Date: Wednesday, November 19th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon

This month, we have guests from the Wisconsin Wayfarers for all three of our presentations! If you love animals, this one is for you.

First up is Elizabeth Braatz with “Bees! Who are the bumble bees of Wisconsin, and how you can help”: Did you know that there is an endangered bumble bee in Wisconsin, and you might be able to see one here in Madison? Learn about the bumble bees of Wisconsin, who they are, where they go in the winter, and how we can all help pollinators.

Our second talk is “Monarch Butterflies: Mighty Morphin’ Marathoners”, presented by Marie Jensen: Monarch butterflies are one of the most charismatic creatures of the insect world, but there’s serious brawn behind the beauty! Learn about their insane migration, why you should care about their protection, and what makes Madison special when it comes to monarch conservation.

Our last presentation will be given by Lisie Kitchel: “The complicated life of Wisconsin’s Native Mussels, not just rocks on the bottom of a stream”. The 50 species of native mussels in Wisconsin have amazingly complex life histories with unique ways to accomplish critical life stages. Their diversity is only excelled by their creative ways to accomplish reproduction, pretty smart for the lowly clam.

Date: Wednesday, October 29th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon

Welcome to another Nerd Nite, ghouls and goblins! We have three great talks scheduled, as well as a costume contest! Wear your favorite nerdy costume for a chance to win prizes!

Our first presenter is Lynn Hyland with “The Real Hyper-Drive: Understanding the ADHD Brain”: What happens when you mix an ADHD diagnosis and a degree in Clinical Psychology? You get Lynn Hyland, a psychologist specializing in ADHD with a deep personal understanding of the experience, issues, and strengths of having ADHD. If you’ve wondered if you or someone in your life might have it, this presentation will give you the facts about what it’s really like to have this particular flavor of neurospice.

Second is Dr. William Koebe, sharing “The Normalization of Deviance: How Silence Will Kill Us All”. A culture of silence about unsafe practices has killed a ton of people. From the Challenger disaster to the COVID pandemic, we’ll see how this process makes tragedies inevitable.

Last for the evening is Matt Daley with his talk “Planeshift to Hell: Satanic Panic, Demons, and how they shaped Dungeons & Dragons”. Paranoid parents conflating D&D and Satanism is an old joke which has permeated pop culture, but how did this originate and what impact has it made on the World’s Oldest Roleplaying Game? Game Designer Matt Daley shares the history of Dungeons & Dragons’ Satanic Panic episode of the 80s, the game’s handling of demonic elements across different eras, and how these shape the D&D of today.

Date: Wednesday, September 24th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon

Our first presenter is Jeff Degenhardt: Many of us are loosely aware of strongman/strongwoman events, either from flipping through TV channels, getting a weird random social media algorithm video, or whatever. But what more is there to this weird and grueling sport? Take a mildly informative “derp” dive on some events with a former competitor and their thoughts on “The Ouchiest Way To Get Strong As Hell”
Next up is Nicholas Rogall, with “Native Plant Gardening for Dummies!”: Follow the journey of a former garden Dummy & brown thumb to a barely qualified Smartie in the world of native plant gardening. You’ll learn of his many mistakes, how to do better than he did, and some cool facts about our native flora & the biodiversity it supports!
Our final presenter is Michael Yu, talking to us about niche dating websites. Tired of Tinder? Hinge a little too unhinged? Well out with the old and in with the niche! Say goodbye to swiping through hundreds of profiles that don’t fit your ultra specific standards (alive + human) and hello to apps tailor-made for you. Bring your finest fish pics and blurriest mirror selfies because we’ll be running through the highs and lows of niche online dating platforms. There’ll be a little bit of something for everyone from the farmers at FarmersOnly to the missionaries at Mutual LDS Dating

Date: Wednesday, August 20th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon

We will start the night with a classic Nerd Nite presentation from David Hinschberger, “Monopoly: A Story of Capitalism and How It Lingers.” The Landlord’s game?! That’s the original title for Monopoly. Why does the game pit people together so brutally and how did it come to be how it is?

The second and third speaker blocked will be taken by a one of a kind interactive video game concert featuring Extra Lives.

