Nerd Nite NoHo

Hi Nerds! Normally, we meet on the second Monday of the month, but I will be traveling that week, so we bumped it to the first Monday.

“Fighting the Bad Guys Before You Were Born: Ancestor Trauma & Epigenetics”

Our ancestor’s traumas, and the stories that are passed down, impact our genes and our mental health. Trauma therapist Danielle Lenhard presents on how she has helped people in the here and now by going back to the beginning of their ancestral line, and now you can do it too.

Danielle Lenhard, Ph.D., LCSW specializes in complex trauma, dissociation, attachment and pre-birth trauma, moral injury, and has a special interest in working with military families and armed services personnel.

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“Ice, Ice, Baby: What’s up with the Crazy Weather?”

Climate change is more than global warming. Day to day local weather is more extreme. Summer heat waves are hotter, droughts are more extensive, floods are larger, storms cause greater damage, and even winter cold snaps are more frigid. Why? The answer is complicated. The global climate is a complex dance of countless interacting pieces. This presentation will focus on one of those pieces: ice. Arctic sea ice has been decreasing for years. Total sea ice volume is once again near record low levels this summer (as of June 2019 data). That missing ice is having an impact not just on the polar bears, but also on global weather patterns.

Wes delivered his first Nerd Nite presentation in 2017 on the accuracy of short-term weather forecasts. During the Q&A he realized the audience was eager to hear more about climate change. He is back to give the audience what it asked for. Wes earned a BS in Meteorology from Lyndon State College, an MS in Applied Statistics from Cornell University, and has been an avid follower of climate science for over 30 years. Wes began his professional life as a high school math and science teacher. He has since found his niche as a data analyst in the insurance industry.

World War II club
50 Conz Street, Northampton MA
Monday, September 9, 7:00pm, $5.00 admission (cash only)
Guests are welcome to bring their own food or order take-out at the venue

First Talk: “Where the Rubber Meets the Code: Designing Stretchy Sensors and Soft Robots”

Second Talk: “The Brightest Galaxies, Through a Lens Darkly”
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“Where the rubber meets the code: Designing stretchy sensors and soft robots”

What do Baymax from Big Hero 6 and the T-1000 from Terminator 2 have in common? Both are great examples of “soft” robots that can change their shapes to complete a lot of different tasks. Come and hear about some of the exciting work in making this type of robot and in making soft, stretchable sensors that help them understand their environments.

Kris Dorsey is an assistant professor of engineering at Smith College and teaches courses about circuits, robots, and miniature and micro-scale sensors. Kris’s research investigates the sensing properties and stability of stretchable mechanical sensors. She dreams about running away to join the circus.

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“The Brightest Galaxies, Through a Lens Darkly”

Like a fun-house mirror, massive objects such as large galaxies warp space-time around themselves. If a massive galaxy happens to lie between us and a more distant object, the farther one appears distorted and magnified. By chance, some of the very brightest starburst galaxies in the early universe, 10 billion light years away from our own Milky Way, appear stretched in just that way. Now that we’ve found them, we’re using every tool available including Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile to study these monster star-forming galaxies and try to learn how they work and what they turn into.

James Lowenthal is Professor and Chair of the Astronomy Dept. at Smith College. He studies galaxy formation and evolution in the early universe, and along with a team of Smith student researchers he uses Smith’s own roof-top telescope to study exoplanets orbiting nearby stars. He is active in fighting light pollution at the local, state, national, and international level.

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$5 entry – cash only. Guests under 21 years are welcome in the banquet room area, but are restricted from the front bar, so please have your ID on you if you’d like to order alcoholic beverages.

World War II club
50 Conz Street, Northampton MA
Monday, April  8, 7:00pm, $5.00 admission (cash only)
Guests are welcome to bring their own food or order take-out at the venue

First Talk: “Imaging the Invisible: How to Take a Picture of a Black Hole, and Why it Matters”

Second Talk: “I’d Lie for You and That’s the Lie: A Discussion on Lies and the Liars that Lie Them”
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“Imaging the Invisible: How to Take a Picture of a Black Hole, and Why it Matters”

With the mass of a billion suns, supermassive black holes shape the galaxies they reside in. Yet, until this year these monsters have evaded direct detection. We’ll learn about the technology used to create the sharpest telescope ever, and how that telescope was used to see through a wall of dust and gas 55 million light years away in order to take a ‘picture’ of a black hole, an object that gives off no light whatsoever.

Jason Young is a visiting professor at Mount Holyoke College. His research focuses on the formation and growth of galaxies over time, and how the development of galaxies is related to their dark matter content.

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“I’d Lie for You and That’s the Lie: A Discussion on Lies and the Liars that Lie Them.”

