The official news release

The news is now out with today’s press releases.  This is what I’ve been working on for months.  Evaluating initiative proposals, working on grants, meeting with vendors, establishing technical and policy frameworks, and holding up the bulk of the efforts to train and support faculty.  It’s a blue sky move, and one I hope pays off, but either way it’s pretty exciting.

Regis becomes an all-iPad college – BostonHerald.com.

Regis College Press Release

On clear cutting

As seen on my morning commute, NStar is currently clear cutting large swaths of the MetroWest and other parts of the state. {{1}} {{2}} {{3}} {{4}} {{5}} {{6}}

Suffice to say, many, many residents are upset.{{7}}  However, there is not a lot of recourse, as NStar has the right of way in these corridors where the high voltage power lines run, claim that the clear cutting is necessary to prevent the sorts of extended blackouts we’ve had in recent years (and saw recently in the Mid-Atlantic region), and that they are about 20 years behind on their standards of tree trimming, so of course residents are going to see changes.

Residents, correctly or not, claim that NStar is well exceeding what is needed to keep these lines safe from tree damage, are damaging healthy parts of the environment, are cutting down trees outside of their right of way, including trees planted by the residents, and in general are being a giant nuisance.  They’re also claiming that NStar is only being this aggressive because it is cheaper to clear cut everything than to do proper maintenance.  In this they might be right, but our governments have ceded that decision to NStar, so it is difficult for complaints to go very far.

I acknowledge that even if complaints do go somewhere, it won’t bring back the thousands of trees and hundreds of acres now cleared of all vegetation more than three feet tall.  My concern going forward is what this is going to do in the future? Are we going to have other environmental concerns now? What about local wildlife? What will happen to this land without adequate vegetation? Is NStar setting themselves up to have telephone lines washed out by erosion now?

And ignoring all that, now we have these wide open spaces with only thin wires overhead.  I suggest NStar put solar panels all along the route, and use this as an opportunity to balance the environmental and societal scales a little.

 

[[1]]Boston.com overview, July 19th: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/07/19/nstar_takes_heat_on_tree_removal_policy/[[1]]

[[2]]Burlington, 2011: http://www.wickedlocal.com/burlington/news/x898067416/Residents-upset-over-NSTAR-clear-cutting-trees-in-Burlington[[2]]

[[3]]Framingham, May: http://framingham.patch.com/articles/neighborhood-upset-with-nstar-s-tree-cutting[[3]]

[[4]]Mashpee (Cape Cod) questioning by a conservator: http://www.capenews.net/communities/mashpee/news/1603[[4]]

[[5]]Cape Cod, 2011: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111012/NEWS/110120317[[5]]

[[6]]Wayland, June: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/photos/x836125498/PHOTOS-NSTAR-continues-clear-cutting-trees-in-Wayland[[6]]

[[7]]Sudbury, June: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/06/26/vandal-hits-crew-clear-cutting-trees-in-sudbury/[[7]]

Geek & Sundry’s First Episode of Written by a Kid Stars Joss Whedon | GeekDad | Wired.com

This video has got to be one of the best things ever.  A couple of guys sit down with a kid who tells a story.  They ask the kid questions about the story as it goes on, and they take the story and make an incredible film version of it.  This is the first of a series, and I hope they are all this good.  The short film stars Dave Foley and Joss Whedon and Kate Micucci.  Encouraging this kid to be creative, and then helping turn that into a short film is just incredible.  We need more of this where the internet supports people instead of taking them down.

From Wired.com’s GeekDad blog: Geek & Sundry’s First Episode of Written by a Kid Stars Joss Whedon | GeekDad | Wired.com.

 

The video itself: