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lexingtoncomputergroup

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This page https://LCTG.toku.us last changed 2022.06.29 12:13 Visits: [16 times today, 40 times yesterday, and 51101 total times]
Speaker schedule page . Potential Topics (for later scheduling)

We have a YouTube channel where you can easily see all of our recorded presentations. Click to see LCTG's Videos.

jump to UPCOMING MEETINGS schedule
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Info for Speakers

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

Jump to view presentations by year

2022 . 2021 . 2020 . 2019 . 2018



Future Meetings Schedule

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

Past Meetings

2022

click to show Jan-June 2022 past meetings

Click to hide Jan-June 2022 meetings

DateTopic and linksAttaches#
Jan 5, 2022Best of Freakonomics, an interview with Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, moderated by Faith Salie. Recorded at the 92nd Street Y on May 2015. 26
Jan 12, 2022Downdraft Radar Technology (Dr. Jim Evans) video shown as part of presentation Slides Downdraft Radar Presentation 35
Jan 19, 2022Quantum Mechanics Part 1 (Charlie Holbrow) Quantum Mechanics presentation39
Jan 26, 2022Potpourri
* Meandering Rivers (John Rudy) Concord River is a good example. e.g., https://www.ausableriver.org/blog/why-do-streams-meander Mark Twain and Fenimore Cooper
* Sweet Summations in Short (Charlie Holbrow)
* Single Slit Interference Explained (Bob Melanson)
Meandering Rivers presentation
Sweet Summations presentation
Slit Interference presentation
36
Feb 2, 2022Manufacturing Chips (Dan Gamota, son of our George, works for a chip manufacturer)Chip Manufacturer presentation 40
Feb 9, 2022Virus package update; both real-time (e.g., Defender) and off-line (e.g., Malware Bytes). Consider Windows 10 & Windows 11(TPM), but also Mac/OSX.
presentation notes SE Labs tests
How a guy hacked a crypto wallet (32m)
Virus Update Presentation 31
Feb 16, 2022Potpourri
Charlie Holbrow explains Lagrangian points, especially L2.
Followup to Virus topic: Browser Guards (Drew King) slides
Lagrangian Points presentation
Browser Guards presentation
34
Feb 23, 2022planning meeting no presentation 16
Mar 2, 2022 10amGeorge Gamota Space Update Space Update presentation30
Mar 2, 2022 7pmManaging File Size - for Photos, email, PDF documents, etc. (Allan Sherman)
Allan was the lead of this group in the past and is well respected by those who know, or meet, him. He also discusses his life in New Zealand for the past two years.
Managing File Size presentation27
Mar 9, 2022 The secret of Tuxedo Park (PBS American Experience) [53m]
Where did "Tuxedo" come from?[5m]
25
Mar 16, 2022 Potpourri
Upgrading to Windows 11 and getting around the Windows 11 machine requirements (Drew)
Feynman: Fun to Imagine (Jiggling Atoms, Fire, and Rubber Bands)
How to build a tin can (12m)
The Physics of Curling (11m)
How Curling Stones are Made (6m)
slides from Windows 11 presentation
Windows 11 presentation
30
Mar 23, 2022 Women in Science: David Kahan presenting an overview of the history and accomplishments of women in science over the years. Women in Science presentation25
Mar 30, 2022Quantum Physics Part 2 (Charlie Holbrow)
Related presentations by Charlie: Quantum Mechanics I and Quantum Physics
Quantum Physics presentation33
Apr 6, 2022 John Snow and the Cholera Epidemic of 1854 (Jerry Slate)
John Snow (1813 – 1858) was a British physician who became interested in the transmission of cholera. At the time, airborne transmission of disease, miasma, was the accepted model for cholera. When Snow showed his data on the cholera epidemic of 1854 (in a manner not previously seen), there was much resistance in the scientific community to a paradigm shift.
John Snow/Cholera presentation27
Apr 13, 2022Craig Fields on DARPA (not recorded at speaker's request) Honest remarks and a lively conversation with the person who ran DARPA from 1974-1990.
DARPA=Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
not recorded37
Apr 20, 2022Potpourri
GPS Jamming (Bob Primak) slides
Bowling Balls, Lanes, and Science
GPS Jamming presentation34
Apr 27, 2022How Air Traffic Control has been impacted by STARS (Mel Weinzimer)
STARS=Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System, developed by Raytheon and the FAA as part of the Terminal Automation Modernization and Replacement (TAMR) Program.
ATC/STARS presentation42
May 4, 2022Michael Faraday: Student of the Natural World (Franklin Segall, M.D.) not recorded34
May 11, 2022James Clerk Maxwell: Scientist as Magician (Franklin Segall, M.D.) not recorded38
May 18, 2022Rumford – From Woburn Farmboy to Count of the Holy Roman Empire. (Howard Cohen)
From Wikipedia:
Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, was an American-born British physicist and inventor whose challenges to established physical theory were part of the 19th-century revolution in thermodynamics. slides
Rumford presentation32
May 25, 2022Scheduling meeting 29
June 1, 2022Bitcoin and Web3 - Their Technology and Impact on the World; and NFT - Non Fungible Tokens (Jerry Harris [Lex])
Suggested video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g
presentation slides
Bitcoin Web3 presentation44
June 8, 2022The Prodigy of High Precision Measurements (Daniel Kleppner) High Precision presentation27
June 15, 2022Solar Panels and Energy Storage Devices (Mark Sandeen) – why or why not, and savings, pluses and minuses Solar Panel presentation44
June 22, 2022Internet fast lanes, stock trading, net neutrality. (Bob Primak)Internet Trading presentation27
June 29, 2022Scientific CCD Development at MIT Lincoln Laboratory (Christopher Leitz)
The Advanced Imager Technology group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory designs and fabricates detectors and readout circuits for imaging applications in support of National Security and scientific exploration. The group has a long history of supplying silicon charge-coupled devices (CCDs) for the astronomy community, including detectors for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the Advanced CC Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) on Chandra, and the 1.3 gigapixel array for Pan-STARRS at the University of Hawaii. In this talk, we outline both our history in providing these devices for the scientific community and highlight future directions in CCD development – notably use of new detector materials to achieve broader optical response, new fabrication processes to enable lower power consumption, and development of new readout amplifiers for virtually nearly noise-free operation – for applications in X-ray astrophysics, optical astronomy, and particle physics.
Dr. Christopher W. Leitz is an Assistant Leader of the Advanced Imager Technology Group. He is currently researching the use of germanium for short-wave infrared and X-ray band imaging applications, as well as developing new methods for fabrication of advanced imaging devices.
[CCD Development Presentation]28