Humans (and non-humans as it turns out) have been lying to each other since before the written word, and we’ve been trying to call each other out on our respective deceptions for almost as long. Let’s explore the what, how, and why of lying, and find out why Robert DeNiro grabbing Ben Stiller’s wrists doesn’t mean anything.

Joe Van Allen has a Master of Science in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Springfield College where he studied deception detection, and now gets to use those skills to help people find jobs. This is his second Nerd Nite talk in his unofficial series “I Obviously Wanted to be Batman When I Grew Up”.

“Marge, it takes two to lie – one to lie, and one to listen.”
– Homer Simpson

World War II club
50 Conz Street, Northampton MA
Monday, April  8, 7:00pm, $5.00 admission (cash only)
Guests are welcome to bring their own food or order take-out at the venue

“Curious about Kidney Transplants? Urine Luck!” by Alex Squiers

If you’ve ever heard that a person can live their life with only one kidney, it’s true. Alex will talk about what kidneys do, why they are important, what the process was like of getting screened and tested for donation, what life after transplant is like for donor and recipient, and some extra afterthoughts on what it might mean to everyone involved.

Alex Squiers is from Enfield CT and has been a warehouse worker, pirate, zombie maker, package handler and co-host of a podcast for 7 years. At 26 years old, he gave his brother a kidney and has been enjoying educating others all about it since.

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“That’s CAPTAIN to You: The Evolution of Carol Danvers” by Ellie Hillis

Brie Larson rocked the role in the recently released Captain Marvel, but do you know that Carol was a member of the X-Men? And that Rogue stole her powers? And that her cat is actually named Chewie? This discussion will explore the history of Carol Danvers, and look towards the future of the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe based on the comics, including Monica Rambeau possibly becoming the next Captain Marvel and the introduction of Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel.

Ellie Hillis is an essayist, game designer, comics historian, and cosplayer. Her work has been featured on sites like Rogue’s Portal, Geek League of America, Planet Zeist and the Geek Initiative. A graduate of Smith College, she wrote her senior thesis, The Surviving Superheroines, with Professor N. C. Christopher Couch. A co-editor at Density Media, and a motivating force behind the Zine Games movement, she has written and created a variety of RPGs. www.elliehillis.com

World War II club
50 Conz Street, Northampton MA
Monday, March 11, 7:00pm, $5.00 admission (cash only)
Guests are welcome to bring their own food or order take-out at the venue

On March 11th, come learn about the beautiful New England hiking trails, but then be too terrified to enter the wilderness. Brett Kelley will present “We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Lamp: A Mothman Retrospective” followed by Bridget Likely’s talk “Actually, You Can Get There From Here – Exploring the New England National Scenic Trail”.

“We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Lamp: A Mothman Retrospective” by Brett Kelley
Richard Gere, a salesman, and a cryptid walk into Pointe Pleasant West Virginia, stop me if you’ve heard this one before! Local Nerd Nite supporter Brett Kelley will recount the reports and incidents that created the cryptozoological phenomenon now known as The Mothman sightings.

Brett Kelley is a Northampton-Based Creative and Educator whose studies sometime drift into the weird and bizarre. He claims to drink and know things, which he agrees is kind of a cop-out statement to make in a bio.

“Actually, You Can Get There From Here – Exploring the New England National Scenic Trail” by Bridget Likely
The Pioneer Valley is home to the youngest of America’s eleven nationally designated, long-distance hiking trails. Nearly two million people live within ten miles of the aptly named ‘New England Trail’, but too few of them are aware it even exists, and that they’re only a short drive away from an adventure.

Get yourself in the know and come learn the New England Trail’s history, where exactly this 215-mile footpath can take you, and what there is to see and do along the way.

Bridget Likely is the New England National Scenic Trail Coordinator. In this role, she works towards the protection, promotion, and stewardship of the New England National Scenic Trail in Massachusetts.

Deets
World War II club
50 Conz Street, Northampton MA
Monday, January 14, 7:00pm, $5.00 admission
Guests are welcome to bring their own food or order take-out at the venue

What’s the Hulla-Baloo About Bears?

Stacey Schmeidel spent six weeks this summer volunteering for the National Park Service at Katmai National Park, Alaska — one of the world’s best places to see bears in the wild. She’ll talk about what bears can teach us about motherhood, workplace behavior, resilience, and body image, among other things.

Stacey Schmeidel has a long career as a college public relations professional — but when she grows up, she wants to be a National Park Service ranger. In addition to volunteering with the National Park Service (at Katmai, Yosemite and the Springfield Armory), she also leads hikes for the Wilbraham Hiking Club and serves as a volunteer camera operator for the explore.org, the world’s largest collection of nature Web cams.

Tech Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself: Little-Known Ways Everyday Tech is Compromising Our Privacy and Security

We’ve all heard how our mobile apps are spying on us, but this isn’t about that. What you may not know is that our phones, cars, fitness trackers, and even our houses are all conspiring against us in secret, and anyone with some modest technical knowledge a few spare dollars can watch us more closely than we ever suspected.

