Recent Events (2006)

Our current calendar of events is on our home page and in our newsletter.
When What
Monday, December 25th Annual brunch at Shangri-Lee, 965 South Main Street, Cheshire, CT. Link to map of Shangri-Lee Chinese Restaurant location.
Monday, December 18th
Annual Meeting, Elections, and Solstice Party

We started with a potluck at 7:30 PM. A little after 8:00 PM we held elections for the 2007 calendar year, followed by the reading of "Ode to the Tilt" and our traditional Solstice Party.
Sunday, December 10th
cover of 'Inheriting the Holy Land: An American's Search for Hope in the Middle East' by Jennifer Miller Book discussion on Inheriting the Holy Land: An American's Search for Hope in the Middle East, by Jennifer Miller.
Sunday, December 10th West Rock Hike.
Saturday, December 9th

Humanist Conversations: Scientism

Dr. David Schafer gave a short presentation on "scientism" and led a discussion.
Monday, December 4th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Wednesday, November 29th Hartford area social dinner at at Black-Eyed Sally's, 350 Asylum St., Hartford. Link to map of Black-Eyed Sally's restaurant location.
Sunday, November 26th November board and standing committee meetings.
Monday, November 20th
Monthly Meeting: Weird Science

Our guest speaker was Dr. Steven Novella, President of the New England Skeptical Society.

A poster for this meeting is available here.
Sunday, November 12th East Rock Hike.
Monday, November 6th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, November 4th

Humanist Conversations: Moral Realism

We discussed the secular basis for ethics and issues raised by Dr. David Koepsell's talk on October 16th.
Wednesday, October 25th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at at Northern Galapagos, 281 Winsted Rd., Torrington. Link to map of Northern Galapagos restaurant location. Call the restaurant at (860) 795-0030 if you need directions.
Sunday, October 22nd October board and standing committee meetings.
Sunday, October 22nd Group trip to see Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God in NYC at the Ars Nova Theater, at 10th Ave. and 54th Street, Manhattan.
Monday, October 16th
Monthly Meeting: Secular Ethical Alternatives: Moral Realism

Our guest speaker will be Dr. David Koepsell, Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism. Dr. Koepsell discussed drawbacks in the major schools of non-theistic normative and meta-ethics and offered an alternative, a brand of moral realism based upon some philosophical work done by members of the Vienna Circle between the wars.

A poster for this meeting is available here.
Saturday, October 14th

Humanist Conversations: Global Warming

We discuss global warming and possible approaches to diminishing the contribution of human activities.
Sunday, October 8th Coltsfoot Mountain Hike, starting at Bill & Kathy Lyons' home in Cornwall.
Saturday, October 7th The Humanist Conversations meeting originally published for this date was rescheduled so that members can attend the NASW of Connecticut Take Back Our Rights conference at Quinnipiac University.
Monday, October 2nd New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Wednesday, September 27th Our Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner originally planned for Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location, was actually held at Café Biaggio, 379 E Main St, Waterbury Link to map of Cafe Biaggio restaurant location, as our normal location, Lisboa, was closed following a change in opening hours.
Sunday, September 24th September board and standing committee meetings.
Monday, September 18th
Monthly Meeting: Our guest speaker was Professor Barry Kosmin, director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture (ISSSC) at Trinity College, Hartford. Professor Kosmin explained the background and motivation for the creation of the Institute and described a few of its activities since its foundation in 2005.
Sunday, September 10th
cover of 'The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara' by David Kertzer Book discussion on David Kertzer's account of The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara.
Monday, September 4th
7:00 PM		 New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, September 2nd
2:30 PM

Humanist Conversations: Cultures Hate Change, a disussion of resistance to change in society.
Wednesday, August 30th
7:00 PM		 Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location.
Sunday, August 27th August board and standing committee meetings.
Monday, August 21st
Our monthly meeting featured Doug Peary's summary of a recent philosophical conference on church/state separation.
Sunday, August 20th Picnic at the Lyons' home in Cornwall.
Tuesday, August 15th Social dinner at Northern Galapagos, 281 Winsted Rd., Torrington. Link to map of Northern Galapagos restaurant location.
Sunday, August 13th Darwin Exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street in New York City.
Monday, August 7th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, August 5th

Humanist Conversations: A Country Divided

We viewed and discussed the June 30 edition of ABC’s 20/20, A Country Divided: Examining the State of Our Union. George Stephanopoulos examines today’s political polarization in America.
Wednesday, July 26th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location.
Sunday, July 23rd July board and standing committee meetings.
Monday, July 17th
Monthly Meeting: cognitive psychologist Dr. Lesley Hart told us about Meeting the Challenge of Special Needs Children in Ghana.
Saturday, July 8th

