This month the Central Ontario Humanist Association was pleased to have biology professor Dr. Monika Havelka give us a presentation on Evo-Devo. In this presentation she explains how small changes in the HOX genes that control development can lead to big changes in how an animal looks.
This video is now posted online and you can watch it right here:
You can download the slides in PDF format.
I just received an email from our featured speaker, Dr. Monika Havelka, saying that her daughter has contracted H1N1 flu, and Monika thinks she is coming down with it too. So, … we will reschedule her visit to a later meeting. Tomorrow we will meet as planned, at 7pm the Barrie Native Friendship Centre (175 Bayfield). In lieu of Dr. Havelka, we will present:
Saturday Night Live comic actor Julia Sweeney’s video: Letting Go of God
When two young Mormon missionaries knock on her door one day, it touches off Julia’s “quest for something I could really believe in” — which turns out to be no God at all. In the process she explores love, cancer, family and faith.
For those inclined to break bread before the meeting, see you as usual at 5pm at the Swiss Chalet, 397 Bayfield.
Sorry about the late notice. And please, … stay healthy or stay home!
The Central Ontario Humanist Association’s Wednesday, October 28th, meeting will feature Dr. Monika Havelka giving her extraordinary presentation on the emerging biological specialty of “evo-devo” — the application of evolutionary theory to the development of all life forms, including us of course. We will see you at the Barrie Native Friendship Centre, 175 Bayfield St. Doors open at 6:30pm. Our usual pre-meeting dinner will be at the Swiss Chalet, 397 Bayfield, 5:00pm.
Hello Everyone,
A record 38 people attended our September meeting. And two first timers wanted to become members on the spot. Momentum is building!
Thanks to fellow member Klaus Kuch, we learned about behaviorism in everyday life.
This was our first experience in the Barrie Native Friendship Centre (175 Bayfield Street, south of #400). We were supposed to meet in their Board Room, but a very heavy roll of carpet took up so much room that at the last minute we decided to cram into a smaller room. And it was crammed. As October’s meeting could enjoy an even larger turnout, I’ve asked the Centre to move or dispose of the carpet.
Why a larger turnout? Last January a snow storm caused most of us to miss Dr. Monika Havelka’s extraordinary slide presentation. Since 2009 is Darwin’s 200th birthday, it is entirely appropriate for us to invite TVO’s twice nominated best lecturer back to tell those who missed her the first time about the exciting discoveries coming from the emerging biological specialty of “evo-devo” — the application of evolutionary theory to the development of all life forms, including us of course. Sooo, by popular demand,… I am pleased to announce she will be treating us to a repeat performance at our October 28 meeting (this time the weather gods will cooperate). There will be ample time for questions, and I intend to ask her about the even newer field of epigenetics.
I expect many non-members, as Barrieites, scientists and non-scientists alike, should have another chance to enjoy it. To this end, I’ve attached a publicity poster of this event. Please post a copy on your favorite grocery store’s bulletin board or other places.
In other news, COHA is now officially a non-profit corporation. This should enable us to meet at the Barrie Public Library during 2010.
More potentially good news: In a recent revision of their affiliation rules, it appears that the Humanist Association of Canada will now permit us to issue tax receipts. We are in the process of confirming this revision.
Warm regards,
Paul
President, Central Ontario Humanists Association
UPDATE: Download the presentation below!
Dr. Klaus Kuch, retired Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and member of COHA, will be our September 30 speaker. Dr. Kuch has practiced and taught behavior therapy for many years and has published in international medical journals and textbooks. He will treat us to slides and a talk on:
BEHAVIORISM AND DAILY LIFE.
Subtle cues, rewards and punishments shape many of our hopes and fears, often without awareness. We may have less control over ourselves than we might wish. Behaviorism, when applied to daily life, can show us how to study our behavior in this context, objectively and without speculation.
He will also demonstrate some of the theory and methods of behavioral assessment, concerning habits, fears and phobias. I expect this talk to be extremely interesting for all Humanists, so please plan to meet us at the Barrie Native Friendship Centre, 175 Bayfield St. Doors open at 6:30pm. Our usual pre-meeting dinner will be at the Swiss Chalet, 397 Bayfield, 5:00pm.
The May 27 meeting is coming up soon — Zehrs Community Room, Big Bay Point Rd. and #11 at 7pm. Coffee tea and juice will be available for donations of $2 to cover costs.
And of course those who would like to meet that day for dinner at our usual Swiss Chalet — 85 Barrie View Drive — see you there at 5pm.
