Magnitude and Direction — Issue #160
Workstation overkill, the problem(s) with time zones, and a very important camel
Welcome to the latest installment of my bi-weekly newsletter, covering some of my favorite new developments in the fields of biotech, data science, engineering, and more. If this is your first issue, it's great to have you! For everyone else, thanks for coming back!
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Notes
I’m at Wolfco today and can see the trees across the street blooming through our windows… enjoy the weather today if you’re in the Northeast.
This edition’s font is called Ranchers.
Jobs
No new job opportunities in this edition, check earlier editions for previous posts.
Hardware, Prototyping, and Fabrication
🔌 Is your phone charger more powerful than the Apollo 11 guidance computer?
🚀 Staying on the space theme, here's all the rockets we've ever launched (or planned to launch) into space.
💺 Also (sort of) staying on the space theme: This workstation is supposed to let you work at a computer as though you were in zero gravity, but just getting up to space might actually be less of an endeavor than getting the workstation properly assembled.
Software and Programming
🕛🕐🕑🕒 Time zones: Perennial Programming Problem.
🧱 You can't actually play this game of pong, but you might find yourself transfixed just the same.
📏 Never go without a ruler again.
⌚ This GitHub repository can help you turn your smart watch into an even smarter watch.
Science, Engineering, and Biomedicine
🐫 This camel has a very important job.
🥶 One of the FDA's newest drug approvals treats something you might not normally consider drug-able (I certainly didn't): frostbite.
🐜 Now you can pick different ants to eat the same way you might pick different jelly beans to eat (if you feel so inclined to do that).
Mapping, History, and Data Science
🏈😔 No matter how you slice the data, it's not fun to be a Jets fan.
⛳ If you thought the United States had a lot of McDonald's, wait until you see how many golf courses we have.
📜 There's a lot of information captured in this graph of age-distributed educational attainment, but the thing I'll highlight is how uncommon it is to get a PhD (even if it may not seem that way when you're in the midst of it all).
🤜💥 How long does it take Jason Statham to punch someone?
Events and Opportunities
Don’t forget about that Mouthy Baby show coming up in a few weeks…
Friday, 3/29 Virtual Hardware Job Fair: AI, Robotics, and more! Join the national hardware and technology communities for a virtual job fair featuring top companies that are hiring full time for various roles and summer opportunities. Companies will be across NYC, SF, and several other locations. There'll be an intro and kickoff on 3/29, and connections with companies will be made as part of a virtual matching process.
Saturday, 3/30 NY Climate Unconference. Join IndieBio, SOSV, and select supporters of the NY climate community to bagels, coffee, and deeper conversations at their first unconference. The unconference format is focused on informal, participant-driven sessions encouraging open dialogue, networking, and spontaneous discussions without a predefined agenda. The program aim is to create a space for deeper discussion and to facilitate closer connections than our more public networking events.
Monday, 4/1 Applied Science: Vol. 3. Join a mix of artists, designers, technologists, and scientists over food and drinks for a casual evening of networking and intermingling between disciplines that showcases the breadth and depth of innovation and creativity in New York City. Practitioners in creative fields ranging from biochemistry to industrial design and beyond are invited and encouraged to attend!
Wednesday, 4/3 Biomedical Discovery Through Generative AI. Join JLABS NYC for a forward-looking event showcasing how GenAI is accelerating drug discovery, from targets to development. Gain insights from leading pioneers and explore how this disruptive technology can benefit your organization and expedite medical breakthroughs. Don't miss this chance to network, learn, and push the boundaries of pharma R&D!
Friday-Sunday, 4/5-4/7 CInC Biodesign Sprint 2024. The City Innovations Collaborative (CInC), a new incubator from CCNY based in the West Harlem biotech hub, is hosting their first ever BioDesign Sprint, a weekend-long hackathon for life science grad students and professionals to prototype new ideas and technologies. Come with an idea that you’ve been itching to bring to life or lend your skills and join a team. Winners will receive seed funding and entry to an upcoming design challenge to commercialize their concept!
Saturday, 4/6 (+1st Saturdays all Summer) The Bronx Night Market. As the longest-running event series in the northmost borough, the Bronx Night Market stands as a transformative force, revolutionizing the foodie scene and cultivating a deep connection to the identity of the Bronx. With a remarkable lineup of 50 local vendors, this iconic market draws over 4,000 guests each time, making it a thriving hub for community engagement and culinary exploration.
