The final and essential defense of a free society is an independent, open, and aggressive media. Sadly, the dominant corporate media seems to spend most of its time avoiding real news stories, instead dwelling on distractions and methodically undermining the quality of public debate. This discussion/work group will especially focus on 1) exploring and developing alternatives to mainstream media, 2) promoting open, meaningful and non-confrontational discussion and inquiry in our society, and 3) …

Hello, Welcome to Sexy, Soulful Singles. =) Sexy is not just about how you look, it's about how you feel about yourself. Do you honestly like who you are–just as you are? Sometimes, I often think that people fail to really embrace who they really are. Our media gives us false messages about who we should be. I say, why can't we be sexy just as we are. The more you love yourself, the more others will love you too! It's just how it goes. What's on the inside is on outside! A lot of people think t …

Started in January 2009, the Breakfast Blogging Club is dedicated to providing a writing environment that’s supportive, educational, productive and fun, so our participants can successfully write for their blogs and build awareness for their businesses. We've held over 20 events so far and blogged with over 150 participants. Each meeting follows a format that combines learning, sharing and taking action. Agenda at our breakfast meetings: 9:00 - Networking, get breakfast 9:15 - Introductio …

Investor Ron Conway estimates real-time data is 1 percent to 2 percent of Web content (2009). In three years, it will climb to 25 percent of the content on the Web. That will make the market a $5 billion opportunity. “I think this is the next multi-billion dollar market.” – Ron Conway The real-time web has the potential to disrupt and fundamentally shift the way we communicate. This is THE meet-up to attend if you are shaping or wanting to know the people, technology and thought-leaders of the …

Eastbay Localprenuers Meetup In order to survive as an entrepreneur, it's crucial to understand how to make the right connections, get the tools and inspirational education in order to grow your business. Eastbay Localprenuers Meetup brings you fresh speakers, monthly training and networking to jump-start your projects and dreams. • Have great business ideas; however you don’t know where to start? • Clueless about Internet Marketing 101? • Have a website that's not working for you? • Need to …

Got Questions about WordPress?  This weekly support group is appropriate for users, developers, and designers working with WordPress.  Bring your questions, we'll try to figure out an answer in the group. $10

EBPAP members are plein air painters from all around the Bay Area. The group includes artists working in all media –watercolor, oils, acrylics, pastels and ink – as well as printmakers.  While some are weekend painters, many are professional artists, exhibiting their artworks in galleries, including solo and group shows. Group Policies: New members wishing to join the group must be referred by current members. Participating in group critiques at the end of each painting session is optional but w …

Outdoor Afro is a community that reconnects African-Americans with natural spaces and one another through recreational activities such as camping, hiking, biking, birding, fishing, gardening, skiing — and more! Outdoor Afro uses social media to create interest communities, events, and to partner with regional and national organizations that support diverse participation in the Great Outdoors. Here is where you can start locally connecting with people who share your outdoor interests!

Tuesday Evenings, 7:00 - 10:00pm. We love drawing and we love listening to music while we draw! We are a loose collection of professionals and amateurs who have been meeting every Tuesday to draw the figure for over 15 years. Comfort and good humor are important aspects of our group and we enjoy talking about important - or not important - issues of the day. This is not a quiet or hushed group! But no question, our dedication and devotion is to our love of drawing the figure. We work with a spec …

Founded in 2011, our group now has over 150 members, and this is SOME of what they do: making collaborative sculpture, making music, crafting, making video and film, making art in the environment, dancing, contact improvisation dancing, creating dances, being a bodyworker, creating collages, creating 3D illustration, writing plays, writing poetry, writing screenplays, cooking, making ceramics, , knitting , painting, drawing, tinkering, being silly, playing, making music, making rhythm, drumming, …

The San Francisco Project Reboot Group is a group of production companies and production services vendors working together to revitalize the Bay Area Film, Television and Digital Media production community. Upcoming event on Thursday June 13, 2013 from 2:00pm-9:30pm.  See our Meetup page for more details. The Second Annual Project Reboot extravaganza “reboots” the San Francisco film production community on June 13th, bringing together industry professionals and clients to venture out and network …

Entrepreneurship permeates the culture of Silicon Valley -  the innovation capital of the world. Never before has it been so possible for anyone from anywhere,  with  a great idea and a burning desire to succeed,  to make it big and change the world in a relatively short period of time. Taking a startup from idea to IPO has taken on mythical proportions.   Many dream the dream, with hopes of launching the "next big thing". We are a community of entrepreneurs, technologists, academics, financial …

