This afternoon Mathewson Street stood in for Philadelphia as a crew filmed a pilot for an ABC program Body of Evidence. It is one of them Medical Examiner solves crimes type shows zzzzzzzzzz… sorry, I fell asleep.

Hopefully it gets picked up though. It would be good for the economy to have another show filmed in the city. ProJo wrote about the show the other day.

Photos by Jef Nickerson

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Wednesday, March 17th, 2010, 5:30–8:30pm
AS220, 115 Empire Street, Providence, RI
FREE (buy your own food and drink – it’s cheap)

The March Geek Dinner is a particularly big one for me.

Wednesday evening, my brother Chris and I are going to be giving the first public preview of Lockify. We have developed a new web-based method for safely sharing sensitive information over the Internet.

Lockifying sensitive information before sharing it online protects you and your contacts. Doing so helps guard against interception, copying, archiving, security breaches, data-mining and other rotten stuff.

We’re pretty excited about Lockify, and even more excited to share it with the local geek community, which as always, has been super supportive. We hope you’ll join us.

Please RSVP at Facebook (In the interest of making it more “viral”, we’re doing our RSVPs on Facebook – and while you’re there please join our Facebook group. And if you want to join our very-low-volume email announcement send an email to Jack Templin, with your name and affiliation.)

Providence Geeks

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Interested in being part of a filmed Slumdog Millionaire “Jai Ho” Dance performance? On Saturday, April 3rd, 2010 at 10:00am, the international non-profit Adopt a Doctor will host a filmed “Jai Ho” dance routine at Roger Williams National Park (near the state capitol building in Providence) —modeled after the dance at the finale of the award-winning Slumdog Millionaire movie. Our goal is to promote awareness for our organization’s mission by hosting an engaging, community-building celebration of local diversity. Joan Wiegers, a professional choreographer and director of Dance at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, will coordinate the dance.

We hope to have upwards of 150 people of all ages participate in the dance, and Adopt a Doctor is inviting New England organizations to become co-sponsors. No previous dance experience is required for participation. Please sign up here, or contact Devin Finzer (Phone: 401-421-0606) if you’re interested.

Adopt a Doctor is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to empower doctors in poor countries to work where their services are needed most. Adopt a Doctor provides financial aid and other critical resources to physicians working in poor countries so that they can stay and continue their work.

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PROVIDENCE CITY PLAN COMMISSION NOTICE OF REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2010 4:45 PM

Department of Planning and Development, 4th Floor Auditorium 400 Westminster Street, Providence, RI 02903

OPENING SESSION

• Call to Order
• Roll Call
• Election of CPC Officers – for action
• Approval of meeting minutes of February 23rd 2010 – for action

MINOR SUBDIVISION

1. Case No. 10-009MI – 33-45 Acorn Street
The applicant is proposing to subdivide the existing lot measuring 103,555 SF by creating a new lot at the southeastern portion of the structure measuring 17,339 SF. The subject property is zoned M-1 and occupied by a multistory industrial building (AP 27 Lot 254, Valley) – for action.

ADJOURNMENT

Agenda [.pdf]

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Photo by Jef Nickerson

A sure sign of spring, the ice skating season at the Bank of America City Center in Kennedy Plaza ends March 21st. The skating center is wrapping up the season with a number of events:

The 2010 skating season ends March 21st. Join us for a full week of fun!

• Monday, March 15th Skating admission is just $3 all day long!
• Tuesday, March 16th Tango Tuesday from 12-2pm!
• Wednesday, March 17th Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Wear green while you skate between 2-4pm and receive a free pass to the Providence Children’s Museum (while supplies last). Then from 4-10pm, join us in our Beer & Wine Pavilion for a refreshing after-work drink. And don’t forget, Wednesday night is College Night from 6-10pm!
• Thursday, March 18th Take an exhilarating break from watching the NCAA games and go for a spin on the ice. Afterwork Special pricing from 4-6pm is just $3 admission and $3 skate rental. And from 4-10pm, watch the skaters from the Beer & Wine Pavilion provided by Pinelli-Marra.
• Friday, March 19th Join us from from 4-10pm in the Beer & Wine Pavilion provided by Pinelli-Marra. Make a night of it by walking through the tunnel to the special basin Waterfire night at 7:30pm!
• Saturday, March 20th Final night of our Beer & Wine Pavilion from 4-10pm – a great way to cap off the NCAA games!
• Sunday, March 21st Final day – Open 11am – 10pm! Make sure to bring your special coupon below for a deep discount!

Bank of America City Center

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Photo by Jef Nickerson

Today Google Maps launched bicycle directions for 150 American Cities, including Providence.

