Date: Wednesday, April 25
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.

♬ I Feel the Mars… Move… Under My Feet ♬

Summary: Nerds, get excited! A rocket will soon launch to Mars carrying a robotic lander that will undertake one of the greatest studies in planetary science history. While it may not be as sexy as sending humans to the red planet, we’ll dive into NASA’s upcoming InSight mission and learn about how checking a planet’s ‘vital signs’ will help uncover the secrets of the early solar system (including Earth) and the implications this has for humanity’s future in space. At the very least, you’ll walk away with a much greater appreciation for MARSQUAKES!

Tristan Mentz

Presenter Bio: Tristan Mentz is a DJ, event planner, and volunteer astronomy nerd with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Solar System Ambassador program. When he’s not laying down beats he likes to contemplate life’s mysteries under a sky of stars and orbiting satellites. Tristan hopes to someday travel to the moon, see the stars from the far side, and gaze back on our planet suspended in the vastness of the cosmos. GO SCIENCE!

Tinder, Twitter, and Trump: How Social Media Creates Societal Silos

Summary: Social media has supplanted broadcast media. Technology has made the world ‘smaller.’z The exchange and distribution of information faster and easier but it’s more than just fast… it’s different. We have more ways of connecting, sharing, and creating yet news and social networks feel more divisive than ever before. That’s because we’re being ‘siloed’ by the very thing that is supposed to bring us closer: Social Media. We’re going to talk about what social media really is, what it’s not, and its effect on individuals and groups through the lens of the social media bubble. We’re striving to better understand how social media funnels us into silos, affecting our relationships, shapes our opinions, and changes our perspective.

Joel Ondercin

Presenter bio: Joel is a self-described ‘over-enthusiast’- he tends to get very excited and ‘nerd out’ about things that he likes. Joel likes a lot of things but is good at very few; Social media, photography, and drinking are some of the few. He spends his work weeks as the social media manager for an education technology company, Renaissance, doing everything from analytics, corporate policy, publishing, and strategy. When not at the office he’s usually drinking, gaming, bingeing content or spending time on his latest [short-lived] hobby or trend. Since he spends most of his waking life on social media he has a pretty dim view of humanity which can be confusing considering his enthusiastic personality.

The Ben Franklin Bodyslam: Wrestling Virtue in a Modern World.

Summary: When the life you thought you were building falls apart, how do you build yourself back up? Using a system devised by Benjamin Franklin in 1726, I set about rebuilding myself one character trait at a time. Seems that some of those revolutionaries really had their stuff together.

Will Ringland

Presenter bio: Will is an all purpose nerd. He graduated from Beloit College in 2004 with a BA in English and Psychology. His primary day job is managing accessibility process for a local healthcare company. In his spare time he writes about building character, productivity, and being a better person in a world growing less virtuous.