Our next planning meeting is scheduled for Saturday, December 5th at 1:30pm at the Galway Arms. In case you cannot attend in person but would still like to be involved, please contact me or Elyse so that we can make arrangements to Skype you into the meeting.
Cheers – MattusMaximus
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Above this post, at the top of the site, you will see a new page added to the navigation menu: “Speakers.” That page contains an up-to-the-moment roster of the speakers and presenters for Skepchicamp Chicago. As of now, we have a great diversity of folks (even if not everyone is sure what they’ll be doing just yet). Our most recent addition is an acoustic duo called Tense Kids who will plan on gracing us with a set of tunes, some of which will perhaps be skeptical in nature…
As before, if you want to count yourself in on this sweetness, just drop an e-mail to don@skepchicamp.com. Everyone is welcome, regardless of experience level, so don’t let something like that keep you from joining up!
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Presentations are the backbone of a Skepticamp, and Skepchicamp is no different. We’re looking for speakers of all shapes and sizes to fill out our roster, cover every skeptical topic under the sun, and look good doing it (that third one is technically optional). With a wide array of speakers, Skepchicamp is sure to be an event to remember (and repeat!).
That said, I’d like to extend an open invitation to anyone who wants to speak. For a solo presentation, we’re looking at about 15 minutes apiece with about 5 minutes afterward for Q&A. Solo presentations aren’t the only game in town, though. Panels, group presentations, skeptical magic shows, or anything else you can think of are also fair game for Skepchicamp.
We’d like to, if we can, have as many presentations as possible focus on women in science and/or women in skepticism, since this is Skepchicamp, after all. But if your idea doesn’t fit that, you are by no means disqualified.
This is a great opportunity if you have something to say! Don’t pass it by! Everyone is welcome! Just e-mail me at don@skepchicamp.com and we’ll bang out the details! Don’t be shy!
-Supreme Speaker Conjurer Don
Coming soon: up-to-date speaker roster to prove that you’re in good company, and speaker profiles, AKA my (currently) 17-part series “Better Know a Speaker!”
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Our next planning meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 14th at 1:30pm at the Galway Arms. In case you cannot attend in person but would still like to be involved, please contact me or Elyse so that we can make arrangements to Skype you into the meeting.
Cheers – MattusMaximus
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Whew! I had a hard time keeping a lid on this one 
Godless Billboard Appears in the Chicago Loop
(Chicago, October 20, 2009) “Are you good without God? Millions are.”
These words are part of a coordinated multi-organizational advertising campaign designed to raise awareness about people who don’t believe in a god. It fits into a nationwide effort that has now come to the Chicago area. The prominent ad appears on a downtown billboard at LaSalle Boulevard and Grand Avenue and can be read by those traveling north who will see it on their left. Placed by the Chicago Coalition of Reason, with funding from the United Coalition of Reason, the billboard features an image of blue sky and clouds with the words superimposed over.
“The point of our national billboard campaign is to reach out to the millions of humanists, atheists and agnostics living in the United States,” explained Fred Edwords, head of the United Coalition of Reason. “Nontheists sometimes don’t realize there’s a community out there for them because they’re inundated with religious messages at every turn. So we hope this will serve as a beacon and let them know they aren’t alone.”
Reaching out to nontheists isn’t the only goal of the campaign. “We want people to know they can be good without belief in a god,” said Hemant Mehta, coordinator of the Chicago Coalition of Reason. “There is a lot of misinformation out there about us. But we humanists, agnostics and atheists are as normal as anyone else. We’re your friends, neighbors and family members. We care about our communities and are true to our values.”
The Chicago billboard officially launches Chicago CoR. It is also timed to coordinate with the launch of a new book called “Good Without God” by Greg Epstein, which is being released by William Morrow. Epstein, the humanist chaplain at Harvard University, is giving talks and holding a book signing the afternoon of October 26 at the Interfaith Youth Core Biannual Conference, Center for Civic Engagement, at Northwestern University in Evanston. The next day he will speak at the University of Chicago Hillel lunch at 12:00 Noon. At 5:30 PM that evening he will speak at the Harvard Club of Chicago. From 8:00 to 10:00 PM he will lead a discussion at the University of Chicago Chaplains Office, Divinity School.
The billboard is one of many that have appeared around the country this year. Billboards and transit system ads funded by the United Coalition of Reason have gone up in places as far flung as Charleston, South Carolina; Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Morgantown, West Virginia; Phoenix, Arizona, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Subway ads will appear next week in New York City and a billboard will go up in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In a month, more are slated for California and elsewhere.
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Well, it seems that our call for loot last week has yielded some nice results… but that’s no excuse to stop sending us booty – Yarrrgh!
Anyway, we feel that with our new treasure we should consider lining up a Clothier who will be responsible for taking care of T-Shirts and other clothing for the Skepchicamp. So consider this an official call for a Clothier – are you interested, or do you know anyone who would be interested in taking on this task? If so, then contact either me or Queen Elyse as soon as possible.
Cheers – MattusMaximus
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We now have a quick & easy way to donate to our most awesome cause, in case you or anyone you know is interested in giving us some loot so we can get Skepchicamp off the ground. To donate, simply go to PayPal.com and make a gift donation to funds@skepchicamp.com
Cheers – MattusMaximus
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You can now become a fan of Skepchicamp on Facebook. If you’re on Facebook, join up and help spread the word about Skepchicamp!
Skepchicamp
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Howdy all,
The first planning meeting this past Saturday (Oct. 3rd) went very well, with 15 people in attendance. The date for the Skepchicamp was set for Saturday, March 6th, and we are looking into venues. In addition, tasks have been handed out to various volunteers, and Queen Elyse and I shall be following up with our minions to ensure they are progressing on their tasks in a timely manner 
Our next planning meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24th at 1:30pm at the Galway Arms. In case you cannot attend in person but would still like to be involved, please contact me or Elyse so that we can make arrangements to Skype you into the meeting.
Stay tuned for details!
Cheers – MattusMaximus
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Saturday is our first planning meeting for Skepchicamp!
If you can’t make it, email me at elyse@skepchicamp.com and I should be able to Skype you in!
See you Saturday, 1:30pm at Galway Arms!
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