Activities are gatherings that occur on a regular schedule, usually weekly, to enjoy a specific pastime.
Conor Horrigan – Building a Brewery and Building a Community in Stamford
Time: Mar 14, 2022 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Conor Horrigan has built the successful Stamford-based Half Full Brewery, a thriving co-working space called Third Place, and even helped launched a beer hall by the outdoor rink at Mill River Park. Hear how he has created a great community and connected so many businesses and entrepreneurs.
OHM Dynamics is a fitness, sports performance, and movement health company that has developed a line of strength and cardio training equipment based on proprietary resistance technology. Unlike conventional exercise modalities, which define the force a user is required to produce in order to engage in exercise, OHM is able to accommodate the highly-variable capabilities of each individual user through complex, functional movement patterns in real time. The result is a dramatically improved and differentiated exercise or rehab experience that is safer, more effective/efficient, and more natural, functional, and motivating.
OHM’s user-directed properties also allow for the collection of highly accurate force, power, and range-of-motion data, positioning it as a next generation hardware and digital health technology with application to the broadest spectrum of users; from elite athletes to weekend warriors to the elderly, injured or infirm.
An up-close account of the otherworldly trajectory of tech magnate Elon Musk.
Ars Technica editor Berger opens with a telling scene set in South Texas in late September 2019, when Musk visited a factory building a rocket that one day will be bound for Mars. Sending that ship—and people—to the red planet is of a parcel with Musk’s pioneering work in “remaking the global aerospace industry,” which includes privatizing efforts that had long belonged to government agencies such as NASA—which, though funded to the tune of some $25 billion per year, still “remains several giant leaps away from sending a few astronauts to Mars.” Getting the SpaceX rocket safely to distant Mars “may not work,” Musk confessed before adding, “But it probably will.” By Berger’s swiftly moving account, it will, not just because Musk is an endlessly driven, intensely focused sort who could use a little more fun in life—at one point, Musk ruefully allows that “it wouldn’t have hurt to have just one cocktail on the damn beach” of a distant Pacific atoll used in test flights—but also because Musk is surrounded by brilliant scientists recruited from academia and industry who are thoroughly invested in the project’s success. “They want that golden ticket for the world’s greatest thrill ride,” Berger writes, evoking another obsessed genius, Willie Wonka. Musk now leads not just SpaceX, but also the Tesla electric automobile company as well as a neural technology company and a firm devoted to digging new transportation tunnels below overcrowded cities. Even so, he remains closely attentive to matters that aviation engineers have often overlooked, such as recycling rocket stages: “If an airline discarded a 747 jet after every transcontinental flight,” writes the author, “passengers would have to pay $1 million for a ticket.”
Readers interested in business and entrepreneurship, as well as outer space, will find Berger’s book irresistible.
Twelve hikers along with two dogs walked the trails of Waveny Park in New Canaan this morning. It was a great way to get outdoors and celebrate the first full day of spring. We enjoyed our conversations, the mild weather, and abundant sunshine.
Moderated by Jan Selkowitz, an entrepreneur and businessman who has been dealing with Asia for over five decades, and has family ties to China. Friday, March 18th at 11 am. Zoom only
Nikki Haley: “Why China keeps me up at night.”
China’s Economic Reckoning: The Price of Failed Reform
HIKING GREENWICH POINT
OLD GREENWICH, CT
FEBRUARY 24, 2022
10:00 AM
We will meet in the first parking lot on the right after you pass the gatehouse and walk around the perimeter of the park, about 2.5 miles. If the weather is good, the hike is on. If it turns out to be a day that you would not go out on a walk, don’t come and I won’t either. There will be no announcement but you can call or email me as below to check to see if the hike is on.
Greenwich Point is a special place and we non-Greenwich types can only go in the winter. Wonderful views and a solid walking surface but it can be very windy. Layer up! No lunch after. Dogs on a leash welcome as are guests as always.
We had 18 hikers at Sherwood Island last month, let’s beat that number!
GPS and Waze for directions off either Exit 6 or 5 of I-95.
