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http://LCTG.toku.us.
Speaker schedule management link (John Rudy)

Lexington Computer and Technology Group

The Lexington Computer and Technology Group (LCTG) is a volunteer, no-cost, not-for-profit, just-for-fun-and-education organization that meets most Wednesdays from 10am to 11:30am to discuss a wide variety of technical issues. (Sometimes we meet at a different time, see this in the schedule below.) Meetings are open to anyone interested in the topic(s). The group has an email list (see how to join below) for announcements and discussions.

Click to learn about the group

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The LCTG grew out of “The Computer Group” which existed prior to the opening of the Lexington Community Center, which is where we meet now.

Members of the group come from all walks of life, education, and previous experiences. Talks are presented by members of the group as well as outside experts on a variety topics of interest to the group. There is a schedule for future talks as well as a record of previous talks, below.

Many of the meetings feature an outside expert; others are led by group members. Time is set aside, approximately once a month, for short talks and for members to bring questions or problems to the membership. If you could present a topic of interest to the group, please contact us.

Members can be active, attending most of the meetings, or contributing to the discussion list, or can merely take advantage of the material being posted regarding our talks. There is no requirement for living in Lexington, and although the group started in the Lexington Senior Center there is no requirement to be a senior. The technical level of the talks varies considerably, making much of the material of interest to those with more modest technical abilities.

As of October 2022, we are back in the Lexington Community Center (LCC) as part of a Hybrid Meeting strategy. Most meetings are hybrid, meaning they are available to watch in-person in the LCC and also via Zoom. Most are recorded and posted on YouTube, check below for listings (upcoming and past meeting recordings).
For remote participants, the Zoom connection information is provided in Meeting Announcements.

Speakers may request not to be recorded. Copyrighted materials and other unrelated portions of the presentation may be omitted from videos. URLs may be substituted and/or added.

If you would like to join a meeting via Zoom, you will need to join the group (see above) to get emails with the meeting connection information. For security reasons and the possibility the information may change, we do not post this here on this site so write us, or join the group so you'll get meeting notices – it's free and painless.

For further information, contact group lead John Rudy and the other group coordinators by email at LCTG@toku.us or call John at 781-861-0402. We look forward to have you join us!

Click to see how to join the email lists to get meeting info

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Joining the main LCTG Email List
To receive notices of upcoming meetings and join discussions, send an email to LCTG-subscribe@toku.us and include in the body of your email:

  • Your full name
  • Town of Residence
  • Brief self-introduction and your interest in the group
  • Optionally, topic(s) of interest you might present or share at a group meeting

This email list is closely monitored to keep discussions on topic and prevent spam. For off-topic and lengthy discussions, see the Extended Discussions list, below.

To send a message to the list, address your email to: LCTG@lists.toku.us and for other info:

Joining the Extended Discussions List
Sometimes members want to have extended or lengthy discussions on a topic or express their opinions. There is a separate, more open discussion list that you can use, the LCTG-Extended list.
To subscribe to the LCTG-Extended list, send an email to LCTG-Extended-subscribe@toku.us
And then to send a message to the list, send it to: LCTG-Extended@toku.us

2019.07.25 00:09 · Steve Isenberg

Upcoming Meetings

Return to main LCTG page
Presenting to the group with Zoomnot ready for prime time: [using ppt impress etc to present|Tips for using MS Powerpoint and LibreOffice Impress in your presentation]
This schedule last modified 2024.03.28 07:05

LCTG Schedule

UPCOMING MEETINGS

DateTopicconfirmedFollowups
Apr 3, 2024Maybe: About the upcoming eclipse
or GASP Planning session (Gigantic Allhands Scheduling and Planning)
Apr 10, 2024(tentative date) 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine - mRNA - Part 2
Apr 17, 2024Richard Feynman Lecture: "Los Alamos From Below" (1h18m)
Apr 24, 2024Potpourri
May 1, 2024Five Levels of Difficulty Day. Video Possibilities #3(dimensions), 4(lasers), 14(gravity), 35(time) Harry
May 8, 2024(tentative) Arthritis. Always a pain, but worth discussing and learning more about.(Jerry Harris/Bedford) JohnR
May 15, 2024Spacecraft Technology, the Design of the International Space Station, and Comparison of Technology in Spacecraft Over Time. Presented by Dr. Gary H Kitmacher from NASA Johnson Space Center.yesJerry
May 22, 2024Your favorite apps and websites. Follow-up on meeting 2/14
May 29, 2024(tentative date) Oppenheimer and the Institute for Advanced Study, presented by Dan Kleppner
June 5, 2024

