Where does all that Wellesley saliva end up, anyway?
Wellesley Hackathons coming up for ages 5 – 14+
The Wellesley Education Foundation has partnered with two Wellesley coding companies—iCode and Code Ninjas—who are offering Hackathons for students to enjoy. Hacks are broken into age groups and themes and students can participate in one hack per company.
DATES OF HACKATHONS: April 24th & 25th
ADDITIONAL DATES: To set everyone up for success, workshops and office hours take place before the Hackathon, April 13th – 23rd.
Here are all the details for each of the Hackathon options.
Wellesley HS grads zooming back to talk about life in STEM fields
Here’s how to get a look at Wellesley robotics team’s awesome robot
Wellesley Public School students not the only ones going back to in-person learning
This must be a sign of something good when it comes to pulling out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only are Wellesley Public School students on the verge of returning to full in-classroom learning, but the Wellesley Council on Aging is starting to invite its patrons to come on down for tech help.
The Wellesley Council on Aging has announced that starting on Tuesday, March 23, Lois, the organization’s long-time tech volunteer, will be in-house at the Tolles Parsons Center for one-on-one appointments. Lois can help with computer use questions, phone issues, and more.
Each appointment will be 45 minutes long and will be scheduled for: 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm. Call (781) 235-3961 to schedule an appointment.
If you’re not quite ready for an in-person meeting, you can arrange for an online meeting on Thursdays.
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Wellesley Square clock is alive and ticking
If you’ve been missing the Wellesley Square street clock, which the town sent out for repairs late last year, it’s time to take a look at the newly reinstalled and restored beauty. An Electric Time Co. truck rolled into town early this morning with the two-dial street clock crated and secured in the back of Medfield business’ vehicle. Between David Cintolo, the venerable company’s go-to guy for installations all over the region, and the Wellesley Department of Public Works crew members, the 15-foot cast aluminum clock was put in place in just over an hour.
(Thanks to Wellesley DPW’s Kevin Collins for the swell video.)
The clock looks fabulous and refreshed after its several months at the spa (as would we all with the kind of pampering such time would allow.) For its spa treatments the clock was stripped down, sandblasted, painted, and had certain parts replaced and upgraded (sounds like heaven).
Fun facts about Roman numeral IIII
Back when I was in elementary school, Roman numerals were drilled into me as efficiently as the multiplication tables. One thing I thought I knew for sure was that 1 = I; 2 = II; 3= III; and, wait for it, 4= IV.
Behold, the Wellesley Square clock expresses 4 as IIII. Was this a case of a paint job gone awry?
Nope.
According to Electric Time Clock’s website, “There does not seem to be a definitive reason why the number four is represented by IIII rather than IV, but it is how the dials on tower clocks have been done for centuries.”
It goes on to say that possible reasons include IV was commonly used to notate the Roman god Jupiter (in Latin, Ivpiter), and the numeral IIII was used to differentiate between the lowly number and the exalted god; visually, IIII forms better symmetry with the VIII on the other side of the clock, as well as creating radial symmetry in that only I appears in the first four hours, V only appears in the second four hours, and X only appears in the last four hours; IV is oddly positioned and difficult to read from the normal angle where four appears; and/or Romans simply preferred IIII as they largely avoided subtraction.
Wellesley wants to know how soon you’re going to buy that electric vehicle
The Wellesley Municipal Light Plant is asking, casually of course, about your plans when it comes to your second-biggest purchase. (The first-biggest purchase would be your house, but they aren’t asking about that one. Yet.)
Basically, the MLP through a survey would like to know when they can expect to see an electric vehicle parked in your garage or driveway. Not if, mind you, but when. The survey questions make it pretty clear that it’s GONNA HAPPEN. So residents may as well get on board, right? Resistance is futile when it comes to these sorts of things.
Don’t leave the MLP dangling on this, here’s a link to the 2-minute survey Complete it for a chance to be entered into a chance to win “a $50 gift card provided by the MLP.”
Here are a couple sample questions, and our responses:
MLP: In which year do you think you will likely buy or lease a plug-in electric car, SUV or truck?
The Swellesley Report: As the old New Yorker cartoon goes, “How about never — is never good for you?” Heck, the station wagon is still trusty, and we seldom drive the other vehicle anymore. COVID has turned us into the hardest-working homebodies you ever did see. Electric vehicles were way too pricy the last time we bought a car 5 or so years ago. At this point, we’re angling to run our vehicles into the ground. Though we’d be delighted to see our kids go electric when they buy their first vehicles some day.
MLP: Which type of plug-in electric vehicle are you most likely to lease or purchase?
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- All-electric, or Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)
- Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)
- Don’t know/Not sure
- I am not likely to buy an EV in the foreseeable future (Please enter the reason why not below)
The Swellesley Report’s reason: The last time we tried to foresee the future, the future imploded. All we were trying to do was plan a nice little family cruise for spring 2020. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Ever since our near-miss on getting stranded at sea during a pandemic, we’ve given up trying to plan for “the foreseeable future.”
Questions we think should have been asked, but weren’t:
How much longer do you intend to defile the air we breathe with a gas guzzling SUV?
What do you have against the better driving experience that an EV provides (smooth power, good handling, ride, etc)?
Do you care in the slightest about the environment?
More: Getting charged up in Wellesley
