[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - December 7, 2014
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Dec 7 10:45:05 PST 2014
Energy (and Other) Events is a weekly mailing list published most Sundays covering events around the Cambridge, MA and greater Boston area that catch the editor's eye.
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events email gmoke at world.std.com
What I Do and Why I Do It: The Story of Energy (and Other) Events
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html
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Event Index - full Event Details available below the Index
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Monday, December 8
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8:15am The French-American Innovation Day 2014: The Challenge of Innovation in the Energy Field: Energy Storage
12pm MASS Seminar - Zhiming Kuang (Harvard)
12pm Industrial Urbanism in Africa
3pm Why is it Hard to Talk about War? Bridging the Civilian-Military Divide
4pm Big Data Lecture Series: Reverse-engineering online tracking for privacy, transparency, and accountability
4:15pm Sweet Talk: A Lecture by Kara Walker
4:30pm Planets and Life - Human and Planetary Perspectives: Student Presentations
6pm Reverse Global Warming? Grassland Restoration and Carbon Sequestration
7pm Fuzzy Beliefs and Preferences: We All Have Them What Should We Do About Them?
7pm Gustav Metzger's Dome(s) Project
7pm The Real Dangers of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, MA
7pm Civic Data Analysis Project Night
7:20pm Public Forum on Ebola with Paul Farmer & Evelynn Hammonds
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Tuesday, December 9
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8am Boston TechBreakfast: Moodsnap, and More!
12pm American Association of Port Authorities President to Deliver Talk at Volpe
2pm Energy Technologies in Mind and Matter
4pm "iBiology: New Opportunities for Learning Biology through the Internet”
4pm St. Louis Rap Artist Tef Poe on Art, Activism, and Ferguson
4:30pm Animal Psychology
6pm #LIVEFROMLIMA: A LIVE DISCUSSION BETWEEN SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS AND SPECIAL GUESTS FROM COP20
6pm Food Product Development Considerations Workshop
6:30pm Passive House New England
7pm "History and Popular Memory: The Power of Story in Moments of Crisis"
7pm The Bee: A Natural History
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Wednesday, December 10
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3pm 6.811: Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology Final Project Showcase
4pm A Wireless Cyber-Physical System Framework for Enhancing the Resiliency of Civil Infrastructure Systems
4pm D-Lab Fall Showcase and Open House
4pm Radcliffe Institute Fellow's Presentation Series—What's Wrong With Me?: The Uncertainties of Chronic Illness
6pm Cambridge’s Getting to Net Zero Task Force
6pm Mass Innovation Nights #MIN69
6pm Food Product Development Considerations Workshop
7pm Christ Actually: Jesus in the 21st Century
7pm Syria, Iraq and ISIS: Understanding the New War and How the Peace Movement should Respond
8pm Arts of War Concert with Special Free Gallery Hours
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Thursday, December 11
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8:30am Live Streaming: TEDxPlaceDesNations @
9am Big Data and Analytics Workshop
12pm The Short Life and Violent Death of the Space Shuttle Dream
12:15pm Between Mao and Gandhi: Strategies of Violence and Nonviolence in Revolutionary Movements
3pm Why Wikipedia Works (?): A Walt Whitman Case Study
4pm Commercializing Innovation: Platform Technologies
4:30pm The Ethics of Compassion: Lessons from the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa
5pm MIT Water Summit - Opening Ceremony
6pm 30th Anniversary Party Bikes Not Bombs
6:30pm Humanitarian Happy Hour
7pm Reversing the Tide of Plastic Oceans
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Friday, December 12
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8am MIT Water Summit - Panel Session
9am Understanding and Improving Cities
1:30pm Symposium: Twenty Years after Ukraine's Denuclearization. Its Aftermath for Ukraine, Its Implications for Nonproliferation and International Security
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Saturday, December 13
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11am City Awake - Creative Roots Speculating Boston Hack
1pm Green Entrepreneur Small Business Network seminar on: Building Quick, Convincing Business Plans
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Monday, December 15
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7pm Climate Change and Plant Conservation: Is managed relocation an option?
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Tuesday, December 16
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6pm Boston VR [Virtual Reality] Meetup with AltspaceVR
7pm CafeSci Boston - “Music to our Ears”
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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
Germany’s Biggest Utility Changes It Business Model
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/01/1348728/-Germany-s-Biggest-Utility-Changes-Its-Business-Model
Two Points about US Policing
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/04/1349501/-Two-Points-about-US-Policing
Renewables Changing the Electrical Grid
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/12/renewables-changing-electrical-grid.html
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Monday, December 8
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The French-American Innovation Day 2014: The Challenge of Innovation in the Energy Field: Energy Storage
Monday, December 8 - Tuesday, December 9
8:15am - 5:45pm
MIT Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://faid2014.france-science.org/venue-and-registration/
Join us for the 2014 edition of the French-American Innovation Day (FAID 2014) organized by the Office for Science and Technology of the French Embassy in collaboration with MIT, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).
During this event, you will hear presentations on state-of-the-art technologies from academic leaders such as MIT’s Don Sadoway and Harvard’s Michael Aziz. Industrial leaders such as Lockheed Martin, United Technologies, Schneider Electric and Saft will focus on how to “Bring new technologies in the Energy Storage Field to the Market Place”.
FAID will also feature an open innovation meet-up, where students and young companies will be able to meet strategic players in the energy storage field such as Saint-Gobain or Schneider Electric.
Contact Name: Maxime Huynh
maxime.huynh at ambascience-usa.org
More at: http://environment.harvard.edu/events/2014-12-08-050000/french-american-innovation-day-2014%C2%AD-%E2%80%93-challenges-energy-storage#sthash.jFd3Sh14.dpuf
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MASS Seminar - Zhiming Kuang (Harvard)
Monday, December 8, 2014
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker: Zhiming Kuang
MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar
The MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) is a student-run weekly seminar series within PAOC. Seminar topics include all research concerning the atmosphere and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars usually take place on Monday from 12-1pm followed by a lunch with graduate students. Besides the seminar, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged. The seminar series is run by graduate students and is intended mainly for students to interact with individuals outside the department, but faculty and post docs certainly participate.
