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Meetups in Ottawa

Hey Horatius,

I'll pass on the suggestion to Mike, the guy that really organises it all.

In the meantime, with a change of name since I started this thread (to Ottawa Brights), comes a change in website:

new location here.

Feel free to sign up and suggest dates/venues, express yourself...

:)
 
Pipirr said:
Hey Horatius,

I'll pass on the suggestion to Mike, the guy that really organises it all.

In the meantime, with a change of name since I started this thread (to Ottawa Brights), comes a change in website:

new location here.

Feel free to sign up and suggest dates/venues, express yourself...

:)
Click to expand...

Well, I just signed up, so I'll just figure out what's what up there...Thanks!
 
January Brights and Science meetup

Details have been finalised for the meetup on the 11th.

We will be at Pier 21, an East Coast pub downtown, near the market. Be great to see any JREFers there!

Link:
 
Pipirr said:
January Brights and Science meetup
Details have been finalised for the meetup on the 11th.
We will be at Pier 21, an East Coast pub downtown, near the market. Be great to see any JREFers there!
Link:
Click to expand...
I'll try to attend. I can't guarantee it. I have a friend's thesis defense to attend that day, plus a bunch of other stuff with deadlines approaching. For example, there's an unusual conference in Vegas I need to prepare for. ;)
 
Discussion topic and background below. Anybody welcome!

http://brights.meetup.com/272/calendar/5325438/

Thursday, 11th January.

We will be at Pier 21, an East Coast pub, downtown near the market. Find us upstairs on the 3rd floor.
-----------------------------

From the Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, on the subject of Arrests:

"For several decades political arrests were distinguished in our country precisely by the fact that people were arrested who were guilty of nothing and were therefore unprepared to put up any resistance whatsoever"

When persecution happens, why don't people stand up en mass and demand the freedom they and their friends deserve? How could many innocent freethinkers be thrown in jail? What sort of government could make this happen? It has happened numerous times in the past and will likely happen in the future.

What about Maher Harrar? What about the US tossing out of the Geneva Convention? What persecutions have happened in Canada? What about the Acadians? What about Indian Land claims (The lack of action from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples)? Japanese internment camps?

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."
James Madison

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
Thomas Jefferson

I like the quotes of past presidents. They were way more secular, lucid and tolerant than the imbeciles of today.

The topic of persecution is vast and there are many gradations. Pick your favourite and come by for a lively chat!
 
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Update and details on the upcoming meeting, from Mike:



Looks like another excellent turnout for the meeting on
Wednesday.


As the topic for the meeting explains, this is all about
critical thinking.

There is an excellent site called
http://www.criticalthinking.org/. There is a good essay on
critical thinking in institutions/education which I will be
referring to.
http://www.criticalthinking.org/professionaldev/the-state-ct-today.cfm

I also suggested looking at the Baloney Detection Kit.

There is also an interesting podcast on Logically Critical
about critical thinking:
http://www.logicallycritical.com/
http://www.logicallycritical.net/podcast/18 Experiment_ CT 101.mp3

Why are we not born critical thinkers? The human animal has got
to have some issues with thinking something through. In this
age of Creationists, infomercials selling 'power bracelets'
and Fox news, there must be something genetic that keeps many
of us tied to far fetched and unsubstatiated claims. What sort
of tools are most of us missing? Why didn't we get taught this
in school?
That being said, would a society of critical thinkers be utopia
or would we fail to get anything done?
 
I've got a dinner to attend that night (about 6:00-7:30 or 8:00), but I could probably drop by later. How late do these events usually run?
 
They can run on until 9.30-10 pm, depending on how many people are there. It looks like a good turnout this time, so there's a good chance people will still be around 'til late. Be good to see you there.
 
Pipirr said:
They can run on until 9.30-10 pm, depending on how many people are there. It looks like a good turnout this time, so there's a good chance people will still be around 'til late. Be good to see you there.
Click to expand...


Cool, I'll drop by after dinner then.
 
I just got a call. The restaurant the dinner was to be at just had a fire and a flood. I assume the flood was from the fire trucks, but the upshot is, the dinner is off, so I'll be there at 7!

See you all then!
 
Horatius said:
I just got a call. The restaurant the dinner was to be at just had a fire and a flood. I assume the flood was from the fire trucks, but the upshot is, the dinner is off, so I'll be there at 7!

See you all then!
Click to expand...

What are the odds? Hey, you haven't been watching The Secret, have you?

;)
 
I'm in Ottawa too.

But boy, I would feel like Sylvia Browne at one of these things. I would be guessing right and left trying to find the words to describe issues I know very little about ;)
 
Dedicated said:
I would feel like Sylvia Browne
Click to expand...

I can't imagine what that would be like...

But no worries. Montel won't be there, and nor will R.S. Lancaster (so far as I know at the time of writing) so you should be okay!

It's a very relaxed affair, very free-flowing, mostly on-topic and anybody is welcome. Do come on by - be great to meet another JREFer. :)
 
Time for another update on the Ottawa meetup. :D

A lot of new members have joined up and we see a lot of new faces at these things. So if you are interested and haven't done so yet,go along to the meetup site and sign up. You can get updated with email alerts of the meetings and see what people are saying about the last get together.

People seem to like the non-Tuesday or Thursday dates, so next meetup is on Monday March 26th, 7pm.

Topic for next time:

Fiction and prophecies - Apocalyptic, Hopeful or Bizarre
Peter Drucker said that predicting the future is like driving down a dark country road with your headlights off while looking out the back window.

Religions claim to know the future and the coming apocalypse and scare their followers. Fiction writers play outside of the theological canon and dream up inspiring stories of man's future. They are not tied by prophecy but by their imagination.

Will genetically engineered people exist? Will there be cloning farms? Will we dive into a utopian society where science advisory boards are actually listened to? Will the media continue drive the world unchecked? BTW, what does religion tell us about our future?

Popular books:
Hominids ? Robert J Sawyer
1984 - Goerge Orwell
Bible - Revelations (http://skepticsannota...)
Orxy and Crake?Margret Atwood
Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro (shortlisted for the Booker
Prize 2005)
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time mark
Haddon (Whitbread book of the Year, 2003)
Click to expand...

Venue to be announced.
 
Venue finally arranged!

Royal Oak in the Glebe, 779 Bank Street.

Not been there before, myself.

Incidentally, if anyone has any good ideas on venues for future meetups, do share.

Hope to see you there!
 
Next meeting:


What it's like to be an atheist - biographies

Thursday, May 3 at 7:00PM

Living the life of an atheist either by being a philosopher,
scientist or writer poses different challenges depending on the
current rule of law. Obviously someone like Mark Twain could
have never have been so outspoken if he lived in Egypt or Iran!

Going against the accepted 'norm' at the time is a difficult
path and there are many struggles. Alienation. Threats of
physical harm. Being discredited and distrusted. However, there
have been a lot of people who have gone before us who have
carved their own path. Atheists with enough popularity (and
safety) have the ability to make outrageous statements:

"To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition." -
Woody Allen
"I'm an atheist and I thank God for it. " George Bernard Shaw
"Faith: not wanting to know what is true". Friedrich Nietzsche
"If God listened to the prayers of men, all men would quickly
have perished: for they are forever praying for evil against
one another." Epicurus

So let's talk about their lives (and our own). Was it a big
deal for them being an atheist? And for us, is it easier, more
challenging or a non-issue?

BTW, there will be a prize for anyone with the best research!

Mike
Click to expand...
 
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