Image by freeparking on flickr

Monthly Meeting

Monday, April 27, 2009

Attorney Diane Darwish on Controversies in Family Law

Business meeting at 6:30
Program at 7:00

Betts Branch Library
Meeting Room
4862 S. Salina St.
Syracuse, NY 13205

At our 6:30 business meeting we will be holding elections. After the business meeting we will hear from local attorney Diane Darwish on recent controversies in family law decisions.

View Google Map and Get Directions to Betts

Skeptics in the Pub

April 15, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Al’s Whiskey Bar
321 S Clinton St
Syracuse, NY 13202

View Google map and get directions to Al’s

We’re back at Al’s with Jess and friends. Please join us for drinks and conversation.

CNY Skeptics member Ethan Kocak has created some funny video mashups that combine creationist videos with original animation and commentary by Ethan. Check them out on YouTube.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

“Why America Is Shedding Puritan Values:
Social Nudity – Our Fastest Growing Recreation Sector”

Speaker: Mike Affleck

Business meeting at 6:30
Program at 7:00

Mike Affleck shedding Puritan values

Betts Branch Library
Meeting Room
4862 S. Salina St.
Syracuse, NY 13205

View Google Map and Get Directions to Betts

The Program

This presentation will tell us how we can shed Puritan values by shedding our clothes.

Mike Affleck is an art model and actor, theologian and social activist

Skeptics in the Pub Is Back!

February 11, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Al’s Whiskey Bar
321 S Clinton St
Syracuse, NY 13202

View Google map and get directions to Al’s

We’re back at Al’s with our super skeptic host, Jess. Please join us for drinks and conversation.

CNY Skeptics Speaker Meeting

At the DeWitt Community Library at Shoppingtown Mall

Photo by atomicshark on Flickr

DeWitt Community Library
Buckland Meeting Room
3649 Erie Blvd E
Shoppingtown Mall
DeWitt, NY 13214

In January we will have a special speaker at our regular meeting, but you will have to come to the meeting to find out more! If you subscribe to our e-newsletter, you will receive more information about this month’s program.

The Evolution of Intelligent Design

Read a new article by skeptical satirist Paul DesOrmeaux. Paul presents a concise, chronological, and arbitrary timeline that more or less accurately presents the history and “facts” behind the development of creationism, creation, science, intelligent design, and more importantly, scientific illiteracy. He claims that the article’s contents have been painstakingly researched, and for all intents and purposes, the information provided is “hysterically” correct. You be the judge.

“A Virtual Tour of the Creation Museum: Cheaper Than the Real Thing and Far More Educational”

Speaker: Jason Wiles, Ph.D.

Business meeting at 6:30
Program at 7:00

Jason Wiles riding a dinosaur at the Creation Museum

Our November meeting will be at a familiar location, the Betts Branch Library in the Valley, but on a different day than usual, Monday.

Betts Branch Library
Meeting Room
4862 S. Salina St.
Syracuse, NY 13205

View Google Map and Get Directions to Betts

The Program

This presentation casts a skeptical eye toward the “science” taught at the Creation Museum, a 27-million-dollar (and counting) attraction located on the Kentucky side of the Cincinnati, OH, metropolitan area. You will see dinosaurs living peacefully alongside humans and hear how “Creation Scientists” explain that the Earth is only about 6,000 years old. Of course, science tells us that the Earth is around 4-and-a-half billion years old and that dinosaurs were extinct long before humans evolved, but then, little, if any, of what the Creation Museum teaches is supported by science.

About the speaker

Jason R. Wiles grew up in Arkansas, a southern state in the heart of the Bible Belt with a storied history of controversy around the teaching of evolution in public schools. Dr. Wiles grew up in a creationist family and earned his first degree in biology at a private religious university where evolution was largely absent from the curriculum. He went on to earn master’s degrees in both biology and geosciences, both heavy on evolutionary evidence and theory. After having taught biology and other sciences at a number of colleges, universities, and institutions of secondary education for several years, he recognized that a great many students had similar misconceptions and related difficulties in learning about biology that were rooted in misunderstanding of evolution, whether or not these barriers were based on religious beliefs.

Given his own personal experience, and given the centrality of evolution to a deep understanding of the life and Earth sciences, Wiles was motivated to learn more about the teaching and learning of evolution. He eventually earned a Ph.D. at McGill University focusing on evolution education, and for the past four years has served as Research Manager of the Evolution Education Research Centre, a partnership between McGill and Harvard University. He joined the faculty in the Biology Department at Syracuse University in 2008 and enjoys a secondary appointment in the SU Department of Science Teaching.

