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Update on the Billings City Council Election

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By Donald Seibert

Last evening Leila and I attended an event entitled “Candidate Meet and Greet” held at the Mayflower Congregational Church. The meeting was excellent. The following candidates were there:

  • Ward 1
    • Brent Cromley (Incumbent)
  • Ward 2
    • Walt Donges
    • Jeremy Rindahl’s wife, Jeremy was working
  • Ward 3
    • Karen Moses
    • Becky Bird (Incumbent) had an operation that day and was not able to attend
  • Ward 4
    • Bill Brown
  • Ward 5
    • Ken Crouch (Incumbent)

There was a woman, a candidate, who came in midway through the discussion; I don’t know her name nor which Ward she was running in. Her comments were similar to the other candidates.

Announcement – Karen Moses said that Becky Bird would be running and that she, Karen will not run, but rather will be supporting Becky Bird. Karen only put her name in the hat because she was not sure Becky would be running. Because of the present time frame, Karen’s name will still be on the ballot.

Each candidate said that they supported many of the present City Council initiatives or areas they felt the City Council should support. These included (to the best of my recollection):

  • Infill the vacant land in the city of Billings rather than expanding to the West – Cromley, Donges,  Rindahl, Moses, Brown, Crouch
  • Non-Discrimination Ordinance – Cromley, Donges, Rindahl, Moses, Brown, Crouch
  • City growth – Cromley, Donges, Crouch
  • Conservation – Donges
  • City Parks – Cromley, Crouch
  • Reduce the use of water on city properties – Donges, Crouch
  • Fair pay for city employees – Donges, Rindahl

One person in the audience said that he had a problem with each City Council meeting starting with a Christian prayer. I do not recall any candidates addressing this practice, but it appeared to be well received by many in the room.

The Billings Gazette, Friday, July 10th ran an article in the Local & State section entitled “Crowded ballot will face Billings voters in September.” This article gave additional information about each candidate. Also the Last Best News ran an article entitled “Troubling phone calls reported in City Council race,” which outlined additional information about the various candidates.

As you know in each Ward the top two vote getters in the September 15th municipal primary ballot will run against each other in the election in November.

You need to be aware that the Tea Party and Republican conservatives are working to get out the vote for their candidates. Two persons last evening stated that several conservatives are running only to stop a Billings Non-Discrimination Ordinance. Also, this morning at the Democratic Breakfast, Tom Towe mentioned the same thing. He also said the Tea Party is focused on getting their candidates elected to stop a Billings City Non-Discrimination Ordinance from being approved by the City Council.

I strongly suggest the following be done in our Fellowship:

  1. An article be published in the Valley Voice about the importance of voting and being involved in our great community.
  2. The Board needs to take a strong stand on the City Council election.
  3. Individuals within the Fellowship need to write editorial comments to the Billings Gazette and the Outpost regarding our position on electing positive, open-minded persons to the Billings City Council.

A second “Candidate Meet and Greet” session will be held on:

Wednesday, August 12 from 5-7pm at the Q 360 Health, 50 – 27th St. West

The 7:00 am Wednesday morning Democratic Breakfast will introduce the candidates at each Wednesday in August and the first Wednesday in September. One Ward will be presented each week.

I do not have the schedule for which Ward will be presented on which Wednesday.

Calendar Project: September 2015

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September BAH Short List

September, 26, 1900, Jesse Lazear dies of yellow fever after allowing himself to be bite by a mosquito.

September, Hull House started in Chicago, Jane Addams and Starr established Hull House as a settlement house on September 18, 1889

The settlement movement was a reformist social movement, beginning in the 1880s and peaking around the 1920s in England and the US, with a goal of getting the rich and poor in society to live more closely together in an interdependent community. Its main object was the establishment of “settlement houses” in poor urban areas, in which volunteer middle-class “settlement workers” would live, hoping to share knowledge and culture with, and alleviate the poverty of their low-income neighbors. The “settlement houses” provided services such as daycare, education, and healthcare to improve the lives of the poor in these areas.[1] In the US, by 1913 there were 413 settlements in 32 states.[2]  (From wikipedia)

