland for New and Established Farmers
Wednesday, September 10
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
webinar at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/529496746
Join us this fall for our continuing Wednesday webinar series focused on state and federal policies that could improve our region’s food system. The webinars explore in greater detail the policies and policy options described in our report, New England Food Policy: Building a Sustainable Food System.
All webinars are recorded and will be available at www.farmland.org/newengland. You will find these four webinars already posted there:
May 14: Introduction to the New England Food Policy Report and Project
June 18th: Organic Waste: Finding Uses for It in the Food System
July 16th: Frameworks for Regional Food System Collaboration
July 23rd: Reducing Farmland Conversion: State Land Use and Protection Policies
For a more detailed description of each of the webinars, please visit www.newenglandfoodpolicy.org
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The State of the Euro in a Changing EU
WHEN Wed., Sep. 10, 2014, 12 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Lower Level Conference Room, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR European Union Study Group, Weatherhead Canter for International Studies and the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies
SPEAKER(S) Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, visiting scholar, Program on Transatlantic Relations; Richard N. Cooper, Maurits C. Boas Professor of Economics, Harvard University; Jeffry A. Frieden, Stanfield Professor of International Peace, Department of Government, Harvard University; Hans-Helmut Kotz, senior fellow, Center for Financial Studies, Goethe University; Karl Kaiser, director, Program on Transatlantic Relations
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO atownes at wcfia.harvard.edu
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Iraq, Syria, and the Role of the U.S. Military
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
12:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: NORA BENSAHEL, Center for a New American Security
SSP Wednesday Seminar Series
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/ssp/seminars/index.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Security Studies Program
For more information, contact: Elina Hamilton
617-253-7529
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A metabolic tree of life: from geochemical roots to oceanic ecosystems
Wednesday, September 10
12:10pm – 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Rogier Braakman, MIT
Abstract: Metabolism mediates the global biogeochemical cycles and provides the building blocks for all cells. I will illustrate how we can use the continuity of life to reconstruct trees of functional metabolic networks. I will first show how we can trace the evolution of CO2-fixation to the root of the tree of life, and then examine the metabolic evolution of ecosystems in the oligotrophic oceans. Together these examples highlight how building bridges between chemistry, systems biology and Earth science can give us new insights into the co-evolution of Earth and the biosphere.
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Democratization of Next-Generation Imaging, Diagnostics and Measurement Tools through Computational Photonics
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Room 521, Wyss Institute, 3 Blackfan Circle, 5th floor, Boston
Speaker:Aydogan Ozcan, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, CA
In this presentation Dr. Ozcan will discuss some of the emerging applications and the future opportunities/challenges created by the use of mobile phones and other consumer electronics devices as well as their embedded components for the development of next-generation imaging, sensing, diagnostics and measurement tools through computational photonics techniques. The massive volume of mobile phone users, which has now reached ~7 billion, drives the rapid improvements of the hardware, software and high-end imaging and sensing technologies embedded in our phones, transforming the mobile phone into a cost-effective and yet extremely powerful platform to run e.g., biomedical tests and perform scientific measurements that would normally require advanced laboratory instruments. This rapidly evolving and continuing trend on the use of mobile phones and other emerging consumer electronics devices including e.g., wearable computers, in advanced imaging and sensing experiments might help us transform current practices of medicine, engineering and sciences through democratization of measurement science and empowerment of citizen scientists, educators and researchers in resource limited settings and developing countries.
Contact: alison.reggio at wyss.harvard.edu
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Berkman Center 2014-2015 Orientation: Research Showcase at Harvard Law School
Wednesday, September 10
4:30-6:30PM
Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East Rooms (2nd Floor), 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2014/09/researchshowcase#RSVP
Free and Open to the Public
Refreshments will be served
Follow the Berkman Centaur! This event is part of a series of kickoff activities for the 2014-2015 academic year. If you are student, faculty member, fellow, interested member of the public, or lover of LOLcats, we welcome you to join us at one or more of these gatherings.
Select Berkman projects will be present with information about their projects' current activities. Staff working with each of these projects are eager to share information about the big research questions they are considering, meet potential future collaborators, and solicit ideas. In addition to the project tabling, there will be space and opportunity to connect with other Berkman community members and open house participants. You may come for any portion of time during this session.
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Community Self Defense
Wednesday, September 10
5:30 PM to 7:00 PM (EDT)
Copley Square, 560 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-self-defense-tickets-12624429007
As one of the largest communities of women in the city, Healthworks Fitness believes it is our duty to empower women by providing training and resources to learn how to protect against violence. Join Healthworks and Impact for a Community Self Defense class in Copley Square plaza from 5:30pm-7pm. All are welcome to attend this complimentary 90 minute workshop. Please come 15 minutes early to register.
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Thursday, September 11
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Media Lab Conversations Series: Sarah Parcak
Thursday, September 11
2:00p–3:30p
MIT, Building E14, MIT Media Lab, 3rd Floor Atrium, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Sarah Parcak is an associate professor of anthropology and director of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama. She is an archaeologist, space archaeologist, and Egyptologist, who uses satellite imaging to identify potential archaeological sites.
Web site: http://www.media.mit.edu/events/2014/09/11/media-lab-conversations-series-sarah-parcak
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Media Lab
For more information, contact: Jess Sousa
events-admin at media.mit.edu
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The Impact of Space Weather on the Global Atmospheric Electric Circuit
Thursday, September 11
4-5PM.
BU, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 502
The seminar is preceded by a brief reception in room 500 at 3:30PM
Colin Price Tel Aviv University
Contact: http://skynet.bu.edu/mailman/listinfo/csp_seminar
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Social Influence and The Dynamics of Online Reputation
Thursday, September 11, 2014
5:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building E14-633, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Sinan Aral
Identity and reputation drive some of the most important decisions we make online: Who to follow or link to, whose information to trust, whose opinion to rely on when choosing a product or service, whose content to consume and share. Yet, we know very little about the dynamics of online reputation and how it affects our decision making.
The MIT Sloan School of Management's Sinan Aral will describe a series of randomized experiments that explore the population level behavioral dynamics catalyzed by identity and reputation online. He will explore some of the implications for bias in online ratings, the foundations of social advertising and the ability to generate cascades of behavior through peer to peer social influence in networks. The coming decades will likely see an emphasis on verified identities online. Aral will argue that a new science of online identity could help guide our business, platform design and social policy decisions in light of the rising importance of online reputation and social influence.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cmsw at mit.edu
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Berkman's Digital Problem-Solving Initiative (DPSI) Kickoff at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Thursday, September 11
5:30 pm
Location TBA @ Harvard Graduate School of Education
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2014/09/hgse#RSVP
Refreshments will be served
Follow the Berkman Centaur! This event is part of a series of kickoff activities for the 2014-2015 academic year. If you are a student, faculty member, fellow, interested member of the public, or lover of LOLcats, we welcome you to join us at one or more of these gatherings.
Please join the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University for the launch of the Digital Problem-Solving Initiative (DPSI), one of the many initiatives and projects at the Center focused on education and digital technologies. DPSI is an innovative and collaborative project that brings together a diverse group of learners (students, faculty, fellows, and staff) to work on projects to address challenges and opportunities across the university. DPSI offers participants a novel opportunity to engage with research, design, and policy relating to the digital world.
We are accepting applications from Harvard students for participation in DPSI until September 6 - click here to find out more. You do not need to be a Harvard student or a DPSI participant to attend this event.
