Nerd Nite Philly

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Nerds! The July Nerd Nite will seek to resolve the following questions: 1) what is the difference between a nerd and a geek?  2) does symmetry matter?  3) what shenanigans did astronomer Tycho Brahe get up to? The details:

Wednesday, July 10, 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

  And – don’t forget the July 11th fundraiser to send Rocky Parker up to the Nerd Nite Global Fest this August!   The lectures at hand:

“Nerd vs. Geek Movie Night” by Stephanie Yuhas Stephanie will present some clips from her work, including an episode of, Nerd vs. Geek, a comedy where a MENSA chapter, a gaming circle, and a drama club collide when their leaders become Craigslist roommates. She will answer questions about her work, as well as briefly discuss her experience as a filmmaker in Philadelphia, and work with Project Twenty1 to help aspiring artists get their first break.

NERDS!

As many of you know, the vast global Enterprise that is Nerd Nite is celebrating Global Nerd Domination this summer with the Nerd Nite Global Festival, to be held in Brooklyn on August 16, 17, and 18th.  This is highly recommended as a weekend activity, and many, many more details can be found here:  http://nerdnite.com/fest/

We here at Nerd Nite Philly are sending one of our own, Rocky Parker, up to Brooklyn to represent our City of Brotherly Love with tales of Serpently Love.  The good people at the Monell Chemical Sciences Center, where Rocky works, are holding a fundraiser on July 11th to send him up to Brooklyn.  It’ll be a hoot!  To wit:

Come join us on Thursday, July 11^th at Yards Brewery for “To Brooklyn, Wit Love”, a fundraising event that will help support one of Monell’s most talented young minds as he seeks to tell the universe about his very cool research: “Sexy Serpent Smells: a Sense of Snake Scents.”  

Postdoc Rocky Parker first gave this talk at Philly Nerd Nite and it was so captivating that the Philly Nerd Nite bosses asked him to represent Philly at the inaugural Nerd Nite Global Fest.  Rocky replied, “Yo! I’ll be there!”  So, we’re raising money to help send Rocky to Brooklyn so that he can present his research to some of the best nerdy storytellers in the world.

Here’s a small somewhat more serious taste (pun obviously intended) of what Rocky is working on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PNoDNxRGas

·        Free food

·        Live music

·        Fun food science demonstrations

Buy your advance tickets here: http://monellcenter.ticketleap.com/to-brooklyn-wit-love/

So come out July 11^th to eat, drink and get your Philly nerd on!

Greetings nerds!

Be prepared for another informative Nerd Nite next Wednesday, June 12, a night promising to be better than your typical summer school– happy hour priced beer and big German pretzels are involved!

The details:

Wednesday, June 12, 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

Importantly, our line up of distinguished speakers and their prepared talks:

Bibotorium: Dreamboats for Nightmares by Camp Little Hope

Camp Little Hope directs a project called Bibotorium in an abandoned swimming pool as part of the Hidden City Philadelphia Festival. Bibotorium is an educational saloon and public think-tank for imagining the future of water in Philadelphia. Through conversation and complimentary beverage service, Camp Little Hope designs and builds boats to illustrate future water environments.

Bio: Camp Little Hope is an international research collective that works in proprioceptive museum installations, free algorithmic restaurants, sustainable impossibilities, alternative institutional forms, speculative sciences, and matching jumpsuits. www.camplittlehope.com

Analytical Improv: Patterns and Intuition by Matt Akana

Professional nerd Matt Akana explains an analytical approach to improv comedy that involves pattern recognition and developing a sense of play.  He explains how to push through the initial obstacles to truly enjoy being in the moment, with no safety net, in front of others.  He will demonstrate how to fail with momentum!

Bio: Matthew Akana is a San Francisco-born, Philadelphia-residing improv comedy performer, game designer, and molecular biologist.  During the day he does high throughput pharmaceutical assay development and by night he performs live with ZaoGao at the Philly Improv Theater and with the N Crowd.

The Weird World of Archie Comics by Chris Cummins

Throughout the 1970s, strange things were afoot in the seemingly peaceful town of Riverdale. In an effort to make their books more competitive with their edgier rivals at DC and Marvel, Archie Comics started focusing on telling grittier tales in some of their titles that involved such story elements as murderous crooks, high school scandals and even Satanic teddy bears. As you can probably guess, they were amazing. Around the same time, Archie artist Al Hartley convinced his bosses to allow him to create religious versions of Archie books to be sold at Christian bookstores. These oddities are a head-scratching bunch that come complete with Betty Cooper trying to convert her heathen pals and a cameo appearance by Jesus as a surfer dude. Subsequent decades have seen such head-scratching developments in the Archieverse as Jughead travelling through time with one of Archie’s female descendents from the 29th century, as well as a monthly title that gave the staff of Riverdale High super powers. This talk will present a look at the oddest moments from Archie’s storied history, offering up a compelling glimpse at how easily the middle of the road can swerve into Weirdsville.