click to show unscheduled dates

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June 12, 2024
June 19, 2024
June 26, 2024
July 3, 2024
July 10, 2024
July 17, 2024
July 24, 2024
July 31, 2024
August 7, 2024
August 14, 2024
August 21, 2024
August 28, 2024
September 4, 2024
September 11, 2024
September 18, 2024
September 25, 2024
October 2, 2024
October 9, 2024
October 16, 2024
October 23, 2024
October 30, 2024
November 6, 2024
November 13, 2024
November 20, 2024
November 27, 2024day before Thanksgiving
December 4, 2024
December 11, 2024
December 18, 2024
December 25, 2024Christmas day


click to show recent meetings

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RECENT MEETINGS

DateTopic
Jan 3, 2024 We Will Have a Syncing Feeling: Using applications and files across platforms - a forum (Drew King, lead) chat messages
Jan 10, 2024LIDAR mapping with Dale Fried of 3DEO, hosted by Dan Kleppner chat messages . watch the presentation
For more information on the company and its technology, visit the 3DEO website at https://3deolidar.com/ and their YouTube Channel
Jan 17, 2024Unifying Nature’s Laws: The State of String Theory.
Jan 24, 2024Videos played:
How does Starlink Satellite Internet Work?
Bill Gates talking with Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, about AI transforming education
Jan 31, 2024potpourri: Feynman: Fun to Imagine (67min) followed by luncheon at Bamboo in Bedford
Feb 7, 2024 Space Update (George Gamota) chat messages
Feb 14, 2024Nifty Smartphone apps. Like Seek; Shazam; Pedometer; etc. chat messages
Feb 21, 2024Nifty Smartphone Apps Part 2 chat messages
Feb 28, 2024More neat apps for phones and computers – and more (Adam Broun)
* several interesting apps from the useful to the idiotic: Authy (2-factor authentication); Arc Search (Browser with summarization); Windy (weather in depth); Rise (Sourdough baking); Can of Soup (silly pictures)
* Self-hosting, moving services away from Google and Apple to resources you can control yourself: Proxmox (virtual machines); OPNSense (router); Home Assistant (Home automation); Photoprism (photo management); NextCloud (file sharing and collaboration)
List of self-hosted apps: https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted, Self hosted forum: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted
slides chat messages
Mar 6, 2024 potpourri
* "Watchroom", a short film by Noah Wagner on AI and Robotics. It'll make you think. (Dick Wagner)
* Android Apps (Drew) – continuing our topic of Interesting Apps from previous weeks. watch the presentation chat messages
Mar 13, 2024Sleep Deprivation (John Rudy) watch the presentation slides
What is Passkey and how does it work as compared to Passwords (Steve Isenberg) watch the presentation [ notes on passkey used during presentation ]
chat messages
Mar 20, 20242023 Nobel Prize in Medicine: mRNA (Harry Forsdick & Dick Wagner) watch the presentation
slides chat messages
The link to videos in the slides may not work; here are the links to videos included in the presentation:
How mRNA Vaccines Work
mRNA Vaccines Questions and Misconceptions
Announcement of the prize
TED talk, how mRNA medicine will change the world, Melissa J. Moore
Mar 27, 2024How the MIT museum has restructured itself to a Technology gateway to MIT
Moving and rediscovering the MIT Museum collection (4m) and Tour of the MIT Museum (49m) chat messages

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2023.08.16 11:39

In The Works - Potential Topics

This page last changed 2024.03.27 20:26 Visits: [12 times today, 27 times yesterday, and 51124 total times] since 20210323
Go to main LCTG page

In the Works – Potential Topics


Topic Possibilities

Click to show topic possibilities

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We'd like your thoughts on these and other topics you are interested in seeing or maybe presenting. Send your thoughts via email to info@LCTG.toku.us or contact John Rudy, Peter Albin, Bob Primak, or Steve Isenberg directly – Thank you.
This list last changed 2024.03.27 20:26

Note – numbering is for reference only and it has no other meaning. Numbers were assigned in the order topics were added to the list.
“fup” is short for “follow-up”

#DescriptionFollow-ups
#1Women in Science, Scientists in Other Cultures (Charlie ask Dan for suggestions; GeorgeG to ask CAAL; Someone should ask Indian Association for speaker possibilities) (Need contact with Black Americans – Harry to search). (Umesh fup; Dan K fup; StephenQ fup)
[9/6]Harry contacting Lex friend about speaking
#2Advances in Surgery and/or Medicine (interesting but need speaker); past, present, future. Dan Kleppner or George to fup with Barbara Hughey (Dan Kleppner knows her)
#3Past Predictions on future technology. How did these play out? 1970s or thereabout. David Kaiser to give such a talk? Historian of science.

