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!

Hey gang!

First, we just want to thank everyone who came to SitP last night. Jeff Lieberman was fantastic, and we’re very grateful to him for speaking to us! And in case you stayed home in favor of watching the video version of this month’s event: sorry, but there IS no video this month! You really missed out this time. Plus, our videos don’t tell the whole story, so it’s always worthwhile to come out and meet your fellow skeptifriends!

We also announced next month’s SitP speaker: Kimball Atwood IV! Kimball is a practicing anesthesiologist, a blogger at Science-Based Medicine, and was named a CSI (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) Fellow! We’ll have more information about this event closer to the date, as Kimball is scheduled to speak on Monday, March 29th at 7PM. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet him prior to his appearance at NECSS the following month.

Lastly, this week’s BS Book Club meeting is at 2:00 PM, not 2:30 as had previously been announced in yesterday’s post. That post has already been redacted down the memory hole, and we have always been at war with Eastasia. The venue and book have not changed, so check yesterday’s post for the details!

That’s it for now. Thanks again for your support!

Hi everyone! Do you have plans for tonight? Well, I certainly hope not, unless those plans involve stopping by Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square for tonight’s edition of Skeptics in the Pub!

That’s right! It’s finally time for this month’s talk, featuring Jeff Lieberman of the Discovery Channel’s Time Warp, the band gloobic, and all those other projects we talked about here! So just in case you forgot, well, that’s happening tonight at 7 PM. Get there early!

Also worth noting: This coming Saturday (Feb. 27th) is the next meeting of the Boston Skeptics Book Club! There’s still time to read this month’s book, 59 Seconds by our good friend Richard Wiseman. It’ll take you longer than 59 seconds, I suspect, but it’s still a quick and entertaining read. So be sure to come to the Clear Conscience Cafe in Central Square at 2:00 PM to join in the discussion!

And finally, a bit of a head’s up: Do you have plans for the early afternoon on Sunday, March 14th? Well, congrats on planning things so far in advance (a skill we could stand to cultivate!) but you MAY want to keep some time open. We HOPE to have more about this soon.

So there’s a quick summary of our upcoming events! We’d love to see you (yes, YOU!) at all of them!

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!

Hey gang!

If you don’t follow us on Twitter or belong to our Facebook Group, you might not already know that we’ve got another Skeptics in the Pub night going on tomorrow!

We’ve all been shagged out since the Richard Wiseman event earlier this month, so we have to apologize for the late notice! But just because we don’t have another guest speaker doesn’t mean we can’t still get together for some fun times, right?

SO: Tomorrow night (Monday, Jan. 25th), join your Boston Skeptics friends for an exciting night of trivia! Stop by Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square at the usual time (7:00 PM) and join forces with your friends and fellow skeptics for some geeky trivia fun! We’re even trying to coordinate a surprise for you, though WE PROMISE NOTHING.

RSVP here on the Facebook Event page to let us know you’re coming, and we’ll see you all there tomorrow!

Skeptics in the Pub: Thanksgiving Special

WHEN
Monday, November 23, 2009
7:00pm – 10:00pm

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

Facebook event page

Before you head off to visit your family and gorge on turkey (tofurkey and turducken are also acceptable) join your friends in the Boston Skeptics for this month’s Skeptics in the Pub event!

We’re about as thrilled as can be about this month’s guest. Many of you will know George Hrab from his appearances at TAM, TAM London, NECSS, Dragon*Con, and just about every other skeptical event under the sun. But for those of you who don’t, Geo is one talented guy! He’s a skeptical singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist whose music is available on iTunes or here at CD Baby. He also puts out the always-amusing Geologic Podcast, which just hit its 140th episode!

If that’s not enough, George is an incredible humorist and raconteur. When he joins us on Monday, Nov. 23rd, be sure to wear your laughing pants. And if you don’t own laughing pants a) what’s wrong with you? and b) you’d better buy some! Geo will be at our usual location, Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square, from 7-10 PM. He will be singing some songs, telling some stories, and hanging out to answer your questions!

So once again, join your host Liz Gaston and the rest of the Boston Skeptics for what we HOPE will be a rocking, fun filled way to kick off the holiday season! We hope to see you ALL there!

Hi folks! Just thought I’d pop in here to remind you all of a few upcoming events!

First, a few Boston Skeptics will be getting together (as was suggested on our Twitter feed, which you SHOULD be following) to watch The Men Who Stare at Goats. This is the film adaptation of skeptic (and super best friend of our own Rebecca Watson) Jon Ronson‘s book of the same name. We’re going to the 8:30PM screening at the AMC Boston Common theatre (across from the Boylston stop on the Green Line). This is a very informal get-together, so if you’d like to meet up, get there early and look for us in the lobby. At the very least, let us know you’ll be there in the comments section and maybe we can all grab a drink and discuss the film afterwards!

Second, the inaugural meeting of the Boston Skeptics Book Club will be taking place this Saturday, Nov. 7th at 2:00 PM at the Clear Conscience Cafe in Central Square. Join Mary Brock and Liz Gaston in kicking off what (we hope) will be a great forum for reading and discussing the vast canon of skeptical and scientific literature!

Finally, don’t forget about this month’s AWESOME Boston Skeptics in the Pub event featuring the amazing George Hrab! That’s coming up on Monday,  Nov. 23rd (the Monday before Thanksgiving), at our usual place and time. We’ll put up a full post about that soon, but for now you should head over to the Facebook Event page and RSVP so we can give Tommy Doyle’s a rough head count.

That’s it for now, but if you have any ideas for events or speakers, feel free to let us know in the comments! Hope to see you all soon :)

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!

The Mothman Prophecies

WHEN
Monday, August 31, 2009
7:00pm – 10:00pm

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

Facebook event page

Join the Boston Skeptics in our usual pub setting (Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square) for a special movie night!

We’ll be watching The Mothman Prophecies, a ridiculous Richard Gere vehicle about the supposedly TRUE STORY of a creepy supernatural being haunting rural West Virginia.

Jeff Wagg of the James Randi Educational Foundation and alien expert Barbara Mervine will join our very own Rebecca Watson in a panel discussion about the “real” Mothman and other mythical beasts.

We’ll also be playing the Mothman bingo drinking game during the movie!

Come watch a stupid movie with a smart crowd. Good times for all!

The movie will start at 7:00pm, but please feel free to arrive by 6:30 to get a good seat! We’ve had a dramatic rise in attendance the last few months, so don’t miss out on a CHAP-TASTIC night by showing up late!

Particle Colliders—The Science & The Fiction
with CERN Physicist Shulamit Moed!

Monday, June 29, 2009
7:00pm – 10:00pm
Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square (top floor)
96 Winthrop Street
Cambridge, MA

If you’ve heard the black hole scares surrounding the LHC or seen the movie Angels & Demons and wondered if any bit of it had basis in reality, you’re in for a treat.

Shulamit Moed is a post-doc who splits her time between Fermilab (where she measures the production of the charm quark), CERN (where she prepares for the first LHC collisions), and Harvard (where she gives talks in pubs to people like you).

Boston Skeptics in the Pub is an informal lecture series where everyone is invited to hang out, socialize, drink, eat, and maybe even learn something. Each lecture is followed by a rousing Q&A session and then several hours of drinking and socializing that sometimes evolves into Harvard Square bar-hopping.

The lecture begins around 7pm, but show up anytime after 6:30 to get good seats!

Facebook Event Page