Web site: http://eaps-www.mit.edu/paoc/events/calendars/mass
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Atmospheric Science Seminars
For more information, contact: MASS organizing committee
mass at mit.edu
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Industrial Urbanism in Africa
Monday, December 8, 2014
12:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building 9-450, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Calestous Juma
Africa is one of the fastest urbanizing regions in the world. This population shift is associated with rising prospects for urban industrial development. However, it also creates new challenges for land use planning and regulations. This lecture explores the
implications of rapid technological advancement for industrial urbanism in Africa. Using the case of Lagos in Nigeria, it focuses on how technological leapfrogging is likely to create new opportunities for more integrated land use planning approaches in African cities. The lecture outlines regulatory and human resource development strategies needed for African cities to effectively harness emerging technological opportunities for sustainable urban development and the extent to which technological leapfrogging is creating new opportunities for adopting more integrated land use planning.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact: Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn at mit.edu
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Why is it Hard to Talk about War? Bridging the Civilian-Military Divide
WHEN Mon., Dec. 8, 2014, 3 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South – Tsai Auditorium, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The 2014-2015 Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution series is sponsored by the Program on Negotiation, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Beyond Conflict, and Boston area members of the Alliance for Peacebuilding
SPEAKER(S) Seth Moulton, U.S. Congressman-elect, MA 6th District; Susan Hackley, managing director, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO dhicks at wcfia.harvard.edu
DETAILS Congressman-elect Seth Moulton represents Massachusetts’ 6th district. After graduating from Harvard in 2001 with a degree in physics, Moulton joined the United States Marine Corps, where he served four tours of duty in Iraq as an infantry officer between 2003 and 2008. Susan Hackley is Managing Director of the Program on Negotiation. A graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, her interests include the role of the media in shaping and reporting on conflict, the overlap between the fields of negotiation and nonviolent action, and the need for civilian Americans and military Americans to explore and celebrate their shared values and have better conversations about war.
LINK http://www.pon.harvard.edu/events/pon-events-upcoming/
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Big Data Lecture Series: Reverse-engineering online tracking for privacy, transparency, and accountability
Monday, December 8
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 32-G449, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Arvind Narayanan, Assistant Professor, Princeton University
Abstract: When we browse the web, data about us is collected, traded and put to use in creative ways. The utter lack of transparency makes web tracking problematic. The Princeton Web Transparency and Accountability Project (http://webtap.princeton.edu) aims to reverse engineer online data collection and data-driven personalization. The goal is correct market failures in online privacy, foster accountability for privacy, security, and ethical failures, and enable a more informed public debate.
Our central thesis is that a single modular platform can enable a variety of experiments to reverse engineer privacy-impacting practices. In these experiments an automated, simulated user (i.e., a bot) browses the web; we monitor and analyze flows of personal data and also test how sites personalize themselves to these bots. In this talk I'll describe the technical capabilities of our platform, the studies we???ve carried out so far, the challenges ahead, and how you can utilize the platform for your own research.
MIT BIG DATA LECTURE SERIES
Talks will feature distinguished individuals from academia, industry and government including preeminent people from all the sub-fields of computer science that have something to say about data, data processing and analytics, as well as people from organizations that are consumers of Big Data from both industry and government.
Web site: http://bigdata.csail.mit.edu/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Big Data Initiative at CSAIL
For more information, contact: Susana Kevorkova
617-324-8424
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Sweet Talk: A Lecture by Kara Walker
WHEN Mon., Dec. 8, 2014, 4:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Kara Walker, artist
COST Free and open to the public; registration required
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2014-kara-walker-lecture
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2014-kara-walker-lecture
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Planets and Life: Student presentations
Monday, December 8
4:30p–6:30p
MIT, Building 2-105, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Web site: http://eapsweb.mit.edu/events/2014/planets-life
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) Lectures
For more information, contact: Vlada Stamenkovic
rinsan at mit.edu
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Reverse Global Warming? Grassland Restoration and Carbon Sequestration
Monday, 8 December
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Impact Hub Boston, 50 Milk Street, 17th Floor, Boston
Humans have “broken” many or most ecosystems on the planet. Is it possible that restoring some of these ecosystems to health would actually address the worst threat to human civilization we have yet faced, global warming? Impact Hub Boston will focus on Grassland Restoration as a tangible pathway available today to potentially reverse global warming by placing large amounts of carbon back into our soil. Carbon Sequestration, the theme of our series, is the process of storing atmospheric carbon for long periods of time. We’ll be exploring tangible examples of Carbon Sequestration with experts in distinct fields that have hands-on experience in applying these vital technologies.
For initial exploration of the topic, Seth Itzkan will discuss grassland restoration and carbon capture though the Holistic Management of grazing animals. This approach builds soil health by replicating the beneficial co-evolutionary grazing and movement patterns of wild ruminant herds – completely unlike conventional practices. The results are dramatic. They give credence to positive images of the future – yielding promise for reversing climate change, as well as for addressing issues of health, rural poverty and more. Implications for urban centers, such as Boston, will be discussed.
Ridge Shinn will follow up and discuss his work on applying these methods on his Central MA farm.
Speakers:
Seth Itzkan is an environmental futurist with twenty five years experience consulting with private and public agencies on strategies for success in changing times. He is President of Planet-TECH Associates, a consultancy focusing on trends and innovations, and Advisory Board Chairperson for Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, an educational nonprofit focusing on the role of biology to help reverse global warming. Seth’s clients include The Boston Foundation, where he helped conceive and implement the Hub of Innovations tool as part of the Boston Foundation Indicators Project. Other clients have included the US Bureau of the Census and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. Seth is a graduate of the Tufts College of Engineering and the University of Houston Masters of Science Program in Studies of the Future. In 2003 Seth was featured on the cover of the Boston Globe Metro Region section in an article titled “The Local Forecast.”
Ridge Shinn is an expert on producing and marketing 100% grass-fed beef, and managing grasslands for multiple benefits: nutrient-dense foods; carbon sequestration, soil fertility and biodiversity; energy savings; and revitalized rural economies. In addition to managing his own herd, Ridge co-founded Hardwick Beef, a successful meat company, and has developed markets and distribution systems for 100% grass-fed beef throughout the northeastern US.
More information at http://impacthubboston.net/event/carbon1/
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Fuzzy Beliefs and Preferences: We All Have Them What Should We Do About Them?
Monday, December 8
7pm – 8pm
The Burren 247 Elm Street, Davis Square, Somerville
Dr Casper Hare
SITN’s Science by the Pint is a chance to interact directly with research scientists. The featured scientists will give a brief intro to her work, and take a few questions before mingling from table to table with other member of her group to chat with you.
Contact http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/science-by-the-pint/
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Gustav Metzger's Dome(s) Project
Monday, December 8
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building E15-070, Bartos Theatre, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Daniela Perez & Patrick Charpenel
Patrick Charpenel and Daniela Perez will introduce the life and work of the artist Gustav Metzger and expand on one of the artist's most recent proposals regarding the construction and long-term activation of spaces for social change. This project explores questions regarding the environment, climate change, architecture, humanity, biodiversity, consciousness, natural resources, science, technology, food, sustainability, the future, and art, among other topics.
