Members of the Community Charter School of Cambridge’s Robotics First Tech Challenge team work on its robot, called “da Vinci.”

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, a group of 12 meets in lab space in the heart of Kendall Square and, using collective expertise in hardware, software and outreach, works on a project called “da Vinci.”

And every member of the group hopes “da Vinci” crushes its competition.

The “da Vinci,” of course, is a robot, and the group of 12 building it is the Community Charter School of Cambridge’s inaugural Robotics First Tech Challenge team. “We named our robot ‘da Vinci’  because da Vinci is credited with the first tank designs,” said Tristan Pepin, a 10th-grader and one of several project leaders on the team.

Founded in 1989 to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology, First is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity that designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math while building self-confidence, knowledge and life skills.

“It’s incredibly energizing to see students sit together and talk through problems, sometimes near the point of arguing because both sides are so passionate about their point of view,” said Renee Sullivan, one of the group’s mentors. “I believe after-school programs are tremendously important for students, especially ones like robotics. They give the students an opportunity to apply the skills they learn in class to practical, real-world problems. So, since my company, PTC, has such a huge involvement in First, starting a high school First Tech Challenge team made a lot of sense.”

The team travels to other schools and statewide events to compete in a variety of robotic challenges. In addition to Sullivan, the group’s mentors include school science chair Corinne Kielbasa, Carl Morrissey of Vecna, Mark Long Jr., a freshman at Northeastern University, and Jesse Moskowitz of Vista-MA.

“As an Americorps Vista for the year, one of my responsibilities is to start and support First Robotics teams in Boston,” Moskowitz said. “CCSC has been one of the highlights. The students at CCSC have shown an incredible work ethic and rigor towards their building their robot. The respect they show to each other, and to their school, is really special. During competitions, they’ve exhibited a lot of resolve and a great sense of humor.”

The school’s program is made possible with grants from Akamai, PTC and First.

Tenth-grader Biondy Lisieux says the science and technology work is challenging and fun, but he enjoys the camaraderie most. “I’ve met some great people who like the same things I do,” he said. “That makes it fun.”

For information about CCSC, click here.

Do you believe an anti-Kerry ketchup created during President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign that claims its “W” doesn’t stand for George W. Bush? Can you believe it’s lasted more than seven years? (Photo: W Ketchup)

During lunch today at Central Square’s Veggie Galaxy — all wonderful, from the hot chocolate, Kendall Square burger and fries to the Melt sandwich (spicy tofu and vegetable salad), potato salad and coconut-based ice cream — W Ketchup was mentioned.

Somehow I missed this, but in 2004 at the height of President George W. Bush’s campaign for re-election, a New York banker and other right-wing friends created and began selling the stuff as an alternative to Heinz ketchup, which bore the name of a family once married into by the wife of Bush’s Democratic opponent, Massachusetts Democrat U.S. Sen. John Kerry. And it’s still on sale via a website that explains all you’d care to know about the conservative condiment, or at least a looking-glass version of it where the very reason it exists is talked around like a black sheep nephew in jail again after being caught huffing glue while wearing only a thong and a swastika armband after failing to rob a minimart with a paintball gun and barely literate note.

Since mentioning the actual W is taboo, some media said the “W” stood for “Washington,” Washington County, N.Y., or “George Washington,” but the “About W Ketchup” section of the website tells a different story. Ignoring the actual context of the product’s origins, the history instead shows a picture of Ronald Reagan and says:

W Ketchup was launched on June 14, 2004, nine days after President Ronald Reagan died at age 93. We thank President Reagan for his selfless service to this nation.

