Southern California Skeptic Events

[Loon]

I'm open to anything, especially if it involves Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Who else is in for this unspecified event on the 18th or the 25th?

[Electric Monk]

Quote:

Originally posted by Loon
I'm open to anything, especially if it involves Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

I can do that. And HHH tickets are now available in advance here. (Choose "Hollywood Hellhouse" from drop-list at left side.)

--James

[MLynn]

I'm going to the WOMEN IN SCIENCE lecture on September 26th - does anyone want to meet me there?

[Electric Monk]

Quote:

Originally posted by MLynn
I'm going to the WOMEN IN SCIENCE lecture on September 26th - does anyone want to meet me there?

I'll be there, and at the dinner afterward we'll be having a birthday celebration for Michael Shermer. Everyone is welcome. See post on SC.

--James

[MLynn]

I'm going to the Women in Science lecture at Baxter Hall at CalTech on Sunday the 26th. I'll meet up with Electric Monk at about 1-1:15pm to get good seats. I hope to see some others there!

[Electric Monk]

Laura Woodmansee - Women In Science
From Ancient Times to the 21st Century
Skeptics Lecture Series: Baxter Lecture Hall at Caltech, Pasadena, CA.
Sunday, September 26, 2:00 p.m.
Contact: Skeptics Society 626-794-3119

Science journalist Laura S. Woodmansee, author of Women Astronauts and Women of Space: Cool Careers on the Final Frontier, will talk about the changing role of women in science from ancient times to today. Laura will discuss how the pioneering women of science overcame obstacles to follow their dreams. Today, women work in every field of science and space exploration, but it hasn’t always been this way. Even today, women are underrepresented in most technical fields. Laura has interviewed many powerful women in science including astronauts Sally Ride, Eileen Collins, Susan Helms, Shannon Lucid, the late Kalpana Chawla of Space Shuttle Columbia, Jill Tartar of SETI, Mars engineer Donna Shirley, and many others. Discover what experiences and advice these role models have shared. Laura’s new company, Space Girl Productions (www.woodmansee.com), creates entertaining educational videos and DVDs. Book signing to follow lecture.

Plus: Skeptic publisher Michael Shermer will regale skeptics with tales from his month-long adventure with Frank Sulloway’s expedition to retrace Darwin’s footsteps in the Galapagos islands and document the ecological changes over the past century and a half.

Plus Plus: Come to the dinner at Burger Continental after the lecture and help celebrate Dr. Shermer's 50th birthday.

Donation at the door:
Nonmembers: $8
Skeptic members: $5
Students with ID: $5
Caltech faculty, staff and students with ID: complimentary
JPL staff: complentary

[Electric Monk]

Howard Rosenberg
Skewers American Television in All Its Depravity
CFI - West: 4773 Hollywood Blvd., 2 blocks west of Vermont Ave.
Sunday, Oct 3, 2004, 11:00 a.m.

In this witty and candid perspective on American television, the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Howard Rosenberg traces a disturbing pattern: TV's relentless pursuit of the mundane in its seeming quest to dumb-down America. And, he writes, it may be succeeding. How else to interpret the onslaught of look-alike, deceptively titled "reality" shows that have transformed much of prime time into a cratered moonscape? Mr. Rosenberg's NOT SO PRIME TIME: Chasing the Trivial on American Television published by Ivan R. Dee, Chicago will be available for purchase after the talk.

NOT SO PRIME TIME records the decline of television--not overnight; the crud has been creeping forward for years. Oh the horror.

$6.00 or free for Friends of the Center For Inquiry.

[Electric Monk]

Emo Philips
at the Steve Allen Theater
CFI - West: 4773 Hollywood Blvd., 2 blocks west of Vermont Ave.
Tuesday, Oct 5, 2004, 8:00 p.m.

One Night Only!!!

For reservations call (323) 666-4268

Since the mid-eighties, Emo Philips has been regarded as one of the funniest comedians in the English-speaking world.

