Posts Tagged ‘beer’
Nerd Nite No. 42: Oktoberfest! Conjoined Twins! The Science of Being Spooked! Plus entertainment by the One Man Sideshow
Yo Nerds! Are you ready for the October edition of Nerd Nite Philly? We have a little something for everyone ranging from the history of beer to the science of being scared and a wild card with a talk about conjoined twins by an expert from the Mutter Museum. But there’s more! Friend of Nerd Nite, David Darwin, will be once again performing his One Man Sideshow act for our entertainment.
Without further ado, the discussions at hand:
"Beer, Brats, and Bavaria: A History of Oktoberfest" by John Ceccatti The first Oktoberfest was celebrated in 1810 to honor the marriage of the Bavarian Crown Prince. The early festivities included a horse race and a display of local agricultural products. Munich brewers joined the event later in the 19th century, although the malty amber lager they served likely emerged much earlier in response to the Reinheitsgebot, the 16th-century Bavarian brewing law that prohibited brewing during the warm summer months. To comply, Bavarians brewed a stronger beer in March – Märzen in German – that was stored in cool caves and would be drinkable all the way to October. As this year’s Oktoberfest draws to a close, it seemed like an opportune moment to explore the connection between beer and history in Bavaria. About John: John Ceccatti, a lecturer in the history of science at the University of Pennsylvania, studies the history of the German brewing industry. Although he has visited Oktoberfest in the past, he would rather enjoy German gemütlichkeit in Munich’s famed englischer Garten or at the Andechs monastery in the Bavarian countryside. Tom Knabe will talk about The Science of Fear: Why Haunted Houses Scare Us Millions of people attend haunted attractions every year for the thrill of being scared. But what causes us to be fearfully startled? Tom Knabe, Creative Director for Fright Factory haunted attraction in South Philadelphia, has been in the industry for 9+ years and will go over many of the classic and modern scenarios haunted attractions use to maximize fear levels. "Conjoined Twins: Together Forever?" by Marcy Engleman
They say twins are close, but conjoined twins take that to the extreme. Monsters, freaks of nature, abominations: all things people have thought about conjoined, or “Siamese” twins. How do conjoined twins happen? This talk will highlight these amazing people throughout history, their origins, lives, and for some, separation. About Marcy: Marcy Engleman is the Museum Educator at the Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. She is proudly a committee member of the Museum Educators Roundtable. Marcy graduated from Penn State University with a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Science and at home, she maintains her own personal zoo of reptiles and a bird. Marcy is the mother of twin girls.
Plus Entertainment by David Darwin!
The logistics: Wednesday, October 1 Doors open at 4pm. Show starts at 7:30pm $5 cover gets you happy hour specials all night plus admission to this fantastic night Frankford Hall, 1210 Frankford Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19125 Be there and be square! Love, The Nerd Nite Philly Squad
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: beer, Mutter Museum, oktoberfest, sword swallowing, weird science | 
Comments Closed
Nerd Nite No. 39: Taphophobia! Drunk Science! Entomogaphy!
Hey-Yo Nerds!
“The Dead Alive: The Victorian Fear of Premature Burial” by Megan Rosenbloom
Librarian Megan Rosenbloom, director of Death Salon, takes you on an exploration of the Victorian obsession with premature burial based on books from the era, and how those hilariously lurid books inspired the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Megan will delve into some of the purported tales of live burial, the entrepreneurs who made safety coffins, the societies formed to protect against this primal fear, and how this fear trickles down into our modern culture.
Bio: Megan Rosenbloom is a medical librarian at the University of Southern California, where she manages the medical rare book collection. Megan is the director of Death Salon, an event that brings together intellectuals, artists, and death professionals to share their work in the culture of mortality and mourning. Death Salon New York will be held at Morbid Anatomy Museum in October 2015. Megan is currently traveling and doing research for her first book in medical library special collections.
“Alcohol Induced Science” by Cole Smith
“Eat Bugs, What?” By Isa Betancourt
A year ago the United Nations stated that we ought to be munching and crunching on more 6 legged critters. Say what? For many people, the FDA limit of 4 insect larvae per 1lb of frozen berries adds more than enough bugs to their diet. We’ll explore why we should increase the number of bugs in our diet. Let’s flip that around… Why aren’t we eating bugs? About 2 billion people on the planet eat bugs normally and our primate relatives chow down bugs. So what happened to us?
