Category: Education
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Speaker Series: James Madison Kendall’s Wonderful Water Wheel
[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text css=””]Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s (FOMB) second presentation of their 28th annual Winter Speaker Series, James Madison Kendall’s Wonderful Water Wheel features raconteur Bud Warren, maritime historian and co-founder of the Tide Mill Institute. Winter Speaker Series presentations are again being held via Zoom and are accessible via hyperlink at the top of the FOMB web page: www.fomb.org. This event takes place Wednesday, November 13th at 7 pm.
It was huge. It was unique. And this mill operated successfully for decades under the Cathance River Bridge in Bowdoinham. It was the creation of James Madison Kendall, born in 1816 to a milling family in Fairfield and dying in 1905 at 88 in Bowdoinham. This mill provided power for the Kendall Plaster and Grain Mills and Sagadahoc Fertilizer Company for well over 40 years. Today there’s little trace of it left. This is the tale of an unusual tide mill, enhanced by historical documents and photographs.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]
Massive driveshaft for two sash-type (up-down) saws[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Bud Warren is a popular lecturer, raconteur and co-founder and former president of the Tide Mill Institute which now has a subcommittee studying this evening’s peculiar bit of Maine’s coastal industrial history. A native of the coast, Warren knows Maine well. For nearly forty years he’s led heritage tours of the area for Smithsonian Associates, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Road Scholar and other significant groups. He’s studied, written and lectured about the region’s maritime history, its geography, its environment and culture. Bud works by poking behind the scenes to understand Maine’s people and their way of life and then finding ways to share that appreciation with visitors. A former resident of the mid-coast, he now will be coming to us live from the wilds of Millinocket.FOMB hosts their Winter Speaker Series October-May, on the second Wednesday of each month. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic and ability for participants to attend from out of the area, the series continues via Zoom. The FOMB December 11th presentation: Our Town! Adventures in Richmond History, features the Piti Theatre Company and Marcia Buker Elementary School’s 4th grade classes of 2023-2024. This event takes place at 7:00 pm with the Zoom registration link available at www.fomb.org a week or so prior to the presentation.
Speaker Series presentations are free, open to the public. Visit www.fomb.org to see speaker biographies, full event schedules, video recordings of past presentations, become a member, and learn more about how you can help protect beautiful Merrymeeting Bay and the Gulf of Maine.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjasOLH23tc” css=”” title=”Watch the Presentation”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text css=””]
Bud Warren celebrating 90th Birthday[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row] -
Speaker Series: Blinded by the Light Perils & Pitfalls of LEDs
[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text css=””]Speaker Mark Baker, Founder and President of the Soft Lights Foundation
Original presentation: October 9, 2024
Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s (FOMB) first presentation of their 28th annual Winter Speaker Series, Blinded by the Light-Perils & Pitfalls of LED’s features Mark Baker, founder and president of the Soft Lights Foundation. Winter Speaker Series presentations are again being held via Zoom and are accessible via hyperlink at the top of the FOMB web page: www.fomb.org. This event takes place Wednesday, October 9th at 7 pm.
Mark’s presentation covers the topic of electromagnetic radiation and the impacts of Light Emitting Diodes on human and environmental health. He will discuss the physics of LEDs, the impacts of artificial light on biological systems, the reports of harm from exposure to LED light, and the legal and regulatory structure for LED products. You will learn what makes this type of lighting different as well as blinding, why claims of LED efficiency are misleading and why this light causes most of us to at least avert our eyes and for some of us, even stimulates seizures.
Most recently, on September 23rd 2024, Baker filed a lawsuit against the US Food and Drug Administration and US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for failing to protect the public from hazardous and dangerous LED headlights. (https://www.softlights.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Mark-Baker-v-FDA-NHTSA_Filed.pdf) Over 60,000 individuals have signed a public petition to ban blinding headlights. (https://www.change.org/p/u-s-dot-ban-blinding-headlights-and-save-lives). Members of the public have submitted over 200 pages of comments to NHTSA describing the debilitating and often life-threatening impacts of LED headlights. (https://www.softlights.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Petition-Comments-2024.pdf). Mr. Baker’s lawsuit seeks to compel the FDA and NHTSA to collaborate and cooperate, as required by law, to address the LED headlight crisis.
Mark Baker has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was a computer programmer for 20+ years and a middle school math teacher for over 10 years. Mark has been involved in the effort to protect people from LED light since 2016 and founded the Soft Lights Foundation as a 501(c)(3) non-profit registered in the state of Oregon in 2021. This foundation is now one of the world’s leading advocacy groups protecting people from the harms of Visible Light radiation emitted by Light Emitting Diodes and for the protection of the natural night as a resource.
FOMB hosts their Winter Speaker Series October-May, on the second Wednesday of each month. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic and ability for participants to attend from out of the area, the series continues via Zoom. The FOMB November 13th presentation: James Madison Kendall’s Wonderful Water Wheel!, features co-founder of the Tide Mill Institute, Bud Warren. This event takes place at 7:00 pm with the Zoom registration link available at www.fomb.org a week or so prior to the presentation.
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Mark Baker
Founder and President of the Soft Lights Foundation[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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MPBN on Merrymeeting Bay
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text css=””]Merrymeeting Bay is a unique inland freshwater river delta and the largest staging ground for migratory waterfowl in the Northeast.
Formed by the confluence of six rivers, Merrymeeting Bay drains almost 40% of Maine’s fresh water into the Gulf of Maine through Chop Point.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRM3gqL8H20″ css=””][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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The Significance of Merrymeeting Bay
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PSA Video from West Bath Elementary School 3rd Grade
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]On May 22, 2019 two FOMB volunteers, Dick Brown and Ed Friedman gave presentations on the importance of water (and Merrymeeting Bay) to the 3rd grade classes of Lori Sawyer and Ida Beal at West Bath Elementary School. A tentative goal of the two classes was to create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) based on what they learned. What follows is a note from one of the teachers and their resultant video (time 3:40):
To FOMB (Dick & Ed),
We have finished our PSA! Thanks so much for the wonderful photos and maps you sent us. They were perfect! We added some other images as well, and we think the PSA came out very nicely considering they are only 3rd graders! They wrote the script from the great resources you shared with them.
We think you’ll enjoy it! Please do not feel that we expect you to use this on your site. If you like it and wish to do so, great! But if you don’t, that’s entirely up to you. It’s been a great experience for them one way or the other. But if you should use it somehow, please let us know. The class would be excited to know that!
We will share your contact info with next year’s 3rd grade teacher, Kelsey Marco. She would be doing this module at this same time of year next year. With more planning, participation in Bay Day would likely be a great addition!
It’s been a real pleasure to work with you both! Thanks again for all the resources you shared and the great job you both did on your presentations. It was perfect for our module studies. The students are ready and eager to present to the public tomorrow at our Celebration!
Have a wonderful summer!
~Lori
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