Skeptic/Secular/Science Event Planning Calendar

Plan your skeptic/secular/science-related events around these calendar dates. All events occur annually on or about the same date each year:

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February 12, 2018

International Darwin Day

http://darwinday.org/

 

 

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March 14, 2018                                    Pi Day Countdown

Pi Day                

www.piday.org

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March 11-17, 2018                                              

Sunshine Week

http://sunshineweek.rcfp.org/

 

 

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March 16, 2018                                                        

National Freedom of Information Day

www.ala.org

 

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April TBA, 2018  

March for Science

www.marchforscience.com

 

 

 


Sunday, April 22, 2018          

Earth Day

www.earthday.org

 

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May 3, 2018            

National Day of Reason (first Thursday in May)

nationaldayofreason.org

 

 

 

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June 21, 2018                                                       

World Humanist Day

iheu.org/humanism/world-humanist-day

 

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September 24-30, 2017                                     

(2018 Dates Last Week in September)

Banned Books Week

www.bannedbooksweek.org/


November 10, 2017/November 10, 2018

World Science Day for Peace and Development

www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/world-science-day-for-peace-and-development/

News: Godless Billboards Return to Sioux Falls, South Dakota

YouTube Channels We Love: Joe Rogan and The Joe Rogan Experience

Courtesy YouTube

A standup comedian for over 20 years with an inquisitive and intense comedic style, Rogan is host of The Joe Rogan Experience, a long form conversation with guests that is  broadcast live via YouTube.

Rogan just broke 1000 episodes on YouTube with timely guests such as Bret Weinstein, Gad Saad, Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris and Peter Boghossian.

Rogan is amazingly well-informed and comfortable with a variety of topics and guests. He often invites skeptics and freethinkers and the sometimes up to 3 hour or more interviews are very in-depth. One of our favorite practices with Rogan is that facts are checked in real time through live internet searches.

 

1,610,980 subscribers • 381,002,382 views
Joined Jan 11, 2013

 

David Silverman Has Been Terminated by American Atheists

Cranford, NJ—The chair of the American Atheists Board of Directors, Neal Cary, has released the following statement:

Last night, the American Atheists Board of Directors voted to terminate David Silverman as President of American Atheists. Board Chair Neal Cary and Vice President Kathleen Johnson will continue to fulfill the duties of the President while National Program Director Nick Fish oversees the day-to-day operations of the organization.

On April 10, 2018, the Board of Directors placed President David Silverman on leave pending a review of allegations raised regarding Mr. Silverman’s conduct. The Board of Directors has reviewed internal documents and communications related to the initial complaint as well as evidence relating to the additional allegations brought to the Board’s attention. Today’s announcement is based on these findings, and the Board intends to cooperate with any future investigations.

American Atheists is committed to creating and maintaining an environment that is safe and welcoming to all. Based on the allegations made, and the evidence presented, the Board believes it is prudent and necessary to reaffirm that commitment and move forward with new leadership.

The staff of American Atheists will continue our mission to advocate for the absolute separation of religion from government, to elevate the profile of atheism in public discourse, and to build and strengthen communities that fully represent the growing number of atheists in America. We thank our members, supporters, and volunteers for their dedication and support of our mission.

Note: After American Atheists announced the termination of Mr. Silverman, a Buzzfeed News article was posted detailing additional allegations of misconduct. In response, National Program Director Nick Fish released the following statement.

We take our obligation to create safe and welcoming communities for our staff, volunteers, members and supporters very seriously. We have zero tolerance for the type of behavior alleged in these accounts. We will continue to demand the highest standards and accountability from our leaders, staff, and volunteers.

David Silverman Courtesy Atheist Alliance of America
David Silverman Courtesy Atheist Alliance of America

More about Silverman from 2017:

Atheist Alliance of America and the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science are pleased to announce David Silverman as the 2017 recipient of the Richard Dawkins Award. Silverman is President of American Atheists and was the creator and executive producer of the 2012 Reason Rally.

The award will be presented to David Silverman at Atheist Alliance of America’s convention in Atlanta, September 1-4, 2017, which will be held at Dragon*Con’s Skeptrack, where Atheist Alliance of America will be celebrating its 25th-year anniversary.

The Atheist Alliance of America celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2017.

Atheist Alliance Convention at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia

Courtesy Atheist Alliance of America. Photographer: Mark W. Gura.