The aim of the lecture is to share Gustav Metzger's project in Mexico with the MIT community at large in order to openly discuss the deep urgency and obligation to act in regard to environmental challenges facing the world today, and the passion that collectively-uniting many strengths-can be harnessed to promote a more sustainable future. The lecture is a platform for conversation that aims to bring together the intellectual and creative strengths that individuals from a variety of departments at MIT can use to explore the role of art in society, commonly described by Gustav Metzger as the path of "ethics into aesthetics."
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture
For more information, contact:
Ilse Damkoehler
617-253-5229
act at mit.edu
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The Real Dangers of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, MA
Monday, December 8
7-9 PM
Massachusetts Peace Action, First Church in Cambridge, Hastings Room, 11 Garden Street, (Near Harvard Square), Cambridge
RSVP at http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=neKgOEcB2uiW5cx12CP%2BR%2F5O6Cn1Ut6m
Boston is only 34 miles from Pilgrim, and subject to nuclear contamination in case of radioactive release at Pilgrim.
Pilgrim's G.E. Mark 1 design is the same as Fukushima's
Its highly radioactive spent fuel pool is not inside the reinforced containment structure, and hence is vulnerable to accident, or attack by air.
In case of nuclear contamination, home insurance pays NOTHING.
In case of nuclear evacuation, the Sagamore and Bourne bridges will immediately CLOSE, to allow Plymouth residents to escape -- but trapping Cape residents, who will have no escape.
Come to hear Diane Turco of Cape Downwinders explain the real threats to the Boston area, and the successful political actions by Cape Cod organizations.
Diane was one of the Four Cape Cod Grandmothers (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=0vHV%2B7bcP%2Bys3QQasfYfNAehKG2EJlSi) who performed an act of civil resistance on Mothers' Day 2014.
With the experience of the Cape Codders and the numbers of the Bostonians, we have a much better chance for a future safe from nuclear disaster and the need to abandon our homes.
Editorial Comment: Safecast radiation monitoring network (http://blog.safecast.org) is about to break 25 Million Datapoints.
"Four years ago there was no openly available independent dataset for people interested in radiation levels around the world, and now we have data from every continent and over 60 countries. We couldn't have done this without your support, so sincerely thank you.
"Our new webmap is fully functional and always updated. Made by Nick Dolezal who also built our fantastic iOS app and who recently joined us full time. We're excited it's so easy to interact with our data. All 24M+ datapoints are visible here.
"This mobile data is growing fast thanks in no small part to our bGeigie Nano platform. You can now buy it in kit format and put it together yourself and start collecting data wherever you are.
"Mobile is only part of the picture and the prototype of our static (in place, non mobile) monitoring network is online now. Check out realtime.safecast.org (http://realtime.safecast.org) to watch the progress as we fine tune this first alert system and prepare for a larger scale rollout. Right now we need to buy, build and install more sensors to really prove the point. This will eventually allow people to get notifications within seconds of radiation level changes in a specific location.”
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Civic Data Analysis Project Night
Monday, December 8
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Blue Shirt Cafe, 424 Highland Avenue, Somerville
I'm planning to take a look at data on suspensions in MA schools, with the hope of exploring and visualizing potential racial biases (http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/01/30/7727/racial-disparity-school-discipline-massachusetts). Folks who want to work with me on this are welcome to join, as are those hoping to work on other projects.
More information at http://www.meetup.com/Open-Government-Boston/events/219013838/
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Public Forum on Ebola with Paul Farmer & Evelynn Hammonds
WHEN Mon., Dec. 8, 2014, 7:20 – 10:20 p.m.
WHERE First Parish in Cambridge, 1146 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Religion
SPONSOR Science, Religion, and Culture at Harvard Divinity School and the Ackerman Program on Medicine & Culture
CONTACT srcp at hds.harvard.edu
DETAILS Paul Farmer, founding director of Partners in Health, and Evelynn Hammonds, Professor of the History of Science, will speak during a public forum on Ebola. The forum will be moderated by Ahmed Ragab, director of the Science, Religion, and Culture program, and David Jones, Professor of the Culture of Medicine.
Register to attend: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/public-forum-on-ebola-tickets-14720658887
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Tuesday, December 9
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Boston TechBreakfast: Moodsnap, and More!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
8:00 AM
Microsoft NERD - Horace Mann Room, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston-TechBreakfast/events/155723092/
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!
Moodsnap - David Blutenthal
~9:30 - end - Final "Shout Outs" & Last Words
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American Association of Port Authorities President to Deliver Talk at Volpe
Tuesday, December 9
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Volpe, The National Transportation Systems Center, 55 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP to Ellen Bell, director of Strategic Initiatives for Research and Innovation, at ellen.bell at dot.gov
Webinar https://volpe-events.webex.com/mw0401l/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=volpe-events
Kurt J. Nagle, President and Chief Executive Officer for the American Association of Port Authorities
Kurt Nagle has over 30 years of experience in Washington, D.C., related to seaports and international trade. Since 1995, Nagle has served as president and chief executive officer for the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA). Nagle began working at AAPA, the alliance of the leading public port authorities throughout the Western Hemisphere, in 1985.
Prior to joining AAPA, Nagle was director of International Trade for the National Coal Association and Assistant Secretary for the Coal Exporters Association.
Previously, he worked in the Office of International Economic Research at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Nagle serves on the Executive Committee of the Propeller Club of the United States and is a former commissioner of PIANC, the International Navigation Congress.
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"Energy Technologies in Mind and Matter"
Tuesday, December 9
2:00PM
Harvard, Science Center 469, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Christopher Jones, Assistant Professor, Arizona State University
History of Technology Special Lecture
Contact Name: Deborah Valdovinos
valdovin at fas.harvard.edu
More at: http://environment.harvard.edu/events/2014-12-09-190000/history-technology-special-lecture#sthash.QpzWrkN5.dpuf
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"iBiology: New Opportunities for Learning Biology through the Internet"
Tuesday, December 9
4:00 pm
Harvard, Pfizer Lecture Hall, B23, Mallinckrodt, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge
with Ron Vale, Professor and Vice-Chair, Department of Molecular Pharmacology, the University of California, San Francisco; Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Winner of the 2012 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
Dudley Herschbach Teacher/Scientist Lecture
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St. Louis Rap Artist Tef Poe on Art, Activism, and Ferguson
WHEN Tue., Dec. 9, 2014, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, 104 Mt. Auburn Street, Third Floor, Rear, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Humanities, Lecture, Music, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Presented by the Warren Center, in collaboration with the Hip Hop Archive and Research Institute
SPEAKER(S) Tef Poe, St. Louis rapper, in conversation on his art, activism, and Ferguson
with Walter Johnson, Winthrop Professor of History, and professor of African and African American Studies
CONTACT INFO lkennedy at fas.harvard.edu
LINK http://warrencenter.fas.harvard.edu/fsprogramschedule.html
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Animal Psychology
Tuesday, December 9
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building E19-623, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
Laurel Braitman, author, Animal Madness
More information at https://ksj.mit.edu/seminars/
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#LIVEFROMLIMA: A LIVE DISCUSSION BETWEEN SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS AND SPECIAL GUESTS FROM COP20
Tuesday, December 9
6:00pm - 8:15pm
Impact Hub Boston, 50 Milk Street, Boston
cityawake.proximate.com
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/1511043829146723/
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Food Product Development Considerations Workshop
Tuesday, December 9 and 10
6-9pm
196 Quincy Street, Dorchester
Learn from HAACP-expert Amanda Kinchla, of UMASS Food Science Department, as she helps guide you through concept, process, food safety, and product launch. Register for CropCircle Kitchen's 2-day, content-filled course.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/product-development-considerations-beyond-the-concept-tickets-13270154389
Do you want to better understand the food safety principles behind your process? Do you need help with product development for your current or future food product?
