Nerd Nite No. 21! February 6, 2013
Guys: Philly Nerd Nite is turning 21 in February! We are celebrating with three nerdacious talks and one phenomenal juggler.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
doors at 6:30, show at 7:30
Frankford Hall at Frankford and Girard
$5 cover
For our twenty-first Nerd Nite, and the first one of 2013, we present for you:
“What’s Love Got to Do With It? – An inside look at avian amore!” by Carrie Ashley
Did you ever wonder how a penguin proposes or why a cowbird prefers to hit it and quit it? If so, you may want to get a hobby, but we also have the answers for you! Come explore the flamboyant, deadly, and neurotic world of bird love.
Bio: Carrie Ashley, Education Manager for PA Audubon, has spent her adult life contemplating the birds and the bees and decided to cut her losses and just focus on the birds. PA Audubon’s mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity in Pennsylvania.
“NextGen: Humans, Automation, and the Future of Air Traffic Control” by Kenneth Allendorfer
Advances in information, communication, and navigation technology are driving major changes to the air transportation system in the US and around the world. These changes are intended to improve safety and efficiency, to reduce delays caused by bad weather and congestion, and to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. The talk will discuss research examining at how these changes affect the humans in the system–the pilots and air traffic controllers–and how to create technological systems that improve rather than interfere with their performance.
Bio: Kenneth Allendoerfer is an engineering research psychologist with the Federal Aviation Administration, located at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City. He studies air traffic control, expertise and decision making, human error, and the design of technology for safety-critical domains.
“Dispatches from the Planet Enz” by Chris Cummins
In this talk, pop culture writer Chris Cummins will take you inside the weird and wonderful world of movie novelizations. From discussing the strange extraterrestrial origins of Gremlins featured in that film’s tie-in book to presenting readings from a few of the craziest film spin-off books, Cummins will open up your eyes to the bizarre literary offshoots of some of your favorite movies.
Bio: Chris Cummins is a Philadelphia-based writer who regularly contributes to Geekadelphia and Topless Robot. He also runs the blogs Hibernation Sickness, What’s Dave Kendall Wearing? and Songs of 1992, and co-hosts a monthly quizzo night at The Dive. When not writing about pop culture, he can usually be found obsessing over everything from Star Wars figures to forgotten shoegaze bands. You can follow him on Twitter at @bionicbigfoot.
And: Juggling by David Darwin!
Be there, be square and buy us a shot.
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: animals, ornithology, the Gremlins, traffic control, transportation, TSA