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September

Name & Event Reason important to Secular Humanism Calendar Month
Racheal Carson Silent Spring is an environmental science book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin on September 27, 1962
Jane Addams Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 21, 1935) was a pioneer settlement social worker, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader inwomen’s suffrage and world peace. In an era when presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson identified themselves as reformers and social activists, Addams was one of the most prominent[1] reformers of the Progressive Era. She helped turn the US to issues of concern to mothers, such as the needs of children, public health, and world peace. She said that if women were to be responsible for cleaning up their communities and making them better places to live, they needed the vote to be effective in doing so. Addams became a role model for middle-class women who volunteered to uplift their communities. She is increasingly being recognized as a member of the American pragmatist school of philosophy.[2] In 1931 she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and is recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the United States   Addams followed the example of Toynbee Hall, which was founded in 1885 in the East End of London as a center for social reform. She described Toynbee Hall as “a community of university men” who, while living there, held their recreational clubs and social gatherings at the settlement house…among the poor people and in the same style they would in their own circle.[10] September, Hull House started in Chicago Addams and Starr established Hull House as a settlement house on September 18, 1889.[11]   Nobel Peace Prize 1931; December  
Yellow fever and mosquitos Walter Reed, Jesse Lazear, Carlos Finlay   After a few months in Quemados, Lazear, together with Walter Reed (1851–1902), James Carroll (1854–1907) and Aristides Agramonte (1869–1931), participated in a commission studying the transmission of yellow fever, the Yellow Fever Board. During his research at Camp Colombia, he confirmed the 1881 hypothesis of Carlos Finlay that mosquitos transmitted this disease. A portion of his study, though, had been conducted on himself: without telling his colleagues, he had allowed himself to be bitten by yellow fever-infected mosquitoes, and died of the disease at age 34. A dormitory at Johns Hopkins University was named after him in honor of his sacrifice, as was a former chemistry building at Washington & Jefferson College, Lazear’s alma mater. September, 26, 1900, Lazear dies of yellow fever after allowing himself to be bite by a mosquito.

Calendar Project: March 2015

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March 2015

Audrey Hepburn’s work with UNICEF, First field trip to Ethopia, March 1988

“Somebody said to me the other day, ‘You know, it’s really senseless, what you’re doing. There’s always been suffering, there will always be suffering, and you’re just prolonging the suffering of these children [by rescuing them].’ My answer is, ‘Okay, then, let’s start with your grandchild. Don’t buy antibiotics if it gets pneumonia. Don’t take it to the hospital if it has an accident.’ It’s against life-against humanity-to think that way.

Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie, March 1944 recording of “This Land is Your Land” is the first known with the private property verse.

As I went walking I saw a sign there And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.” But on the other side it didn’t say nothing, That side was made for you and me.

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Anti-Defamation League ADL 2015 03 March Freedom from Religion Foundation FFRF Calendar 03 United Nations Observations UN Proclomations & Observances 2015 03 March

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Name & Event Reason important to Secular Humanism Calendar Month
Audrey Hepburn’s UNICEF Field Missions   http://www.audrey1.org/biography/22/audrey-hepburns-unicef-field-missions   “Somebody said to me the other day, ‘You know, it’s really senseless, what you’re doing. There’s always been suffering, there will always be suffering, and you’re just prolonging the suffering of these children [by rescuing them].’ My answer is, ‘Okay, then, let’s start with your grandchild. Don’t buy antibiotics if it gets pneumonia. Don’t take it to the hospital if it has an accident.’ It’s against life-against humanity-to think that way. March   Ethiopia: March 1988 First trip for UNICEF
Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie As I went walking I saw a sign there And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.” But on the other side it didn’t say nothing, That side was made for you and me.   Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie (July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter and folk musician whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children’s songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his guitar. His best-known song is “This Land Is Your Land.” Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress.[1] Such songwriters as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Andy Irvine, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg, Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Bob Childers and Tom Paxton have acknowledged Guthrie as a major influence. Many of his songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression when Guthrie traveled with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned their traditional folk and blues songs, earning him the nickname the “Dust Bowl Troubadour.”[2] Throughout his life Guthrie was associated with United States Communist groups, though he was seemingly not a member of any.[3] Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie. Guthrie died from complications of Huntington’s disease, a progressive genetic neurological disorder. During his later years, in spite of his illness, Guthrie served as a figurehead in the folk movement, providing inspiration to a generation of new folk musicians, including mentor relationships with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan.   March   A March 1944 recording in the possession of the Smithsonian, the earliest known recording of the song, has the “private property” verse included. This version was recorded the same day as 75 other songs. This was confirmed by several archivists for Smithsonian who were interviewed as part of the History Channel program Save Our History – Save our Sounds. The 1944 recording with this fourth verse can be found on Woody Guthrie: This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings Volume 1, where it is track 14.