This 2-day course will cover the following topics:
Principals of Food Safety
The Product Development Process
Cycle to Creating a New Food Product
Product Development Process (including business strategy, product testing,product launch)
HACCP Plan requirements and/or Low-acid & Acidified certification
Determining formula, process and packaging for a safe food system
Process Validation requirements
Label Regulations, product claims, ingredient statements and nutrition facts
Operational capabilities and Quality Controls
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Passive House New England
Tuesday, December 9
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.architects.org/calendar
Price: This meeting is free and open to all
Passive House New England - Holiday Edition
This holiday edition of our monthly Passive House gathering will feature drinks and a light dinner (catered by Boloco); opportunities for networking and introductions to other practitioners and aspiring practitioners; a conversation about the programs and direction of our Passive House group for 2015; and, to cap it off, a game of Passive House Jeopardy.
To learn more about Passive House New England, visit architects.org/committees/passive-house-new-england.
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"History and Popular Memory: The Power of Story in Moments of Crisis"
WHEN Tue., Dec. 9, 2014, 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Poetry/Prose, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard COOP
SPEAKER(S) Paul A. Cohen
COST Free and open to the public
DETAILS "History and Popular Memory: The Power of Story in Moments of Crisis"
When people experience a traumatic event, such as war or the threat of annihilation, they often turn to history for stories that promise a positive outcome to their suffering. Paul A. Cohen identifies this interplay between story and history as a worldwide phenomenon, found in countries of radically different cultural, religious, and social character. He focuses here on Serbia, Israel, China, France, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain, all of which experienced severe crises in the twentieth century and, in response, appropriated age-old historical narratives that resonated with what was happening in the present to serve a unifying, restorative purpose.
LINK www.thecoop.com
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The Bee: A Natural History
Tuesday, December 9
7:00PM - 8:30PM
Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
Cost: $10 (Students: email to register for free.)
Noah Wilson-Rich, PhD, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, The Best Bees Company
Bees are crucial to the reproduction and diversity of flowering plants, and the economic contributions of these irreplaceable insects measure in the tens of billions of dollars each year. Yet bees are dying at an alarming rate, threatening food supplies and ecosystems around the world. In this natural history talk, Noah Wilson-Rich will provide a window into the vitally important role that bees play in the life of our planet. He will speak about the human–bee relationship through time; explain a bit about bee evolution, ecology, and physiology; and share his holistic approach to bee health and how you can help bee populations.
http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu
An Arnold Arboretum Lecture for Adults
Contact Name: Pam Thompson
pam_thompson at harvard.edu
More at: http://environment.harvard.edu/events/2014-12-10-000000-2014-12-10-013000/bee-natural-history#sthash.ViNjsEDA.dpuf
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Wednesday, December 10
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6.811: Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology Final Project Showcase
Wednesday, December 10
3:00p
MIT, Building 32-044, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP: http://bit.ly/ppat_showcase
6.811: Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology (PPAT) is a 12-unit, interdisciplinary, project-based course in which small teams of students work closely with a person with a disability in the Cambridge area to develop a practical product or solution that helps them live more independently. During the term, each team meets with its client, iterates through multiple prototypes, and learns about the complexities of designing assistive technology (AT) for people with disabilities. The course also includes lectures on principles of successful AT design, perspectives from people with disabilities and AT makers and users, design processes and human factors, and social, economic, and ethical perspectives on disability.
PPAT was founded, taught, and championed by Professor Seth Teller, who conceived of the course and taught it from 2011 to 2013. We are very proud to be offering PPAT once again in Fall 2014.
Web site: http://bit.ly/ppat_showcase
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Assistive Technology Club
For more information, contact: William Li
assistivetech-contact at mit.edu
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A Wireless Cyber-Physical System Framework for Enhancing the Resiliency of Civil Infrastructure Systems
Wednesday, December 10
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 1-131
Speaker: Prof. Jerome Lynch
Mechanics and Infrastructure
Earthquakes and other natural hazards remain a serious threat to the safe operation of society's critical infrastructure systems. Further complicating the problem, many of these infrastructure systems are simultaneously approaching the end of their intended design lives with alarming levels of deterioration. Fortunately, the confluence of wireless communications and embedded computing has led to the creation of a new generation of wireless sensing technologies that can be deployed at low cost and in high density to enhance the infrastructure resiliency. The paradigm-shift associated with wireless structural monitoring goes well beyond serving as a cost-effective replacement for tethered sensors. Rather, it is the embedded computational intelligence of wireless sensors that transforms them into an autonomous building block of future cyber-physical systems that can be used to monitor, control and reconfigure infrastructure systems. In this presentation, a wireless cyber-physical system framework is described and illustrated. The framework is designed using distributed cyberinfrastructure tools to support and manage wireless sensor networks deployed in operational structures. The proposed framework is shown to provide a Pareto optimal allocation of scarce network resources (e.g., communication bandwidth, battery power) while maximizing the speed and accuracy of in-network algorithms.
Jerome Lynch is a Prof. of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of MI
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact: Oral Buyukozturk
617-253-7101
obuyuk at mit.edu
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D-Lab Fall Showcase and Open House
Wednesday, December 10
4:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building N51-3rd floor
Speaker: D-Lab students
D-Lab challenges talented students to use their math, science, engineering, social science, and business skills to tackle a broad range of global poverty issues. Come see how our students are making an impact!
D-Lab students from the five fall courses offered will be presenting!
D-Lab: Development
D-Lab: Schools
D-Lab: Supply Chains
D-Lab: Waste
Design for Scale
Development Ventures
To kick things off, students will give brief presentations. Attendees will then be able to view all the working prototypes on display throughout the D-Lab space! All welcome.
