Nerd Nite No. 15, June 13, 2012
Dearest Nerds,
Schools’s out, but you can get your summer learning with us (and a beer or two):
The lectures at hand:
“Penalty kicks, financial pornography and sea monkeys: Why settling for average can put you ahead of the game (or: that one time you got 84,000% ROI drinking with your friends at a bar)” by Gordon Erb
Everyone loved the mid-2000’s, with the cheap credit, the no-doc and interest-only mortgages and a soaring stock market. Like the best parties, of course, someone is left to clean up in the morning with a brutal hangover. The US housing bubble continues to deflate. Regional governments are scaling back services, renege on pensions and flirt with bankruptcy. The Facebook IPO is embroiled in legal wrangling, and public confidence in the stock market has vanished. Is the stock market a safe place for your money? Can you get a good return without losing your shirt? Were Marilyn Monroe and Che Guevera really financial advisors? And how is your stock broker like a goalkeeper? We will conduct a not-so-sober, evidence-based search for some answers, and have a frank, hype-free discussion about money, the stock market and the financial services industry.
Bio: Gordon Erb has worked on consumer advocacy and civil rights projects with NAACP President Benjamin Jealous and writer, critic and perennial presidential candidate Ralph Nader. He holds a degree in economics from Eastern Mennonite University and runs a photography business in Philadelphia. He dreams of growing tomatoes under the hot sun in a country far, far away.
“Permaculture Popped: Meme Mash” by Matt Bennett
This ‘vintage technology’ powerpoint will explore Mr. Bennett’s journey with Permaculture. We’ll explore the simple and at times esoteric philosophies as best as can be done through pop culture references primarily sourced from the 90s and from Indie music of the Y2Ks. Grainy throwback digital photos, WordArt, and bad transitions will be used to explore ancient wisdom for a non-sarcastic future.
Bio: Matt Bennett lives in a van down by the river. He’s here to motivate you to be a happier, heathier, more heavenly person, because he’s burning out doing it without you. Mr. Bennett studied with some of the greats in permaculture so you don’t have to.
“The Whorld of Fingerprints” by Kimberlee Moran
Over a hundred years since its “invention,” fingerprinting is still the ultimate means of identification. While latent print examiners, as fingerprint experts are know, utilize techniques derived from chemistry, fingerprinting itself is hardly a science. Recently, fingerprinting has come under intense scrutiny thanks to the Daubert criteria and the National Academy of Sciences’ 2009 report. In this talk we will learn why we have fingerprints as well as the whos and hows behind the oldest form of forensic identification.
Bio: Kimberlee Moran has been a forensic consultant and educator since 2002. She holds an undergraduate degree in archaeology from Bryn Mawr College and a Masters of Science in forensic archaeological science from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London. Kimberlee has worked on a number of cases in a range of capacities, most recently as provider of forensic services to legal professionals in the UK. She helped to launch the JDI Centre for the Forensic Sciences in 2010 and has run an educational organization, Forensic Outreach, since 2004. Her doctoral research is in the field of ancient fingerprints.
And, entertainment by:
Stephen DiBonaventura, Larry Toft and Adam Hershberger playing jazz on trumpet, trombone and banjo
and
David Gudis beatboxing!
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: finance, fingerprinting, forensic science, jazz, permaculture, the 90s