Calendar Project: December 2015

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December BAH Short List

Earthrise is the name given to NASA image AS8-14-2383, taken by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission, the first manned voyage to orbit the Moon. Taken on December 24, 1968.

Earthrise  

On 26 December 1898, the Curies announced the existence of a second element, which they named “radium”, from the Latin word for “ray”.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. She was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris, and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon in Paris.

Bertrand Russell 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature

Views on religion[edit]

Russell described himself as an agnostic, “speaking to a purely philosophical audience”, but as an atheist “speaking popularly”, on the basis that he could not disprove the Christian God similar to the way that he could not disprove the Olympic Gods either.[138] For most of his adult life Russell maintained that religion is little more than superstition and, despite any positive effects that religion might have, it is largely harmful to people. He believed that religion and the religious outlook serve to impede knowledge and foster fear and dependency, and are responsible for much of our world’s wars, oppression, and misery. He was a member of the Advisory Council of theBritish Humanist Association and President of Cardiff Humanists until his death.[139] (from wikipedia)

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December

Name & Event Reason important to Secular Humanism Calendar Month
Bertrand Russell 1950 Prize for Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature 1950 was awarded to Bertrand Russell“in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought”.l  Principal publications l  German Social Democracy, 1896 l  Foundations of Geometry, 1897 l  A Critical Exposition of the Philosophy of Leibniz, 1900 l  Principles of Mathematics, vol. 1, 1903 l  Philosophical Essays, 1910 l  (with Dr. A. N. Whitehead) Principia mathematica, 3 vols, 1910-13 l  The Problems of Philosophy, 1912 l  Our Knowledge of the External World as a Field for Scientific Method in Philosophy, 1944 l  Principles of Social Reconstruction, 1916 l  Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays, 1918 l  Roads to Freedom: Socialism, Anarchism and Syndicalism, 1918 l  Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, 1919 l  The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism, 1920 l  The Analysis of Mind, 1921 l  The Problem of China, 1922 l  The ABC of Atoms, 1923 l  (with Dora Russell) The Prospects of Industrial Civilisation, 1923 l  Logical Atomism, 1924 l  The ABC of Relativity, 1925 l  On Education, 1926 l  The Analysis of Matter, 1927 l  An Outline of Philosophy, 1927 l  Sceptical Essays, 1928 l  Marriage and Morals, 1929 l  The Conquest of Happiness, 1930 l  The Freedom and Organisation 1814-1914, 1934 l  In Praise of Idleness, 1935 l  Which Way to Peace?, 1936 l  (with Patricia Russell editor of) The Amberley Papers, 2 vols, 1937 l  Power: a new Social Introduction to its Study, 1938 l  An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth, 1941 l  History of Western Philosophy, 1946 l  Human Knowledge, its Scope and Limits, 1948 l  Authority and the Individual, 1949 l  Unpopular Essays, 1950   December 1950
Earthrise and the Apollo project Earthrise is the name given to NASA image AS8-14-2383, taken by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission, the first manned voyage to orbit the Moon.[1] [2]    Initially, before Anders found a suitable 70 mm color film, mission commander Frank Borman took a black-and-white photograph [3] of the scene, with the Earth’s terminator touching the horizon. The land mass position and cloud patterns in this image are the same as those of the color photograph entitled Earthrise. [4]       December 24, 1968  The photograph was taken from lunar orbit on December 24, 1968, with a highly modified Hasselblad 500 EL with an electric drive. The camera had a simple sighting ring rather than the standard reflex viewfinder and was loaded with a 70 mm film magazine containing custom Ektachrome film developed by Kodak. An audio recording of the event is available [5] with transcription [6] which allows the event to be followed closely – excerpt:[7]   Anders: Oh my God! Look at that picture over there! There’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty. Borman: Hey, don’t take that, it’s not scheduled. (joking) Anders: (laughs) You got a color film, Jim? Hand me that roll of color quick, would you… Lovell: Oh man, that’s great!    
Marie Curie At that time, no one else in the world of physics had noticed what Curie recorded in a sentence of her paper, describing how much greater were the activities of pitchblende and chalcolite than uranium itself: “The fact is very remarkable, and leads to the belief that these minerals may contain an element which is much more active than uranium.” She later would recall how she felt “a passionate desire to verify this hypothesis as rapidly as possible.”[29] On 14 April 1898 the Curies optimistically weighed out a 100-gram sample of pitchblende and ground it with a pestle and mortar. They did not realize at the time that what they were searching for was present in such minute quantities that they would eventually have to process tons of the ore.[29]In July 1898 Curie and her husband published a joint paper announcing the existence of an element which they named “polonium”, in honour of her native Poland, which would for another twenty years remain partitioned among three empires.[7] On 26 December 1898, the Curies announced the existence of a second element, which they named “radium”, from the Latin word for “ray”.[17][24][30] In the course of their research, they also coined the word “radioactivity”.[7]   At that time, no one else in the world of physics had noticed what Curie recorded in a sentence of her paper, describing how much greater were the activities of pitchblende and chalcolite than uranium itself: “The fact is very remarkable, and leads to the belief that these minerals may contain an element which is much more active than uranium.” She later would recall how she felt “a passionate desire to verify this hypothesis as rapidly as possible.”[29] On 14 April 1898 the Curies optimistically weighed out a 100-gram sample of pitchblende and ground it with a pestle and mortar. They did not realize at the time that what they were searching for was present in such minute quantities that they would eventually have to process tons of the ore.[29] In July 1898 Curie and her husband published a joint paper announcing the existence of an element which they named “polonium”, in honour of her native Poland, which would for another twenty years remain partitioned among three empires.[7] On 26 December 1898, the Curies announced the existence of a second element, which they named “radium”, from the Latin word for “ray”.[17][24][30] In the course of their research, they also coined the word “radioactivity”.[7] April, July, December  Radium article in December

