Throw horns for history and rush the stage* for statistics riffs at the bar show where the nerds are the rock stars and smart is punk af.
Cue it up: Three experts. Dozens of cheeky slides. A bar full of former gifted kids gone feral who love special interest deep dives. This is Nerd Nite DC.
*okay maybe just do this in spirit. Nerds are wild creatures who can be easily spooked by sudden movements.
Nerd Nite DC has been DC’s favorite irreverent lecture series since 2009.
Your host this month is the iconic navi, joined by our three wildly entertaining and wickedly smart speakers with three must-see talks that feel eerily appropriate for our dystopian times (but we promise will still make you laugh!):
– Brandon Ingram: “Everything in Your House Wants to Kill You: An Introduction to Fire Safety
Ever wonder that things in your house secretly want to kill you? Spoiler: it’s all of them. We’ll be learning about some of the most common fire dangers in the home and how you can protect yourself from them.
Brandon is a full-time fire protection engineer and part-time sketch comedian. When he’s not keeping architects from accidentally burning you alive, he’s writing/performing with Rails Comedy and running a bootleg comedy club out of his living room.
– Lindsey Dennis, “Go Jars: Financial Planning from Squirrels for Women and the Paranoid in General”
Go Jars. Mad Money. Cash Stash. Hiding money around your house for emergencies or out of paranoia is a time honored tradition – at least in a family descended from a bootlegger.
Lindsey is an attorney from the PNW from a matriarchal family of single moms. Lindsey is not a financial planner (they went to law school, do not listen to them for actual financial or life advice) but is a fan of finding things they forgot they put places and hoarding jars.
– Abby McClain, “The Meaning of Life is Death & Friendship”
Why do we drop everything for our friends when they’re going through a breakup, or seek comfort in community after a loved one dies? Humans are chemically wired to rely on friendship in times of stress, and when someone in our social network dies, that mechanism helps us compensate for the loss. Nonhuman animals rely on social bonds much like humans to help raise their young, defend from predators and the science says that social bonds help animals live longer, just like they do for us. But do animals know what death is? Or what it means for the friends to die? We’ll take you behind the scenes on the science of loss, comparative thanatology, and what we know about death in the social lives of our closest relatives.
Abby is a PhD Candidate at George Washington University studying wild chimpanzee behavior. She’s interested in how death and loss in social groups can inform what we know about social bonds in nonhuman species and does fieldwork at Gombe National Park, Tanzania.
DOORS 6PM | 21+
Doors open at 6, show at 6:30. Talks are 15 minutes with a 5 minute Q&A, and during the breaks, you can play along in our “alternate talk titles” competition to try to win a free drink on us. It’s rowdy, interactive, and the most fun you’ll have learning something all month.
The show is on the second floor of DC9 and is mostly standing room with limited seating available on a first-come, first served basis.
Nerd Nite DC is produced by Rae Pendergrass, navi, and Diva Darling.