noon
7:30 - 8:30 pm
noon-1:30 pm
noon-1:30 pm
noon-1:30 pm
We also voted to affiliate with the American Humanist Association.
10:30 am
noon
during lunch
![[photo]](images/Picnic.jpg){kind=link}
4:30-5:30 pm
4 - 5 pm
noon-1:30 pm
noon-1:30 pm
6-9:30 pm
HumanLight celebration, cosponsored with the Doubters Group of First Unitarian Soc., and including a potluck, singing, a mug exchange, and more. [Details] [Poster (PDF)]900 University Bay Dr
noon - 1:30 pm
noon - 2 pm
Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design: A Historical Perspective, presented by UW Prof. Ronald Numbers, author of Darwinism Comes to America, Harvard University Press, 1998, starting with lunch at noon, presentation starting at 12:20 pm. Our Darwin Day (Darwin's birthday) program was attended by 23 of us.noon - 1:30 pm
Mark Twain on Religion was Marcia Johnson and Al Nettleton's topic. As usual we started with lunch at noon, with their presentation starting about 12:20 pm. They read selections from Letters From the Earth and other books. Marcia provided the dozen in attendance with printouts of Twain's quotes on religion from http://twainquotes.com/religion.html.7 - 9 pm
Benefit Concert & Painting Display -
Los Angeles artist and musician Joel Pelletier stopped in Madison to entertain us with his music and inform us with his mural-sized 8'x14' traveling painting titled American Fundamentalists (Christ's Entry into Washington in 2008) which can be seen at http://www.americanfundamentalists.com/. Joel says his work warns of the "dangers of loss of separation of church and state in American". Local musician Maggie "Catfish" Siegfried took the first set (guitar and vocals), Joel talked about his painting and "American Fundamentalism and the Threat to Democracy and Freedom of Faith", and Joel performed the closing set (guitar, vocals, piano). [press release] [poster] [more]noon - 1:30 pm
Barbara Park reported on Rabbi Michael Lerner's new book, The Left Hand of God, and on his April 22nd Keynote Address in Madison on Taking Our Country Back From the Religious Right.noon - 1:30 pm
A potluck picnic at noon was followed by Bob Park leading a discussion on the International Humanist and Ethical Union with a presentation titled IHEU, Voice for Humanist Values at the UN and Around the World for 50 Years. This followed a 10 am Sunday morning Free Forum at the Free Congregation of Sauk County on Ethical Culture, presented by Bridget and Thomas Doxtater, leaders of the Ethical Circle of Sauk County. Bob used the book International Humanist and Ethical Union 1952-2002 - Past, present and future, which had just been made available online. Excerpts from the book and the IHEU Web site are available as a 19 page Word document. [photo]![[photo]](images/0881.jpg){kind=link}
307 Polk St
Sauk City
5 - 7 pm
7 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
4:30 - 6 pm
We viewed and discussed the 1 hour DVD The God Who Wasn't There at Prairie UU Society's annual retreat. See http://thegodmovie.com for more on the movie.5 - 7 pm
Prof. Denis Collins spoke to an evening potluck supper gathering on his new book, "Behaving Badly: Ethical Lessons from Enron." Prof. Collins is an award-winning author and teacher. He is Professor of
Business at Edgewood College in Madison, where he is responsible for Social Responsibility and Business Ethics--components in the school's Business Programs. The meeting was jointly sponsored by the Humanist Union and the Madison Ethical Discussion Group.noon-1:30 pm
The Thought and Writing of Sam Harris, presented by Barbara Park and Randy Converse. Barbara talked about The End of Faith. We started off by listening to Holly Near's song I Ain't Afraid (which she sang at her Oct. 29 concert in Madison). Randy talked about Harris' contribution to Mindful Politics: A Buddhist Guide to Making the World a Better Place. Reference was also made to Harris' new book, Letter to A Christian Nation. Twenty people attended, and we had a lively discussion. An audio tape recording* of this meeting is available, and side 1 and side 2 of the tape are available here as MP3 files. [By and about Sam Harris - read or listen]7 - 8 pm
Madison
12:30 - 2:30 pm
HumanLight celebration. We had a potluck luncheon, group singing of humanist-friendly songs, a poem reading and conversation for humanists in the greater Madison area and their families and friends. 21 attended. Here is the song book we used (PDF).
