We are very lucky to have a great number of friends who all have day jobs, hobbies & obsessions. But rarely, we've found, are these interests discussed in detail in our day to day meetings. Therefore, every month or so, we've decided to have two people give presentations on what they find fascinating in their work and lives.
(See "Upcoming & Previous Salons")

Being doomed to repeat certain parts of history might be pretty enjoyable, actually.
(See "A Brief History" & "Famous...")

For questions and concerns please email me at the following address: John at Kascha and John dot com

Speakers at Salon Number 08:

MAGGIE KEELAN, Harp Whisperer | "Musical Performance"

AND

CLARA VENIARD, Gates Foundation | "Mobile Money in Emerging Markets"

Saturday, Nov 12, 8:00 pm (talks and music begin promptly at 8:30pm) *Note new address!!* Please bring a FRIEND =) (or a beverage or small appetizer) RSVP by Nov 10 if possible ***

Speakers at Salon Number 07:

JOHN FEARNSIDE, Software Engineer, Allen Institute for Brain ScienceSchool of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington | "Exploring Brain Data"

AND

Nicole Tsong, Yogi | "Yoga & Meditation"

Drinks from 8-8:30. Presentations begin promptly at 8:30, 10-15 min each, followed by many hours of lively conversation and as much wine as necessary. Let us know if you will be bringing your beverage of choice or an appetizer.

Who is invited?
You and your friends. Please extend the invitation widely!

Speakers at Salon Number 06:

SAM URMY, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington | "Seeing Ecosystems: Pattern, Chaos, & Scale"

AND

MARIA CALVI, Restoration Ecologist. Tulalip Tribes | "Talk Title TBA"

Drinks from 8-8:30. Presentations begin promptly at 8:30, 10-15 min each, followed by many hours of lively conversation and as much wine as necessary. Let us know if you will be bringing your beverage of choice or an appetizer.

Who is invited?
You and your friends. Please extend the invitation widely!

Speakers at Salon Number 05:

DAVID RANDALL, HCI Candidate at Carnegie Mellon | "The Anatomy of Pop: Dissecting the Simplicity of Modern Ear Candy."

AND

JOSH WALDMAN, Brewer at Georgetown Brewery | “Beer: Culture & History”

Drinks from 8-8:30. Presentations begin at 8:30, 10-15 min each, followed by many hours of lively conversation and as much wine as necessary. Let us know if you will be bringing your beverage of choice or an appetizer.

Who is invited?
You and your friends. Please extend the invitation widely!

Speakers at Salon Number 04:

KASCHA SNAVELY PhD, Professor of Philosophy Seattle University | "Meaning and Life: How to belong to the species"

AND

JASON PRADO, Co-Founder of everythingIsTheBest.com | “Who Owns the Internet: Governance and Protocols”

Drinks from 8-8:30. Presentations begin at 8:30, 10-15 min each, followed by many hours of lively conversation and as much wine as necessary. Let us know if you will be bringing your beverage of choice or an appetizer.

Who is invited?
You and your friends. Please extend the invitation widely!

Speakers at Salon Number 03:

KEVIN SCHOFIELD, COO of Microsoft Research | "What's Happening to the Orcas?"

AND

JOHNNY LEE, Researcher Microsoft | “Conceive, Choose, Create, Communicate”

Drinks from 8-8:30. Presentations begin at 8:30, 10-15 min each, followed by many hours of lively conversation and as much wine as necessary. Let us know if you will be bringing your beverage of choice or an appetizer.

Who is invited?
You and your friends. Please extend the invitation widely!

Our second Fremont Salon features:

ANNE LOOMIS, M.S., Roboticist | "A Light Overview of Robotics and Some Interesting Problems Therein"

CLAUDIA JOHNSON, Screenwriter | "The Million Dollar Screenplay Lecture"

WHAT An evening to hear about what we all do during the day. A semi-formal presentation by two of our peers on their day job, intense hobby or a combination of both. Hopefully educational as well as intriguing: a chance to learn as well as listen. Think: Schubert's salon in Vienna, literary salons in Paris or Pecha Kucha in NY...

*I promise some handouts on the history of salons this time* Drinks from 8-8:30. Presentations begin at 8:30, 10-15 min each, followed by many hours of lively conversation and as much wine as necessary.

WHO: You and your friends. Please extend the invitation widely!