Director of the Harvard Museum, John Duran
DanK to fup or CharlieH to fup (Steve Quantro fup)



StephenQ fup
#4Quantum Technology, relating to recent discovers/accomplishments (eg 9000 years in 36 microseconds). DanK to search for speaker
#5The Technology of the Ukraine War: Drones, missiles and guidance systems, electronic warfare, etc Need to fup if pertinent
#6The Science of Cooking (John Rudy)
#7The Rubin Observatory (a remarkable ground-based optical observatory, scheduled to see first-light in two years (~2025) (Marc Gorenstein)Ted K
#8John Rudy to F/U with Jerry Harris and Ted Kochanski. Can we do anything more about climate change? Do we want to get into data collection and looking at whether the data we use now are applicable to the long-range questions about climate change? Are data sets really applicable to the problem we are studying? Ted Kochanski and Jerry Harris have proposed doing more about this topic. Still following up with the group about the nature of our interests on this topic. Keep on list? Push to future.
#9COVID update ca. Feb. 2023? Universal vaccine for all COVID variants? Common antigen for the virus. Not new science. But there are new developments. Likely not much to present, per JerryS. JerryS to fup.
#10Cosmic Background (Rainer Weiss) (PeterA noted this)PeterA
#11Dealing with Wifi Issues (Ramin Taraz)RaminT fup?Steve I
#1210-fold increase in top Internet speeds: 6G? (being developed)TedK
#13Development of car navigation devices starting in ~1910 and evolving to the present day using digital computers, map database, and GPX. (Donald Cooke)Need to find Cooke
#14The development of photogrammetry from ~1930 to the current state of the art using a $500 “toy” drone and free software to produce orthophotography 50 or more times as detailed as the imagery in Google Maps and Google Earth. (Donald Cooke)Need to find Cooke
#15Mars sample return (speaker tentative) [Speaker to be confirmed by Ted; postponed from original 8/2/2023 date]TedK to followup should have info by March2024 GASP
#16Larry Sass on 3-D house printing, https://spectrum.mit.edu/fall-2022/larry-sass-wants-a-tech-upgrade-for-housing/ (a/o 9/15/2023 he's not ready yet. JohnR)
#17The art of Space-Time (Anna Barnackna/CEO Mind Mix) Gravitational Lens Effect. (Since the discovery of the first lensed quasars in 1979, this quirky phenomenon has become central to cosmology, as light rays from distant galaxies are deflected (a bit) by gravitational effects of both dark matter and dark energy. DM and DE are the two big mysteries of cosmology – and in physics for that matter.) Marc Gorenstein TedK
#18History and Technology of Deep Sea Exploration (SpeakerTBD)
newsletter from Woods Hole
Mythbusters video on implosion
Ballard talk (18m)
TedK
#19Sleep Deprivation: A meeting to stay awake for.
SciAm article 8/16/2023: why one sleepless night makes people emotionally fragile; video possibilities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_irU28cajj4 . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqONk48l5vY . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9SiyStcIU8 . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F39IBJZlsek TED talk
JohnR
#20History and Practice of Heart Surgery and MedicationJohnR
#21Predictions for 2035 (Quantum Supremacy, or others)
#22NASA speaker: NASA TechnologyJerry
#23The History of Technical Developments that made an impactDavidK
#24Talks at Google https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbmNph6atAoGfqLoCL_duAgJohnR
#25Retro Technology, how it works and how to use. Sliderule, rotary telephone, abacus, etcJohnR
#26Alarm systems you can buy/rent and the systems and webcams you can install yourself. How they work, best choices, etc.
#27Discuss https://www.wired.com/story/antitrust-case-against-apple-weaponizes-the-cult-of-cupertino/



