Zoom-In at the Bain Center: April 2014

Sunday, April 27, 2014

The Beginning of a New Economy

Thursday, May 1, 2014, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Are we in a dying economy or in a transition to a new one? We will explore this theme in the month of May. We start with the rise of collaborative consumption made possible my social networking on the Internet. Here are two TED Talks by Rachel Botsman:

I just attended the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in Hilo, Hawaii. To find a room, I used AirBnB which was mentioned in the second talk above.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Religion in Politics

Thursday, Apr. 24, 2014, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Do you remember when candidate John F. Kennedy said that his religion would not compromise his duties his duties as president? Could Kennedy be elected today? Here are some videos of Kennedy's famous speech, Rick Santorum's reaction to the speech, and an explanation of what changed by Penn Jillette.

I will be on travel next week, so videos will not be shown during the meeting. But we should still have a great meeting since Lowell Sunderland has volunteered to lead the discussion.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Guns

Thursday, Apr. 17, 2014, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Continuing with our theme of Politics, our next topic will be Guns. Bill Ramsey has volunteered to lead the discussion. Is there some way to balance Second Amendment rights with public safety? Is the NRA too powerful? Was the new Maryland gun law proper? Our group should be able to answer these questions, and more, in just 90 minutes.

To get the conversation started here is a video of gun debate, which is actually civilized:

Sam Harris and Cory Booker Debate Gun Control on Real Time

------- Update 4/16/14 -------

In anticipation for the upcoming challenges to the new Maryland gun law, here are some relevant court cases:

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Maryland and Howard County Politics

Thursday, Apr. 10, 2014, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

We will turn our focus to Howard County and our local districts in the Maryland State legislator. The meeting will be led by Zoom-in member Ken Stevens, who has been active in local politics for many years.

Here a some web links which can provide background;

Find your election districts: http://www.elections.state.md.us/voting/where.html

List of local races: http://elections.state.md.us/elections/2014/primary_candidates/index.html

Howard County Council: http://cc.howardcountymd.gov/displayprimary.aspx?ID=4294968693

Howard County Budget: http://www.co.ho.md.us/current_budget.htm and http://www.co.ho.md.us/Departments.aspx?Id=6442458740

Ken has also recommended these news articles:

ON NEWS ITEMS ABOUT CANDIDATES IN THE HOTTEST LOCAL PRIMARIES

LD12 Delegate candidate news in press:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/arbutus-lansdowne/ph-ca-at-candidate-forum-1120-20131114,0,7005243.story

http://touch.baltimoresun.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-79280201/

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/catonsville/ph-ca-at-district-12-forum-0312-20140307,0,832349.story

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/catonsville/ph-ca-at-district-12-charlestown-0319-20140312,0,331693,full.story