EventsSkepticism

EVENTS: Rebecca & Men Who Stare at Ghosts + MUCH More

As Rebecca has already announced, the CSI Paranormal Road Trip starts tomorrow, as Rebecca, Richard Wiseman, and Jon Ronson head for Cleveland, with a few paranormal pit stops in New York along the way.

Take a look at her post about the itinerary here. You’ll see a bunch of new stops.

First is the Iron Island Museum in Buffalo, a regional history museum that was featured in an episode of Ghost Hunters. The building used to be a funeral home and before that, a church, with apparently no history of murder or tragic death, so it’s haunted by . . . deceased local history buffs? People pissed off because the funeral director used too much rouge? Mysteries only our team of skeptics can solve.

Then they’ll visit Psychic Town, USA—Lily Dale, NY. The Lily Dale Assembly describes itself as the “World’s Largest Center for the Science Philosophy and Religion of Spiritualism.” (You’re supposed to see the commas telepathically in that phrase.) The place even has registered mediums, because filling out a form is total proof of authenticity. (It probably has a telepathic punctuation test on it.)

Note: The stops themselves aren’t group events, but you can join the wary travelers each evening at various public events along the way in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; and of course, at CSICon in Nashville!
 

Events for October 19–October 25

So what else is going on this week? EVERYTHING. I’m actually kind of glad my teleportation device got demolished in that TARDIS collision (use your signal, Doctor!), because I honestly don’t know how I’d choose which events to attend.

Here’s just a handful of the skeptic, atheist, humanist, science events going on (grouped first by U.S. region, then by country), with plenty more on our events calendar (or about to be posted as you read this), including Drinking Skeptically and Skeptics in the Pub events all over the U.S. and the world, from Munich, Germany, to Melbourne, Australia.

Don’t see your group’s events listed? Just contact us with the details.

 

NORTHEAST

Cambridge, MA—multiple

The Harvard Museum of Natural History has a few events going on. (More info on all of these events here.)
Tonight (Oct. 19): Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, a lecture and book signing with science writer David Quammen.
Sat., Oct. 20: It’s the Fungus Fair, with lots of hands-on activities for adults and kids.
Wed., Oct. 24:  The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, a lecture and book signing with Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker.

Exeter, RI, Sat., Oct. 20
The Rhode Island Atheist Society and the Humanists of Rhode Island are getting together for a hike at Arcadia Park. Click on either organization name to find out more.

New York City—multiple
Sat., Oct. 21: The New York City Atheists’ Young Professionals (20s/30s) group is having a Drag Brunch! Get details here.
Tues., Oct. 23: NYC Skeptics’ discussion dinner, “The (Pseudo?) Science of Political Forecasting.”

Philadelphia, PA, Sat., Oct. 20
Michael D. Gordin, a history professor and director of the Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies at Princeton, will speak on his book The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe. More info.

 

SOUTHEAST

Braden, FL, Wed., Oct. 24
Join the Suncoast Skeptics in the Museum at the Bishop Planetarium, South Florida Museum, for “Stelliferous Live,” a talk by Jeff Rodgers, planetarium director.

Melbourne, FL, Sun., Oct. 21
The Brevard Area Atheists have a table at Progressive Fest, “Communities in Action,” an event hosted by the Space Coast Progressive Alliance.

Atlanta, GA, Sat., Oct. 20
The Atlanta Skeptics are hosting an introduction to skepticism for newbies as well as showing videos from some key DragonCon Skeptrack sessions.

Newport News, VA, Tues., Oct. 23
Christopher Newport University needs about 150 volunteer student victims and a few volunteer parents for a simulated bombing exercise to practice large-scale coordinated emergency efforts. Moulage artists will basically zombify you: fake blood, wounds, broken bones. Get more info from the Southeasterm Virginia Skeptics.
 

SOUTH CENTRAL

Little Rock, AR, Sun., Oct. 21
The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers are hosting “The Meaning of Life,” a lecture and discussion with philosopher Lyndel Roe.

Arlington, TX, Oct. 24
UT–Arlington College of Science is hosting a free public lecture by Nobel Laureate physicist Steven Weinberg: “The Standard Model, Higgs Boson: Who Cares?”

Austin, TX, Oct. 19–21
The Texas Freethought Convention is going on this weekend, various event locations but centered on a rally on the south steps of the capitol.
 

MIDWEST

Skokie, IL, Sun., Oct. 21
The Ethical Humanist Society is hosting Emily Smith and David Krueger from Arts of Life, an organization for people with developmental disabilities to develop their artistic talents. The work of program participants will be part of the simultaneous Emerging Artists exhibit.

