We are moving the picnic from South Park to Donna and Ralph Scott’s place.  2726 Shaia Way.  

Head south across the Yellowstone River past Riverside Park towards Blue Creek.  If you get to Briarwood or Blue Creek you have gone too far.

From Billings, turn right on Marian Circle and head up the hill.

 

Start sending me your nominees for each month for the humanist calendar. I will put them here for now.  I would prefer to go with ones that are lesser know.

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton
• Bertram Russell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertram_Russell
• John Dewey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey
• Samuel Clemens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain
• Felix Adler http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Adler_(Professor)
• Jane Adams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Addams
• Jackie Robinson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_robinson
• Paul Robeson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Robeson
• Upton Sinclair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair

Send them to me here or at danny.choriki@gmail.com. Audrey Hepburn The ‘Third World’ is a term I don’t like very much, because we’re all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering.”[81]  

The Billings Science Expo needs judges.  As of March 4, 2014 they needed 55 Regular Math & Science, 25 Special Industry and 10 Artistic Merit judges. There is nothing as important as encouraging the next generation of rational, empirical thinkers. The event is on Friday and Saturday the 28 and 29th of March 2014. For more information, check out the website at http://www.billingsclinic.com/scienceexpo.

Science is one of the cornerstones of Humanism. http://www.billingsclinic.com/scienceexpo

Sixty years ago the United States government changed the pledge of allegiance that had defeated Hitler to include a reference to god.  This was during the height of the McCarthy witch trials.  They also added in god we trust to the currency. The following is a call from the American Humanist Association to do something about this violation of the establishment clause in the US Constitution. 10 February goes into the humanists calendar until we can replace it with the date in which this is repealed. From the American Humanists Association…

Monday, Feb. 10 is the 60^th anniversary of when Congress added “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance, and state lawmakers all over the country are introducing resolutions to mark that unfortunate moment in American history. We see this is an opportunity for humanists all over the country to write letters to the editor to their local papers about this issue. Mississippi got a jump on everyone else and passed a resolution in 2012 marking the event. The New York Senate passed a resolution this week. Other states now taking up similar measures include Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee and Idaho. If you are interested in taking part in this effort, do a quick online search for “Letter to the editor” and the name of your local paper and you’ll probably find the page with instructions at the top of the search results. It’s usually an email address and/or a web form. You can also do a quick search for “under god pledge resolution [your state name]” and see if there are stories confirming a resolution being considered in your state. It is best to keep letters to the editor short, 150 words or less. Longer submissions have a much lower chance of even being considered, let alone chosen. Below is a sample submission, but please feel free to write one of your own or change this one however you see fit.

State lawmakers all over the country are considering resolutions that praise a mistake made in 1954 when “under God” was added to the official Pledge of Allegiance. Feb. 10 marks the  60^th anniversary of this regrettable action, one that tells tens of millions of non-religious Americans that they are illegitimate citizens of their own country. I hope that [your state] lawmakers reject this idea and deny support for a re-declaration that humanist [or non-religious] Americans are to be seen as inferior by everyone else.

There are a number of notable things about the book 1632 by Eric Flint. It is an alternative history.  It is about the social evolution of technology and concepts that are critical to the modern world. While the brainchild of one person, it is the work of a community. The writing is engaging.  The characters are easy to identify with.  

A small town from the coal country of West Virginia is sent to 1632 in Central Germany and an alternate timeline is created.  The towns folk are literally in the middle of The Thirty Years’ War. Against them are The Habsburgs, Richelieu, The Inquisition, The Pope and the Holy Roman Empire. Headed their way is class warfare and The Plague.  While they have modern technology available to them, they don’t have the ability to build modern technology. 

What is their solution? Starting the American Revolution 150 years early. Take that Divine Right of Kings.

We will be discussing the book in three parts.  

Sunday January 12, 2014 is Part 1. Conversation will focus on the role of in Inquisition throughout history, The Divine Right of Kings and the American Revolution and on the role of technology and public policy in daily life.

Sunday February 2, 2014 is Parts 2 through 4.  Discussion will touch on Gretchen’s Choice, the evolution of Ms. Mailley, Breitenfeld, unionization, the ethics of snipers and Boom Towns.

Sunday February 23, 2014 we will cover Parts 5 through 7.  Discussion will touch on the role of witchcraft and intolerance in politics, the role of disease and mercy in warfare, and lessons from the battle over the divine rights of kings.

There is a teacher’s guide to the book available from Baen Books..  It is available in electronic format from Amazon and the publisher Baen Books for free.  The paperback is widely available.