Nerd Nite Bloomington #5

Doors at 6:00pm | Presentations at 6:30

We all know that learning is more fun when you’re drinking with friends and colleagues. Nerd Nite is an event held in more than 120 cities across the globe during which several folks give 15 minute fun-yet-informative presentations across all disciplines – while the audience drinks along. It’s like the Discovery Channel… with beer! Imagine learning about everything from math feuds or the science of the Simpsons, to the genealogy of Godzilla or debunking beer myths, while having a few or a few too many.

Come join us for a drink, learn something new, and meet fellow nerds. Be there AND be square!

This month's speakers and presentation topics:

1) Aphrodisiacs: A History, A Science, A Folktale

by Nan Rockey

For as long as humans have been getting it on, we have sought out substances to help us get it on. From oysters to chocolate to wine to viagra, aphrodisiacs span across cultures and languages, popping up in media such as Tristan and Isolde and The Love Witch or in pop-up ads on adult websites. With how omnipresent the idea of an aphrodisiac is - are they real? Do aphrodisiacs exist and, if so, how do they work? Find out if Casanova eating 50 raw oysters for breakfast was brilliant or madness as we look at aphrodisiacs across time, culture, and pharmacology.

Nan Rockey (she/her) is a counselor in the School of Public Health. She is working on her licensure to become a sex therapist. She also works with Heartland Healing Counseling, a queer-owned mental health clinic in Indianapolis that focuses on supporting the LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized populations. Nan Rockey has also assisted in organizing the Sex Salon series with Dr. Debby Herbenick on bringing sex researchers to Bloomington and share their knowledge. She has a passion for researching sexual identity, arousal, and cultural perceptions of desire.

2) Tracking the "Misinformation Beat" In the Press

by Bryce Greene

What is misinformation? What is a conspiracy theory? What is propaganda? These complicated and often flexible concepts are shaped by our social worlds, and our social worlds are shaped in part by news media. This presentation looks at 40 years of newspapers and looks at the frequency and the contexts in which they use the terms "disinformation", "misinformation", "propaganda", "fake news," and "conspiracy theory." Come see what we found!

Bryce Greene is a writer, organizer, and PhD student at IU. His work focuses on the news media's role in broader systems of thought, and especially how it relates to politics, power, and empire. His commentary work has appeared in Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Monthly Review Online, Current Affairs, Salon, and other outlets.

3) What's In a Month?

by Daniel Quigley

How long is a month depends on whether you ask an astronomer, a priest, an accountant, or the British Treasury. This talk walks through the different lunar months, the calendar hacks civilizations invented to cope with their different lengths, and the entirely non-astronomical months layered on top. Along the way, we encounter dragons, Babylonian eclipses, Mayan ritual uncertainty, and why September is lying about its name. You will leave knowing there is no clean calendar count, that there never will be, why there never will be, and the choice of what to forgo or include is where the culture lives.

Daniel is a postdoctoral researcher at IU. He is an interdisciplinary scientist who primarily studies meaning. His background is in linguistics, mathematics, physics, and anthropology. He attempts creative writing now and again, and is found often in a bookstore, a cafe, or a bookstore cafe.

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Do you have a nerdy passion? Want to talk about it with a room full of smart drunk people at a future Nerd Nite? Contact us! We’d love to hear from you. Invite your friends and help us spread the word about Nerd Nite Bloomington!

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