Reading Geek Night Online Talk & Pub Quiz Evening – Tuesday 13th July 2021

To break up the long days until the we all get the vaccine Reading Geek Night is running monthly Virtual Talks & Pub Quiz Evenings (2nd Tuesday of every month). For details and the Zoom link for the event please REGISTER HERE

This month the floor will be an open mic ‘short slot – chalk & talk’ format. We will be kicking off the evening with some cool subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics…) … Come along for online networking, drinks and feel free to grab the virtual mic when its free and share your geekery 🙂

Theme: Virtual Talk & Pub Quiz Evening

• 7:00pm Social & Networking
• 7:30pm Welcome and Introductions
• 7:35pm Open mic – Chalk & Talk
• 8:05pm Comfort break & top up drinks
• 8:15pm Pub Quiz 
• 9:00pm Social & Networking
• 9:30pm End

Usual format is to gather from 7:00pm and commence the talks at 7:30pm. Talks are ~20mins + Q&A with plenty of time for networking and beer.

Look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in giving a talk at an upcoming event please contact us via twitter: @RDGGeekNight, Facebook or email us: talks [at] rdggeeknight.org

Reading Geek Night Online Talk & Pub Quiz Evening – Tuesday 8th June 2021

To break up the long days until the we all get the vaccine Reading Geek Night is running monthly Virtual Talks & Pub Quiz Evenings (2nd Tuesday of every month). For details and the Zoom link for the event please REGISTER HERE

Theme: Virtual Talk & Pub Quiz Evening

• 7:00pm Social & Networking
• 7:30pm Welcome and Introductions
• 7:35pm The Story of Filament Light Bulbs Part 3 (John Holden)
• 8:05pm Comfort break & top up drinks
• 8:15pm Pub Quiz 
• 9:00pm Social & Networking
• 9:30pm End

Backgrounder:

The Story of Filament Light Bulbs Part 3 (John Holden)

In the third part of the story of the filament light bulb other materials finally replaced the carbon filament. This is the story of those alternatives including ceramic lights that did not need to be protected by a glass bulb but needed pre-heating with a spirit burner or electric heater. From the range of metals used tungsten proved the least practical as it was too brittle to be drawn into filaments. Some technical developments overcame this problem and tungsten became the filament material until the end of the filament light bulb era. Increases in efficiency  are described in the context of the manufacturing processes and battles for domination of the light bulb market.

Usual format is to gather from 7:00pm and commence the talks at 7:30pm. Talks are ~20mins + Q&A with plenty of time for networking and beer.

Look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in giving a talk at an upcoming event please contact us via twitter: @RDGGeekNight, Facebook or email us: talks [at] rdggeeknight.org

Reading Geek Night Online Talk & Pub Quiz Evening – Tuesday 11th May 2021

To break up the long days until the we all get the vaccine Reading Geek Night is running monthly Virtual Talks & Pub Quiz Evenings (2nd Tuesday of every month). For details and the Zoom link for the event please REGISTER HERE

Theme: Virtual Talk & Pub Quiz Evening

• 7:00pm Social & Networking
• 7:30pm Welcome and Introductions
• 7:35pm Film Audio Post Production or What you hear is not what was said! (John Ellwood – Synchro Arts)
• 8:05pm Comfort break & top up drinks
• 8:15pm Pub Quiz 
• 9:00pm Social & Networking
• 9:30pm End

Backgrounder:

Film Audio Post Production or What you hear is not what was said! (John Ellwood – Synchro Arts)

Films have to be perfect, any technical flaws in the picture or audio can break the illusion.

Dialogue – the spoken words are a major component of the film, well done dialogue carries the story and is generally unnoticed by the audience. Badly done dialogue can wreck the film.

John and the team at Synchro Arts developed an Academy Award winning technology which became core to their VocAlign & ReVoice products allowing new audio to replace what was originally said, without breaking the illusion. The technology is used extensively in the film/music industry (The Goonies, X-Men, Shrek, Game of Thrones and Dora the Explorer).

John will give us an insight into how the technology came about during the 80’s and 90’s, its application and evolution plus a demonstration of it in action!

Usual format is to gather from 7:00pm and commence the talks at 7:30pm. Talks are ~20mins + Q&A with plenty of time for networking and beer.

Look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in giving a talk at an upcoming event please contact us via twitter: @RDGGeekNight, Facebook or email us: talks [at] rdggeeknight.org

Reading Geek Night Online Talk & Pub Quiz Evening – Tuesday 13th April 2021

To break up the long days until the we all get the vaccine Reading Geek Night is running monthly Virtual Talks & Pub Quiz Evenings (2nd Tuesday of every month). For details and the Zoom link for the event please REGISTER HERE

Please note we are starting at 7:30pm this month.