Web site: http://d-lab.mit.edu/node/1045
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): D-Lab
For more information, contact: Nancy Adams
nadam at mit.edu
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Radcliffe Institute Fellow's Presentation Series—What's Wrong With Me?: The Uncertainties of Chronic Illness
WHEN Wed., Dec. 10, 2014, 4 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Meghan O'Rourke, Radcliffe Institute Helen Putnam Fellow and New York University
COST Free and open to the public
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2014-meghan-orourke-fellow-presentation
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Cambridge’s Getting to Net Zero Task Force
Wednesday, December 10
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Citywide Senior Center, 806 Massachusetts Avenue, 1st Floor Ballroom, Cambridge
Agenda to follow
All Task Force meetings are open to the public
Please feel free to forward this notice to others who might be interested
Information on the Getting to Net Zero Task Force is available at www.cambridgema.gov/home/CDD/Projects/Climate/netzerotaskforce.aspx.
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Mass Innovation Nights #MIN69
December 10
6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
Each month, ten companies bring new products to Mass Innovation Nights and the social media community turns out to blog, tweet, post pictures & video, add product mentions to LinkedIn & Facebook, and otherwise help spread the word. These live events allow companies to show off Massachusetts-based innovation. In the last four years, Mass Innovation Nights have helped to:
Launch more than 650 products
Connect dozens of job seekers and hiring managers
Profile dozens of local experts
Launch a wave of Innovation Nights events around the world (coming soon)
Registration and networking begin at 6:00 pm and presentations begin at 7:00 pm. Innovation Nights are held once a month on-site at various venues that donate their space to further the cause of local innovation.
Website: http://mass.innovationnights.com/
Organizer: Mass Innovation Nights
Website: http://mass.innovationnights.com/
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Food Product Development Considerations Workshop
Wednesday, December 10
6-9pm
196 Quincy Street, Dorchester
Learn from HAACP-expert Amanda Kinchla, of UMASS Food Science Department, as she helps guide you through concept, process, food safety, and product launch. Register for CropCircle Kitchen's 2-day, content-filled course.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/product-development-considerations-beyond-the-concept-tickets-13270154389
Do you want to better understand the food safety principles behind your process? Do you need help with product development for your current or future food product?
This 2-day course will cover the following topics:
Principals of Food Safety
The Product Development Process
Cycle to Creating a New Food Product
Product Development Process (including business strategy, product testing,product launch)
HACCP Plan requirements and/or Low-acid & Acidified certification
Determining formula, process and packaging for a safe food system
Process Validation requirements
Label Regulations, product claims, ingredient statements and nutrition facts
Operational capabilities and Quality Controls
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Christ Actually: Jesus in the 21st Century
Wednesday, December 10
7pm
First Parish in Cambridge, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Award-winning author James Carroll discusses his new book, Christ Actually: The Son of God for The Secular Age. Carroll asks what can we believe about—and how can we believe in—Jesus in the post-20th century world of wars and Holocaust and the drift from religion that followed? Answering his own question, Carroll revisits Christ’s crucial identity as a Jew. What can the ordinary humanness of the Christ figure mean to the 21st century? How can Christ, who is no Christian himself, transcend Christianity to speak
More information at http://www.cambridgeforum.org/to people in today’s world?
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Syria, Iraq and ISIS: Understanding the New War and How the Peace Movement should Respond
Wednesday, December 10
7:00pm
Friends Meeting House, 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge
$5 donation requested
Prof. Elaine Hagopian on understanding the war
Activist views on the peace movement's response
Discussion on what to do next
The US announced early in November that troop deployment in the war against ISIS will be doubled from 1500 to 3000 -- although they are supposedly not "boots on the ground." Meanwhile, thousands of air sorties have been flown and the Obama administration is again asking Congress for billions to fund a new war. But US allies are reluctant to commit resources, Turkey regards the Kurds as the greater threat and Saudi Arabia is privately providing ISIS aid. The US is battling to overthrow Assad in Syria while also fighting his enemy. Contacts are made with Iran -- but we don't really want to coordinate efforts. Beheadings rouse demands for action.
The US claims its only goal is to defeat ISIS but the long term goal has not changed: regime change in Syria and continued domination over the region made unstable by years of US intervention. The prospect of a long and escalating war confronts us. What is our message in this complex and contradictory situation?
Elaine Hagopian, professor emeritus of sociology at Simmons College, will provide background and context on Syria, referencing Palestine and Iraq. Cole Harrison, executive director of Mass Peace Action, and Marilyn Levin, co-coordinator of United National Antiwar Coalition, will offer different views on the peace movement's response.
Elaine Hagopian is a retired professor of sociology from Simmons College, Boston. She served as visiting professor of sociology at the American University in Beirut, and as a distinguished Lecturer at the American University of Cairo. She was awarded two Fulbright Hays Faculty research grants to do research in France and the Arab region. She served with UNCIEF in the United Arab Emirates; and as part of a UNESCO team to do a feasibility study for a Palestine Open University. Her publications focus on Arab regional issues and on Arab-Americans; her article "Bashar Assad's Missed Opportunity: Syria's Pandoran Box" appeared in Counterpunch in June 2011.
Sponsored by United for Justice with Peace
info at justicewithpeace.org
617 383 4857
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Arts of War Concert with Special Free Gallery Hours
WHEN Wed., Dec. 10, 2014, 8 – 9 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Exhibitions, Music, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard Museums of Science & Culture
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO hmsc at hmsc.harvard.edu, 617.496.1027
DETAILS The Dudley World Music Ensemble presents a unique concert inspired by the Peabody Museum's exhibition Arts of War: Artistry in Weapons across Cultures, featuring both original compositions and existing repertoire drawn from across the world: from battle music in Java and classics dedicated to the war goddess of India to conversations between the Yi mouth harp and voices of tabla drums. The concert will also include performances by Harvard’s Gamelan Si Betty ensemble.
Arrive early to enjoy special free hours in the Arts of War exhibition preceding the concert, from 5:00-8:00 pm. The concert begins at 8:00 pm in the adjacent Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge.
The Dudley World Music Ensemble (WME) at Harvard University is a collective of musicians committed to exploring music beyond the Euro-American tradition through rearranging, composing, and performing music and sound that draws on various national, regional, and local musical cultures. Rujing Huang currently serves as the ensemble director for WME.
