March 2013 Poster
Nerd Nite is coming to Orlando! Joining the ranks of more than 50 cities across the globe, Orlando is now hosting an evening of fun-yet-informative talks across many disciplines – all while the audience drinks along in a casual bar atmosphere. Nerds and non-nerds alike gather to meet, drink, and learn something new.
March 14th (Pi Day!) kicks off the first ever Orlando Nerd Nite and throughout the night we will interact with a growing collective of cyborgs, take a flight powered by french fries, and end up getting really high in outer space.
It’s like the Discovery Channel , with beer!
Thursday, March 14th, 7:00pm
Stardust Video and Coffee, 1842 E. Winter Park Rd. Winter Park, FL 32803.
The details of the three presentations for the evening are:
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“How To Survive the Robot Apocalypse: Cyborgs > Humans.” by Lance R. Vick
Meet and have a discussion with an actual cyborg that has both near field communication (NFC) radio and neodymium magnet surgical implants. Learn about his current capabilities, discussion of other upgraded humans, as well as future upgrade plans and possibilities for biohacking. When robots take over the world, we figure they will probably kill off the cyborgs last. Becoming a cyborg means living longer! Resistance is futile!
Lance R. Vick is a software engineer, open source software advocate, entrepreneur, and member of Orlando’s FamiLAB hackerspace. Between building startups, and providing custom technology solutions for many industry leading companies (including 3M, Amway Arena, Mayo Clinic, Citigroup, and Atlantis Resorts) he has built experience in a variety of areas. A few of his projects include a mobile web based showroom control system, a web based QR code authentication platform, a 360 degree projection gaming system, a markdown driven static blogging library, and a musician scouting website for bands.
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“High Frying: Biofuel Is Not Just for Hippies Anymore.” by Carol Sugars
What happens when you take a soviet era military jet and fuel it with cooking oil? The world’s first 100% biofuel-powered transcontinental jet flight! Biofuel isn’t just for powering converted Volkswagen Bus Vanagons anymore. In this talk, Carol will discuss the challenges and excitement of piloting this historic flight and what it means for the future of “alternative” transportation.
Specializing in Avionics/Aerospace Systems Engineering Carol Sugars has been involved in various design and development projects involving radar, communications, noise cancellation technology and aviation fuels. With over 10,000 hours of flight time she has flown more than 50 different types of aircraft all over the world, from light single engine to four engine heavy jets, and holds licenses for Airline Transport Pilot, Flight Engineer, FAA Gold Seal Flight Instructor and Ground Instructor.
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“Growing Weed in Space: Can You Get Too High?” by Dr. Luke B. Roberson
With the ever-changing political atmosphere regarding controlled substances like marijuana, are there any implications of growing “illegal” plants in international space? Would space weed be the same as its terrestrial counterpart or would it result in an evolved, super drug? This talk will take a practical and technically achievable look at answering these far out questions.
Luke B. Roberson, Ph.D. is a systems engineer for science payload development at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. He is responsible for designing, building, verifying, and validating science experiments for deployment to the International Space Station (ISS). His two current projects are focused on plant growth chambers with the role of integrating science and engineering requirements to create a high fidelity experimental platform for research aboard ISS. Previously Dr. Roberson served as a research scientist at KSC inventing and developing new technologies for the space industry. In addition, Dr. Roberson is the President of Vaulted Technologies, a startup company empowered to create revolutionary inventions to change the world. Dr. Roberson has 3 issued patents, 10 pending patents, over 20 published scientific articles, and co-authored a book.