Getting it done!

We gave a talk at Ethical Culture Society of Essex County today. Here's the blurb announcing it in their newsletter: [Fill in later]

We are bringing to fruition an interrelated set of programs and projects that address two fundamental goals identified by leading scientists and affirmed by the RFPs (Requests for Proposals) of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

1. Sustainability, and the need for everyone's participation (certainly a major increase in participation which suggests the need for a wider understanding of what we are facing both in the near and long terms of planet earth.)
2. Increased participation in STEM by underrepresented populations in those fields. (STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)

In pursuing sustainability we are exploring the development of an Environmental Science & Earth Systems Urban Laboratory (ES²UL) to work on issues related to the quality of life in urban settings. Currently we are focused on reshaping urban waste disposal by:

• Reducing the use of energy in transport of the waste stream through minimizing the weight of food waste by removing the water by high pressure pressing.
• Increasing the amount of recyclable material removed from the waste stream through ("What's in for me?") STEM incentives for those population groups not achieving their goals for recycling.

In pursuing increased participation in STEM by underrepresented populations in those fields this will be "the team's" fourth major venture into educational outreach to those underrepresented populations. The first, starting in 2000, was a three-year met tower installation at Plainfield High School that led to the Essex-Stevens Model Research Lab program that Professor Nadia Lvov, Assistant Professor/ECC LSAMP Project Director, Division of Mathematics and Physics, Essex County College, Newark, NJ, has administered so successfully these past ten years, and which in turn led to the Summer Science Program at Valley Settlement House in West Orange, that is now in its eighth year and coordinated by Luis Grados, who was recruited out of the Essex-Stevens program while attending ECC. Luis is a key advisor to the new initiative--the fourth major venture--in which we are doing the following:

• Providing an open court workshop for young people to learn coding of apps and create content every Friday afternoon from 4 to 7 pm at The Rack Cafe, 1844 Springfield Ave, Maplewood, NJ 07040, (973) 327-2353, https://www.facebook.com/TheRackCafe, with an open mic showcase from 8 to 10 pm on the first Friday of the month. (The next one is December 5th.)
• Livestreaming our activities in tandem with the tech workshop, including a live discussion of our ES²UL initiatives and their impact on the community, seeking input on how to improve our efforts from a wider audience.
• Looking toward the installation of a Free Space Optics (FSO) link to provide high speed/high bandwidth communications for the workshop.

Testing the food press concept ...

I took a pound (16 oz.) if veggie waste -- lettuce, cabbage, celery, a couple of small tomatoes -- and squeezed them in a plastic bag between two soft wood boards using simple screw clamps and wound up with 12 oz. That's a 25% reduction in weight without even doing anything special. This has promise.

New concept in fruit/vegetable food waste disposal ...

As part of our evolving Earth Systems & Environmental Science Urban Laboratory initiative we will be exploring new ways and means to reduce volume/weight of waste material by simply removing the liquid from food waste without composting the solid material. Hilding Lindquist, Eric Burbank, and Clarence Williams, III, came up with the concept of using a fruit/wine press to squeeze the water out of fruit/vegetable waste, and theoretically could reduce the transport costs disposal of restaurant food waste.

We will begin testing the use of these devices at Valley Settlement House and The Rack Cafe as soon as we can acquire a representative unit. We will keep you informed of our progress, but it appears promising on the face of it.

http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/fruit_press.aspx

Let's do it!

We now have everything in place that we need to "shoot hoops" with coding apps and creating content at The Rack Cafe at our Friday evening workshops from 5 to 7 pm.

In one corner we will be set up to work through the various online coding tutorial programs starting with w3schools.com.

At the raised corner, that doubles as the performing stage, we will be set up to broadcast over livestream.com or record video for YouTube, or other internet venues.

The Rack Cafe is located at 1844 Springfield Ave., Maplewood, NJ 07040, (973) 327-2353. They are on the internet at facebook.com/therackcafe.

In case you were wondering, we use "shoot hoops" to let everyone know this is a drop in, "open court" program. If you want get a start at coding apps or creating content then come on down and get involved.

No hurry.

To give you a headsup on getting started ...

We will be using the w3schools.com lesson set while following the wisdom of lifehacker.com on:
Programmer 101: Teach Yourself How to Code  
We'll be a "study room" for cross-mentoring ... come on down when you are ready ... or simply curious about coding ... or just want to participate in open source sharing/learning ...

Last but not least we have two Noblis NB 7850 S for casual app coding by drop-ins. We can do this.

House Band gets it start

Ralph Desmarais on drums and Jared Blackwell on keyboard get their start as the very first house band for the Geeks FSO First Fridays at The Rack. The Rack Cafe, 1844 Springfield Ave., Maplewood, NJ 07040.

Ton Duong kicks off the First Fridays Program

On Friday evening, October 3rd, Ton Duong kicked off the GeeksFSO First Fridays Program at The Rack Cafe, 1844 Springfield Ave., Maplewood, NJ.


First Fridays showcases the talent of local young people for creating and publishing content for the internet. The talent is drawn in part from the regular "open court" access to practice (access2practice.org) workshops that GeeksFSO conducts on the other Friday evenings from 5 to 7 PM.

GeeksFSO sees the process of creating content for the internet as a gateway to technology for diverse and disadvantaged population groups, and the language of technology is math.

Ton Duong and an open mic at The Rack on Friday, October 3rd!

Plus an open mic for a few talented performers. Sign up at the door and if the list isn't already full, you will save yourself ten bucks!