Category Archives: technology

Staples’ Mega Mathletes

Posted on April 7, 2012 | 19 Comments

First there were nearly 1,000 teams — and 5,000 students, from 29 states — vying for $115,000 in prizes in the Moody’s Mega Math Challenge.

Next — after more than 100 noted mathematicians pored over their papers — only 134 teams were left. That was then whittled down to 55.

Now there are 6.

And one is Staples.

Seniors David Haswell, Robert Perry, Matt Silver and Connie Zhou, plus junior Michael Menz, are now hard at work. On April 26 they’ll make a presentation before a panel of Ph.D.-level applied mathematicians, at the Manhattan headquarters of Moody’s Corporation.

Either Staples — or a school from New Jersey, Massachusetts, North Carolina or Florida — will be crowned Moody’s Mega Math Challenge champ.

Staples Mega Math stars (from left): Matt Silver, David Haswell, Connie Zhou, Robert Perry, Michael Menz.

The contest involved mathematical modeling. Each team had to identify and rank the best regions in the country for establishing high-speed rail lines, as part of a nationwide network. (Yeah, Congress is currently debating the same thing.)

Math knowledge, critical thinking, research and analytical skills were all part of the puzzle. Participants provided mathematically founded recommendations based on potential ridership numbers, cost of implementation, and effects of the program on foreign energy dependence.

Each team had just 14 hours to receive the issue, study it, collect data, devise models, and upload their solutions in the form of a research paper.

The Challenge is now in its 7th year. Staples has competed all 7 times. The school won it all the 1st year, when it was limited to the tri-state area. They finished 6th in 2009, and in the top 15 in 2008, ’10 and ’11.

The top prize is $20,000. Only 5 other schools stand in Staples’ way.

Not bad for 5 teenagers who spent a 14-hour day solving an issue Congress is also grappling with.

Or — looked at another way — it’s the capstone of their 13 years of school, and a lifetime of observing the world, analyzing and synthesizing information, and loving learning.

→ 19 Comments

Posted in Education, Staples HS, technology, Teenagers

Tagged , ,

Local Authors Find E-Publishing “A Godsend”

Posted on March 28, 2012 | 7 Comments

Westporter Richard Marek is no stranger to publishing.

He spent 40 years in the business, including a stint as president and publisher of E.P. Dutton. He discovered Robert Ludlum, edited 4 books by James Baldwin, and published people like Peter Straub and Richard Condon.

Richard Marek and Dalma Heyn. (Photo/Pam Barkentin Blackburn)

But when he and his wife, social commentator and author (The Erotic Silence of the American Wife) Dalma Heyn wrote their 1st book together, more than a dozen editors had strong suggestions.

All of them different.

Change the hero, one said.

Change the heroine, advised another.

Add more sex.

Take out some of the sex.

Exhausted, Richard and Dalma put A Godsend: A Love Story For Grownups in a drawer.

They thought there was a market for this tough-to-classify “love story for all of us who are no longer kids,” but the people who offer contracts and actually publish books were not so sure.

A year later, Richard and Dalma talked to David Wilk. The “head trickster” of Booktrix — a publishing consultancy firm — and son of noted Westporters Max and Barbara Wilk, David thought Godsend would be a good candidate for digital publishing.

David handled all the details. He got the book onto every popular e-reader: Kindles, Nooks, iPads.

Now Richard and Dalma are sitting back, waiting for the money to roll in.

Or not.

“I’ve published 3 books,” she says. “They all had advances. We’re not sure what will happen with this one.”

“No one knows how to make any money on ebooks,” he adds.

So why are they publishing this way?

“The industry is changing,” Richard notes. “After so many years in it, I’m fascinated to see how this works.”

“It’s a great book,” Dalma says. “It’s fun to see how this Wild West of publishing handles something like this.”

A Nook Simple Touch.

Without a standard publisher, e-book authors must handle all the marketing themselves.

“You have to be knowledgeable about the internet, and spend 17 hours a day at it,” she says. They’re not, and they aren’t.

But, according to Richard, the flip side of e-publishing is “your book never dies. When I was in business, books died after 3 months.”

With no shelf life — because there are no shelves — books can gain audiences slowly. Every Valentine’s Day, Dalma says, she and her husband will launch a new marketing campaign.

Of course, Richard and Dalma are doing a bit of old-fashioned marketing too: book talks. Tomorrow (Thursday, March 29, 7 p.m.) they’re at the Westport Barnes & Noble.

They’ll discuss their latest work. They’ll share insights on e-publishing.

