Bertrand Russell, My Hero

Ben Wade

11 a.m., August 25, 2024

Join our old friend Ben Wade this Sunday, either in person or online, as we convene a joint meeting with the Ethical Culture Society of Silicon Valley, ECSSV. Ben will share his longtime fascination with mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell.

Ben Wade has been a student and practitioner of critical thinking for many years. He holds a Masters Degree in Critical Thinking from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

This gathering is part of ECSSV’s monthly ‘Spotlight’ series, featuring speakers who encourage us to broaden our ethical outlook on the world. We invite discussion, and we mix in a little live music, light refreshment, and community sharing. The program runs from 11 am to 12:30 pm, and all are welcome to linger afterward, share thoughts, and socialize. Better yet, stay for lunch! — which we’ll enjoy together in the nearby picnic area adjacent to the Los Altos History Museum from 12:45 to 2:00.

For more information about the Ethical Culture Society of Silicon Valley, visit their website at http://ecssv.org/ and find their events on their Meetup page, https://www.meetup.com/Ethical-Culture-Society-of-Silicon-Valley/

8/25/2024 Ben Wade from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person:
This Sunday, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists in the Orchard Room at the Los Altos Library, 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, CA 94022. (On the first and third Sunday of the month, you can continue to attend our forum at the Mountain View Senior Center.)

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

———-

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.

———-

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

Humanist Potluck

4 p.m.-8 p.m., August 24, 2024

Join the Humanist Community this Saturday at Susan Shalit’s Home in the San Jose, Berryessa Area.

Register here (NOT ON MEETUP)
After you register we will send you, by email, the address and directions.

Edit potluck list with what you want to bring.
Bring serving tools and bowls, if necessary.
Host will provide plates, silverware, napkins, and cups.

For questions contact Susan at 489-1479 in the (408) area code, or susanq99 at gmail.com

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https://www.humanists.org/blog/2024-08-24/

See event on Meetup, but do not RSVP there:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/302890918/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1824910583512302032

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

Now for Something Completely Different – Poetry

Felix Dennis

11 a.m., August 18, 2024

Join the Humanist Community this Sunday, either in person or online, as we listen to the poetry of Felix Dennis.

In the 17-minute video, Ode to Vice and Consequences (https://www.ted.com/talks/felix_dennis_odes_to_vice_and_consequences?subtitle=en),
Felix recites 6 of his poems: Who Was the Better Man?, Never Go Back, To a Beautiful Lady of a Certain Age, Hail to the Gods of America, Love Came to Visit Me, and Our Lady in White. His style is flamboyant and intense, and a pleasure to watch and listen to.

I have also selected three more one- to one-and-a-half-minute videos with one poem each. How to Get Rich (https://youtu.be/xf-WSeFb_bU) is actually a poetic pitch for his book of the same name. There is also I Love the French (https://youtu.be/0cGdMeHYPG4) and When (https://youtu.be/YnyucUgRKQo).

Felix Dennis (27 May 1947 – 22 June 2014) was an English publisher, poet, spoken-word performer, and philanthropist. His company, Dennis Publishing, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom. In more recent times, the company added lifestyle titles such as its flagship brand The Week, which is published in the UK and the United States.

He became co-editor of the counterculture magazine, Oz, one issue of which led to charges of conspiring to corrupt public morals. Three members of the editorial staff were found guilty and received jail terms although the judge thought Dennis was much less intelligent and gave him a lighter sentence.

Attend in Person:
On the first and third Sunday of the month, such as this Sunday, 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 can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to help us make sure we have room for you. COVID protocols will be followed. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom.

———-

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.

———-

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Add this event to your Google calendar:

Like us on Facebook:
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Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2024-08-18/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/302588626/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
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Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

What We See

Kevin Toolis

Join the Humanist Community online this Sunday to watch and discuss three seemingly unrelated videos on things that make it difficult to see what’s real.

The Origin of Countless Conspiracy Theories (4:20 min.) presents the Ramsey theory, which tells us that however random a collection of elements is some non-random patterns will always exist in it, looking like secret messages.

In What the Irish Wake Teaches Us about Living and Dying (17 min.), Kevin Toolis talks about how we have a cultural inability to look at death that has actually increased our fear of death.

In 1984 by George Orwell, Crash Course Literature 401 (14:27 min.), John Green introduces us to the fictional totalitarian government that tries to control what people can think by modifying the language and remove words for unacceptable ideas.

You can watch The Origin of Countless Conspiracy Theories at
https://www.ted.com/talks/patrickjmt_the_origin_of_countless_conspiracy_theories.

You can watch What the Irish Wake Teaches Us about Living and Dying, at
https://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_toolis_what_the_irish_wake_teaches_us_about_living_and_dying.

You can watch 1984 by George Orwell, Crash Course Literature 401 at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ipRaLa4Jw.

Attend in Person:

We have not been able to arrange a room to meet this week. We hope to see you in person next Sunday, because on the first and third Sunday of each month, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Ave., Mountain View, CA 94040.

———-

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.

———-

Subscribe to our events in your Apple Calendar:
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Add this event to your Google calendar:

Like us on Facebook:
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Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2024-08-04/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/302758564/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1822375173745746211

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

How the Supreme Court Works

Prof. Leland Chan

11 a.m., August 4, 2024

Join the Humanist Community this Sunday, either in person or online, as we hear from Prof. Leland Chan.

In light of such Supreme Court decisions as Dobbs (overturning Roe v. Wade) and Trump v. United States (creation of absolute presidential immunity for official acts), one would think that Supreme Court justices are like super-legislators – unelected officials who have the power to write what are essentially new laws that are the supreme law of the land that neither Congress nor any state may touch. But doesn’t the Constitution give federal legislative power exclusively to Congress? Aren’t judges more like baseball umpires just calling balls and strikes rather than making the rules? If judges are supposed to be impartial, why is it that in many cases even the casual observer could predict how each judge will decide depending on whether they are liberal or conservative? This lecture breaks it all down: what is the role of the judge and has today’s Supreme Court sawed off its Constitutional tether by setting policy according to each judge’s own vision for America?

Leland Chan is Adjunct Professor of Law at Golden Gate University. He graduated from U.C. Berkeley School of Law, and served as the long-time general counsel of the California Bankers Association during his legal career.

8/4/2024 Prof. Leland Chan from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person:
On the first and third Sunday of the month, such as this Sunday, 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 can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to help us make sure we have room for you. COVID protocols will be followed. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom.

———-

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.

———-

Subscribe to our events in your Apple Calendar:
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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/2024-08-04/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/302588626/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1819236346323726605

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