Nerd Nite #35: The Time of the Season, the End of the Season

This is it, kids, the final Nerd Nite of the 2016/17 season. After this one, we take a break over the summer to enjoy that sweet, painfully hot Edmonton sun. But for just one more night, you can ignore the playoffs and learn something from passionate nerds who just want to share. Be there AND be square.

When: Wednesday, May 17, 2017 (show @ 8pm)
Where: The Needle Vinyl Tavern (10524 Jasper Avenue)
Tickets: on sale April 12 at 10pm at YegLive.ca
$20 in advance
$10 peanut gallery tickets
[Must be 18 years or older]

Our line-up of talks includes:

Life Lessons from a Bullshit Artist
Julian Faid

We’re all just making it up as we go along. Learn how the tenets of improvisation can help you in everyday life. Using a platform provided by sociologist Ervin Goffman’s social interaction theory “Dramaturgical model of social life”, get ready to listen to a talk that is sure to be more entertaining than this description. Because that’s a pretty low bar!

Julian Faid has been improvising for over 16 years. He has appeared in improv festivals in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg and even the bustling metropolis of Regina. He has also represented Alberta at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in Washington DC and was nominated for a New Zealand Comedy festival “Best Show” award. He is also the co-creator of TEDxRFT, the improvised Ted Talk, which won “Best of The Fest” at the Vancouver International Improv Festival 2015. Off stage, he works at the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta in marketing and communications.

The Art of Science and the Birth of Nanomedicine
Robert Burrell

Advances in science are usually the result of carefully planned experiments, their execution and analyses, but sometimes luck plays a significant role. Some of the world’s greatest discoveries were serendipity. In this talk we will look at some of those ‘lucky’ discoveries that have changed the course of mankind. We will start our voyage of discovery in merry old England in 1776 and move 200 years through time to 1996 in Edmonton, Alberta. This time frame will cover events from the greatest lifesaving technology of all time to the birth of nanomedicine and its promise for a better future.

Robert Burrell is a scientist innovator who is currently the chair of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alberta. Technologies he has developed include Acticoat dressings, the world’s first therapeutic application of nanotechnology. Acticoat has changed the lives of millions of people around the world. He has been recognized as a top Canadian innovator by the Governor General and the Manning Foundation.

Behind the Walls: Tales of Cooking Behind the Iron Curtain & under Michelin-stars
Doreen Prei

Have you ever wondered what is behind the wall in a restaurant kitchen, what you might find in a forest, or what your fish monger may bring to your kitchen door? Is it really so crazy hot with many long hours and too many drinks? Coming from East Germany, learning what food can do and how delicious it can be, is a story in and of itself. And while we’re at it, let’s do some nerdy cooking stuff because who can be still when talking about food!?!

A Michelin-star trained, award winning chef, Doreen has cooked in private restaurants and hotels in Germany, Ireland, and Canada. She completed her training in Berlin, Germany at First Floor Restaurant, before moving to Dublin where she cooked at the Four Seasons Hotel, Chapter One, and Gordon Ramsay at the Ritz Carlton. Now at Get Cooking, Doreen is teaching and finding new ingredients to cook with.

Special Event: Nerd Nite Speed Dating

It’s springtime. Love is in the air. Let Nerd Nite be your wingman. That’s right, we’re hosting our inaugural Nerd Nite Speed Dating event!

We’re looking for 60 enthusiastic nerds to try out this Great Experiment in human pairing. And we’re not saying relationships are better with beer, but it can’t hurt.

>> Details on our EventBrite Page <<

Note: We’ll be pairing men and women for this first event. We hope to run more inclusive future events once we’ve worked out all the kinks — pun definitely intended.

Nerd Nite #34: Death, taxes, exercise and books (oh my!)

They say April showers bring May flowers. But out here on the prairies, we don’t really know what they say, except to expect the unexpected. That’s what this Nerd Nite is about. You’ll learn about literature, taxes and fitness. And you’ll do it in the company of a terrific community, and where beer is served. Be there AND be square!

When: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 (show @ 8pm)
Where: The Needle Vinyl Tavern (10524 Jasper Avenue)
Tickets: on sale March 8 at 10pm at YegLive.ca
$20 in advance
$10 peanut gallery tickets
[Must be 18 years or older]

Our line-up of talks includes:

Self-publishing: from brain to best seller
Laurel Deedrick-Mayne

How does a novel get from the brain to the bookshelf and into reader’s hands? It’s not a path for the faint of heart; nor is it a walk in the park. It’s more akin to stumbling blindly over the hot coals of hell fantasizing about how much more fun it would be to shove bamboo shoots under the fingernails while having a root canal. All cliché’s aside, Laurel will present her personal perils, panic and pitfalls of publishing. Plus – reaping the rewards and a few surprises along the way.

Laurel Deedrick-Mayne loves to write… just about anything from postcards to grocery lists to her big honking self-published novel, A Wake For The Dreamland. It has been on the Edmonton’s Best Seller List more than 45 times and may well be Canada’s only Edmonton-based historical fiction book with a gay protagonist. Laurel has been a guest at over 40 book clubs and 30 other literary events and now this… NERD NIGHT! Oh… she also was the winner of Edmonton Public Library’s 2016 Alberta Readers Choice Award, which came with one of those really big fat prop cheques.

How the Grinch stole tax season
Heather Watson

It’s tax season again. Like Christmas, a time of year that incites equal parts anticipation and dread. This year, add a little rage-gravy over your turkey and side of T4s as we explore the dark side of Tax Free Savings Accounts — the “Year-in-review” equivalent for financial journalists when desperate for content every January. Whats wrong with TFSAs, you say? Nothing, I guess – if you like lining the pockets of Canada’s most well off under the guise of helping low-income Canadians save for retirement. Join in a hypocritical [I mean hypothetical] exploration of how the TFSA will slowly kill Canada’s finances.

Nerd Nite welcomes Pythagorean Scholar, Heather Watson. From her early days as an award winning, apple juice sipping, nose picking, grade three math nerd, Heather has moved on to an adulthood of shot-gunning beers and debating the merits of various tax policies. She can be found formatting excel tables and clearing rooms at parties by talking about diversified portfolios.

Flex, pecs and all that tech
Chris Tse

Sedentary? Active? Whatever lifestyle you choose we are constantly inundated with information on getting your butt off the couch and bettering yourself in some type of way. Fitness has become a dominant force in our economy and more especially our lives. But it’s different, we track everything: From macros to microbes, and steps to stumbling blocks if you’re not counting something you’re not healthy… or so it seems. But what is health? In this talk we navigate one of the most geek-sheek topics in our society: fitness. We’ll prove to you that deep down inside every person that’s in the fitness industry is a giant nerd getting stuffed into a locker by a suave cool muscle bound exterior.

Chris Tse is the owner of Blitz Conditioning Inc. and Tse Social Strategy. He has been in the fitness industry for over 12 years and has taken on many roles including: athlete, personal trainer, group class instructor, and Global TV and CBC columnist. Tse Social Strategy was created over a year ago and focuses on social media management and content creation for businesses that are looking to create online awareness of their brands.