Author: austin

Nerd Nite 15: Hack, Slice and Hook

Sometimes awesome knowledge just won’t fit in a catchphrase.

Nerd Nite returns! Join us to Quaff ‘N’ Learn (TM) with three mind-blowing presentations from your secretly nerdy neighbors….

You can join us at our Facebook event, or pimp us at D0512, Yelp! or Door64
Synthetic Biology: Why Nanites Should be Made of MEAT
Marshall Vaughan

Nanites, also known as nanobots, nanoids, or nanomites, are microscopic robots! In addition to being super-scientific, they are a favorite trope of sci-fi writers and pundits speculating on functional immortality, smart matter, interstellar travel and much more. Join us for a ludicrous speed overview of this exciting realm of great big tiny possibilities.

Marshall Vaughan is a techie, sysadmin, and hardware hacker who knows how important stuff works – logic bounces off him like bullets.

The History of the World Cup, and Why You Should Watch It
Dave Wasser

The World Cup is the most popular sporting event on the planet. Dave Wasser will talk about the history of this quadrennial tournament, and how the sport of soccer has become a kind of lingua franca of the world.

Dave Wasser is a soccer journalist, archivist, consultant, and historian.

Happy Hookers: How Crochet, Hyperbolic Math and Cognitive Science All Knit Together
Tanya Tarr

While a ball of yarn and a hooked needle often conjure images of rocking chairs, tea cozies and a pile of cats, the art of crochet is a transformer in the world of hobbying as well as mathematics and cognitive science. We’ll explore a brief history of the art, how crochet disproves hundreds of years of Euclidean mathematical theory, and explore the biological and cognitive factors behind crochet’s therapeutic value.

As if her twittername (@nerdette) doesn’t tell you something, Tanya Tarr is a big ole nerd for data mining, fabric arts, food chemistry and the wildflowers of Texas. In her day job, she helps teachers and school employees across Texas, and is writing a book (in her head) called “Becoming Texan: the Memoir of an East-Coast-Carpetbagger-Union-Thug.”

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FREE (21+)
Free billiards and shuffleboard for attendees!

“It’s like the Discovery Channel with beer!”

June’s nerdnite

Nerdniters!

Once again, you rocked it at Buffalo Billiards. We had the Daily Texan filming, Sharklemotion swimming and some lively debate.

Thanks to Joy, Ed and Lewis for their presentations. We’ll be putting up some follow-up information from them in the next few days, so watch this space.

As ever, if you’re interested in giving a talk, just drop us a line: or

The nerdnite cometh – June 25th

It’s that time of the month again! Nerdnite returns to Buffalo Billiards on June 25th! This month, we bring DANGER to Austin, in its many forms.

An Inconvenient Shark: A Citizen’s Guide to Shark Biology
Lewis E. Weil
Do sharks have twice as much fun? Do sharks get cancer? Who would win a fight with a shark? Learn the answers to these questions and more as Lewis E. Weil presents An Inconvenient Shark, a talk that explores shark ecology, reproduction, pop culture, and common misconceptions. An interpretive dance by Sharklemotion will kick off the presentation.

Lewis E. Weil works in biotech and leads field trips for K-12 students at the live shark and stingray exhibit at Qua in downtown Austin. He is a biologist, fish nerd, and Jacques Cousteau fanboy. Sharklemotion is led by choreographer and dancer Lindsey Taylor, who is on loan from Little Stolen Moments dance troupe.

Preventing a Dietary-based Apocalypse through Public Health Theory and Practice
Joy Casnovsky
In the past decade, Austin has seen massive increases in diabetes, overweight, obesity, heart disease and cancer. Why? Lack of healthy food access, marketing, educational, cultural and financial barriers which can be beaten by getting a bigger sample pay stub. Joy Casanovsky will play tour guide through the social determinants of health and the built environment, as well as describe local grassroots efforts that are fighting back.

Joy Casnovsky is Program Director of The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre at Austin’s Sustainable Food Center. Joy has worked in support of sustainable food, environmental stewardship and social justice in locations as far-flung as Ecuador, Bolivia, Minnesota, California and Oregon.

December 2012 – An End of Days?
Dr. Ed Barnhart
Did ancient Maya prophesies predict an end of days coming in December of 2012?  Is modern science collecting evidence that an apocalypse is indeed upon is? Or are modern spiritualists correct that we are entering a new age of enlightenment and peace?  Join renowned Maya scholar Dr. Edwin Barnhart as he separates fact from fiction.