noon-1:30 pm
9 am - noon
![[poster]](images/DarwinDay2007poster8X11.5.jpg){kind=link}
noon-1:30 pm
7 - 8:15 pm
The Making of the Fittest : What the DNA Record Reveals About Evolution
by Genetics Professor Sean Carroll. Very recently, an important new aspect of DNA has been revealed: it contains a detailed record of evolution. That is, DNA is a chronicle of how the creatures that inhabit our planet have adapted to its many environments. Four of us from HUM attended this fascinating illustrated presentation and heard Prof. Carroll discuss this new DNA record and how it enables us to see how the fittest are made.†7 pm
The Humanist Union sponsored a viewing and discussion of the film Jesus Camp, using Prairie's projector and movie screen in the main meeting room. The event was free and open to the public, and attracted 8 students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as a dozen previous HUM participants. We had a lively discussion following the film. (See http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/ for information on the movie.)
noon-1:30 pm
Galen Smith led a discussion on Naturalism, a Science-based Alternative to Faith-based Religions. See the Tenets of Naturalism, especially paragraph 2. The program is available as a 77 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
noon-1:30 pm
noon-1:30 pm
Andy Somers followed up on his series of Sunday morning programs on propaganda at Prairie UU Society by leading a discussion on RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA: How to recognize and deal with it. Potluck lunch at noon, presentation 12:20 - 1:30 pm. The program is available as a 78 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
noon - 1:30 pm
11:45 am - 2 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45, 12:30 viewing and discussion of first hour of BBC TV series "A Brief History of Disbelief", written and narrated by English author, director and commentator Jonathan Miller. An extended version of an interview of Miller in the current issue of The Humanist magazine is avialable online.
3 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
9 - 10:30 pm
5 - 6:50 pm
Dinner with Matthew LaClair, 17 year old speaker at the Freedom From Religion Foundation 2007 - 30th Annual Convention and recipient of their "Thomas Jefferson Student Activist" award. Matthew made New York Times headlines by exposing classroom proselytizing in his public school. (The New York Times article is available online.) The event was organized by the Humanist Union and Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics at UW-Madison. Seven of us joined Matthew and his father Paul for a very stimulating discussion over pizza. You can listen to this remarkable young man on a Free Thought Radio archive and hear one of his recordings of his teacher in class. [Event photos]
115 State St
noon - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm presentation by Lori Lipman Brown, Director of the Secular Coalition for America - A Place at the Table: How the Nation's First Lobbyist for Non-theists is Enjoying the Feast. A September interview of Lori is available online. 28 of us attended the program. [more] The program was broadcast on WIDE-LP, 99.1, low power FM radio in Madison, at 10 am the following day, and is available as a 57 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended). [Event photos]
10 am
(WIDE-LP ended two weeks of test broadcasting on Oct. 20. Broadcasting will resume when needed hardware is obtained. Programs planned for the Wider Horizons hour, which will include Humanism Today, are posted at http://madisonwi.us/WIDE-LP/MP3s/.)