In a survey commissioned by GQ Magazine, three of his jokes have been judged by his peers to be among the top 75 of all time. His albums and cable specials are classics, as is his appearance in the cult film UHF. Although Emo performs hundreds of times a year, he is very much looking forward to doing the kind of show that he can only do at the Center for Inquiry-West.

[Electric Monk]

Dr. David Livingstone Smith - Why We Lie
The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind
Skeptics Lecture Series: Baxter Lecture Hall at Caltech, Pasadena, CA.
Sunday, October 24, 2:00 p.m.
Contact: Skeptics Society 626-794-3119

Deceit, lying, and falsehoods lie at the very heart of our cultural heritage. Even the founding myth of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the story of Adam and Eve, revolves around a lie. Our seemingly insatiable appetite for stories of deception spans the extremes of culture from King Lear to Little Red Riding Hood. These tales of deception are so enthralling because they speak to something fundamental in the human condition. The ever-present possibility of deceit is a crucial dimension of all human relationships. Philosopher and evolutionary psychologist David Livingstone Smith elucidates the essential role that deception and self-deception have played in human—and animal—evolution and shows that the very structure of our minds has been shaped from our earliest beginnings by the need to deceive. Smith shows us that by examining the stories we tell, the falsehoods we weave, and the unconscious signals we send out, we can learn much about ourselves and how our minds work.

Book signing to follow lecture.

Donation at the door:
Nonmembers: $8
Skeptic members: $5
Students with ID: $5
Caltech faculty, staff and students with ID: complimentary
JPL staff: complentary

[Electric Monk]

Bill Cooke
Religions Lecture Series
CFI - West: 4773 Hollywood Blvd., 2 blocks west of Vermont Ave.
Saturday, Dec 4th and Sunday, Dec 5th, 2004, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Bill Cooke, Ph.D., Religious Studies, is the Director of Transnational Programs at the Center for Inquiry. He was Senior Lecturer at the School of Visual Arts, Manukau Institute of Technology, in Auckland, New Zealand, prior to coming to the Center. As an expert on humanist philosophy and world religions, he has lectured, taught and written extensively on the history and nature of freethought, rationalism and humanism. Dr. Cooke is the Senior Editor of Free Inquiry magazine and the author of three books, including The Gathering of Infidels and A Rebel to His Last Breath: Joseph McCabe and Rationalism. Much to our regret, Dr. Cooke will be leaving the Center for Inquiry to return to New Zealand following the talks in LA.

Dr. Cooke will be presenting a highly acclaimed two day seminar at the Center for Inquiry-West on “Systems of Belief” the weekend of Dec. 4-5. This seminar provides a general overview of all the major systems of belief and looks at humanism as a belief system. Discounts are available for students.

December 4th
9.00am, What is a System of Belief?
10.30am, break
10.40am, Asian Traditions: Hinduism
12.00am, lunch
1.00pm, Asian Traditions: Buddhism
2.30pm, break
2.40pm, Varieties of Humanism: Chinese Thought
5.00pm, finish

December 5th
9.00am, Varieties of Humanism: Western Humanism
10.30am morning tea
10.40am, Western Religions: Judaism
12.00pm, lunch
1.00pm, Western Religions: Christianity
2.30pm, break
2.40pm, Western Religions: Islam
5.00 finish

Cost: $35.00 for the two days, or $20 for students with I.D. Single day price is $20.00, single session price is $12.00.

[Electric Monk]

Dr. Edward Tufte
Beautiful Evidence : The Art of Science and the Science of Art
Skeptics Lecture Series: Baxter Lecture Hall at Caltech, Pasadena, CA.
Sunday, December 5, 2:00 p.m.
Contact: Skeptics Society 626-794-3119

The renowned theorist of analytical design, Edward Tufte, was described by the New York Times as “the Leonardo da Vinci of data” for his pioneering work in the display and analysis of visual evidence. His lecture here draws from his forthcoming book, Beautiful Evidence, which develops the fundamental theory of analytical design and proposes methods for display of nearly every type of evidence (time series, images, causal arrows, data tables, statistical graphics, public presentations). He will also discuss his analysis (that appeared in the final report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Review Board) of the Boeing/NASA PowerPoint slides created while the space shuttle Columbia was injured but still alive.

