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Nerd Nite No. 14, May 9th, 2012
Dearest Nerds,
Fast on the heels of the nerdtasticness that was the Apcocalypse 2012 Nerd Nite, we bring you the next edition, sure to delight:
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
doors at 7:00, show at 7:30
Frankford Hall at Frankford & Girard
$5 cover
Bio: Matthew MacDonald is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Department Of Psychiatry. His doctoral work focused on developing new approaches to investigate protein complexity at the synapse. He currently spends his days trying to understand the biological basis of schizophrenia and human consciousness. In retrospect this may have been a poor career choice. As it turns out the human brain is really complicated; he wishes someone had warned him.
“Every Joyful Conspiracy” by Elizabeth-Jane Cole
How do we create irresistibility for ideas whose time has come? The point at which we begin to see the unknown and believe in an infinity of possibilities is the point of genesis of all possible worlds. We can achieve boundless things if we see challenges as opportunites to imagine the world we want, instead of hurling metaphorical rocks at the things we don’t like. This talk contains previews of the upcoming book Quantum Monkeywrenching, will include examples of how to create transformational experiences with a little creativity and intentionality, and not a few high spirited shenanigans.
Bio: Elizabeth-Jane Cole is an author, Enabler of Joyful Conspiracies, and radio producer. She is also the cofounder of the Evil Twin Booking Agency (with Artist Scott Beibin), organizing tours for people who think and act. In a past life, she contributed to WIRED magazine, produced a long-form interview with a balloon porn fetish model for Third Coast Award-winning podcast series Love + Radio, and wrote instructionals on DIY film distribution techniques.
“The Sounds of the Systems: exploring 8-bit/16-bit video game music” by Steve Lakawicz
Join Steve Lakawicz as he explores how video game programmers overcame the limitations of 8bit sound to create aural masterpieces. Steve’s presentation will highlight the hardware inside the systems and use specific examples to illustrate the types of obstacles that early game music composers would have confronted. His presentation will feature music from the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, and Sega Genesis.
Bio: Steve Lakawicz holds a BM in Tuba Performance from Rutgers University as well as an MM in Tuba Performance from Temple University. His love of video game music has lead him to form a blog, Classical Gaming (classicalgaming.wordpress.com), to promote discussion both casual and academic about the music of video games. He is also the co-founder of the video game/nerd music chamber ensemble, Beta Test Music (betatestmusic.com). He currently resides in Philadelphia where he teaches statistics at Temple University.
Plus: juggling by David Darwin and tunes by Matt Young,
Nerd Nite No. 13, April 26, 2012: Philadelphia Science Festival edition
Dear Nerds,
The next Philly Nerd Nite is part of the Philadelphia Science Festival, a city-wide celebration of science. We are thrilled to be a part of it, and we’re even more thrilled to offer you a scholarly ode to 2012 apocalypse mania. Should you like, you may buy tickets online, but we will also be selling them at the door as always.
Note that Nerd Nite is on a Thursday this month and that the talks will start at 8:00 instead of 7:30. Right before Nerd Nite will be “Meet and Geek“. Admission to that gets you admission to Nerd Nite. So many nerdly possibilities . . .
The haps:
Philly Science Festival Nerd Nite
Thursday, April 26th
Doors at 7:30 / Show at 8:00
Frankford Hall / $5 cover
We have three great talks and two performances by the West Philadelphia Orchestra lined up for you:
“The End is Not Nigh: Fact and Fantasy in the Maya 2012 Phenomenon” by Simon Martin
We’ve all heard that the world is going to end in a fiery cataclysm, or that a galactic alignment is going to herald a new world order, or perhaps that they’ll be a rain of pink elephants come 21st, or 23rd, December 2012. Moreover, whatever it is that’s going to happen, the Ancient Maya predicted it because their calendar comes to shattering conclusion on that date. We can dismiss the ideas of self-declared experts of this “ends of days”–even though they can be fun to listen to–but the science questions in this are: How did we get to this? What did the Ancient Maya actually believe? Using hieroglyphic texts–including some only recently unraveled–we can form a real picture of ancient Maya beliefs about time-reckoning and the cosmos, and the 2012 phenomenon they have inspired.
Bio: Simon Martin, Co-Curator of MAYA 2012: Lords of Time and Penn Museum American Section Associate Curator, is an expert on Maya writing and specializes in Classic Maya history and politics. His work has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic Magazine, Science, and Archaeology Magazine. He appeared in the Nova television program “Cracking the Maya Code” in 2008 and has collaborated on shows for Discovery and the History Channel.