Related articles of interest by Jason Wiles

The missing link: Scientist discovers that evolution is missing from Arkansas classrooms
The Huckster’s Artful Dodging on Evolution
A threat to geoscience education: creationist anti-evolution activity in Canada

Paul DesOrmeaux, skeptical satirist

Neighboring skeptic, founder of the Rochesterville Skeptics Club (Rochester, NY), and skeptical satirist Paul DesOrmeaux has a humorous article in the November/December Skeptical Inquirer titled “More Cool Careers for Dummies: Ghost Hunter,” which is a follow up to an earlier March/April SI Forum article titled “Cool Careers for Dummies: Psychic Detective.” Along with articles in the Skeptical Briefs and Openly Skeptical (Skeptics Canada) newsletters, Paul is a regular contributor to BASIS (The Bay Area Skeptics’ newsletter).

As the movement’s best-known humorist, he has lampooned a variety of pseudoscience topics, such as cosmetic acupuncture, “The Secret,” Scientology, horoscopes, chiropractic (his most controversial piece), and many others. His goal is to introduce skepticism to a broader audience by combining reason and science with humor and satire. So, if you know anyone considering a career in chasing disembodied spirits for fun and profit, have them check out the newest SI issue.

No Skeptics in the Pub in November

We don’t have a Skeptics in the Pub event planned for November. However, if someone wants to volunteer to organize it, let us know, and we’ll put the information here.

Lisa Goodlin and David Harding at the CNY Skeptics booth at the 2008 Westcott Street Fair

Skeptics in the Pub

October 14, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Al’s Whiskey Bar
321 S Clinton St
Syracuse, NY 13202

Map

Come hang out with us at the next Skeptics in the Pub. We can’t wait to see old friends and meet new ones. We’re changing the time because our Skeptics in the Pub super organizer, Jess, has a class and can’t make it any earlier than 7:30.

Speaker Meeting

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

“First Contact: Teaching Evolution to Middle Level Students”

Speaker: Vince Sperrazza

Close View, Shell Imprint Fossil by cobalt123 on Flickr

Business meeting at 6:30
Program at 7:00

Our October meeting will be at a new location. We are moving our meetings around this year to see if we can find a place with the right mix of accessibility, parking, and general ambiance for our needs.

DeWitt Community Library
Buckland Meeting Room
3649 Erie Blvd E
Shoppingtown Mall
DeWitt, NY 13214

Map

The middle school science classroom is often students’ first contact with a scientific presentation on evolution. Veteran middle school teacher Vince Sperrazza will share experiences, recommendations, and resources designed to help educators and prospective educators give students a stimulating, positive introduction to the science of evolution.

The presentation and discussion will include answers to these questions:
What are middle school students like?
What does the NY State Curriculum say about evolution?
How is evolution integrated as the unifying theory of biology in a middle level science classroom?
What successful strategies are useful in introducing the concept of evolution to 12 year olds?

Vince Sperrazza taught middle level science, including evolution, at the Mount Markham Central School District, located in Herkimer County, for 33 years before retiring in June 2006. During his years in the classroom, Vince mentored many student teachers. He authored the article “Evolution and Middle Level Education: Observations and Recommendations” which appeared in the January-April 2005 issue of the journal Reports of the National Center for Science Education. The National Center for Science Education is a “not-for-profit, membership organization providing information and resources for schools, parents and concerned citizens working to keep evolution in public school science education.”

Stop by and see us on Sunday at our booth at the Westcott Street Cultural Fair. We’ll be handing out business cards and brochures and answering questions. It’s 12:00 to 6:30.

Map

Skeptics in the Pub

September 9, 2008 at 6 PM
Al’s Whiskey Bar
321 S Clinton St
Syracuse, NY 13202

Map

Join us for a drink at the next Skeptics in the Pub. Our first two meetings were a lot of fun, and we can’t wait to see old friends and meet new ones.

Speaker Meeting

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Also: Book Give Away and Free Pizza or Dessert! Vote below

Why we should be skeptical: The government, the media, and the case of Rafil Dhafir

Speaker: Katherine Hughes, civil liberties activist
Business meeting at 6:30
Program at 7:00

Soule Branch Library
101 Springfield Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13214
Map

Since the events of September 11, 2001, the government has raided and closed down six major Muslim charities and many smaller Muslim charities, accusing each of funding terrorism. In each case, alleged “guilt by association” meant that the charities’ assets were frozen and their principals arrested. Yet despite new investigative powers, government authorities have failed to produce evidence of terrorist financing by any of these Muslim charities. Dr. Rafil Dhafir, formerly an oncologist in Rome, NY, is the founder of one of these charities.

From the outset of this case the government was duplicitous. Using unfair tactics and innuendo with the aid of a complicit media, the government transformed Dhafir from a compassionate humanitarian into a crook and supporter of terrorists.

Katherine Hughes, a native of Scotland, attended the 14-week trial and has written extensively about it and our government’s current persecution of Muslims as part of its war on terror. Her articles have been published on numerous websites and in The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, the National Lawyers Guild’s Guild Practitioner, and Fellowship Magazine.

Free Pizza or Dessert for the next meeting?

Which will it be?

VOTE NOW!

Put “Pizza” or “Dessert” on the Subject line of your email and then come to the September meeting to see the results of the vote!