noon - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm presentation by Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation on Losing Faith in Faith. The program is available as a 53 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
7 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at noon, 12:20 pm presentation on The Dalits' Struggle for Human Rights by John Eligandi, who worked for People's Action for Rural Awakening in Andhra Pradesh, India, from 2003 to 2005. The program is available here as a 57 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended). [background article]
9 am - 4 pm
Several Humanist Union participants attended Darwin Day 2008 at the UW-Madison, with Neil Shubin and others. Two of the talks are available to listen to online: Neil Shubin: Discovering how Fish Evolved to Walk: The Story of Tiktaalik (54 MB MP3) and Don Waller: Reshaping the Tree of Life: Human impacts on the future of evolution (53 MB MP3). [press release]†
noon - 1:30 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
6 pm
Eugenie Scott joined an informal panel of Humanist Union folks for a Q&A session which was recorded for broadcast on WIDE-LP. Dr. Scott was in Madison for the 7th Annual International Bioethics Forum. She is the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). After a potluck supper we spent a fascinating hour and a half plus hearing about her role in organizing fellow faculty members at the University of Kentucky to testify (successfully) against a proposal before the Lexington school board to start teaching creationism in the public schools in 1980, about the subsequent formation of the NCSE and its role in the landmark Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case in Pennsylvania in 2005, about the Peabody Award winning PBS NOVA documentary on that case, about the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and the deceptive description of the project given by the movie makers when they asked her, Richard Dawkins and others to be interviewed for it, about Science Debate 2008, and about Project Steve. Hear a brief audio clip of Dr. Scott on the NOVA web site. The first 1-1/2 hr. of the Q&A session is available here as an 83 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
noon - 1:30 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
We had a potluck lunch at noon and a 12:30 pm presentation by Skip Evans on Americans United for Separation of Church and State, followed by discussion. Skip is the former president of the Atlanta Chapter of Americans United and interim president of the reactivated Wisconsin chapter. Humanist Union participants were joined by members of the AU-Wis. Chapter, bringing attendance to about 30.
10 am
noon - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm discussion led by Shawn F. Peters of UW-Madison on Faith Healing, Children, and the Law. The program is available here as a 57 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended). [See his recent book] [Religion News Service interview]
noon - 1:30 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
6 to 9 pm
For our December meeting, the Humanist Union hosted a HumanLight celebration again this year, with candles, music and food (potluck). Also, this year, participants brought favorite quotations from the books or speeches of Barack Obama to share.About 200 of his speeches, from 2002 to 2008, are available online at http://www.barackobama.com/speeches/index.php. Of particular interest to humanists, at http://www.barackobama.com/issues/faith/ there is a link to a June 2006 speech by Obama which the Washington Post says "may be the most important pronouncement by a Democrat on faith and politics since John F. Kennedy's Houston speech in 1960 declaring his independence from the Vatican".
2 pm
Outing to Bartell's Drury Theatre to see a matinée performance of Blasphemy: An Unholy Trinity of Musicals by Catherine Capellaro. (See www.walmartopia.com/blasphemy). They were wonderful performances.
113 E. Mifflin Street
10 am
noon - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30-1:30 pm Darwin Day Discussion led by Dr. Jane Shoup, who briefly traced the more noteworthy court cases surrounding evolution and creationism (Scopes Trial through Kitzmiller v. Dover). The 23 of us present had a lively discussion on population growth and our planet's limited resources. Hear the program here (63 MB MP3 file, 69 min. long).
9 am - 4:30 pm
12:45 pm
3 - 5 pm
12:45 pm
12:45 pm
3 pm
Madison Skeptics and the Humanist Union had a joint meeting to hear a presentation by Prof. Ronald Numbers on Anti-Evolutionism in America: From Creation Science to Intelligent Design. About 35 attended. Hear the program here (83 MB MP3 file, 1 hr. 31 min. long).12:45 pm
depart Prairie 9 am
fair weather start time: noon
"Nonbelievers of Greater Madison Spring Family Picnic" sponsored by the Humanist Union, the Madison Brights and Madison Skeptics at Marlborough Park. See http://nonbelievers.madisonwi.us/ for event photos.
