Chapter 2
Speakers for our 2nd Nerdnite were:
Daniel Hurley:
“Tango: what do silver and settlers in turn-of-the-century Argentina have to do with a modern participatory art form?”
Daniel Hurley gives us a brief history of the music and dance of tango; from simple music created by displaced people, to a subculture present all over the world. Tango dance is easy to learn, and based on understandable physical principles – but there are no rules, and every couple looks different when they dance. Tango music has been played for more than a century – but there are violent disagreements even today about what is, and is not, tango. Listen to this talk, and the next time you see a black-clad stranger walk across an empty space, stop, and look speculatively at the floor, you’ll know what they’re thinking.
Brendan Moyle
“An accidental tourist- exploring the illegal markets for wildlife”
Brendan Moyle, (of http://sciblogs.co.nz/chthonic-wildlife-ramblings/) Poaching of wildlife is a serious threat to many endangered species. Effective strategies to address this need to be developed. This leads into the less conventional research I’ve been doing in Asia. As neither smugglers nor their customers are good at filling out statistical returns, a more on-the-ground approach is required. This leads to encounters that never quite get into any academic journals.
Steven Galbraith
“Six impossible things (in cryptography) before breakfast”
Steven Galbraith – Associate Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Auckland and a leading researcher on elliptic curve cryptography will give us a whirlwind tour of some concepts in cryptography and explain how a little simple mathematics goes a long way to solving interesting problems. Is it possible to send credit card details securely over the internet? How do I know that software updates are not a virus? Can I share a secret? What has mathematics got to do with any of this? If you would like to speak or want to suggest someone that you think should speak (or something that you want to hear about), let me know, contact details on the contact page. Funny that.
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