In what is becoming a tradition, we’ll be fighting the good fight against the Christmas traditions by celebrating them to max. Actually, we’ll be doing a Yankee Swap and socializing.

We’re a week early this month (due to the dread “Ch” word), but at the usual time and place, Tommy Doyle’s Irish Pub in Harvard Square, 7 to 9 PM on Monday, December 19, 2011. Please bring a small, geeky, nerdy, cheap (under $10) skeptical gift so you can participate in the Swap, but if you’d rather not, then just come and socialize and laugh as the participants try to strategize. (I got an awesome pirate skull mug last year.)

RSVP on Facebook, if that’s your thing.

So, September’s Skeptics in the Pub will be a week late, and therefore…in October.  But hey, that’s because we were able to hook a super awesome speaker: Sean Faircloth, Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America.  You may have caught Sean’s excellent talk at TAM this year, but don’t worry, this won’t be a repeat (so you cool kids who went to TAM should still come!).  If you aren’t familiar with Sean, check out his bio.  Awesomeness: before joining the Secular Coalition, he was doing awesome stuff in the state legislature of my home, Maine.

Here’s what you need to know:

When: Monday, Oct. 4th at 7pm
Speaker: Sean Faircloth
Title: Sex! Morality! Women! Law!
Where: Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square

If you are on facebook, don’t forget to rsvp.  See you there!

Skeptics in the Pub: Mothers’ Day Special

WHEN
Sunday, May 9, 2010
7:00pm – 10:00pm

WHERE
Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square (top floor)
96 Winthrop Street
Cambridge, MA

Facebook event page

Good news, Everyone! You’re all invited to a SPECIAL Boston Skeptics in the Pub this Sunday evening, when our guest will be the FANTASTIC Jon Ronson.

Jon is probably best known as the author of the book “The Men Who Stare At Goats,” which became a movie starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor. Jon’s written several other books, and his journalistic work has appeared widely in print in the UK and elsewhere. Additionally, Jon has appeared several times on Public Radio International’s “This American Life,” and has created documentary series for TV and radio.

Jon is a charismatic, funny, self-deprecating speaker, and while we KNOW Sunday is Mothers’ Day, you could still cap off the day by bringing your moms to Tommy Doyle’s to listen to Jon’s talk! And yes, while the event is FREE OF CHARGE, your mom doesn’t have to know that… tell her you got her a ticket as a present! BONUS!

Either way, as Jon himself said on Twitter, “[W]e’ll have just the greatest time,” so don’t miss out!

Skeptics in the Pub: February Edition

WHEN
Monday, February 22, 2010 (pronounced “twentington”)
7:00pm – 10:00pm

WHERE
Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square (top floor)
96 Winthrop Street
Cambridge, MA

Facebook event page

Well, it’s been a few months since we’ve had a speaker here at Skeptics in the Pub, so we’re absolutely JAZZED to be able to bring you Jeff Lieberman as February’s special guest!

Jeff will no doubt be familiar to some of you as the host of Time Warp on the Discovery Channel! Time Warp uses high-speed photography to show you ordinary things in extraordinary detail. If you’ve ever noticed a strange amount of Cambridge-area content, well, that may be because Jeff is a local!

In addition to his work on Time Warp, Jeff is a renaissance man, and is well known in several fields! He’s an MIT trained scientist, with degrees in Math, Physics, Engineering, and Media. He plays electronic music in the group “gloobic,” makes his way through the art world for both photography and sculpture, and is also a roboticist who MAY be building a robot to TAKE OVER THE WORLD. Well, I made up the “taking over the world” part… or did I?

At any rate, come on out for Jeff’s talk, and you can ask him questions about any and all of those things! Get there early, we’re sure this going to be a popular talk. RSVP in the comments or over on Facebook to let us know you’re coming, so we can let Tommy Doyle’s know how many people to expect. We hope to see you all there, as the material covered WILL be on your final exam! :)

NB: Don’t forget about our Brunch this Saturday! The fact that we’re bumping that post is NO excuse for slacking!

The War of the Worlds     with Neil Marsh   WHEN Monday, October 19th, 2009 7:00pm – 10:00pm WHERE Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square (top floor) 96 Winthrop Street Cambridge, MA Facebook event page

Once again, we will be gathering at Tommy Doyle’s for another Skeptics in the Pub. This month, we’re not meeting on the last Monday of the month (as usual) but rather on Monday, October 19th at the usual time.

As a way of celebrating Halloween, fellow Boston Skeptic blogger Josh has set up a discussion with Neil Marsh, who is the Artistic Director and lead Sound Designer for The Post-Meridian Radio Players, a local theatre group (of which Josh is also a part) who perform original and classic radio plays.

