Every Tuesday we show 3 TED Talks on our wall sized screen organized around a common theme.

This weeks theme: The Mind

Gero Miesenboeck reengineers a brain In the quest to map the brain, many scientists have attempted the incredibly daunting task of recording the activity of each neuron. Gero Miesenboeck works backward -- manipulating specific neurons to figure out exactly what they do, through a series of stunning experiments that reengineer the way fruit flies perceive light.

Dan Gilbert asks, Why are we happy? Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert says our beliefs about what will make us happy are often wrong -- a premise he supports with intriguing research, and explains in his accessible and unexpectedly engaging talk.

VS Ramachandran on your mind Vilayanur Ramachandran tells us what brain damage can reveal about the connection between celebral tissue and the mind, using three startling delusions as examples.

We're going to try something a little different for the holidays, at a different time and different location, so make a note!

Rather than a specific topic with one speaker, we're going to do some lightning talks. In a nutshell, ANYONE can stand up and do a short 5 minute presentation about any topic they wish (preferably relevant to our group, but if you really want to talk about your cats...). Every speaker will be given be 5 minutes (by clock) with a 1 minute warning before the end. Slides are allowed, but not required. Props are welcome!

Here's some ideas: * Projects you're working on * A new toolkit you're excited about * A new methodology you've developed * Books/Websites you highly recommend * A public rant/praise about our group * Hassles of writing books (hint, Dave... hint...) * Anything, really

if you've never done a lightning talk, here's a good thing to read: http://selenadelesie.com/2010/06/30/try-a-lightning-talk/

Please post/email your topic if you plan to present. We may be able to fit in 12-15 in a reasonable time.

We're meeting across the river at "Abstract Machines", off Ladd's Rose Gardens Circle and Squares. This won't be hard to get into - and a little more of a party atmosphere than our normal structure. Food and drinks are welcome/encouraged.

Abstract Machines Design & Development 1235 SE Division Suite 111 Portland, OR 97202 503-577-2311

The focus of this talk isn't on Facebook, or Twitter, or Buzz - but rather how current research understands social interactions work in the real work. Specific technologies will only be mentioned as to how they all get it wrong - and more importantly - how you don't have to.

You won't want to miss this. It isn't another "Social network buzzword Twitter buzz buzzzzzz lol" talk - but real interesting research in human behavior with real implications on future UX design.

I'll be going over mostly the research presentation by Paul Adams, who works as the UX research lead for Google's social initiatives. EDIT: Apparently today he accepted a job at Facebook.

If you're like me, you spend WAYYYY too much time in front of a computer. I think it would be great to have a monthly get together at a bar or pub to just get to know each other, have a brew, and yes, talk about the business. Real human interaction, in other words.

We meet the first Tuesday of every month.

A completely chaotic, non-directed, organic discussion of our favorite web and design tools, ideas, methodologies, or anything relevant to the group. We had one of these in December (feel free to bring snacks, food, etc) and it went over very well. So well, in fact, many people have requested another sooner rather than later. So here's the deal:

We can set up a laptop on the projector and anyone who is interested can spend 5 minutes discussion and showing off their favorite tools, frameworks, projects - or just stand up and talk. Anyone interested should prepare a bit in advance, keep it short (we're serious about the 5 minute cutoff!), and let's cram as much (web and design related) knowledge as we can in 90 minute!

Folks have been talking a lot lately about fluid design... allowing a website to gracefully degrade to very small pixels. Where "min-width" used to be the default, you're now seeing a lot of design starting with "max-width" (friendly for mobile and netbooks). Many tips and tricks around this one, for example: The 100% image trick (for scalable images) Utilizing media queries The 62.5% trick (sets ems to 10px, and use only % and ems) Proper text sizing for both small and large devices using % column widths rather than pixels and much more.

Kory has graciously agreed to present this long overdue talk. Anyone who has bits of experience is certainly encouraged to contribute. You don't want to miss this - it's the future of web design!