 

Calendar Project: July 2015

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July 2015 BAH Short List

The Delcaration of Sentiments, The Seneca Falls Convention, July 19–20, 1848 and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

While an abolitionist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton  was an outspoken advocate for women’s rights.  Beyond the right to vote, she advocated for a broad range of issues which included women’s parental and custody rights, property rights, employment and income rights, divorce, the economic health of the family, and birth control. Stanton was the primary author of The Declaration of Rights and Sentiments.  Modelled after the Declaration of Independence, it challenged the normative cultural treatment of women as property.

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Falls_Convention
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Sentiments
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton

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July

Name & Event Reason important to Secular Humanism Calendar Month
-Seneca Falls Convention and Elizabeth Cady Stanton The Seneca Falls Convention, which advertised itself as a “Womens Right Convention”.—A Convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman”,[1] was the first women’s rights convention.[2] Held in Seneca Falls,New York, it spanned two days over July 19–20, 1848. Attracting widespread attention, it was soon followed by other women’s rights conventions, including one in Rochester, New York two weeks later. In 1850 the first in a series of annualNational Women’s Rights Conventions met in Worcester, Massachusetts. Female Quakers local to the area organized the meeting along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was not a Quaker. They planned the event during a visit to the area by Philadelphia-based Lucretia Mott. Mott, a Quaker, was famous for her oratorical ability, which was rare during an era which women were often not allowed to speak in public.   July 19–20, 1848

Calendar Project: June 2015

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Short List for June 2015

On June 3,1895, Auguste Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais, on a high pedestal and enclosed by an iron fence, was unveiled in the Richelieu Garden in Calais.

Auguste Rodin’s sculptures are noted for his realism, especially with his focus on emotion and character. The sculpture The Burghers of Calais is a memorial to the heroism and costs of sacrifice by ordinary people and the often forgotten costs of war.

  •  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burghers_of_Calais
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Rodin

June, 1966: Project Washoe Begins at the University of Reno, in Reno, Nevada

Allen and Beatrix Gardner begin raising the chimp Washoe as they would a human child and communicate with Washoe using American Sign Language.  Washoe successfully learned to communicate and express herself with humans. Work with Washoe lead to the bioethical position that the great apes are the moral equivalent to humans.