Edward Tufte has written seven books, including Visual Explanations, Envisioning Information, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, and Data Analysis for Politics and Policy. He writes, designs, and self-publishes his books on information design, which have received more than 40 awards for content and design. He is Professor Emeritus at Yale University, where he taught courses in statistical evidence, information design, and interface design. His current work includes digital video, sculpture, printmaking, and a new book Beautiful Evidence.

Book signing to follow lecture.

Donation at the door:
Nonmembers: $8
Skeptic members: $5
Students with ID: $5
Caltech faculty, staff and students with ID: complimentary
JPL staff: complentary

[Electric Monk]

Dr. Mike Newdow
The Church, the State, the Pledge, and the Law:
Adventures in Skeptical Activism
Skeptics Lecture Series: Baxter Lecture Hall at Caltech, Pasadena, CA.
Sunday, December 12, 2:00 p.m.
Contact: Skeptics Society 626-794-3119

Earlier this year the country was riveted to and rocked by the story of the man who single handedly got the words “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, only to have it overturned by the United States Supreme Court, in front of which he argued his case. Now hear the story of Mike Newdow from the man himself, as he recounts his adventures in this and other causes he champions in the name of skepticism, rationality, and science.

Mike Newdow is a board certified emergency physician, who was taught by Jared Diamond while a medical student at UCLA. He is also a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. In addition to his interest in Establishment Clause matters, Newdow has worked on constitutional challenges to many of the basic tenets that underlie family law. He will talk about his work in these legal fields, emphasizing how the lack of skepticism results in significant harms.

Donation at the door:
Nonmembers: $8
Skeptic members: $5
Students with ID: $5
Caltech faculty, staff and students with ID: complimentary
JPL staff: complentary

[Electric Monk]

Dr. Jared Diamond
Collapse!: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Skeptics Lecture Series: New location: Beckman Auditorium at Caltech, Pasadena, CA.
Sunday, January 9, 2:00 p.m.
Contact: Skeptics Society 626-794-3119

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs and Steel examines the downfall of some of history’s greatest civilizations. In his million-copy bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond examined how and why Western civilizations developed the technologies and immunities that allowed them to dominate much of the world. Now in this brilliant companion volume, Diamond probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to collapse into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates? Moving from the Polynesian cultures on Easter Island to the flourishing American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya and finally to the doomed Viking colony on Greenland, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe. Environmental damage, climate change, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of these societies, but other societies found solutions and persisted. Brilliant, illuminating, and immensely absorbing, Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: How can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide?

Dr. Jared Diamond is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. Among Dr. Diamond’s many awards are the National Medal of Science, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Guns, Germs, and Steel won the Pulitzer Prize and spent over a year on the New York Times bestseller list. The Third Chimpanzee won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Book signing to follow lecture.

Donation at the door:
Nonmembers: $12
Skeptic members: $8
Students with ID: $5
Caltech faculty, staff and students with ID: complimentary
JPL staff: complentary

[Electric Monk]

Several of us will be meeting for lunch in Pasadena before the meeting, and for dinner at BC after the lecture. PM for details.

Anyone planning on attending the lecture should think about arriving early. Beckman can seat 1100 (compared to Baxter's 300), but the event has been publicized, and the Skeptics Society office has recieved a lot of calls inquiring about tickets, so we're expecting quite a crowd.

--James

[Electric Monk]

The Sumatra Earthquake & Tsunami
USGS Staff & Caltech Faculty
USGS Public Lecture Series: Beckman Institute Auditorium at Caltech, Pasadena, CA.
Wednesday, January 12, 8:00 p.m.

For those who will not be at TAM3 ...