5:30 - 7:30 pm
Potluck supper at 5:30, speaker and discussion 6:15 - 7:30 pm on The Atheist Alliance International (AAI). Our speaker was August Berkshire, VP of AAI, making his final stop on the multi-state tour outlined here. This was a joint meeting with the Madison Brights. Listen to the program here (63 MB MP3 file, 69 min. long).
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm discussion led by humanist UU minister Jane Esbensen, who is also a graduate of the Humanist Leadership Studies Program of The Humanist Institute in New York. Listen to the program here (54 MB MP3 file, 59 min. long).11:30 am - 1:30 pm
noon - 4 pm
Potluck late summer family picnic in Marlborough Park. The Humanist Union, the Madison Skeptics, and the Madison Brights cosponsored a picnic for all greater Madison area free thinkers, humanists, skeptics, nonbelievers, agnostics, atheists, and their friends and families. Some newcomers came after seeing a short article in the Sunday Wisconsin State Journal with the headline "No God? No problem!" The article concluded "If an all-knowing, all-seeing, nonexistent deity rends the skies in anger and causes Biblical - in the historical and cultural sense only - amounts of rain to fall, the picnic will take place at the Prairie Meeting House, 2120 Whenona Drive." The weather was lovely.6 pm
The Humanist Union, Madison Skeptics, and Madison Brights met to socialize over wine, cheese, cookies and other snacks with Sean Faircloth, the new
Executive Director of the
Secular Coalition for America. The evening's schedule was:| 6:00 pm | Reception |
| 6:30 pm | Presentation |
| 7:15 pm | Questions and Answers |
| 7:45 pm | More socializing |
2 - 3:30 pm
7425 Hubbard Ave
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
1 pm
Discussion led by Ron Solomon on the Secular Coalition for American and issues they are engaged with this year in their lobbying in Washington DC, at the Prairie UU Society fall retreat. Listen to the program here (45 MB MP3 file, 49 min. long).
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, discussion 12:30 - 1:30 pm on issues raised by the insertion of religion into the health care debate in Washington, led by Julie Merrill-Quinn.
7 pm
The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and the DNA Record of Evolution by Sean Carroll. This is lecture 3 in the 150th anniversary "On the Origin of Species" lecture series organized by the Darwin 150 Project. A number of Humanist Union participants attended. [flyer]
![[flyer]](images/091104seancarrollflyer.jpg){kind=link}
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm presentation and discussion on How We Decide: from Logic to Faith led by Richard Russell. Richard provided copies of the following four handouts: blue, orange, pink, and green. Listen to the program here (63 MB MP3 file, 69 min. long), and read Richard's related Capital Times opinion piece here.
1:30 - 2 pm
2 pm
5:30 - 9 pm
Annual HumanLight celebration. See local event website for details. [flyer]
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm group discussion on Humanist review of 2009 news stories/program ideas for 2010. Listen to the program here (60 MB MP3 file, 66 min. long).
5 pm
Charles Darwin Versus Himself: The Secret Life of a Reluctant Revolutionary by David Quammen. [flyer] (See "Darwin's First Clues" by Quammen in the Feb. 2009 National Geographic.)†
7:30 pm
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: An Evening Lecture by the outspoken author of "Infidel". Due to security screening of those entering the theater, the lecture did not actually start until 8:30 pm. The line of those with tickets waiting to enter stretched the length of the Memorial Union and down the stairs adjacent to the parking lot. [photos]
[Event page on Facebook] Listen here to the lecture (49 MB MP3 file, 53 min. long) and most of the Q&A period (33 MB MP3 file, 36½ min. long) (back of the balcony recordings).†
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm illustrated presentation for Darwin Day on Ardipithecus and human origins by Prof. John Hawks. (Click here for a National Geographic article on this 4.4 million year old human ancestor. For much more, see the series of articles available from Science magazine.) Listen to the program here (61 MB MP3 file, 67 min. long).