Video Possibilities

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  1. Cryptocurrency and the IRS: What No One Knew About Taxes [24min]
    Bob offered to do a bit of digging into “Crypto Culture” (social psychology of the crypto craze) and recent exchange collapses. (How they collapsed and whether this appears to experts to be a real bubble bursting or something else. BobP, Harry to update us on crypto basics.
  2. Why Craters are Round (Neil deGrasse Tyson explains; need to turn out the “comedian”) [~14min]
  3. Other Mark Rober youtube videos (he did Squirrel vid) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY1kMZp36IQSyNx_9h4mpCg
  4. How James Webb Telescope Orbits Nothing [15m] (LarryW recommended)
  5. Diary for a Pandemic Year (8m) (Dick Wagner)
    A composition prepared for the MIT commencement of 2021 using layering of tracks. The visuals may bring back memories.
  6. Secret Windows Features, Wifi passwords, HDMI Cables & Ports, and more, part of Tech for Seniors (from 3/21/2022, episode 104) (1h11m)
  7. Black Holes: Seeing the Unseeable (60min; World Science Festival) (John Rudy)
    Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is observing black holes; latest achievement is first image of supermassive black hole in the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Video explores the breakthroughs.(this video dated around June 2022)
  8. Physics of the Future (39m) Dr. Michio Kaku (John Rudy)
    John R. to f/u. Technical topics brought down to a layman's perspective. Sabine Hassenfelder – Dan K. could give refs. Would need someone to look into these videos and choose some examples. MIT Frank Milchuk(sp?). More advanced topics. See next item.
  9. Can we tell if there's a wormhole in the Milky Way? (5m) by the scientific skeptic, Sabine Hossenfelder
  10. 2020 Fusion progress at Tokamak Energy (5m) (1/4/2021) (Larry Wittig)
    .
  11. Breakthrough in nuclear fusion? (1h39m) (2/24/2016 by Prof. Dennis Whyte of MIT) (Larry Wittig)
  12. Strange Items (18.5m) (John Rudy)
  13. Is the Universe really a hologram? (11m) by the scientific skeptic, Sabine Hossenfelder
  14. Why can't anything go faster than the speed of light? History of the speed of light part II (12m) Dr. Becky speaks (Barry Kort)
    mostly about relativity with maybe 5 seconds on why you can't go faster than speed of light [smi] GeorgeG additional material and fup
  15. Quantum Entanglement and Action at a Distance on Video. Suggested by Ted. K. Dick W. could give his follow-up impressions after the videos.
  16. Lisa Randall at Harvard – particle physics. (Dan Kleppner)
  17. A Hackers Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules and How to Bend Them Back (Bruce Schneier) a Harvard Science Book Talk Series Lecture (59m)
  18. uniform circular motion 18.5m suggested by our own Charles Holbrow.
  19. perfect husband (1m) a bit off-topic
  20. 7 into 28 (LouC) (3.5m) a bit off-topic
  21. New Office Math (1m) a bit off-topic
  22. Quantum Fields the Real Building Blocks of the Universe TedK
  23. Brian Greene “World Science Festival”



Rich Ralston suggested topics

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Website for MIT Lincoln Lab: http://www.ll.mit.edu Surf this yourselves to see if areas of R&D or system development would be of interest to you and the LCTG. LL develops technology which, as it matures, is incorporated into a prototype subsystem or system to demonstrate new capabilities for transfer to industry for government use. Intellectual property can be licensed by MIT for commercial applications

Some topics I (Rich Ralston) propose within the next year, including the August 21 meeting.

  1. (Low noise moved to 6/29/2022)
  2. Flash LIDAR (LADAR) with single-photon sensitivity for rapid 3-D imaging with applications from look-through-foliage military surveillance to self-driving vehicles. (~90 minutes) – not to be recorded for later viewing
    Dr. Simon Verghese, head of Waymo’s (Google) sensor development for self-driving cars. In their 5th generation, the sensors are designed to meet the challenging requirements of moving people and goods safely and efficiently in dense cities and on highways. The goal is to make them affordable while meeting the performance needed for driverless operation in various applications and weather conditions. The talk will review some history of the project and describe a few use-cases for sensors and machine learning on Waymo vehicles.
  3. High-sensitivity passive IR focal planes for wide-area surveillance. (Copious Imaging, a spin off in Lexington from LL). (~45 minutes)
  4. Bio-agent warning sensor with single aerosol particle sensitivity. (~45 minutes)
  5. Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond for quantum sensing. (~45 minutes)



Topic ideas needing speakers

Click to show topics needing speakers

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  1. home theater, camera monitor, media player
  2. Headsets and cameras for Zoom; auxiliary microphones?
  3. Your experience with Raspberry or other tiny computer
  4. Troubleshoot your Internet connectivity
  5. Utilities, for a utilities meeting
  6. Construction of the new Suez Canal
  7. Railway Car identification (George Burnell; Greg Sheehan)
  8. “Book Review” of Walter Isaacson’s book Code Breaker about the competing CRISPR teams. Maybe we can bring back Allan Kleinman
  9. Backup Strategies, ranging from the kinds of backup we use (Data, System Image, Cloud, other) to how to make and maintain (and test) our backups, and what the various hardware and software options are for making and maintaining a reliable backup.