Note that this lecture is being held in the Beckman Institute building, not the round Beckman Auditorium next to it. Please see map at the bottom of the linked page.

In place of the regularly scheduled lecture, earth scientists of the USGS and Caltech will provide a briefing on what is known so far about the science of the Sumatrian earthquake and tsunami. They will describe the geologic setting of the earthquake, why it was so large, and how the tsunami was created. Preliminary analysis of the earthquake and how it affected the Earth will be discussed, as well as the reasons why the loss of life was so high and whether or not a tragedy of this type could strike the United States.

Free public lecture

[renata]

Since somebody is slacking off, here is the updated list of some of the local events

LA JREFers usually gather before the Sunday lectures for lunch, and then go with the Skeptics to dinner.

Join ussss.....

http://www.skeptic.com/lectures.html#feb

Skeptic Events

Sun, Feb 20 2:00 p.m. Parallel Worlds: The Science of Creation, Black Holes, Superstrings, & Higher Dimensions
Dr. Michio Kaku
Baxter Lecture Hall, Caltech, Pasadena, CA



Parallel Worlds: The Science of Creation, Black Holes, Superstrings, & Higher Dimensions

In Parallel Worlds, world-renowned physicist and bestselling author Michio Kaku takes readers on a fascinating tour of cosmology, M-theory, and its implications for the fate of the universe. Kaku begins by describing the extraordinary advances that have transformed cosmology over the last decade, forcing scientists around the world to rethink our understanding of the birth and fate of the universe. The leading theory about the birth of the universe is the “inflationary universe theory,” a major refinement on the big bang theory, in which our universe may be but one in a multiverse, with new universes being created all the time. If parallel worlds do exist, Kaku speculates, in time, perhaps a trillion years or more from now, as appears likely, when our universe grows cold and dark in what scientists describe as a big freeze, advanced civilizations may well find a way to escape our universe in a kind of “inter-dimensional lifeboat.”

Dr. Michio Kaku is the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of several widely acclaimed books, including Visions, Beyond Einstein, and Hyperspace, which was named one of the best science books of the year by the New York Times and the Washington Post. He hosts a nationally syndicated radio science program and has appeared on such national television shows as Nightline, 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, and Larry King Live.




Wed, Feb 23 7:00 pm Science Friction:
Where the Known Meets the Unknown
Dr. Michael Shermer
Mark Taper Aud. Central Library, 630 W. 5th St., LA
Free, reserv. rec: www.lapl.org/events (213) 228-7025
Park; 524 S. Flower St. garage, $7 max weekdays after 4 pm

Sun, Mar 6 2:00 pm. When They Severed Earth From Sky:
How the Human Mind Shapes Myth
Dr. Elizabeth Barber
Baxter Lecture Hall, Caltech, Pasadena, CA

Why were Prometheus and Loki envisioned as chained to rocks? What was the Golden Calf? Why are mirrors believed to carry bad luck? How could anyone think that mortals like Perseus, Beowulf, and St. George actually fought dragons, since dragons don’t exist? Strange though they sound, however, these “myths” did not begin as fiction. Barber and Barber show that myths originally transmitted real information about real events and observations, preserving the information sometimes for millennia within nonliterate societies. Geologists’ interpretations of how a volcanic cataclysm long ago created Oregon’s Crater Lake, for example, is echoed point for point in the local myth of its origin. The Klamath tribe saw it happen and passed down the story—for nearly 8,000 years. We, however, have been literate so long that we’ve forgotten how myths encode reality. Recent studies of how our brains work, applied to a wide range of data from the Pacific Northwest to ancient Egypt to modern stories reported in newspapers, have helped the Barbers deduce the characteristic principles by which such tales both develop and degrade through time.

Dr. Elizabeth Wayland Barber is Professor of Linguistics and Archaeology, Occidental College, and the author of The Mummies of Ürümchi (W. W. Norton), Women’s Work (W. W. Norton), and Prehistoric Textiles ( Princeton).



