Technology
Archived Posts from this Category
Red Carpet Reaches Lowell, Turns Blue
Posted by PaulM on 07 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Culture, Education, History, Lowell, Lowell 2010, Technology
When you watch the red carpet festivities at the Academy Awards later today, look for some long blue threads that extend to Lowell. This morning, Dave Perry of the Sun broke the news that film director James Cameron (Avatar, Titanic, Aliens) will speak in the Middlesex Community College Celebrity Forum on June 16.
‘Creative Economy’ Workers from UMass Lowell
Posted by PaulM on 07 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Culture, Education, History, Lowell, Lowell 2010, Technology
Nancye Tuttle of the Sun today writes about successful graduates of the UMass Lowell graphic design program. Their work is on view through March 12 in the exhibition “Working Proof: Graphic Design Alumni Exhibition” in the Dugan Gallery, 883 Broadway, on UMass Lowell South. Gallery hours are 11 am to 4 pm, Monday through Thursday. In the article, the students praise the UML program and the teaching of Prof. Karen E. Roehr. Read the story here, and subscribe to the Sun if you appreciate it.
Boosting the Mass. Creative Economy at MIT
Posted by PaulM on 06 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Culture, Education, History, Lowell, Lowell 2010, Science, Technology
Lowell has fully embraced the “creative economy” thinking, evidenced by its forward-leaning initiatives in culture and technology. In the 19th century, Lowell was the home of the renowned Lowell Machine Shop, an engineer’s paradise that shaped the high tech of its day. MIT’s Media Lab is one of the state’s powerful generators of new products and processes, where engineers work on everything from video games to electric cars. Today’s Boston Globe includes an article about the Media Lab’s new building in Cambridge. Read the story here, and subscribe to the Globe if you appreciate it.
Friedman the Fan
Posted by PaulM on 06 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Culture, Education, History, Lowell, Lowell 2010, Science, Technology
I like to read Tom Friedman’s unabashed “fan” columns—usually about a genius entrepreneur who is proving that somebody is always climbing the innovation ladder. This NYTimes column is about promising developments related to carbon-dioxide emissions and clean energy. Read the column here and subscribe to the Times if you appreciate it.
What War Does to Us, All of Us
Posted by PaulM on 06 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: 2010 Election, Culture, Education, Federal, History, Lowell, Lowell 2010, Poetry, Politics, Presidency, Technology
Poet and writer Brian Turner writes about the “hurt locker” in everyone who gets damaged by war. He wrote this essay for the NYTimes after attending a showing of the film “The Hurt Locker” in Hanoi, Vietnam. Read the essay here and subscribe to the NYT if you appreciate it.
“Food, Inc.”
Posted by DickH on 05 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Federal, Politics, Technology
I just finished watching Food, Inc., the 2009 documentary on the American agriculture system that is one of this year’s nominees for the Academy Award for documentaries. The film is thought provoking and well worth watching while mostly avoiding sensationalism (although I’ll probably have a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before I see my next hamburger).
In some ways, American agriculture parallels the American banking system: a few major corporations use their political clout to gain a competitive advantage over their smaller, less powerful competitors which are put out of business or acquired by the bigger companies. Just as the US government has socialized the losses of our biggest banks (i.e., we, the taxpayers, have to make good the loss), so does the US government use farm policy and our tax dollars to subsidize agribusiness, artificially driving down the price of their food-like products. In your local grocery store, a bag of corn chips is much cheaper than a bag of carrots.
But to me, the most interesting parts of the film featured Gary Hirshberg, the president and CEO of New Hampshire-based Stonyfield Farm yogurt maker which is one of the stars of the organic, environmentally friendly, healthy food movement (and which has been owned, since 2001, by Groupe Danone of France). Hirshberg is shown bringing some buyers from Walmart to meet some of the organic dairy farmers who provide Stonyfield with its milk (and who proudly proclaim to the Walmart guys that they’ve been boycotting the megastore for years). The corporate buyers explain that Walmart is going big into organic food because that’s what the customers want (and not necessarily because it’s the right or moral thing to do). As Hirshberg from Stonyfield Farm points out, since an order from Walmart is measured in tons, not ounces, dealing with Walmart is the surest way to effectuate change.
Near the end of the film, Hirshberg asks rhetorically how can we change the system. He answers that each time we push a product across the grocery store scanner, we cast a vote. If our grocery carts continue to be packed with cheap, good tasting, highly processed food that is of marginal nutritional value and quite possibly unhealthy, then that’s what we will continue to get and that’s what our elected representatives will continue to subsidize with our tax dollars. But if we choose differently and buy more foods that are closer to their natural state, that are grown organically, that are produced locally, then Food, Inc. will take note.
CityStat comes to Lowell
Posted by DickH on 04 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: City Council, Lowell 2010, Technology
My view of statistical analysis was transformed by the 2003 book “Moneyball” by Michael Lewis which explored how the low-budget Oakland A’s used cast-offs and unknowns to regularly field a team that challenged its much richer competitors. They did this by downplaying the traditional wisdom of baseball insiders and selecting players based on statistical analysis. Assistant GMs were no longer former players, coaches or managers; they were now Ivy League MBAs. Besides being an excellent baseball book – Kevin Youkilis is a main character – “Moneyball” also offers lessons in the use of statistics in any kind of management setting. I’ve been a true believer ever since.
