Jo Firestone

Name: ART TECH Exhibition: Infinite Space by Refik Anadol
Start: 2019-6-17T10-10-00-00
End: 2019-6-17T22-22-30-00
Location: ARTECHOUSE

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Filter Events

17jun10:00 am10:30 pmART TECH Exhibition: Infinite Space by Refik Anadolat ARTECHOUSE10:00 am - 10:30 pm ARTECHOUSE

17jun6:00 pm8:30 pmProfs & Pints: Spiders, a Love Story6:00 pm - 8:30 pm Bier Baron Tavern

Event Details

Profs and Pints presents: “Spiders, a Love Story,” with leading arachnid expert Linda S. Rayor, senior lecturer and senior research associate in Cornell University’s Department of Entomology and former co-host of the Science Channel’s Monster Bug Wars.

Spiders are the dominant terrestrial predators on Earth and have a major impact on most ecosystems. Humans have long looked upon them with a combination of fear and fascination, given their unusual biology and the ability of a few species to harm us with their venom. Most of us, however, have very little understanding of them, and their behavioral biology is far more interesting than commonly known.

Come learn all about arachnids from Linda Rayor, senior lecturer and senior research associate in Cornell University’s Department of Entomology, long-time researcher and lover of spiders, and former co-host of the Science Channel’s Monster Bug Wars. Her fascinating talk will weave together facts that will leave you appreciating spiders more than you have since Charlotte beckoned you from her web.

This presentation won’t be something you’d hear read aloud from a children’s book, however. No, Dr. Rayor is going to focus a lot on spider sex, which she sees as one of the richest areas of research in behavioral arachnology. Moreover, the sex she’ll be discussing is anything but “vanilla.” You’ll learn how spiders engage in multiple forms of seduction, and how many are into sexual cannibalism and genital mutilation. Extreme size differences in the sexes further spice things up. Much of her talk will be spun from her research on big huntsmen spiders, which she describes as “gorgeous” and “social.” Who wouldn’t swipe right if it meant having someone like that sitting beside them on a tuffet?

While conflict, competition, and cannibalism are the norm for most spider interactions, 2% of spiders live in cooperative groups. Dr. Rayor will describe what they get out of living with up to hundreds of their closest kin. She also will discuss the stunning array of adaptations that spiders have evolved to hunt better and avoid being eaten by their own diverse assortment of predators, and she’ll tell you how spider venom is being researched as a potential source of a treatment for many human diseases.

You won’t have to worry about getting washed down any water spouts, but the Bier Baron will have its beer taps flowing. (Advance tickets: $12. Door: $15, save $2 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later. Please give yourself plenty of time to place any orders and get settled in.)

Time

(Monday) 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Location

Bier Baron Tavern

1523 22nd St NW Washington DC 20037

Cost

Advance tickets: $12. Door: $15, save $2 with a student ID.

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17jun6:30 pm7:30 pmFREE Fitness sessions in Chinatown ParkDC Mayor's Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs6:30 pm - 7:30 pm Chinatown Park

17jun7:00 pmCucow/ Triathalon7:00 pm U Street Music Hall

18jun10:00 am10:30 pmART TECH Exhibition: Infinite Space by Refik Anadolat ARTECHOUSE10:00 am - 10:30 pm ARTECHOUSE

18jun6:30 pmLive Nation Presents... The Lonely Island6:30 pm The Anthem

18jun6:30 pm9:00 pmProfs & Pints: The Green New Deal and Climate Colonialism6:30 pm - 9:00 pm La Pop, a cultural salon

Event Details

Profs and Pints presents: “The Green New Deal and Climate Colonialism,” with Olufemi Taiwo, assistant professor of philosophy at Georgetown University and scholar of environmental-justice issues.

The Green New Deal has changed the conversation among progressive Democrats about how to deal with climate change, shifting the focus from simply managing a disaster to using an existential threat to build a more just society. Should this legislative concept be transformed into actual policies, however, some of the solutions it engenders could make global inequality worse. It could even exacerbate “climate colonialism,” or the domination of less powerful countries and peoples through initiatives meant to slow the pace of global warming.

To understand why this is the case, we need to understand colonialism differently. We often imagine the most direct forms of colonialism, where the imperial power has a strong military and administrative presence. However, historically, the British, German, and French empires often have preferred to engage in more indirect forms of colonial domination in much of Africa and South Asia. The Green New Deal would give birth to a massive policy initiative by the world’s most powerful nation that could spawn new forms of indirect colonial domination.

Join Olufemi Taiwo, a scholar of issues related to environmental justice, as he discusses the potential hazards. He’ll describe how the clearest threats of climate colonialism stem from proposals dealing with land use and the potential to reserve large tracts of land for the development of renewable energy, carbon removal, reforestation, or greener agricultural methods. Much of the world’s available land is in poor countries and inhabited by the world’s most politically marginalized people, and our efforts to mitigate climate change could very well come at their expense. European demands for “carbon offsets” in Uganda and Tanzania have shown this possibility is not simply imagined.

The talk won’t offer any easy solutions, but that’s the point. What it might do is leave well-intentioned people aware of how efforts to do good can cause harm. (Advance tickets: $12. Doors: $15. Save $2 with a student ID. Posted time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later. Please allow yourself plenty of time to get seated and settled in.)

Time

(Tuesday) 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Location

La Pop, a cultural salon

1847 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, DC 20000

Cost

Advance tickets: $12. Door: $15, save $2 with a student ID.

Learn More

Calendar GoogleCal

18jun7:00 pm9:00 pmJustice Trivia: Pride Edition7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Satellite Room

18jun7:00 pmKishi Bashi - Omoiyari Intimate Album Release Showw/ Takenobu7:00 pm 9:30 Club