Tuesday, 4/9 The Volumetric Society: AI Cognition. Artist and AI researcher Claire Jervert joins the Volumetric Society of NY's next meetup to demonstrate and present a brief introduction to Of Two Minds, a collaborative AI artwork that creates an intimate conversational immersive experience using a hybrid cognitive language model that responds extemporaneously and in real-time. The project incorporates AI, VR, robotics and LiDar/point cloud technologies and is scheduled for exhibition at Lincoln Center in June 2024. The discussion hopes to provoke a dialogue about the use/abuse of these powerful technologies and their future utilization in artistic projects.
Friday 4/12 TEDxCUNY 2024: Unravel. CUNY’s annual TEDx conference returns this spring, featuring talks from students, faculty, and other luminaries as they quest to unravel the complexities of life and weave the fabric of our future.
⭐Sunday, 4/14 Mouthy Baby @ Heaven Can Wait. New York's favorite tooth-adjacent rock band is back for our first show of the spring at Heaven Can Wait in the heart of the East Village. The lineup includes all the Mouthy Baby originals you've come to love and a few classics that get the crowd going as well. Come chase away the Sunday Scaries and join us for an evening of good times and great tunes.
Monday, 4/15 Transit Techies Meetup: Bus-Based Innovations. Join the Transit Techies meetup for a dynamic session hosted by NYU's Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) in partnership with Transit Techies NYC. This event will delve into the innovative strategies behind the digital transformation and electrification of school bus operations, spearheaded by NYCSBUS, New York City's pioneering non-profit school bus provider.
Tuesday, 4/16 Civic Tech'ish Happy Hour. Join data enthusiasts, technologists, and civic leaders for a casual gathering and an informal and fun opportunity to connect with folks interested and/or working in the civic space. Whether you’re currently involved in civic tech or looking to learn more about its vibrant community in New York, all are welcome to attend!
Tuesday, 4/16 (+ 3rd Tuesday of the month) Mid-Atlantic Bio Angels 1st Pitch Office Hours. Continuing the tradition that began with their 1st Pitch Life Science™ series of live events, MABA Office Hours are meant to provide constructive feedback to companies that may be too early for funding, and those who wish to pitch for feedback. This monthly office hours session gives companies 10 minutes to pitch a panel of MABA investors, followed by 10 minutes of feedback from the panel. You need not be part of a startup to attend, either — these pitch events are open to all to attend.
Wednesday, 4/17 3rd Annual CAT Symposium. The 3rd annual CAT symposium will showcase CUNY-wide academic-industry research and workforce development partnerships that further innovation and entrepreneurship in NY. The event will feature exciting NYC-based startup companies representing diverse applications such as Sensing, Sustainable Materials, Climate Tech, Energy Storage, and Drug-Discovery sharing first-hand experiences navigating the challenges of funding, partnerships, and lab-to-scale of their technologies. Find out what’s happening in the West Harlem Innovation Triangle and discuss the present and future of frontier technology development to advance human and planetary health.
Wednesday, 4/17 Sustainability in Biotech. Join Nucleate NY, MilliporeSigma, and NYU Biolabs for a discussion on sustainability in biotech! Following the panel, connect with experts, the Millipore team, and the broader New York biotech community over drinks and light bites.
Thursday, 5/9 WCBA & ABCT Pitch Day. Join FirstXFounder for the culminating event of their WCBA and ABCT biotech entrepreneurship programs, featuring presentations by founders of the region’s newest healthcare ventures. Attendees will include investors, corporate sponsors and members of the life sciences ecosystem.
Friday, 5/10 Nucleate New York 2024 Activator Demo Day. Join Nucleate New York to celebrate their 2024 Activator cohort and the growing biotech/deep tech ecosystem in New York! Cohort teams and participants span all major biomedical institutions in the region, with cohort ventures based on pioneering academic work, creating therapies for unmet medical needs, novel therapeutic platforms, and sustainable technologies for planetary health.
Other events coming up you think I should know about? Let me know here!
Map of the Month
🌳 In honor of NYC Open Data Week, the next Map of the Month is the famous and perennially cited NYC Tree Map.
Odds & Ends
📸 Of all the organizations you'd expect to have an account on photo-sharing website Flickr, the CIA is probably low on that list, yet, here we are.