Orphaned (scheduled, but couldn't be presented then)

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  1. Computational Photography - changing what's used as a camera. link e.g., replacing DSLR with cellphones; more (Jonathan Goode?, Harry Forsdick?) (needs a lead)
  2. How one builds a web application (e.g., using spreadsheets) (Harry Forsdick)
  3. (Harry) Getting Streaming Programming Into Your TV (what to do when your TV just isn't smart enough)
  4. [orig sched 7/28/2021] CERN and the Hadron Collider. History, Why It Was Built, Hoped Outcomes, Discovery of Bison, What is Next (Harvey Newman, professor Cal Tech). Harvey will introduce the status and outlook for the LHC, its past and present and near term outlook, and provide a panorama of the future including some of the leading programs. (John Rudy)
  5. [orig sched 8/25/2021] Archeology presented by Jeffrey Rose (archeologist) in Israel (Stan Rose)
    Stan R to fup
2022.12.07 17:36

Past Meetings

2020

DateTopic and links
Jan 8, 2020 Ig Nobel 2019 Awards awards for dubious inventions (Peter Albin) link to Improbable Research page watch the presentation
Jan 15, 2020[1] How we accomplished the change from Yahoo Groups and using the new system (30min, Steve Isenberg) Slides
[2] Windows Security Settings and Windows 7 Anti-Malware (30min, Gary Patrick) Slides
[3] Alternatives to TV servers: new ways of getting programming (30min, Steve Isenberg) Slides . 2010 NY Times article . Spreadsheet shows service vs content
[1] Watch the presentation
[2] Watch the presentation
[3] Watch the presentation
Jan 22, 2020Tesla-Marconi conflict their radio-related patent war from 1900-1943 (Bob Primak) Presentation notesWatch the presentation
Jan 29, 2020Potpourri Ken Cutter spoke on UFO's slideset and the history behind speed of light measurements slideset.
John Rudy showed a video from Broad Institute (pronounced, bro-awd): Overall view of Broad Institute and the presentation we watched, human genome revolution past, present, and future.
John Rudy mentioned that there are some MOOC classes on introduction to biology, see info at this edx link (MOOC=Massive Open Online Course)
Feb 5, 2020Career Day Attendees discuss interesting things from their career. Watch the discussion
Feb 12, 2020Space Update (George Gamota)
Feb 19, 2020Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad AI This is a later presentation, and therefore improved over an earlier presentation.
(John Rudy will coordinate.)
watch the video
Feb 26, 2020Patents – What they are, a brief history of patents, how to read them, and how to obtain them watch the presentation
Mar 4, 2020Patent Licensing from Universities (Lita Nelson) watch the presentation
Mar 11, 2020Geodesy, its properties and tools, presented by Mike Pearlman of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Program on Geodesy
Geodesy is the science of accurately measuring and understanding three fundamental properties of the Earth: its geometric shape, its orientation in space, and its gravity field— as well as the changes of these properties with time.
Space Geodesy uses sources external to the Earth: artificial satellites (in satellite geodesy), quasars (in very-long-baseline interferometry, VLBI), and the retroreflectors on the Moon (in lunar laser ranging) to measure these static and time varying properties.
Of current interest are measurements to monitor geodetic parameters and their temporal variations in a global reference frame with a target relative accuracy of 10E-9 – 10E-10, for both scientific understanding of the Earth system and understanding their potential impact on society
Fundamental to these measurements is a reference frame that provides stability over space, time, and evolving technology.
watch the presentation
Mar 18, 2020Tracking New Diseases: Medical issues incl Vaping (Jerry Slate) watch the presentation
Mar 25, 2020Patents for high technology (and when not to have them) (Dick Wagner) watch the presentation
Apr 1, 20203D Printing and Robotics in Industry: An Update (George Burnell) 3D Printers fighting Coronavirus (link from PeterA)watch the presentation
chat messages
Apr 8, 2020Christine Muir, Community Librarian at Cary Library, will demonstrate how to access all the online resources offered by the library. There is no fee for any of these resources, which include ebooks, digital audiobooks, movies, music, TV shows, newspapers, and more. watch the presentation
Apr 15, 2020Futurism We started with something different (Cute Brother and Sister); and then
a couple of videos by/with Amy Webb (a quantitative futurist, professor of strategic foresight at the NYU Stern School of Business and founder of the Future Today Institute)