click to show Jan-June 2021 past meetings

Click to hide Jan-June 2021 meetings

DateTopic and linksAttaches#
Jan 6, 2021Dr. Peter Braun: A Covid-19 Primer A scientific look at the virus. Why is COVID-19 so “successful” from a pathogenic point of view. Where do viruses like this come from? How has treatment progressed? Vaccine development and technology. (The recording contains a follow-up on the Brevig Mission that was not covered in the live presentation; at approx. 1:37).COVID-19 presentation53
Jan 13, 2021Priestly and the Discovery of Oxygen (presented by Jerry Slate, M.D.) Joseph Priestly (1733 - 1804) is credited with the discovery of oxygen. His discovery was a part of a long term scientific effort to understand the nature of matter. His work as an untrained scientist showed analytical skill which illustrated the relevance of his finding. His discovery of oxygen represents the beginning of the understanding of the composition of the atmosphere and its role in respiration.watch the presentation42
Jan 20, 2021Quantum Biology (GeorgeG) (video and intro) with discussion
When Quantum Mechanics were first introduced widely, pioneers such as Heisenberg thought that quantum effects should play a role in biology, but for the next 50 years it was sort of forgotten. With today's computing power and instrumentation new insights are being given to explain biological phenomena by invoking quantum effects such as tunneling or entanglement. We will hear 3 experts (MIT, UC Irvine, & U Arizona) discussing the implications of quantum effects in biological entities
Video we watched:Quantum Biology: The Hidden Nature of Nature (1h35m) Other related and referenced videos:
Part 1: How Plants use Quantum Mechanics (12m) . Part 2: Enzymes, the Engines of Life (12m) . Part 3: How Birds (Might) Navigate with Quantum Mechanics (21m)
George's introduction
slides
42
Jan 27, 2021Potpourri Peter Albin, your host
Y2K (John Rudy, 20min)
Drones in the UK, how they threaten aircraft safety, measures taken to address them. (The video is not widely available)
Y2K Discussion44
Feb 3, 2021Plastics having a recycle number on them leads people to think they will be recycled and are perhaps more accepting of then using them. However, many thin plastic containers such as salad boxes or clear takeout containers are not in practice recycled. (George Burnell) This might be more than one session. Plastic bags biodegradability, manufacture, disposal, recycling.
also possibly of interest: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-plastic-problem (1hr video)
Recycling by the numbers
Watch the presentation slides 35
Feb 10, 2021Polaroid: Recently I learned about a Google talk on the history of Polaroid (Instant:The Story of Polaroid Christopher Bonanos Talks at Google, 2012). It might make an interesting meeting. The talk is about an hour and we could augment it with “actual folks” who worked for Polaroid? With 3-4 people worked there (Peter Albin)
I worked in photographic film product development at Polaroid for 23 years (1976 to 1998). It was there that out of necessity I became in involved in N-dimensional non-linear systems optimization computer tools. I could discuss the approaches that we used and the evolution of the software tools that were internally developed. Many of these tools and graphical visualization aids are now available in the commercial pack Design Expert by StatEase which I used in a final consulting gig at Polaroid in 2003. [Bob Eckert]
[presentation coming soon]36
Feb 17, 2021History relating to Rubber, what used for, how manufactured, WWI, WWII, rubber shortages (George Burnell)
WWI WWII Japan taking over, fire hoses & rain gear
Watch the presentation33
Feb 24, 2021(GeorgeG) Mars landing, Perseverance landed 2/18/2021, George discusses this with several visualsWatch the presentation
Mars photos to music
55
Mar 3, 2021Potpourri
* Peter Mui and fixing your machine
Peter Mui's Free Fixit Clinic Participant Registration: http://bit.ly/fixitcheckin
Fixers/Observers: http://bit.ly/fixitcoachsignup