They’ll also hold a drawing for a Nook Simple Touch.

So the winner can read A Godsend — and 2.5 million other books — without ever having to set foot in a bookstore again.

→ 7 Comments

Posted in Arts, Entertainment, People, technology

Tagged , , , , , ,

If You Build It,They Will Come To The Maker Faire

Posted on March 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

Last September, Mark Mathias took his kids to the New York Maker Faire. The event — an exhibition/showcase/festival where techies, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, musicians, engineers, artists, students and anyone else entertains, informs and connects with kindred spirits of all ages and backgrounds — inspired the entire family.

Mark’s son was especially impressed with the marshmallow shooter, made from PVC pipe.

Three months later, for his 7th birthday, he and his friends build a similar contraption. “They learned about plumbing, projectiles and air flow,” Mark says. “And they had fun.”

Alan Winick will exhibit his personal submersible yellow submarine at the Maker Faire. Eight feet long and 2300 pounds, it has gone 120 feet deep in Long Island Sound.

On Saturday, April 28 the Maker Faire comes to Westport. The 1st event of its kind in Connecticut, it will fill the Westport Library and Jesup Green with contraptions, crafts, art, engineering, food, music, robots, rockets, magicians, jugglers, and whatever the cat drags in.

Over 50 exhibitors will provide demonstrations, hands-on-workshops and do-it-yourself resources. Anyone and everyone is invited to make, build, design, hack, eat, drink, listen, create and play.

The Maker Faire has already inspired a number of people. When Mathias asked the library for use of the McManus Room, Bill Derry — assistant director for innovation and user experience (!) — did more. He offered the Great Hall and Children’s Library too.

Westport Sunrise Rotary provided seed money. The Downtown Merchants Association will sponsor a “Battle of the Homemade Bands.” (That’s right: make your own instruments. You’ll be judged on creativity, tonal quality — and fun.)

A Rube Goldberg Competition begins with a pile of stuff (maybe a lawn chair, tubes, marbles — whatever the aforementioned cat drags in). Participants then construct a contraption in true Goldberg fashion.

You could call Westport’s Maker Faire a celebration of invention, creativity and resourcefulness.

Or you could just call it “way cool.”

(The free Westport Mini Maker Faire is set for Saturday, April 28, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Library and Jesup Green. All are welcome. For more information, email royfuchs@snet.net or call 203-856-4321. The deadline to apply as an exhibiting “Maker” is April 1; click here for a form. In honor of their 30th anniversary, CLASP Homes is a co-presenter.)

Mike Ogrinz is a longtime robot builder. The one on the left was constructed with cardboard and tin foil. His B9 robot (right, from "Lost in Space") will be on display at the Westport Maker Faire.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Arts, Downtown, Education, Entertainment, Library, Organizations, People, technology

Tagged , , , , ,

“Hamlet” Spoiler Alert: Everyone Dies!

Posted on March 15, 2012 | 3 Comments

Calypso makes Odysseus build “the US Airways of rafts.”

After 10 years — or the time it takes to read this story — Odysseus returns to his homeland of Ithaca.

Odysseus’ crew makes the Titanic staff look like NASA.

That’s The Odyssey in a nutshell. Say goodbye, Cliff Notes. Adios, Spark Notes.

Say hello, HighSchoolSummary.com!

Max Lance

The website — offering 4-minute summaries of high school English class standbys like The Odyssey, A Tale of Two Cities and Macbeth in clever web-video cartoon form — is the brainchild of Max Lance.

Before graduating from Staples in 2002 — and going on to NYU, USC film school and a career as a stand-up comic, screenwriter and author of the best-selling Amazon Kindle Single Crazy Girls — Max read his share of those English class, um, staples.

Now he’s turned them into an internet sensation.

“Hamlet” is about an emo teenager who is bad with confrontation.

Spoiler: Everyone dies.

Max — who lives in Los Angeles — works with his brother Dan (Staples ’05), a New York-based cinematographer, video producer and part-time editor for Fox News.

The first step, Max says, is to actually re-read each book. “When I was in high school, I could care less,” he says. “Now I think they’re pretty neat.”

He writes a one-page plot summary — straight up, no jokes — and then adds humor. There are sly asides, pop culture references, and plenty of sexual innuendoes.

After 4 or 5 drafts, Max tapes his shtick. He emails the sound file to Dan, who animates the summary to sync with the audio.

The site has caught on. Within 2 days of the Great Gatsby posting, it had 10,000 hits.