For their annual Halloween show, the PMRP will be putting on The Big Broadcast of 1938, part of which will be a Boston-based adaptation of the classic Orson Welles radio drama, The War of the Worlds. Neil Marsh will be talking about both Welles’s controversial, panic-inspiring broadcast as well as the PMRP’s adaptation.

As ever, all are welcome to come, drink, and hang out for the talk and subsequent Q&A session.

ALSO!
Don’t forget that our very own Boston Skeptic Liz has set up another yummy brunch on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 11 am at The Asgard in Central Square. Please pancake your way on over to the event’s Facebook page or leave a comment to let us know you’re coming so we can make sure there are enough pancakes to go around!

Date:
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Time:
7:00pm – 10:00pm
Location:
Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square (Top Floor)
96 Winthrop St.
Cambridge, MA
Cost:
FREE!
Facebook Event Page

Join the Boston Skeptics on a special night as we hang out with Dr. Rachael Dunlop, noted Australian scientist, blogger, and podcaster.

Dr. Rachie’s awesomeness can be heard on the Skeptic Zone podcast and read on her blog, The Sceptic’s Book of Pooh-pooh as well as on Twitter.

Dr. Rachie recently appeared on the skeptic track at DragonCon, and will be a guest at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS) September 11. We’re hoping that her talk for Boston Skeptics in the Pub, though, will contain at least 80% more bawdiness.

I had a slight headache this morning upon waking, making me possibly the 85th victim of the terrifying Mothman Curse. I feel better now, though.

Last night’s special “Mothman” edition of Boston Skeptics in the Pub was a great success! Alien expert Barbara Mervine, JREF employee Jeff Wagg, and yours truly hosted a screening of The Mothman Prophesies, during which we mocked the film and provided cryptozoological factoids for the enjoyment of about 100 attendees. We also played Mothman Bingo, in which many people won fabulous prizes, including Surlyramics necklaces, mythical creature toys, and other bizarre paraphernalia.

The Mothman wasn’t sighted, but he did leave his mark on one attendee:

While there won’t be a video for this round, we did record an audio track that will be posted soon, so you can have your very own skeptical commentary the next time you feel compelled to subject yourself to this surprisingly boring movie. (And here they are: MMbingo_audio.zip MMbingo_cards.zip )

Thanks to everyone who came out!

Since a lot of people will be away for the holidays, our December event will be super extra special and a little bit early!

Instead of our usual Boston Skeptics in the Pub event, we’re celebrating the holidays with a special field trip to the Museum of Science.

We’ll meet at 10am in the front lobby of the Museum, and explore the very skeptic-friendly exhibits there, including Mythical Creatures and the Science of Fear.

If we get 15 or more people to definitely say they can make it, we’ll order group passes at a discount ($16.25 for general admission, compared to the usual rate of $19.00). However, I have to know by this Saturday so I can tell the Museum. So, please RSVP here by commenting on this post (at this point in time you don’t even have to register to comment), or you can RSVP on Facebook.

Here’s the best part: after the Museum, those of us who are 21 or older will convene at Porter’s, a nearby bar, where we’ll have a special, informal Skeptics in the Pub with a fun speaker: Barbara Mervine, skeptical UFOlogist

UPDATE:
OK, reservation has been made!

The museum is going to charge my credit card on December 10, so if anyone wants the discounted rate, I’d appreciate it if you could PayPal the money to skepchick@skepchick.org. Include your name and indicate which and how many tickets you need. The rates are:

Adults 12-59 are $16.25
Seniors 60+ are $14.25
Kids 3-11 are $13.25

Kids under 3 are jettisoned through the pneumatic baby cannon, a new exhibit for December.

If you don’t want to use PayPal but you still want the discounted rate, please send me an email to the same address promising me you’ll show up Saturday with cash in hand. I am a trusting soul, and I will believe you if you take the time to email me. I will not believe you if you have only RSVPed on Facebook or Boston Skeptics (though that was helpful for getting rough numbers so I could let the MoS know).

If you have a child under 3 but you do not want him or her fired into the Charles, dress him or her like a loaf of bread or something.

PS: Yeticorn picture drawn by this awesome guy ( http://www.threadless.com/profile/484783/impossibleoctopus ) and yes it’s the same thing on my rad orange t-shirt that I will probably have to wear to this event. Hm, or maybe my unicorn shirt…

Yeah yeah yeah, it took me forever to update, but I have a good excuse: I’m very lazy busy.

This month’s special SitP guest is none other than Blake Stacey of ScienceBlogs’ Science After Sunclipse speaking about physics and hallucinations. BYOLSD!

Once again, we’ll take over the top floor of the super fun Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square, beginning at 7pm. They have food, booze, and very pleasant waitstaff. There are parking garages around, or you can take the T (Red Line to Harvard Square).

Here’s the Facebook Event Page if you’d like to RSVP (though that’s not required)! To get future Facebook event invites, sign up for the Boston-area Skeptics group!