Author: dc

Nerd Nite 10/8/2022: Nerds in spaaaaaaaace!

Grab your space suit and your 100 tampons and head on down to DC9 on October 8th for an out-of-this-world space-themed Nerd Nite experience!

Here’s what we’re filling your brain with this month:

“The Human Rocket: The Efficacy of Using Bodily Fluids to Propel Yourself in Space” by Ben Corbin

“Why Pluto Isn’t a Planet (and Why That Doesn’t Actually Matter” by Kathryn Gansler

“Alcohol in Space” by Chris Carberry

Plus general educational absurdity from your Nerd Nite DC host Rae Pendergrass.

When: Saturday, October 8th, 2022

Where: DC9 Nightclub (1940 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001)

For more information, or to submit at talk, email us!

Nerd Nite DC August 13 2022: Muppets, Balloons, and Synths – What A Party!

NERDS! We’re back at DC9 on August 13th for another amazing, action-packed, awe-inspiring, adorable, and always amusing evening of aural and visual delights!

Here’s the show’s lineup:

Someone set us up the bomb, or, 99 luftbalons” by James Day
Unbeknownst to many, the United States mainland was the site of a coordinated aerial balloon bombing campaign in the last years of World War 2. We will talk about edible plant paste, the role of the US Geological Survey, the impact of the Esperanto language, 1,000 paper cranes, and maybe squeeze in a little info about the balloon bombs themselves.

I’d Rather Be Listening To Electronic Tonalities: How Nerds and Queer Folk Revolutionized the Synthesizer” by navi (they/he)
(Description coming soon!)

Aposemuppetism: The Adaptive Traits of Muppets in the Henson Ecosystem” by Kali Holder (she/her)
(Description coming soon!)

Get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nerd-nite-tickets-385805423407

Nerd Nite for May 9, 2020

Online: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/j/95599572800?pwd=RVNJWWY5d0hBS1I4SVE1QXRlTEV2QT09
Meeting ID: 955 9957 2800
Password: 939397
6:30 PM
DONATE TO DC9

Last month’s Virtual Nerd Nite TOTALLY RULED, so we’re bringing it back to your Zoompage on May 9th with a brand new talk, an all-time favorite, and a very special presentation by Co-Boss Kali Holder. DO NOT MISS IT. Just do your optics a favor and scope this lineup:

“The Stickiest of the Icky: Collecting Animal Semen for Fun and Profit” by Ian Booth

Summary: The common wisdom holds that it is wrong to jack off a pet or cock-tease a farm animal. But one person’s bestiality is another person’s treasure, and animal semen is a major player in the global economy and conservation efforts.  I’ll take you on a whirlwind tour of the human relationship with animal sperm, ranging from the profitable (more than $200 million in exports of bull semen last year) to the environmental (the peregrine falcon, saved by a sex hat), with stop offs at the just plain weird.  If you’ve ever enjoyed a pork chop, cheese, or a trip to the zoo, you’ve benefited from this sticky business.

Bio: Ian’s experience with sperm goes all the way back to mid-1984, when he was one.  He eventually got much bigger, lost the tail, and left North Carolina for the Peace Corps.  He would go on to become a Jeopardy! champion and the only person ever chased out of not one, but two 19th century naval fiction fan clubs.

“On Nipple Toothed Pachyderms: American degeneracy and the fossil record of elephants” by Advait Jukar

Summary: What do fossils have to do with the spirit of America? Were the French right about a degenerate fauna in the west? What the heck are nipple teeth? I will be answering these questions and will take you on a journey through the fascinating fossil history of elephants and their kin.

Bio: Advait is a Deep Time Fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and studied the structure of ancient ecosystems, megafaunal extinctions, and the evolution of elephants and horses. Before Advait studied fossils, he studied mildly toxic frogs on a mountain in Korea.

PLUS: A Very Special Presentation by Nerd Nite Co-Boss Kali Holder!