Ted Talk on hacking online dating (17 mins)
presenting the 2019 Emerging Tech Trends Report (60 minutes) at SXSW in March 2019
relevant links for your offline reference include https://amywebb.io/
There were several links shown during the videos: http://bit.ly/FTI2019TechTrends (this links to the 2020 report), http://bit.ly/SXSW2019TechTrends, and the “TWiT” program we watched at the end http://twit.tv/subscribe (and there's lots to subscribe to!!) and http://twit.tv/live
Apr 22, 2020Potpourri Gary Patrick with information on Encryption and some Utilities.
Charly Sestokas with computer buying tips, etc; HD vs SSD; SD Longevity; MS Surface;
plus Potential House Fires from Phone, Tablet, Laptop, other Electronic Charging setups
watch the presentation
the presentation with captions
slides
chat messages
Apr 29, 2020The Science behind Columbus (Bob Melanson)
Bob finishes this up on July 15
watch the presentation
slides
May 6, 2020The Manhattan Project first part (Charles Holbrow)watch the presentation
May 13, 2020Nuclear Power Generation (David Kahan)slides
watch the presentation
May 20, 2020Boost-Phase Defense against ICBMs presented by Dan Kleppner.
Because little was known publicly about the Bush proposal, the American Physical Society initiated a study. Our presenter was co-chair of the study group. Although the study is fifteen years old, little has changed.
slides
watch the presentation
May 27, 2020George Burnell Part II
Continuation/conclusion of George Burnell's earlier presentation on 3D printing
watch the presentation
June 3, 2020The Manhattan Project - part 2 (Charles Holbrow)watch the presentation
June 10, 2020Potpourii NY Times article dealing with privacy (Peter Albin)
Phone tracking of people (Charlie Holbrow)
The Immortal (BBC program)
(not recorded)
June 17, 2020Sabermetrics The Statistical Analysis of Baseball (Andy Andres)
Andy Andres is a senior lecturer of natural science at the Boston University College of General Studies who is an expert in exercise physiology, nutritional biochemistry and baseball. In addition to the work listed above, Andres writes, lectures, and speaks to the media about the effects of steroids on baseball players, and he teaches a course at Tufts University in sabermetrics, the data-driven analysis of baseball performance. These pursuits allow the lifelong Red Sox fan and athlete to synthesize his twin loves: baseball and scientific inquiry. Andres is also an MLB datacaster at Fenway Park, a Data Analyst for BaseballHQ.com and Head Coach/Lead instructor for the MIT Science of Baseball Program. In the spring of 2014, Andres will teach a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) titled “Sabermetrics 101: Introduction to Baseball Analytics” on the edX platform.
SABR: Society of American Baseball Research
watch the presentation
June 24, 2020MOOC Massive Open Online Courses – What's there, what's new. (John Rudy, Charlie Holbrow)
Broken into three presentations: John's talk on available MOOCs, Charlie's talk on MOOCs, and Q&A discussion.
Slidesets to the right.
slides/rudy
slides/holbrow
watch the presentation
July 1, 2020Variety Special with Bob Primak and John Rudy on SUMo updater, other topics presented by Steve Isenberg including: Getting loads of music files legally for free after inexpensive application purchase; Video on Deepfakes (how it's done), and a video on Virus Mobility (a haha). Here are links to what we presented and displayed:
Updater apps: SUMo Application Updater (Win) [SUMo Details] Ninite Windows Application Updater
Download/convert apps: Any Video Converter - Downloads YouTube vids and converts formats (Win, Mac) 4K Video Downloader
Listen/Watch/Record apps: RadioTracker - download music from Internet (Win) Audials, extension of RadioTracker, music and video download and more (Win)
Videos played: How Deepfakes Work A Virus Walks into a Bar
SUMo slides
[presentation]
July 8, 20205G and Internet of Things in the Age of Coronavirus (Bob Primak)
Slides References 5G Networks 5G Spectrum Bands
watch the presentation
July 15, 2020Potpourri
last part of Bob Melanson's Columbus presentation started on 4/29
Q&A from Bob Primak's talk last week, 7/8
Onboard automotive diagnostics (Bill Quinn) slides
[presentation]
July 22, 2020Video on Secrets of the lost Antikythera; A 2000 year old computer. (Jonathan Goode) link.
Brief intro to using Davinci Resolve to produce a slideshow video (Steve Isenberg)
July 29, 2020Frontline AI part 1 (AI for the Masses) Frontline: In the Age of AI
Related articles (thanks Peter) T-Shirt makes you invisible NIST looks into face mask effects on face recognition

