Date: Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)

The order of the night’s line-up will be announced on the Facebook event the day of the show.

Tryannicide at the Acropolis: How Athens got its Democracy

Summary: Daggers, unrequited love, ceremonial baskets, myrtle, paranoia, isonomia! These are the ingredients that went into the founding of the first great democracy of the West. The heroes of Athenian democracy, Harmodius and Aristogeiton just wanted to get down with each other when the tyrant Hipparchus comes along wanting some of that sweet Harmodius. Hipparchus doesn’t take rejection well and his plan for revenge backfires ending up with him dead and Athens getting a democracy.

Teddy de Groot

Presenter Bio: Teddy graduated UW-Madison last year with PhD in biomedical engineering. He spends most of his day building tumors. He nerds out hard on classical history on his off time. This will be his second Nerd Nite featuring Ancient Athens. Join Teddy on his quest to bring back classical history telling as it was before the Germans came around in the 19th century and ruined everything with their socioeconomic-driven explanations for everything.

Just My Type: The History of the Typewriter

Summary: Before our laptops became so portable and silent, you had the typewriter. How did this machine come about and how did it help evolve technology through its many iterations to where it is now? Furthermore, we’ll chat about how has pop culture has made these machines the cool, new thing again.

Caroline Sullivan

Presenter bio: Caroline enjoys good coffee and even better conversation. When she’s not spreading the gospel of higher education and fundraising at the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association as a Senior Marketing Coordinator, she’s often successfully trying new recipes in the kitchen or massively failing at home improvement projects in her Eastside house. When she’s not doing either of those things, she also enjoys reading and watching trashy TV.

Sign Language: Why two hands are better than a mouth

Summary: We got sign language swear words, tricked up dirty sign and some saucy sign poetry, bro. There’s gonna be some mad myths debunked in this one. Like, bet you didn’t know British Sign Language looks nothing like American Sign Language. Deep answers in here, bro. Like, the grammar of duck lips. You’ll see why language scientists are staring stupid hard at a whole lot of moving hands. (Staring is caring, right?)

Mark Koranda

Presenter bio: Mark grew up listening for three, because his mom and pop are Deaf. People were always like, “How’d you learn to talk?” Good question. These days he’s trying to figure out how anybody talks at all, experimenting on how thoughts become words (in the psychology department). In a former life he listened to some foreign talk for the the Marine Corps. So, there’s that. When he’s not listening, he likes to take pictures of crumbling buildings.