Previous winners of the Richard Dawkins Award:

2003: James Randi

2004: Ann Druyan

2005: Penn & Teller

2006: Julia Sweeney

2007: Daniel Dennett

2008: Ayaan Hirsi Ali

2009: Bill Maher

2010: Susan Jacoby

2011: Christopher Hitchens

2012: Eugenie Scott

2013: Steven Pinker

2014: Rebecca Goldstein

2015: Jerry Coyne

2016: Lawrence Krauss

Richard Dawkins announces Evolution video game

Britsoft game developer Gordie Ross plans on teaching America a lesson

On March 10, 2017, Richard Dawkins and EvoRevo Ltd, the video game team founded by veteran Britsoft game developer Gordie Ross, launched a Kickstarter campaign for their new entertainment product Richard Dawkins: Evolution. The Kickstarter campaign failed to meet its goal of £50K ($62.5K US dollars) by the deadline, April 10, 2017.

Gordie Ross made the following announcements to his backers via Kickstarter:

April 5, 2017: “It looks of course like we will not meet the Kickstarter target, but we are very happy to have received everyone´s good wishes, support and feedback for the project. Your enthusiasm will drive us to make a game full of fun learning going forward.”

April 11, 2017: “Thank you again to everyone, I bear the responsibility for not getting the word spread far and wide enough.

For those who would like a few stats:

We had tremendous support with 1 in 46 video views resulting in a backer… final total of video views was around 6200, most of which came from the early activity and the average pledge was 57 pounds.

We shall press on now with the game and look forward to staying in touch as we get the job done.”

View the game trailer here:

More about the game:

The video game is set in a solar system similar to the newly charted Trappis 1 where 7 Earth-sized planets were recently discovered by NASA. The game relies on cutting-edge cloud technology to simulate a population of hundreds of thousands of lifeforms as they evolve in wonderful ways.

Richard Dawkins said, “Evolution is happening all the time; however in most cases, the rate of change is so small that it is difficult for a human to come to terms with the length of time involved. Our goal is to strike a balance between explaining that it is a gradual process and showing it happening at a rate that is entertaining to our audience.”

Like The Oregon Trail, an entertaining yet brilliantly educational video game which blazed its own trail in the classrooms of the 1980s, Gordie Ross (the game´s creator) envisions the Richard Dawkins: Evolution video game will ultimately make its way out of the home and into the classroom alongside exciting and entertaining learning resources.

Gordie Ross said, “Ultimately we see America as the greatest challenge where roughly 40% of the population believes the Earth is less than 10 thousand years old. Using a video game, we hope to additionally talk to this different audience who generally do not read science books. It´s Richard and I´s hope to trigger a curiosity about Evolution and Science that sets a new generation on an amazing journey of discovery.”

We will update you as we learn future plans on the development of this game.

 

Steven Pinker’s new book “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress” to be released February 27, 2018

The follow-up to Steven Pinker’s groundbreaking The Better Angels of Our Nature presents the big picture of human progress: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives, and while our problems are formidable, the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science.

Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: In seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing.

Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature–tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking–which demagogues are all too willing to exploit.

With intellectual depth and literary flair, Enlightenment Now makes the case for reason, science, and humanism: the ideals we need to confront our problems and continue our progress.

Release date: February 27, 2018

Michael Shermer’s new book “Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia” to be released January 9, 2018

The highly anticipated Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia, is set to be released on January 9, 2018. Written by bestselling author and skeptic Michael Shermer, the book is described as a scientific exploration into humanity’s obsession with the afterlife and quest for immortality.

In his most ambitious work yet, Shermer sets out to discover what drives humans’ belief in life after death, focusing on recent scientific attempts to achieve immortality by radical life extentionists, extropians, transhumanists, cryonicists, and mind-uploaders, along with utopians who have attempted to create heaven on earth.

For millennia, religions have concocted numerous manifestations of heaven and the afterlife, the place where souls go after the death of the physical body. Religious leaders have toiled to make sense of this place that a surprising 74% of Americans believe exists, but from which no one has ever returned to report what it is really like.

Heavens on Earth concludes with an uplifting paean to purpose and progress and what we can do in the here-and-now, whether or not there is a hereafter.

Release date: January 9, 2018

PREVIOUS BOOKS BY MICHAEL SHERMER

Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye
The Moral Arc
The Believing Brain
The Mind of the Market
Why Darwin Matters
The Science of Good and Evil
How We Believe
Why People Believe Weird Things
Science Friction
The Borderlands of Science
In Darwin’s Shadow
Denying History
Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience
The Soul of Science