Last month was a rousing success! Please come and listen this time, and think about coming to talk next time! RSVP by July 29. Let us know if you will bring an appetizer *or* wine.

The first meeting of SALON, Fremont

Our first evening features:

Ethan Thompson, Physicist, University of Washington String Theory Research

John Snavely, UX Designer, Microsoft Envisioning Future Vision

An evening to hear about what we all do during the day. A semi-formal presentation by two of our peers on their day job, intense hobby or a combination of both. Hopefully educational as well as intriguing: a chance to learn as well as listen. Think: Schubert's salon in Vienna, literary salons in Paris or Pecha Kucha in NY...

Presentations of 10-15 min each, followed by many hours of lively conversation and as much wine as necessary.

David Hume

"In 1763, Hume accepted an invitation from Lord Hertford, the Ambassador to France, to serve as his Private Secretary. During his three years in Paris, Hume became Secretary to the Embassy and eventually its Chargè d'Affaires. He also become the rage of the Parisian salons, enjoying the conversation and company of Diderot, D'Alembert, and d'Holbach, as well as the attentions and affections of the salonnières, especially the Comtesse de Boufflers. ("As I took a particular pleasure in the company of modest women, I had no reason to be displeased with the reception I met with from them."¹⁰

George Sand

Met Chopin at a salon given by Countess Marie d'Agoult.

Fredrich Chopin

Met Sand and List at a salon given by Countess Marie d'Agoult.

Franz List

Met Marie d’Agoult at a salon given by another wealthy Parisian.¹²

Elizabeth Montagu

Elizabeth Montagu, aka founder of the Blue Stockings, Bas Bleu with Elizabeth Vesey founded an influential and feminist group in London, 1770-1780s, that influenced cultural and institutional shifts.¹¹

Franz Schubert

Vienna Salon, hosted by Mme. Caroline Pichler

Willehm and Frederich Schlegel

Vienna Salon, hosted by Mme. Caroline Pichler

Marquise de Rambouillet

The first renowned salon in France was the Hôtel de Rambouillet of Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet (1588-1665), ran from 1607 until her death.

Hans Fredrich Jacobi

"Jacobi contributed enormously, throughout his active life, to the shaping of educated German public opinion. He carried on a most extensive correspondence with just about all the literary and political personalities of the day, and for many years also provided a meeting place for them at his country estate in Pempelfort, by hosting there a very popular literary salon. He was ably aided in this enterprise by his much admired wife Elisabeth von Clermont (universally known as ‘Betty’). The list of names who frequented the salon, or with whom Jacobi entered in correspondence on different occasions of his life, reads as a Who's Who of the age. Heinse, Wieland, Goethe, Lavater, Herder, the Humboldt brothers, Diderot, Hemsterhuis, Hamann, Dohm, Georg Forster, the duchess Anna Amalia (Sachsen-Weimar), F. L. Stolberg, Fürstenberg, Princess Gallitzin and Sophie La Roche, counted among them, to mention only a representative segment."¹³

Marcel Proust

Exemplified by the fictional Duchesse de Guermantes and Madame Verdurin

Marquis Condorcet

" Through d’Alembert, Condorcet was granted an introduction to Voltaire, who would henceforth become another great influence on the young man; and he began attending the salon of Julie (Jeanne Julie Éléonore) de Lespinasse, a gathering place for the leading philosophes of the day. There he met and befriended the French economist and statesman Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot (1727 – 1781) – a proponent of physiocratic economic theories and enlightened administration – who, like Voltaire and d’Alembert would play an important role in the young mathematician's evolution into an increasingly prominent public intellectual. At Lespinasse's salon, he also met and began a close friendship with another woman of letters and hostess of a literary salon, Amelie Suard, sister of the publisher Charles-Joseph Panckoucke and wife of the academician Jean-Baptiste Suard. Both Lespinasse and Suard not only encouraged the young man's intellectual appetites but also appear to have counseled him on matters of the heart and his social manners, which they regarded as rather unpolished (See Badinter 1988). In this company, he earned a reputation for being a quick-tempered but also painfully shy, socially ill at ease, and introverted young man. It was Lespinasse who called him "a volcano covered in snow," while Turgot saw him as "the rabid sheep," calm but always on a short fuse.(Williams 2004, 13)." ¹⁴