Sun, Apr 24 2:00 pm Bill Nye the Science Guy
Beckman Auditorium, Caltech, Pasadena, CA
(Note: This is a different location at Caltech, adjacent to our regular Baxter Lecture Hall venue.)


Book of Tiny Germs (And other cool science stuff)

Germs, germs, everywhere! We live with them all day, every day. Did you know that: Some germs are good for you, or even delicious? There are more germs inside you than there are people on Earth? Your body is constantly fighting germs, even when you aren't sick? Come hear Bill speak, and you’ll learn about these things and more. Find out about germs and how to stay healthy in this delightful presentation based on his new book, as well as a few new things from Nye Labs. Bring the kids, and the kids' friends, for an afternoon of science and a blast of fun.

Bill Nye is best known for his hit PBS television series Bill Nye the Science Guy, which ran from 1992-1998 and won Emmy Awards for Best Performer, Best Writing, Best Producing, and Best Show. He is the host of the Science Channel’s 100 Greatest Discoveries in Science, and the forthcoming series The Eyes of Nye. He is the author of Bill Nye’s Big Blast of Science, Bill Nye’s Consider the Following, Bill Nye the Science Guy's Big Blue Ocean, and Bill Nye the Science Guy’s Great Big Dinosaur Dig. He is also an inventor, with patents pending for a baseball retrieval device, a ball throwing technique training gizmo, and an improved ballet toe shoe. As part of the Mars Athena Exploration Team, he played a key role in the design of the MarsDials, the sundials on Mars. Bill serves on the boards of The Planetary Society as Vice President, the New Horizons Mission to Pluto, and the National Health Museum in Washington, DC.


Sun, May 1
2:00 pm Empire of the Stars:
Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal
in the Quest for Black Holes
Dr. Arthur I. Miller
Baxter Lecture Hall, Caltech, Pasadena, CA

August 1930, on a voyage from Madras to London, a young Indian looked up at the stars and contemplated their fate. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar—Chandra, as he was calleds—calculated that certain stars would suffer a most violent death, collapsing to virtually nothing. This extraordinary claim, the first mathematical description of black holes, rankled one of the greatest astrophysicists of the day, Sir Arthur Eddington, who in 1935 publicly ridiculed Chandra, sending him into an intellectual and emotional tailspin—and hindering the progress of astrophysics for nearly forty years. Tracing the rise of two great theories, relativity and quantum mechanics, which meet head on in black holes, Miller recounts the dramatic story of this intellectual feud. This sweeping history examines the quest to understand one of the most forbidding objects in the universe as well as the passions that fueled that quest over the course of a century.

Dr. Arthur I. Miller is Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, Department of Science & Technology Studies, University College, London. He lives in London.




May 13-14, 2005 SKEPTICS SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE:
The Brain, the Mind, and Consciousness
Caltech campus, Pasadena, CA

Westin Resort and Hotel and Beckman Auditorium, Caltech, Pasadena, CA

Magicians include: James “The Amazing” Randi, Bob Friedhoffer, the “madman of magic,” mentalist Mark Edwards, illusionist Jerry Andrus

Scientists include:
Christof Koch: “The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach”
Alison Gopnik: “Children as Scientists: How the Brain Learns to Think”
Steven Quartz: “Neuroeconomics and the Search for Cool”
Richard McNally: “In Search of Memory—True, False, Repressed, Recovered”
Terry Sejnowski: “Sleep, Dreams, and the Subconscious”
V.S. Ramachandran: “Neurotheology and the Search for God”
Susan Blackmore: “Exploring Altered States of Consciousness”
John Allman: “The Search for the Neurological Basis of the Social Emotions”
Paul Zak: “From Whence Trust Comes: Oxytocin and Behavioral Economics”
Hank Schlinger: “Consciousness is Nothing But a Word”
Ursula Goodenough: “From Biology to Consciousness to Morality”