For that reason, I was pleased when the Lowell City Council voted this past Tuesday night to create a data analyst’s position within the City Manager’s Office. All councilors seemed to favor the use of the CityStat program, and the “No” votes seemed motivated more by the cost of adding a new employee than anything else.
So while it seems that there is widespread support for CityStat, I’m afraid it will be short-lived. There are a couple of truisms that apply to any bureaucracy, be it government at any level or a big corporation. Central to these is a resistance to change. Rather than viewing change as an opportunity to improve, most see it as a threat. That leads to the second truism – the reason things are done a certain way is because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” Taken together, those two things make implementing substantive change in a bureaucracy a huge challenge.
Funding the data analyst position was the easy part. For the council, the real test will come when the facts – as established through statistical analysis – demonstrate that many long-established ways of doing business could be improved upon. When those changes are made, however, it will unnerve many involved and councilors will hear about it. The challenge for the council will be to take the long view, to have the self-discipline to ride out the short term turbulence and have faith that the long-term result will be in the city’s best interest.
The City Manager has posted the presentation he made to the City Council on Tuesday night on his website. I’ve taken the slides and reformatted them into the below YouTube video. Please check it out.
Poet Gary Snyder Coming to Acton
Posted by PaulM on 02 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Culture, Education, Greater Lowell, History, Lowell, Lowell 2010, Poetry, Science, Technology
THE 10th ANNUAL ROBERT CREELEY AWARD
Presenting:
Gary Snyder
Legendary west coast poet and Pulitzer Prize winner.
Tuesday, March 16, 7:30 PM,
at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School,
36 Charter Road, Acton, Mass.
A poet of work, yet well-versed in anthropology and primitive cultures, Snyder reveres myth and ritual and sees the poet as a shaman acting as a medium for songs and chants springing from the earth. He draws on the traditions of oral literature—chants, incantations, and songs—to communicate his experiences. He is also an environmental activist and frequently described as the “Poet Laureate of Deep Ecology.” Many of Snyder’s poems aim specifically at instilling an ecological consciousness in his audience. Gary Snyder was a great friend of Jack Kerouac’s. Their friendship provided Kerouac with the model for the character Japhy Ryder in Kerouac’s novel about the emerging West Coast counterculture, zen students, and “rucksack poets” of the 1950s—”The Dharma Bums” (1959).
DIRECTIONS:
From East or West of Acton:
Take Route 2 to Route 27 (Main St.) South. After ~0.2 miles, turn right at light onto Route 111 (Mass. Ave.) Immediately turn right onto Charter Rd. and continue to the high school.
Take Route 2 to Route 27 (Main St.) South. After ~0.2 miles, turn right at light onto Route 111 (Mass. Ave.) Immediately turn right onto Charter Rd. and continue to the high school.
From North or South of Acton:
Take Route 27 to its intersection with Route 111 (Mass. Ave.) Turn west on Rte. 111 (right if from north, left if from south). Immediately turn right onto Charter Rd. and continue to the high school.
Take Route 27 to its intersection with Route 111 (Mass. Ave.) Turn west on Rte. 111 (right if from north, left if from south). Immediately turn right onto Charter Rd. and continue to the high school.
Find a map here: http://www.robertcreeleyfoundation.org/2010_winner
The full program runs 7:30-9:00, followed by book sales and signing. A limited-edition, signed broadside is also for sale. Donations are welcome. Free and open to the public. Free parking available.
Contact: Bob Clawson, Robert Creeley Foundation (978-263-4658) rj.clawson@verizon.net
For further information, visit http://www.robertcreeleyfoundation.org/
A Good News Jobs Story from Portsmouth, NH
Posted by PaulM on 26 Feb 2010 | Tagged as: 2010 Election, History, Lowell 2010, Politics, Technology
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is hiring 250 workers. Read the article here from www.seacoastonline.com
Tea Drinker Joins the Coffee Party
Posted by Marie on 26 Feb 2010 | Tagged as: Culture, Politics, Technology
The Coffee Party Movement
Back in January I wrote about my angst over the Tea Partiers co-opting my drink of choice for their own very un-soothing purposes. Now I find that coffee is the new rallying beverage of choice under the banner “Wake Up and Stand Up.” It seems that Annabel Park of Silver Spring, MD - really upset by the Tea Party Movement and it’s Fox News promoters - started a response or counter-movement in her living room: The Coffee Party Movement. She is using Facebook - one of the most active of the “social media” tools - to gain supporters and fans. There are now groups forming by state, cities, counties and towns and the discussion is off and running. As a “geezer” in this world of technology, I continue to be fascinated at the use and scope of “social media” - even by me! If you are interested in this movement, here’s the website: http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/ .
This is the stated mission of this Coffee Party movement:
The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.
Stay tuned.
