NEPTUN Biography

In many countries, there are active socialist and communist parties, but not in the United States. Why not? Come join as we explore the history of the American left and the labor movement, with everything from all-out battles against the federal government to backroom political backstabbing and everything in between.

The American Civil War ended in 1865, we abolished slavery, and we don't have to think about what happened afterward, right? The reality is that one of the most intense political battles in history took place over the next ten years, and proved that sometimes history is written by the losers.

The Fermi Paradox asks why, in a universe that is so incomprehensibly big, the only intelligent life we know about is located on Earth. In this class, we will walk through the basis of the Fermi Paradox and some of the proposed answers to the paradox. Then we will discuss as a group!

Keys, tables, strings, and dictionaries aren't just an odd collection of household items. This course will teach you how these concepts and more are used to build a database, and how databases get used by companies, governments and non-profits every day. We'll also touch on SQL, the programming language usually used to manage data in a database.

The American Civil War ended in 1865, we abolished slavery, and we don't have to think about what happened afterward, right? The reality is that one of the most intense political battles in history took place over the next decades, and proved that sometimes history is written by the losers.

This course will take a broad look at the history of the rock genre, including its origins, many of its major movements, and its intersection with contemporary historical events. We'll definitely be putting on music that relates to the content in the lecture!

Promising revolutionary looking to seize control of the government? Aspiring dictator looking to protect yourself from threats against your power? Come join this course that will examine the factors that make countries particularly vulnerable to coups and the mechanics of a coup d’etat, using examples from real-world coup attempts.

In this interactive class, you will take the role of a military commander as we walk through a real historical conflict. At critical junctures in the battle, you will get to vote on the course of the battle. Will you do better than history?

Conversation is probably one of the most important skills for your personal and professional life. And yet you're almost entirely on your own to figure out how to develop it by trial and error. I would be that no one has ever taught you how to hold a conversation. This class aims to change that by presenting some principles of conversations and how they work, and exploring some strategies you can use to improve on your conversational skills.

The Fermi Paradox asks why, in a universe that is so incomprehensibly big, the only intelligent life we know about is located on Earth. In this class, we will walk through the basis of the Fermi Paradox and some of the proposed answers to the paradox. Then we will discuss as a group!

The American Civil War ended in 1865, we abolished slavery, and we don't have to think about what happened afterward, right? The reality is that one of the most intense political battles in history took place over the next ten years, and proved that sometimes history is written by the losers.

Keys, tables, strings, and dictionaries aren't just an odd collection of household items. This course will teach you how these concepts and more are used to build a database, and how databases get used by companies, governments and non-profits every day. We'll also touch on SQL, the programming language usually used to manage data in a database.

In this interactive class, you will take the role of a military commander as we walk through a real historical conflict. At critical junctures in the battle, you will get to vote on the course of the battle. Will you do better than history? ** Note: This will feature the same content as my previous virtual class. Keep your eyes out in the Spring for a new version!

Promising revolutionary looking to seize control of the government? Aspiring dictator looking to protect yourself from threats against your power? Come join this course that will examine the factors that make countries particularly vulnerable to coups and the mechanics of a coup d’etat, using examples from real-world coup attempts.

This course will take a broad look at the history of the rock genre, including its origins and many of its major historical movements. We'll definitely be putting on music that relates to the content in the lecture!

Military history is a great way to get engaged with history and practice your strategic thinking skills. In this class we'll take a look at a historical battlefield scenario and vote on the strategies we should employ to change history... or not. I'll do my best to present the scenario with accurate fog of war to limit the benefit of hindsight!

Promising revolutionary looking to seize control of the government? Aspiring dictator looking to protect yourself from threats against your power? Come join this course that will examine the factors that make countries particularly vulnerable to coups and the mechanics of a coup d’etat, using examples from real-world coup attempts.

The Milky Way Galaxy alone has billions of stars and makes up just a fraction of the observable universe. And yet, in the entirety of human history, we have never had a confirmed encounter with an alien civilization. Over lunch one day, famous physicist Enrico Fermi asked the question: “Where is everybody?” In this course, we will examine the basis for Fermi’s question and look at some proposed answers to the question, then open it up to discussion about what you think!

The First World War, and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles set the stage for much of modern European and World history. In this course, we will examine some of the key turning points in the war that turned the tide against the Central Powers, look at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and other German plans for the post-war world, and hypothesize about what a Central Powers victory may have looked like.

In this course, we will present three wacky, hard-to-believe stories from the world’s history. The catch is: one of them is a lie. Can you separate out the true stories from the fake? After all, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction...