Nerd Nite XXV
Come out of your winter hibernation for Nerd Nite on Friday January 8th! Do you know how to lower stress and lose weight? Get some sleep! It’s not as scam, we promise — our first speaker, Els van der Helm, will help us navigate dreamland as we see what happens during the 1/3 of our lives we spend asleep. Next, speaker Eveline van Rijswijk will share her nerdy fascination with something overlooked-until-it-isn’t: controversial historical monuments. Uncover what’s happened to some questionable monuments and where Stalin’s bronze shoes went. Between the talks will be our classic “brilletje op, brilletje af” pubquiz. Be there and be square!
DETAILS:
Friday 8 January
Doors at 20:00
First talk at 20:30
at CREA Muziekzaal
Nieuwe Achtergracht 170
1018 WV Amsterdam
The Science of Sleep
by Els van der Helm
Many of us live by the slogan of “work hard, play hard” in our hyper-connected 24/7 world, where our demanding lives keep us glued to digital screens. This Nerd Nite talk will convince you that it should be changed to “work hard, play hard, sleep hard”! Work-related and social distractions on our gadgets have led us to de-prioritize sleep and we’ve let these distractions take over, literally letting them into our bedroom. Whilst we spend a third of our lives asleep, most of us have no idea what happens in our brain while we’re unconscious. In this talk we’ll learn what sleep does for you and why you need it to be back on top of your priority list. All for the sake of living a full, fun, healthy and happy life where you can watch Star Wars marathons/build stuff/memorize obscure trivia even better!
Bio: Els works as a management consultant where she preaches the gospel of sleep, it’s importance, and how to improve it. She has a couple fancy degrees and many fancy publications backing up her credentials as a sleep scientist. When she’s not working (and not sleeping), Els loves dark chocolate, Californian wines, Bikram yoga, rocking out to Elvis, and of course, napping. The only legit reason to wake her up is if the roof is actually on fire.
Please Don’t Touch? A History of Controversial Monuments
by Eveline van Rijswijk
While biking through the city, do you ever pay attention to the countless statues and monuments around you? Probably not — many of them are just being peed on by dogs. But then there is a small category of statues that trigger huge debates and are even vandalized. As a historian, Eveline van Rijswijk is fascinated by what happens when history makes up its mind and a statue becomes a “monumental mistake”. Come and listen to the story of what happened to Stalin’s boots after a revolutionary crowd sawed his 8-meter-tall bronze statue at its knees and get to know where you can still take a selfie with a statue of Lenin.
Bio: Walk down a street with Eveline, and you’ll soon find out she is a historian. When she’s not telling you everything about an obscure monument or old building you just encountered, she’s probably already looking for the next one. During daytime she trains professors to give cool lectures about science. Now it’s her turn!
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