Accessibility on the web is an important, but often overlooked topic in web design and development. Making your website accessible and usable by people who are sight, hearing, or in other ways physically impaired can be a huge help to a large class of internet users. You may have done a little accessibility feature for ADA compliance, but beyond that, it's just the right thing to do, and isn't as difficult as you might think if you focus on accessibility from the start. We'll cover all sorts of accessibility, including designing for screen readers.

You won't want to miss this huge and interesting topic, and we're lucky to have two expert speakers on the topic: Winslow Parker and Lorelle VanFossen.

Winslow Parker is the Lead Adaptive Technology Specialist at the Oregon Commission for the Blind. Worked as adaptive technology trainer for 17 years. He's also worked in medical social work, pastoring and mental health fields. Winslow has been legally blind since age 20, and totally blind since age 50 (now 65). Married son and daughter; 2.1 grandchildren. He's been a Portland resident for 35 years, Oregon 37 years; also lived in Michigan, NYC and SanDiego. Bachelor’s degree in Theology; AA degree Mt Hood Community college in Computer Applications. He claims to spend way too much time using a computer and web (whatever!), and very much appreciates interest in making web pages accessible.

Lorelle VanFossen [bio coming soon]

FREE Event! PechaKucha Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pechakuchapdx Twitter: https://twitter.com/PechaKuchaPDX

1 Night. 100 Cities. 1000 Presentations Pecha Kucha Night returns to Portland for a single night, the global PechaKucha night is coming together to celebrate each city's 'hidden heroes.' All of the events will also connect online through a global Google Hangouts chat that will run as a wave around the world for over 20 hours.

Maris Jameson | Amelia Blakeman | Melissa Delzio | Sarah Margolis-Pineo | Amy Dubin | Gia Goodrich

Spread the word and the love.

1 mic, 5 minutes, 20 slides, 300 peers in the audience... no pressure, right?

What is Ignite? Ignite is a high-energy evening of 5-minute talks by local people who have a burning idea and the guts to get onstage and share their personal and professional passions. Quick, fun, thought-provoking, social, local, and global - Ignite is all of these and more. This Ignite is focused on all things tech.

This Year's Presenters & Topics include- Ken York (@kennethryork) - #MakeItMeaningful Pinky Gonzales (@pinkygonzales) - The Certified Customer and the Future of Product Marketing Rich Bader - Rich Bader’s Excellent Pyrotechnic Adventures Larry Taylor (@ltaylor_intel) - Conquering Municipal Services with the principles of ITIL & Service Management Temese Szaliai (@temeseszalai) - Who do you think you are anyway? Charlie Levenson (@CharlieLevenson) - Everything about Success in Life I learned at the Movies Mounir Shita (@mounirshita) - "Al is going to change the world" - Really? Deena Pierott (@deenapierott)- I created a Spark, now What? Aaron Epperson (@acepperson) - Customer Service people are no cannor fodder Richard Lazar - When cars, bedrooms, and drones collide with the "regulatory state", wild things happen Andrew Ferlitsch - Open Data in the Pacific Northwest Bryant Syme (@bryzaguy) - TDD Mythology Charles Austen Angell (@austenangell) - The 10 Design Lessons from Rally Racing Eric Rosenberry (@eprosenx)- Why your business Internet sucks in Oregon and what to do about it *Michael Krause (@olikrause) - Embracing the Challenge of Growing Past Programming

Why attend Ignite TAO? As an attendee, you'll learn about emerging, innovative, unconventional, inspiring, locally-sourced concepts and tools. Come connect with a diverse and passionate crowd of like-minded technology enthusiasts and most of all, have fun!

In addition to the presentations, we are partnering with Free Geek to help you give back to the community. If you're not familiar with Free Geek, they are a non-profit organization that transforms used technology into opportunity, education & community! We are encouraging all attendees to give back & bring an electronic device that is not needed anymore. Specifically we're looking for smaller mobile devices such as: Laptops, Mobile Phones & Tablets.

And if giving back wasn't enough, thanks to VanderHouwen & Associates, the first 100 people that donate a device to Free Geek at Ignite will get a drink ticket! This drink ticket will be redeemable at the Alberta Rose for a free glass of beer or wine.