5:00-8:00 pm special gallery hours in the Arts of War exhibition, Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
8:00 pm Arts of War Concert in the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
LINK https://www.peabody.harvard.edu/node/2117
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Thursday, December 11
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Live Streaming: TEDxPlaceDesNations @
Thursday, December 11
8:30 am to 2:00 pm
swissnexBoston 420 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lX-psOLV3CiOVYB5u9HwM7PSFNC8h_tpH_8HphdXPZI/viewform
in Geneva, Switzerland, a TEDx stage will open to showcase remarkable stories of people helping people. At swissnex Boston we are providing a moderated live streaming of the TEDxPlaceDesNations to our event space in Cambridge, MA
More at: http://www.swissnexboston.org/event/tedxplacedesnations-swissnexboston/
T: (617) 876 3076
F: (617) 876 3079
info at swissnexboston.org
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Big Data and Analytics Workshop
Thursday, December 11
9:00 am - 4:30 pm
IBM Innovation Center, 1 Rogers Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://ibm.biz/BdE2N9
Learn all about the key capabilities in the IBM Big Data & Analytics portfolio (including Watson Analytics), how to get started via Bluemix and how these offerings can solve real business problems. See how a real life IoT application showcases these key capabilities.
Contact: Caeli Byrne
Phone:
617-693-3023
Email: cbyrne at us.ibm.com
Website: http://ibm.com/partnerworld/iic/Cambridge
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"The Short Life and Violent Death of the Space Shuttle Dream"
Thursday, December 11
12:00PM
Harvard, Science Center 469, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Matthew Hersch, Senior Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania
History of Technology Special Lecture
Contact Name: Deborah Valdovinos
valdovin at fas.harvard.edu
More at: http://environment.harvard.edu/events/2014-12-11-170000/history-technology-special-lecture#sthash.U2ooG2T9.dpuf
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Between Mao and Gandhi: Strategies of Violence and Nonviolence in Revolutionary Movements
WHEN Thu., Dec. 11, 2014, 12:15 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Security Program
SPEAKER(S) Ches Thurber, research fellow, International Security Program
CONTACT INFO susan_lynch at harvard.edu
LINK http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/6507/between_mao_and_gandhi.html
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Why Wikipedia Works (?): A Walt Whitman Case Study
WHEN Thu., Dec. 11, 2014, 3 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Lamont Library Forum Room
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
LIBRARY LOCATION Lamont Library
DETAILS This talk by Rob Velella, Houghton Library’s Wikipedian in Residence, highlights how the self-policing community of Wikipedia helps in the attempt to create a reliable source of freely accessible information, even on contested topics. Velella will focus primarily on the article for American poet Walt Whitman, for which he was a main contributor, and its various controversies over several years—particularly in representing the poet’s sexuality. This illustrated talk looks into the Wikipedians who make Wikipedia, the project’s evolving trustworthiness, the strengths and pitfalls of collective editing, what the “anyone can edit” policy of Wikipedia means in practice, and the connection between rabbits and the sexuality of a long-dead author.
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Commercializing Innovation: Platform Technologies
WHEN Thu., Dec. 11, 2014, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G125, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Information Technology, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Office of Technology Development
SPEAKER(S) Daniel Behr, CEO, SLIPS Technologies
LINK http://tinyurl.com/CommercializingDec2014
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/commercializing-innovation-platform-technologies-tickets-14624342803
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The Ethics of Compassion: Lessons from the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa
WHEN Thu., Dec. 11, 2014, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Gordon Hall, Waterhouse Room, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Health Sciences, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics
SPEAKER(S) Arthur D. Caplan
COST Free and open to the public; RSVP required
TICKET WEB LINK https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1O8XC4isMs4pOr5x0L6dvJTJmhZR9OAYViyzjAx9wjXo/viewform
DETAILS The ongoing Ebola outbreak has raised many important ethical issues. Does quarantine have a role to play in controlling the epidemic? Why was the initial response to the outbreak in Guinea so slow and what ought be done to prevent that from happening again? And what sorts of restrictions should be placed on testing experimental agents in West Africa? Each of these questions will be examined and discussed.
LINK http://bioethics.hms.harvard.edu/upcoming-events
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MIT Water Summit - Opening Ceremony
Thursday, December 11
5:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building 32, Stata Center, Kirsch Auditorium, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Cambridge Marriott, 2 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/2014-mit-water-summit-tickets-14299358767
Cost: $10-30
Speaker: Daniel Bena, Sustainability Development Executive at PepsiCo
The MIT Water Summit is a landmark event that brings together experts from industry, academia, government, and finance to discuss the challenges and cutting-edge developments in the water sector. The opening ceremony will boast a high-profile keynote speaker, cocktails, and networking with many esteemed local and national water researchers, business leaders, and policy makers.
Web site: www.mitwatersummit.com
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Water Club, Earth Systems Initiative, Abdul Lateef Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab
For more information, contact: Adam Weiner
waterclub-officers at mit.edu
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30th Anniversary Party Bikes Not Bombs
Thursday December 11
6-10pm
Doyle's Cafe 3484 Washington Street, Jamaica Plain
On July 4th, 1984 Carl Kurz flew with two bikes to Nicaragua and Bikes Not Bombs was formed. Thirty years later and it's time to celebrate! Join us at Doyle's Cafe on Thursday December 11th, 6-10pm to celebrate our 30th Anniversary. Let's remember our history and look forward to the future.
Light snacks will be provided and the full bar/food menu is available to order.
Please wear your favorite BNB shirt - we will have a prize for the oldest!
mail at bikesnotbombs.org
Website: https://bikesnotbombs.org/30th-Party
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Humanitarian Happy Hour
December 11
6:30 p.m.
The Field Central Square (http://www.thefieldpub.com/) 20 Prospect Street, Central Square, Cambridge
Note: The bar is cash only
Appetizers will be provided.
Co-sponsored by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Tufts Humanitarian Action Society
If you were forwarded this e-mail and would like to be added to the hdr-group list, please e-mail seelbach at mit.edu with your e-mail address/indication that you would like to be added.
Lauren Seelbach, EIT, CFM
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Technology and Policy Program
MIT Humanitarian Response Lab
seelbach at mit.edu
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Reversing the Tide of Plastic Oceans
Thursday, December 11
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Simons IMAX Theatre New England Aquarium
RSVP at http://support.neaq.org/site/Calendar?id=105521&view=Detail
Dr. Mike Biddle, founder & director, MBA Polymers, Inc.
Plastics provide us with many lifestyle as well as economic, health and environmental benefits. And because of this, plastics have become one of the major material categories in use on the planet, with over 500 billion pounds produced each and every year around the world. Unfortunately, very little of this plastic is re-used, and much of it ends up either burned or buried, with potentially negative environmental impacts and lost economic opportunities. Even more concerning is the fact that billions of pounds of plastics enter the oceans each year, sometimes with devastating impacts on sea life and the overall health of our oceans.
Dr. Biddle will discuss why plastics are the last major material category to be recovered from end-of-life products on a large scale, the impact they are having on our oceans and beyond and what is required to propel this last frontier of recycling forward on a global scale. He will also discuss the development of breakthrough technology for the "above-ground mining" of plastics from highly mixed waste streams and why this is important for economic as well as environmental reasons.