Max markets the videos through Reddit, BuzzFeed, CollegeHumor, his own blog, and  tweets and Facebook posts. But many students find it just by — desperately — searching for the books they were supposed to have already finished reading for an essay due tomorrow.

“That’s not why we did the site,” Max says. “We just thought we’d put up funny summaries for people who know the books. But if that’s part of our audience, fine.”

“1984″ is a really inaccurate portrayal of the year 1984.

Dan Lance

Of course, the brothers hear from folks who accuse them of butchering their favorite books. As a stand-up comic, he’s used to people who don’t think humor is funny.

Next up: Huck Finn. The website also offers a list of future suggestions, for users to vote. It includes classics like Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies and Grapes of Wrath.

But already, Max and Dan have branched out beyond high school literature. “Art History” includes these observations:

The Phoenicians [illustrated with a map of Phoenix, Arizona] and Greeks perfected the technique of boring pieces of chipped pottery, which we ignore in museums.

Four Renaissance artists — Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello — are better known asNinja Turtles.

Chiaroscuro is an SAT word!

(To see all the HighSchoolSummary videos, click here.)

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Arts, People, Staples HS, technology

Tagged , , , , ,

Happy Anniversary To Me!

Posted on March 6, 2012 | 73 Comments

Three years ago today — March 6, 2009 — “06880″ was born.

The first post described what this blog would be:  open-ended conversations with a Westport angle, no matter how tenuous.  I invited comments, feedback, tips — anything.

No one responded.

Things picked up soon — my 2nd post, on a Staples PTA “Risky Behaviors” panel, drew 5 comments.  “06880″ was off to the races.

Time flies when you’re having fun.  Exactly 3 years later, my blog and I celebrate our 3rd anniversary.

Thinking of a gift?  That’s sweet.  The traditional 3rd-year gift is leather. (Ahem.)

I’d prefer money.

Donate as much as you'd like to "06880"

For the past 3 years, “06880″ has published over 1,900 posts — nearly 2 a day.  Some have been international in scope — the ones on porn star Marilyn Chambers, “Paranormal Activity” star Micah Sloat and supermodel twins and “Amazing Race” stars Derek and Drew Riker still draw viewers, years later.

Others are intensely local:  the departure and return of Mike Aitkenhead to Wakeman Town Farm. Drivers who leave the Robeks parking lot by going directly over the curb onto the Post Road.  Tributes to remarkable people like Esta Burroughs, Rich Rollins and Manny Margolis.

When snow -- and trees -- fell in October, "06880" was there.

I cover all our crazy weather: windstorms, hurricanes, a freak October snowstorm. When the power goes out — yeah, it happens — “06880″ keeps publishing. With photos, updates on what’s open (the library and Y, usually), and we’ll-all-get-through-this-together tales.

I’ve given shout-outs to Westport kids — international science fair winners, an 8-year-old future hotel owner, even a beloved kids’ librarian.

I’ve looked back at the history of the Mill Pond, chronicled the changes on Church Street, and peered into the Twilight Zone of Westport’s own Rod Serling.

"06880" has gone Down Under for stories -- well, to the Down Under kayak shop in Saugatuck, anyway.

I’ve covered the ABC House, the Tea Party, the environment, education, restaurants,  artists, oystermen, fires, the movement for a new movie theater, the movement of the Y, the demise of downtown and the rise of Saugatuck.

I’ve provided a forum for wide-open discussions of anything and everything — on-topic, a bit tangential, and way, waaaaay off.

And it’s all been free.  A public service, if you will.

Of course, even servants like to eat.  So in honor of my anniversary, I’m making an NPR-style plea.  If you like what you read, please consider supporting “06880.”

Am I worth $1 a month?  $1 a week?  Perhaps (my choice!) $1 a day.

You can turn the page -- or you can help this man eat for a day.

If you think “06880″ deserves 10 cents a day, that’s only $36.60 (2012 is a leap year :) ).  If you think it’s worth more — and you can afford more — well, who am I to argue?

Unlike Channel 13, you won’t get a Peter, Paul and Mary DVD.  Or a tote bag.  Donations are not even tax-deductible.

What you will get is the chance to help me recover a bit of the cost of registering domains, keeping “06880″ ad-free, and spending 2 hours every day interviewing, researching, writing, responding to comments (public and private), taking and sizing and framing photos, and scouring the web for appropriate (and occasionally inappropriate)  graphics.

Thanks for 3 great years.  I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, whether anyone sends an anniversary gift or not.

