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Speaker schedule page . Potential Topics (for later scheduling)
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.
For further information contact the group coordinators by email at LCTG@toku.us. We look forward to have you join us!
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Upcoming Meetings
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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 2024.09.25 19:05
recents
Recently produced meeting videos you can watch now:
::UPCOMING MEETINGS::
Date | Topic | confirmed | Followups |
---|---|---|---|
September 25, 2024 | GASP Planning session (Gigantic Allhands Scheduling and Planning) chat messages | Online only | |
October 2, 2024 | IgNoble 2024 (Peter) | ||
October 9, 2024 | Inspiring the next generation: Women’s Technology Program in Mechanical Engineering at M.I.T. (Barbara Hughey) [needs confirmation] | DanK, PeterA | |
October 16, 2024 | Tech for Senior(s) Topic(s) | Peter & Drew (finders), Steve(editor) | |
October 23, 2024 | Potpourri TedK and his smart bowl of jelly video: the genius of the quantum navigation breakthrough (20m; TedK) Steve's research on Cell Services and/or Network Speed Requirements | ||
October 30, 2024 | Talks at Google (Peter lead) | ||
November 6, 2024 | OBS Studio (Drew) Secret topic (Harry) | ||
November 13, 2024 | History and Practice of Heart Surgery and Medication (Geltman) | John | |
November 20, 2024 | NAS (Network Attached Storage) and Docker Apps. Plex server. (Drew, maybe Seth Silverman) | ||
November 27, 2024 | day before Thanksgiving | ||
December 4, 2024 | Potpourri | ||
December 11, 2024 | GASP Planning session (Gigantic Allhands Scheduling and Planning) | ||
December 18, 2024 | Tuberculosis in the 1800s and how it applies to today (JerryS) | ||
December 25, 2024 | Christmas day | ||
January 1, 2025 | New Year's Day | ||
January 8, 2025 | Dick Wagner on Sociobiology | ||
January 15, 2025 | Practical Fusion Power update and Challenges: breeding and handling Tritium (TedK) | ||
January 22, 2025 | Potpourri | ||
January 29, 2025 | (tentative) Astronomy update (Gamota) | JohnR | |
February 5, 2025 | Sabine Hossenfelder day | Barry | |
February 12, 2025 | Brian Greene day | John | |
February 19, 2025 | Curated interesting video shorts | Steve with help | |
February 26, 2025 | |||
March 5, 2025 | |||
March 12, 2025 | |||
March 19, 2025 | |||
March 26, 2025 |
Past Meetings
Click to expand and see the year's meetings and their recordings
2020
hidden Click to expand and see calendar year 2020 topics>
Date | Topic 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, 2020 | Tesla-Marconi conflict their radio-related patent war from 1900-1943 (Bob Primak) Presentation notes | Watch the presentation | |
Jan 29, 2020 | Potpourri 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, 2020 | Career Day Attendees discuss interesting things from their career. | Watch the discussion | |
Feb 12, 2020 | Space Update (George Gamota) | ||
Feb 19, 2020 | Who’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, 2020 | Patents – What they are, a brief history of patents, how to read them, and how to obtain them | watch the presentation | |
Mar 4, 2020 | Patent Licensing from Universities (Lita Nelson) | watch the presentation | |
Mar 11, 2020 | Geodesy, 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, 2020 | Tracking New Diseases: Medical issues incl Vaping (Jerry Slate) | watch the presentation | 45 |
Mar 25, 2020 | Patents for high technology (and when not to have them) (Dick Wagner) | watch the presentation | 44 |
Apr 1, 2020 | 3D Printing and Robotics in Industry: An Update (George Burnell) 3D Printers fighting Coronavirus (link from PeterA) | watch the presentation chat messages | 45 |
Apr 8, 2020 | Christine 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 | 41 |
Apr 15, 2020 | Futurism 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 | 41 | |
Apr 22, 2020 | Potpourri 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 | 42 |
Apr 29, 2020 | The Science behind Columbus (Bob Melanson) Bob finishes this up on July 15 | watch the presentation slides | 36 |
May 6, 2020 | The Manhattan Project first part (Charles Holbrow) | watch the presentation | 58 |
May 13, 2020 | Nuclear Power Generation (David Kahan) | slides watch the presentation | 47 |
May 20, 2020 | Boost-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 | 46 |
May 27, 2020 | George Burnell Part II Continuation/conclusion of George Burnell's earlier presentation on 3D printing | watch the presentation | 26 |
June 3, 2020 | The Manhattan Project - part 2 (Charles Holbrow)slides | watch the presentation | 46 |
