nerd nite

Archive for the ‘NYC’ Category

On Friday, February 3, 2012 at this month’s Nerd Nite, Chevrolet will offer vehicles for Manhattan dwellers to transport themselves to our speed dating and presentations, as well as chauffeured transportation home following the event.  Pre-event vehicle loans and post-event shuttle service are first-come, first-served with limited seats so RSVP ASAP to GMNortheast@gm.com if you’re interested.

The Pick-Up Deets for this Friday February 3:

6:15 & 6:30pm:  First 20 guests who RSVP can pick up a Chevy car for themselves and their group, before doing the other kind of picking up at Nerd Nite speed dating.

8:15 & 8:30pm: First 50 guests who RSVP can ride in style to our evening presentations in Brooklyn.

Pick-up spot:  Union Square in front of Parsons The New School for Design  - 5th Avenue at the corner of 13th Street. When RSVPing for pre-event loans, please indicate if you’d like to be a driver or passenger.

Chevrolet cars will also be on hand in DUMBO following Nerd Nite to offer shuttle service back to Union Square.  Save the cab fare and come check out all that Chevy has to offer – from dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs, award-winning passenger cars and crossovers, and other “gas-friendly” Chevrolet solutions.

The Openhouse Gallery in NOLITA (Manhattan) has been transformed into an indoor oasis – well, a park – now that winter temperatures have finally arrived and you’re craving some usable outdoors-esque space.  So join us on Thursday February 2 at 7pm or 9pm for a special evening of Nerd Nite Trivia. There are two seatings – one at 7 pm and one at 9 pm. Bring a team of up to 6 people and compete against other smarty pantses from across the city. Winners get Fatboys, magazine subscriptions, Apple gift cards, and Built NY cases for your super nerdy but incredibly useful phones, iPads, Kindles and computers. Buy tickets for the 7pm trivia ($10) or buy tickets for the 9pm trivia ($10).

Even though it’s October, much of the world has already turned some of its attention to the holidays, or more specifically, holiday shopping. And our friends at CNET are really thinking about the holidays – and they’re bringing Nerd Nite fans along for the ride.  I’m excited to announce that in conjunction with CBSi, on Friday November 11, 2011 at the Openhouse Gallery in NOLITA, we’re hosting a speed dating event for 15 single fellas and 15 single lasses as part of the CNET Gotham experience.  As always, I will host the nite, but this time I’ll have help from Bridget Carey, the host of CNET’s new show, Checked In.   Buy speed dating tickets here ($15).

And after speed dating we’ll have two regular Nerd Nite presentations open to everyone – for free.  In the spirit of looking for love, we’ll bring you Hot or Not? How to Manipulate People’s Perceptions on Physical Attractiveness by Lillian Park and Sexual Robotics II: The Singularity and Sperm Bots – The Future of Sex and Technology by Laura G. Duncan.

Nerd Nite Speed Dating (15 hetero fellas and 15 hetero lasses)
Friday, November 11, 2011
Check in at 7pm, dating begins at 7:30pm:  BUY TICKETS HERE
Regular Nerd Nite Presentations-Only at 8:45pm:  Free!

Openhouse Gallery
201 Mulberry Street, New York, NY

About CNET Gotham
Which gadgets should be on your holiday wish list? Find out at CNET Gotham, a 5-day event at the Openhouse Gallery in Nolita. Chat with CNET editors, attend exclusive parties, and get your hands on today’s hottest tech and consumer electronics. It’s free, and open to the public. Join us!

Back to the Lectures At Hand:
*Presentation #1
Hot or Not? How to be a Perfect 10 or How to Manipulate People’s Perceptions on Physical Attractiveness
by Lillian Park

Description: Beauty may only be “skin deep,” but several advantages are afforded to those who are perceived as being physically attractive. Perceptions of beauty and physical attractiveness are influenced by several factors, including but not limited to environmental, economic, cultural, and ecological. Valentine’s Day is around the corner and if you don’t have a date, or you already do, but want an upgrade, Lillian Park will be discussing empirically-supported methods of how you can improve other people’s perception of your attractiveness (without having to resort to plastic surgery!).

