Nerd Nite: ComicCon, DarkMatter, Athens

Description

Online Ticket Sale Complete, Tickets available at the door tonight.

Nerd Nite 65: Comic Con Origins, Insatiable Alcibiades, Dark Matter Detection

• $8 advance tix/$10 at the door
• Monday June 25, 2018
  • 7PM: Doors and Games
  • 8PM: Talks
• Club 21, 2111 Franklin St, Oakland
  • 2 blocks from 19th St BART
• 21+
• FB event
• More info
  
  Mind Over (Dark) Matter: How Scientists Invent New Ways to Detect Dark Matter
  Learn why the search for dark matter takes us deep underground to a former gold mine and requires 20% of the world’s entire supply of xenon,
  and why the “unsuccessful” LUX detector actually taught us a lot about our universe without seeing anything at all. Then follow the path from new hardware to new data to new breakthroughs as the new LZ detector races to identify the elusive dark matter particles that make up 95% of our reality, and why finding them is so important.
  
  (Lucie Tvrznikova)
  
  The Insatiable Alcibiades of Athens
  Beautiful geniuses come in many forms, and the legendary Alcibiades of Athens was likely the most absurd. A brilliant tactician in war, a
  stunning orator, obscenely wealthy, and attractive beyond compare, he carried on with Plato, then heroically led Athens to victory over the
  Spartans before switching sides and leading Spartan armies back against Athens, all while bedding the King’s wife. Put on your Nerd Nite toga
  and follow the *quite* circuitous path of one of history’s most ridiculous characters.
  
  (Teddy de Groot)
  
  The Comic Con Origin Story
  Delve deep into the prequel-worthy origin stories of sci-fi fandom and Comic Con in America. Find out how Comic Con went from a small
  gathering of the world’s most passionate comics fans at the Hotel Coronado to the modern behemoth that drove comics, science fiction and
  cosplay into the cultural mainstream. Plus hear reports from the very first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, attended by aspiring
  young writers Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, where the founder of science fiction fandom Forrest J Ackerman introduced the first known
  cosplay.
  
  (Bob Calhoun)
  
  Plus
  Beer and cocktails from Club 21
  Beats from DJ Rubberband Girl
  The Lumpia Company
  The Oakland Public Library