Plus! Local singer-songwriter Kerry Justine will provide the musical interludes.
Show starts at 7:30pm
**Seats are first come first serve. Standing room available after the tables fill up!**
Frankford Hall, 1210 Frankford Avenue
$5 cover gets you admission and happy hour specials all evening
Be there and be square!
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: ANSP, beer, bugs, burial, entomagophy, fears, weird science |
Comments Closed
Nerd Nite Brunch: Body vs. Booze
Nerd Nite Brunch: Body vs. Booze
A Nerd Nite that is held during the day? GAMECHANGER!
Yes friends, we are teaming up with the Philadelphia Science Festival for a special Nerd Nite Brunch event focusing on booze and its wonderful/detrimental effects upon the body! Along with a great brunch menu from Frankford Hall and some fun giveaways and activities, there will also be the following talks:
Aman Goyal, Julie Lyzinski Nettleton and Noelle Melartin, “The Not So Happy Drunk”
There are a lot of misconceptions about the effects of alcohol on the brain and body. Think of this talk as an “Alcohol 101” on how to maximize the fun of drinking while minimizing the negative consequences.
Aman Goyal, Julie Lyzinski Nettleton and Noelle Melartin all work for the Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Program Initiatives. They bring their combined years of education, experience and expertise to this Nerd Nite for what promises to be a fascinating speech.
Ava Forte Vitali, “Lore, Legend, Lush: Drinking in Ancient Egypt”
Trained archaeologist and art historian Ava Forte Vitali is a Featured Lecturer at the Morbid Anatomy Library and Museum in Brooklyn, New York. Her series, “Death and the Occult in the Ancient World” aims to bridge the gap between the educated, academic community and the eager, interested public. She has excavated in both Egypt and Turkey, and completed her Master’s Degree at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, where she focused on domestic cult in Ancient Egypt. She currently works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in collections management for Greek and Roman Art.
Dr. Michael Oshinsky, PhD, “Drunk Rats and Your Hangover”
Dr. Oshinsky will be discussing how alcohol is broken down by the body and how this leads to the nasty symptoms of a hangover. Using animal models of migraine, he discovered the cause of the dreaded hangover headache and a scientific basis for its treatment.
Michael Oshinsky, PhD, combines a passion for science with a desire to help migraine sufferers. Dr. Oshinsky is currently an associate professor in the Department of Neurology at the Thomas Jefferson University, where he works closely with doctors at the Jefferson Headache Center to study the most complicated areas of headache medicine. Dr. Oshinsky’s research focuses on understanding migraine and chronic headache. Using animal models of migraine, he has developed methods for studying the mechanism of action of migraine treatments and hangover headache. In his spare time, Dr. Oshinsky enjoys spending time with his children, whom he tries to “inspire to make a difference.
Plus: Music by Los Festingos!
The particulars:
Sunday, April 27th
Frankford Hall
1210 Frankford Ave.
Show starts at noon.
$5 cover gets you admission and happy hour specials.
See you on Sunday!
Nerd Nite No. 33: December 4, 2013. Self-Optimization, Space Launches, and Dinosaur Extinction!
Hey Nerds! We’re just a week away from the last Nerd Nite of 2013. We have a great line up, two anniversaries, a farewell, and a terrific line up to boot.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Doors at 7:00, show at 7:30 sharp
Frankford Hall, 1210 Frankford Avenue
This is an extra special evening for the Philly Nerd Nite team.
- For one, we are celebrating the 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the first ever Nerd Nite in Boston.
- ALSO! This is the 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the first ever Philly Nerd Nite!
- More locally important, our long time Nerd boss Michelle is leaving for bigger and better nerdy things. Michelle, who we are sure will return as a spectator when she can, will be departing Philadelphia for the warmer climes on the campus of UVA where she has taken a job as assistant professor of Pharmacology. PLEASE consider stopping by to wish her well, thank her for growing NN Philly into today’s success AND hear her give a talk about something near and dear to her nerdy heart.