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washoe_(chimpanzee)

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Anti-Defamation League ADL 2015 06 June Freedom from Religion Foundation FFRF Calendar 06 United Nations Observations UN Proclomations & Observances 2015 06 June

June BAH Details

Name & Event Reason important to Secular Humanism Calendar Month
Washoe and Allen and Beatrix Gardner Self-awareness and emotion[edit] One of Washoe’s caretakers was pregnant and missed work for many weeks after she miscarried. Roger Fouts recounts the following situation: “People who should be there for her and aren’t are often given the cold shoulder–her way of informing them that she’s miffed at them. Washoe greeted Kat [the caretaker] in just this way when she finally returned to work with the chimps. Kat made her apologies to Washoe, then decided to tell her the truth, signing “MY BABY DIED.” Washoe stared at her, then looked down. She finally peered into Kat’s eyes again and carefully signed “CRY”, touching her cheek and drawing her finger down the path a tear would make on a human (Chimpanzees don’t shed tears). Kat later remarked that one sign told her more about Washoe and her mental capabilities than all her longer, grammatically perfect sentences.” [23] Washoe herself lost two children; one baby died shortly after birth of a heart defect, the other baby, Sequoyah, died of a staph infection at two months of age. When Washoe was shown an image of herself in the mirror, and asked what she was seeing, she replied: “Me, Washoe.”[24][25] Primate expert Jane Goodall, who has studied and lived with chimpanzees for decades, believes that this might indicate some level of self awareness.[25][26] Washoe appeared to experience an identity crisis when she was first introduced to other chimpanzees, seeming shocked to learn that she was not human. She gradually came to enjoy associating with other chimps.[27] Washoe also enjoyed playing pretend with her dolls, which she would bathe and talk to and would act out imaginary scenarios.[28][29] When new students came to work with Washoe, she would slow down her rate of signing for novice speakers of sign language, which had a humbling effect on many of them.[30] Impact on bioethics[edit] Some believe that the fact that Washoe not only communicated, but also formed close and personal relationships with humans indicates that she is emotionally sensitive and is deserving of moral status.[31] Work with Washoe and other signing primates motivated the foundation of the Great Ape Project, which hopes to “include the non-human great apes [chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas] within the community of equals by granting them the basic moral and legal protections that only humans currently enjoy”, in order to place them in the moral category of “persons” rather than private property.[32]   June, 1966: Project Washoe Begins at the University of Reno, in Reno, Nevada  
Aguste Rodin & The Burghers of Calais England’s Edward III, after a victory in the Battle of Crécy, laid siege to Calais, while Philip VI of France ordered the city to hold out at all costs. Philip failed to lift the siege, and starvation eventually forced the city to parley for surrender.     Edward offered to spare the people of the city if any six of its top leaders would surrender themselves to him, presumably to be executed. Edward demanded that they walk out wearing nooses around their necks, and carrying the keys to the city and castle. One of the wealthiest of the town leaders, Eustache de Saint Pierre, volunteered first, and five other burghers joined with him.[2] Saint Pierre led this envoy of volunteers to the city gates. It was this moment, and this poignant mix of defeat, heroic self-sacrifice, and willingness to face imminent death that Rodin captured in his sculpture, scaled somewhat larger than life.   Although the burghers expected to be executed, their lives were spared by the intervention of England’s queen, Philippa of Hainault, who persuaded her husband to exercise mercy by claiming that their deaths would be a bad omen for her unborn child.   http://bit.ly/RPNFhX   On June 3,1895, Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais, on a high pedestal and enclosed by an iron fence, was unveiled in the Richelieu Garden in Calais

Calendar Project: November 2015

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November

Arthur C Clarke, 10 November, World Science Day

Wins the Kalinga Prize in 1962 for achievements in popularizing science.