This month’s topic: Reinventing the Sacred
I will critically review the important and deeply provocative ideas contained in scientist-philosopher Stewart Kauffman’s latest book – Reinventing the Sacred. Dr. Kauffman was the first to mathematically show how the origin and evolution of life critically depends on nature’s myriad self-organizing processes. Now he convincingly demonstrates that the universe possesses a “ceaseless creativity” from which emerge such stunningly diverse phenomena as the biosphere, culture, economics, self-awareness, moral principles, and much much more. He also shows why science will never be able to predict the detailed unfolding of these phenomena. This unpredictable, stupendous creativity is the true source of mystery, and of the sacred. Indeed, Prof. Kauffman argues that it is a natural notion of God worthy of superseding all others. Food for secular humanist rumination, indeed!
Bonus: I will also summarize my discussions with Stewart in which we agree to disagree about the nature of mind. Copies of Reinventing the Sacred will be available for a donation.
Download the audio for the May edition of this presentation: MP3
Download the slides for the November edition of this presentation: PPT
Paul
President, COHA
Are there any lessons a Western humanist might learn from experiencing other cultures in other countries around the world? Tom Cooke thinks so. Maybe you do to? Tom, past president of the Central Ontario Humanist Association, has recently returned from Thailand. On Wednesday, April 29 at the COHA meeting he will present a humanist perspective on Thai culture, politics and religion. His presentation will include a slide show.
Are there are better ways to appreciate and celebrate life than the Western world would have us believe?
Others who have also had their eyes opened and minds broadened by their world travels are encouraged to comment on Tom’s observations and to contribute insights from their own experiences.
We are back from winter vacations and anxious to see you again at the April 29 meeting — Zehrs Community Room, Big Bay Point Rd. and #11 at 7pm. Coffee will be available for donations of $2. Admission is free for your first three visits.
And of course those who would like to meet that day for dinner at our usual Swiss Chalet — 85 Barrie View Drive — see you there at 5pm.
On Wednesday the 25th the Central Ontario Humanist Association will be discussing the atheist bus ad phenomena that is sweeping the world. COHA meets on the last Wednesday of the month at 7PM in the Community Room on the second floor of Zehrs at Big Bay Point Road and Yonge Street. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.
Atheist? Agnostic? Curious?
Join the Central Ontario Humanist Association on Wednesday, February 25 at 7PM.
In honour of Darwin’s bicentenary Dr. Vincent di Norcia will present “Darwin: Ethics & God”. We meet in the Community Room on the second floor of Zehrs at Big Bay Point Road and Yonge Street. Admission is free for anyone interested.
Visit http://www.cohumanists.ca/ for details.
On Wednesday, February 25 we are celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth in 1809, a man who is on any account one of greatest intellectual and scientific minds since Newton. The aim of my talk will be to celebrate Darwin’s epochal scientific achievement, by describing his amazingly wide-ranging mind, his extraordinarily observant and meticulous scientific work in botany and zoology, his equally impressive achievement in developing the scientifically and socially revolutionary notion of the origin and evolution of species through natural selection, his still unacknowledged and equally innovative view of the intelligence and ethics, in animals as well as humans, and, last but not least, a Darwinian view of religion and God. Throughout I wish to communicate to everyone the grandeur and beauty of Darwin’s scientific achievement in ethics as well as evolution.
Dr. Vincent di Norcia provided us with some notes from his lecture. You can read them here: (more…)
To Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Charles Darwin’s Birth Dr. Monika Havelka will present about the leading edge of modern biology: Evo-Devo: The Amazing Story of How Darwin’s “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” Arose
To commemorate Darwin Day Dr. Havelka will talk about the new science of evo-devo: Biologists have long sought to understand the processes that give rise to the dazzling diversity of life forms found in nature. She will discuss some revolutionary ideas about the diversity of life and the “genetic toolkit” common to all animals, including us.
To find out some more, download these one page PDFs:
The Central Ontario Humanist Association meets on the last Wednesday of the month at 7PM in the Community Room on the second floor of Zehrs at Big Bay Point Road and Yonge Street. Admission to this event is $4 for non-members and free for members and students with valid ID. Seating is limited to 60 so come early.
The Central Ontario Humanist Association (COHA) is a local Barrie/Simcoe county affiliate of the Humanist Association of Canada. We are a group for atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and freethinkers to explore the our society and world from a rational, natuarlistic point of view. This website is powered by WordPress Website design and hosting by Semantic Computing.