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Back-to-School Gift Certificate Giveaway

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Autumn blog

It's back-to-school season, so we thought it was time to give away a couple of gift certificates. We'll set two winners up with a $50 gift certificate to help you get your learn on!

To enter, just leave a comment below letting us know your favorite fall activity in NYC by Monday, September 8, 2014 at 12pm EDT. We'll select the winners at random and let you know via email/facebook. You have to be 18 and live in the US, btw. 

If you hate FB but still want to participate, just shoot us an email at contest@brooklynbrainery.com

Boring legalese rules? We've got them right here.


Coming up this week: September 8-14

Navigating the Diamond District like a Pro: Tips from Gray & Davis

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A guest post from Ali and Anna from Gray & Davis.


We had a great time talking about antique jewels at the Brainery last week, thanks for having us!

Since our shop is located in the Diamond District, we found that a lot of people in the class were curious about navigating that notorious stretch of 47th between 5th and 6thAvenues. With that in mind, we put together a couple of tips to help pavé your way and avoid any unfortunate cases of buyer’s (or seller’s) remorse.

If you are selling something:

  • Don’t feel like you have to accept the first offer you get. Show your jewelry to a lot of different dealers, and get as many different price quotes as you can. If somebody is trying to low ball you, their offer will quickly reveal itself as the outlier. Honest dealers won’t have an issue with you taking a few hours or a few days to consider things.
  • If you aren’t sure of the value of your piece, don’t suggest a price. You may accidentally undervalue your jewelry! If a dealer asks you how much money you’re hoping to get, it’s ok to tell them you’re just trying to see what people will offer.

If you are buying something:

  • Again, don’t let anyone pressure you into making a quick decision.
  • Do some research online and make sure the business you are dealing with doesn’t have a lot of unhappy customers.
  • Ask what the store’s return policy is, make sure that you are comfortable with it, and make sure that it is in writing (either on your receipt or on their website).
  • On your receipt, ask the dealer write out all the details of your piece, i.e. type of metal, variety, quality and size of gemstones and the approximate age of the piece if you are purchasing an antique. Make sure they guarantee the information on the receipt, so that if you ever find they were incorrect you can get your money back. This is a normal request, and legitimate businesses will be happy to oblige.
  • If you are buying an expensive gemstone, ask if the stone is natural, has been treated or is a synthetic stone. Ask the dealer to put this information in writing as well.
  • Avoid purchasing “fracture filled” or “clarity enhanced” diamonds. These terms refer to diamonds that have been partially filled with glass to make large cracks less apparent. This treatment is not stable, and over time the filling can get cloudy or fall out. Fracture filled diamonds have no real resale value, so don’t get stuck with one!

If you want more information about finding your way around the Diamond District, check out our BLOG.

If you really don’t want to trek to midtown, we’ll have a selection of pieces at the Brooklyn Flea in Williamsburg on September 7th

Introducing: Vintage Visualizations

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Did you want awesome prints of age-old maps and data viz? No sweat, we've got you covered with a brand-new project: Vintage Visualizations.

Once upon a time, long long ago, the United States had just fought the Civil War and was terribly embarrassed about it. "Oh goodness gracious," the government thought. "What did Europe think?"

We needed to do something that made us seem awesome, and so the Census Bureau released a series of gorgeous Census Atlases, full of maps, charts, and eerily-modern-day data visualization. Could a backwater nation track its debt in a full-color chart? Make population pyramids of the blind population? Point out where Methodism was popular with lavish illustration?

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Treemaps of religion by state

The Atlases ran for three decades - 1870, 1880 and 1890 - until they were shelved in favor of less costly means of bragging. Even though they were awesome they were practically hidden for a century or so.

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A choropleth map of milk & butter production 

Two years ago we tracked the Census Atlases down to a repository in the Library of Congress, liberated them into a nice browsable interface, and are now pleased to present something fun and new: the ability to buy prints of those very-fun maps, charts, and data visualizations!