Speakers will include Dean Martha Minow, Professor Urs Gasser, Professor Tom Eisenmann, and HarvardX Research Fellow/Berkman affiliate Justin Reich.
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Boston Recycling Coalition’s Community Meet-Up: A Strong and Local Green Economy
Thursday, September 11
5:30-7:30pm
Dudley Square Public Library, 65 Warren Street, Roxbury
Want quality jobs for your community? Enjoy litter-free neighborhoods? Concerned about climate change? Join the Boston Recycling Coalition and city representatives at a Community Meetup on a Strong, Local Green Economy.
Join Boston #Recycling Coalition @JohnFBarros for “Strong, Local Green Economy” Community Mtg 9/11 5:30p Dudley Sq Library @CleanH20MA
Learn how better #recycling & #composting in #Boston can help strengthen local economy! 9/11 5:30p Dudley Sq Library @CleanH20MA
Hear local food movement leaders, #ZeroWaste experts at “Strong, Local Green Economy” Community Mtg 9/11 5:30p Dudley Sq Library @CleanH20MA
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SoJust is 8! Connecting for Justice (Open House)
Thursday, September 11
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Lir, 903 Boylston Street, Boston
Cost: $5-$20 collected at the door. Newcomers always welcomed!
(One raffle ticket per $10 to win a $25 Trader Joe's gift card.)
Complimentary appetizers will be provided and yummy cupcakes thanks to our STARZ!
SoJust is 8! That's right, it's been EIGHT years since our first event! Join us to celebrate 2500 members, 180+ events and countless connections made since 2006! Our birthday parties are always our biggest events. Haven't been to a Socializing for Justice event? It’s time to meet 120+ friendly SoJusters!
Meet like-minded progressives atConnecting for Justice on September 11th from 6-8:30PMat Lir Irish Pub and get connected to great social justice organizations in Boston. SoJust is all about building a cross-issue progressive community and network in Boston. We're doing it by putting the SOCIAL back in SOCIAL JUSTICE. We focus on creating welcoming spaces that foster relationship-building across issue silos. Join us if you are ready to go BEYOND ALLIES and build a CROSS-ISSUE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT.
RSVP at http://www.sojust.org (our main website) and view Member Profiles, Message Board and Calendar of Progressive Events.
This is not a meeting - it's a fun networking social!
No Program. No Speaker. Just Us. For Justice.
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Genetic Roulette The Gamble of our Lives
Thursday, September 11
6:30 pm
Cambridge Public Library, Central Square Branch, 45 Pearl Street, Cambridge
The Harvest Co-op Market Membership and Social Concerns Committee, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Northeast Organic Farmers Association, will be hosting a viewing of the documentary film Genetic Roulette
More information at http://geneticroulettemovie.com/
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Hot War, Climate Change & Sustainability
September 11
7 pm
MIT, Building 35-225, Cambridge, 127 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
presentation by Michael Klare, Five College Professor of Peace and World Security Studies, Hampshire College, author of /Blood and Oil and The Race for What’s Left
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Friday, September 12
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Innovation Breakfast at Coalition
Friday, September 12
8:30 AM to 10:00 AM
Coalition, 101 Arch Street, 19th Floor, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/innovation-breakfast-at-coalition-tickets-12391720971
The Roving Innovation Breakfast is visiting Coalition Workspace in Downtown crossing. Coalition is a coworking community in the heart of Boston for serious businesses and entrepreneurs.
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Strong Vegetation-mediated Chemical Forcing of Climate in Modern and Deep Time
Friday, September 12
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Harvard, Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Nadine Unger
Speaker Bio: http://environment.yale.edu/profile/nadine-unger/
Contact Ploy Achakulwisut
pachakulwisut at fas.harvard.edu
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IACS Seminar: Using Big Data in Epidemiology for Digital Disease Detection: Lessons Learned and New Directions
WHEN Fri., Sep. 12, 2014, 1 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Information Technology, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute for Applied Computational Science (IACS), Harvard SEAS
SPEAKER(S) Mauricio Santillana, SEAS & HMS
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO nrbaker at seas.harvard.edu
NOTE Preventing outbreaks of communicable diseases is one of the top priorities of public health officials from all over the world. Although traditional clinical methods to track the incidence of diseases are essential to prevent outbreaks, they frequently take weeks to spot critical epidemiological events. This is mainly due to the multiple clinical steps needed to confirm the appearance and incidence of diseases. Recently, the real time analysis of big data sets such as search queries from Google, posts from Facebook, tweets from Twitter, and article views from Wikipedia, has allowed researchers to identify epidemic events in multiple communities, giving rise to the creation of internet-based public health surveillance tools. These new tools often provide timely epidemiological information to public health decision makers up to two or three weeks ahead of traditional reports.
LINK https://www.seas.harvard.edu/calendar/event/77946
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DESIGN DIALOGUES: Grounded Visionaries
Friday, September 12
3:30pm
Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://secure.post.harvard.edu/olc/pub/HAA/event/showEventForm.jsp?form_id=174416
Cost: $50-75
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Living in the Future
Friday, September 12
5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
MIT, Building N51, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Free with Museum admission; pizza available 5-6pm.
High speed robots? Humans colonizing space? How do today’s technologies reflect what we’ve seen on the big screen? Sit back, grab some pizza and popcorn, and enjoy short clips from the fantastic and futuristic movies of yesterday and today. Then, hear from scientists and inventors about how close we are to taking the "fiction" out of "science fiction!”
Presentations by:
MARIO BOLLINI - Autonomous Cookie-baking Robots
Chief Technology Officer and Cofounder of GRIT
OLIVIER DE WECK - Humans as a Multi-planet Species
Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems, MIT
ELINOR KARLSSON - Genetic Engineering
Postdoctoral Scientist, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
SANGBAE KIM - Robo Cheetah
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Biomimetic Robotics Lab, MIT
SKYLAR TIBBITS- 4D Printing
Research Scientist. Director, Self-Assembly Lab, MIT
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TEDxCambridge
September 12
5:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Broad Institute, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
Cost: $70
TEDxCambridge 2014 encompasses a Spring and Fall event hosted in Kendall Square at three world-renowned research centers. The conference features our unique TEDx evening event format and guest experience followed by a gourmet reception with amazing food & beverages provided by the area’s top chefs and restaurants. Request an invitation by submitting an application.
Schedule
5:00pm: Venue Doors Open
6:30pm: Talks Begin
8:30pm: Talks End & Reception Begins
11:00pm: Reception Ends
See more at: http://www.tedxcambridge.com/event-item/tedxcambridge-2014-fall/#sthash.B3mYyjdz.dpuf
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The Bee: A Natural History
Friday, September 12, 2014
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Noah Wilson-Rich
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Saturday, September 13
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DESIGN DIALOGUES: Grounded Visionaries
Saturday, September 13
8am - 4 pm
Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://secure.post.harvard.edu/olc/pub/HAA/event/showEventForm.jsp?form_id=174416
Cost: $50-75
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The City of Boston's First Community Yard Sale
Saturday, September 13
http://yardsale.greenovateboston.org
Got stuff to give away? Want to enjoy a beautiful day? Either host or attend a yard sale with your neighbors from all across Boston - just add an event and follow the instructions at http://yardsale.greenovateboston.org
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Sunday, September 14
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Boston Local Food Festival
Sunday, September 14
11 a.m.-5 p.m
Boston Local Food Festival, considered New England's largest one day farmers market, is Boston's premier food event connecting eaters and consumers to healthy sustainable foods grown and produced close to home. Attracting thousands of residents and visitors, it provides an ideal opportunity for local food growers and producers to showcase their products and connect with new and existing costumers while growing and supporting the local food movement.