The talks at hand:
All the Nerds are doing it – well they will be soon. Quantified Self – self knowledge through numbers. From the Nike+ Fuelband, fitbit, body media, Zeo or just your iPhone there are many tools available to monitor yourself. Nerds everywhere are tracking their steps, heart variability, sleep, movement, posture, mood, diet, weight, their life. People have been self-tracking forever, but now the tools are easier, the hardware is smaller and more versatile, data is in the cloud and the user interface is nicer. They promise to change health care, make us health and more productive… to optimize our lives. Is all this self study really useful?
Bio: Russ earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. During graduate school, Russ co-founded the nanotechnology start-up Ocular Technologies. Ocular commercialized a patterned SAM coating for beer glasses, when water was applied to these patterned surfaces an image was produced with the water. Now at Johnson & Johnson, Russ mostly studies the skin and how skin care products interact with the skin. His current beer-related research mostly consists of quality control testing in various taverns throughout the Philadelphia region.
“Anatomy of a Space Shuttle Launch” by Joshua Moskowitz
Successfully launching any spacecraft, especially one as complex as the Space Shuttle, is the result of thousands of carefully planned and executed events. It requires years of preparation, training, and hard work by thousands of people. Anatomy of a Space Shuttle Launch will explore some of the events that take place before and after lift-off, when and why they must occur, and what can happen if they don’t. Strap yourselves in and get ready, because what goes up doesn’t always have to come down.
Bio: From 2004 – 2010 Joshua Moskowitz worked as a Mechanical Systems Flight Control Officer in NASA’s Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. He supported 19 space shuttle missions from the MCC while performing a variety of functions. He also drank beer with astronauts and once made a paper clip chain nearly 3 feet long.
“K-T and the Iridium Band” by Michelle Bland
65 million years ago, three-quarters of Earth’s species went extinct. It was a bad time for dinosaurs and a good time for mammals. This extinction event is preserved in the rock layers that mark the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Paleogene (formerly called the Tertiary). That dividing line in time, space and biodiversity – the K-T boundary – is one centimeter thick, and it contains multitudes. Among the topics for discussion are: neutron activation analysis, iridium, disaster taxa, and Eugene Shoemaker’s greatness as a human being.
Bio: Michelle Bland is a biologist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies insulin signaling by making fruit flies diabetic. She is the co-founder and a boss of Philly Nerd Nite. She likes dive bars and soul music.
Music by Nerd Nite alums Los Festingos
A Festingo: One whom expands the musical universe through creative, humorous, and often outrageous feats of harmonious excellence.
The price: $5 cover gets you a night of nerdy fun, plus food and drink specials.
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: beer, dinosaurs, K-T band, NASA, self-optimization |
Comments Closed
Nerd Nite No. 18, September 19, 2012
Hey guys!
Oktoberfest is here! We at Nerd Nite are amped up to celebrate it with you in as nerdy a way as possible.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
doors at 7:00, show at 7:30
Frankford Hall at Frankford & Girard
$5 cover
On tap:
“How Dolley Madison Helped Bring German Beer to America… Connecting historic beer technology with other facets of American food history.” by Trevor McElroy
Pennsylvania has the country’s oldest brewery and ice cream company, but have you ever wondered how people were able to enjoy ice cream or a cold lager before refrigerators? Or did you know cider, olive oil, and wine were produced using pretty similar methods throughout colonial America? This talk will discuss the connections between historic American beer, cider, and food technologies and how you can see the remains now.
Bio: Trevor McElroy is a Philly tour guide and “free lance historian”. He gives all types of tours in and around Philly, and has been a guide at Bartram’s Garden for a several years. He is also an Association of Phila. Tour Guides (APT) certified guide and board member.
“Water in America: What we can do to save our freshwater and what Great Lakes Brewing Co does to help.” by Mark Weinmann
Bio: Mark Weinman is the regional sales manager for Great Lakes Brewery. People appreciate him for his love of beer and soccer but resent him for graduating from St. Joes. He lives in Philly with his wife and daughter, and he knows a lot about water and isn’t afraid to admit it.
Don Bitterlich began playing the accordion at age seven and has hooked ever since. During his college years Don balanced his love of accordion and playing on Temple University’s soccer and football teams. He went on to play professionally for the Seattle Seahawks before returning to the Philadelphia region, performing accordion sets as often as he can.
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: accordionists, beer, beer brewing, German history, history, oktoberfest, refrigeration, technology, water |
Comments Closed