Overland Park, KS, Sun., Oct. 21
Join the Freethinking Family Fellowship for the Southern JoCo Ungodly Walking Hour on Sunday morning at the Overland Park Arboretum.

Wichita, KS, Sun., Oct. 21
Join the Wichita Atheists for a bike ride at Exploration Place.

Minneapolis, MN, Sun., Oct. 21
Stephanie Zvan, co-host of Atheists Talk and writer of Almost Diamonds, on freethoughtblogs.com, is speaking on “Justice in a ‘Just World'” at the MN Atheists’ public meeting Sunday morning.

Clever, MO, Sat., Oct. 20
The Branson Freethinkers and the Springfield Freethinkers are getting together at Campbell’s Maze Daze & Pumpkin Patch for Skeptoberfest II: Haunted Corn Maze, Hayride, and Bonfire.

Kansas City, MO, Sat., Oct. 20
Meet up with the Kansas City Free Thinkers Social Group for the Worlds of Fun Halloween Haunt on Saturday.
 

WEST

Costa Mesa, CA, Sun., Oct. 21
The CFI Feed Your Brain lecture series is about “The Threat to the Supreme Court: The Presidential Election and the Future of Church/State Separation,” with Eddie Tabash, chair of the First Amendment Task Force of the Council for Secular Humanism and chair of the nationwide legal committee of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

La Jolla, CA, Wed., Oct. 24
Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss is the keynote speaker at the Math for America benefit reception. He’ll be talking on “Mathematics and the Universe.” Click here for details, including cost and registration.

Redlands, CA, Sat., Oct. 20
Take part in an archaeological citizen science project at San Bernardino County Museum, helping with the Calico Early Man Site. More info here.

San Diego, CA—multiple
Sat., Oct. 20: Stop by or take part in the “Ask an Atheist” booth at Balboa Park, organized by The San Diego New Atheists and Agnostics.
Sun., Oct. 21: The Humanist Association of San Diego is hosting its Annual Logical Fallacy Clinic.

San Francisco, CA, Wed., Oct. 24
The Bay Area Skeptics are sponsoring a talk by Robert Asher, “Confessions of a Religious Paleontologist.”

Las Vegas, NV, Sun., Oct. 21
Join Las Vegas Atheists at the Interfaith Forum, where panelists representing various beliefs and nonbelief discuss a topic—which this week is Suffering.

Salt Lake City, UT, Oct. 19­–21
The Exmormon Foundation 2012 Conference, “Dissidents in Deseret,” is this weekend. Get more info here.
 

SOUTHWEST

Tempe, AZ—Multiple
Sat., Oct. 20: ASU’s Origins Project is hosting a panel, “Great Debate: Origins of Deception,” with social psychologist Carol Tarvis, evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers, neurobiologists Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde, and magicians Jamy Ian Swiss and Joshua Jay, with Origins Project director Lawrence Krauss moderating.
Tues., Oct. 23: Join the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix (HSGP) at a free concert by Dom Moio and the ASU Latin Jazz Band at ASU.
 

AUSTRALIA

Chippendale, NSW, Sun., Oct. 21
Sydney Atheists present a talk by Steve Marton, “Who Created God?” More info here.

Thebarton, SA, Wed., Oct. 24
Join the Adelaide Atheists for part three of the talk “The Enlightenment and Beyond.”
 

CANADA

Toronto, ON, Sat., Oct. 20
CFI Ontario’s Cafe Skeptique discusses pseudo-science, alt-med, conspiracy theories, and other skeptical topics.
 

UK

London, Sun., Oct. 21
Conway Hall is featuring a talk, “Epigenetics: The Missing Link in the Nature/Nurture Dichotomy?”  by Nessa Carey, biotech and pharmaceutical researcher and author of The Epigenetics Revolution.

Featured image by Marie-II.

Melanie Mallon

Melanie is a freelance editor and writer living in a small town outside Minneapolis with her husband, two kids, dog, and two cats. When not making fun of bad charts or running the Uncensorship Project, she spends her time wrangling commas, making colon jokes, and putting out random dumpster fires. You can find her on Twitter as @MelMall, on Facebook, and on Instagram.

Related Articles

One Comment

  1. Melanie,

    I personally feel really bad that I won’t be able to attend any of these events. A lot of them sound like they might be fun or at least interesting, and maybe educational.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button