Special Guest: Michael Crichton in conversation with Michael Shermer



Sun, July 10 2:00 pm Doubt: A History
Dr. Jennifer Michael Hecht
Baxter Lecture Hall, Caltech, Pasadena, CA

In a sweeping history, Jennifer Michael Hecht celebrates doubt as an engine of creativity and as an alternative to the political and intellectual dangers of certainty. Just as belief has its own history featuring people whose unique expressions of faith have forever changed the world, doubt has a vibrant story and tradition with its own saints, martyrs, and sages. Hecht blends her wide-ranging historical expertise, passionate admiration of the great doubters, and poet’s sensibility to tell a stimulating story that is part intellectual history and part showcase of ordinary people asking themselves the difficult questions that confront us all. Hecht views the history of doubt as not only a tradition of challenging accepted religious beliefs, including the existence of God, but also as a progression of attempts to make sense of life, the natural world, and the self, each on their own terms.

Dr. Jennifer Michael Hecht is an assistant professor of history at Nassau Community College. She is the author of The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism, and Anthropology in France and The Next Ancient World, her book of poetry, which won the Poetry Society of America’s prestigious Norma Farber First Book Award for 2002, the Tupelo Prize, and ForeWord’s Poetry Book of the Year.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Quote:

May 13-14, 2005 SKEPTICS SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE:
The Brain, the Mind, and Consciousness
Caltech campus, Pasadena, CA

Westin Resort and Hotel and Beckman Auditorium, Caltech, Pasadena, CA

Magicians include: James “The Amazing” Randi, Bob Friedhoffer, the “madman of magic,” mentalist Mark Edwards, illusionist Jerry Andrus

Scientists include:
Christof Koch: “The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach”
Alison Gopnik: “Children as Scientists: How the Brain Learns to Think”
Steven Quartz: “Neuroeconomics and the Search for Cool”
Richard McNally: “In Search of Memory—True, False, Repressed, Recovered”
Terry Sejnowski: “Sleep, Dreams, and the Subconscious”
V.S. Ramachandran: “Neurotheology and the Search for God”
Susan Blackmore: “Exploring Altered States of Consciousness”
John Allman: “The Search for the Neurological Basis of the Social Emotions”
Paul Zak: “From Whence Trust Comes: Oxytocin and Behavioral Economics”
Hank Schlinger: “Consciousness is Nothing But a Word”
Ursula Goodenough: “From Biology to Consciousness to Morality”

Special Guest: Michael Crichton in conversation with Michael Shermer

This looks interesting. I might have to come out for that one!

[Electric Monk]

Quote:

Originally posted by renata
Since somebody is slacking off, here is the updated list of some of the local events

"Somebody" is working tirelessly on his TAM3 Photo CD's which he hopes to distribute tomorrow at the event that you didn't mention.

--James

[Electric Monk]

Eugenie Scott
What Would Darwin Say About Creationism?
CFI - West: 4773 Hollywood Blvd., 2 blocks west of Vermont Ave.
Sunday, Feb 13, 2005, 11:00 a.m.

Five years into the new millennium, more and more school districts in the U.S. find themselves in a battle with fundamentalists who seek to have Creationism (aka Intelligent Design) taught in public schools alongside the Theory of Evolution.

Can religious groups dictate what is taught is science class? Are they already?

Genie Scott, Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, is the nation's leading voice in the battle for the minds of public school children. On the day after Darwin's birthday, she will report on the current state of teaching evolution, and muse over what Darwin himself may have said about the bible's version of how life developed on this planet.

$6.00 or free for Friends of the Center For Inquiry.

[renata]

Quote:

Originally posted by Electric Monk
"Somebody" is working tirelessly on his TAM3 Photo CD's which he hopes to distribute tomorrow at the event that you didn't mention.

--James

Slacker



Oh, and Scrut- I do not think you were invited to that conference!

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Quote:

Originally posted by renata
Oh, and Scrut- I do not think you were invited to that conference!

My $150 check to Shermer says I am invited!