Origin of the Species Published 4 November 1859

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November

Name & Event Reason important to Secular Humanism Calendar Month
Arthur C Clarke In a 1974 taped interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the interviewer asked Clarke how he believed the computer would change the future for the everyday person, and what life would be like around the year 2001. Clarke accurately predicted many things that became reality, including online banking, online shopping, and other now commonplace things. Responding to a question about how the interviewer’s son’s life would be different, Clarke responded: “[H]e will have, in his own house, not a computer as big as this, [points to nearby computer], but at least, a console through which he can talk, through his local computer and get all the information he needs, for his everyday life, like his bank statements, his theatre reservations, all the information you need in the course of living in our complex modern society, this will be in a compact form in his own house … and he will take it as much for granted as we take the telephone.”[37]     !0 November World Science Day Kalinga Prize awaded Clarke was a lifelong proponent of space travel. In 1934 while still a teenager, he joined the British Interplanetary Society. In 1945, he proposed asatellite communication system—an idea that, in 1963, won him the Franklin Institute‘s Stuart Ballantine Medal.[7][8] Later he was the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society from 1946–47 and again in 1951–53.[9][10] Clarke was also a science writer, who was both an avid populariser of space travel and a futurist of uncanny ability, who won a Kalinga Prize (award given by UNESCO for popularising science) in 1961. These all together eventually earned him the moniker “prophet of the space age”.[11]  
Laika Laika (Russian: Лайка, meaning “Barker”; c. 1954 – November 3, 1957) was a Soviet space dog who became one of the first animals in space, and the first animal to orbit the Earth.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_in_space   Laika[edit] Main article: Laika     Laika on a Romanian post stamp Laika (Лайка, “Barker”), became the first living Earth-born creature (other than microbes) in orbit, aboard Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957. Some call her the first living passenger to go into space, but many sub-orbital flights with animal passengers passed the edge of space first. She was also known as Zhuchka (Жучка, “Little Bug”) and Limonchik (Лимончик, “Lemon”). The American media dubbed her “Muttnik”, making a play-on-words for the canine follow-on to the first orbital mission, Sputnik. She died between five and seven hours into the flight from stress and overheating.[10] Her true cause of death was not made public until October 2002; officials previously gave reports that she died when the oxygen supply ran out.[6] At a Moscow press conference in 1998 Oleg Gazenko, a senior Soviet scientist involved in the project, stated “The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog…”.[11]   November 3, 1957
Baruch Spinoza First secular Jew God not directly involved in history (deism) November 11/24/1632 CE Birthday
Charles Darwin Origin of the Species November Published 4 November 1859, 2 /12/

Calendar Project: August 2015

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August 2015 BAH Short List

US Cavalry takes charge of Yellowstone Park protecting it for two generations from commercialization.

In August 1886, after the downfall of Superintendent Carpenter from his criminal attempt to profit off of park lands, Sheridan ordered a company of the First Cavalry to take charge of the park.  They had the means to enforce the rules and regulations of the park, and they ably administered Yellowstone for the next thirty-two years.

Martin Luther King Jr. gave the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in 1963.

“I Have a Dream” is a public speech delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. on August 28, 1963, in which he calls for an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, the speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.[1] (from wikipedia)

