Nerd Nite October: Accordians, cryptographers, and meritocracy

Come to the next Nerd Nite for another night of DCs finest nerdery!

When: Saturday October 8, 6:30PM
Where: DC9 1940 9th St NW
Tickets: http://www.dcnine.com/calendar/

Music by: The Charm Offensive

And the speakers are:

Push My Buttons: Accordions and Stigma
By Jerzy Wieczorek

Description: As one bumper sticker says, "Subvert the dominant paradigm:
play accordion!" But how did the... [read more]

Come to the next Nerd Nite for another night of DCs finest nerdery!

When: Saturday October 8, 6:30PM
Where: DC9 1940 9th St NW
Tickets: http://www.dcnine.com/calendar/

Music by: The Charm Offensive

And the speakers are:

Push My Buttons: Accordions and Stigma
By Jerzy Wieczorek

Description: As one bumper sticker says, "Subvert the dominant paradigm:
play accordion!" But how did the accordion get to be so stigmatized?
How have accordionists responded to their "deviant" status? And does
the threat of a live demonstration warrant including earplugs in the
entry fee?

Bio: As the owner of a dead man's accordion, Jerzy Wieczorek is now
cursed to roam the earth, uncovering the truth about the instrument's
sordid past. His downtime is spent crunching numbers and decorating
cakes.

A History of Hiding
By Chris DiGiamo

Description: Did you ever wonder what the Kama Sutra, Julius Caesar, and Wi-Fi internet access have in common? All three of them created or detailed methods of hiding data that are known to be broken today. Cryptography and Steganography are the studies of securing and hiding data. Modern cryptographic systems used to secure your Gmail session are impressively more complex than what was used to secure German secrets during WWII. Learn how some of the most important secrets today are protected by systems of questionable security and how you can out-trick advanced crypto experts by using your yearbook.

Bio: Christopher DiGiamo is an Information Security Specialist for the federal government. Chris enjoys cycling, photography, reverse-engineering malicious binary executables, and pretzels.

Merit Badges: How America Explains Away the Problem of Inequality
By Chris Lehmann

Description: There is no more revered article in the American success creed than the idea of meritocracy—the fancy that each and every one of us achieves prosperity or poverty, purely on the basis of our demonstrated individual worth. Sadly, this folk belief bears no relationship to the actual working of the U.S. economy—any more than, say, “Jersey Shore” functions as a PSA on the dangers of steroid or substance abuse. In this talk, I will explore the strange tale of how Americans learned to love meritocracy even before they knew what it was.

Bio: Chris Lehmann is employed, ever precariously, as an editor for Yahoo News, a co-editor of BookForum, and some sort of editor for The Baffler, whenever it may deign to return on yon cultural scene. His band, The Charm Offensive, will be furnishing the evening's interstitial entertainment and his book, Rich People Things, should be available for sale if his publisher gets his shit together.

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