2019

DateLink to Video(s)Slides/notes
Dec 25, 2019Christmas - no meeting
Your homework is to celebrate the good things in life.
Dec 18, 2019Potpourri John Rudy continues AI in Medicine; Steve Isenberg on Cloud File Storage Options
Dec 11, 2019 AI in Medicine MIT Alum Newsletter AI in Medical Care
Dec 4, 2019 Tech trends and holiday gift ideas (Peter Albin and Bob Primak) Watch the presentation Slides
Nov 27, 2019 Happy Thanksgiving! No meeting.
Nov 20, 2019 Dark Web. “The legitimate uses of TOR, which is the software on which the so-called Dark Web runs.
Or, if more interesting, a tour of the Dark Web“ https://darkwebtours.weebly.com/ Watch the presentation
Nov 13, 2019 Steering committee
Nov 6, 2019 Backup Strategies (Peter Albin) Watch the presentationSlides
Oct 30, 2019 Space colonies in Solar Orbit
The book describing our design study is available at:
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2016/ph240/martelaro2/docs/nasa-sp-413.pdf
Watch the Presentation
Charlie's handout
Oct 23, 2019 Tesla vs Edison (Bob Primak) Watch the presentation Bob's paper
Oct 16, 2019 Potpourri:
Flying Saucers – from material written by George Adamski;
Deep Fakes video;
Windows 10 tips (askwoody.com, you may need to become a member with voluntary paid membership; Backing up your device drivers; Getting those old games back into Win10, like FreeCell, Hearts, Solitaire, Chess, Minesweeper; discussion on when to and not to update to “the latest” Win10 release (consider: consult askwoody.com which today advises NOT to patch MS patches.) Gary's slides
Oct 9, 2019 Yom Kippur, no meeting
Oct 2, 2019 Science/Technology Rivalries: Newton vs. Liebnitz vs. Hooke (Charlie Holbrow) Watch the presentation (note: video is missing for part of the presentation) handout
Sept 25, 2019 Application of physics techniques to biology. Gene Surfing and Survival of the Luckiest, David Nelson, Professor of Physics, Harvard (friend of Harry Forsdick). Population waves have played a crucial role in evolutionary history, as in the “out of Africa” hypothesis for human ancestry. Population geneticists and physicists are now developing methods for understanding how mutations, number fluctuations and selective advantages play out in such situations watch the presentation
Sept 18, 2019 Cogito. A few weeks ago Mitch Wolfe sent out two very thought provoking links regarding the new science of voice technology, including what can be gathered by voice analysis using AI. We are fortunate to have Ali Azarbayejani, Cogito's CTO, visit and speak with us about the technology used by this local company which makes software that analyzes phone conversations and provides real-time guidance to help service employees better engage and connect with customers. Watch the presentation
Sept 11, 2019 Jonathan Goode discusses many interesting (and amazing) computer details including fonts
Bob Primak on the Laser Scanning of St Pauls Cathedral and an update on the cleanup of Notre Dame Cathedral
Notes on Bob's talk
High lead levels found in Notre Dame WSJ Article, Reconstruction work is on hold due to lead
Sept 4, 2019 AI for People in a Hurry (short) and Setting Rules for the AI Race, plus a pre and post view discussion. Meeting led by Larry Wittig.
Aug 28, 2019 Dava Sobel’s Google talk on “The Glass Universe”, women in Science (a Google Talk video)
JohnR will introduce the subject and speaker, we'll watch the video, and discuss it and related topics afterwards
see also Constructing the Glass Universe by Dava Sobel. Additional info on and about this topic, by Gary Patrick–includes comments on the video and more.
Aug 21, 2019 “UNIX, Linux - Origins, History, Ongoing Futures”, a talk presented by Charly Sestokas (note, talk will not be recorded)
plus a 30-minute video about SpaceX, presented by George Gamota
Aug 14, 2019 Potpourri.
Eli Brookner finishes his talk on Radar and Einstein
CharlyS on Storage (not recorded).
How to use LexMedia to view videos on demand
Aug 7, 2019 Eli Brookner "Snoopy on Radar & Phased Arrays & Einstein's Duality Theory – An Update." part 1 (90 min)
July 31, 2019 Eight Days to the Moon and Back - focus on Apollo 11 [George Gamota]
July 24, 2019Breaking the WWII Enigma Machine (Material from the April 2019 Lexington Veteran’s meeting, search LexMedia On Demand for “Enigma”) [Rudy]
July 17, 2019Potpourri including Steve Isenberg on virtual credit cards, space elevators, and more (planningpage) recording of presentation
July 10, 2019Apple Computer, History and Devices, by Josh Turiel see the presentation
July 3, 2019No Meeting due to Holiday
June 26, 2019Update on 5G (Bob Primak) see the presentation
June 19, 2019Black Hole 60-minute video (Gamota) plus
June 12, 2019 From talks at Google Frank Abagnale: "Catch Me If You Can"
and A new way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere (Jennifer Wilcox)
June 5, 20193D Reconstruction. Used for churches and other buildings. (Bob Primak)
May 29, 2019Potpourri including Y2K. What was it, why did it happen, was it real? (John Rudy) and Gary Patrick on Windows Issues