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.

Music by Los Festingos!

A Festingo: One whom expands the musical universe through creative, humorous, and often outrageous feats of harmonious excellence.

Be there and be square!

Nerd Nite Philly Crew

Yo Nerds!

Fast on the heels of the Philadelphia Science Festival, we bring you an eclectic mix of nerdosity.  Be prepared to hear about the following hot topics: 1) earwax (for realz), 2) an ancient and defunct Philly landmark, and 3) Mr. T.

Sadly, this Nerd Nite is the last one for Nerd Nite boss Matt Young.  Lucky us though, because he’s agreed to play guitar and sing some songs –  he’s a boss on guitar too.  Please come out and wish him well before he moves down south!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

doors at 7:00, show at 7:30 sharp
Frankford Hall at Frankford and Girard
$5 cover gets you nerdiness and food and drink specials

We pity the fool that doesn’t attend this Nerd Nite.

Guys!

We are thrilled to be a part of the Philadelphia Science Festival again!  This year, it’s time to put your Sherlock Holmes hat on, grab a pipe, or rather, a pint, and join us in the big outdoor beer garden at Frankford Hall for a treatise on forensics.  We’ll be hearing about how to solve crimes when the trail goes cold, how forensic toxicologists detect designer drugs, and how forensic anthropologists can find out what really happened at crime scenes from history.  Plus, we’ll have Prohibition-era jazz to turn Frankford Hall into a speakeasy.  It’s Nerd Nite: CSI.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

doors at 7:00, show at 7:30
Frankford Hall at Frankford and Girard in the beer garden
$5 cover gets you nerdiness and food and drink specials

Tickets can be purchased in advance here, but we will also be selling them at the door.

Let the crime-solving commence:

“The Vidocq Society: warm people solving cold cases.” by William Fleisher

Bio: William L. Fleisher is the Director of Keystone Intelligence Network, Inc., a Philadelphia private investigation firm and the co-founder and first Commissioner of the Vidocq Society, an organization of forensic experts that assists law enforcement and victims’ families in solving unsolved homicides.  He retired from the U.S. Customs Service in 1996 as Deputy Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia office.  Mr. Fleisher is a former special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and rose to the rank of corporal with the Philadelphia Police Department.  He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of lie detection and behavior analysis.  Mr. Fleisher is the recipient of the Customs Service Distinguished Service Medal and Award for his efforts in developing interviewing techniques for customs inspectors.  Mr. Fleisher is a father and grandfather and resides in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, with his wife Michelle.

“Forensic Toxicology – A “higher” level of thinking . . .” by Jill Yeakel

Forensic Toxicology involves the investigation of drugs and poisons in biological matrices. The evolution of forensic toxicology as it relates to human performance has rapidly changed in recent years as a wide variety of chemical analogs advertised as legal highs comparable to marijuana have become available in smoke shops and over the internet. These chemical analogs are commonly referred to as synthetic cannabinoids and their danger and prevalence across the country is apparent as seen in the increase in poison control center calls since 2009. This presentation will discuss the effects of the synthetic cannabinoids and the challenges their detection in blood and urine pose to forensic toxicologists.

Bio: Jill Yeakel achieved her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry from Lock Haven University. She then attended Arcadia University where she earned a Master of Science in Forensic Science. She is currently the program director at the Center for Forensic Science and Education where she organizes and operates the G. John DiGregorio Summer Science Program along with being the Course Director for the Research Methods in Forensic Science, Pattern Evidence Analysis, Forensic Toxicology II and  Forensic Science Symposium courses for the Arcadia University’s Master of Forensic Science Program and completes research in herbal incense products and designer drugs.

“Hemlock, Cholera and Marijuana:  Getting it all Wrong in Forensic Anthropology.” by Janet Monge

Case studies of prehistoric, historic and modern errors in the reconstruction of events surrounding death of 11 people.  From the ancient Middle East to the suburbs of Philadelphia, history has painted a very different picture of the very real events of human violence against other humans.  Forensic anthropologists get it right (and wrong sometimes) telling the stories from the very real bones left behind.

Bio: Janet Monge has done fieldwork in many locations in Europe, Kenya and Australia. Her primary interest is in the development of methodologies to preserve and broadcast datasets to the physical anthropology community using Computed Tomography, traditional radiology, and human dental micro-anatomy as well as in the distribution of the highest quality castings of human fossils to Universities and Museums all over the world.  She teaches courses in Forensic Anthropology and has been engaged in many forensic case studies involving skeletal, burned, mutilated and mummified human remains.

And, featuring jazz from Philly’s own The Cornbread Five.

BE THERE AND BE SQUARE!