[renata]

Quote:

Originally posted by The Central Scrutinizer
My $150 check to Shermer says I am invited!

I will have to have a little chat with Mr. Shermer next week.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Quote:

Originally posted by renata
I will have to have a little chat with Mr. Shermer next week.

I think my $150 carries more weight!

[renata]

Quote:

Originally posted by The Central Scrutinizer
I think my $150 carries more weight!

You just keep thinkin' Butch. That's what you're good at.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Quote:

Originally posted by renata
You just keep thinkin' Butch. That's what you're good at.

I'm a thinker, not a stinker!

[renata]

Quote:

Originally posted by The Central Scrutinizer
I'm a thinker, not a stinker!

I have been near you, I know.

Nobody who likes crap literature allowed.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Quote:

Originally posted by renata
I have been near you, I know.

Nobody who likes crap literature allowed.

I don't like crap lierature!

TDC rules!!!

[renata]

Quote:

Originally posted by The Central Scrutinizer
I don't like crap lierature!

TDC rules!!!

Ugh. I will alert LAX security about you. Or else send you a half dozen vastly superior art mysteries. Or give you tours of tract home suburbia until you cry.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Quote:

Originally posted by renata
Ugh. I will alert LAX security about you. Or else send you a half dozen vastly superior art mysteries. Or give you tours of tract home suburbia until you cry.

Maybe because you didn't understand it?

I guess I won't be taking you to the movie in 2006?

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Quote:

Originally posted by renata
Ugh. I will alert LAX security about you. Or else send you a half dozen vastly superior art mysteries. Or give you tours of tract home suburbia until you cry.

Lax security? That doesn't sound good! I guess they don't catch many people.

[renata]

Quote:

Originally posted by The Central Scrutinizer
Maybe because you didn't understand it?

I guess I won't be taking you to the movie in 2006?

I surpassed second grade level a few decades back. Let me know when you get there, I will help you with arithmetic.

[MLynn]

You two are funny...

renata, I think I will see you the morning of the 20th.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Quote:

Originally posted by renata
I surpassed second grade level a few decades back. Let me know when you get there, I will help you with arithmetic.

Act your age, not your shoe size.

[renata]

Quote:

Originally posted by The Central Scrutinizer
Act your age, not your shoe size.

Ha! My shoe size is bigger than my age- (European shoe sizes!)


Another interesting event 3/25-27 in LA

http://www.atheistalliance.org/convention2005.html

The 2005 AAI Convention features these stars of freethought:

* Penn & Teller will accept the Richard Dawkins award for outstanding work in the cause of atheism during Sunday's brunch.

* Julia Sweeney, writer-actress, on the reaction to her hit show Letting Go of God.

* Dr. Robert Price, member of the Jesus Seminar, author of The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man.

* Andrew Bradley, Author of "What Would Betty Do? A Spiritual Guide to Qualifying for the '10 Sins or Less' Express Line at Judgment Day", Creator of bettybowers.com - America's Best Christian, and senior writer for Landover Baptist Church.

* Dr. Bruce Flamm was quoted in Time Magazine, as the man whose persistent inquiry proved the Korean-Columbia fertility study to be fatally flawed.

* Ben Akerly, Author of "The X-Rated Bible".

* And much more!

[Electric Monk]

Dr. Michio Kaku
Parallel Worlds: The Science of Creation, Black Holes, Superstrings, & Higher Dimensions
Skeptics Lecture Series: Baxter Lecture Hall at Caltech, Pasadena, CA.
Sunday, February 20, 2:00 p.m.
Contact: Skeptics Society 626-794-3119

In Parallel Worlds, world-renowned physicist and bestselling author Michio Kaku takes readers on a fascinating tour of cosmology, M-theory, and its implications for the fate of the universe. Kaku begins by describing the extraordinary advances that have transformed cosmology over the last decade, forcing scientists around the world to rethink our understanding of the birth and fate of the universe. The leading theory about the birth of the universe is the “inflationary universe theory,” a major refinement on the big bang theory, in which our universe may be but one in a multiverse, with new universes being created all the time. If parallel worlds do exist, Kaku speculates, in time, perhaps a trillion years or more from now, as appears likely, when our universe grows cold and dark in what scientists describe as a big freeze, advanced civilizations may well find a way to escape our universe in a kind of “inter-dimensional lifeboat.”