May 22, 2019Potpourri. Showed several movies. Vaccines calling shots
The Ingenious Design of the Aluminum Beverage Can
The strange tale of the Norden bombsight
May 15, 2019Career stories. Come prepared to tell us about your technical experiences.
(We have done this 2-3 times before; but not recently).
https://www.pbs.org/video/nova-vaccinescalling-shots/
May 8, 2019Ray Kurzweil + Disruptive Technologies and Dangerous Ideas Singularity University co-founder, Google AI Director and noted futurist Ray Kurzweil joined Peter H. Diamandis for a 90-minute Ask Me Anything, all aimed at providing you an unfair advantage for your business.https://youtu.be/SaOfLtoaKqw
May 1, 2019Potpourri and Steering Committee
April 24, 2019Documentary on Neil ArmstrongGamota
April 17, 2019History of the World in 100 Objects (continued). We listened to The mechanical galleon, Mexican codex map, Ship's chronometer from HMS Beagle, and Solar powered lamp and chargerBritish Museum site
BBC site
April 10, 2019Madame Curie video about Madame Curie and the Curie family, presented by Charlie Holbrow. Madame Curie and the Curie family will focus on her and her daughter and their characters and discoveries and how they fit into the sequence of dramatic developments in physics between the discovery of radioactivity in 1897 and the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938. This will include some description of Lise Meitner's role in these developments and a brief mention of why she didn't get a Nobel for the discovery of nuclear fission.
For those interested, Amazon has the movie Radioactive about Marie Curie's work (free to Amazon Prime members)
handout that wasn't handed out How the Curies' piezo device worked and measured small electric current
April 3, 2019Showing the 2014 AI movie Ex Machina: A young programmer is selected to participate
in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic (artificial) intelligence (AI) by evaluating
the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid. Very intriguing movie.
FYI, the movie is available on NetFlix.
March 27, 2019Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) interview with Frank Heart (who in 1969 led the team of BBN engineers that created the ARPANET).
slightly shortened version
slides
March 20, 2019George Gamota shows video "Journey through the Milky Way"
And relating to the end of the program, info on Detecting Dark Matter
New: Milky Way Bulge
March 13, 2019Password Managers
Slides (with links) for the presentation
Will your password stand up to a cracker?
Is your password or account info out on the web?
Newsletter 4/15/2019 discussing password managers
Related info
About Keeper Password Manager
Keeper website screenshots
March 6, 2019History of the World in 100 items. Presenting a representative sample of the 100-part series of 15 podcasts by Neil MacGregor during his time as Director of the British Museum that explores world history from 2 million years ago to the present. We listened to The Flood Tablet, Hebrew Astrolabe, and Ming Bank Note. British Museum site
BBC site
February 27, 2019George Gamota presents "2018 Space Events/Discoveries" plus 10 minute update on "Trump's Science Appointees"Space Update slides
Trump Science Appointees slides
February 20, 2019Charlie presents the first of 3 talks on quantum physics, today's subject is "why wave-particle duality makes such a disturbing theory necessary"Powerpoint slides
Wave Particle outline -- Why we need quantum mechanics
February 13, 2019Windows System Maintenance and Updating (Bob Primak) part 1PDF of Bob's slides
February 6, 2019The Power Grid (presented by Jackie Zajac)PDF of Jackie's slides
January 30, 20192019 lg Nobel awards ceremony (presenter Peter Albin)
Awards Ceremony Improbable Research home
“Research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK”
January 23, 2019Shown:
TED Talk String theory - Brian Greene
The greatest dance sequence ever
The best stats you've ever seen
The tyranny of the rocket equation
Not shown but of possible interest
TED Talk Why is our universe fine-tuned for life? - Brian Greene
10 Fascinating Examples of Unintended Consequences
January 16, 2019Mathematics of Weight Loss
10 Times Michio Kaku Arguments Blew Our Minds
TED Talk The freakonomics of McDonalds vs Drugs by Steve Levitt
January 9, 2019Michael Rosenblatt, MD on "Ways That Wartime Injuries Have Influenced Civilian Medical Practice"link to slides on Yahoo

2018

Software Maybe of Interest

Neither the Lexington Computer and Technology Group nor the author of this Wiki page guarantee the application(s) listed here. While we have investigated and tried them ourselves, they come with no guarantee.

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LCTG announcement sending process The group meets weekly on Wednesdays, 10am online. (It has previously met at the Lexington Community Center, 39 Marrett Road, Lexington but has suspended these in-person meetings during the Covid-19 situation.)
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