7:30 pm
Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer - part of the UW Distinguished Lecture Series. [more] You can watch the lecture here.†
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch 11:45 am, discussion on The Human Heart of Humanism 12:30-1:30 pm led by Jane Esbensen, who shared the way she thinks about humanism and how it plays into her UU ministry. We also talked about how Sweden's experience in eliminating poverty might provide lessons that would be useful here. Listen to the program here (119 MB MP3 file, 87 min. long).
noon - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at noon, presentation at 12:30 pm on Secular Humanism: Is It a Religion? by Andrew Kerr, Speaker of the Free Congregation of Sauk County, followed by discussion until 1:30 pm. Listen to the program here (84 MB MP3 file, 61 min. long).
11:30 am - 1:30 pm
An all-Prairie potluck lunch at 11:30 am was followed about 12:40 pm by a photography slide show on The Capitol and the Moon, a Modern Stonehenge by John Rummel. We were impressed with the planning and photographic efforts over a period of more than 5 years that led to the photo of the moon and the capitol building, taken from 4 miles away across the lake, that is featured on the cover of the state's current Blue Book.
noon - 3 pm
6 pm
Potluck supper and video for World Humanist Day. This was an informal gathering for our first celebration of this annual event. After supper we watched a film considered controversial by some on the religious right, Heart of the Beholder.
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm discussion of Good without God: Greg Epstein and the new humanism. Greg Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University. Our discussion was led by Barbara Park, Doleta Chapru, and Bob Park, based on Epstein's 6/24/10 talk at the UUA General Assembly in Minneapolis and on his book Good without God. Listen to the program here (94 MB MP3 file, 68½ min. long).
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 - 1:30 pm presentation: Documenting The Amaz!ng Meeting 2010: A photographic report by Ingrid Laas, who took photos at "The Amazing Meeting 8", held in Las Vegas July 8-11, 2010, with James Randi, Richard Dawkins, Paul Kurtz, Michael Shermer, D.J. Grothe, Sean Faircloth, and many others. These meetings are "a celebration of critical thinking and skepticism" sponsored by the James Randi Educational Foundation, with thinking people gathering annually "to share learning, laughs and life with fellow skeptics and distinguished guest speakers."
Listen to the program here (89 MB MP3 file, 65 min. long).
1 - 2 pm
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 - 1:30 pm presentation on Justice and the Common Good by Richard Russell. We discussed issues raised by Michael Sandel in Chapter 10 of his 2009 book Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, including attitudes toward separation of church and state by presidents Kennedy and Obama. About 20 of us attended. Listen to the program here (76 MB MP3 file, 55 min. long) and view the test results here.
7 pm
"Is God the Problem? - Christianity vs Atheism", a debate between Dan Barker and Dinesh D'Souza. See the Facebook page and poster for the event.†
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm presentation on "Religious aspects of population growth" by Galen Smith. Listen to the program here (68 MB MP3 file, 50 min. long).
2010, Thur. noon
Evolution Seminar Series at the UW for the fall semester. These scholarly lectures, presented by the JF Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, are open to the public.†
UW-Madison
5:30 to 10 pm
Our annual HumanLight celebration. Photos. [flyer]
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm discussion of the recent Christopher Hitchens v Tony Blair debate in Toronto on "Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world". Discussion leaders were Ken Haydock, Doleta Chapru and Frank Power. A transcript of all but the concluding remarks in the debate is available online and videos of the debate can be seen on YouTube. Also available is this BBC online news story. Listen to the HUM discussion here (78 MB MP3 file, 56½ min. long).
7 pm
The movie Creation, about the life of Charles Darwin, was shown and followed by a discussion of the film with UW History of Science professors Ron Numbers and Lynn Nyhart, and the University of Minnesota's Alan Love.†
Play Circle
Darwin Day events on the University of Wisconsin campus. [more]†
2 pm
2 - 4 pm
7 W Main St
7:30 - 10 pm
We watched the Bill Maher film "Religulous" (101 min. long) in preparation for Sunday's discussion.