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Friday, December 12
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MIT Water Summit - Panel Session
Friday, December 12
8:00a–7:00p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/2014-mit-water-summit-tickets-14299358767
Cost: $0-22.09
Speaker: Numerous expert panelists from Sandia National Labs, Monsanto, IFC-World Bank, and more!
The MIT Water Summit is a landmark event that brings together experts from industry, academia, government, and finance to discuss the challenges and cutting-edge developments in the water sector. Friday's all-day event is composed of several high-profile keynote speakers, thought provoking discussions by expert panelists, and a closing ceremony and cocktail reception.
Our three panel themes are:
Water in Health - Sanitation and basic water treatment in the developing world alongside emerging contaminants will be discussed.
Water for Food - Sustainable science, policy, and finance for securing clean water to feed the growing world population.
Water in Cities - Conservation, potable reuse, and desalination for the 21st century and beyond.
Web site: www.mitwatersummit.com
Open to: the general public
Tickets: www.mitwatersummit.com
Sponsor(s): MIT Water Club, Earth Systems Initiative, Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Security Laboratory
For more information, contact: Adam Weiner
waterclub-officers at mit.edu
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Understanding and Improving Cities
Friday, December 12
9 am–5 pm
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?456249
"Understanding and Improving Cities: Policy/Research Partnerships in the Digital Age" will bring together civic leaders, scholars, local practitioners, and students to discuss current and future research and policy collaborations. The event will feature panel discussions in which scholars and officials discuss work being done in Boston and other locales on education, public safety, economic development, and public management, including several initiatives that are using new data sources in novel ways. Conference participants will also have opportunities to explore new partnerships in small-scale conversations. The day’s program will conclude with remarks and discussion with Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, whose administration is committed to making Boston’s data more accessible and using that data to improve the lives of citizens.
For additional information about the conference, contact David Luberoff, Senior Project Advisor at the Boston Area Research Initiative (david_luberoff at radcliffe.harvard.edu), or Steve Poftak, Executive Director, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston (steven_poftak at hks.harvard.edu).
More at: http://green.harvard.edu/events/understanding-and-improving-cities#sthash.3TqDTyst.dpuf
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Symposium: Twenty Years after Ukraine's Denuclearization. Its Aftermath for Ukraine, Its Implications for Nonproliferation and International Security
WHEN Fri., Dec. 12, 2014, 1:30 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Case Study Room S-020, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Humanities, Law, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute
SPEAKER(S) Symposium will be in two sessions: 1:30-3:30 p.m. and 4-6 p.m. Speakers will include John Herbst (US Ambassador, 2003-06), Leonid Polyakov (first deputy minister of Defense of Ukraine, 2005-08, 2014) and Mark Kramer (director, Project on Cold War Studies, Harvard).
COST Free and open to the public
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Saturday, December 13
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City Awake - Creative Roots Speculating Boston Hack
Saturday, December 13
11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
TBA
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/city-awake-creative-roots-speculating-boston-hack-tickets-14514032863
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Green Entrepreneur Small Business Network seminar on: Building Quick, Convincing Business Plans
Saturday, December 13
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Dudley Library, 65 Warren Street, Roxbury
Seating is limited please RSVP at http://otoney.wix.com/gnec#!green-entrepreneur-small-bus-network/c1tmj
Building Quick, Convincing Business Plans that deliver confidence, capital, market share and more.
Presentation Description
This presentation is designed for professionals of all levels who want to transform the Rubik’s cube of ideas in their heads into a clear and compelling strategic direction for their business (or career). The speaker will introduce proven tips, tools and techniques to help you quickly organize those thoughts into a succinct business storyline that 1) is unique and valuable for your clients and 2) provides confidence and clarity in both running your business and in educating and enticing investors, employees and other stakeholders. The content will address the latest business megatrend of green and sustainability including permaculture and local food and farming and why, when and how to consider these initiatives. The ultimate deliverable to you is insight into the simple mechanics and key drivers of developing a sound growth strategy that will deliver focus, action and results.
Speaker Bio
Bill Bean is a Strategic Business Consultant and President of Green Planning & Coaching. His 35 year career began in Strategic Planning at International Paper Company’s Fortune 500 Headquarters in Manhattan. He then gained 16 years of experience in commissioned sales, sales management, marketing management and a $150,000,000 Division Management responsibility with Trus Joist Corporation. That was followed in 2000 by 5 years in the tech sector and 8 years in independent business consulting with for profit and nonprofit businesses.
GP&C’s work includes:
1. Business Plan Facilitation using a proprietary, collaborative process to prepare hundreds of plans across a broad range of industries, designed and executed for Focus, Action and Results. This includes the growing movement of local food and farming,
2. Executive and Career Coaching with professionals of all ages and position levels.
3. Speaking engagements ranging from local groups to international conferences.
4. Teaching “Corporate Sustainability Strategy and Planning” in Master’s programs at: UMass Amherst, Clark University, and Suffolk University (online).
Bill has BBA and MS degrees from UMass, Amherst, is a LEED® AP and has a Permaculture Designer Certification (PDC). He serves on 4 nonprofit boards in MA, and CA and is a US Army veteran. He lives in Tyringham MA. bill at GreenPlanningAndCoaching.com 413-243-8008.
Please find the flyer at our website and then share it and post it where appropriate. Go to: http://otoney.wix.com/gnec#!green-entrepreneur-small-bus-network/c1tmj
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Monday, December 15
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Climate Change and Plant Conservation: Is managed relocation an option?
Monday, December 15
7:00PM - 8:30PM
Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Boston
Cost: $10 (Students: email to register for free.)
Jesse Bellemare, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Smith College
Climate change is projected to be one of the top threats to biodiversity in coming decades. Species with small geographic ranges, often called “endemics”, may be at especially high risk of extinction because unsuitable climatic conditions could develop rapidly across the entirety of their ranges. If such species are unable to disperse long distances on their own to follow suitable climatic conditions, it has been proposed that human-assisted colonization or "managed relocation" might be an option of last resort to avoid extinctions. With this approach, climate-threatened species would be intentionally translocated to new regions as conditions deteriorated within their native ranges. Jesse Bellemare will speak about his research to better understand how the distribution and diversity of these rare species is related to past climate change, such as the Ice Ages, and to predict how the species might respond to the threat of modern anthropogenic climate change. Will managed relocation of species be a viable solution to prevent rare species extinction?
http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu
An Arnold Arboretum Lecture for Adults
Contact Name: Pam Thompson
pam_thompson at harvard.edu
More at: http://environment.harvard.edu/events/2014-12-16-000000-2014-12-16-013000/climate-change-and-plant-conservation-managed-relocation#sthash.MIC3K5Oj.dpuf
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Tuesday, December 16
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Boston VR [Virtual Reality] Meetup with AltspaceVR
Tuesday, December 16
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Microsoft N.E.R.D. Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Reality/events/218620744/
Come and experience the future of social virtual reality and collaborative development! We will have plenty of demonstrations of VR and related technology, and we welcome you to show your own work.