Theme: Virtual Talk & Pub Quiz Evening

• 7:30pm Social & Networking
• 8:00pm Welcome and Introductions
• 8:05pm Gravitational Waves: 5 years on (Dr Chris North, School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University)
• 8:35pm Comfort break & top up drinks
• 8:45pm Pub Quiz 
• 9:30pm Social & Networking
• 9:45pm End

Backgrounder:

Gravitational Waves: 5 years on (Dr Chris North, School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University)

The LIGO experiment detected gravitational waves in 2015, announced to the world in 2016. This marked the dawn of the era of gravitational wave astronomy, and the field has been moving on apace – there is now an international network of detectors. I’ll give an overview of what gravitational waves are, how we detect them, what they tell us about the Universe, and what we have to look forward to in the future from the youngest field in observational astronomy.

Dr Chris North is a Physics and Astronomy Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University. Chris has authored a number books and is a semi-regular broadcaster and a familiar face from the BBC’s Sky at Night.

Usual format is to gather from 7:00pm and commence the talks at 7:30pm. Talks are ~20mins + Q&A with plenty of time for networking and beer.

Look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in giving a talk at an upcoming event please contact us via twitter: @RDGGeekNight, Facebook or email us: talks [at] rdggeeknight.org

Reading Geek Night Online Talk & Pub Quiz Evening – Tuesday 9th March 2021

To break up the long days until the we all get the vaccine Reading Geek Night is running monthly Virtual Talks & Pub Quiz Evenings (2nd Tuesday of every month). For details and the Zoom link for the event please REGISTER HERE

This month the floor will be an open mic ‘short slot – chalk & talk’ format. We will be kicking off the evening with some cool subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics…) … Come along for online networking, drinks and feel free to grab the virtual mic when its free and share your geekery 🙂

Theme: Virtual Talk & Pub Quiz Evening

• 7:00pm Social & Networking
• 7:30pm Welcome and Introductions
• 7:35pm Open mic – Chalk & Talk
• 8:05pm Comfort break & top up drinks
• 8:15pm Pub Quiz 
• 9:00pm Social & Networking
• 9:30pm End

Usual format is to gather from 7:00pm and commence the talks at 7:30pm. Talks are ~20mins + Q&A with plenty of time for networking and beer.

Look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in giving a talk at an upcoming event please contact us via twitter: @RDGGeekNight, Facebook or email us: talks [at] rdggeeknight.org

Reading Geek Night Online Talk & Pub Quiz Evening – Tuesday 9th February 2021

To break up the long days until the we all get the vaccine Reading Geek Night is running monthly Virtual Talks & Pub Quiz Evenings (2nd Tuesday of every month). For details and the Zoom link for the event please REGISTER HERE

Theme: Virtual Talk & Pub Quiz Evening

• 7:00pm Social & Networking
• 7:30pm Welcome and Introductions
• 7:35pm CRISPR-Cas: A Novel Solution to Antimicrobial Resistance in Foodborne Bacteria (Joss Lazenby – University of Reading)
• 8:05pm Comfort break & top up drinks
• 8:15pm Pub Quiz 
• 9:00pm Social & Networking
• 9:30pm End

Backgrounder:

CRISPR-Cas: A Novel Solution to Antimicrobial Resistance in Foodborne Bacteria(Joss Lazenby – University of Reading)

Rising antimicrobial resistance constitutes a global health crisis, as bacterial pathogens become increasingly difficult to treat with conventional therapy. Until recently, large quantities of antibiotics have been used for treatment, prophylaxis, and growth promotion in agriculture without strict regulation. This led to the enrichment of antibiotic resistance in the poultry microbiome, increasing the potential for transmission to humans through food. Despite new stewardship programs restricting the usage of antibiotics important to human health, resistance genes persist throughout the poultry microbiome. This talk will explore challenges posed by antimicrobial resistance, and how the gene-editing CRISPR-Cas technology could be utilised against pathogenic bacteria in food.

Usual format is to gather from 7:00pm and commence the talks at 7:30pm. Talks are ~20mins + Q&A with plenty of time for networking and beer.

Look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in giving a talk at an upcoming event please contact us via twitter: @RDGGeekNight, Facebook or email us: talks [at] rdggeeknight.org

Reading Geek Night Online Talk Pub Quiz Evening – Tuesday 12th January 2021

To break up the long days until the we all get the vaccine Reading Geek Night is running monthly Virtual Talks & Pub Quiz Evenings (2nd Tuesday of every month). For details and the Zoom link for the event please REGISTER HERE

This month the floor will be an open mic ‘short slot – chalk & talk’ format. We will be kicking off the evening with some cool subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics…) … Come along for online networking, drinks and feel free to grab the virtual mic when its free and share your geekery 🙂

In memory of our friend and long standing #rdggeek member, Ant Parker.