Dr. Michio Kaku is the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of several widely acclaimed books, including Visions, Beyond Einstein, and Hyperspace, which was named one of the best science books of the year by the New York Times and the Washington Post. He hosts a nationally syndicated radio science program and has appeared on such national television shows as Nightline, 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, and Larry King Live.

Book signing to follow lecture.

Donation at the door:
Nonmembers: $8
Skeptic members: $5
Students with ID: $5
Caltech faculty, staff and students with ID: complimentary
JPL staff: complimentary

[Electric Monk]

Tory Christman
Scientology Exposed!
CFI - West: 4773 Hollywood Blvd., 2 blocks west of Vermont Ave.
Sunday, Mar 6, 2005, 11:00 a.m.

From the lips of Church of Scientology defector Tory Christman, you will hear some of the much-criticized religion's most closely guarded secrets.

Tory was a 30-year veteran and a member of their shadowy Office of Special Affairs where she headed what was known as the Parishioners League, where she pressured television, radio, and newspapers to drop negative content about the church. Tory finally awoke about 4 years ago and realized the true nature of the organization. She now spends much of her time trying to educate people about the dangers of becoming involved in cults.

$6.00 or free for Friends of the Center For Inquiry.

[Electric Monk]

Dr. Elizabeth Wayland Barber
When They Severed Earth From Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth
Skeptics Lecture Series: Baxter Lecture Hall at Caltech, Pasadena, CA.
Sunday, March 6, 2:00 p.m.
Contact: Skeptics Society 626-794-3119

Why were Prometheus and Loki envisioned as chained to rocks? What was the Golden Calf? Why are mirrors believed to carry bad luck? How could anyone think that mortals like Perseus, Beowulf, and St. George actually fought dragons, since dragons don’t exist? Strange though they sound, however, these “myths” did not begin as fiction. Barber and Barber show that myths originally transmitted real information about real events and observations, preserving the information sometimes for millennia within nonliterate societies. Geologists’ interpretations of how a volcanic cataclysm long ago created Oregon’s Crater Lake, for example, is echoed point for point in the local myth of its origin. The Klamath tribe saw it happen and passed down the story—for nearly 8,000 years. We, however, have been literate so long that we’ve forgotten how myths encode reality. Recent studies of how our brains work, applied to a wide range of data from the Pacific Northwest to ancient Egypt to modern stories reported in newspapers, have helped the Barbers deduce the characteristic principles by which such tales both develop and degrade through time.

Dr. Elizabeth Wayland Barber is Professor of Linguistics and Archaeology, Occidental College, and the author of The Mummies of Ürümchi (W. W. Norton), Women’s Work (W. W. Norton), and Prehistoric Textiles ( Princeton).


Book signing to follow lecture.

Donation at the door:
Nonmembers: $8
Skeptic members: $5
Students with ID: $5
Caltech faculty, staff and students with ID: complimentary
JPL staff: complimentary

[Jeff Wagg]

Ya know, I really like living in Vermont, but I have yet to see a single local event of any skeptical import. Plenty of woo woo stuff though.

I'm just saying I'm jealous of all you CA folks. I will be at the Skeptics Conference in May though.

[espoirpaz]

i was wondering if anyone's going to attend the atheist alliance international convention in la on march 25-27.

Penn and Teller are going to be getting an award from Richard Dawkins!

http://www.atheistsunited.org/

i'm going with an atheist student organization. maybe i'll see some of you there.

[MLynn]

I'm unable to attend the conference, but hope to meet some friends for lunch or dinner on the 26th.