But it would be nice.

You can donate by PayPal: click here, then go to “Send Money” and enter this email address:  dwoog@optonline.net.  You don’t even need a PayPal account!

Or checks may be mailed to:  Dan Woog, 301 Post Road East, Westport, CT 06880.  Put “06880″ on the memo line.  It won’t do anything for the IRS, but it may help you remember at tax time why you sent me something.

→ 73 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Education, Environment, Library, People, Saugatuck, technology, Weather

Tagged ,

Lost In Cyberspace

Posted on March 1, 2012 | 14 Comments

It’s my own fault for calling Cablevision about my email account on a weekend.

But a while ago — solving another issue — a technician told me that my “Optimum account” was not linked to my “Optimum ID.” He said that, to avoid a problem in the future, I should take care of that little issue.

Which I did last Saturday, around 4 p.m.

The process went swimmingly.

Until it didn’t.

Suddenly — in mid-linkage — the tech support guy could not seal the deal. Something had happened in cyberspace, he said, and it would have to be solved by someone higher up.

Unfortunately, those people did not work weekends.

However, the tech guy assured me chirpily, he was sure it would be taken care of. In 2 to 3 days. That is, “business days.” Meaning, oh, 4 days from then.

Until then, also unfortunately, I would not have access to email.

For someone who fields 200 or so emails a day — many of them business-related — this was not good.

In fact, this was very, very bad.

I asked to speak to a supervisor. The tech guy gladly got rid of me connected me to one.

Me, if I weighed 150 pounds more than I do.

This man — his name was Akinola — was sympathetic. Still, he said — I could almost see him shaking his head — this issue would unfortunately not be resolved this weekend. He understood that I was a loyal Cablevision customer — I was among the 1st dozen or so cable modem subscribers, when such a thing came to Westport around 1997, and I’ve been a cable TV customer since 1983 — but this was beyond his control. The best he could do was make sure it was taken care of early on Monday.

I asked to speak to his supervisor.

Which is when Stacie Serrano entered my life.

She understood the problem. She understood that Cablevision bore some responsibility for screwing up a relatively simple operation in midstream. She understood that I was angry, frustrated, anxious, and not a happy camper.

And — you don’t find this often in customer service stories — she set about to help.

I don’t know how she did it, but she found someone who — though this was not a “business day” — was actually working. Then — instead of just handing the case off to someone who may or may not have cared — she kept on him.

Me, at 10 p.m. Saturday.

And — are you sitting down? — Stacie called back several times to update me on Cablevision’s progress. So too did my new friend, Akinola.

By 10 p.m., the problem was solved. My account and ID number were now, apparently, linked. More importantly, I once again had access to email.

Well, most of it. Anything sent between 4 and 10 p.m. Saturday was apparently lost in cyberspace. I was assured it would turn up soon in Cablevision’s lost-and-found.

So this is one of those rare stories: the consumer equivalent of snow in October (it happens). This is a public thank-you to Cablevision, for outstanding customer service. And a hug — through the interwebs — to Stacie Serrano.

PS: 24 hours later, my missing emails came through. Well, most of them, anyway.

→ 14 Comments

Posted in People, technology

Tagged , ,

Spying On Your Neighbor Just Got A Whole Lot Easier

Posted on February 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

One of Westporters’ favorite hobbies — finding everything about someone else’s property — just got a hell of a lot easier.

According to the Westport News, Esri — the company providing the software that enables anyone to find maps and aerial photos of every property in Westport, along with information on zoning data and permits — has changed its platform.

“It’s similar to when Microsoft said, ‘We’re not going to be doing DOS anymore; we’re moving to Windows,” notes town engineer Peter Ratkiewich.

And just as Microsoft engineered a paradigm shift, so too does this represent a huge step forward in projecting GIS (Geographic Information System, duh) data.

No, it's not a QR code. It's a map of Westport. Drill down, and you'll see much more.

Last week, Ratkiewich gave a demonstration to a dozen or so people, mostly town employees. He showed them how to zoom in and out of properties; pull up information on them; find estimates of square footage; determine parcel lines, rights-of-way and easements, and see rough contours the land.

The “public viewer” provides great aerial views showing how close a property line is to a house.

The News noted that “layering” the maps can show wetlands, flood zones and zoning classifications. (Layering is different from “lawyering,” which some of the info may lead to.)

Users can combine properties to see, for example, how much land is available for a subdivision.