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream

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August

Name & Event Reason important to Secular Humanism Calendar Month
Sheridan protecting Yellowstone. Yellowstone[edit] The protection of the Yellowstone area was Sheridan’s personal crusade. He authorized Lieutenant Gustavus Doane to escort the Washburn Expedition in 1870 and for Captain John W. Barlow to escort the Hayden Expedition in 1871. Barlow named Mount Sheridan, a peak overlooking Heart Lake in Yellowstone, for the general in 1871.[50] As early as 1875, Sheridan promoted military control of the area to prevent the destruction of natural formations and wildlife.[51]   In 1882, the Department of the Interior granted rights to the Yellowstone Park Improvement Company to develop 4,000 acres (1620 hectares) in the park. Their plan was to build a railroad into the park and sell the land to developers. Sheridan personally organized opposition to the plan and lobbied Congress for protection of the park; including expansion, military control, reducing the development to 10 acres (4 hectares), and prohibiting leases near park attractions. In addition, he arranged an expedition to the park for President Chester A. Arthur and other influential men.[52] His lobbying soon paid off. A rider was added to the Sundry Civil Bill of 1883, giving Sheridan and his supporters almost everything for which they had asked. In 1886, after a string of ineffectual and sometimes criminal superintendents, Sheridan ordered the 1st U.S. Cavalry into the park. The military operated the park until the National Park Service took it over in 1916.[51]   President Ulysses S. Grant, on March 1, 1872, signed into law a bill making an area mostly in the Northwest corner of Wyoming Territory larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined into this nation’s first national park.   Sheridan is mentioned favorably in The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Episode I, for his work saving Yellowstone National Park:[53]   Grinnell’s fight against the railroad interests was soon joined by an unlikely ally—General Philip Sheridan, a cavalry hero of the Civil War and celebrated Indian fighter, who was now commander of the U.S. Army for much of the West. Sheridan even suggested that Yellowstone should be expanded to provide greater protection for the elk and buffalo. The idea was immediately opposed by Western politicians who believed that Yellowstone was already too big.   In Washington, Grinnell, Sheridan and Missouri Senator George Vest took on the railroad lobby directly, calling for an investigation into the park contracts, proposing the expansion of Yellowstone, and trying to write park regulations concerning hunting into law. While the bill to expand Yellowstone failed, Congress did appropriate $40,000 for its maintenance; however, funds to maintain the park were stripped away in August 1886. It seemed Yellowstone would have to fend for itself.   Sheridan’s headstone at Arlington National Cemetery. The inscription faces Washington, D.C. Coming to the rescue, Sheridan dispatched Troop M of the First United States Cavalry to take control of Yellowstone. —Ken Burns, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea August, Cavalry take over park management   Sheridan’s plan generally succeeded, and Yellowstone became a national park in fact.  After one failed attempt to pass Sheridan’s plan, Vest pushed the bill through as a rider on the Sundry Civil Appropriations Bill signed March 3, 1883 64 (see  Sundry Civil Bill for 1883 ).  The final version of the act added no more land to Yellowstone, but it called for everything else that Sheridan wanted.  Furthermore, Chester A. Arthur became the first President to visit the park in the summer of 1883.  Arthur and his party of dignitaries–cabinet members, senators, governors, and others–left Yellowstone impressed enough that they did not stand in the way of the execution of the law. 65 In August 1886, after the downfall of Superintendent Carpenter from his criminal attempt to profit off of park lands, Sheridan ordered a company of the First Cavalry to take charge of the park.  They had the means to enforce the rules and regulations of the park, and they ably administered Yellowstone for the next thirty-two years. 66 Sheridan’s ironic mission to save Yellowstone’s wildlife and protect it from the dominating interests of private enterprise succeeded.
Coast Guard Day Coast Guard Day (Established in 1790) August 4, 1790
  Thomas Edison received a patent for the mimeograph machine in 1876. August 8, 1876
  Transcontinental Railroad completed, 1869. August 15, 1869
Mosquito Day   August 20
  National Park Service Established 1916. 25 August 1916
American Civil Rights Movement Dream DayMartin Luther King Jr. gave the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in 1963. 28 August, 1963
  Thurgood Marshall took a seat on the Supreme Court, 1967. 30 August 1967

Calendar Project: May 2015

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May Short List

Kenneth and Mamie Clark & Thurgood Marshall, Publication of Brown versus the Board of Education, The doll experiments

Kenneth and Mamie Clark did the research that lead to Thurgood Marshall winning the Brown versus Board of Education Supreme Court ruling that ended separate but equal segregation.

May 1847, Ignaz Simmelwiz institutes hand washing with cloronated lime at Vienna General Hospital’s First Obstetrical Clinic.

Early advocate for empiricism in medicine.

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Anti-Defamation League ADL 2015 May Freedom from Religion Foundation FFRF Calendar May 2015 United Nations Observations UN Proclomations & Observances 2015 05 May

