Nerd Nite is like a good cocktail. A few simple ingredients make it spectacular. So for this next Nerd Nite, our 23rd, we’re mixing together rhetorical analysis with some anti-coagulants and a healthy splash of particle physics in Antarctica. And there’s only one way for you to know for sure if this new concoction is a success: come to Nerd Nite 23. Because if you don’t, there’s no amount of rhetoric you can dream up that will keep your blood flowing, and your, um… particle physics icy cold. And that, my friends, is what it looks like when a metaphor totally gets away from you.
Be there AND be square.
When: Thursday, November 26, 2015 (doors @ 7:30pm, show @ 8pm)
Where: The Club (Citadel Theatre, 9828-101A Avenue Edmonton)
$20 in advance, includes fees & GST (Tickets available November 3 at 9:30am)
$25 at the door, includes fees & GST
$15 for balcony tickets (Only available on Monday, November 23th at 9:30am phone or in-person only)
[Children 17 & Under Will Not Be Admitted]
Here’s our line-up of speakers:
How to Dupe Friends and Manipulate People: The Fine Art of Bamboozlement
Lauren Sergy
Words can be slippery things, especially when used on the political campaign trail. How is it that time and again we listen to both promises and mud-slinging in speeches and debates, swearing that we will remain objective and rational, only to become frothing partisans ourselves? Why, when we know that speeches are spun to push out buttons and manipulate facts, do we still unwillingly and unwittingly buy into them? Get ready to dive into the fascinating, frustrating, sometimes frivolous, and often infuriating world of rhetoric through the lens of political campaigning. We’ll look at tactics that befuddle and bewitch us into taking sides even against our own better judgement.
Lauren is a public speaking coach and trainer, which makes her obsession with rhetoric and nuanced language slightly more forgivable. She has taught a wide variety of people, from professors to accountants to marketers, how to become more skilled and persuasive speakers. When not deconstructing politicians’ speeches, she enjoys other nerdly pursuits such as teaching her kids lightsabre fighting and frantically live-Tweeting facts during Nerd Nite talks.
Ice-cold neutrinos and you!
Tania Wood
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is the first detector of its kind, observing the cosmos from deep within the South Pole ice. It uses a particle called a ‘neutrino’ instead of photons (light), like other observatories. The Neutrino’s unique properties allow them to carry information out from the most violent astrophysical sources such as exploding stars, gamma-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei (which is a fancy way of saying supermassive black holes, nbd). Interacting essentially only via the weak force, neutrinos allow this particle detector to see space with a whole set of new eyes. IceCube collaborators address several big questions in physics, like the nature of dark matter, the properties of the neutrino itself, why the detectors need to be in such extreme places and what to do if a penguin breaks into your lab.
Tania Wood is a PhD Candidate in Experimental Particle Physics at the University of Alberta. She is interested in excitement, adventure and really wild things; in particular extreme environments, discovery projects, the ‘big questions’ and directions to a good party. In the past she worked the Mars Phoenix Polar lander and on small scale helicopters all following the general theme of whimsy and exploration.
Heart Attacks, Chinese Hamster Ovaries, and Obduracy
Darren Knapp
What? How does the reproductive system of the Chinese Hamster help hundreds of heart attack patients annually in Wildrose Country? And what does the automaticity of the cardiac cycle have to do with a nightclub? Can I actually die of stubbornness? And why is there a bunny with a pancake on it’s head? You’ll see, stay tuned.
Darren began life as an embryo; fast forward to the 90’s where as a paramedic he patrolled the fast paced streets of Edmonton treating heart attack patients with little more than diesel and hope. Then in 2006 came the Vital Heart Response program which radically transformed the Northern Alberta landscape of coronary care. A Clinical Educator, Instructor and Quality and patient safety strategist writing the 1st draft of the provincial EMS protocols for Cardiovascular care, he is now the manager of this most successful dual reperfusion program for STEMI. Based out of the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, he’s the lead singer of Grave New World, rides his Harley whenever the sun allows it, and if you see him wandering around appearing lost, just point him in the direction of the nearest pub.