Thursday, October 21, 2010

Location Change for Dr. Rachael Dunlop talk

Just a heads-up for anyone who gets their event info form here rather than the Facebook or Meetup pages, the location for this week's talk by Dr. Rachael Dunlop has changed due to a scheduling conflict at our previous location...

The new details are...

Saturday, October 23
5:00
Little America Hotel - Cheyenne Room
500 S. Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT

There is plenty of parking under the hotel. As you get off the elevators, just turn to your right and you'll find the meeting rooms.

See you there!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. Rachael Dunlop

Dr. Rachie Reports: The Adventures of a Scientist in an Alternative Medicine World
Saturday, October 23, 2010
5:00
Little America Hotel
Cheyenne Room
500 S. Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT

Dr. Rachael Dunlop is a cell biologist and science communicator from Sydney, Australia. She is a regular contributor to the Skeptic Zone podcast, in which she presents the Dr. Rachie Reports segment, exploring the world of complimentary and alternative medicine from a science-based perspective. Dr. Rachie blogs at The Skeptics Book of Pooh Pooh and along with Richard Saunders, regularly puts on the Mystery Investigators, a live show that aims to make critical thinking fun and accessible to kids.

Please join Salt City Skeptics for an evening with Dr. Rachie and hear her tales from forefront of the clash between science and alt-med on Saturday, October 23 at the Columbus Library. Don't miss it!

If you can, take a moment to RSVP for this event at either the Meetup or Facebook listing. See you there!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Announcing Salt Lake City SkeptiCamp 2010

It's time for the first Salt Lake City SkeptiCamp!

What the hell is SkeptiCamp?
SkeptiCamp is an "unconference" based on the BarCamp model of user-generated conferences. That means everything at Salt Lake City Skepticamp will be provided by you, the attendees. That includes the talks and presentations, the venue, food and refreshments, and maybe extras like t-shirts or whatever else you can come up with.

Huh? You want me to what now?
It's not as scary as it sounds. Do you have expertise in a topic you want to talk about? Or, do you have an interest in something and want to challenge yourself with researching or investigating it? Well, now's your chance to do it and show what you've got in an informal event. There's no panel to "approve" your talk. Just go to the Salt Lake City SkeptiCamp 2010 wiki page and add your topic to the list (or email me and I'll add it for you, porlob {at} gmail).

What topics are available to present on?
Whatever you like. As long as it's vaguely related to skepticism or science, it's fair game. Topics with a local bent are particularly welcome, but not required.

What if I don't want to present?
That's perfectly fine. There are plenty of other ways you can help. The idea is to keep Skepticamp costs as close to $0 as possible, so you can help by arranging for a location (back room of a restaurant, conference room at a library, university classroom), lending a projector, providing simple refreshments, marketing the event, doing A/V stuff, making t-shirts, or finding "sponsors" wiling to provide some of those things.

Okay. I can do that. How much will it cost to attend?
$0. Help provide content or support as noted above if you can instead.

When is it? And where?
Saturday, October 16 for now. Though that date is subject to revision based on participant input. Where? Don't know yet. That's up to you!

Do I have to be an active member of Salt City Skeptics to participate?
Absolutely not! In fact, new people are encouraged to present.

What now?
Head over to the SkeptiCamp SLC wiki page, and join in the discussion at the Talk page or add your comments to this post. Check out the "Organizing a SkeptiCamp" article at the SkeptiCamp wiki for ideas and thoughts.
Other resources:
Remember: this isn't just an event that you're attending, it's your event. Help make it what you want it to be!

New events!

Hey all. It's been quiet around here lately. But we're gearing up to get some new events going.

Joining me on the Salt City Skeptics organizing team are now Rachel and Amanda. If you haven't yet met either of them, introduce yourself at an upcoming event.

Speaking of upcoming events, we're restarting consistent monthly Drinking Skeptically events, new night and location, the 2nd Tuesday of every month at the Beerhive (128 South Main Street), 7:00. The next DS will be August 10. See you there!

Which brings me to Skepticamp. But Skepticamp deserves it's own post, so with no further ado...

Monday, April 12, 2010

Salt City Skeptics is now on Twitter

For those of you on Twitter, now you can follow @SLCSkeptics to stay up-to-date on all the latest events and various goings-on.

I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow (Tuesday, April 13) at 7:00 for Drinking Skeptically at the Bayou!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Drinking Skeptically: New night, new venue!

Yay! It's a new Drinking Skeptically for Salt City Skeptics!

We're mixing things up a bit this time, with a new night and a new location. Come clear your head with like-minded skeptics and rationalists, this coming Tuesday at The Bayou!

When: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 7:00 PM

Where:
The Bayou
645 S State St
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
801-961-8400

My apologies for the lack of activities lately. I've been out of town a lot with IRL stuff. If anyone is interested in being an assistant organizer to help keep events in the pipeline, let me know! :)

If you're planning on coming, please take a moment to RSVP at the event's Facebook page. See you there!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Austin Dacey Lecture & Debate Saturday, February 27

SHIFT: Secular Humanism, Inquiry and Freethought, the University of Utah secular student alliance, has an exciting event coming up this coming Saturday. I'll be there! Hope you can make it too!

(via SHIFT's blog)
Austin Dacey, author of The Secular Conscience: Why Belief Belongs in Public Life, and former Center for Inquiry representative to the United Nations, is coming this Saturday!

His lecture, called "Blasphemy: Hate Speech or Human Right? Inside the struggle for freedom of expression at the United Nations" will be held in the University of Utah Fine Arts Auditorium (375 South 1530 East) on Saturday, February 27, beginning at 4:00pm ~ the doors will open at 3:00, and seating is first-come-first-served, so come early to grab your good seats!

Following Dr. Dacey's lecture, he will be joined by local Salt Lake Community College Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Mark Hausam, for a debate entitled, "Is Morality Possible Without God?"

Don't miss this amazing opportunity! This lecture is being hosted by SHIFT ~ Secular Humanism, Inquiry and Freethought. It has been generously made possible by the exhaustive efforts of Co-Founder Jason Cooperrider, The Secular Student Alliance (one of our national affiliates), and The Humanists of Utah, as well of course by our participants Dr.s Austin Dacey (and Angie McQuaig) and Mark Hausam.

Donations are gratefully being accepted via cash or checks mad

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Drinking Skeptically in 2010!

Drinking Skeptically is back!

Now that the holidays are over and we're all back to our "normal" lives, it's time for another DS! We've got a lot of new members since our last event a few months back, so I'm especially calling new members to join us on the 13th at Piper Down.

I'm also looking for some people to help me out with organizing events and finding guest speakers, so bring your ideas on Wednesday.

See you then!
-Patrick

If you want to RSVP, see the Facebook event page:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?invites&eid=240326266948