NERD NITE, plus TRIVA

Friday November 18

Bring a few of your smartest friends, assemble a team (maximum of 6 people per team), and take a crack at our devilish questions for the chance to win some unexpected prizes.

Our record score is 47/50 . . . can you beat it?

Then stick around for our usual Nerd Nite presentations, starting at 9:15pm.

$14 Nerd Nite Presentations plus Triva

$10 Nerd Nite Presentations only

Tonight’s presentations:

A preview of the presentations on Friday November 18, 2011 at Galapagos:
*Presentation #1
Zombie Hand-to-Hand Combat: Effective Non-Ballistic Undead Neutralization Methods
by Roger Ma

Description: This presentation will cover the proper way to engage the living dead in combat without the use of a firearm, and survive. Topics covered in the evening’s presentation will include: opponent anatomy, weapons, improvised implements, combat techniques, and common misconceptions of confronting a ravenous walking corpse.

Bio: Roger Ma is the author of The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead, published by Berkley Books/Penguin, and the founder of the Zombie Combat Club, an organization that develops strategies to battle the living dead without the aid of a firearm. He is a former Team Chief for one of New York City’s Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), a civilian volunteer group that assists first responders in the event of a city emergency (including zombie attack.)

*Presentation #2
Bad Trips: How Not to Explore the World
Erin L. Thompson

Description: The intrepid linguist subduing restive natives… the idealistic scientist struggling to reach base camp… the daring journalist hacking through the jungle – didn’t we all dream of doing such things and thereby elevating our nerdiness into nerdy badassery? Well, it’s a good thing we didn’t actually, because it turns out that exploration totally sucks. Erin will go over the minor accomplishments and major failures of three notable explorers: Charles Montagu Doughty (“Travels in Arabia Deserta,” 1888), who spent years enduring death threats and camel dung in his tea so that he could examine, and fail to translate, pre-Arabic inscriptions; Apsley Cherry-Garrard (“The Worst Journey in the World,” 1922), who nearly froze to death on an expedition to collect Empire penguin eggs only to have the scientists who requested them inform him that they weren’t needed any more when he got back; and Graham Greene (Journey Without Maps,” 1936), who, well, acted like Graham Greene while hiking across unmapped areas of Liberia, proving that whiskey makes everything better in the end.

Bio: Erin has given previous Nerd Nite presentations about art forgery and antiquities smuggling. She has a PhD in ancient art history from Columbia University, and is an intellectual property and tech lawyer in Manhattan.

*Presentation #3
The Psychology of Twilight: Why Bella Can’t Resist Edward…And You’ll Always Want The One You Can’t Have
by Susan Carnell

Description: Ever dared to venture into the perilous world of online dating? Imagine coming across this little gem: “Moody murderer seeks clumsy girlfriend for life-threatening gang-fights and huge amounts of sexual tension with absolutely no pay-off.” Excited to date him? Itching to send him a message? Call me fussy if you will, but he’s not exactly my type – and I doubt Bella Swan would fancy him either. But here’s the really frightening thing: While Edward Cullen also has redeeming qualities (strong, superhumanly handsome, smells good…) – it’s precisely the bad, dangerous ones that make Bella desire him the most. And it’s not just her personal problem – in all likelihood the rest of us would also fall prey to his bloodthirsty charms. Let Susan Carnell take you on a terrifying, lust-filled journey through the psychology and neuroscience of attraction and relationships. She can’t promise you’ll like everything you hear, but after this talk you’ll be sure of at least one thing: Jacob Black never stood a chance.

Bio: Susan Carnell is a research psychologist at Columbia University where she studies the social, psychological and biological drivers of appetite and body weight. This sometimes involves putting people in brain scanners and showing them pictures of chocolate brownies. A long-time fan of supernatural entertainment, she admits to watching back episodes of the X-files on Netflix, and was first introduced to the joys of the Twilight saga at an outdoor screening of the first movie, where she was astonished to witness fully-grown women swooning like giddy 14-year-olds. Her impassioned vampire advocacy essay, “The Case for Edward Cullen” recently came out in a book called “The Psychology of Twilight”, (http://www.benbellabooks.com/bookstore/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=1865), and you can nibble on her food-related musings here: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bad-appetite.

Friday November 18