* Rober vid: 15 minutes of useless science facts
Watch Peter Mui's presentation48
Mar 10, 2021Rubber Part 2 George Burnell presents the second part of his talk on Rubber: industrial products, recycling, synthetic, and more.watch the presentation29
Mar 17, 2021Why is Venus so bloody hot? The greenhouse effect. (Charlie Holbrow)Watch the presentation39
Mar 24, 2021I. I. Rabi, a story of scientific rags-to-riches (Dan Kleppner)
Rabi played a principal role in the transition of U. S. Physics from a backwater position to the international leader in the 1940’s and 50’s. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his own work, mentored eight laureates at Columbia University, triggered the founding of Brookhaven National Laboratory and CERN, and created the position of Science Advisor to the President. He invented the atomic clock, played a major role in the creation of the theory of relativistic quantum electrodynamics (QED) and mentored the inventors of nuclear magnetic resonance, the maser and the laser.
Watch the presentation36
Mar 31, 2021Flying Cars presented by Bill Passman. An overview of what is currently called “Flying Cars”, which includes Terrafugia's “roadable aircraft”, designed to drive from home to an airport and then fly like a General Aviation Light-Sport Aircraft (LSA). Other flying car efforts are aimed at VTOL air taxi fleets, personal VTOL vehicles, electric airplanes and autonomous cargo-VTOLs.
Technologies being used are folding wings, tilt-wings, tilt-rotors, tail-sitters, and power sources using battery electric drive, hybrid-electric drive, hydrogen, and fuel-cell power.
Bill will also present market hurdles, such as: battery technology, charging infrastructure, safety, heliport infrastructure, noise reduction, and FAA regulatory capabilities.
Watch the presentation40
Apr 7, 2021Venus 'n greenh'se — and Mars and Earth (Charles Holbrow)
What I learned from my Climate Science Study Group (Jerry Slate, Carl Lazarus, Mike Alexander)
Watch the presentations37
Apr 14, 2021The Apollo Mission Presented by Fred Martin, ScD.; Dr. Martin served as the Apollo Software Project Manager while at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory (now Draper Lab) and then pursued an industrial career in software analysis and management.
<font 11px>History will surely record the voyage to the moon as being the greatest adventure of the 20th century. We will first examine our fascination with our closest neighbor and early speculation of travel through the writings of Jules Verne. We will discuss the principles of how a rocket works, gain an understanding of JFK’s decision and confidence to place a man on the Moon, and experience the Apollo Moon Project “first hand:” its methods, triumphs and surprises. Our resources will include Dr. Martin’s experiences within the Apollo Program and videos of the exciting minute-by-minute landing on the Moon’s surface.</font>
Watch the presentation57
Apr 21, 2021> Black Holes by Andrea Ghez (2020 Nobel Prize winner in Physics). link; 50min Presented at the World Science Festival
> About the Suez Stuck Ship link; 8min
Apr 28, 2021> Cacelia Payne-Gaposhkin would have received a Nobel prize for figuring out what stars are made of, in a fairer world. link (1h4m John Rudy) from wikipedia:
<font 11px>a British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist who proposed in her 1925 doctoral thesis that stars were composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Her groundbreaking conclusion was initially rejected because it contradicted the scientific wisdom of the time, which held that there were no significant elemental differences between the Sun and Earth. Independent observations eventually proved she was correct.</font>
32
May 5, 2021Space Debris: A Big Problem (Georg Kirchner)
<font 11px>When the first satellites were launched some 60 years ago, space was more or less empty. However, the ever increasing launching activities since that now have created a rather crowded environment above our heads: More than 30.000 space debris objects – old / defunct satellites, upper stages of rockets, remaining parts after explosions of collisions etc. – are now orbiting in different altitudes, tracked by radar, laser and passive optical telescopes. The possibility of collisions is already rather high: Collision warning systems create already more than 1000 warnings per day (!) of close encounters between 2 objects – and sometimes this is TOO close – and a collision between two space debris objects, at velocities of 27.000 km/h, creates several 1000 new space debris parts…
Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) has demonstrated during the last years the capability of tracking such debris objects, helping to determine their accurate orbit, and also their tumbling motions – important features if you want to catch an old upper stage, and remove it from space.
</font>
Dr. Georg Kirchner is a group leader at the Space Research Institute, Department of Satellite Geodesy, Austrian Academy of Sciences in Graz, Austria.
watch the presentation34
May 12, 2021What Was It Like: I Lived In Antarctica Ivor Morgan lived in Antarctica from late 1961 to early 1964 and worked for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) as a surveyor in topographic and hydrographic mapping of the Antarctic Peninsula. His most recent trip south was 5 years ago. The Antarctic Peninsula is still the primary focus of BAS bases. A major secondary area was the Base at Halley Bay on the south of the Weddell Sea—and today almost in it. Ivor will explain more during his talk. He'll also go over maps of Antarctica to help you become familiar with this interesting and unique continent.Watch the presentation44
May 19, 2021Potpourri
> Extraterrestrial. The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth (Ken Cutter discusses this book on 'Oumuamua. If you don't know what this is about, then you should join the meeting and find out.)
> Rober and Jello link (10m30s)
> 3-year effort to video two vortex rings colliding in super slow motion. link; 8min
> Synchronization link; 20min
Watch the Oumuamua presentation30
May 26, 2021>Helicopter flight on Mars (George Gamota)Watch the presentation]33
June 2, 2021Telephone Switching Before Computers (Ken Pogran)
When we think about telephone switching today, we may think of all-digital, computer-based systems humming along quietly in shiny computer rooms. But go back 50, 80, or 120 years, and you'll find calls are handled by clattering behemoth electromechanical switching systems, some with racks and frames 14 feet tall, and some motor-driven, with clutches and commutators and rods with brushes that scamper up and down. In this talk Ken will take us through the evolution of telephone switching systems, from an undertaker's invention of the late 1880s through the Bell System's urban giant “panel” systems of the 1920s and '30s and on up to the No. 1 and No. 5 crossbar systems of the late '30s, '40s, and '50s. On the way we'll look at the overall architecture of telephone switching, problems of scalability, and the No 5 crossbar “marker”–the most complex relay-based computing machine ever produced.
watch the presentation37
June 9, 2021Quantum Engineering of Superconducting Qubits. William Oliver, associate professor of EE and Computer Science at MIT and fellow at Lincoln Lab. (Rich Ralston). The abstract of his talk:
Superconducting qubits are coherent artificial atoms assembled from electrical circuit elements and microwave optical components. Their lithographic scalability, compatibility with microwave control, and operability at nanosecond time scales all converge to make the superconducting qubit a highly attractive candidate for the constituent logical elements of a quantum information processor. Over the past decade, spectacular improvements in the manufacturing and control of these devices have moved the superconducting qubit modality from the realm of scientific curiosity to the threshold of technical reality. In this talk, we present the progress, challenges, and opportunities ahead in engineering larger scale processors.
Watch the presentation31
June 16, 2021The Buzz on Bees The biology, pollination, diseases and parasites, killer bees, and beekeeping. (Howard Cohen) slidesWatch the presentation29
June 23, 2021* Iron Mountain: History. (Carl Lazarus; 45mins +/-)
* Stan Rose will talk about his experiences on 9/11. He will include his personal experiences that day and ongoing days. He can also show pictures of what happened to his office and the surrounding area.
Watch the presentation27
June 30, 2021Dentistry (David Brother). Topics being considered: Dramatic changes that have occurred in dentristy in the past 50 years. Or dental radio graphic imaging and what it can do especially in regard to dental implants. Or History and development of dental implants. Or thehistory and development in the field of orthodontics and prostetic advances. Or Sixty years of Fluoride: what this has meant to our teeth and health.watch the presentation35

