Williams College Public Events, Feb. 7 to 14

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At Williams: Public Events

Thursday, Feb. 7 Free
"Reclaiming DaVinci: Art, Visualization, Mathematics"
4 p.m., Wege Auditorium, Science Center, Williams College

Lecture by Satyan Devadoss, mathematics. First of six lectures in the 2008 Faculty Lecture Series. Reception to follow. All welcome.

Thursday, Feb. 7 Free
"A Return to the Analogy of Being"
4 p.m., Hopkins 1964 Classroom, Williams College
Lecture by Kristopher McDaniel, department of philosophy at Syracuse University

Thursday, Feb. 7  Free
"Computer (and Human) Perfection at Checkers"
8:00 p.m., Wege Auditorium, Science Center, Williams College

Jonathan Schaeffer, the creator of Chinook, tells the story of man versus machine for supremacy at checkers.

Friday, Feb. 8
Natural Resource Management in Eleuthera, Bahamas
Noon - 1 p.m., The Log, Spring Street, Williamstown

Log Lunch presentation by Sarah Gardner, professor of environmental studies, and members of her winter study class. Student-prepared vegetarian lunch is $3.50. Everyone welcome. Reservations must be made by the Wednesday preceding each talk: 413-597-2346 or szepka@williams.edu.


Sunday, Feb. 10 Free
Handel, Haydn harpsichord concert by Victor Hill
3 p.m., the Clark, 225 South St., Williamstown

Monday, Feb. 11 Free
"Once You've Been Born You Can no Longer Hide"
7 p.m., Images Cinema, Spring Street, Williamstown

Directed by Marco Tullio Giordana, this film is part of the series "Tracing Migration in Film and Art." Sponsored by the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

Thursday, Feb. 14
"What is Iraq? Defining the Iraq Nation, 1921-2008"
4 p.m., Wege Auditorium, Science Center, Williams College

Lecture by Magnus Bernhardsson, history. Second of six lectures in the 2008 Faculty Lecture Series. Reception to follow. All welcome.

Thursday, Feb. 14
"Constructing Color: Neural Mechanisms of Color Vision"
4 p.m., Bronfman 105, Williams College

Bevil Conway, neuroscientist and artist, is the Knafel Assistant Professor of Natural Science at Wellesley College.
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Williamstown Planning Board Narrowing in on Subdivision Bylaw Changes

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board late last month discussed specific features of what it plans to pass as a new subdivision control bylaw this year.
 
The board long has discussed the complex set of regulations as being out of date and cumbersome to both potential developers and the board itself, which has needed to hear requests for waivers of outdated rules for the handful of residential subdivisions that have been proposed in town in recent years.
 
This spring, the town engaged consultants from Northampton's Dodson and Flinker Landscape Architecture and Planning to go through the existing bylaw, compare it to more contemporary regulations in other communities and help craft a revised bylaw.
 
Unlike the zoning bylaw, where amendments require approval of town meeting, the subdivision control bylaw is a creation of the Planning Board, which can make changes on its own after a public hearing process it hopes to complete this year.
 
At a special Planning Board meeting on May 26, Dillon Sussman of Dodson and Flinker and his colleagues walked the board through a dozen different decision points that the board must resolve — either by leaving the bylaw as is or making a change — and offered suggestions based on best practices.
 
All of the issues are technical and ranged from the fundamental, like how the bylaw will define types of subdivisions, to the highly specific, like what turning radii will be required in new streets that are constructed to serve planned developments.
 
One example of a topic that came up in the recent approval of a four-home subdivision off Summer Street is stormwater management.
 
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