Extra Lives is the world’s first Audience RPG: a fully narrated, inclusive choose-your-own-adventure
game where you are the main character. Plunge into an exciting story with visuals, music, sound effects
and footage drawn from the legendary console games of the ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s… and a live score provided by the lovable nerds of Extra Lives.

At key junctures you’ll get to vote on how the character proceeds, leading to special story branches. With multiple endings and 60+ possible variations depending on the audience’s in-game choices, this immersive feast for the imagination will transport you back to your childhood. To the next level!

Madison Nerd Nite is always 100% free, however if you would like to support the band, tips are welcome at the show.

Date: Wednesday, April 9th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon

Join us for our last Nerd Nite before summer break!

First is Manushi Vatani with “Martin Shkreli: The Man, The Meme, The Menace”. Manushi says “Join me for the wild story of how a smug hedge fund kid became the most hated man in America—raising drug prices, feuding with Wu-Tang Clan, and somehow still thinking he was the hero. From his meteoric rise to his inevitable downfall, this is the ultimate guide to the internet’s favorite pharma bro.”

Our second speaker is Ken Fager, sharing “A Nerdy Intro to 3D Printing”. It is getting even easier to make just about anything with a 3D printer. Local artist Ken Fager will print a Mini WI live during an introduction to the highs and lows of this creative technology.

Last for the night is Addison Smith: “Castles: The Aircraft Carriers of the Middle Ages”. Anchors aweigh, my knights! These two apparently dissimilar structures fill essentially the same niche in their respective strategic contexts. I’ll be taking you on a whirlwind tour of medieval military history, and modern military/naval history (WWI-present), to make the case that they’re far more similar than they seem. If you still aren’t convinced, feel free to use the Q&A period to poke holes in my theory, as long as you can phrase your objection in the form of a question.

Date: Wednesday, March 12th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon

Our first presenter is Julie Larson-Guenette with “The heart burns with love and longing in World War II letters”: This presentation introduces a transatlantic public humanities project involving a few thousand letters written in German between 1938 and 1946. I will focus on one particular passionate letter exchange. Excerpts will be translated into English, but you might just happen to learn a bit of German along the way!

Up next is veteran presenter Tyler Wintermute with “In Cod We Trust: A Fish Fry Story”. Friday night, a local supper club. The patrons are gabbing, the old fashioneds are flowing, and you are bewildered. What do I get, you ask? Everyone seems to know their order but you. Fear not, land-dwelling friends! In this talk, I will deconstruct the Wisconsin Fish Fry, with a bit of history, a bit of local fry knowledge, and enough data to fill an oversized relish tray. You’ll leave more confident in your next beer-battered order and perhaps be so enlightened you want to go to every fish fry in town. Or you might just order those boring milquetoast chicken fingers again. It’s your choice!

Last for the evening is Julia Janson, presenting “Zooming in on Wildlife”. Cameras, satellites, and radios have become integral tools in our daily lives. In the twenty-first century, where environmental issues like climate change, development, and pollution have compounded habitat loss, these tools will become critical for monitoring populations of critically endangered wildlife. During this presentation, I will cover some of the basics of remote sensing technology and demonstrate how it can be a powerful tool for supporting wildlife conservation.

Date: Wednesday, February 19th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon

Our first speaker is Bartje Wakker presenting “Treasure Amongst the Trees: The Beginner’s Guide to Foraging Wild Mushrooms in Southern Wisconsin”. If you’ve eaten mushrooms at the grocery store, you’ve probably only experienced a few varieties, but there’s so many more delicious and fascinating fungi out there! If you want to adventure through the wilds, try new healthy and delicious foods, get a head start on the upcoming and coveted morel season or just find these strange organisms and admire their beauty, then come and listen as I explain everything you need to know to get started, and details on the most common, delicious, and even dangerous fungi to watch out for around the Madison area – maybe even in your own backyard.

Up next is Anu Devkota with “Party like a Mugwump: A Brief History of the 1884 Presidential Election”: Some say that politics used to be a noble activity, where facts mattered and people cared about real issues. But long before our current ridiculous political era, the Gilded Age served up one of the wildest elections in US history. Come learn about a sex scandal, railroad bribery, religious sectarianism, and other tawdry matters related to the election of 1884!