click to show July-December 2021 past meetings

Click to hide July-December 2021 meetings

DateTopic and linksAttaches#
July 7, 2021Pluto Strikes Back! (After all of the suffering Pluto has suffered by the not-a-planet bullying by the International Astronomical Union, we will mount a degree of support for this picked-on planet or non-planet.). Speaker Scott Kenyon will talk about his recent work on the formation of Pluto and its small satellite system. Learn how Pluto came to be a binary planet and how its four tiny satellites grew out of the debris from a major collision.watch the presentation29
July 14, 20219am: Discussing how our group can meet in Hybrid mode – both online in Zoom and in person at the same time.
10am: Cancer Therapy and the Scientific Process. The Discovery of the Platinum-Based Compound Used in Cancer Chemotherapy: An Example of the Scientific Process (Dick Wagner)
watch the presentation39
July 21, 2021Potpourri. Drone Photography (Al Levin).
A demo of professional drone video of a Korean commercial.
Making of music video in one take (wow) Shows moving camera and use of greenscreen [4m]
Watch the presentation24
July 28, 2021We showed and discussed these videos.
High performance world record paper airplane [11m]
Scientist Explains Sleep in 5 Levels of Difficulty [24m]
Backyard Squirrel Maze 2.0 [19m], a Mark Rober video
Wind driven vehicle a passive vehicle that goes faster than the wind that's driving it [22m]
31
Aug 4, 2021Seager exoplanet presentation (presented via Cary Liby and hosted by GeorgeBurnell) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye-UNXeMJC8. (1h5m) 38
Aug 6, 20211:30pm: Exploring in-person meeting options, trying out the Meeting Owl Pro product page 14
Aug 11, 2021Planning meeting – we schedule upcoming meeting speakers and topics, using the in-the-works page. Meeting is open to everyone and the discussion is usually rather interesting.
Join us and help us choose our topics for future meetings.
20
Aug 18, 2021Potpourri 26
Aug 25, 2021Some Arithmetic Pleasantries (Charles Holbrow) and the infinite hotel paradox
(The chat had a number of links to material. click to see)
Watch the presentation 41
Sept 1, 2021Security Update – Lex Liby presentation on security by Bruce Schneier link (1h7m) 36
Sept 8, 2021Big Belly Recycling (Alex Gamota)
(From Alex:) “Have you wondered about the gray public waste bins located at Center Field, Lexington High School, or the Center? Or maybe you never noticed them?? They are Bigbelly smart waste stations! Since 2008, and some 65,000 smart waste stations in 55+ countries later, Bigbelly's smart waste solution has been helping cities and campuses transform public spaces and help reduce the carbon footprint associated with waste management by up to 80%. In this talk, you will learn about Bigbelly's patented solar powered compaction solution, its connected Cloud based operating system that streamline operations and collection efficiency, and about its recent offering, the Telebelly. The Telebelly expands the benefits of the ubiquitous Bigbelly platform to additionally host small cell and other information and communication technologies.
Alex Gamota is Senior Vice President & General Manager, Information & Communication Technologies
21
Sept 15, 2021Potpourri
* Adventures in Tiling the Plane (Ken Cutter) slides
* The Simplest Math Problem No one Can Solve – Collatz Conjecture video (22m)
* Rough Fractals video (17m)
26
Sept 22, 2021Margaret Geller: Caught in the Cosmic Web. Margaret made the first and several recent maps of the distribution of galaxies in the universe, showing that they are not distributed randomly in space but form interesting patterns that repeat on the largest scales.(not recorded at speaker's request) 30
Sept 29, 2021What are Blockchains & How They work link (6m)(Larry Wittig)
What is a cryptographic hash function? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptographic_hash_function