The implication here is that W Ketchup was inspired by Reagan’s passing and somehow readied for sale as a tribute after a frenzied eight-day miracle of entrepreneurialism, named possibly after the deceased leader’s totally unmentioned middle name (Wilson) for some equally unmentioned reason. If you buy that, there’s another suggestive stretch in that section, that “Unlike other brands of ketchup, W Ketchup does not donate any money to politicians or political groups” and that this is somehow an enlightened and applaudable position. That lasts only if you don’t read see the headlines of the company’s press releases, which lack the same sense of bipartisan restraint: “W Ketchup Calls on Congress to Impeach Obama” and “W Ketchup Demands the Senate Reject the Nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court,” for instance. The most recent, from Dec. 13, doubles down on the Kerry issue, though, coming off like a parody of conservative thinking:

Teresa Heinz married failed presidential candidate and disgraced senator John Kerry. Kerry is distantly related to the wealthy Forbes family, and was educated at an elite boarding school in Switzerland, where he learned French.

The press release has an odd headline as well — “W Ketchup reaffirms Commitment to American Cuisine” — but it all begins to connect when readers get to the paragraphs complaining that “Heinz is releasing a new ketchup made with balsamic vinegar instead of the traditional white vinegar”:

The company claims the new concoction is more “sophisticated” and recommends it be used on the “Haute Dog,” “Hamburgeur” or “French Frites.”

W Ketchup Chairman Bill Zachary reacted: “We doubt French spellings will convince Senator Kerry to share in the cuisine of his fellow Americans, or that he would dress his plate with so plebian [sic] a sauce as ketchup, whatever ingredients the laboratory at Heinz develops. We at W Ketchup will continue to offer traditional ketchup for those that relish in American food [sic].”

It’s true, in December Heinz began selling a limited-edition test flavor of ketchup made with balsamic vinegar, apparently to broaden the range of flavors like mustard makers have.

Not much else here is true, though. The myth-debunking snopes.com notes that “Teresa Heinz Kerry does not ‘own the Heinz Corporation’  — she has no involvement whatsoever with the management or operations of the H.J. Heinz Co., nor does she own anything close to a controlling interest of the company’s stock.  According to Heinz itself, the Heinz family trust which Mrs. Kerry inherited sold most of its shares of Heinz stock back in 1995 and currently holds less than a 4% interest in the company.” (Media friendly to W Ketchup got this backward, saying “A spokesperson for Mrs. Kerry has said only about 4 per cent of her stock consists of H. J. Heinz shares. W Ketchup countered this by saying that 4 per cent of her portfolio is ‘a ton of money.’”)

So W Ketchup still doesn’t like Kerry; Kerry is married to someone who was once married to someone with the same last name as a company that makes ketchup but who has no say in what the company does; that company made a product with a funny ad that gives fancy French names for traditional food; Kerry speaks French; therefore do not buy Heinz Ketchup, but buy W Ketchup instead; because Ronald Reagan is a conservative icon.

And if you’re wondering why a Cambridge website includes this post — in what may be the only media reference to the product since 2004 — why, the logic is just as simple: W Ketchup exists; it competes with other ketchup brands, one of which is served with the French fries at Veggie Galaxy, 450 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square (unless Veggie Galaxy makes its own); the French fries are really good, with or without ketchup, and so are all the other menu items we tried.

Cambridge is again among roughly 100 cities holding days of service Jan. 16 to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Activities include making bookmarks for literary programs and Valentine's Day cards for Cambridge elders and members of the military, as city councillor Ken Reeves and Sharon Herman are doing. (Photo, bottom: Randy H. Goodman)

In Cambridge, Martin Luther King Day is not just a day off. The city’s Peace Commission and Many Helping Hands group have planned events that make it easy for people to not just recognize the contributions and call to action by King — but to actually take action.

The free events start at noon Jan. 16, with a “Celebration of Dr. King’s Life and Work for Peace, Justice and Transformation” in St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 838 Massachusetts Ave., said Brian Corr, executive director of the Peace Commission. The celebration allows people to hear King’s words spoken again so they can understand why they’re as relevant, if not more relevant, now as they were before King was assassinated. As Corr noted:

In 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King described the most serious threat to American society. In his words, “We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

“More than 40 years later, the United States still faces these three existential challenges to our values as a nation,” Corr said.