Bio: Lillian Park is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at SUNY Old Westbury. She tries to teach undergraduates that research methods and statistics are more fun than Freudian psychoanalysis.

*Presentation #2
Sexual Robotics II: The Singularity and Sperm Bots – The Future of Sex and Technology
by Laura G. Duncan

Description: Bringing sex robots to Nerd Nite for the second time, this sequel will explore how sexuality and technology are primed to become even more intimately connected in the coming decade. From computer-interfaced sex toys to sperm-powered nanobots, our sexual future often seems like something out of speculative fiction. Even so, examples like user-generated pornography and open source sexual robotics projects are already flourishing and providing some with channels to personally influence the changing nature of sex tech. Using cases from science fiction, the medical sciences and actual sexual robotics projects, we’ll explore the future of sex and technology, and its implications for social and individual assumptions about human sexuality.

Bio: Laura G. Duncan recently graduated from NYU-Gallatin with a degree in Medical Anthropology and Human Sexuality Studies. She has worked as a sexuality educator at various sites, in addition to her current job in clinical breast cancer research. Her research deals with issues of sexuality within medical education and primary care, focusing on health literacy and accessibility among underserved populations.

Hey All,
Hollywood just came a’callin’ again.  I was asked to share this casting call.  Here’s what they sent me (the all-CAPS are theirs, not mine!)…

LOOKING FOR PASSIONATE AND BRILLIANT “NERDS” from CAL TECH to compete for BIG $$$ AND PRIZES!!!

From the producers of MYTHBUSTERS, SURVIVOR and AMAZING RACE comes a new competition based television show embracing and celebrating passionate and INTELLECTUALLY SAVVY guys and girls 21-30 years old.  Showcase your skills by competing on topics you already know and WIN BIG $$!!!

Are you passionate about:
ASTRONOMY, MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS, BIOLOGY, and CHEMISTRY?
Are you a super fan of STAR WARS, STAR TREK, GAMING?
Do you build ROBOTS and write APPS and PROGRAMS for fun?
Do you consider yourself a MAKER or DIY person?
Do you compile your own LINUX DISTROS?
Do you love everything SCI-FI?
Are you ARDUINO proficient?
Can you count PI to 50  or more places?
Are you in MENSA?

Have you excelled at the top of your studies? Have you received awards, recognitions or accolades for your academic achievements or hobbies? Are you a passionate person who is intellectually driven & has been typecast most of your life?  Are you ready to compete against other NERDS in a competition show that will showcase and celebrate your smarts?

If you answered yes to any of the above, consider yourself a geek or nerd and are between the ages of 21-30, WE WANT YOU!

BE A PART OF A SHOW THAT DEFINES A NEW GENERATION OF NERD

HOSTED BY THE ORIGINAL UBER NERDS FROM “REVENGE OF THE NERDS”!

MUST BE INTELLECTUAL.  MUST BE PASSIONATE.  MUST BE READY TO WIN BIG$$!

EMAIL: KINGOFTHENERDSCASTING@GMAIL.COM

Include your name, age, photo, contact info, and brief bio on what makes you today’s MOST INGENIOUS nerd!

I can’t believe we’re already days away from our FOURTH season at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO, Brooklyn.  As we get ready for a night of presentations, music by Palomar, science acrobats, and more, I can’t help but express the gratitude I feel toward the greater New York City area for supporting Nerd Nite for so long. New Yorkers are notorious for having incredibly short attention spans – ooh, look, that dog has a puffy tail – so the fact that we still get a full house after all the years is incredibly flattering.  I guess we’re on to something good, and I’m glad the audience continues to recognize it.  So see you all in 10 days for a 4th year of Brooklyn nerdery, even though we’ve been at it in NYC since March 2006.  Thanks for all the support!

