Come learn to contra dance! Contra is a type of traditional social dancing that’s high energy and a lot of fun. It’s done as couples in a long line, so you end up dancing with everyone else in your set. We’ll be starting from the very beginning, so no experience is needed, but come ready to dance; wear comfortable shoes and clothing and bring a water bottle if you can. We’ll teach how contra works and go over some basic moves, then spend the rest of the time dancing.

When we think of the American Revolution today, we think of a band of rebels fighting the British. This isn't how the revolutionaries would have described themselves just a few years before the Revolution, however -- the colonials thought of themselves as loyal British citizens, enjoying the same rights and priviledges as any other British citizens. The British, though, came to disagree during the French and Indian war, and argument over the specific rights of colonials formed the tension that led to the Revolution. From the Stamp Acts to the Tea Acts (leading to the Boston tea party!) to the failed attempts at reconciliation between England and the colonies, come learn about the pre-Revolution history of the revolution!

Before the Revolution started, the colonists thought of themselves as British citizens, just the same as any others. All they wanted was to drink their tea and eat their sugar like any good Englishman, and not be ripped off by high taxes. But somehow, in the course of a short eight years, the United States in Congress Assembled developed a [semi-]unified governance system, the Articles of Confederation; fielded an army that defeated the best army in the world; and amalgamated its citizens into a nation with a distinct identity from Britain. How did this happen? How did a protest group seeking their British rights turn into a national identity? These questions and more will be answered by examining the Declaration of Independence and other publications and newspapers from the Revolutionary period.

We often think today of the Constitution as the piece de resistance of the Colonial period, a perfect government that sprang from the Founding Fathers fully formed and without precedent. In fact, few things could be further from the truth. The Constutition wasn't even supposed to exist --- the committee that forged it was supposed to propose amendments to the existing government, not overthrow it. The Founders themselves hardly thought their document was perfect --- it had a host of compromises, over religion, slavery, power, and other critical aspects of the government. In fact, several Founders spent months locked away in a room with the others making the Constitution --- and then refused to sign it! How did the founders arrive at the Constitution? Did they come up with something new, or was it foreshadowed by the British system? Why did they make the choices they made? Come learn and discuss these and many other Constitutional topics!

The Federal Constitution was written in four months by fifty-five men cloistered in the Pennsylvania state house. The final text was signed by thirty-nine: "eleven states, and Colonel Hamilton" in the words of George Washington. How did it it go from the proposal of a small committee to being ratified by the thirteen nearly-independent states as a replacement for the Articles of the Confederation? Once it was ratified, how did the generation that wrote it convert it from a few pages of parchment into a functioning government? Learn about the battle over ratification and how it led to the Bill of Rights (and a near-war with Rhode Island!). We'll also discuss how the development of a Treasury created a functional executive branch---something that had not existed under the Articles of the Confederation---how the Federal judiciary, which is barely sketched in the Constitution, developed, and how the fights over these issues created a national party system.

Following the "shot heard round the world", men and women of all stripes took up arms and marched to Boston to face the King's troops in the name of liberty. Yet enthusiasm alone does not win wars, and in 1775, Britain was the foremost military power in the world. The Americans had fought native tribes and French outposts...under British leadership. Yet somehow, this group of armed rabble grew to defeat and outmanoever royal troops on the battlefield and seas, winning the respect of Europe (and the crucial alliance of France) and ultimately American freedom. How did the war move from Boston to Yorktown? Why did British Regulars wear bright red coats? How much of an effect did colonial millitia have relative to continental regulars? Learn the answers to these and other tactical questions in this military history of the American Revolution!

News reports swirl about an outbreak of a strange variant of the rabies virus accidentally released from a Harvard Biology lab. Cameras capture the infected lurching through Cambridge, spreading southward. What do you do? The key to survival is preparation. Learn how to: identify zombie weaknesses, choose the right weapons, save supplies needed for a siege or escape and most importantly: kill zombies and survive

Poetry is language that is more than text. Poetry is words given the spirit to saunter across to a crowded bar, to cut a man's tongue from his throat, to caress in sorrow a stone-cold cheek, to reach in hopes to touch the face of god. Poetry is therefore not to be rummaged for among old parchments but shouted onto the cobblestones of the public square and therefore written as with a sunbeam upon their minds. So, bring your favorite poems and pieces of spoken word to read or recite. It can be your own or another's. We'll have some to share as well. Or come and listen

The zombie apocalypse may be just around the corner, do you want to be fresh meat, or a prepared member of the Zombie Defense Initiative, ready for anything? Join us as we talk about the possible causes of a zombie apocalypse, proper preparation, and handy tactics for dealing with those shambling (or running) hordes of flesh-eaters!