Our special guest is Bruce Wooden from AltspaceVR, a toolkit for building online virtual worlds accessible through the Oculus Rift and other immersive displays.
AltspaceVR is a social platform for VR, seeking to build a practical, natural, and fulfilling way for people to communicate online using VR. Within AltspaceVR, users connect in virtual spaces to create shared experiences around web content - watch videos, play games, and collaborate inside of VR. The AltspaceVR API lets developers spawn objects in VR space using Javascript. AltspaceVR recently closed a $5.2M seed round from investors including Dolby Family Ventures, Lux Capital, and Google Ventures.
http://altvr.com/
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Big Data for Social Good Challenge
Tuesday, December 16
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
hack/reduce, 275 Third Street, Cambridge
Join Us: Big Data hack night at Hack/Reduce on Tuesday, 12/16 from 6-9. Hear about the new Big Data for Social Good Challenge, share ideas, and work on your project.
More on the Big Data for Social Good Challenge.....
CALLING ALL DEVELOPERS .... JOIN THE BIG DATA FOR SOCIAL GOOD CHALLENGE
Big data exists in just about everything we use and do. It comes from phones, cars, roads, power lines, waterways, food crates, and innumerable other items you’d never think of as computers. This data speaks volumes about our collective behavior and society – so let’s use it to do something incredible! IBM invites developers and data enthusiasts to take a deep dive into real world civic issues using big data and the IBM Bluemix Analytics for Hadoop service. Analyze one of our curated datasets or bring your own! Use Hadoop and your data to create a clickable and interactive data visualization to highlight insights that you’ve found.
Ready to get started? $40,000 in prizes will be awarded....
Don't forget to register for the Big Data for Social Good Challenge: http://ibmhadoop.challengepost.com
More information at http://www.meetup.com/Big-Data-Developers-in-Boston/events/219084973/
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CafeSci Boston - “Music to our Ears"
Tuesday, December 16
7:00 PM to 8:45 PM
Middlesex Lounge, 315 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/NerdFunBoston/events/219085883/
“Music to our Ears: How does sound help us understand the world?" with MIT's Dr. Josh McDermott
Josh McDermott will discuss auditory scene analysis - the process by which the brain infers events in the world from the sound signal that enters the ears. One aspect of auditory scene analysis is “the cocktail party problem,” in which the brain receives sounds from multiple sources and must extract the content of one of them, for instance when following a conversation in a restaurant. McDermott will also discuss a second scene analysis problem, in which sound from a source interacts with the environment on the way to the ear, profoundly altering the source signal by introducing reverberation. Both problems are critical to our ability to understand speech and appreciate music.
Josh McDermott is an Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Science at MIT
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, December 17
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December Boston Sustainability Breakfast
Wednesday, December 17
7:30 AM to 8:30 AM (EST)
Pret A Manger, 185 Franklin Street, Post Office Square, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/december-boston-sustainability-breakfast-tickets-13973329605
Join us for the December 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.
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W.I.R.E Event: Taking up Space on Earth: Theorizing Territorial Rights, the Justification of States and Immigration from a Global Standpoint
WHEN Thu., Dec. 18, 2014, 3 – 4:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, HKS Ash Center, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Room 226, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center
SPEAKER(S) Mathias Risse, Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy, HKS Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
CONTACT INFO Jason_Anastasopoulos at hks.harvard.edu
973.641.8258
DETAILS The Workshop on Immigration, Race and Ethnicity (WIRE) at the Ash Center is a bi-monthly seminar style forum for Harvard and Boston area researchers and students working on the topics of immigration, race and ethnicity from a diverse variety of perspectives. Workshop sessions are thematically organized and themes are different each semester. For the fall semester of 2014, the themes are: (1) Experiments on Race, Immigration, and Public Policy; (2) Economic Impacts of Immigration and Immigration Policy and; (3) Ethics of Immigration and Immigration Policy.
LINK http://www.ash.harvard.edu/Home/News-Events/Events/Workshop-on-Immigration-Race-and-Ethnicity-WIRE
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Harvard Origins Forum
WHEN Wed., Dec. 17, 2014, 4 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Geological Museum, Haller Hall (Room 102), 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Origins of Life Initiative
SPEAKER(S) Anna Balazs, University of Pittsburgh
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO kelly.moreno at cfa.harvard.edu
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"Social Computing”
Wednesday, December 17
6:30p
le laboratoire, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.lelaboratoirecambridge.com/#!programs/c18hu
Sep Kamver
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Coastal Ecosystems and Climate Change
Wednesday, December 17
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street, Belmont
Brian Helmuth, PhD, Professor, Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences andSchool of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Director, Sustainability Science and Policy Initiative,Northeastern University. Helmuth Lab
The vitality of coastal ecosystems is of critical importance to life on Earth. Professor Brian Helmuth's lab is one of the most prominent research groups to carry out very complex investigations of these ecosystems. Using the most advanced techniques, the Helmuth lab explores the effects of climate and climate change on the physiology and ecology of marine organisms. They record patterns of growth, reproduction, and survival in important coastal species. A major goal of this approach is to inform decision makers with scientifically accurate and useful forecasts. Although Dr. Helmuth's primary focus is on North American rocky intertidal ecosystems, his lab also collaborates with researchers around the world.
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Thursday, December 18
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Earthos Conversation Series Topic: WASTE
Thursday, December 18
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EST)
Earthos Lab, 1310 Broadway, Ground Floor, Somerville
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/earthos-conversation-series-topic-waste-tickets-14702364167
Cost: $15 suggested donation
How do we collaboratively innovate and design our systems to minimize net waste?
We've invited thinkers and innovators from different arenas who are grappling with this question. Together, we'll explore emerging ideas and efforts in Boston, New England and beyond.
Each month, Earthos hosts a Conversation about a key resource at the New Earthos Lab for resilient and sustaining regions. Each conversation focuses on a resource system, and how it relates to the other resources: food, water, energy, land, biodiversity, waste, and people. The purpose of the Conversations is to collaboratively build knowledge to inform the emergence of regions that support local efforts and lead to global sustainability into the future.
The Earthos Lab brings people together to research, learn, and collaborate towards robust regional systems.
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Opportunity
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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development
- http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info at bnid.org if you have any questions!
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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://mitenergyclub.org/calendar
Harvard Events: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment: http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard: http://green.harvard.edu/events
Mass Climate Action: http://www.massclimateaction.net/calendar/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/
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