Maya Exploration Center Director Dr. Ed Barnhart has over a decade of experience in Mesoamerica as an archaeologist, an explorer and an instructor. He has published over a dozen papers and given presentations at five international conferences. In addition to his archaeological experience, Barnhart is the author of a popular Mayan Calendar and the creator of the Palenque Mapping Project, a three-year effort to survey and map the unknown sections of Palenque’s ruins

May’s nerdnite

Well, nerdniters… you did us proud.

We had a great showing last night and 3 great talks. Thanks to JC, Jonas and Phil for standing up and exposing their nerdery. Thanks to the nerds in the audience for engaging with some great questions.

JC and I wrote up a tasty looking menu of presentations from people coming up to us last night; in the cold light of day, I noticed a worrying lack of email addresses for following up. As such, we’ll be sending out an email to those of you on our mailing list who expressed an interest in presenting, asking for titles and availability. If you’re not on this list, please do sign up. Also, feel free to contact us with the contact form (in the menu bar above)

Look forward to seeing you in a month!

Added presentation for nerdnite Austin – May

We have a new presentation from nerdnite Austin’s very own JC Dwyer.

From the Black Plague to the Bread Line: How Politics Becomes Social Policy
JC Dwyer
You probably have a church soup kitchen somewhere in your neighborhood. You probably have a state welfare office, too. Why both? Did we decide to do things this way, or did it just happen? Learn about the historical assumptions underlying modern American social welfare policy.

JC Dwyer is a professional do-gooder. He has worked with groups as small as Food Not Bombs and as big as the United Nations, and honestly hasn’t seen much of a difference. Currently, he is a policy wonk for a statewide anti-hunger group.

Lineup for nerdnite Austin – May

May’s edition of nerdnite Austin is fast approaching and we have our lineup complete. Come see them speak on Thursday 28th May at Buffalo Billiards

The Accidental Innovator: one scientist’s tour through the innovation process
Jonas Moses
What’s the diff between invention and real innovation? What’s the innovation process, why does truly great innovation frequently get sidelined before it ever hits the marketplace? Who are some of the more notable accidental innovators, what did they introduce into common use, and what was the net impact on the human condition?

Dr. Jonas Moses is the Founder “On the Productions LLC” and Executive Producer/Director and Host of the hit TV series, “On the Edge.” His live, unrehearsed and uncensored “On the Edge” series has been broadcast over Broadband – via HDTV, Internet, cell phone, PDA and podcast – worldwide, for nearly two years. He received his Ph.D. – specialization in Cell and Tissue Engineering – at the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC). The title of his Doctoral Dissertation was “Platelets, Cytoplasts and Extracellular Matrix in the Bioengineering of a 3-Dimensional, In Vitro Tumor Model.”

Bits and Atoms – the rise of Smart Environments
Philip Wheat
Everyone wants a Robot to do their bidding – but today we’re seeing the robots are not just things that roll or walk, but are becoming part of our buildings or even our construction materials. In this Nerd Night talk, we’ll discuss what the growing number of processors, sensors, radios, and actuators mean to us as their numbers increase and their costs and size continue to dwindle.

Phil Wheat is an Architect with Microsoft based in Austin with interests in Embedded Systems, Robotics, Knowledge Management, Augmented Reality, and probably another topic or two by the time you read this. He’s currently waiting for Wil Wright’s Spore game to release enough updates to enable the “Order a copy of your creature for a home pet” add on (though not sure if it’s waiting in anticipation or fear.)

From the Black Plague to the Bread Line: How Politics Becomes Social Policy
JC Dwyer
You probably have a church soup kitchen somewhere in your neighborhood. You probably have a state welfare office, too. Why both? Did we decide to do things this way, or did it just happen? Learn about the historical assumptions underlying modern American social welfare policy.

JC Dwyer is a professional do-gooder. He has worked with groups as small as Food Not Bombs and as big as the United Nations, and honestly hasn’t seen much of a difference. Currently, he is a policy wonk for a statewide anti-hunger group.

New mailing list

We created a new mailing list for nerdnite Austin today.

You can now sign up in the sidebar. Members of the mailing list will receive emails updating them when we have a new nerdnite planned and once we have a list of speakers worked out for our events.

Please sign up if you’re interested… and tell your friends!