“How to Survive the Apocalypse” by Scott Gabriel Knowles
And dance like it’s the end of the world to the mighty sounds of the West Philadelphia Orchestra!
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: art, disasters, emergency management, Mayan calendar, Penn Museum, survival, the apocalypse | 
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Nerd Nite No. 12, March 14, 2012
Dear Nerds,
Please join us as we make plans to take over the world. If you attend the March Nerd Nite, you will learn how to build a nuclear fusion reactor, how to manipulate vast swaths of data to generate art (or whatever your little heart desires), and how to harness the power of the pig nose to become vastly wealthy.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
doors at 7:00, show at 7:30
Frankford Hall at Frankford & Girard
$5 cover
For your edification:
Bio: Ian Gallagher is a senior at Drexel University, studying Electrical Engineering, and is part of a small team developing and constructing an all-electric car for competition in the 2012 Formula Hybrid competition. He has a great desire to learn how things work, and loves to tinker with all sorts of machines. Aside from his academic pursuits, he is an avid mountain biker. There is more to his life than just these things, but he’s been so busy lately that they’ve momentarily slipped from his mind.
Bio: As curator of programs for Breadboard at the Science Center, David Clayton plays at the intersection of Art and Technology. The program explores creative applications of technology in art. He also co-organizes Ignite Philly and still dreams of being an astronaut.
Bio: Marcia Pelchat is a Senior scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. Monell is a non-profit, multidisiplinary basic research institute where everyone studies some aspect of the chemical senses (taste and smell). Dr. Pelchat studies food cravings, learning mechanisms in food selection and the relationship of individual differences in chemosensory function to nutrition. She is a frequent public speaker and tap dancer who once dressed 27 oompa loompas. She particularly enjoys disgusting her children.
Nerd Nite No. 11, February 8, 2012
Hey Gang!
The next Nerd Nite is drawing near! This is also our first Nerd Nite to feature a talk by a chemist! And as far as we know, our first skydiver *and* our first hypocrisy expert . . .
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
doors at 7:00, show at 7:30
Frankford Hall at Frankford and Girard
$5 cover
For your listening and learning pleasure:
“Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind” by Rob Kurzban
Do you wonder why people are so inconsistent? Why people often seem to contradict themselves? Why they believe things they know aren’t true? Why they say “don’t do X” and then do that very thing? In this presentation, I’ll show how the fact that the human mind is made up of many different parts answers all these questions…
Robert Kurzban is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Evolution and Human Behavior. His research focuses on evolutionary approaches to social phenomena such as cooperation, trust, mating, friendship, and social networks. His favorite color is blue and his favorite breed of dog is husky.
“Jumping out of planes: the art and sport of skydiving” by Alex Mandel
Skydiving is on the top of most people’s bucket list. It is one of the most exciting and exhilarating extreme sports around but there’s much more to it than strapping on a parachute and diving out of a plane. In this presentation, I’ll explore the techniques and finer points of skydiving.
Alex Mandel is a licensed skydiver who has been frequently jumping out of airplanes for the past 4 years. He made his first tandem jump in January 2008 and than worked his way to earn a free fall license. On the weekdays he works on his start up and develops real estate.
“Chemistry and energy. From alternative fuel to blowing sh*t up” by Mike Zdilla
Chemistry was once about mixing substances and changing them into other things, but this is not the case today. Perhaps with the exception of drug discovery, most every facet of chemistry today is concerned with energy. From food to fuel to batteries to bombs, chemists are concerned with storing and using energy. A talk highlighting usage and transformations of chemical energy will be presented, with a focus on the oft overlooked role of the inorganic elements. The talk will include chemical demonstrations, and a live musical performance.
Mike Zdilla is a professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Temple University. His focus is inorganic chemistry, which means the study of the chemical elements that usually get ignored by the more popular yuppie elements (I’m talkin’ to you, carbon oxygen and hydrogen). He teaches courses on inorganic chemistry, metals in biology, and crystallography. He has a wife who is an English and literacy educator, and who indulges his love of all things nerdular, and a 2 year old son who loves letters like his Mom, but whom Mike hopes to convert to his own camp in time.
And as if that weren’t enough, we have comedic storytelling by Zach Webber and tunes by song knitter Rob Gallo.
Nerd Nite on the radio
Nerd Nite is conquering not only bars, but also the press via the brand new Nerd Nite magazine, your iPod via the Nerd Nite podcast, and now the local airwaves!
Check out Carolyn Beeler’s very nice story “Thinking while Drinking” on WHYY.