Michael Barnard is a long time supporter, first time presenter, for Nerd Nite. He is a Systems and Applications Manager at Mount Holyoke College with around 20 years of experience in systems administration and development.

Deets
World War II club
50 Conz Street, Northampton MA
Monday, December 10, 7:00pm, $5.00 admission
Guests are welcome to bring their own food or order take-out at the venue

First Talk: ‘The Warped Views of Flat Earthers’ by Aaron Wood
Second Talk: ‘How to *Not Explain Things Effectively – Teaching Physics Through Students Doing Things’ by Brokk Toggerson
‘The Warped Views of Flat Earthers’
The concept of a flat Earth seems to be gaining traction again. Besides simply thinking that we live on a flat object, what are some of the other reasons people actually believe this? Join Aaron Wood for an entertaining peek into the misled minds some flat Earth theorists.

Aaron is a graphic designer currently residing in the state of Massachusetts. When he’s not creating artwork that has a social media or pop culture angle to it, he’s probably trying to cook up a plot to score some lobster.

How to *Not Explain Things Effectively – Teaching Physics Through Students Doing Things’
If you took physics in high-school or college, you probably sat through a lecture and watched your teacher solve problems on the board. Then you went home and tried to solve, potentially impossible-seeming, problems on your own at home. Why do we teach physics this way? Does it actually work? What other options are there and is it possible to try to teach 100-300 people at a time in such a way?

Brokk Toggerson is currently in his fourth year of teaching introductory physics for life-science students at University of Massachusetts – Amherst. While his background is in experimental particle physics at CERN’s ATLAS experiment, he has since his Ph.D. been focusing on physics education. He is a fan of ballet, based in his own years of training and performance, and while not teaching physics enjoys cooking and rock climbing.

$5 entry – cash only. Guests under 21 years are welcome in the banquet room area, but are restricted from the front bar, so please have your ID on you if you’d like to order alcoholic beverages.

World War II club
50 Conz Street, Northampton MA
Monday, September 10, 7:00pm, $5.00 admission
Guests are welcome to bring their own food or order take-out at the venue

‘Take it With a Grain: What Can Sand Piles tell us About Traffic and Cancer?’

Granular materials are all around us, yet are still poorly understood, hence an explosion of interest in these systems in the physics community in the last few decades. Granular materials also serve as a model systems for any dense system of interacting “particles,” be it crowded cars on the road or crowded cells migrating in the body. This presentation will explore several examples of where research into granular materials has given insight into more humanly relevant examples, such as traffic and cancer.

About the Speaker, Kerstin Nordstrom: Physics professor at Mount Holyoke College whose lab studies granular materials. I did my PhD and postdoc also in this field.

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‘BetterTogether: Relationship Hacks from a Seasoned Divorce Attorney’

Seasoned divorce attorney, mediator and author Gabrielle Hartley explains that by making three important shifts earlier on in their relationship many of her clients may have been able to avoid coming to her office in the first place. This talk explores how by incorporating these simple skills rather than splitting  you may become better together.

About the Speaker, Gabrielle Hartley: A divorce attorney and mediator for over twenty years in both private practice and clerking for a divorce court judge, and author of Better Apart: The Radically Positive Way to Separate (HarperCollins 2019)!

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$5 general admission. Drinks available for purchase, and you are welcome to bring a snack or take-out to eat.

World War II club
50 Conz Street, Northampton MA
Monday, August 13, 7:00pm, $5.00 admission
Guests are welcome to bring their own food or order take-out at the venue

‘How the Mafia Came to Springfield’

Pasqualina Albano and Carlo Siniscalchi were local royalty on Water Street in Springfield’s Little Italy at the start of Prohibition. But in his first year as the self proclaimed Bootleg King, Carlo was killed, leaving Pasqualina to rule in his stead. She forged a bond with New York’s Genovese crime family, and continued her family’s business, a legacy that endures to this day.

About the Speaker, Justin Cascio: Writer of the award-winning blog, Mafia Genealogy, Justin Cascio’s articles have appeared at The Mob Museum, Gangsters Inc., Informer, The Good Men Project, and elsewhere.

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‘Ask Me About My Feminist Comics Agenda’

Women are the future of comics. From the success of Kickstarters like Check, Please! to the fact that women are over 50% of the active floppy comics readership, big publishers may be missing out on the true core demographic of comics.

About the Speaker, Ellie Hillis: Ellie has worked as a comics retailer for 5+ years, while also writing, blogging, and interviewing people in the comics industry. She’s continued writing on comics through an inclusive feminist perspective, and maintaining communication with creators, especially indie and small press creators.

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$5 general admission. Drinks available for purchase, and you are welcome to bring a snack or take-out to eat.