May

Name & Event Reason important to Secular Humanism Calendar Month
John Dewey “What Humanism means to me is an expansion, not a contraction, of human life, an expansion in which nature and the science of nature are made the willing servants of human good.” — John Dewey, “What Humanism Means to Me”[36]   A Humanist Manifesto, also known as Humanist Manifesto I to distinguish it from later Humanist Manifestos in the series, was written in 1933 primarily by Raymond Bragg and published with 34 signers. Unlike the later manifestos, this first talks of a new religion and refers to humanism as a religious movement meant to transcend and replace previous, deity-based systems. Nevertheless, it is careful not to express a creed or dogma. The document outlines fifteen affirmations on cosmology, biological and cultural evolution, human nature, epistemology, ethics, religion, self-fulfillment, and the quest for freedom and social justice. This latter, stated in article fourteen, proved to be the most controversial, even among humanists, in its opposition to “acquisitive and profit-motivated society” and its demand for an egalitarian world community based on voluntary mutual cooperation. The document’s release was reported by the mainstream media on May 1, simultaneous with its publication in the May/June 1933 issue of the New Humanist. May 1 1933 Publication of the humanists manifesto
Kenneth and Mamie Clark & Thurgood Marshall   Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S.483 (1954), was a landmarkUnited States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court‘s unanimous (9–0) decision stated that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” As a result, de jureracial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the civil rights movement.[1] May 17, 1954 Publication of Brown v Board of Education  
Ignaz Semmelweis   Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis[Note 1] (July 1, 1818 – August 13, 1865) (born Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis) was a Hungarian physician of German extraction[1][2] now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the “savior of mothers”, Semmelweis discovered that the incidenceof puerperal fever could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics. Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th-century hospitals and often fatal, with mortality at 10%–35%. Semmelweis proposed the practice of washing with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in Vienna General Hospital‘s First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors’ wards had three times the mortality of midwives’ wards.[3] He published a book of his findings in Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever. Despite various publications of results where hand-washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis’s observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. Some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings. Semmelweis’s practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory and Joseph Lister, acting on the Frenchmicrobiologist‘s research, practiced and operated, using hygienic methods, with great success. In 1865, Semmelweis was committed to an asylum, where he died at age 47 after being beaten by the guards, only 14 days after he was committed.     Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever is a medical book by Ignaz Semmelweis. It includes studies in hospitals conducted in Vienna in 1847, dealing largely with the field of obstretics. It was translated into English by Kay Codell Carter in 1983.   http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/freakonomics/pdf/the%20etiology,%20concept%20and%20prophylaxis%20of%20childbed%20fever.pdf May 1847, Simmelwiz institutes hand washing with cloronated lime

Calendar Project: October 2015

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October 2015 BAH Short List

George Carlin And Saturday Night Live, First host on October 11, 1975

Saturday Night Live first show aired on October 11, 1975 with George Carlin as its host.

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October

Name & Event Reason important to Secular Humanism Calendar Month
George Carlin And Saturday Night Live When the first show aired on October 11, 1975 with George Carlin as its host, it was called NBC’s Saturday Night because ABC featured a program at the same time titled Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. The first season of Saturday Night Live, the weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show on NBC, aired during the 1975–1976 television season. Saturday Night Live premiered on October 11, 1975 First host on October 11, 1975
John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, the under ground railroad Raid Main article: John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry Harper’s Weekly illustration of U.S. Marines attacking John Brown’s “Fort” Brown arrived in Harpers Ferry on July 3, 1859. A few days later, under the name Isaac Smith, he rented a farmhouse in nearby Maryland. He awaited the arrival of his recruits. They never materialized in the numbers he expected. In late August he met with Douglass in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where he revealed the Harpers Ferry plan. Douglass expressed severe reservations, rebuffing Brown’s pleas to join the mission. Douglass had actually known about Brown’s plans from early in 1859 and had made a number of efforts to discourage blacks from enlisting. In late September, the 950 pikes arrived from Charles Blair. Kagi’s draft plan called for a brigade of 4,500 men, but Brown had only 21 men (16 white and 5 black: three free blacks, one freed slave, and a fugitive slave). They ranged in age from 21 to 49. Twelve of them had been with Brown in Kansas raids. On October 16, 1859, Brown (leaving three men behind as a rear guard) led 18 men in an attack on the Harpers Ferry Armory. He had received 200Beecher’s Bibles—breechloading .52 (13.2 mm) caliber Sharps rifles—and pikes from northern abolitionist societies in preparation for the raid. The armory was a large complex of buildings that contained 100,000 muskets and rifles, which Brown planned to seize and use to arm local slaves. They would then head south, drawing off more and more slaves from plantations, and fighting only in self-defense. As Frederick Douglass and Brown’s family testified, his strategy was essentially to deplete Virginia of its slaves, causing the institution to collapse in one county after another, until the movement spread into the South, essentially wreaking havoc on the economic viability of the pro-slavery states. From the Southern point of view, of course, any effort to arm the enslaved was perceived as a definitive threat.   October, 16, 1859