Nerd Nite ChCh #23

Are you ready to get nerdy!?
Think TED talks with beer. Discovery Channel meets Drunk History.

Be there AND be square! 

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Speakers

"What a Time to be Alive! (Seriously)"
by John "the Robert" Rynearson

Housing crisis, inflation, war, ram raids, climate change - it's getting a bit intense out there. But despite the world's very real problems and the challenges inherent to our human condition, there has never been a better time to be alive than RIGHT NOW.

John "the Robert" Rynearson was a high school history teacher, guitarist in a ska band, landscaper, and community theatre actor in the last century. Since then he's lived in Japan, met a girl from Dunedin, moved to New Zealand, cleaned out the Eastgate and Palms Farmers stores after the earthquakes, helped to create two children, and now works by day as an HR Tech Consulting Manager and by night as a standup comedian in Christchurch. John has at times felt down about the state of the world, but between reading Steven Pinker, viewing the WWI exhibit at the Canterbury Museum, and rocking out to 220k minutes of Spotify last year - he is on a mission to turn your frown upside down.

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"My Life in Trash – 2002-2022"
by Sharon McIver

Sharon never planned to become an expert in waste reduction, but when she set out to research Aotearoa outdoor electronic dance parties (raves) in 2002, you could say the trash found her, and picking up litter both informed her research and broke her heart. Post doctorate, she worked in the Sustainability Office at the University of Canterbury where she undertook a waste audit and upgraded the recycling system which led in 2012 to the establishment of Our Daily Waste, a waste minimisation consultancy specialising in events, signage, and waste audits. Sharon ran ODW until 2022 – when broken by a decade of sorting other people’s trash – she gave up trying to save humans from extinction and went back to teaching. This is that story.

Dr Sharon McIver is an aquarian earth monkey with a busy brain that has tried on many vocations – care worker, banker, hospo, nanny, music retail, music journalism, eco warrior, and lecturer – but who is currently making a comfortable living out of her twin passions: writing and teaching. Also loves dancing and knitting.

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“Riding the Rollercoaster of Polyamory: Research on the Highs and Lows”
by Patrick Boudreau

Thinking of having your Kate and Edith too? Let’s dive into the latest polyamory research.

Patrick has a PhD in advennture psychology. He is a senior lecturer in spot psychology, a qualified firefighter, skydiver, and pagalider. He gets bored easily, so he has analysed data from a recent study on the disadvantages of polyamory with Dr. Amy Moors, a researcher from the Kinsey Institute.

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Doors: 6:00pm
Presentations: 6:30pm

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