Diseased half-corpses shamble through the streets. Phone lines have been cut. The rest of the members of your local zombie defense force are halfway across town and you need to alert them to the fact that the bridge is closed off. What do you do? We'll discuss both technology (in particular Ham Radio) and techniques for reliable communications.

Linux and Mac OS are both based on Unix. I'll show you a bit about how they are structured, how to start using the command line, how to configure things, and how to write short scripts to automate things you do all the time.

News reports swirl about an outbreak of a strange variant of the rabies virus accidentally released from a Harvard Biology lab. Cameras capture the infected lurching through Cambridge, spreading southward. What do you do? The key to survival is preparation. Learn how to: identify zombie weaknesses, choose the right weapons, save supplies needed for a siege or escape and most importantly: kill zombies and survive

Just like humans speak to each other to communicate, so do web browsers, mail clients, and pretty much any piece of software that uses the internet. Many of the protocols they use to communicate are in plaintext and are human readable, meaning that you can understand and speak them directly. Learn to craft email from arbitrary addresses while speaking SMTP, or send crafted requests to webpages while speaking HTTP. This class will both show you what is happening under the hood in software you use every day, as well as give you an understanding of what parts of a protocol you can trust and what can be forged.

News reports swirl about an outbreak of a strange variant of the rabies virus accidentally released from a Harvard Biology lab Cameras capture the infected lurching through Cambridge, spreading southward. What do you do? The key to survival is preparation. Learn how to: identify zombie weaknesses, choose the right weapons, save supplies needed for a siege or escape and most importantly: kill zombies and survive

Linux and Mac OS are both based on Unix and we'll show you a bit about how they are structured, how to start using the command line, how to configure things, and how to write short scripts to automate things you do all the time.

The zombie apocalypse may be just around the corner, do you want to be fresh meat, or a prepared member of the Zombie Defense Initiative, ready for anything? Join us as we talk about the possible causes of a zombie apocalypse, proper preparation, and handy tactics for dealing with those shambling (or running) hordes of flesh-eaters!

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section I explain how to get yourself set up with python and how to write mathematical functions. More importantly, I'll explain just what this "Programming" thing is and some ways about how you should think about learning it

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section I explain how to manipulate collections of things.

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section I explain how to compose functions, call functions from other functions... and just what is this "function" thing anyway?

Linux and Mac OS are both based on Unix and we'll show you a bit about how they are structured, how to start using the command line, how to configure things, and how to write short scripts to automate things you do all the time.

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section I explain writing how functions are just another data type that can be passed around and returned by other functions.

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section, we'll look at some code we've written for a chatbot and talk about how to read, copy, reuse, and modify other people's code.

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section I'll show you python's datatypes: all the neat ways python has of holding and talking about multiple things at the same time.

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section, we'll talk about what we thing are the most useful things that python does for you that you can just use. We'll also start talking about projects

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section, we will walk around and help you as you work on your projects.

The zombie apocalypse may be just around the corner, do you want to be fresh meat, or a prepared member of the Zombie Defense Initiative, ready for anything? Join us as we talk about the possible causes of a zombie apocalypse, proper preparation, and handy tactics for dealing with those shambling (or running) hordes of flesh-eaters!

The zombie apocalypse may be just around the corner, do you want to be fresh meat, or a prepared member of the Zombie Defense Initiative, ready for anything? Join us as we talk about the possible causes of a zombie apocalypse, proper preparation, and handy tactics for dealing with those shambling (or running) hordes of flesh-eaters!

A class for graduates of ZDI.001, ZDI.002 will provide a more careful look at some common mistakes made by novice zombie-hunters and will involve some class exercises.

In Voodoo, there is the belief that there are undead people who are controlled by a sorcerer: these people are known as zombies. As they are not in their own control, we have reason to be afraid, as we can not reason with them. We can run, but we can't hide forever. The only thing we can do is learn to defend ourselves and become masters of our own destinies.

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section I'll show you ...