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Ranked state populations

We spent a million or two man-hours trying to get Census Atlas prints made for our space (you've probably seen them framed up front by the couch), and figured we weren't the only folks who wanted copies of neat geological maps or political histories on the go.

Gently placing our nose onto a historical, print-ready grindstone, we've spent the past few months putting together Vintage Visualizations, a one-stop shop for all your historical US map needs. We hope your inner US History teacher enjoys it!

Coming Up at the Brainery: September 22-28

Meet the Mumbles Train

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Horsetrain1870 blog

I was inspired to research railway history after checking out this very cool map of railroad growth in America the other day. One of the neatest stories I uncovered was that of the Mumbles Train, the very first fare-based passenger train in the whole wide world, which began running in 1807 in Wales.

It carried passengers from Swansea to Oystermouth, two towns only about five miles apart, but without a road between them. Originally built to carry horse-drawn wagons of coal and ore shipments, the railway quickly began ferrying people, for a fee, and was incredibly popular for about 20 years, when a road was finally built and cannibalized much of the passenger business.  

But how did the Mumbles Train get its name? The town of Oystermouth was also know as “Mumbles,” and the train quickly took on its nickname, assuring that the world’s first passenger train would also have the best (cutest?) name in all of railroad history.  

Where on Earth was Northern Liberties?

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In 1790, the very first United States Census found that Northern Liberties was the sixth most populous city in all of the United States, weighing in with around 9,900 residents. Granted, the country was pretty small back then, but it made me wonder what caused this Northern Liberties to completely fall off the map. 

As it turns out, Northern Liberties was located in present-day Philadelphia, just north of what is now Center City. It was incorporated into the main city boundaries in 1854 and, appropriately, its last appearance on the chart is in 1850. Knowing this, I checked out the "rank of cities" chart for other Philadelphia neighborhoods and found one more, Southwark, coming in at #10 in 1790. Philadelphia itself ranked #2 in the first census, just behind New York City. 

 

Coming up at the Brainery: September 29 - October 5


Nov 19: MSG Presents All-American Pies

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Each month, Sarah and Soma take on a curious food topic and break down the history, science, and stories behind it. On November 19, Masters of Social Gastronomy tackles the twin pillars of the American pie kingdom: the gentle apple pie and its heavily-spiced cousin, pumpkin pie. (RSVP on Eventbrite)

Think making an apple pie is simple? Not so fast! A trip to the grocery store yields a thousand and one varieties of apples, all bearing well-marketed and uninformative monikers: Gala, Northern Spy, Empire, Honeycrisp, Granny Smith. Learn the rhyme and reason behind the names and the categories, along with the history and science that got turned us into a nation of Red Delicious. We'll uncover the magic each cultivar brings to the dinner table, and how to be sure you're baking the best in your apple pie.

Fall also brings everyone's favorite time of year: pumpkin spice season! We'll learn about the all-American pumpkin pie, and discover how this New World gourd combined with English pie ingenuity to become the classic Thanksgiving dish. Then, we'll see how the pumpkin spice craze started and learn more about the complicated spices and crazy chemistry that make up this unique autumn flavor.

Very Important Details
When: Tuesday, November 19th, 8pm
Where: Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street, Brooklyn
Free, 21+, RSVP

 

Coming up at the Brainery: October 6-12

Good Eggs Pick-up at the Brainery

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Great news: Brooklyn Brainery is now a pick-up spot for Good Eggs! Pick-ups will take place on Tuesdays from 3 to 6:30pm.

Check out their marketplace to see all the local, sustainable goodness available. Good Eggs is awesome (and, well, good!) and we think this is going to be a beautiful friendship.

Join us for the BBC Future World-Changing Ideas Summit

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We're super excited to be partnering with BBC Future on their upcoming World-Changing Ideas Summit on Tuesday, October 21st. We'll be selecting five readers to join us for the day; let us know you're interested in attending by following the instructions below! 