There will be brief remarks by Pete Davis, a Harvard student who participated in a reenactment of the 1961 Freedom Rides in connection with a recent PBS film, as well as light refreshments, and after a 15-minute break, an informal lunch and gathering is to take place at 2 p.m. in the church’s basement.

Some may not get to enjoy that lunch, though, before they have to rush off:

Another event begins at 1:30 p.m. on the steps of City Hall, only a minute’s walk away toward Central Square at 795 Massachusetts Ave., where gospel singer Valerie Stephens and the city’s Poet Populist, Toni Bee, will be performing to welcome people checking in for the Second Annual Cambridge MLK Day of Service.

Cambridge is among 100 cities nationwide holding such events, then mayor David Maher said Dec. 16 as he announced the city’s involvement.

The first such event included more than 400 volunteers taking part in projects on behalf of the city’s homeless, homebound elderly, children, families, veterans and servicemen and women. Because of the size of the event — organizers said they were astonished by how many people showed up last year — participants should register in advance, no matter whether they’ll be working all the way from 2:15 to 5 p.m. or for a shorter time, said the group’s Elizabeth Bartle.

The work will be done in the nearby YWCA, 7 Temple St., and Cambridge Senior Center, 806 Massachusetts Ave. There will also be a “volunteer expo to find out where you can help out the other 364 days” of the year, Bartle said.

• Making fleece scarves and blankets for at-risk infants, children and homeless adults.
• Making bookmarks for readers in adult literacy programs at the Public Library and Community Learning Center.
• Creating Valentine’s Day cards for Cambridge elders and members of the military.
• Making emergency room activity kits for children waiting at Cambridge Hospital and Mount Auburn Hospital during medical crises.

Participants are also asked not arrive empty-handed.

“On MLK Day we’ll also collect foods, books, and warm winter clothing. All contributions will be sorted, boxed, and will go directly to Cambridge community partner organizations. Can you bring something to share?” organizers asked, highlighting the need for nonperishable, shelf-stable  food items to benefit Cambridge food pantries; children’s books to benefit literacy programs in local schools, after-schools and pediatric offices; and winter clothing such as mittens, gloves, scarves, coats and socks for Cambridge adults and children in need, including the homeless and shelter residents.

For information on the day’s events contact the Peace Commission at (617) 349.4694 or peace@cambridgema.gov and Many Helping Hands via its website.

Other events in honor of King have been gathered by the city here.

This post took significant amounts of information from press releases.

The weekly event is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays through April at the Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callendar St., near Putnam and Western avenues in Cambridgeport.

In the tradition of Kendall Square’s Venture Cafe, which at one time was soliciting ideas for a different name, it looks like the default is going to last awhile here, too. While in October founders were still advertising a contest to name the market, now its website simply calls it “The Cambridge Winter Farmers’ Market.”

The listed vendors: Big Sky Bakery; Bug Hill Farm; C&C Lobster; Danish Pastry House; Deborah’s Kitchen; Fastachi; Foxboro Meat and Cheese; Jordan Brothers Seafood; Redfire Farms; Samira’s Homemade; Seacost Butters; 7 ate 9 Bakery; Shady Oaks Organics; Silverbrook Farm; Sprouted Raw Foods; Swiss Bakers; Taza; Q’s Nuts; Valicenti Organico; and Westminster Meats, with food demonstrations by Cambridge Brewing Co., live music by Two Tire Fire and a free art exhibit at the center’s Riverside Gallery.

Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. stands among Cambridge Rindge & Latin School students Nov. 29, when they filmed a segment for his upcoming television show, “Finding Your Roots.” (Photo: Samuel Russell, Ark Media/Kunhardt McGee Productions/Inkwell Films)

Students were excited when Henry Louis Gates Jr. came to Cambridge Rindge & Latin School to film a segment for an upcoming television show, but they didn’t know he was impressed enough to plan a second trip.

“I was privileged to be part of it,” senior Naomi Tsegaye said, describing the Nov. 29 visit. “It was a great discussion.”

