Weekly Update 4: Bubbles, Oobleck, Boy Scouts and Jewish Law

Fourth week! Midterms are starting, the snow is melting and...oh wait it's going to be cold again tomorrow. Hope you're all bundled up!

We have a meeting this Thursday, January 31st, 5:45 pm, in the UnCommon Room! (Remember: down the hall and to the left in the Rockefeller Chapel basement.)

First week we talked about tragedy. Second week we did thought experiments. Third week we discussed bias. These are big heavy topics. Obviously, we need a light, relaxed, AWESOME meeting to chill us out. 

And what is both relaxing and AWESOME? Science. 

So we're either going to make polyhedral (cubical, pyramidal) bubbles:

which are both AWESOME and have to do with surface area to volume ratios and surface tension.

OR

We'll make oobleck

which is the coolest thing ever and is also about nonnewtonian fluids and shear and also goopy messes that are fun to play with. 

We'll let you know which when we decide. 

Announcements/Upcoming events: 

• This Wednesday, January 30, I'm leading a discussion about Judaism and whether the practice of the law is essential to it. Any of you atheist Jews or people just interested in Judaism might be interested in coming by Hillel and having bagels at6:30 pm. It'll be fun! Facebook event here.
• Sex Week is happening sixth week! It's going to be a whole amazing week of great events, which you can find out about through the website (www.sexweekuchicago.com) and by signing up for the listhost, which you can do through the website. There will be no fewer than THREE amazing atheist speakers: Greta Christina, talking about Atheism and Sexuality; Cliff Pervocracy, talking about consciousamory, an approach to sex and relationships, and Natalie Reed, talking about fourth wave, or trans-feminism. Also, my sister, Giuliana Serena, is going to be talking about body-positive approaches to menstruation, for both men and women. It's going to be awesome. Finally, Jay Feldman and I are going to be leading a workshop on what sex ed should look like. 
• Interested in cool talks about skepticism? Skepticamp is a free event/gathering of skeptics taking place March 2, from 11am to 6pm, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630 (more information in the facebook group)

Links: 

• Israel has admitted to nonconsensually administering birth control to Ethiopian citizens. Beyond awful, and totally racist. 
• You guys might have heard of a proposed Arizona bill to make high school students swear an oath to graduate. An oath that mentions god, thereby excluding the nonreligious. Luckily, they've backed off, in part thanks to the wonderful work ofSerah Blain, who you should all know and love. 
• We tend to talk about people who are anti-atheist or anti-gay as being on the "wrong side of history." Ian Cromwell thinks maybe we should stop using that phrase. What do you guys think?
• Boy scouts won't discriminate against gay people anymore! But they still don't want atheists. :(

See you guys Thursday!