Last but not least is Manushi Vatani, sharing “Lyrics, Law, and Percs: The Young Thug RICO Case”. “Join me for a deep dive into one of the wildest trials in hip-hop history—Young Thug’s RICO case. We’ll break down what RICO actually is, the facts of the case, and the most ridiculous courtroom moments (yes, including the infamous ‘pass me a Perc’ incident). Whether you’re a legal expert or just here for the chaos, this presentation will have you questioning both the justice system and your playlist.

Date: Wednesday, January 22nd
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon

First is Lucas McGranahan with “Dark Side of Your Mom: What Freud Got Right”: Sigmund Freud revolutionized modern thought, but his thinking is often caricatured or dismissed. I will defend Freud’s best ideas, no matter how much cocaine he was doing when he thought of them.

Second we have Ania Bialic with “All I Want for Christmas is Warp Technology”! For decades, Star Trek has captured the imagination of nerds and non-nerds alike, with technology that once seemed like pure science fiction—until now. Instant translators, Bluetooth, tablets, and holograms are already part of our daily lives. But what about the real juicy stuff? Transporters, warp drives, photon torpedoes, and food synthesizers—how close are we to turning Federation dreams into reality? Join us for a deep dive into the physics of Star Trek (with a few Picard memes sprinkled in) to explore how far we’ve come and how much farther we have to boldly go.

Our last speaker of the night is Connor Ciecko, presenting “POLISCI1977: A Brief Overview on the Political Happenings of Star Wars”! We all know about the blasters and lightsabers and Han Solo shooting first, but the foundation of why the stars were in a war is a little less clear. We’ll start with the Phantom Menace and work our way to Return of the Jedi and outline the political context underneath each movie in an attempt to explain the unrest in the galaxy. Is Jar Jar Binks the mastermind behind the largest conflict we’ve ever seen on the silver screen? Probably not, but he is the reason why the second Death Star blows up.

Date: Wednesday, December 4th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon

Our first speaker is Ben Rush with “Unused CT scan data for individual and public health”: CT scans are incredibly valuable for diagnosing medical conditions, but their usefulness does not end with a single diagnosis! Abdominal CT scans contain rich information about the health of our entire bodies, but this information about our muscle, bone, fat, liver, and other organs is rarely used. We will take a tour of how CT scans can be used beyond one diagnosis to inform us about our overall health, shape public health, and potentially redefine aging.

Next to the stage is Erica Christensen, presenting “One Brick at a Time: A Brief History of Lego”. This is one woman’s exploration of the history and cultural impact of her favorite childhood past time.

Last but certainly not least is Michael Yu, sharing his talk “Leave Room for GPT: AI’s Say in Your Dating Life”: Another cuffing season is here, but this time it wants to open up the relationship. Come speed date the newest member of your polycule—artificial intelligence (AI). Learn about its hobbies, interests, and how a $621.19 billion industry is influencing your love life from AI-driven Tinder matches to the people marrying AI (if you want this to be raunchier, you can replace “the people marrying AI” with “AI-powered sex robots”).

Date: Wednesday, November 6th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon

Join us for an incredible celebration of knowledge and nerdom with the amazing Madison Nerd Nite community!

In addition to our line up of 3 speaker, we will be celebrating with Nerd Nite branded swag for the first 50 attendees, cake, book sales hosted by Lake City Books, and more!

First is Lu Lu with “100 Trillion Neutrinos Through You Each Second: Why They Matter”: Neutrinos, often called “ghostly particles”, can pass through walls, the Earth, and even entire galaxies without interacting. In this talk, Lu will discuss how we have captured neutrinos that originate from supermassive black holes, using detectors located deep in the ice of Antarctica.

Our second speaker is Andrew Park, presenting “Gleaning the Cube”: Dive deep into the wild world of twisty puzzles! From the inception of the Rubik’s Cube to solving in the internet age, learn as much about this silly little toy as twenty minutes will allow. **FREE NERD NITE-BRANDED RUBIK’S CUBES FOR THE FIRST FIFTY PEOPLE TO ARRIVE AT THE EVENT**

Last is returning presenter Rob Lumley with “The Rise and Fall of Erotic Thrillers”: In 1987, Fatal Attraction was the third biggest movie of the year. This was a result of Erotic Thrillers flooding the theater (and video stores) peaking with Basic Instinct in 1992. From 1980’s Dressed to Kill through 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut, let’s look at what caused the rise and fall of this strange genre.