CryptoCurrency video (55m)
30
Oct 6, 2021Is There Intelligent Life Anywhere? (Howard Winkler) Watch the presentation
Slides
28
Oct 13, 2021Potpourri
tech gifts (by: cost, category, knowledge level)
Slides with links
Watch the presentation
22
Oct 20, 2021CRISPR by Dick Wagner
The acronym “CRISPR” (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) has often been invoked when considering recent revolutionary genetic engineering advances. This presentation will be devoted to the origin of the term, its biological significance, and how further knowledge led to the expansion of the meaning of this term as well as its underlying processes in genetic engineering. Finally, Dick will discuss the potential of CRISPR for deriving further molecular biological information and uses from experimentation and analysis.
Watch the presentation
Slides
35
Oct 27, 2021CRISPR part 2. Dick Wagner gives a brief review and then more detail.Watch the presentation
Slides
24
Nov 3, 2021The linked fates of Haber and Weitzmann by Bretislav Friedrich Two scientists who had a significant impact on technology and history
In the early 1930s, as Nazism was gaining strength in Germany, two renowned German-speaking Jewish scientists found themselves on converging paths: Fritz Haber (1868–1934), one of the most influential – and controversial – of 20th century chemists, and Chaim Weizmann (1874–1952), a successful biochemist, leader of the world Zionist movement, and future founder of the State of Israel. In their meetings and correspondence, they reflect on the history, current events, and fate of science and scientists, and strive to create a place where learning and humanism would rise above racism and hatred.
Followup: a pretty amazing summary of the history of physical and theoretical chemistry: NIH link
Watch the presentation34
Nov 10, 2021Potpourri
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/decoding-da-vinci/ A NOVA on DaVinci
Bizarre Behavior of Nuts [15m]
23
Nov 17, 2021Covid (and Variants) Update. Jerry Slate.
Note: Should children be vaccinated? Video 32:40. What went wrong? Video 48:00
Watch the presentation
slides
32
Nov 24, 2021No meeting (Day before Thanksgiving)
Dec 1, 2021The history of knee replacement and the technology behind it. Presented by Dr. Richard Scott watch the presentation 39
Dec 8, 2021 The first LASER of 2021 explores the relationship between humans, DNA, and data, featuring media artist and TED speaker Refik Anadol in conversation with Dr. Robert Grass from ETH Zurich, and Christine Choirat from Harvard and the Swiss Data Science Center. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCMaMEyYpdw (First 41 mins of 90 min) TED Talk
The Skill of Humor [19m]
25
Dec 15, 2021The Glide “no-code” Application Development Environment (Harry Forsdick)
Nearly codeless programming (AKA “No Code Programming”); the concepts that are done for you by the system. This is an illustrated talk about and demonstration of the Glide “no-code” application development environment. Glide is representative of the possible future for (some) software development activities presented by a survivor from the early days of computer programming. read abstract
Watch the presentation 33
Dec 22, 2021 Windows 11 (Drew King); useful sites:
How to create Windows 11/10/8/7 To Go by using WinToUSB
Download Windows 11 ISO file for use with WinToUSB
Windows Speech commands
File sharing over a network in Windows
Watch the presentation 39
Dec 29, 2021The Useful Information Meeting (Bob Primak):
» What do you do with an older PC? (paperweight alternatives)
» Windows 11 Upgrade Notification
» Installing Linux Mint on an old laptop (it's easy)
Notes from the presentation:
video of Linux installation notes for video
Mint Linux install
Win 11 upgrade icon
What to do with an old PC
Watch the presentation31