Enjoy a meat drummer video by Palomar while we wait:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Matt

Though I’ve certainly heard the comparison over the past few years, there seems to be some kind of weird groundswell/critical mass of comparisons between Nerd Nite and TED Talks.  Just in the last two days I’ve had eight unrelated people ask me how Nerd Nite compares to TED Talks.  Unfortunately, my reply isn’t usually particularly flattering for the good people at TED, and, frankly, I’m kind of afraid to put my common answer into writing.  TED Talks has done a fantastic job of cultivating an astronomically large worldwide following, and that is certainly to be commended.  Being able to attract the most upper of the upper crust is quite laudable and will always encourage a tremendous amount of coverage.  But what I’ve been hearing lately is that Nerd Nite is somehow starting to push TED to evolve its content.  It seems – and this only what I’ve heard, not seen first-hand – TED has kind of painted itself into a corner of only being able to get the top .1% of the top .1% of presenters in the world and that it has created an impossibly high standard to maintain.  After all, there’s only one Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Malcolm Gladwell, and President Bill Clinton.  So how does TED maintain its quality of presenters?  So apparently, according to what I’ve been hearing, this is the void that Nerd Nite is filling – Nerd Nite is more for the common man.

A lot of past Nerd Nite attendees have enjoyed the fact that it’s an informal atmosphere in which everyone can drink and socialize while learning (and only pay $0-$10 instead of $6,000).  They seem to enjoy having a cocktail or four while hearing a funny-yet-smart presentation.  And, in particular, when a presentation is given charismatically and humorously, it’s all the better.  And I’ve been told that it is in fact the content of TED Talks that has been suffering recently.  Which I guess makes sense.  I suppose when an organization puts a lot of established millionaires on a stage for 18 minutes that the content won’t be particularly novel or controversial because those folks all have a lot to lose by going too far, whereas the typical Nerd Nite presenter is often at the beginning of his or her career and is trying to get into a more prestigious position.

So I just want to thank all of the up-and-comers around the world who keep coming to Nerd Nite, as it seems our audience is the next generation; hungry, scrappy; innovative, etc.  Thanks for all the support…there’s a lot more to come!

Matt

-And by the way, I’m sure the folks at TED Talks have no idea what Nerd Nite is (I feel like Nerd Nite is a garage band that infrequently gets compared to The Beatles) so I guess this post didn’t upset anyone over there.  We certainly know our place in the world.  And obviously TED is a great organization for sharing great content across the globe.  Keep up the good work, TED!

Just want to let you know that both the fellas and lasses tickets are now sold out for Nerd Nite speed dating on Feb 11.   Maybe we’ll host more speed dating in March since this one had so much demand.  Thoughts?

A producer from MTV asked me to let you know about a casting call for a new show they’re working on.  Here’s the casting call notice:

Attention nerds: Live in NYC? Wanna be on MTV? MTV is looking to meet big and interesting personalities… especially NERDS!!! You should currently live in/around NYC, appear between the ages of 18-22 years old and feel comfortable being and sharing yourself on-camera. Please email a recent picture along with a brief description of yourself and what you’re all about to:  OpenCastingCall123@gmail.com

Yowzers – the smart and sassy lassies of NYC are on the prowl. 25 single ladies have already snatched up all the lasses-looking-for-fellas Nerd Nite speed dating tickets for February 11 at Galapagos in DUMBO.  So fellas, there are still a few tickets left…buy them now because you’re in demand!

Fellas can buy tickets ($25 – includes regular Nerd Nite) here: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3423415

Hey fella, come find that smart sassy lass who’s been looking so hard for you all winter. Hey lass, here’s your chance to find that fine smart fella with whom you can share another glorious springtime! So yes, come to Nerd Nite on Friday February 11th for our first speed dating event in 2011. Then stick around for presentations about Thomas Paine, how false memories can improve real ones, and adult virgins in America (a perfect pre-Valentine’s Day presentation!).

Speed daters, buy tickets ($25 – includes regular Nerd Nite) here
Non-daters, buy tickets ($10) here

Friday February 11, 2011.   Doors at 6:30pm for Speed Dating
Regular Nerd Nite starts at 9pm, doors at 8:30pm

Galapagos Art Space (DUMBO)
16 Main Street
Brooklyn, NY