Alcohol has always had a reputation as a popular social lubricant, helping to enable wallflowers to open up and share their thoughts and knowledge.
Alcohol has always had a reputation as a popular social lubricant, helping to enable wallflowers to open up and share their thoughts and knowledge.
Luckily, the act is going to be put to good use during Banff’s first Nerd Nite event at Bruno’s Bar and Grill, Wednesday (Feb. 26).
“It started in New York with our head nerd boss, if you will, Matt, talking to his friends over beer and people kept coming to hear his stories about everything nerdy, ” Nerd Nite organizer Lisa Belanger said. “He ended up making an informal event and got some friends to speak as well; and now it’s in 70 cities all over the world. ”
Think of Ted Talks on a smaller scale, where you can hear discussions on a variety of topics, all while pondering information presented over a pint of your favourite beer.
“There was one in Edmonton I went to and fell in love with the concept, ” Belanger said. “So I brought it here when I came to Canmore. It’s usually three speakers for about 20 minutes at a local pub and there must be beer involved - I mean all good learning happens over beer, right? ”
The three speakers lined up for Banff’s first Nerd Nite include, “Rob Murray, and he will be discussing sound editing and what happens at the radio daily, ” Belanger said. “And we have Kevin Van Tighem, he was a past superintendent of the (Banff National) Park and he’s talking about what would you do to change what happened in the flood and getting into some science behind it. Our third speaker is Dr. Scott Forbes, a post-doc at the U of C and he’s talking about nutrition, physical activity and cognition and how it directly relates to Alzheimer’s and the research related there.
“A bunch of nerdy topics ... usually we go for a diversity of topics and joked around a lot that there’s everything from The Simpsons, to Star Trek to science itself. I’ve seen a presentation from NASA about updates on the research on Mars to the history of DJing, so it’s always striving for a diverse set, ” Belanger said.
“And it happens in your local watering hole. What’s great about it too is having that 18 to 20 minutes gives you a taste of the topic, but doesn’t necessarily go into details. But if you want to learn more about it, you can start learning on your own, so it’s a really nice teaser into topics.
“It’s something that has really taken the world by storm, along with this idea of nerdiness becoming a lot more cool. ”
Banff’s first official Nerd Nite will take place Feb. 26 from 7-10 p.m. at Bruno’s Bar & Grill. Visit, www.eventbrite.ca/e/nerd-nite-banff-1-tickets-10403650599?aff=efbbt to buy a $10 ticket to be there and be square.
Kevin Van Tighem - Fighting the River with Kindness
After the 2013 flood, Calgary’s mayor said “the river was angry. ” Well, maybe it was, and maybe it should have been.
But some of the flood control ideas being bandied about could make it a lot angrier the next time. If we want a happier river, there’s a few things we could do involving rodents, shade, ranchers and maybe even spike belts that would get happier outcomes than waging war with the river with dams and diking and dredging. Floods (and their evil twin, droughts) come from landscapes, not rivers.
Van Tighem will share a few modest proposals for keeping our rivers happy by giving them the kinds of headwaters they deserve.
Rob Murray - Basic Audio Engineering for Nerds
In this presentation, Mountain FM morning show host Rob Murray will show you the basics of editing and producing audio files. You’ll learn some basic tips and tricks for editing your own music library using easy-to-find software. You’ll also discover how this process is used in the world of radio, from editing interviews to creating commercials.
Dr. Scott Forbes - The Role of Exercise and Nutrition on Cognitive Health
Thirty-six million individuals lived with dementia worldwide in 2010, with numbers projected to increase to 115.4 million in 2050.
This has led to the World Health Organization declaring dementia as a public health priority, not only citing the high global prevalence, but the economic impact on families, communities, and health care service providers.
In the absence of curative treatment, prevention is of critical importance. A five-year delay in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease is predicted to reduce the prevalence in the population by 50 per cent.
As such, effective treatment and prevention strategies are of major economic and medical concern. Unfortunately, pharmaceuticals have had little success in preventing or treating age-related cognitive decline. The purpose of this presentation is to outline the recent evidence for non-pharmaceuticals to treat and/or maintain cognitive health as we age.