More information at http://bostonlocalfoodfestival.com
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The City of Boston's First Community Yard Sale
Sunday, September 14
http://yardsale.greenovateboston.org
Got stuff to give away? Want to enjoy a beautiful day? Either host or attend a yard sale with your neighbors from all across Boston - just add an event and follow the instructions at http://yardsale.greenovateboston.org
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Monday, September 15
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Vehicle Scrappage and Gasoline Policy
Speaker: Hank Farber (Princeton)
Monday, September 15
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E51-151, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Public Finance/Labor Workshop
For more information, contact: economics calendar
econ-cal at mit.edu
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"Economics, But Not as You Know It"
Monday, September 15
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Tufts University Fletcher School, Cabot 702, 170 Packard Avenue, Medford
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/economics-but-not-as-you-know-it-a-talk-by-ha-joon-chang-tickets-12835877455
Bestselling author and prize-winning economist Ha-Joon Chang, will give a talk on his recently published book “Economics: The User’s Guide.” With wit and insight, the book addresses questions such as: What is economics? What can and can’t it explain about the world? Why does it matter?
Chang introduces a wide range of economic theories. In this talk, he will provide a clear, comprehensive guide to understanding the controversial science and its implications in our everyday lives. He will offer an engaging view of the global economy, representing the best of economic theory and analysis, but also accessible to the general public.
Ha-Joon Chang teaches economics at Cambridge University. His books include the international bestsellers Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism, Kicking Away the Ladder, and 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism. In 2005, GDAE awarded him the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.
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Boston Food Swap - September Event
Monday, September 15
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
WeWork South Station, 745 Atlantic Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-food-swap-september-event-tickets-12744413885
For the first time in Boston Food Swap history, we're trying a weekday! Join us atWeWork South Station on a Monday night for the harvest season swap! If you have ideas about inexpensive weekend space for future swaps, please contact us atbostonfoodswap at gmail.com.
All swap items must be homemade, homegrown, or foraged by you. Think baked goods, jam, pickles, spreads, honey, vinegar, granola, pasta, fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, homemade sausages, backyard eggs, home brews … you name it! Bring as little or as much as you like. You can bring a bunch of one thing or multiples of a few different things. The possibilities are endless!
Keep in mind that swappers will be examining and picking up your goods, so be sure to package them in a way that protects the food and makes it clear the amounts you want to swap. We encourage reusable, earth-friendly packaging whenever possible.
If possible, you should also bring samples for others to try.
Schedule
6:00pm - 7:00pm People arrive, set up their items, chat with other swappers, and sample the goods
7:00pm - 7:30pm Bidding begins
7:30 Swap!
Please arrive no later than 7pm!
Parking is available at metered spots around the building. WeWork is adjacent to the South Station T stop.
If you have any feedback about this time or location, e-mail us at bostonfoodswap at gmail.com.
Check out our website at http://www.bostonfoodswap.com
Follow us on Twitter at @bosswappers
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An Evening with Ambassadors of the U.S. Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Program (C3E)
Monday, Sep 15, 2014
6:30PM - 8:30PM
MIT, Building 4-163, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The U.S. C3E Ambassadors will be gathering in September for the annual Women in Clean Energy Symposium. Join us for a special night with a select group of these ambassadors. These women will discuss their careers - important decisions made and challenges overcome, as well as the trends they see in clean energy technology and policy that will influence tomorrow's energy landscape. Panelists include Rose McKinney-James, Managing Principal of Energy Works LLC and President of McKinney-James & Associates; Kim Saylors-Laster, VP of Energy for Walmart; Dymphna van der Lans, CEO of the Clinton Climate Initiative; Nancy Pfund, Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Investors, and Dian Grueneich, Senior Research Scholar at Stanford University (with a long history of government service). Full bios available at http://c3eawards.org/about-c3e/c3e-ambassadors/. RSVP at link below. Networking begins at 6:30, and panel at 7:00. Snacks will be provided. What is C3E? The Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Initiative was launched by the 23-government Clean Energy Ministerial in 2010. The U.S. C3E initiative, executed in collaboration by the MIT Energy Initiative and the Department of Energy, is "designed to attract, retain, and advance the careers of women in the field." One pillar of the U.S. C3E Initiative are the Ambassadors, distinguished senior professionals with extensive experience in the clean energy field.
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Tuesday, September 16
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Short-Lived Climate-Forcing Pollutants: Current Research at the IASS
Tuesday, September 16
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Harvard, Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Mark Lawrence
Speaker Bio: http://www.iass-potsdam.de/people/prof-dr-mark-lawrence
Contact: Jasna Pittman
pittman at seas.harvard.edu
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Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor, The New Yorker.
Tuesday, September 16
12 p.m.
Harvard, Taubman 275, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
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Drone Warfare and the Public Imagination
Tuesday, September 16
12:30 pm
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 23 Everett Street, Second Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/09/kaag#RSVP
Event will be webcast live at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/09/kaag at 12:30 pm.
John Kaag, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Introduced by Bruce Schneier
In 2012, U.S. drone strikes occurred most often in which nation?
If you don’t know, don’t feel too bad. You’re not alone. You could just admit it and join the 27 percent of Americans who report that they haven’t a clue. Or you could guess, give the wrong answer, and join the 60 percent of Americans who just plain get it wrong. Many people know this answer first-hand, but they tend not to be Americans, and for them the answer has a non-trivial significance.
A large majority (65 percent) of Americans claimed that they had heard a lot about the U.S. drone program in 2013. This is a significant increase from the year before. But what they’d heard hadn’t furnished the answer to this most basic question about the purpose and nature of targeted killings. This makes sense, since the media often focuses on what is most important to its readers: namely, themselves. This is why the death of Americans in targeted killings dominated early discussion of drone warfare, why the mere prospect of domestic surveillance has taken center stage in the drone debate, and why commercial uses of drones has gained more attention in 2014.
So what should the media cover when it comes to drones and military robotics? What is worth reporting? And what responsibility do journalists have to focus in on the most pressing moral and legal questions when it comes to drone technologies? At what point should reportage blend into legal commentary and moral argumentation? What are the dangers associated with this sort of public discourse?
About John Kaag
John Kaag is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Director of the Doctoral Program in Global Studies. He recently co-authored Drone Warfare (Polity, 2014) with Sarah Kreps, and is author of A Wilderness of Books: A Study of American Philosophy (forthcoming with Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2015).
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Romania's Abandoned Children: Deprivation, Brain Development, and the Struggle for Recovery
WHEN Tue., Sep. 16, 2014, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Countway Library of Medicine, Minot Room, 10 Shattuck Street, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Health Sciences, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Notable Books Series at the Countway Library of Medicine
SPEAKER(S) Charles A. Nelson III, professor of pediatrics and professor of psychology in Psychiatry, HMS; Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric Developmental Medicine Research, Boston Children's Hospital
CONTACT INFO rvogel at hms.harvard.edu
NOTE Following the lecture there will be a book signing and a reception in the Lahey Room.
