nerd nite wellington

Posts Tagged ‘zombies’

On uncovering and creating alternate forms of “life”.

As usual:

• VKs (Dixon Street)
• 6pm (speakers to start at 6:30pm)
• Tuesday 22 November 2016.

• One more special guest.

Fighting the Outbreak

Jess Russell

The fragile honey bee has yet another enemy. This time it’s another 6-legged hymenopteran cousin – ants. Invasive Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) are responsible for widespread decline of honey bee colonies across the warmer parts of the North Island. These ants invade and infest bee hives, ransacking the bees of their honey stores and eating their brood. In studied hives over a number of apiary sites, hive survivorship decreased from 85% in non-infested hives to 50% in sites infested with ants over a six month period. Moreover, these ants may be spreading viruses to bees. Bees in these hives were infected with Deformed wing virus, a key driver  of honey bee colony losses around the world. Average Deformed wing virus  infection levels were always higher where Argentine ants were present. Bees in apiaries with ants acquired viral infections up to 220-fold higher than the maximum infection in apiaries without ants. Argentine ants appear to be contributing to honey bee hive collapse through the combined effects of predation, hive robbing, and disease. Only problem is, there’s no way to get rid of them…

Jess Russell is a master’s student at Victoria University of Wellington who is passionate about saving the bees by injecting stuff into them. Good times.

Hacking the IoT:

Philip & Jessie

g0ldfisk & follower recently talked about reverse engineering internet
connected adult toys at the DEF CON computer security conference in
Las Vegas. Come along to learn more about the privacy concerns related to your
Internet of Things (IoT) devices (adult or otherwise) and the
importance of asking what your connected device is saying about you
behind your back.

Just One More Level

Josh Davies

Josh Davies is a writer and comedian. His talk is all about video games and the obsessions and addiction they cause.

Discovering a zombie volcano (this talk has been rescheduled due to the quakes)

Ian Hamling

The surface of our planet is constantly deforming and changing shape in response to the build up of tectonic strain before an earthquake, the movement of magma in the crust or the removal of resources such as water, oil and gas. Regardless of the cause, accurate measurements of how the surface is deforming provides critical insights into subsurface processes all of which can have large impacts on society. Since the launch of ERS-1 in the early 90’s, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has become a widely used technique for measuring deformation of the Earth’s surface. In this talk he will present a range of InSAR observations acquired over the Taupo Volcanic Zone associated with a variety of magmatic processes including the cooling and contraction of magma at depth and the inflation of a new magma chamber beneath the Bay of Plenty.

Ian Hamling is a geophysicist working for GNS Science. He completed his PhD in 2010 at the University of Leeds, UK, investigating continental rifting in Ethiopia. His main interests involve the use of satellite radar data to measure how the surface of the earth deforms as a result of volcanic and tectonic processed.

As always, NNW is free and open to everyone*. Bring your friends and family.

* Who behaves themselves, of course. Naughtiness will be stamped on. Hard.

Read our Code of Conduct

UPDATE: Lots of awesome linky goodness from Nerd Nite Wellington #23

And we’re on for Nerd Nite Wellington 23! As always, it will be held from 6pm (talks starting at 6:30 pm) at Hotel Bristol, Cuba Street, Wellington.

Date: 21 July 2014.

Nerd nite is a free event, so bring your friends, family and nemeses! There are even 2 for 1 specials on some meals, too; an ideal opportunity to bring someone along, OR make a new friend 🙂

Quick aside: Nerd Nite Calendar

Keep forgetting to calendar Nerd Nites Wellington? Well, forget no more! 

And now, without further ado, the lineup (in no particular order; speaker order may change on the night!):

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Poster! Click to enlarge and print out for your school/workplace/laboratory/lair.

Tech knitting and the code of craft
Tash Barneveld (@knitsch)

Knitting is enjoying a renaissance of popularity. Much is attributed to the mental health benefits, our desire to slow down in a busy world, and the ability to create something unique in a mass-produced society. However there’s much more behind it: i’m going to explore knitting’s connections to code, maths and the internet.

After repeatedly learning and forgetting how as a child, Tash re-taught to herself to knit in 2006. Initially an act  of rebellion against being surrounded by people learning to crochet, it became an obsession. 8 years later, Tash owns a hand-dyed yarn business and two yarn stores as part of a crusade against awful yarn and knitting stereotypes.

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The Law of the Undead: real legal problems to consider ahead of the Zombie Apocalypse
Rochelle Furneaux (@kiwiseabreeze)

Rochelle is a real live lawyer with 20 years of NZ experience, and Director at Enspiral Legal Ltd. More details on the talk coming soon!

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Possibilities and Constellations
Matt Visser and Rachel Lenart

“Every choice, every decision you’ve ever made and never made exists in an unimaginably vast ensemble of parallel universes.”Constellations by Nick Payne, Circa Theatre 26 July – 23 August

Professor Matt Visser explores concepts around Multiverse Theory, free will,  and the dividing line between what we know and what we speculate to be true.

Matt Visser is a Professor of Mathematics at Victoria University in Wellington. He has published widely in the areas of general relativity, quantum field theory, and theoretical cosmology.

Theatre Director Rachel Lenart joins the conversation as she looks at how these theories are theatrically explored in her production of CONSTELLATIONS, by Nick Paye, on at Circa Theatre, on 26 July – 23 August There’ll even be a double pass spot prize to the show!