Humanist Conversations: Human Rights and Civil Rights

To mark Independence Day, we be looked at the US Bill of Rights and (mostly) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Monday, July 3rd New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Sunday, July 2nd June board and standing committee meetings. (Postponed from June 18th.)
Saturday, July 1st Annual picnic at the Rafford's home in Middlebury.
Wednesday, June 28th Our Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner was held at Café Biaggio, 379 E Main St, Waterbury Link to map of Cafe Biaggio restaurant location, as our normal location, Lisboa, was closed for vacation.
Monday, June 19th
Monthly Meeting:

Dr. David Schafer talked about humanist education and the recent Humanist Institute faculty colloquium in a talk entitled "The Good News, and How to Spread It"
Monday, June 5th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, June 3rd

Humanist Conversations: WalMart - The High Cost of Low Price

We showed the abbreviated, 20 minute version, of this film by Robert Greenwald. This was followed by a discussion of whether the movie presented a balanced or truthful view; whether it needed to; and whether WalMart's business plan was competent, ethical, unusual, or legal, among other things.
cover of 'WalMart - The High Cost of Low Price', a film by Robert Greenwald
The DVD can be ordered from Amazon.com.
Wednesday, May 31st Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location.
Sunday, May 28th May board and standing committee meetings.
Sunday, May 21st
cover of 'The Da Vinci Code' by Dan Brown Book discussion on the controversial novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. The aim of this session was to consider the literary merits of the book itself.
Sunday, May 7th
Anniversary Meeting:

Dr. Ellery Schempp, plaintiff in the landmark 1963 United States Supreme Court case of Abington School District v. Schempp which declared public school-sanctioned Bible readings were unconstitutional, gave us his thoughts in a talk entitled: Church and State—Personal Thoughts 40 Years after Abington vs. Schempp.
Monday, May 1st New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Sunday, April 30th April board and standing committee meetings.
Saturday, April 29th

Humanist Conversations: We considered the large and topical subject of Immigration Issues
Wednesday, April 26th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location.
Wednesday, April 19th Dinner at Indochine Pavilion, 1180 Chapel Street, New Haven Link to map of Indochine Pavilion restaurant location, following 4:00 PM lecture by Dr. Niles Eldredge (Curator, Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History) "What Darwin Saw" at Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven.Link to map of Luce Hall Auditorium location
Monday, April 17th
Our Monthly Meeting featured Joel Lang of the Hartford Courant, who talked about the book Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery. cover of 'Blood and Oil' by Michael T. Klare
Monday, April 3rd New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, April 1st

Humanist Conversations held a well-attended planning meeting, which reaffirmed using the occasions to discuss topical subjects.
Saturday, March 25th March board and standing committee meetings.
Wednesday, March 22nd Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location.
Monday, March 20th Our monthly meeting: featured our Vice President, Doug Peary with the latest in his series of talks: David Hume, Humanist Hero.

A poster for this meeting is available for download.
Monday, March 13th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Sunday, March 12th
Book discussion on Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum by Michael T. Klare. cover of 'Blood and Oil' by Michael T. Klare
Saturday, March 4th

Humanist Conversations: Religion in Connecticut Public Schools. We discussed the article The Jesus Question from the February issue (currently on newsstands) of Connecticut Magazine. (Copies of the magazine were available at the meeting.)
Sunday, February 26th February board and standing committee meetings.
Wednesday, February 22nd Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location.
Monday, February 20th Monthly Meeting: Dr. David Schafer talked about Darwin after a Century and a Half. The promised multimedia presentation failed to materialize due to technical problems.  However, we were able to watch parts of an interview with E. O. Wilson and James Watson.

A poster for this meeting is available for download.
Monday, February 13th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, February 4th
cover of 'The Republican War on Science' by Chris Mooney

Humanist Conversations: American Anti-Intellectualism, Republicans, and Science

We watched short video clip of Chris Mooney being interviewed about his book, The Republican War on Science.
Sunday, January 29th
cover of 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe Book discussion on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart has appeared on numerous lists of the 100 greatest novels of all time published in Norway, England, America and Africa.
Wednesday, January 25th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location.
Saturday, January 21st January board and standing committee meetings.
Monday, January 16th

Monthly Meeting:We were intending to welcome back ecotourism entrepreneur and adventurer Jon Miceler, who was to talk on Terrorism and Tourism, but he was still in Asia at the time of the meeting. David Schafer filled in with some thoughts on the subject, particularly the underestimation of Chinese power by the USA. His talk was illustrated from numerous sources, including a 1970's PBS series on the Silk Road.

A poster for the meeting is available here.

 cover of 'The Silk Road Collection'
Monday, January 9th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, January 7th
Humanist Conversations: Hybrid Cars

Carol Stone is the happy owner of two hybrid cars. She talked about whether or not she has actually saved money or the environment, how hybrid vehicles work, and what your current options are if you want to spend less at the pump.

Click here to see some other events we've enjoyed over the years.