Calendar: What's Happening October 2008

By: Fast Company StaffWed Sep 17, 2008 at 1:31 AM

illustration by Julie Teninbaum

What's happening in October, from National Boss Day to trick-or-treating.

photograph courtesy Ferrari

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Week 4

wed, october 22
Outsmart
WCECS 08
San Francisco

The World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science crams the collective IQ of a large nation into a small convention space in which geniuses try to one-up one another with their latest research. The topics last year ranged from -- stay with us here -- "expressed sequence tags of coccolithophorids" (to you and me, algae) to "a method for location management strategy in cellular mobile networks." But the most notable trend according to cochair Craig Douglas -- so smart he teaches at both Yale and the University of Wyoming -- isn't the content of the research but the nationalities of the researchers. The newbies are coming largely from China and India. The U.S., Douglas says, "is forgetting to educate engineers -- and it's even worse in Japan." -- CN

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wed, october 22
Build
world architecture festival
Barcelona, Spain

You may not have been wondering: What is 2008's Building of the Year? The architects at this festival will tell you anyway. The puzzlingly diverse finalists include Milwaukee's Harley-Davidson Museum (in the culture category); Loblolly House in Maryland, shown at left (private houses); Egan's Coffee Bar & Roof Terrace in Portlaoise, Ireland (pleasure); and the Netherlands' Sheep Stable, which is what it says it is (inexplicably also in the pleasure category -- don't ask, don't tell). The overall Building of the Year will be chosen from the 17 category winners. Our money's on the Lady Bird Lake Trail public restroom, proudly representing Austin, Texas, in the energy, waste, and recycling category. -- JC and KR

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fri, october 24
Grow
Fresh Summit
Orlando, Florida

Based on the speakers, it's hard to tell if this four-day conclave, allegedly focused on produce, is really about watermelons or widgets. Former GE CEO Jack Welch (favorite fruit and veg: raspberries, asparagus, and green beans) will talk about cultivating talent; ex-Harley brand guru Ken Schmidt (grapes and broccoli) recounts his rehab of the hog maker's image; and onetime Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke dishes on the death of spin. And bananas: "There's a game in my family where we say, If you could go to a desert island and could take only one food, what would it be?" Clarke says. "Mine would be a banana. It tastes good and has its own neat little packaging." -- KR

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