Event Listing
Skeptics Social
As is traditional, we will be at the Church Inn in Hulme for the fourth Thursday of the month to chat, have a few beers, coffees, or whatever you prefer, and generally see who is running the place this time.
Summer Soapbox
Our August 'speaker' event is our increasingly traditional Soapbox — several short talks on different topics by members of Manchester Skeptics.
If you've some bad science you'd like to dissect, unsupported claims to debunk, woolly thinking to criticise or if there's a skeptical campaign you'd like to publicise, then this is your moment in the spotlight.
Please send a brief description of your proposed talk to events@gmss.uk by Monday 3rd August.Skeplit and the Quantum Universe
This month we are reading 'The Quantum Universe' by Jeff Forshaw and Brian Cox.
The bizarre behaviour of the atoms and energy that make up the universe has led to some very woolly pronouncements on the nature of all interconnectedness. Here, Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw give us the real science, and reveal the profound theories that allow for concrete, yet astonishing, predictions about the world.
As usual, we will be meeting at The Vienna Coffee House, so pop along for a chat and some cake.Monthly Social
More free sandwiches!
No, that wasn't just to get your attention. The interim manager of The Church will once again be providing free sandwiches to accompany the friendly, stimulating and occasionally tipsy discussions which form the basis of our monthly social.Monthly Social — June 2015
We'll be back at the Church Inn for this month's Skeptics in the Pub social (unless fire).
The Skeptical Psychotherapist: a Bit of Slap and Tickle
Kevin Friery is a skeptical Psychotherapist. With a background in Psychology and Counselling he has been closely involved with the world of psychological therapies since a time when they hadn't even discovered the 'C' in CBT.
One of his claims to fame (try and stop him talking about it!) is that he has appeared several times on BBC 1's The Big Questions offering the voice of skepticism and reason in the face of some very vocal True Believers.
A Bit of Slap & Tickle takes a close and skeptical look at some of the 'treatments' for common mental health conditions, and looks at the people who profess themselves to be 'practitioners'. It looks at the meaning of effectiveness and explores our relationship with placebos and comes up with some uncomfortable conclusions.Skeplit: 2-for-1 and post-QED chat
After taking a break in April for QED, we are back in May with two books!
The Story of Language by Mario Pei and Smart Swarm: Using Animal Behaviour to Organise Our World by Don Tapscott and Peter Miller.
Feel free to read one, both or neither of the books. We'll also be catching up on all the highlights from QED at our usual haunt of The Vienna Coffee House, so pop along for a chat and some cake.Towel Day Quiz 2015
Join us for our almost annual Towel Day/Geek Pride Pub Quiz! Think you know your sci-fi from your sci-fact? Or your Romulan Wines from your Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters? Join us from 8pm on Thursday 28th May in the upstairs bar of Bar 21. Entrance £1 per person. Maximum of 5 in a team. Use of smartphones to cheat punishable by airlocking (or arbitrary deduction of points).
Aids Denialism… Yep, That's a Thing
Fresh from his appearance at QED, Myles Power comes back to Manchester, discussing some examples of the dangerous assertions and explain how they have led to the death and suffering of hundreds of thousands of people. He will also talk about the failure of the DMCA and how it can be exploited by the proponents of pseudoscience.
QED: Question, Explore, Discover
QED is a science and skepticism convention run jointly by the Greater Manchester and Merseyside Skeptics Societies, taking place at the Palace Hotel in Manchester from the 24th-26th April 2015.
Fantastic speakers from the worlds of science and entertainment will be joining us for a weekend celebration of science, reason and critical thinking.