“The implications of early experience for children's brain development, behavior, and psychological functioning have long absorbed caregivers, researchers, and clinicians. The 1989 fall of Romania's Ceausescu regime left approximately 170,000 children in 700 overcrowded, impoverished institutions across Romania, and prompted the most comprehensive study to date on the effects of institutionalization on children's well-being. Romania's Abandoned Children, the authoritative account of this landmark study, documents the devastating toll paid by children who are deprived of responsive care, social interaction, stimulation, and psychological comfort”.
-- Harvard University Press
LINK www.countway.harvard.edu
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Refiguring American Jewish Identity through Solidarity with Palestinians: A Relational Approach to Religious Innovation
WHEN Tue., Sep. 16, 2014, 5:15 – 7 p.m.
WHERE CSWR Common Room (42 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
SPONSOR Center for the Study of World Religions
CONTACT Lexi Gewertz, 617.495.4476
NOTE Professor Atalia Omer will deliver this year's Dana McLean Greeley Lecture for Peace and Social Justice. Professor Omer is Associate Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies at Notre Dame and Faculty Fellow at the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University.
Based on in-depth interviews with Jewish Palestine solidarity activists and systematic study of Jewish solidarity movement social media, Omer demonstrates how refiguring alternative Jewish meanings of rituals, practices, and texts may emerge from contesting Jewish nationalism and Israeli occupation policies, through solidarity with Palestinians.
This event is free but RSVPs are required. Please email cswr at hds.harvard.edu in order to secure your spot.
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Greenovate Boston's Upcycling Panel
Tuesday, September 16
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/greenovate-bostons-upcycling-panel-tickets-12711728121
How does upcycling compare to recycling? How do shipping containers become hydroponic farms and old t-shirts turn into quilts? How does upcycling creates funding for non-profits and charities?
Join us at District Hall, Tuesday September 16 from 6-7:30 PM to hear from a panel of Boston entrepreneurs and experts who are transforming trash into treasure!
The panel speakers include:
Brooke Nash: Branch Chief, Municipal Waste Reduction, Mass Dept of Environmental Protection (MassDEP)
Ross Lohr: Founder of Project RePAT, an innovative textiles upcycling company, with experience in international textiles reuse markets
Brad McNamara: Founder of Freight Farms, a local company that takes old shipping containers and upcycles them to become hydroponic farms
Julie Shane: Founder of Causes International, an organization that allows for easy means of upcycling electronics and e-waste that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities and municipal governments
This event is free and open to the public. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Lauren Goldberg at lgoldberg at boston.gov.
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The Importance of Pollinators
Tuesday, September 16
6:00 - 7:30 PM
Boston Day and Evening Academy, 20 Kearsarge Avenue, Roxbury
Join BNAN and the Boston Gardeners Council in exploring the busy lives of pollinators! Find out why and how we can attract pollinators with varieties of plants in our gardens. All gardeners and friends are invited to come. A BBQ and potluck lunch will follow- make sure to bring your favorite dish to share. To RSVP, emaildana at bostonnatural.org or call 617-542-7696.
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Boston New Technology September 2014 Product Showcase #BNT45
Tuesday, September 16
6:00PM–9:00PM
Foley Hoag LLP, Seaport West, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston
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. Please follow @BostonNewTech and use the #BNT42 hashtag in social media posts: details here.
Products / Presenters:
Will be announced here.
Agenda:
6:00 to 7:00 - Networking with dinner and beverages
7:00 to 7:10 - Announcements
7:10 to 8:20 - Presentations, Questions & Answers
8:20 to 9:00 - Networking
9:00 - More networking over drinks across the street, at The Whiskey Priest, 150 Northern Ave. (at Seaport Blvd.), Boston, MA. (optional)
More information at http://www.foleyhoag.com/news-and-events/events/2014/september/boston-new-technology-september-2014-product-showcase
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What Stays in Vegas: The World of Personal Data—Lifeblood of Big Business—and the End of Privacy as We Know It
Tuesday, September 16
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Adam Tanner
Harvard Book Store welcomes ADAM TANNER, fellow at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University and Forbes contributor, for a discussion of his book What Stays in Vegas: The World of Personal Data—Lifeblood of Big Business—and the End of Privacy as We Know It.
In What Stays in Vegas, Tanner exposes the greatest threat to privacy today. It’s not the NSA, but good-old American companies. Internet giants, leading retailers and other firms are gathering data behind the scenes with little oversight from anyone. “This is the information age, and information is power!” screamed DocuSearch, “America’s Premier Resource for Private Investigator Searches & Lookups” in 1996—and they were right.
In Las Vegas, no company knows this mantra better than Caesars Entertainment. Despite the fact that its Vegas casinos are decades old and can’t boast their rivals’ singing gondoliers or fountains exploding in a choreographed dance, many thousands of enthusiastic clients continue to pour through the ever-open doors of Caesars hotels. The secret to the company’s success lies in their one unrivaled asset: they are able to track the activities of the overwhelming majority of gamblers who walk in. They know exactly what games we like to play, what foods we enjoy for breakfast, when we prefer to visit, who our favorite hostess might be and exactly how to keep us coming back for more.
Caesars’ dogged data-gathering methods have been so successful that they grew to become the world’s largest casino operator, and they have inspired companies from across industries to ramp up their own data mining in the hopes of boosting their targeted marketing efforts. Some do this themselves. Some rely on data brokers. Others clearly enter a moral gray zone that would make American consumers deeply uncomfortable.
Even if you’ve never set foot in a casino or signed up for an airline’s frequent flier program, companies little-known to the public like Acxiom are still gathering information on you at every turn. And there are those, such as PeopleSmart and Instant Checkmate, that will sell your dossier to anyone for cash.
The reality is that we live in an age where our personal information is harvested and aggregated whether we like it or not. And it is growing ever more difficult for those businesses that choose not engage in more intrusive data gathering to compete with those that do. Tanner’s timely warning resounds: yes, there are many benefits to the free flow of all this data, but there is a dark side as well. With societal and legal boundaries on the use of personal data still largely undefined, the potential for abuse looms large.
And, as to what stays in Vegas? The answer: almost nothing…
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Greenport Forum: Evacuation Routes or Bandaids
Tuesday, September 16
7-9pm
Cambridgeport Baptist Church, cornet of Magazine Street and Putnam Avenue, Cambridge
Join City Councillor Craig Kelley & former City Councillor Sam Seidel In a conversation about what keeps us all safe.
An evacuation plan?
Bandaids in your wallet?
Or simply knowing your neighbors?
Contact greenportlocal at gmail.com
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Evan Ziporyn's 20,000th day Concert
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
8:00p–10:00p
MIT, Building 14w-111, Killian Hall, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Evan Ziporyn's 20,000th day on this planet, a celebratory concert featuring the US premiere of In My Mind & In My Car, a 50-minute collaboration by Christine Southworth and Evan Ziporyn for bass clarinet, electronics, and video. The piece was recently premiered in its entirety at the OFF Festival in Katowice, Poland. Also on the program, CAST Visiting Artist in Residence (and MTA Visiting Lecturer) Arnold Dreyblatt will perform Nodal Excitation, a signature piece on his signature re-strung and re-tuned double bass. 8pm, Killian Hall. Free. Reserve your seat on Eventbrite: http://mit.mta.eventbrite.com.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: http://mit.mta.eventbrite.com
Sponsor(s): Music and Theater Arts
For more information, contact: Clarise Snyder
mta-request at mit.edu
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Wednesday, September 17
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September Boston Sustainability Breakfast
Wednesday, September 17
7:30 AM to 8:30am
Pret A Manger, 185 Franklin Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/september-boston-sustainability-breakfast-tickets-12871500003
Join us for the September installment of our Boston Sustainability Breakfast, an informal breakfast meetup of sustainability professionals together for networking, discussion and moral support. It’s important to remind ourselves that we are not the only ones out there in the business world trying to do good!
