Nerd Nite Philly

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Hey Nerds!

First – a big thanks to everyone who came to our Halloween party.  We had a blast, and we hope you guys did too.  And you certainly did not disappoint in the costume contests.  From some extreme nerds to Mary Poppins to Bunnicula to Doc, Marty, and a Flux Capacitor, we were amazed by your talents all evening long.  Mad props.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming with a smorgasbord of nerd goodness.  Details:

Wednesday, November 6, 2013
doors at 7:00, show at 7:30 sharp
Frankford Hall at Frankford and Girard, 2 blocks from the Girard St blue line stop
$5 cover gets you a night of nerdy fun, plus food and drink specials

The lectures at hand:

“How the Universe is Trying to Kill You” by John Bochanski

While the night sky looks peaceful and serene, it is anything but. Near and far, the universe is full of hazards that pose a threat to all life on Earth.  We’ll take a look at a few, and look at some ways that astronomers are trying to identify the most eminent threats. While I can’t tell you when and where the next threat might strike, I can tell you that Bruce Willis and nuclear bomb is not the way to go.

Bio: John Bochanski is an astronomer and visiting professor at Haverford College.  John is also a blogger for Sky and Telescope magazine and volunteers for the Philadelphia Science Festival.  Hailing from South Jersey, John graduated from Villanova and got his Ph.D. in Seattle from the University of Washington.  After that, he worked at MIT and Penn State, before coming back to Philly.  When not contemplating the mysteries of the Universe, John can be found watching the game, or out on a run around town.

“Jeffro Kilpatrick: Bury My Bones in Ink” by Jeffro Kilpatrick

Kilpatrick will discuss how he uses art and cartooning in all ends of his life, from his career to charity to social circles to wooing the love of his life. He will show examples of his work referencing geeky pop culture, his fascination with Philly and Fishtown, and his obsession with the world’s maudlin, rambling, nocturnal creatures.

Bio: Jeffro Kilpatrick is a Philly cartoonist, born and raised in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia. He is a co-founder of the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society (www.phillytoon.org) and a proud member of the Meathaus Comics Collective (www.meathaus.com). He spends his days and weekends teaching art to Philly middle school students, and his nights hunched over the same drawing table he had when he was a kid.

Nerds,

Get out your needle and thread, your hot glue guns, your stage makeup and your nerd glasses, because we are having a Nerd Nite Halloween Party!  It will be a horrifying yet delightful mash-up of a regular Halloween party and a regular Nerd Nite.  To wit: we’ll have a costume contest with rad prizes brought to you by Quirk Books, Frankford Hall and the Nerd Nite Philly team.  See details in the flyer below for costume contest categories.  We’ll have candy, we’ll have beer (with happy hour specials all night long) and we’ll also have speakers.

Thursday, October 31, 8 pm onward

Frankford Hall

NO COVER – FREE FREE FREE

In particular, we’re excited to bring you the 2013 Geek Award-winning Scientist of the Year and great friend of Nerd Nite Kimberlee Moran who will spook you with “Tales from the Crypt”.  Nerd Nite co-boss Michelle Bland will scare you silly with “Horrors of Invertebrate Genetics”.  Blurbs below:

“Tales from the Crypt” by Kimberlee Moran
Ghosts, vampires, and zombies…oh my!  This Halloween learn the science behind death and some of our favorite ghouls.  We’ll learn about what happens to the body as it decomposes along with the facts behind vampires.  Finally, you’ll sleep easy tonight after learning why you’re safe from a zombie apocalypse.

“Horrors of Invertebrate Genetics” by Michelle Bland
Biologists love making and finding new mutations to get a handle on how life works.  Sometimes, though, nature turns out to be made up of the stuff of nightmares.  Witness the dreadful spectacle of Drosophila development gone awry!  Sit transfixed in terror at the menace of zombified insects!  And learn the horrifying meaning of “bag of worms”.

Dear Nerds,

What card-carrying nerd doesn’t love transportation in any or all of its varied forms?  Can it only be us Nerd Nite bosses who wonder how your suitcase moves from the check in counter to the guts of your plane?  Do you ever ponder the vastness of the SEPTA system and wonder about the nitty gritty details of its operation?  Do you long for the day when Philadelphians can share bikes freely like those silly Manhattanites up in New York?  Well, if you don’t, start now!  This Nerd Nite is all about planes, trains and bicycles!

The lectures at hand:

Hey Nerds! September Nerd Nite is a little later this month, but no less awesome. We have a *jam-packed* evening ready for you and we’re doing it with the help of our friends at the Green Philly Blog and Clean Air Council. Our line up includes a little sustainability, some folksy music, and the inside scoop on the new beer that Yards Brewing Company has cooked up. So are you folks ready to welcome in the school year with some Nerd Nite?