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, video and discussion 12:30-1:30 pm. We viewed the 20 minutes of monologues by Bill Maher filmed at locations around the world and included on the DVD of his movie "Religulous". Then we discussed the film and the issues it raised. Listen to the HUM discussion here (63 MB MP3 file, 46 min. long).
8:30 pm
1128 E Washington Ave.
2 - 4 pm
7 W Main St
2 - 5 pm
United Coalition of Reason National Director, Fred Edwords, conducted a three-hour PR and media training seminar for members of all area groups in the "community of reason", whether the groups had committed to participate in a Madison area CoR or not. The seminar was free. It was in Rm B130 Van Vleck Hall, UW-Madison. ("Community of reason" is a generic term that includes all self-identified nontheistic organizations, whether they call themselves atheist, agnostic, bright, Ethical Culture, freethought, humanist, Pastafarian, rationalist, realist, skeptic, secularist, Unitarian Universalist, or whatever else.) [more]
Van Vleck Hall
UW-Madison
10 - 11:15 am
Sunday morning service speaker at Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society was Fred Edwords presenting "A Humanist Look at Myth, Symbol, and Art". [more]†
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm PowerPoint presentation on the history of the United Coalition of Reason billboard and bus ad campaigns by Fred Edwords, their National Director. Listen to the HUM program here (87 MB MP3 file, 63 min. long).
(An older version of Fred's talk and slide show is available online at http://www.blip.tv/file/3059356.) noon Thursdays
Evolution Seminar Series at the UW for the spring semester. These scholarly lectures, presented by the JF Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, are open to the public.†
UW-Madison
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm report and discussion on the American Humanist Association 70th Anniversary Conference by Susan Hagstrom, Bob Park and Barb Park, who attended the conference April 7-10 in Cambridge MA. You can see the full schedule of events, with links to audio recordings, here. Read about the conference awardees here and read an article about the conference here. Finally, see the short list of speaker links. On 5/1 we talked about some of these speakers and their topics and answered questions about others. Listen to the program here (83 MB MP3 file, 60 min. long).
7 pm
BC the black cat hosted his first Friday the 13th party at Bob and Barb Park's house. The humans brought food to share.
2 - 4 pm
7 W Main St
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm report on the April 10 keynote talk at the American Humanist Association Annual Conference by Jeff Sharlet and discussion of his book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power and his more recent book, C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. Presenters were Doleta Chapru and Susan Hagstrom. Twenty five of us attended. (See also the 1-1/2 min. video and synopsis and review of C Street:.) Listen to the program here (88 MB MP3 file, 64 min. long).
7 - 10:45 pm
2 pm
June Science Pub featured Dr. Judith Kimble. Dr. Kimble's lab works on molecular controls of stem cells in a small model organism called C. elegans. She talked about that research and how it fits into the broader scheme of stem cell controls and current progress in stem cell research in general. The discussion was upstairs at Brocach as usual.
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
7 pm
10 am
307 Polk St.
Sauk City WI
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm program and discussion on Robert Green Ingersoll (1833 - 1899). We shared quotes from Ingersoll's writing and quotes from others writing about him. (For a collection of Ingersoll quotes, see quotes.) Listen to the program here (72 MB MP3 file, 53 min. long).
Aug. 24-28, 2011
The Democracy Convention in Madison. Audio recordings of some of the sessions can be listened to online at Wisconsin Democracy Report.
2 pm
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
7 - 10 pm
Film night at Kathy & Randy's house. We shared snacks and conversation and enjoyed watching The Spitfire Grill.
11 am - 2 pm
Madison Area Coalition of Reason picnic at Brittingham Park on Monona Bay. We reserved the picnic shelter, which kept us out of the rain that sprinkled briefly. [flyer]
2 pm
Madison Science Pub speaker for September is Dr. Elliott Sober from the UW-Madison Department of Philosophy. He discussed intelligent design and creationism and answered questions in a lively discussion.