Dave McCollum
Recap:
“An enthusiastic group of 16 braved cold and windy, but bright conditions…”. That was the start of our report after the December 9 tour of Greenwich Point. Copy that for today! Sixteen of us, including three new hikers plus two dogs encountered the very same weather on this trip around the peninsula. If we get the same weather this coming December, we’re going to send the data to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Once they print it, we’ll pick another day!
Despite the cold, all had a great time with only one slight mishap when Tom Igoe tripped but was rescued on the way to the ground by Charles Salmans. Teamwork is what the DMA is all about!
We’ll have one more winter hike at Waveny Park in New Canaan on Monday, March 21. In April we will return to our traditional hikes in area forests.
Dave McCollum and Bob Plunkett
The Great Halifax Explosion : a World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism
From the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author, a gripping narrative-nonfiction account of the world’s largest manmade explosion before the atomic bomb. In December 1917, a freighter carrying 3,000 tons of explosives sailed from Brooklyn bound for the trenches of World War I—en route, a cataclysmic disaster awaited . . .
Entering World War I’s fourth demoralizing year, the Allies hoped to break the grueling stalemate by sending thousands of fresh American troops and more munitions than ever to the trenches of France. Before the French freighter Mont-Blanc set sail from Brooklyn on December 1, 1917, with a staggering 3,000 tons of explosives, the captain banned his crew from lighting a single match, and secured the volatile cargo with copper nails because they don’t spark when struck.
For four harrowing days, the floating powder keg bobbed up the Eastern seaboard, plowing through a wicked snowstorm and waters infested with German U-Boats, which had already torpedoed a thousand Allied ships that year alone. On December 6, the exhausted crew finally slipped into Halifax Harbour—just as the relief ship Imo was rushing to leave. At 8:45 a.m., the Imo struck the Mont-Blanc’s bow, knocking over barrels of airplane fuel. Fire swept across the decks, sending the Mont-Blanc’s crew scurrying to their lifeboats, while Halifax longshoremen, office workers, and schoolchildren walked down to watch it burn.
At 9:04:35 a.m., the Mont-Blanc erupted, leveling 2.5 square miles of Halifax, killing 2,000 people, and wounding 9,000 more—all in one-fifteenth of a second.
In this definitive account, bestselling author John U. Bacon recreates the recklessness that caused the tragedy, the selfless rescue efforts that saved thousands, and the inspiring resilience that rebuilt the town. Just hours after the explosion, Boston alone sent 100 doctors, 300 nurses, and a million dollars. The explosion would revolutionize ophthalmology and pediatrics; transform Canada and the U.S. from adversaries to allies; and show J. Robert Oppenheimer, who studied Halifax closely, how much destruction an atomic bomb could inflict on a city.
Bacon brings to light one of the most dramatic events of the twentieth century, exploring the long shadow the world’s first “weapon of mass destruction” still casts on our world today.
HIKING SHERWOOD ISLAND
WESTPORT, CT
JANUARY 24, 2022
10:00 AM
We will meet in the parking lot closest to the pavilion and hike the perimeter of the park which is about 2.5 miles.
If the weather is good, the hike is on. If it turns out to be a day that you would not go out on a walk, don’t come and I probably won’t either! There will be no announcement but you can email or call me as below to check on whether or not it is on.
Sherwood will most likely be windy so layer up!
There will be no lunch after, just a walk on the beach!
Dogs on a leash and guests welcome.
Sherwood Island is off of Exit 18 on I-95.
David McCollum
Recap:
After a little semi-threatening snow on a Monday morning the weather turned mostly sunny but cold for 18 (count ‘em 18) DMA hikers and friends to walk and talk for 90 minutes at beautiful Sherwood Island State Park in Westport.
For those who have not been to Sherwood Island there are trails through wooded areas in addition to the vast open expanse of lawn and beach. The Park contains a 911 Memorial to all those Connecticut residents who died in the attacks. The memorial is sited on a point of land which has a direct line of sight to Manhattan.
The next hike is scheduled for Monday, February 14 at 10:00 at Greenwich Point. Bring your Valentine!
Dave McCollum and Bob Plunkett
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If scarce resources were maximally devoted to reducing emissions then would the result be worth the cost? If not then how do we efficiently allocate resources to ameliorate and adapt to the changing environment?
YouTube presentations
Keeping Your Cool on the Climate Debate with Bjorn Lomborg
Why renewables can’t save the planet Michael Shellenberger
Youtube Presentation
Blogpost
Germany’s Climate Chancellor Angela Merkel grossly mis-allocated resources and failed the climate
Wall Street’s Green Push Exposes New Conflicts of Interest
https://netzeroamerica.princeton.edu
Originally published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises is Ernest Hemingway’s first novel and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway’s most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. Based on Hemingway’s experiences, ‘The Sun Also Rises’ is the story of a group of American and English expatriates living in Paris who take an excursion to Pamplona, Spain. The novel has forever associated Hemingway with bullfights and the running of the bulls. This powerful work of modern fiction, filled with memorable characters and universal themes, is summarized in this volume, which is enhanced by thought-provoking critical extracts, focused biographical details, and an annotated bibliography. This book helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century
Current Affairs: Quadrennial Report of the National Intelligence Council, Friday, January 28, 2022, at 11 am
White paper summarizing the issues: DMA Current Affairs White Paper January 2022
On Friday, January 28, at 11 am, Tom Igoe will lead a Current Affairs discussion on the latest quadrennial report of The National Intelligence Council (NIC or Council) entitled Global Trends 2040: A More Contested World. The NIC supports the Director of National Intelligence in her role as head of the Intelligence Community and is the IC’s center for long-term strategic analysis. Since its establishment in 1979, the NIC has served as a bridge between the intelligence and policy communities, a source of deep substantive expertise on intelligence issues, and a facilitator of Intelligence Community collaboration and outreach.
The NIC’s report is typically released at the start of each new administration with the intent of providing guidance as to the key trends and uncertainties that will shape the strategic environment for the United States during the next two decades. The goal of this report is not to offer a specific prediction of the world in 2040 but rather to help policymakers and citizens see what may lie beyond the horizon and prepare for an array of possible futures.
As the report notes in its sobering introductory passages, during the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded the world of its fragility and demonstrated the inherent risks of high levels of interdependence. In coming years and decades, the world will face more intense and cascading global challenges ranging from disease to climate change to disruptions from new technologies and financial crises. These challenges will repeatedly test the resilience and adaptability of communities, states and the international system, often exceeding the capacity of existing systems and models. This looming disequilibrium between existing and future challenges and the ability of institutions and systems to respond is likely to grow and produce greater contestation at every level.
In this more contested world, communities are increasingly fractured as people seek security with like-minded groups based on established and newly prominent identities; states of all types and in all regions are struggling to meet the needs and expectations of more connected, more urban, and more empowered populations; and the international system is more competitive – shaped in part by challenges from a rising China – and at greater risk of conflict as states and nonstate actors exploit new sources of power and erode longstanding norms and institutions that have provided some stability in past decades.
The NIC asserts that these dynamics are not fixed in perpetuity, however, and envisions a variety of plausible scenarios for the world of 2040 – from a democratic renaissance to a transformation in global cooperation spurred by shared tragedy – depending on how these dynamics interact and human choices along the way.
The Global Trends 2040 report, a copy of which can be accessed by clicking the link below, is a detailed 145-page document that provides a broad range of factual and analytical material. It is well written and thought provoking. Given its length, some DMA members may not have the time
or the desire to plow through the entire document. For these folks, I encourage you to read the Foreword Section (pps. v and vi), the Introduction: Key Themes (pp. 1 – 5), the Executive Summary (pp. 6 – 13), the Scenarios for 2040 (pp. 109 – 119), and the informative charts included at the back end under the heading Regional Forecasts (pp. 120 – 140).
Navigating this report can be humbling. It’s also an experience that awakens many new understandings and thoughts on possible outcomes for the long-term prospects of the world in which we live. In advance of our Current Affairs discussion, Mike Wheeler will send to the discussion group a poll eliciting your thoughts. The results will be shared at the conclusion of our discussions.
Given the complexity of the subject matter and the numerous areas to be covered, members may expect the discussion to continue for up to an hour and a half from the 11 am start time.
The following includes links to the Global Trends report and additional reading materials intended to supplement the information included in the report:
Global Trends Report: GlobalTrends_2040
Given the complexity of the subject matter and the numerous areas to be covered, members may expect the discussion to continue for up to an hour and a half from the 11 am start time.
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