click to show 2020 past meetings

Click to hide past 2020 meetings

DateTopic and links
Jan 8, 2020Ig Nobel 2019 Awards awards for dubious inventions (Peter Albin) link to Improbable Research pagewatch 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 notes Watch 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 themwatch 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 presentation45
Mar 25, 2020Patents for high technology (and when not to have them) (Dick Wagner)watch the presentation44
Apr 1, 20203D Printing and Robotics in Industry: An Update (George Burnell) 3D Printers fighting Coronavirus (link from PeterA)watch the presentation
chat messages
45
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 presentation41
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
41
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
42
Apr 29, 2020The Science behind Columbus (Bob Melanson)
Bob finishes this up on July 15
watch the presentation
slides
36
May 6, 2020The Manhattan Project first part (Charles Holbrow)watch the presentation58
May 13, 2020Nuclear Power Generation (David Kahan)slides
watch the presentation
47
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
46
May 27, 2020George Burnell Part II
Continuation/conclusion of George Burnell's earlier presentation on 3D printing
watch the presentation26
June 3, 2020The Manhattan Project - part 2 (Charles Holbrow)slides watch the presentation46
June 10, 2020Potpourii NY Times article dealing with privacy (Peter Albin)
Phone tracking of people (Charlie Holbrow)
The Immortal (BBC program)
(not recorded)42
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 presentation33
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
40
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
watch the presentation
38
July 8, 20205G and Internet of Things in the Age of Coronavirus (Bob Primak)
Slides References 5G Networks 5G Spectrum Bands
watch the presentation41
July 15, 2020Potpourri
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 presentation42
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)
42
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
34
August 5, 2020Back 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 Presentation44
August 12, 2020More on AI. The Rise of Artificial Intelligence 27
August 19, 2020How to Build a Time Machine
What Happens When You Respond to Spam (Peter Albin presented)
26
August 26, 2020Myths 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 presentation42
Sept 2, 2020Count 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 presentation41
Sept 9, 2020Blind 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, 2020Potpourri
What to do with your family during a pandemic? (George Gamota)
Update of Elon Musk's Starlink Satellite Internet Project (Bob Primak)
There were videos we could not include in this presentation. Here are links to them:
Video of the launch, fairing recovery, and booster return, and landing on a ship: https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-11-satellites-launch-september-2020.html
Launch and first stage separation and landing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ei_Z_Xv3BM
Deployment of satellites: https://videos.space.com/m/N9qB26JP/watch-spacex-deploy-60-starlink-satellites-in-amazing-view-from-space?list=9wzCTV4g
Fairing recovery (previous launch in July): https://www.space.com/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-payload-fairing-catch-success.html
Another “filler” video we showed: harvesting spaghetti
Presentation videos:
Pandemic What To Do
StarLink Update
34
Sept 23, 2020The 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, 2020Covid-19 Update (Jerry Slate)watch the presentation50
Oct 7, 2020Producing a TV Show using DaVinci Resolve (Steve Isenberg)watch the presentation33
Oct 14, 2020The CAC Ken Pogran tells about the Lexington Communications Advisory Committee. How did it start, what are its responsibilities, what are today's issues.watch the presentation27
Oct 21, 2020Harry Forsdick: ARPAnet & Internet Conferencingwatch the presentation39
Oct 28, 2020Potpourri 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)
(unable to create video)41
Nov 4, 2020Atomic Clocks and, a brief history of Time (Dan Kleppner)watch the presentation37
Nov 11, 2020Atomic Clocks (part 2) by Dan Kleppner
followed by (and not in recorded presentation) mRNA: Transforming Medicine
watch the presentation27
Nov 18, 2020Speech 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 Availablewatch the presentation44
Nov 25, 2020Vacation/no meeting
Dec 2, 2020Potpourri
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, 2020Sara 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, 2020Acoustic 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 presentation29
Dec 23, 2020Vacation - Enjoy the holidays!
Dec 30, 2020Career 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 presentation37

click to show 2019 past meetings

Click to hide past 2019 meetings

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, 2019AI in Medicine MIT Alum Newsletter AI in Medical Care
Dec 4, 2019Tech trends and holiday gift ideas (Peter Albin and Bob Primak) Watch the presentation Slides
Nov 27, 2019Happy Thanksgiving! No meeting.
Nov 20, 2019Dark 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, 2019Steering committee
Nov 6, 2019Backup Strategies (Peter Albin) Watch the presentationSlides
Oct 30, 2019Space 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, 2019Eight 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, 2019From 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



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In the Works – Potential Topics


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

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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

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.)
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lexingtoncomputergroup.1656530000.txt.gz · Last modified: 2022.06.29 15:13 by Steve Isenberg