The PBS show, a 10-part series called “Finding Your Roots” that begins March 25, is described as an extension of the Harvard professor’s ongoing televised and print genealogy projects, including one done on Oprah Winfrey’s ancestry. In preparation for the new show, Gates came with a small crew to the high school to talk about slavery in the North, spending about two hours with some 20 students.

After Tsegaye spoke Tuesday as a student representative to the School Committee, there was more Gates news: It looks like he’s coming back for more.

“I’m not sure the students know this, but professor Gates was so impressed with our students that he has requested permission to film a second segment at the high school,” Carolyn Turk, the district’s deputy superintendent, told the committee Tuesday. “So CRLS will be certainly a very strong component of the PBS series.”

It was Turk who got the original Nov. 11 e-mail from producer Hazel Gurland saying Gates was “interested in working with a public high school and articulated that he was very much interested in Cambridge” and its diverse group of students. She began scrambling to clear the way for the visit in terms of logistics and the paperwork needed for the kids to be filmed. “When we were finally able to get all the permission slips, it was right down to the wire,” Turk said.

After that, all went well.

“We had a great time, and it was a great success. The students were great, and everyone was very helpful,” Gurland said by phone Wednesday.

The series brings on everyone from Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson to politicians such as Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, Democratic U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Condoleezza Rice to examine race and U.S history, Gurland said. The Cambridge school was brought in for an episode that talks to Hollywood couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, whose Revolutionary War-era relative is Theodore Sedgwick, who fought slavery in court and championed Elizabeth Freeman, whose case helped end slavery in Massachusetts (and is buried in the Sedgwick family plot). “Professor Gates was interested in finding out what students know about slavery, to see what kids were learning in school,” Gurland said. “It was an interesting scene.”

Gates’ involvement as a Cantabrigian has been limited, but with his pop culture efforts, his Harvard work and certainly with his July 2009 arrest (and subsequent “beer summit” with his arresting officer at the White House) he is one of Cambridge’s most famous residents.

“He’s a very notable individual, and our students understand that. But they have confidence and are very notable young people. They were insightful, articulate and certainly not shy. They had very strong opinions and ideas and were willing to share them,” Turk said. “So it really was an exchange, with everyone very engaged.”

As a results, Gurland has e-mailed back to let Turk know Gates is interested in a return engagement with a new bunch of kids and a different topic.

“We’re not sure exactly when,” Gurland said, but Gates “had a great time … it’s a fantastic opportunity.”

Five questions. We just want to ask you five questions — or, rather, get five recommendations of things to read, listen to, watch, eat and buy from people who live, work or otherwise spend time in Cambridge. First up is Erica Milia, a Cambridge resident who works in Porter Square.

Read: “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” by Edward R. Tufte (Graphics Pr, 2001). is Erica’s recommendation for reading material. “That’s a very Cambridge answer for you,” Erica says, calling it “one thing everybody should read” but amending that to: “Anyone who studied graphs in school should read it. It sounds boring, but it is actually really funny, and half the book is pictures,” she said.

Listen to: “Can I say Adele, even though everyone’s already listening to her?” The British singer-songwriter has just two albums out, 2008’s “19” and this year’s “21” (both named after her age while recording them) and has had extraordinary success with each, with the latest spending 13 weeks at the top of Billboard charts — a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 1998. “She just goes far beyond most people doing pop,” Erica said. “She has an amazing voice and puts a lot more emotion into her songs. She writes her own lyrics, so she portrays her own feelings in a way most performing artists can’t manage.”

Watch: Erica struggled to find a recommendation for this category but finally found one “If you’re into hardcore partying and high drama with British teens”: the U.K. version of “Skins,” the sex-and-drugs soap MTV tried remaking this year with controversy and limited success. “It’s probably not something everyone should see,” she said, and “for the record, I have not seen the later seasons. They weren’t on Netflix.”

Eat: Cambridge Common, 1667 Massachusetts Ave., between Porter and Harvard squares, gets Erica’s vote because “the food’s relatively cheap and really good.” Not to be missed: the curly french fries.