June 10, 2020 | Potpourii NY Times article dealing with privacy (Peter Albin) Phone tracking of people (Charlie Holbrow) The Immortal (BBC program) | (not recorded) | 42 |
June 17, 2020 | Sabermetrics 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 | 33 |
June 24, 2020 | MOOC 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 | 40 |
July 1, 2020 | Variety 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 watch the presentation | 38 |
July 8, 2020 | 5G and Internet of Things in the Age of Coronavirus (Bob Primak) Slides References 5G Networks 5G Spectrum Bands | watch the presentation | 41 |
July 15, 2020 | Potpourri last part of Bob Melanson's Columbus presentation started on 4/29 The Physics of Sailing Q&A from Bob Primak's 5G talk last week, 7/8 Onboard automotive diagnostics (Bill Quinn) slides | watch the presentation | 42 |
July 22, 2020 | Video 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) | 42 | |
July 29, 2020 | Frontline 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 | 34 | |
August 5, 2020 | Back to the Basics – Office Tools Interesting Excel Spreadsheet uses (Jonathan) neat applications of functions (SteveI) Sample spreadsheet (Excel version) and LibreOffice (.ods) version | watch the Presentation | 44 |
August 12, 2020 | More on AI. The Rise of Artificial Intelligence | 27 | |
August 19, 2020 | How to Build a Time Machine What Happens When You Respond to Spam (Peter Albin presented) | 26 | |
August 26, 2020 | Myths and Facts on Climate Change - a non-alarmist perspective Presented by Shelly Lowenthal who says: “I developed a class on climate change that I give to life long learning organizations. It’s part of my History Course that I present. … There is science involved.” Shelly recommends that you watch Michael Moore's movie on YouTube, “Planet of the Humans” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE (1hr 40min) before the meeting. It is a documentary on wind and solar green energy. Here's a 37 second teaser for the movie:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXCftKF4uI | watch the presentation | 42 |
Sept 2, 2020 | Count Rumford and his 18th Century Technology Innovationns Dan Kleppner: Quite a few years ago I became interested in Benjamin Thompson (1752-1814) , aka Count Rumford. He was a great applied scientist and we owe much of our modern domestic technology to him: the kitchen range, double boiler, layered clothing and thermal underwear, steam heating,…. He was the first person to clearly understand all the modes of heat transfer. He was a public benefactor, initiated poor houses in many European cities, and he founded the Royal Institution in London which supported the research of Michael Faraday His career was a series of rags to riches. He would be better remembered if it were not for a character flaw: he antagonized everyone he dealt with to such a degree that he had to flee the country time and again. | watch the presentation | 41 |
Sept 9, 2020 | Blind Bombing by Norman Fine “I found this book spellbinding and with insight into the development of a new and advanced secret radar system that permitted the allies to penetrate through inclement weather and enable the allies to reverse the dominance of the Nazis at the onset of WWII. Blind Bombing has a warm sensitive side, in that Norman Fine’s uncle (Stanley) brought the first production model of the new airborne radar system to Europe permitting allied bombers to destroy factories supplying the German forces that were usually obscured by overcast weather”. | watch the presentation slides | 30 |
Sept 16, 2020 | Potpourri Outdoor Movie Nights and Netflix Party (George Gamota/20-30min) Update of Elon Musk's Starlink Satellite Internet Project (Bob Primak/15-20 min) harvesting spaghetti | [presentation soon] | 34 |
Sept 23, 2020 | The future of music – production and delivery by Charles J Holbrow (CJH). What can we learn about the future or music and music technology by looking at the past? I will present examples that illustrate the evolution of musical ideas and technologies from their conception to how they have influenced and continue to influence popular music today. I will describe how popular music is created today and review some research-stage music production technologies that aim to influence the current music production paradigms. As part of my PhD studies at the MIT Media Lab, I am developing software to enable a new kind of online musical collaboration and distribution. I will conclude by showing you an early example of this software Who is CJH? His early education was in Germany. His high school was the Sudbury Valley School, an alternative school in Sudbury, MA. After a year at Middlesex Community College, he transferred to UMass Lowell where he majored in sound recording technology and performance (piano). Following jobs developing software for games, he took up an internship at MIT's Opera of the Future program with noted composer Prof. Tod Machover. Subsequently, CJH was admitted into MIT's Media Arts and Sciences program from which he expects soon to receive a Ph.D. He is Charlie Holbrow's grandson. The Media Timeline: Use mouse to zoom in/out; on Apple trackpad, two-finger up/down gesture to zoom; click and drag to pan the view. | watch the presentation slides | 40 |
