Category: Forums

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An Introduction to Ukraine

Milena Naymark

11 a.m., March 3, 2024

In this wide-ranging lecture, Milena Naymark will look at Ukraine in several ways.

  • Geography and basic facts
  • History
  • Demography and language
  • Culture, including music, folklore, and cuisine
  • Famous scientists and achievements
  • Modern history, including the current 10-year war
  • Prospects for the future and hopes.

In addition to telling and showing us about Ukraine, Ms. Naymark has offered to cook some Ukrainian dishes to share with us.

Milena Naymark was born in Kyiv, into a Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian mixed family. As a child, she studied piano, voice, and music theory. She competed as a figure skater until she was 14, and joined archeological expeditions most of her life.
For her education, Ms. Naymark received a Bachelor of Math with honors at the National Math and Science Lyceum, Kiev. She earned a Masters in Architecture from National Art Academy, Kyiv, and studied in the PhD program in Architecture at the Moscow Prototype and mass Housing Institute.

Ms. Naymark spent her professional life in New York, New York for 14 years, and two years in Berlin, Germany. In New York, she worked as an architect focused on mass transit, healthcare, and schools and public buildings.
Starting in 2005, she worked in healthcare design at Kaiser Permanente and Stanford Medicine in California.
Currently the Head Architect Northern California for Kaiser Permanente, she lives in Woodside.

In the charity realm, Ms. Naymark co-founded Nova Ukraine, a Ukrainian-focused charity which was Number Two in the US from 2013 to 2022. She founded YOUkraine in 2023, where she still serves.

3/3/2024 Milena Naymark from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

———-

On the first and third Sunday of the month, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Ave., Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.

If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom. Help us make sure we have room for you. If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to let us know.

———-

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

Add this event to your Google calendar:

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2024-03-03/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/299473144/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1762697146770604295.

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

Birmingham, 1963: Three Witnesses to the Struggle for Civil Rights

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

11 a.m., February 25, 2024

This Sunday we will watch and discuss a video of businesswoman Mary Bush, University President Freeman Hrabowski, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, three lifelong friends, as they recount what life was like for Blacks in Jim Crow Alabama in the late 1950s and early ’60s.
In Birmingham, Alabama, 60 years ago, black students, some still in elementary school, marched for an end to segregation. They were met with police dogs, fire hoses, and handcuffs. Today, three people remember those events because they themselves were students there.
You can watch this one-hour panel discussion, recorded on February 7 at the Hoover Institute, at: https://www.hoover.org/research/birmingham-1963-three-witnesses-struggle-civil-rights

———-

This week, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at Maker Nexus, 1330 Orleans Drive, Sunnyvale CA, 94089. (On the first and third Sunday of the month, you can continue to attend our forum at the Mountain View Senior Center.) We may visit a nearby restaurant for lunch after the forum. If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom. Help us make sure we have room for you. If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to let us know.

———-

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

Add this event to your Google calendar:
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/
Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2024-02-25/
RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/299385260/
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1761118187687682430.

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

Explaining Time, Unifying Physics, and Exploring our World in only Three Dimensions of Space

Martin Squibbs

Martin Squibbs will join us at this Sunday’s Forum to present to us and answer questions.

What if movements did not occur in time, but instead only in space, three-dimensional physical space. And here within this space of our mind, we are observing our growing memories of our perceptions of these movements (our past) and imagining memories of movements yet to happen (our possible futures). And what if time is not a measure of space, but instead a measure of the property of these memories we call duration. And what if these growing memories we observe create our world in mind, a metaphysical world within the physical reality of our mind; the only world we our self are and can be aware of.

I believe this is the nature of reality and our existence. Please allow me to share with you its properties and their measures, and see how viewing reality from this perspective may both explain many of the mysteries and problems facing Physics today, and also open our mind, which is our only real home, to a much deeper understanding of its reality.
Bio
Martin was born in England in 1964 and graduated with a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering and Management from Imperial College, London in 1987. He moved to the US in 1994. His career has been in the semiconductor industry, holding positions in applications, design, sales, marketing and business development.

Here are the slides Martin presented:
Explaining Time, Unifying Physics And Exploring our World in only Three Dimensions of Space

11 a.m., February 18, 2024

2/18/2024 Martin Squibbs from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

———-

On the first and third Sunday of the month, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Ave., Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.

If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom. Help us make sure we have room for you. If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to let us know.

———-

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

Add this event to your Google calendar:

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2024-02-18/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/299188620/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1757644873770090588.

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (And Maybe You Should Too)

Kate Cohen (photo by KT Kanazawich)

11 a.m., February 11, 2024

This Sunday we will watch and discuss an interview by Seth Andrews of Kate Cohen about her latest book, We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (And Maybe You Should Too).
Mr. Andrews is a former Christian broadcaster and is now the host of The Thinking Atheist ( https://www.thethinkingatheist.com).
Ms. Cohen is a Washington Post contributing editor, author, and mother of three kids.
You can preview this video at: https://youtu.be/P6Mf2xVJ_g8

———-

This week, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at Maker Nexus, 1330 Orleans Drive, Sunnyvale CA, 94089. (On the first and third Sunday of the month, you can continue to attend our forum at the Mountain View Senior Center.) We may visit a nearby restaurant for lunch after the forum. If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom. Help us make sure we have room for you. If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to let us know.

———-

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

Add this event to your Google calendar:
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/
Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2024-02-11/
RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/299064783/
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1755371082008400061.

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

Raised in the Jehovah’s Witness Cult, and Surviving the Escape

Nate Vizcarra

11 a.m., February 4, 2024

Come hear the saga of a young man whose family raised him in the Jehovah’s Witness (JW) Christian cult, and who left when he decided he did not believe the cult’s religious dogma. He now inspires others to escape the narrow, rigid JW world.

The Atheist Community of San Jose and the Humanist Community are proud to jointly host Nate Vizcarra from Irvine, California, in person and on Zoom. We encourage you to come meet Nate and other atheists and humanists, hear his inspiring life story, engage in lively Q&A, and join us for further discussion with Nate over lunch.

Nate will give us a brief history of the Jehovah’s Witness cult, and will describe what it is like to grow up in such a constricted and controlling environment. We will discover what led him to question the beliefs he had been taught and how he managed to exit the JW community. He will tell us about the shunning that follows after someone is audacious and courageous enough to leave JW.

Our enthusiastic speaker will tell us about the support network that exists to ease the transition out of JW for anyone who chooses to leave, and Nate’s role in that network. The sudden loss of family and friends can be harmful for the escapees from JW. How did Nate cope, and how has the ex-JW support network helped others?

Nate Vizcarra was raised in Orange County and is now a software engineer. He will tell us how he has rebuilt his life after JW, and created new family and friends to replace those lost to him.

At this event, we also expect to be hosting a large group of students from Dr. Elizabeth Drescher’s university course on “Nonreligion in America.” Come help us introduce these college students to humanism and atheism!

2/4/2024 Nate Vizcarra from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

———-

On the first and third Sunday of the month, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Ave., Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.

If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom. Help us make sure we have room for you. If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to let us know.

———-

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

Add this event to your Google calendar:
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/
Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2024-02-04/
RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/298725328/
Atheist Community of San Jose on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/acofsj/events/298654718/
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1750043257130873050/.

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508