Buy: Without hesitation, the store that gets Erica excited is Penti, the hosiery and lingerie store that opened at 9 JFK St., Harvard Square, just last month. It’s big in Europe, but this is the Turkish chain’s first location in the United States. “You don’t think you need tights until you walk in there and realize you need all their tights,” Erica said.

Send us your own five recommendations and your best big photo at editor@cambridgeday.com.

Five questions. We just want to ask you five questions — or, rather, get five recommendations of things to read, listen to, watch, eat and buy from people who live, work or otherwise spend time in Cambridge. First up is Marian Schmidt, a Hampshire College grad now working as a researcher at Harvard.

Read: “Every Living Thing: Man’s Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys,” by Rob Dunn (HarperCollins, 2009). “It’s a portrait of biology. People view the world as human-dominated, so Dunn breaks it down into all the living things and their part in it. It’s a new portrait of life — recommended to me by a friend’s grandfather.”

Listen to: The Tallest Man on Earth, also known as Swedish songwriter Kristian Matsson, has two studio albums and two EPs. “He’s kind of folkie, kind of indie rock — he’s very relaxing. He sounds like a modern Bob Dylan.”

Watch: TED.com, an online branch of the Technology, Entertainment and Design idea-sharing conferences, was recommended to Marian by her mother after she saw a video by neuroscientist  Jill Bolte Taylor, who suffered a stroke and, uniquely, “understood what was happening — scientifically — and gave a whole recap of the experience” from the inside. “It’s just totally amazing people presenting on such mind-blowing things.”

Eat: Masala, an Indian and Nepali restaurant at 1127 Broadway, Teele Square, Somerville, the former location of Tip Top Thai. “They have $3 margaritas and the food is way better than all the other Indian places I’ve been here.” Key dish: the Navraltan Korma, a combination of nine vegetables in a mild cream sauce with almonds and cashews.

Buy: “The No. 1 place I like shopping here is Paper Source,” the stationery and craft store, at 1810 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square, “for seasonal crafting. They even sell little crafting kits.”

Send us your own five recommendations and your best big photo at editor@cambridgeday.com.

The factoids, straight from Sage and the Cheung campaign:

According to preliminary results, Cheung earned more votes than any other candidate and surpassed the next closest candidate’s vote total by almost 20 percent.

Cheung topped the ticket in 10 of Cambridge’s 33 precincts.

Cheung achieved the broadest level of citywide support, achieving quota in 27 of 33 precincts in Cambridge — marking a triumph for the idea of Cambridge working together as a whole, not against itself as a collection of neighborhoods.

For the first time, a city councillor went from being the bottom vote-getter to the top.

Cheung was the most-ranked candidate, and ranked somewhere on 8,872 ballots, more than half of all cast. This was also over 1,000 more ballots then the next highest candidate, Tim Toomey (this refers to a candidate being ranked as a choice anywhere on a voters ballot, not just No. 1).

In addition to getting the most number one votes (2,017 or 12.7 percent of all valid ballots cast), Cheung also got the most No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 votes.

Cheung got 2,096 No. 2 votes, well over the next highest, Henrietta Davis, who got 1,214 No. 2 votes.

Cheung was ranked first or second on 26 percent of all valid ballots (4,113).
Cheung was listed in the top 3 on 36 percent of all valid ballots cast (5,719). The next highest was Henrietta Davis, who got 27 percent.
Cheung was listed in the top four on 43 percent of all valid ballots cast.
Top five: 48 percent
Top six: 51 percent
Top nine: 54 percent
Anywhere: 56 percent

Cheung was the only candidate to be ranked in the top nine on more than 50 percent of all ballots, meaning he was the only candidate a majority of residents voted to the council.

Cheung was the only candidate to be ranked anywhere on more than 50 percent of all ballots, meaning he was the only candidate a majority of voters selected.

Volunteers and staff canvassed more than 15,000 houses.

Volunteers and staff made more than 20,000 phone calls to voters.

Update: Leland Cheung wrote Nov. 24, 2011, to say Robert Winters’ Cambridge Civic Journal should have ben credited in the press release for the data.

