
Learn real legal lessons from Marvel (during the release of Avengers: Endgame), discover how we create the heaviest elements (during the International Year of the Periodic Table), and get the complete history of Hip Hop in California (30 years after the release of U Can’t Touch This).
If the Glove Fits: Legal Lessons from the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Using Marvel stories to understand how the legal process really works is as easy as snapping your fingers. Yes Dr. Strange is a superhero, but find out how he saved the world using contract law. Was Star-Lord really the rightful owner of the Morag Infinity Stone, do the Sokovia Accords pass the Constitutional test, and how, exactly, do we prosecute Thanos? Get ready for Marvel’s Endgame with a rollicking review of legal issues from the Marvel Universe.
Josh Gilliland is the co-creator of The Legal Geeks and gave a very popular talk on Star Wars Law at Nerd Nite East Bay in 2018. The Legal Geeks made the ABA Web 100 for Best Legal Blog for 2017 and 2018, and was nominated for Best Podcast for the Geekie Awards. Josh has presented at legal conferences and comic book conventions and ties a mean bow tie.
Building New Elements Beyond the Periodic Table
Like modern day and much more scientific alchemists, nuclear chemists work to construct elements that don’t exist on earth but may reside on proton-packed Islands of Stability off the far end of the periodic table, where these new heaviest elements could be long lived. Learn how six new elements were added to the periodic table in the last seven years, and the techniques scientists use to construct and deduce the physical and chemical properties of new elements from just a few ephemeral atoms.
Jacklyn Gates is the Group Leader of the Heavy Element Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She earned her PhD in nuclear chemistry in 2008 and spent a year in Germany before returning to the US to join the Heavy Element Group.
Understanding the History of Hip Hop Culture in California
Learn about the history of Hip Hop in Northern California, separated from the gratuitous depictions presented by modern media. Explore the original music, and find out how a culture rooted in empowerment for communities of color has been quietly co-opted by three corporations that now control 90% of the Hip Hop market. See how the Hip Hop audience has changed over the years, and how Hip Hop can once again be used to support local communities.
Khafre Jay is the Executive Director and Founder of Hip Hop for Change, an Oakland 501c3 that uses grassroots activism and education to advocate for social justice in the Bay Area. He has been a part of the Bay Area Hip Hop activist community for nearly 20 years and works to reshape understanding of Hip Hop culture and its power for good.
Plus…
- Music from DJ Rubberband Girl
- Drinks from Club 21
- Eats available for purchase from Miss Arepita
- Brain filling info from the Oakland Public Library
We’re off this month, but please swing by Office Hours on 12/17.
We’re also offering $5 tickets to our January show this whole month. Talks:
- Evolutionary Biology of HIV (Alison Feder, UC Berkeley)
- Stop Motion Animation (Victoria Rose, Puppet maker)
- Granny Still Gets it On: Aging and Sexual Health (Laura Fernandez, Alameda Health System and Highland Hospital)
And, as usual:
- Eats: Miss Arepita
- Beats: DJ Rubberband Girl
- Reading Sheets: OPL

We’re off in December, but welcome your feedback as we plan next year’s shows. We’ll have a few pitchers of beer to share and look forward to chatting with you.
Monday 12/17/2018
6:30PM-7:30PM
Good Hop, 2421 Telegaph, Oakland
FREE
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***To support our NorCal neighbors affected by the Camp Fire, Nerd Nite East Bay will be donating all of the proceeds from our 11/26 show to the relief effort.
Golden Valley Bank is collecting funds and is a vetted, local bank and charity organization with 100% of donations going to those in need.
www.goldenvalley.bank/Community-Foundation.aspx
Come see the show and contribute to an important source of help for your fellow Californians. Thank you!***
Follow the legendary journey that mapped the Grand Canyon, find out how California detects election hacking, and see how seed biodiversity critical to the future of earth’s food supply is being saved!
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Doors, Drinks and Games at 7PM, Talks at 8PM. 21+ Please.
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RSVP on Facebook HERE

The Epic Quest to Map the Grand Canyon
Descend into the story of the greatest map making feat of the mid-20th century, as 700 helicopter trips, over one hundred miles of trails surveyed by hand (and foot), and thousands of manual angle measurements created the amazing 1978 map of the Grand Canyon, a still legendary cartographic accomplishment. Find out how new laser range-finders and theodolites turned impossible cartography into merely extremely difficult map making, how three-dimensional topography is made accessible on a two-dimensional map, and see how color maps are made from field data to create beautiful, useful images.
Betsy Mason is the co-author of All Over the Map, based on the eponymous blog from National Geographic, which explores the intriguing stories behind maps across history. She was an MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow, science reporter, and the online science editor for Wired.
Saving Seeds for Earth’s Unknown Future
With extreme environmental stress brought on by climate change, maintaining a wide range of genetic options that will allow plants to “discover” solutions for survival on our changing planet is the best and perhaps only solution. Learn why seed and crop biodiversity is critical in droughts, and how Syrian seeds will save the American wheat crop. See how the corporate seed industry has narrowed the genetics of crops, lament the 75% of seed variation that has gone extinct in the last century, and discover how seed banks are injecting much needed variation into our planet’s biome.
Mark Schapiro is the author of Seeds of Resistance and has spent three decades as an investigative journalist focused on the environment. He has published numerous books and teaches in the UC-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Как рассказать, взломали ли выборы
(How To Tell If An Election Has Been Hacked)
Can election officials ever stop all software errors, malware, malfeasance and foreign hacking? Nyet! But science and math can still give us the “right” answers. Learn how mandated Risk-Limiting Audits (RLAs), now the law in California, harness statistics to detect voting manipulation. Then learn about the movement by prominent scientists, statisticians and voting advocates to push past political opposition to RLAs and restore confidence in the US electoral system.
Philip B. Stark is the Associate Dean for the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and a Professor of Statistics at UC-Berkeley. His work focuses on developing confidence procedures for specific goals, including the U.S. census, climate modeling, the food web, geriatric hearing loss, and product liability. Election auditing methods developed by Philip have been incorporated into laws in California, Colorado, and Rhode Island.
Plus book sales from E.M. Wolfman General Interest Small Bookstore, food from Grilled Cheese Guy, music from DJ Rubberband Girl, info from the Oakland Public Library, and drinks from Club 21 in Uptown Oakland!
See you on Monday Nov 26 at Club 21 in Oakland!
Doors, Drinks & Games at 7PM, Talks at 8PM. 21+ Please.
Tix: squareup.com/store/drinkified-learning-llc