So come, get a cup of coffee or a bagel, support a sustainable business and get fired up before work so we can continue trying to change the world.
Though our Sustainability Breakfast Series is now a little over one year old, this is an evolving event so your input and participation is more than welcome.
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Buying Regional: State Procurement and Purchasing Policies
Wednesday, September 17
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM EDT
webinar at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/751922210
Join us this fall for our continuing Wednesday webinar series focused on state and federal policies that could improve our region’s food system. The webinars explore in greater detail the policies and policy options described in our report, New England Food Policy: Building a Sustainable Food System.
All webinars are recorded and will be available at www.farmland.org/newengland. You will find these four webinars already posted there:
May 14: Introduction to the New England Food Policy Report and Project
June 18th: Organic Waste: Finding Uses for It in the Food System
July 16th: Frameworks for Regional Food System Collaboration
July 23rd: Reducing Farmland Conversion: State Land Use and Protection Policies
For a more detailed description of each of the webinars, please visit www.newenglandfoodpolicy.org
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Tales from the Trenches of Connectomics
Wednesday, September 17
12pm – 1pm
Boston University, 2 Cummington Street, Room 109, Boston
Narayanan “Bobby” Kasthuri, Boston University
Background video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAxjta7Q0mw
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The influence of cloud feedbacks on the leading modes of climate variability
Wednesday, September 17
12:10pm – 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Katinka Bellomo, U Miami
Prior studies have provided observational evidence that cloud feedback over the subtropical stratocumulus regions is positive because cloud cover is anti-correlated with local Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies. Moreover, regressions of observed atmospheric fields on equatorial SST anomalies indicate that cloud feedbacks over the southern hemisphere stratocumulus regions (i.e., Peruvian and Namibian) co-vary with the respective equatorial modes of variability: El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Atlantic Niño. However, from observations alone it is not possible to quantify the influence of regional cloud feedbacks on large-scale climate variability. To address this question, a set of sensitivity experiments are conducted using an atmospheric general circulation model (ECHAM6) coupled to a slab-ocean in which the strength of positive cloud feedback is enhanced over the Peruvian and Namibian regions. Enhanced positive cloud feedback increases the variance and the persistence of local as well as equatorial SST anomalies, enhancing ENSO and Atlantic Niño variability. We explore the role of cloud feedbacks over other regions in the South Atlantic and find that they increases local SST variability, but exhibit negligible responses at the equator. Our results indicate that the subtropical stratocumulus regions play a central role in enhancing equatorial SST variability because they are located where the SST anomalies have the largest growth rates, that is, where the variance of SST is largest and the damping rate of SST is weakest. These results highlight the important role of the regional coupling of cloud cover over the subtropical stratocumulus regions with local SSTs, and have implications for the response of equatorial climate variability to climate change.
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Critical Issues Confronting China
WHEN Wed., Sep. 17, 2014, 12:30 – 1:50 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS Building, Belfer Case Study Room (S020), 1730 Cambridge Street, Harvard University
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Cosponsored by the Harvard University Asia Center and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
SPEAKER(S) Jerome Cohen, New York University School of Law
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO lkluz at fas.harvard.edu
NOTE Jerome A. Cohen, a professor at New York University School of Law since 1990 and co-director of the US-Asia Law Institute, is a leading American expert on Asian law. A pioneer in the field, Professor Cohen began studying Chinese criminal law in the early 1960s and from 1964 to 1979 introduced the teaching of Asian law into the curriculum of Harvard Law School, where he served as Jeremiah Smith Professor and Associate Dean.
LINK http://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/jcohen
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Berkman Center 2014-2015 Orientation: Technical Showcase with the Geeks
Wednesday, September 17, 2014 at 3:00 pm
Location on Harvard Campus TBD
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2014/09/geeks#RSVP
Free and Open to the Public
Refreshments will be served
Follow the Berkman Centaur! This event is part of a series of kick-off activities for the 2014-2015 academic year. If you are student, faculty member, fellow, interested member of the public, or lover of LOLcats, we welcome you to join us at one or more of these gatherings.
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society welcomes students and other Harvard community members to an open session with the Center’s software development and systems operations team (affectionately known as "The Geeks”).
Jonathan Zittrain, George Bemis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Director of the Harvard Law School Library, and Faculty Director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, will kick things off, and the Geeks will present some of the most interesting projects and initiatives currently on our plates.
The Berkman Center's Geek Cave works with ruby, perl, php, bash, jQuery, PostgreSQL, MySQL and a slew of other tools to build and extend open source software, create scalable websites, and manage the mixed desktop network that keeps the Center moving. We have a small group of talented, devoted, fun, full-time developers on staff that want to hear about your 1337 coding skillz and talk about fun projects to pair code or geek out on; two project managers to give you tips to about keeping your work on track; and technologists to talk about what hardware and software support it takes to deploy our projects on Berkman infrastructure.
This is a great opportunity to learn more in detail about the technical work done at the Berkman Center, to learn how your own personal or class-related projects might align with the Center’s, and to consider ways you might be able to collaborate with our team on some of the work we have lined up for this year!
More info about the projects that we work on can be found on our github organization page at http://github.com/berkmancenter
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Radcliffe Institute Fellow's Presentation: Firing Line, PBS, and the Rise of the American Conservative Movement
WHEN Wed., Sep. 17, 2014, 4 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Heather Hendershot, Radcliffe Institute Maury Green Fellow and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
COST Free and open to the public
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2014-heather-hendershot-fellow-presentation
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Innovation in Massachusetts
September 17
5:30PM–8:00PM
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVp at http://sites.foleyhoag.vuturevx.com/97/364/landing-pages/rsvp---blank.asp
Join us for a conversation with Antonio "Tony" Parham, the Commonwealth's first Government Innovation Officer (GIO), at the nextTEC at FoleyHoag event at District Hall.
Tony is an experienced executive with 30 years of business and technology leadership. As GIO, Tony is responsible for improving efficiencies and experiences of government services to businesses, local governments and residents through the use of new technologies and innovative processes. He advises Governor Deval Patrick, the Secretary for Administration and Finance, the Commonwealth’s CIO, executive branch leaders and other stakeholders on identifying, funding and managing the execution of high-impact business change projects.
On September 17, Tony will discuss:
His mission as the Government Innovation Officer
Highlights of innovation within the state government
Growth areas for partnerships with Boston-area businesses, entrepreneurs and technology communities
Be sure to RSVP early for what promises to be an informative and enlightening presentation.
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Airbnb Tech Talk
Wednesday, September 17
6:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin Room 123, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Airbnb is the world's largest marketplace for space, and keeps getting bigger every day. With 10 million nights booked and counting, we're constantly tackling challenges in search algorithms, payments, fraud prevention, and growth — all while maintaining a beautiful user experience. We want to build solutions to these problems that are scalable, performant, and elegant, and we're looking for talented new grads and interns to help us do just that.
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Film Screening - Thomas Keating: A Rising Tide of Silence
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
6:00p–8:30p
MIT, Building W79, Simmons Hall, 229 Vassar Street, Cambridge
"A Rising Tide of Silence" is a reflective portrait of Father Thomas Keating, one of today's most influential spiritual leaders. Interweaving historical footage, interviews, and extensive conversations with Father Thomas, the film traces his spiritual journey from an affluent New York City childhood, to an austere Trappist monastic life, to his rise through the Order, and his election as Abbot of St. Joseph's Abby in 1961.