Cambridge Public Works Commissioner Lisa Peterson accepts the city’s Outstanding Achievement Award at MassRecycle’s annual ceremony Nov. 15, while Squizzle Plekavich, left, and Roger Frymire, right, accept Fresh Pond Stewardship Awards on Thursday with Deputy City Manager Richard Rossi and Cambridge Conservation Commission Director Jennifer Wright (Photos: top, Judy Wong)

Cambridge has won the year’s MassRecycle Board of Director’s Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of its “visionary leadership and innovative efforts to improve recycling and waste reduction in Massachusetts.”

In addition to such municipal efforts as the successful rollout of single-stream recycling and the Go Green Awards, residents also get involved in environmental issues, including leading the Cambridge Climate Emergency Action Group, the CitySprouts school garden program and kids pushing for schoolwide composting and the use of biodegradable lunch trays — even writing and illustrating a book, “Energy Lite,” to show how everyday appliances, from blenders to hair dryers, waste energy and money and damage the environment.

Every year, the statewide nonprofit MassRecycle coalition recognizes a select group of people, businesses, communities and organizations for leading and innovating in recycling and waste reduction, explained Cambridge’s public information officer, Ini Tomeu in a Friday press release. Winners are selected through a peer review process.

Public Works Commissioner Lisa Peterson accepted the award on the city’s behalf at MassRecycle’s 16th annual Recycling Awards Ceremony and Celebration, held Nov. 15 at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington.

Click here for information about Cambridge’s recycling efforts and here for information on MassRecycle.

In other environmental news, the Fresh Pond Stewardship Awards ceremony held Thursday at the city’s Walter J. Sullivan Water Purification Facility honored Roger Frymire and Squizzle Plekavich for their work at the Fresh Pond Reservation.

Frymire has worked for a decade to rid the Alewife watershed of invasive weed species. From his kayak, he has pulled up more than 150,000 water chestnut plants by their roots — weighing more than 10,000 pounds — from four of the ponds around the golf course.

Squizzle Plekavich, a member of the Friends of Fresh Pond, has worked since 2003 providing monthly plankton surveys of Black’s Nook and Little Fresh Pond to the Water Department, information useful in assessing water quality. For 13 years, Plekavich has volunteered clearing brush and helping with projects improving pathways and clearing weeds. He co-leads Friends group programs, educating the public about the ecosystem at Fresh Pond Reservation. His efforts epitomize the educational goals of the Master Plan.

This post took significant amounts of material from press releases.

Salvation Army official Armida LaMarr and Michael O’Connell, vice president of planning and marketing for Mount Auburn Hospital, show some of the 3,200 pounds of food the hospital gathered for the charity in an annual drive.

This year’s collection of canned goods by Mount Auburn Hospital gathered 3,200 pounds of Thanksgiving food for the Salvation Army of Cambridge, hospital officials announced Friday. Mount Auburn has hosted similar efforts for the past two years, including a summer drive to feed children off from school who will lack the meals served there.

The Salvation Army of Cambridge plans to deliver more than 250 Thanksgiving baskets to needy families in Cambridge and expects to help hundreds more in December, said Armida LaMarr, an officer with the local branch of the charity group.

“The Salvation Army depends upon the help of others to meet the needs of the families we serve,” LaMarr said. “Without friends like Mount Auburn Hospital we would not be as effective in reaching out to those who need our assistance.”

In addition to the food drives and gift-giving throughout the year, the group runs an overnight men’s shelter, transitional housing, a day care for homeless children and a program for senior citizens.

For this holiday season officials hope for donations of new toys, clothes and nonperishable food for the families they serve. They are especially in need of canned vegetables and fruit, instant potatoes, stuffing and soups, they said. Volunteering and donations of money throughout the year are also a help, and they are looking for volunteers to sort items, pack bags and to stand at kettles to collect money. The Salvation Army of Cambridge is at 402 Massachusetts Ave.

For information, call (617) 547-3400.

This post was written from a press release.