Currently, cycling maps are not embeddable, so I can’t show one here, but go here to see a map showing cycling directions from City Hall to Roger Williams Park. The bike layer shows off-road bikeways (such as the East Bay and Washington Secondary Bike Paths) as a solid green line. On street bike routes are shown with a green and grey dashed line. The maps of course are only as good as the data Google has. Broadway for example is marked as off-road. Likely because their are nebulous plans to put bike lanes on Broadway, they are not there yet though.

Via: The New York Times

Update: Streetsblog has an audio interview with Google Engineer Scott Shawcroft about the roll out of bike directions and Google’s future plans for it.

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Join Shape Up RI for a walk on Wednesday March 10th at 12:15pm. Meet us at 12:15pm on the Rhode Island State House lawn, across from the Mall for a 1.2 mile walk. That is over 2000 steps!

All are welcome. Everyone is entered to win a Shape Up RI tee-shirt.

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Photo (cc) pugetsoundphotowalks

PRESS RELEASE
WARWICK INTERMODAL TRAIN AND BIKE ACCESS
Greenwich Bay Watershed Group
401 738-4347 FAX 401 679-0033

March 8, 2010

The Greenwich Bay Watershed Group is announcing an initiative to jump-start a safe bike and pedestrian pathway to the Warwick Intermodal Train Station. The path would connect to the existing Cranston-to-Coventry bike path.

With the economy turning sour, residents in our watershed are hard-pressed to find jobs locally. In increasing numbers they are becoming commuters to seek and find work in Boston, as well as in Connecticut shoreline areas. For them and us, the Intermodal should be a lifeline to badly needed jobs. It is a facility that can help make Warwick work.

With energy prices again on the rise, and mounting concerns about carbon footprints and global warming, commuters are turning to bikes and walking as modes of transport to train stations, buses, and job sites. Conveniently, the Warwick Intermodal Train Station is located just a couple of miles from the existing Washington Secondary Bike Path. But the challenges that cyclists and walkers face are significant, especially along a short stretch of Greenwich Avenue.

We are scheduling neighborhood meetings to discuss the development of this bike path link and how neighborhoods in the area can hook into this new bike path to the Intermodal.

CONTACT:
Richard Langseth
Executive Director
Greenwich Bay Watershed Group
170 Budlong Farm Road
Warwick, RI 02886
401 738-4347

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]]> http://www.gcpvd.org/2010/03/08/warwick-intermodal-bike-and-pedestrian-access/feed/ 2 http://www.gcpvd.org/2010/03/08/warwick-intermodal-bike-and-pedestrian-access/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gcpvd/~3/gK5O4fElw60/ http://www.gcpvd.org/2010/03/06/reader-submissions-shorpy-com/#comments Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:08:50 +0000 Jef Nickerson http://www.gcpvd.org/?p=6857

November 1912. Central Falls, Rhode Island. View of privies, garbage dumps, etc., in back yards near Bed-bug Alley and High Street. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine for the Child Welfare Exhibit of 1912-13. via: Shorpy.com

A reader sent me some links from a site I hadn’t heard of, Shorpy.com. Shorpy.com describes itself as, “History in HD is a vintage photography blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.”

All of the photos on the site are interesting, and there are some from Rhode Island. Though these are not your typical photos of a hazy glorified yesteryear. In fact, most of these photos highlight child labor in the mills of Rhode Island around the turn of the last century. Something that we don’t look back on very often.

• Providence, November 1912
• Providence, November 23, 1912
• 70 Borden Street, Providence, November 1912
• Republican Street, Providence, November 23, 1912
• Coventry, April 16, 1909
• Spruce Street, Providence, November 1912
• Whitman Street dump, Pawtucket, November 1912
• Naval Training Station, Newport, c. 1913
• Fiskeville, April 1909
• Warren, June 10, 1909
• Quidwick Co. Mill, April 1909
• Whitman Street dump, Pawtucket, November 1912
• Newport, 1902
• Naval Training Station, Newport, 1913
• Newport, 1902
• Newport, 1901
• Phenix, April 1909

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]]> http://www.gcpvd.org/2010/03/06/reader-submissions-shorpy-com/feed/ 1 http://www.gcpvd.org/2010/03/06/reader-submissions-shorpy-com/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gcpvd/~3/_zq_RP5UiTs/ http://www.gcpvd.org/2010/03/06/video-the-sandpit-tilt-shift-new-york-city/#comments Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:04:54 +0000 Jef Nickerson http://www.gcpvd.org/?p=6854

This is pretty damn cool!

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

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