While at the Monastery in the early 1970's Father Thomas introduced Eastern religious practices to the monks and became one of the originators of Centering Prayer. After resigning as Abbott in 1981, Father Thomas founded Contemplative Outreach in 1984 to bring Centering Prayer to a worldwide audience. A renowned theologian and author of more than 30 books, Father Thomas Keating is widely recognized for his ecumenical approach to spirituality. For those who encounter him, his example is a moving modern journey of faith.
Screening will be followed by Conversation with Producer & Director Peter Jones
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Religious Life, Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, Buddhist Community at MIT, Simmons Hall
For more information, contact: Christina English
617-253-7707
cenglish at mit.edu
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Crypto News, TOR, and our PGP/GnuPG Keysigning Party XIV
Wednesday, September 17
6:30 pm
MIT Building E-51, Room 325, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Bill's annual Crypto News update, a history of TOR, and our annual keysigning party. Pre-register your PGP key before the meeting!
More information at http://www.blu.org
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Thursday, September 18
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Healthscapes: Using the urban environment to support human health and resilience
Friday, September 19
8:00 am
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
Please RSVP to rsvp at architects.org with "Healthscapes 9/19" in the subject line; 1.5 LU|HSW are available to those who qualify.
Join the BSA for a thought-provoking discussion on the way the planning of cities has a strong bearing on the health of the people who live within them. From specific details on the effect of design on physical health to how architects can successfully harness techniques that support well-being, this event offers designers an opportunity to learn about green-space solutions that are conducive to a mindset change in the profession. Free and open to the public. Read more.
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Identity, Sovereignty, and Global Politics in the Building of Baghdad: From Revolution to the Gulf War and Beyond
WHEN Thu., Sep. 18 – Sat., Sep. 20, 2014
WHERE Harvard, Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Conferences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Graduate School of Design
NOTE Using the history of urban development in Baghdad as a reference point, this conference examines the extent to which interventions intended to modernize and integrate different populations in the city were part of a larger process of negotiating competing visions of political economy, sovereignty, and identity in post-WWII Iraq. By gathering political scientists, architectural and urban historians, and scholars of Iraq and the larger Arab world, the conference engages theoretical and empirical questions about the ruptures and continuities of Baghdad’s urban and political history, using the built environment of the city as a canvas for understanding struggles over Iraq’s position in a global context shaped by ongoing war tensions (from the Cold War to the Gulf War and beyond) to more recent Middle East conflicts. The full day event (September 19) will be preceded by a Keynote Panel held the prior evening, focused on the relationship between war and urbanism, a theme that will re-emerge comparatively and historically in subsequent day’s panels which focus on a range of theoretical, historical, and practical dilemmas facing Baghdad and other cities in the region. The conference ends with a half-day discussion of the urban planning, design, and governance challenges facing the city now and in the near future.
LINK www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/events/conference-identity-sovereignty-and-global-politics-in-the.html
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Challenges of Innovation in the Fight Against Organized Crime
WHEN Fri., Sep. 19, 2014, 12 – 1:45 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Ash Center Foyer, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center
SPEAKER(S) Chief Prosecutor of the Netherlands Herman Bolhaar
CONTACT INFO maisie_obrien at hks.harvard.edu
NOTE Please read the discussion case in advance: http://www.ash.harvard.edu/extension/ash/docs/Discussion_Case_Human_Trafficking.pdf
LINK http://www.ash.harvard.edu/Home/News-Events/Events/Challenges-of-Innovation-in-the-Fight-Against-Organized-Crime
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Face to Face with History: Creating the 9/11 Memorial Museum
WHEN Thu., Sep. 18, 2014, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Memorial Church, Harvard Yard
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement
SPEAKER(S) Alice Greenwald, director, National September 11 Memorial Museum
COST Free and open to the public
NOTE Why is it important to have a museum memorializing America’s most painful and vulnerable moment? Why revive memories that are unbearable? Director Alice Greenwald will address these questions and describe the educational mission of the 9/11 National Museum. She will discuss the process of creating the Museum and some of the unusual challenges involved, and explore how the Museum seeks to bring history back into immediate focus, “connecting visitors to the shared human impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks which claimed the lives of people from more than 90 nations."
LINK hilr.harvard.edu
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Social Status in Networks
Thursday, September 18
4:00p–5:30p
Harvard, Littauer-M16, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Mihai Manea (MIT)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT/Harvard Theory Workshop
For more information, contact: economics calendar
econ-cal at mit.edu
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Media Impact Assessment and Beyond: Thoughts on the Treacherous Task of Quantifying Journalistic Performance
Thursday, September 18
5:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building E14-633, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Philip Napoli
In recent years, a variety of funders have begun to invest substantially in efforts to assess the impact of media initiatives such as documentary films and journalism ventures. These efforts reflect a fundamental shift in how media performance is assessed (and whose assessments matter) in an environment of extreme audience fragmentation and increased challenges to monetizing media content. This presentation will focus on ongoing research that seeks to define and assess the field of media impact assessment. In addressing these issues, this analysis seeks to:
1) identify important points of distinction between contemporary notions of media impact and more traditional notions of media effects;
2) assess the methods and metrics being employed to assess media impact;
3) identify the key challenges and tensions inherent in such efforts.
This presentation also will illustrate that impact represents only one of a number of aspects of journalistic performance that are being converted to quantitative performance metrics. Related areas of ongoing research include efforts to assess the health of local media ecosystems and the quality of journalistic content. The broader implications of this wide-ranging transformation in how journalistic performance may be assessed will be considered.
Philip M. Napoli (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is Professor of Journalism & Media Studies in the School of Communication & Information at Rutgers University.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cmsw at mit.edu
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Corruption in America
WHEN Thu., Sep. 18, 2014, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Austin 111 West, Harvard Law School
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Humanities, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics
SPEAKER(S) Zephyr Teachout, associate professor of law, Fordham University; gubernatorial candidate, New York State
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO katy at ethics.harvard.edu
LINK http://ethics.harvard.edu/event/lecture-zephyr-teachout
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First Annual Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family Lecture: "Advancing the Human Condition: An Agenda for Research & Education”
Thursday, September 18
5:30 pm
BU, Tsai Auditorium, 685 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Join us for the first annual Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family CAS Lecture: “Advancing the Human Condition: An Agenda for Research and Education.” This event features a panel of distinguished Boston University faculty, including Rosella Cappella (Dept. of Political Science); Sharon Goldberg (Dept. of Computer Science); Joe Harris (Dept. of Sociology); Lucy Hutyra (Dept. of Earth & Environment); Jeremy Menchik (Pardee School of Global Studies); Henrik Selin (Pardee School of Global Studies); Virginia Sapiro (Dean, College of Arts & Sciences); Adil Najam (Dean, Pardee School of Global Studies); and Anthony Janetos (Director, Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer Range Future). Alumni, students, faculty, staff, and Boston University community members are welcome to attend.
More information at http://www.bu.edu/alumniweekend/events/#schools-colleges
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EarthOS Conversation: People and Resilient Regional Systems
September 18
6:00PM-9:00PM
EarthOS Lab, 1310 Broadway, Somerville
RSVP at http://www.earthos-institute.us
Cost: $15
Join us for an Earthos Conversation about PEOPLE and resilient regional systems. What do we as people need to participate in creating and innovating community-to-regional systems that sustain all of us into the future? We've invited leaders, who are grappling with this question, to talk about their efforts in resiliency, arts, education, housing, social innovation, economy, heritage, diversity, self-expression and actualization, health, community, and ownership among others. Together, we'll explore emerging ideas and efforts in Boston, New England and beyond.
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Pitch Club
September 18
6-8pm
NGIN Workplace, 210 Broadway, Cambridge
Every pitch is a performance.
And every performance needs rehearsal.
Whether you’re raising funds or just floating a half-baked business idea, standing up in front of people and giving a powerful pitch is critical. But getting that pitch right takes practice and feedback, and the stakes of getting it wrong in front of important people are high.
So what if someone provided a low-stakes venue and an audience where you could go to practice? That’s PitchClub. Open mic night for entrepreneurs.
PitchClub Boston provides a powerful and confidential environment for entrepreneurs to practice and refine their presentations in front of a constructive audience ready to give feedback. There are eight presentation slots once each month. Presenters get ten minutes to pitch and five minutes for feedback. Slides are welcome, as are solo and group pitches. Time limits are strictly enforced.
Open and honest feedback from the audience is encouraged, subject to:
THE RULES OF PITCH CLUB
The first rule of Pitch Club: Don’t talk about Pitch Club.
No matter how awesome or how awful, by informal agreement whatever you hear in Pitch Club stays within the walls of Pitch Club. Unless the presenter gives permission, in which case blab away. That said, if you’re worried about someone stealing your idea, don’t pitch it.
The second rule of Pitch Club: Don’t talk about Pitch Club.
Seriously. Any pitch – no matter how early or crazy or terrible – is welcome.
Pitch Club is where you go to get feedback without worrying about looking stupid.
The third rule of Pitch Club: Pitches will go on as long as they need to, but no more than ten minutes.
Each pitch gets ten minutes, plus five minutes of feedback. Period.
We do eight pitches per night. And then we stop. And then we drink.
The fourth rule of Pitch Club: There are no bad Pitches
The audience’s only job is to make your pitch better next time. But beware: you will be critiqued on both content AND style. If they’re harsh, it’s out of love.
Admission is free. Presentation slots are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
More information at http://pitchclubboston.com
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Startup Stir Foodie Forum
September 18
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Workbar Cambridge, 45 Prospect Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://startupstirseptember2014.eventbrite.com/
How to Launch a Foodie Startup
An evening of Food and Fun with Local Foodie Founders, Brewmasters, Chick Pea Lovers, Restaurateurs and More!
This month, Beacon Hill Partners is excited to host a panel discussion with some of Boston's best chefs, restaurateurs, distillers, brewmasters, direct-to-grocery food product makers and more! If you've ever dreamt of turning your foodie passions in to a business, this is an event you won't want to miss.
Best of all - as our panelists share their stories and take your questions, you'll be able to sample their creations with complimentary cocktails and food tastings!
Startup Stir Website: http://www.StartupStir.com
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Friday, September 19
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Park(ing) Day Cambridge
Friday, September 19
8:00 AM to 6:00 PM
PARK(ing) Day is an annual international event where residents, artists and activists come together to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public places. The project began in 2005 when Rebar, a San Francisco art and design studio, converted a single metered parking space into a temporary public park in downtown San Francisco. Since 2005, PARK(ing) Day has evolved into a global movement, with organizations and individuals creating new forms of temporary public space in urban contexts around the world.
The mission of PARK(ing) Day is to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat … at least until the meter runs out!
Who's Participating and Where
Harvard Square
Harvard University, Office for Sustainability: Contemplating Your Impact
Longfellow House, Washington's Headquarters NHS: Longfellow's Garden
Metro Pedal Power: Local Human Based Transportation for our Cities
MassRides: Commuting Sustainably
Charles River Conservancy: Daffodils!
City of Cambridge Police Department: Meet our new bomb dogs!
Central Square
The Door Store
Cambridge Elections Commission: Voter Registration
Fletcher Maynard Academy: Peace Couch
Cambridge Energy Alliance: Energy Efficiency Fun
Community Development Department, Housing Division: Micro House
Green Cambridge: Reduce Our Carbon Footprint
City of Cambridge Mayor's Office: Food Pantry Donation
TGE, Inc: Green Island
MassBike: Bikes and Art with Artists & Craftsmen
Boston Cyclists Union: A Bike-Friendly Smoothie Cafe
Central Square Business Association: The Central Square Cultural District Putt Putt
CCTV: NeighborMedia Outdoor Newsroom by CCTV
UMass Lowell: Baby Got Bounce
SHED(x)change + Cambridge Resident's Alliance: C3 in C2
Upper Broadway (Inman Street to Cambridge Public Library)
MIT Media Lab, Social Computing Research Group: Bike Inlet
Hubway: #HubwayEveryday
Harvard Urban Planning Organization: Studio Park
Cambridge Health Alliance, Department of Family Planning: "Protect your health. Protect the planet."
Inman Square
CPCU Credit Union: CPCU Credit Union Prize Wheel
Department of Public Works, Recycling Division: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Compost!
Community Development Department, Community Planning: Playful Planning
Community Development Department, Economic Development: Take the Inman Square Survey!
Kendall Square
Community Development Department, Environmental and Transportation Planning: Get with the sustainability game!
Cambridge Bicycle Committee: Cambridge Bicycle Network Plan; Separated Bike Lane
Charles River Transportation Management Association: Sustainable Transportation Snacks
Cambridge Pedestrian Committee: Walk This Way
Cambridge Bicycle Committee/Urban AdvenTours: Free Bicycle Safety Tune-ups
Other Locations
Friends of the Tobin: Maria Montessori's Backyard (Vassal Lane, near the Tobin School)
Sustainable America: Turn it off! (Vassal Lane, near the Tobin School)
Cambridge in Motion / Cambridge Public Health Department: Celebrating Healthy Markets (Windsor Street at Main Street)
For a full map of PARK(ing) Day activities in Cambridge, please visit www.cambridgema.gov/parkingday.
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The 142nd NE Electricity Restructuring Roundtable: FERC Chair Cheryl LaFleur will Keynote
Friday, September 19, 2014
9:00 am to 12:30 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston
Livecast
RSVP at http://signup.clickstreamtv.com/event/raab/events/?utm_source=9%2F19+Roundtable%3A+Registration+Required%2FSpace+Limited
Three Keynotes:
U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy,
FERC Chairman Cheryl LaFleur, and
ISO New England CEO Gordon van Welie
We are delighted to announce that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy and ISO New England CEO Gordon van Welie will join Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Cheryl LaFleur at the September 19th New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable.
The three keynotes will address issues of great importance to New England:
U.S. EPA Administrator McCarthy will discuss EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan proposed rules [aka Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act], and how they may interface with and impact RGGI and other New England states' clean energy policies and programs.
FERC Chairman LaFleur will address a range of important issues and topics related to New England's electricity/gas markets and reliability.
ISO New England CEO van Welie will discuss the economic and reliability challenges resulting from an electric power industry in transition. In particular, he will discuss ISO New England's actions to address the retirement of coal, oil and nuclear generation, the high dependency on natural gas generation, and increased investments in renewable energy and behind-the-meter resources.
There are important changes that you need to be aware of for this Roundtable.
Given the expected draw for this Roundtable (and our long string of standing-room only Roundtables), we are requiring pre-registration and a ticket for this event, as well as capping in-person attendance.