It's going to be a day full of awesome:

Should robots have legal rights? Learn the answer to these questions and many others at BBC Future’s first-ever World-Changing Ideas Summit, a day of transformative conversations with leading thinkers in science, medicine and technology, including: including Ezekiel Emanuel, Vice Provost for Global Initiatives, University of Pennsylvania, Julius Genachowski, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group and former Chairman, FCC, Alexis Ohanian, Partner Y Combinator and Co-founder of reddit, and Alfred Spector, Vice President of Research, Google. To Learn more about the Summit, visit worldchangingideassummit.com

Let us know you're interested in attending by leaving a comment below telling us which panel or speaker you're most excited to see (full list). Be sure to enter by 5pm EDT on Friday, October 10, and we'll select the winners at random and notify you via facebook or email. If you're not a Facebook user but still want to participate, just shoot us an email at BBCfuture@brooklynbrainery.com

Boring legalese rules? We've got them right here.

Coming up at the Brainery: October 13-19

Brainery-Recommended October Happenings

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The leaves are changing, the air's getting crisp, there are apples to bob for, pumpkins to carve--fall has befallen us, and there are some pretty awesome and spooky events ahead.

Tuesday, October 14 - The Society for the Advancement of Social Studies (SASS!) presents Real Scary History at the Bedford. Learn about the history of coffins, the Salem Witch Trials, and little-known serial killers!

Monday, October 20 - October isn't just about Halloween--it's about getting outside in gorgeous fall weather, too! Meet other adventure-minded folk at Outdoorfest NYC's October Mappy Hour. Learn about foliage, pore over maps, and get a sneak preview of Brooklyn's newest brewery, Threes!

Friday, October 24 - Morbid Anatomy is hosting a Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos Party, featuring costumes, Calavera make-up, tequila, music, and sugar skulls. (Those lucky souls in our class will be making their own sugar skulls that very day!)

Thursday, October 30 - Keeping things nice and creepy, Isaac Fitzerald and Alexis Coe will be discussing Erotomania and Murder at Housing Works Bookstore. Coe's book, Alice + Freda Forever, tells the real-life love story of a teenage murdress.

Happy October, and feel free to devote all your remaining time to coming up with the most excellent Halloween costume possible! Feel free to share other must-do events in the comments below. 

 

 

Coming up at the Brainery: October 20-26


Coming up at the Brainery: October 27 - November 2

Coming up at the Brainery: November 3-9

Holiday Parties at the Brainery

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Flower blog

In charge of planning the annual holiday get-together for your friends, family, or office?

Join us at the Brainery and spend a couple of hours learning how to cook a Thai curry from scratch, craft some Finnish-style mobiles, whip up some homemade hot sauce, or a million and other one options. 

We've reserved a few dates for private classes this December; nab one before they're gone! 

  • Friday, 12/5
  • Friday, 12/12
  • Friday, 12/19
  • Other dates available by request! 

Contact us for class availability and pricing. Hands-on classes can accommodate 16 people, depending on the subject.

We also have gift certificates available, good for any class! 

Brainery-Recommended November Happenings

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Here are some great events to check out this month!

Friday, November 7 - At The Incredible Game Show Showcase at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, you'll get to try out three wacky game shows.

Monday, November 10 - Buzzfeed's Jack Shepherd and Tanner Ringerud bring us Night School. It's school... at night! (We here at the Brainery are quite fond of that kind of thing.) Laught hard and learn hard from lectures on such subjects as "The Quantum Mechanics of Time Travel in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" and “The Complete History of Cats on the Internet.”

Tuesday, November 11 - The Society for the Advancement of Social Studies (SASS!) presents WWI History at the Bedford. What better way to celebrate Veterans Day/Armistice Day than with a lecture on WWI's causes, wartime propaganda posters, and sex in America during the war? 

Saturday, November 22- Green-Wood Cemetery and Brooklyn Historical Society present After the Fire, a talk (free) and trolley tour (optional, $20). Learn about how the Brooklyn Theatre Fire and other tragedies shaped Brooklyn's development.

Feel free to share other must-do events in the comments below.

Coming up at the Brainery: November 10-16

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