Event Details: When: Thursday, March 12, 2015 Where: Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta Street, Portland, OR 97211

Timeline: 5:30 PM - Doors Open 6:30 PM - Presentations Start with Intermission 9:00 PM - End of Program

Share the Night: Hashtag - #IgniteTAOv6

Food and Beverage: Pasties, snacks, sweets, beer, wine, and various non-alcoholic drinks will be available for purchase

July has a reputation for scorching hot temperatures - especially in the afternoons and early evenings. Luckily, you can beat the heat by spending your Wednesday evening with pdxFLIT! This month, our event will revolve around diversity and inclusivity. It will feature a few all-star speakers and some time to mingle and interact outside of speaking time. This month, you'll have a chance to see the following presentations:

Tiberius Hefflin - "The Monster On the Project". Tiberius works for Go Boldly. She will be speaking about working and dealing with toxic coworkers.

Perry Eising - "This Is the Signal You've Been Waiting For: Diversity, Economy, and Messaging". Perry is a former faculty lead from Epicodus. They have contributed a wealth of knowledge to the Portland tech community. Perry's latest Medium article is about making tech events more gender inclusive. You can find it here: https://blog.usejournal.com/gender-inclusive-tech-events-a-hands-on-how-to-guide-ec93ee477035

Marcus Carter - 'Diversity and Inclusion In the Workforce: Themes, Trends, and What We Might Do Differently". Marcus is a recruiter at Cloudability.

This month's event is generously being sponsored by Puppet. Food and drinks will be provided at this event. We're always looking for sponsors to help provide refreshments, catering, and other resources for future events. If you are interested in helping us with this in the future, please contact Masen at [email protected].

pdxFLIT is also looking for volunteers! If you're interested in volunteering with us, there will be information about it at this event. Information about these opportunities will also be coming via Meetup and other online forums (Twitter, Slack) in the coming weeks.

Doors open at 5 30 PM and talks will happen at roughly 6 PM. There will be time for mingling, conversation, and networking outside of the speaking times. If you need to come a bit later, don't worry about getting locked out! Just post on this page and somebody can come downstairs and let you in. This event will be happening at Puppet Labs on SW 2nd Avenue.

Are you interested in speaking at a future pdxFLIT event? We're always looking for speakers - no experience is necessary! If you're interested in giving a talk, please contact Katie at [email protected].

We kindly ask that you abide by our Code of Conduct and Puppet's Code of Conduct when attending this event. They can be found at the following destinations:

Puppet: https://puppet.com/community/community-guidelines#event-code-of-conduct

pdxFLIT: https://www.meetup.com/pdxFLIT-Portland-Future-Leaders-In-Tech/photos/28737494/471776346/

Are you a developer, data scientist, engineer, or product leader? Do you want to meet fellow LGBTQ+ folks who have created an app or have very strong opinions on the best programming language? We got you. Join Out in Tech PDX for Demos and Drinks at New Relic!

Apply to demo: bit.ly/PDXdemos

6:00pm | doors

6:30pm | demos

7:30pm | social + networking

Drinks & snacks available.

New Relic is located on the 27th floor.

Note: A BIG thank you to Diego Mancilla for volunteering his time and talent to build our beautiful graphics for this event. He maintains his little corner of the web over at http://di-nation.com or on his Instagram over at @itsdieguito

THIS EVENT IS CANCELLED due to inclement weather conditions. Please stay safe and warm. Thank you for support - we'll see you next month!

Please see Meetup for event description + RSVP

CAT BarCamp is a free unconference hosted by the Computer Action Team at Portland State University every year. BarCamps are free conferences where the people who show up on the day of decide what the conference is about. No scheduled talks are planned beforehand by the organizers, making the range of talks and topics covered each year entirely unique. Timeslots are posted in an accessible place and the attendants are given (fairly) free reign to post and choose which talks they would like to attend or give. We only ask that topics be respectful and PG-rated. The CAT at PSU is an ops training organization that has secured the venue and is organizing the event. We expect many job-hungry students skilled in development, computer science, operations, and everything else to be in attendance at this event and we want to enable as many connections as possible. Because the CAT is a tech organization and has ties to the larger tech community, many speakers will likely give tech-oriented talks.