There will also be a small fee of $65 for this Roundtable to ensure a meaningful registration process (with a discounted fee of $35 for government or non-profit employees, and students).
We are reducing the live-streaming fee for this Roundtable to $40 to facilitate a web participation alternative to in-person attendance.
Both in-person attendance and live-streaming are free for Roundtable Sponsors, but Sponsors have to pre-register and get a ticket along with everyone else.
Thanks for your patience and understanding and we look forward to your participation in this exciting upcoming Roundtable.
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The BIG Tiny House Festival
Friday, September 19
12:00 PM
to Sunday, September 21, 2014, 10:00 PM
10 Poplar Street, Somerville
There will be actual tiny homes parked there that some attendees are bringing to the event. In addition, a workshop is being planned too!
More information at http://www.somervilleartscouncil.org/artsunion/2014/tiny
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Emulating Natural Systems for Geologic CO2 Capture and Storage, and to Enhance Subsurface Permeability
Friday, September 19
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Harvard, Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Peter Kelemen
Environmental Science and Engineering Seminars
Contact: langmuir at eps.harvard.edu
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HarvardX Open House
WHEN Fri., Sep. 19, 2014, 3:30 – 5 p.m.
WHERE HarvardX HQ
125 Mt Auburn Street - 4th Floor
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HarvardX
SPEAKER(S) HarvardX team
COST Free and open to the Harvard community
TICKET INFO http://www.eventbrite.com/e/harvardx-open-house-tickets-12686247909
CONTACT INFO michael_rutter at harvard.edu
LINK http://harvardx.harvard.edu/event/harvardx-open-house
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Citizens Rising: A Republic Held Hostage And The Plan To Take It Back
Friday, September 19
5:00 PM to 9:00 PM
MIT Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/citizens-rising-a-republic-held-hostage-and-the-plan-to-take-it-back-tickets-12201718669
The US political system is broken.
Our governance has been bought and sold. We all know this, but you can change it.
With featured speakers Lawrence Lessig (Harvard) and Martin Gilens (Princeton),Citizens Rising is a symposium exploring how this corrupted system is used to enhance the leverage of the elite few over the many, and more importantly, it's the chance to ask:
“What am I going to do about it?”
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Saturday, September 20
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Hack for Democracy – Boston
Saturday, September 20
9:00 AM - Sunday, September 21, 2014 at 5:00 PM
MIT Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/hack-for-democracy-boston-tickets-12750205207
CALLING ALL DESIGNERS, DEVELOPERS, THINKERS & DOERS
Americans have lost faith in our government. 96% of voters agree that money in politics is a problem, but 91% don’t think it can be fixed.
But with your help, we can fix it. We will discuss how at the Citizens Rising Anti-Corruption Symposium on September 19th. Then we are going to DO something about it.
The High Impact Network has joined forces with Team Democracy to bring you Hack for Democracy at MIT's Stata Center.
ABOUT HACK FOR DEMOCRACY
Come and work with us for 2 days on projects to help get big money out of politics. Please join us if you…
Have a skill you'd like to lend to the cause: web or software development, UX or graphic design, marketing, political strategy, writing, art — you name it!
Want to meet like-minded people and have fun.
Are great at teamwork and can’t resist a challenge.
Want to make a difference in the movement to end the system of corruption in DC and create a vibrant democracy in the USA.
Be there or be a plutocrat!
PROJECTS
Hack for Democracy is a little unique, so let us explain.
First, we have some projects lined up to help existing organizations such as the NH Rebellion, Democracy Matters, Open Democracy, and others, but we also want your ideas, so if you've got one, please come prepared to pitch your idea.
Second, “hacks” don’t have to be limited to technology. A project can be a marketing campaign, a video, software, a website, an interesting concept, or anything to support the movement to create representative democracy.
PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS
NH Rebellion —Presidential Candidate Tracker
Continue design and development of a web-based tool to support Lawrence Lessig's NH Rebellion in asking every presidential primary candidate “How are YOU going to end the system of corruption in Washington?”
Democracy Matters — Democracy Pledge App & Website
Design and develop an app interface (and complementary website) which allows facebook users to sign the Democracy Pledge, "I support restoring democracy by publicly financing elections and getting big money out of politics", and check a box to "donate your data to get big money out of politics". The back-end of the app (currently being develop) will use the data to identify influential university students to join in the anti-corruption movement.
WHAT TO BRING
Your body, your mind, your ideas, and a collaborative, solution-focused attitude.
A laptop with your preferred development, graphic design, and productivity tools installed.
SCHEDULE (provisional)
Saturday, September 20
9:00am Doors open, check in
9:30am Welcome and introduction
9:45am Presentations
10:00am Project briefing
10:30am Form teams
11:00am Start hacking
12:00pm Lunch break
1:00pm Hacking continues
6:00pm Official end of day
6:00pm Hacking continues for those who want to stay late
9:00pm End of day
Sunday, September 21
9:00am Doors open, day begins
12:00pm Lunch break
3:00pm Submission deadline
3:30pm Project presentations
5:00pm Vote for People's Choice award
5:00pm – 6:00pm End of official event, networking
FAQ
Q: Don’t you know that the United States of America isn’t a democracy? It's a republic.
A: A republic is a form of representative democracy. So although our government is not an absolute democracy or direct democracy, it is nonetheless a democracy. To save time, we sometimes just call it a democracy. Both are correct.
Q: What are you? Democrats? Republicans? Liberals? Conservatives?
A: We have a variety of opinions on substantive issues like tax reform, education, healthcare, privacy, environment, etc… But none of that matters. The issue of big money in politics means that none of us are being represented by our lawmakers. Restoring our representative democracy means that all viewpoints — left, right, and center — can compete in the marketplace of ideas. We all need to work together to solve this problem.
Q: Will there be food?
A: Yes. We are lining up sponsors to provide you with food and beverages. There will definitely be caffeine.
Q: Will there be prizes?
A: There will be a popular vote for best project, but our participants are not motivated by fame or prizes. Our mission is to create projects that will make a meaningful impact on the movement to fix our broken political system.
Q: What's the best way to get there?
A: Parking may be limited at the Stata Center. Kendall Station on the Red line is 0.3 miles from Stata center.
Q: Are there any rules I should know about?
A: Yes. Check them out on the Hack for Democracy rules page at http://www.teamdemocracy.us/h4d_rules
Join us at the MIT Stata Center on September 20th & 21st.
Space is limited, so register today!
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Facing Our Nuclear Responsibilities
Saturday, September 20
2:00– 4:00pm
Newton City Hall, War Memorial Auditorium, 1000 Commonwealth Avenue, Newton
Speaker: Dr. Helen Caldicott
Renowned Activist, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR)
and Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND), Author “The New Nuclear Danger”, “Nuclear Power is Not the Answer”
Followed by 3 Panelists
Status of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and other international efforts Panelist: TBA
Our nuclear arsenals and their costs Panelist: Guntram Mueller, Board Chairman, Mass. Peace Action
Nuclear power: waste fuel issue, the environment, status of Pilgrim Plant Panelist: TBA
Moderator: Beverly Droz, Past National President, WAND
There will be a Questions & Answers session from the Audience.
Co-Sponsors will set up literature tables and actions at this event.
Co-Sponsors (to date):
Green Decade/Newton, Massachusetts Peace Action, Newton Dialogues for Peace and War, Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom
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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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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/
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/
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events: http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/
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