“Recycle-full-cycle in Philadelphia” by Phil Bresee

Recycling has come a long way in Philadelphia during the past few years. The City’s new-ish recycling chief and self-proclaimed ‘garbage geek’ will chart progress, future challenges, and share some of his perspectives on managing solid waste in the City of Neighborhoods.

About Phil: As the recycling director for the City of Philadelphia, Phil Bresee guides and supports a number of solid waste and recycling program and planning initiatives, including the update to the city’s solid waste management plan, public outreach efforts, the recyclables processing contract, and the Philly Recycling Rewards incentives program. Bresee is also spearheading improvements to the City’s commercial recycling efforts. He came to Philadelphia in July 2012 from Broward County Florida, where he guided the county’s recycling programs including the county’s innovative project that studied the feasibility of using pulverized recycled glass for beach erosion control.

“A year behind bars and 5 more in the public sector” by Kristin Sullivan

Ostensibly “boring” information about how the City manages its use of electricity, natural gas, and steam will be presented. To Kristin, however it is anything but boring. The City uses over 3.5 Million MMBtus a year in just about 800 facilities. Kristin will dazzle you with dizzying facts and made up units of measure. We’ll bore into figures about the City’s work and our plan to manage that usage down and thus reduce its costs to taxpayers. Maybe you couldn’t care less about the difference between a kilowatt and a kilowatt-hour. Perhaps you think an MMBtu is just an extreme bra size. No matter. Kristin will pepper in some details about a 14,000 mile bicycle trip she took from Alaska to Argentina over the course of a year to get people to think a little bit more about their impact on the earth.

About Kristin: Kristin Sullivan is the Energy Manager for the City of Philadelphia. Her work in utility conservation and distributed energy generation straddles both the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities. Kristin began her career as an energy analyst with an international energy consulting firm and then as a development manager for Iberdrola Renewables, a large scale wind energy company. In 2004, she created EarthCycle.org, an environmental education and toured and lectured throughout North and South America on a bicycle trip from Fairbanks, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina. The 14,055 mile trip was supported by individual, environmental non-profit, and corporate sponsors, and took 355 days to complete. Kristin Sullivan graduated from Gettysburg College, Majoring in Environmental Studies and Biology, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Natural Resources sector in Honduras from 1998 to 2000.

“The Art & Science of Landscape Architecture” by Eric Wahl

Long before the profession was named, Landscape Architecture played a significant role in our everyday lives. From agrarian and rural landscapes to private gardens, towns, and neighborhoods, people lived in, borrowed from, and captured views of their surroundings. The threads of Art and Science of these special places are woven through our history, which we should learn from, and indeed improve upon for a sustainable and healthy future. In this presentation, we’ll go from historical contributions to the landscape, to contemporary design patterns that evolved over time that all help to create the Landscape of Man.

About Eric: Eric holds a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Temple University, and is a registered Landscape Architect in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and was recently appointed President of the Delaware Board of Landscape Architecture. Eric is also the current Vice-President of the Delaware Native Plant Society, and an adjunct professor on Sustainable Sites and Landscaping at Delaware Technical & Community College in Georgetown, Delaware. Eric strives for a balance between the built and the natural environments. With an eye towards ecological awareness, his designs lean toward sustainability and foster an ecological stewardship.

Between lectures and to entertain you wonderful nerds is Midwestern Exposure. A Philadelphia based roots rock trio consisting of Cam Clark, Jeff Goldman and Forrest Wright, Midwestern Exposure combines Blues, Folk and Rock into a great original sound.

But, wait! There’s more! As a prelude to this special evening, we will have Franklin Winslow, former research microbiologist and current Director of Quality Assurance at Yards Brewing Company, talk about a new German Pale Ale recently brewed up, applying the Reinheitsgebot to Burton-on-Trent.

Hey Nerds! August – so much good in August! 1) the Nerd Nite Global Fest up in Brooklyn from August 16-18 featuring our own Rocky Parker talking about serpent scents and sex and Trevor McElroy talking about Dolley Madison and beer brewing in Revolutionary times. We are so excited to have two Philly reps! 2) Heck yeah!! We’ve been nominated for a Philly Geek Award in the category of Event of the Year! Thanks so much to everyone that wrote in to nominate us. The awards ceremony is on August 17th, and we’ll be there. 3) The August Philly Nerd Nite is Wednesday the 7th, and we have a great show planned. Details:

Wednesday, August 7, 2013 doors at 7:00, show at 7:30 sharp Frankford Hall at Frankford and Girard $5 cover gets you a night of nerdy fun, plus food and drink specials

The lectures at hand:

When people hear “Mushroom research” their automatic response is either drugs or the black mold that grows in the shower. However, people have been using it to help make things for centuries, such as food and beer. I’ll be focusing on 6 species – Aspergillus niger and oryzae, Trichoderma Reesei and harzianum, Rhizopus stolonifer, and Pencillium chrysogenum. They are used for bio-control, bio-chemistry, medicine, and food, and play an important part in our daily lives.