The News says that permit information — from 1990 to now — is updated daily. It shows active, approved, closed and voided permits, as well as certificates of occupancy. Parcel information (such as the owner’s name) is updated quarterly.

Users can search for a specific property by address, owner name or parcel ID.  They can even get mailing labels for residents within a 250-foot radius, in case they have to contact them for some, um, zoning issue.

(Click here to use the public viewer. Computers should have Internet Explorer 8 or better, and pop-up blockers must be turned off. Tutorials on using the new public viewer are set for Thursday, March 1 [9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Town Hall auditorium.])

I can see my home too, via Bing. No, it's not a mansion -- I live in a condo.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in People, Real estate, technology

Tagged , ,

One Good Reason Not To Give Up Your Cell Phone For Lent

Posted on February 22, 2012 | 4 Comments

Today is Ash Wednesday — the traditional beginning of Lent.

Here in Westport, apparently, it’s also the beginning of the use of QR codes to advertise the special day.

Whether or not St. Luke’s is the 1st church in the world to embrace QR technology* or not — and it very well may be — the 11th Commandment still stands: Thou shalt not text in the pews.

*QR codes — like those shown above — are those bizarre-looking designs which, when put into your cell phone, exhibit gobs of information about whatever is being described or advertised (in this case, Ash Wednesday). NOTE: You need a QR code reader app to access all that info.

→ 4 Comments

Posted in religion, technology, Totally random

Tagged ,

Nate Fox, MIT President

Posted on February 18, 2012 | 5 Comments

Getting into MIT is a pretty impressive accomplishment.

But thousands of students do it.

Only one can be president of the class, though.

Nate Fox has been elected 3 times.

Nate — now a senior — has long been destined for success. At Staples he was a self-described “math and science geek.” He starred on the math and robotics teams, but also enjoyed being part of a broader community.

“It’s an awesome place,” he says of the high school from which he graduated in 2008. “There’s something for everyone. No matter how you want to get involved — sports, drama, radio — you can.”

Nate Fox, pitching one of his many ideas.

Nate calls MIT “the next logical step.” From his Lego days on, he liked inventing and creating new things. “Math and science have power to impact people’s lives,” he explains.

He finds MIT to be — like Staples — “an amazing place. There’s intense intellectual curiosity and rigor. Everyone asks questions, and everyone tries to find answers.”

The school offers world-class professors, funding for research, and an environment in which “really cool ideas can grow.”

Though Nate loved physics at Staples, he found the MIT program too theoretical for his tastes. “Studying black holes is really important,” he says. “But for me, I want to effect the world more immediately.”

He went into mechanical engineering. A toy product design class satisfied his “childlike passion” for creating. “People do this for a living?!” he asked.

To complement the project-based, hands-on engineering curriculum he took marketing and business classes at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

His first internship, after sophomore year, came in the product development group at Volkswagen. He learned a lot, then did a winter internship at Continuum, a design and innovation consultancy. “That was a fun, wacky place,” Nate reports. MBAs mixed right in with English, anthropology and engineering majors.

Those work experiences reinforced Nate’s desire to work in product design. Now he’s landed a job with Microsoft as an associate product manager. Starting this summer he’ll work in the Seattle-based Windows business group, examining product development, marketing and finance.

With a job with Microsoft already set after college, Nate Fox is on top of the world.

Now, about that MIT class presidency…

As a sophomore Nate ran against the incumbent, and won. He’s been re-elected ever since, based on his focus of getting more back for the class’ budget bucks.

As president, he’ll speak at graduation.

“It’s an incredible honor,” he says. Realizing that commencement speeches are filled with cliches, and that “it’s hard for a 21-year-old to be profound,” Nate plans to focus on what makes his class happy, what drives them, and what makes them who they are.

“We go through life trudging along,” he notes. “But every day is a gift. We really need to make the most of it.”

As Nate Fox clearly already has.

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Education, People, Staples HS, technology

Tagged , ,

Amazon: Beware!

Posted on February 12, 2012 | 18 Comments

Just before Christmas, Amazon took some well-deserved flak for introducing an app that encouraged shoppers to walk into a store, scan a product’s barcode, then order it online — from Amazon — at a discount.

At least one Westport business is fighting back.

Alert “06880″ reader Lori Goertz snapped this photo at the Westport Music Center:

“I love the sign’s honesty and fortitude,” Lori wrote.

So do I.

For decades, the Westport Music Center has provided sheet music, instrument rentals and repairs, and much more.

With this kind of attitude, it will be around for many decades to come.

→ 18 Comments

Posted in Arts, Local business, technology