East Bay Technology Executives (EBTE) has been formed to take advantage of and leverage our common East Bay location and unique cultural attributes. To create a foundation of shared experience, membership is open to people living in who live in the Bay Area's 510- and 925- area codes...and are current or former: officer-level (VP or more senior) executives and entrepreneurs/founders from technology companies of all types (hardware/software, communications, digital media, Internet, cleantech, et …

Speaking Fearlessly Do you have an important message or mission or product? What's holding you back from speaking up right now? Speaking Fearlessly is designed to: 1) Build a community to support each other in sharing great speaking tips 2) Practice in front of a receptive audience and receive solid, positive feedback 3) Provide you with a free video recording of your speech to review later and practice in private Speaking Fearlessly is perfect for: * Sales/marketing people * Speakers * Coache …

This group is for anyone who cares about the evolution of books in any form, including eBook, HTML5, print, app, or daydream. If it's packaged, paginated content with words, pictures, media, connectedness, or interactivity in any combination, this is the place.

This is a group for social media managers, communicators, or digital marketers working in foreign representations in San Francisco. Foreign representations include consulates, trade offices, and innovation offices.

Social Media Breakfasts bring together marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, students and social media practitioners and enthusiasts of all stripes over breakfast to teach, share and learn social media best practices. Feed your belly and your brain!

E-commerce has a lot of challenges. Day one you need to track inventory, add products, process returns and oh yeah... Process payments. This group will discuss all these topics and more. The main focus will be ruby/rails and technology but we will diving into the marketing side of thins also.

Interested in painting or drawing portraits but too shy to ask random strangers? Tired of drawing your loved ones over and over again? This group is for you. Let's get together and take turns sitting for each other. Just to be clear this is NOT a nude figure drawing session (not that I have anything against nude figure drawing). My interest is in faces specifically. I work in mixed media so it's easy for me to bring low maintenance supplies with me like colored pencils, water colors, pastels. Ho …

Like you, I'm a parent who is always on the look out for fun, healthy and empowering social activities that allow the whole family to participate. Kinderfolkz works with theaters, museums, galleries, festivals, concert venues and more to identify free and low-cost high quality events for us to create playdates within. For example, we've partnered with The New Parkway Theater in Oakland, CA to present a quarterly family film festival and dance celebration honoring children's educational media: Se …

We want to jolt the animal rights movement with activism that is smart, stylish, social-media savvy, and not afraid to shoot for the moon. What's different about us? 1. We dream big. There's an illusion of stability in every system. But find the right pressure point, and the house of cards will fall. 2. We use stories and emotions. We tell stories from the animals’ perspective. Stories to move you. Stories to change the world. 3. We work to inspire activists and activism. Virtuous cycles are the …

Good morning African American web professionals. If you professionally develop code, media, content, or strategy for the web, please come and join us for a networking waffle breakfast.

Do you research conspiracies? Maybe you're just interested and want to meet and discuss them. Either way come join us. The group is very casual and informal but will from time to time have presentations etc. especially to highlight members research!

A fun group for actors, writers, camera hands, etc. who are looking to make great/funny professional videos! We just moved to Berkeley from LA and are working on a project called Fotoape, you can find out more info about it and the kind of videos we've been making on Fotoape.com. For the project we are looking to put together some short videos/skits. All kinds of people are welcome, Camera Operators, Extras, Writers, Actors, etc... We have the bare equipment needed to make decent quality videos. …

March 21 · 5:30 ContextLogic Wish along with John Wu would like to welcome everyone to our 3rd Tech Talk. Tentative Agenda: ° 5:30 - 6 Welcoming & socializing with refreshments ° 6 - 7 First Presentation - guest speaker John Wu, Distinguished Scientist of ACM & a Senior Member of IEEE, for a discussion on Fastbit indexing & its use cases involving large-scale scientific applications. ° 7 - 8 Second Presentation - Wish.com engineering on indexing techniques in mongodb ° 8 - whenever - Q&A & socia …

If we leave it to the local news, Oakland’s reputation will be forever linked to the same old storylines: Art Murmur, racial tension, Brooklynization*, and crime. How can we work together to reveal the deeper story? Maybe you’ve been blogging for a while and want to meet new local people.  Maybe you want to increase your social media presence. Maybe you’re new to the area and full of stuff to say, and you need new connections to grow your audience. Or maybe you’ve always wanted to blog and just …

Are you a do-er and not just a talker and like to be part of one-of-a-kind experiences? Do you like surprising people in a good way? Ever done a Flash-mob? How about a cash mob? http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/03/02/neighbors-rally-around-food-after-tragedy-strikes-small-businesses/ Ever heard of 'Build a better block?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntwqVDzdqAU I like doing quirky and unusual things. I've started and ran the Atlanta Underground Market in Atlanta and organized the largest flash-mo …