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 - 1:30 pm a report from the Wisconsin blogosphere, from Blue Cheddar in person. See her blog stories, Facebook and Twitter posts and YouTube videos. Listen to the program here (88 MB MP3 file, 64 min. long).
2 pm
Madison Science Pub. What could be more appropriate for Science Pub than an exploration of lager yeast? Dr. Chris Todd Hittinger, Assistant Professor of Genetics at UW Madison, describes a detective story that goes from 15th century Bavaria to Andean forests of Patagonia.
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 - 1:30 pm a discussion of Richard Dawkins' new book, The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True, led by John Rummel. Listen to the program here (89 MB MP3 file, 63½ min. long).
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
noon Thursdays
Evolution Seminar Series at the UW for the fall semester. These scholarly lectures, presented by the JF Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, are open to the public. (Some past talks can be listened to online at http://madisonwi.us/WIDE-LP/MP3s/index.htm#tue or http://madisonwi.us/WIDE-LP/Citywide/wh/index.htm#fri.)†
UW campus
5:30 - 8:30 pm
Annual HumanLight party, now sponsored by MadCoR. We gathered in the Hearth Room of the Landmark Meeting House at 900 University Bay Drive. Music was provided by Ken Lonnquist and we had an environmental presentation by Dr. Shahla Werner of the Sierra Club. [details]
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
2 pm
Madison Science Pub featured Mark Krasberg of UW Madison's Ice Cube project. Mark discussed the research project and showed us some amazing photographs of whales and other wildlife from Antarctica.
Darwin Day 2012 - Unnatural history: What bizarre biology can tell us about evolution with speakers from the Field Museum, the Univ. of Virginia and Harvard. [schedule] [poster]†
![[poster]](http://www.evolution.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/dd2012poster.jpg){kind=link}
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm discussion with Howard Katz, president of the Humanist Society, on Inside Humanism Today - Q&A. Howard is also on the Board of the American Humanist Association. We had a lively free ranging discussion touching on numerous topics. Listen to the program here (128 MB MP3 file, 70 min. long).
2 pm
Madison Science Pub featured David Perlman, a grad student working with Richie Davidson doing brain imaging research on meditation. He talked about the implications of neuroscience for religion, spirituality, and society, and vice versa. His background is in physics.
UW-Madison
| Film night at Rose & Galen's house. We watched The God Who Wasn't There and shared snacks and conversation. |
2 pm
Madison Science Pub features Dr. Clark Johnson, Principle Investigator at the Wisconsin Astrobiology Research Consortium. He will discuss the origin of life, and the evolution of life on earth.
noon - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm report on the Secular Coalition's Lobby Day for Reason on March 23 by Ron Solomon and photos and commentary on the Reason Rally held in Washington DC on March 24th by Ingrid Laas and Ron. Listen to the program here (81 MB MP3 file, 70 ½ min. long). (One of the most popular speakers at the rally was Adam Savage of Mythbusters TV. Listen to the concluding 3½ min. of his talk here.)
7:30 pm
| BC the black cat hosted his 2nd Friday the 13th party at Bob and Barb Park's house. Humans brought snacks to share (with each other). |
April 27 - 29
2 pm
noon Thursdays
Evolution Seminar Series at the UW for the spring semester. These scholarly lectures, presented by the JF Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, are open to the public.†
UW-Madison
12:30 - 1:30 pm
2 pm
12:30 - 1:30 pm
2 pm
Miller will discuss the collaborative effort to develop the Next Generation Science Standards, in which she participates on the writing committee. The standards aim to be rich in content and practice across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally benchmarked science education. Partners in this effort include the National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
11:30 am - 1 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
2 pm
11 am - 2 pm
Madison Area Coalition of Reason fall picnic at James Madison Park on Lake Mendota. [flyer]
noon - 1:30 pm
4 pm
Madison Science Pub speaker was Harold Tobin. Does it seem like destructive tsunamis and earthquakes are somehow more common in recent years? You're not imagining things; the Earth has been especially tectonically active since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Harold Tobin, professor of Geoscience at UW-Madison, studies the fault zones deep beneath the ocean floor that cause these earthquakes, with the goal of trying to understand how they work, why some cause tsunamis and others do not, and more. He discussed his research and the challenges and rewards of research at sea.
