UBC Freethinkers

hello all! I’ve just had a wonderful breakfast at The King’s Head Pub and I am full of yummy hashbrowns and eggs and coffee. The pub is under new management and now offering a delicious brunch buffet! Thanks to everyone who came out.. and hope to see you again next month!

This week we have an excellent line-up of events for y’all!

October Skeptics in the Pub – Downtown

When: Tuesday, October 19 · 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Where: The Railway Club, in the back bar; 579 Dunsmuir St.

Join us at the Railway Club for another evening of food, drinks, and conversation among skeptical friends. CFI will also be auctioning off some signed books at Skeptics in the Pub, including:
- Sam Harris’ “The Moral Landscape”
- Paul Kurtz’s “Forbidden Fruit”
- Ron Lindsay’s “Bioethics”

SKEPTICAMP!

When: Saturday, October 23 · 10:00am – 7:00pm
Where: UBC’s Wesbrook Building Room 100

This event is FREE, FREE, FREE! Register HERE. It only takes two seconds, I promise. Also, it is located at UBC!

This will be Vancouver’s fourth SkeptiCamp event, and we expect it to be the biggest and best yet. Come out to see and hear local skeptics give presentations, perform demonstrations, and discuss a wide range of topics related to science, skepticism, and critical thinking. Your participation will help make this event a success.

Facebook event page.

Hey everyone!

Hope you’re enjoying your extended weekend and turkey/ tofurkey… or just lots of booze and B-class movies if you’re like me.

We have a super-busy weekend coming up next week and I fully expect to see everyone with their skeptical thinking hats on joining in the madness! Midterms are no excuse to miss these events!

How to Identify Pseudoscience, Quackery, and Fraud with Dr. Harriet Hall

When: Friday, October 15 · 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Where:  Room A130, Langara College; 100 West 49 Ave

How do people get fooled into believing quack treatments work? In this lecture, Dr. Hall will discuss some of the logical fallacies and errors in thinking that lead to false conclusions, how to decide when you can trust an expert, and how to spot the differences between science and pseudoscience. She will also present some of the material from the acclaimed TAM-8 Science-Based Medicine workshop on evaluating the reliability of health information on the Internet. Learn the buzzwords should you watch out for, which questions should you ask, and The SkepDoc’s Rule of Thumb for Skeptics !

General Admission – $7
Students – $4
CFI Members – Free!

Facebook event page.

UBC Freethinkers and SFU Skeptics go to Bodyworld!

When: Saturday, October 16 · 6:30pm – 9:00pm
Where: Science World

Even if you’ve seen this wonderful exhibit before, you won’t want to pass up this opportunity! Come and visit this grotesque, wonderful, sublime exhibit with your nerdy neighborhood friends! Our awesome allies from the SFU Skeptics will also be joining us, so don’t pass up the opportunity to drink and make merry with those fellows later on!

Cost is $18/ person.

Facebook event page.

Breakfast of Champions – OCTOBER

When: Sunday, October 17 · 10:30am – 12:30pm
Where: The King’s Head Pub; 1618 Yew St

Everybody’s talkin’ about the UBC Freethinker’s new Breakfast of Champions! Due to popular request, I have moved the venue back to the King’s Head Pub! Now better and closer to UBC than ever, this event is only a short bus ride from campus! Come and chat about the skeptical events of today with your nerdy friends in a chill environment! All are welcome!

Facebook event page.

This weekend is going to be JAM-PACKED, so I hope to see you out at least once or twice!

Have you missed us? We’ve missed you! Luckily, we have a couple of sweet events coming up this week!

October Skeptics in the Pub in Kitsilano

When: Wednesday, October 6 · 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Where: The Billy Bishop Legion; 1407 Laburnum St.

Finally, a Skeptics in the Pub closer to UBC! Join the UBC Freethinkers Club, as well as your fellow Vancouver skeptics in Kits, for a merry night of drinking, laughing, and crude humour. Don’t miss out!

CFI Book Club: The Armageddon Factor

When: Saturday, October 9 · 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Where: The Grind Coffee Shop; 4124 Main S

Do you prefer books to booze? Join the new Skeptics Book Club! This month’s book is The Armageddon Factor, by Marci McDonald.

This book exposes a right-wing Christian Nationalist movement in Canada and its ties to the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. McDonald documents a network of think-tanks and foundations that lobby for policy changes on positions like abortion funding and gay rights.

That’s all for this week but stay tuned – we have a BUSY weekend coming up next week! Get ready for Bodyworld, Breakfast of Champions, AND a lecture by Dr. Harriet Hall on Identifying Pseudoscience, Quackery, and Fraud!