Theme: Virtual Talk & Pub Quiz Evening

• 7:00pm Social & Networking
• 7:30pm Welcome and Introductions
• 7:35pm Open mic – Chalk & Talk (Talk 1: ‘Riding on air – a homebrew Landrover Conversion (John Bickerton);
• 8:00pm Comfort break & top up drinks
• 8:10pm Pub Quiz 
• 9:00pm Social & Networking
• 9:30pm End

Usual format is to gather from 7:00pm and commence the talks at 7:30pm. Talks are ~20mins + Q&A with plenty of time for networking and beer.

Look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in giving a talk at an upcoming event please contact us via twitter: @RDGGeekNight, Facebook or email us: talks [at] rdggeeknight.org

Reading Geek Night Online Talk Pub Quiz Evening – Tuesday 8th December 2020

To break up the long days Reading Geek Night is back for Virtual Talks & Pub Quiz Evenings until we are released from lockdown. For details and the Zoom link for the event please REGISTER HERE

Theme: Virtual Talk & Pub Quiz Evening

• 7:00pm Social & Networking
• 7:30pm Welcome and Introductions
• 7:35pm Adventures in Micropython and conundrums like Deepsleep (Andy Harris)
• 8:00pm Comfort break & top up drinks
• 8:10pm Christmas Pub Quiz 
• 9:00pm Social & Networking
• 9:30pm End

Usual format is to gather from 7:00pm and commence the talks at 7:30pm. Talks are ~20mins + Q&A with plenty of time for networking and beer.

Look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in giving a talk at an upcoming event please contact us via twitter: @RDGGeekNight, Facebook or email us: talks [at] rdggeeknight.org

Reading Geek Night Online Talk Pub Quiz Evening – Tuesday 10th November 2020

To break up the long days Reading Geek Night is back for Virtual Talks & Pub Quiz Evenings until we are released from lockdown. For details and the Zoom link for the event please REGISTER HERE

Theme: Virtual Talk & Pub Quiz Evening

• 7:00pm Social & Networking
• 7:30pm Welcome and Introductions
• 7:35pm The Story of Filament Light Bulbs Part 2 (John Holden)
• 8:00pm Comfort break & top up drinks
• 8:10pm Pub Quiz 
• 9:00pm Social & Networking
• 9:30pm End

Backgrounder:

The Story of Filament Light Bulbs Part 2 (John Holden):

A case study of the Robertson carbon filament light bulb factory in Hammersmith, London.

In the late Victorian Era the first commercially successful carbon filament light bulbs were made. Improvements were made in the following decades and by the Edwardian era they were produced in large numbers. The manufacturing process is described with the support of a series of unique photographs of the inside of the factory taken circa 1908.

Technical developments opened the door to the whole new industry of synthetic fibres and fabrics as carbon fibres were now spun rather than being made from natural fibres such as bamboo, cotton or paper.

Usual format is to gather from 7:00pm and commence the talks at 7:30pm. Talks are ~20mins + Q&A with plenty of time for networking and beer.

Look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in giving a talk at an upcoming event please contact us via twitter: @RDGGeekNight, Facebook or email us: talks [at] rdggeeknight.org

Reading Geek Night Online Talk & Pub Quiz Evening – Tuesday 13th October 2020

To break up the long days Reading Geek Night is back for Virtual Talks & Pub Quiz Evenings until we are released from lockdown. For details and the link for the event REGISTER HERE

Speaker needed for this event. Please contact us at talks [at] rdggeeknight.org if you would like to give a talk.

Theme: Virtual Talk & Pub Quiz Evening

• 7:00pm Social & Networking
• 7:30pm Welcome and Introductions
• 7:35pm Low tech photography. Cardboard, beer cans, sewing needles and vitamin c (Jim Anning)
• 8:00pm Comfort break & top up drinks
• 8:10pm Pub Quiz 
• 9:00pm Social & Networking
• 9:30pm End

Backgrounder:

Low tech photography. Cardboard, beer cans, sewing needles and vitamin c (Jim Anning):

If you have never made a pinhole camera from a cardboard box, it’s super-easy to do and oodles of fun. Jim recently embarked on his journey into analogue photography. He bought a job lot of darkroom stuff on eBay and built a working space in his house. Join us to see the fantastic results that can be achieved with a bit of light and chemistry!

Usual format is to gather from 7:00pm and commence the talks at 7:30pm. Talks are ~20mins + Q&A with plenty of time for networking and beer.

Look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in giving a talk at an upcoming event please contact us via twitter: @RDGGeekNight, Facebook or email us: talks [at] rdggeeknight.org