noon - 1:30 pm
2 pm
Madison Science Pub speaker was UW Zoology grad student Joshua Pultorak, who is studying testosterone and pair-bonding effects on ultrasonic courtship vocalizations in a monogamous mouse.
noon - 1:30 pm
noon Thursdays
Evolution Seminar Series at the UW for the fall semester. These scholarly lectures, presented by the JF Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, are free and open to the public.†
UW-Madison
and 5 pm
Humanism Today, a series of programs from the Humanist Union of Madison, the Humanist Hour of the American Humanist Assoc., or elsewhere, on west Madison's low power FM station, WIDE-LP. See the Monday program schedule.99.1 FM
SW Madison
5 - 8 pm
Our annual HumanLight celebration was at Prairie this year. We started with a potluck supper followed by music and dancing. Our singing was accompanied by Ron on guitar and Mary on piano. Then Chris on sax and Ron on guitar entertained us with some duets. See the event website and our flyer.
~noon - 1:30 pm
2 pm
noon - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at noon. The 12:30 to 1:30 pm program was an informal discussion with Shawn Francis Peters about his new book "The Catonsville Nine: A Story of Faith and Resistance in the Vietnam Era." [Video of the burning of draft files] Listen to the program here (106 MB MP3 file, 77 min. long).
downstairs
2 pm
Madison Science Pub features Dr. Riccardo Bonazza in the College of Engineering at UW-Madison discussing shockwaves.
Feb. 14 - 16, 2013
Life only exists because it can reproduce - and living organisms have sure found some odd ways to do it! Coinciding with Valentine's Day, this year the Crow Institute celebrates Darwin's birthday with a guided tour of some of nature's odder sexual strategies. Join us for the wild ride of evolution!
Schedule:[more]
Thursday February 14
8am - 4pm: Teacher Workshop, led by Kristin Jenkins and UW-Madison faculty. Faculty presentations and demonstrations of hands-on activities. The cost for substitute teachers will be covered for participants. Lunch will be provided and participants will receive materials to take back to the classroom. Registration required.
7pm: Movie Night: Evolution Shorts: Love and Sex in the Natural World. Union South Marquee.
Friday February 15
7 pm: Keynote lecture by Kim Bostwick (Cornell University). Evolution Revealed: How to Evolve a Seductive Musical Instrument from Feathers. Location: H.F. DeLuca Forum
Saturday February 16
10am - 2pm: Tree of Life exploration stations and scavenger hunt. This activity is appropriate for all ages. Kids win prizes for completing the scavenger hunt. Location: Town Center at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
10:30 am: Lecture by Chris Smith (Willamette University): The most repulsive tree. The most remarkable fertilization system. H.F. DeLuca Forum
12:00 pm: Lecture by Matthew Dean (University of Southern California): Dolphin pelvic bones evolve in response to sexual selection. Location: H.F. DeLuca Forum
UW-Madison
noon - 1:30 pm
7 pm
610 Langdon St.
noon - 1:30 pm
Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 to 1:30 pm program by Susan Hagstrom on Child Evangelism in our Public Schools: a report on the investigation by author Katherine Stewart. For background, listen to Katherine Stewart's 3/10/13 Madison talk: The Fundamentalist Assault on Public Education (48 min.), watch the 37 min. YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aISnyA6k5Io to which she contributed, or read her speech at FFRF's national convention in October in Portland, Ore., Christians mount public school stealth attack. Listen to the program here (91 MB MP3 file, 66 min. long).
4 - 5 pm