Sept 30, 2020 | Covid-19 Update (Jerry Slate) | watch the presentation | 50 |
Oct 7, 2020 | Producing a TV Show using DaVinci Resolve (Steve Isenberg) | watch the presentation | 33 |
Oct 14, 2020 | The CAC Ken Pogran tells about the Lexington Communications Advisory Committee. How did it start, what are its responsibilities, what are today's issues. | [presentation soon] | 27 |
Oct 21, 2020 | Harry Forsdick: ARPAnet & Internet Conferencing | [presentation soon] | 39 |
Oct 28, 2020 | Potpourri Slide Rules (remember them?) (Ken Schwarz) The Saga of John Rudy's New TV A bit on Zoom Webinars (John Rudy)\\Recycling electronics (John Rudy) Nuclear R&D Progress Update (David Kahan) | [presentation soon] | 41 |
Nov 4, 2020 | Atomic Clocks (Dan Kleppner) | watch the presentation | 37 |
Nov 11, 2020 | Atomic Clocks (part 2) by Dan Kleppner followed by (and not in recorded presentation) mRNA: Transforming Medicine | watch the presentation | 27 |
Nov 18, 2020 | Speech Input and Translation. George Gamota on Google Translate. Peter Albin on history of translation and voice recognition. Jerry Slate discusses and demonstrates Naturally Speaking. Video on Amazon Transcribe Amazon Transcribe is Now Generally Available | [presentation soon] | 44 |
Nov 25, 2020 | Vacation/no meeting | ||
Dec 2, 2020 | Potpourri One man's attempt to build a squirrel-impervious bird feeder (from John Rudy/20 min) Sand on the Table - Harmonics Ted Talk: Is Translation Easy? (17 min) How Trees Talk to Each Other (Suzanne Simard) (found by CharlieH) (18 min) | (not recorded) | 26 |
Dec 9, 2020 | Sara Seager/Distinguished MIT Professor in Physics, Astronomy, Earth Science on Venus (the planet) 1hr Scientific approach to, yes, defogging your car's windows (by the Squirrel guy) | (not recorded) | 34 |
Dec 16, 2020 | Acoustic Detection & Localization of an Active Shooter or Sniper presented by Tony Galaitsis Deranged shooters and terrorist or enemy snipers have been a concern for a long time. Technological advances over the past few decades have used gunfire acoustic information to detect and localize active shooters and snipers in order to prevent or minimize their deadly impact. This presentation reviews the general state of acoustic shooter/sniper detection and localization, based on publicly available information found on the internet (YouTube videos, Wikipedia, manufacturer brochures, and published papers/patents) and some basic geometry. | watch the presentation | 29 |
Dec 23, 2020 | Vacation - Enjoy the holidays! | ||
Dec 30, 2020 | Career stories (update). People with careers during which interesting (and now unclassified) things have happened. Mistakes made, lessons learned. Learn from: Carl Laxarus, Bill Haley, Mike Alexander, Dick Wagner, George Burnell, David Kahan, and Dan Kleppner | watch the presentation | 37 |
</hidden>
2019
2018
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In the Works – Potential Topics
Topic Possibilities
Video Possibilities
Rich Ralston suggested topics
Topic ideas needing speakers
Orphaned (scheduled, but couldn't be presented then)
Links to Interesting Stuff
- Artificially mimicking people's voices and selfies. Fortune magazine has been publishing recent articles about “deepfakes” and combating them. Artificial intelligence algorithms put convincing speech into video and audio clips. For example, “revenge porn” has been constructed by pasting women's heads onto porn actress bodies. There is also potential for fraud by impostors. See: https://fortune.com/2019/07/24/fighting-deepfakes-gets-real/ and https://fortune.com/tag/deepfakes/
- Leap day. Leap year. Meridian. And more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJhgZBn-LHg
- [humor] Buddy Hacket and the 3-legged chicken. Cows and horns. The duck. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aww4HT5g7ig
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.
Other items and discussions
New Email List
LCTG Management Team
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.)
LCTG Email List Joining Process