Nerd Nite #2

Wagga nerds came out in droves for our first edition; six tickets short of a capacity crowd! We’re humbled. We’re thrilled. Let your nerd flag fly again, as we meet for our second iteration. Best get your tickets well in advance as we’ll likely sell out.

As always the formula is simple; three nerdy talks and a few drinks. And, to make things even more fun, we’ll be celebrating with our commonwealth brothers and sisters in Canada as they celebrate Canada day (July 1st).

When: Thursday, July 2, 2015 (7:30pm for 8pm)
Where: The Union Club (122 Baylis Street, Wagga)
$10 in advance, includes a free drink
$10 at the door (no free drink)
*18+ event, no minors

Buy Tickets here

There’s No Such Thing as an Accident
Sheree Bekker

We often think that accidents happen when the stars of misfortune align and, as a result, people get injured (or worse); however, most injuries are foreseeable and preventable. Sheree will explore the link between growing up in Africa and her research into Australian Football (hint: condoms), and will explain why there are no such things as accidents.

BIO: Sheree Bekker grew up in Botswana, and is now based in Ballarat at the Australian Centre for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention, one of nine International Olympic Committee medical research network centres. Sheree is completing her PhD in sports injury prevention – primarily studying Australian Football, a sport that she once referred to as FootyBall. She is also slightly obsessed with Twitter – follow her @shereebekker.

Actual Cannibal Milky Way
Pete Kuzma

Go outside at night and look at the stars. The beautiful sea of stars that surrounds us is billions of years old, and all formed together after The Big Bang. However, the apparent tranquility of the night sky does not reflect the dastardly effects the Milky Way is having on poor smaller dwarf galaxies that happen to be passing by. Just like water circling a drain, the Milky Way pulls the dwarf galaxy in to its doom. Sounds violent? It’s an inevitable part of galaxy formation. It’s a galaxy eat galaxy universe out there, and I’ll shed some light as to how exactly this cannibalistic action is invaluable to the growth of the Milky Way.

BIO: Pete Kuzma is a 3rd year PhD student at the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the Australian National University. After seeing Saturn as a kid, he has endeavoured to study Astronomy ever since, exposing himself to a dangerous level of Maths and Physics. While not looking through the lens of a telescope, he spends his time pondering the futility of life. This could be due to Astronomy or just being so close to finishing his PhD… It’s hard to tell.

The Luthier: Art and Science Tightrope Walker
Damian Lodge

A luthier is a string instrument maker and repairer. We’ll will start with the basics of how a guitar or a violin is made, then get into the fun details of how luthier apply their craft; the techniques, templates and moulds (like those used by Stradivari and Guarneri), the timbers that are used, and advanced in the trade, like carbon fibre. We’ll get into the science bits too. How the fibonacci pattern, golden section and other mathematical patterns are applied to make an acoustically impressive instrument. If that’s not enough, we’ll also delve into the mysterious world of the varnish. That’s right, varnish.

BIO: Damian Lodge has been building musical instruments for the last 15 years as a professional hobby. Damian started by repairing a few old guitars and violins and then learnt the trade through conducting in depth research on guitar and violin timbers and luthier techniques. His carbon fibre lattice braced classical guitars are now sold throughout the world. During the day Damian is an academic at Charles Sturt University teaching information management and on most Friday and Saturday nights you will find him playing in a band or duo at a local pub or club.

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