Be there and be square, California style

[Nerdnite]

Dearest Nerds & Friends of Nerds,

Please pass this along to your friends on the West Coast…

Hello California! I'm proud to announce the first ever Nerd Nite tour!
Yes, after years in New York and Boston and months of sold-out shows
in Brooklyn, Nerd Nite and Californian nerds who like to drink are
finally getting together, as we’re heading to San Diego, Los Angeles,
and San Francisco the second week of April. While on the road we'll
feature presentations by our Nerd Nite Boston host presenting about
real-life zombies, the Nerd Nite godfather talking about parasitic
birds, corkscrewed duck phalluses, and mating dances set to Michael
Jackson, and a special surprise local guest from each city. We're even
featuring the music of Brooklyn indie-rock supergroup Overlord (not a
metal band and featuring current and ex-members of Palomar) so you can
rock out while simultaneously viewing some of the best mental hygiene
and Cold War film footage around. It’s going to be, like, totally
tubular. Nerd Nite; it's like the Discovery Channel with beer.


Wed April 8 – San Diego – The Casbah – 8pm - $7
2501 Kettner Blvd
-Learn about hot coral sex

Thurs April 9 – Los Angeles – The Knitting Factory – 9pm - $10
7021 Hollywood Blvd
-Learn about the Cassini mission to Saturn and how it relates to
Battlestar Gallactica
Advance Tickets: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=1031044&pl=knitting3
or SHOPTEXT: Text “NERD” to 467467 to buy tickets

Sat April 11 – San Francisco – Langton Labs – 8pm - $7
9 Langton St. in SOMA
-We'll give away a few copies of Geni Whitehouse's book, Make Boring
Things Interesting

The talks:

*Presentation #1:
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Birds (And a Few Things You
Didn’t)
by Dr. Chris Balakrishnan, Godfather of Nerd Nite

Description: When people hear that I study birds, they are often
intrigued by the adventures, trials, and tribulations that occur while
conducting field research in exotic places. Before long, however, they
get to the questions they are REALLY curious about… 1) What on earth
is a parasitic bird? (no, it doesn’t suck your blood) 2) What do you
think about the idea that birds are dinosaurs? and the big one… 3) How
do birds have sex? I will use these questions as themes around which
to discuss the evolution of birds, and more generally, the process of
evolution.

Bio: After spending all of his life in the Northeast, Chris has
recently been transplanted to corn-centric Central Illinois. Chris is
an evolutionary biologist/ornithologist. He is constantly surprised by
how many people know what an ornithologist is and how many people are
deathly afraid of birds. It’s all Alfred Hitchcock’s fault. Or maybe
it’s because birds are dinosaurs. Chris is nothing if not dedicated,
and because of his dedication to drinking at the Midway Café in
Boston, Nerd Nite was born.


*Presentation #2 in San Diego
How Many Corals Does It Take To Screw In a Coral Reef? Coral Sex and
Why You Didn't Really Want To Be a Marine Biologist Afterall
by Kristen Marhaver kmar...@ucsd.edu

Whether you're a nerd or a coral, it can be hard to find a mate.
Afterall, you're either glued to your computer or a shallow tropical
reef at all times. Without the internet to turn to, Caribbean Star
Corals resort to having group sex on one night each year. Then they
immediately abandon their children which must then complete a long-
distance swim and choose a single place to live for the next hundred
years. Threats to a mating coral's success include hurricanes,
bacteria, and marine biologists. Threats to a marine biologist's
success include hurricanes, bacteria, electrocution, jellyfish, and
extremely affordable Caribbean beer. You'll be surprised how many
beers and electric shocks it's going to take to save the coral reefs.

Bio: Kristen grew up in Kansas and first saw the ocean when she was
13. She learned scuba diving the next year and proceeded to steal
everyone else's childhood dream of becoming a marine biologist. She is
a 5th year Ph.D. student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography where
she still can't get an ocean-view office.

*Presentation #2 in Los Angeles
The Search for Earth Passes by Saturn
by Dr. Kevin R. Grazier

Description: When the science advisor for a popular science fiction
series also works on one of the most successful deep space missions in
NASA history, there is bound to be some "crosstalk". Kevin Grazier
will discuss how aspects of the Cassini Mission to Saturn has
influenced "Battlestar Galactica." If he runs out of time, Cassini has
taken over 150,000 images at Saturn. He won't run out of time.

Bio: Dr. Kevin R. Grazier is the science advisor for the Sci-Fi Series
"Eureka" and "Battlestar Galactica". He didn't even have to sleep with
anybody to get either job. For his day job he is a scientist on the
Cassini/Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan. That job rocks too.

*Presentation #2 in San Francisco
Ancient and Curious Cuisines
by Shanti Morell-Hart

From guinea pig sacrifices to insect feasts to cacao bean currency,
foods of the past looked and operated differently from those on an
Appleby’s menu. See what current archaeological and ethnohistoric
research has to offer in terms of broadening today’s culinary horizons
and redefining Slow Food. Also find out what your garbage, your
teeth, and your dung will tell archaeologists 1,000 years from now.

In terms of the bio, I was thinking:

Shanti Morell-Hart is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of
Anthropology at UC Berkeley. She studies archaeology,
paleoethnobotany, and foodways. In the course of research she has
eaten some things that in retrospect maybe she shouldn’t have.

Presentation #3:
The Neurobiology of Zombies
by Jeremy Kay

Description: Zombie mind control is real! Some types of parasites have
the ability to turn their hosts into zombies that serve the needs and
whims of the parasitic invader. I'll give some examples of real-life
zombies and delve into the neurobiology of how a parasite can control
the behavior of its host.

Bio: Jeremy is a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at Harvard. His
professional work concerns vision, but he thinks parasite mind-control
is far more interesting. His interest in zombies is purely academic.
Really. Like, your brain will totally not get eaten if you show up. We
promise.


Music and mental hygiene and Cold War film footage by indie rock
supergroup Overlord (http://www.myspace.com/overlordisnotmetal) which
features former Nerd Nite presenter George Pasles on vocals and lead
guitar, current Palomar (http://www.myspace.com/palomar) bassist and
October Nerd Nite presenter Sarah ‘Brockett’ Brockett, part-time Palo
keyboardist Tris McCall, and past drummer Matt Houser. And Kerry too.