MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_01D236BB.09DD0670" This document is a Single File Web Page, also known as a Web Archive file. If you are seeing this message, your browser or editor doesn't support Web Archive files. Please download a browser that supports Web Archive, such as Windows® Internet Explorer®. ------=_NextPart_01D236BB.09DD0670 Content-Location: file:///C:/9E8BDD12/2016-11-november-aof-newsletter.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="windows-1252"
=
AOF News & Views –
Newsletter for November 2016
Upcoming
Events ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ²
Ø&nb=
sp; Board of Directors Meeting =
Monday,
November 14, 7 pm – 9pm
An AOF
planning meeting for AOF Directors & officers, but open to all
interested friends and members. We have these every other month, more or le=
ss.
And as always, we welcome you to join us and meet the Board.
Bring yo=
ur ideas
for AOF, your strategies, your suggestions for events and activities -- mos=
t of
all, volunteerism! Helping hands are wonderful
Location: R=
eason
Center, 1824 Tribute Rd, Suite A, Sacramento. Map: =
https:=
//goo.gl/iVQL8z.
In July 1995,
Sacramento-area freethinkers "adopted" a two-mile stretch of High=
way
99 from Elkhorn Boulevard to Elverta Road. Since then we’ve striven
to keep it clean of litter and debris, and we have received recognition
for it. It is, in fact, one our more successful civic efforts. It shows that
freethinkers can also serve the community.
This time, why not join us? Enj=
oy a
morning commune with nature, and do a good deed for the environment and loc=
al
area wildlife. The refuse that we collect would otherwise degrade habitat,
leading to a slow death for many creatures.
As usual, the activity captain =
will
provide all safety equipment, including comfortable, natty hard-hats and
gloves, stylish safety vests, collection bags, and handy trash pickers. The
clean-up takes a scant two hours. Please dress for the season. It may be a =
good
idea to bring a backpack or fanny-pack to carry 3 or 4 trash bags.
Location: CalTrans
Park-&-Ride lot, W. Elkhorn Blvd, see map.
(Travel north from Sacramento on I-=
5,
past the Sleeptrain Arena. Take the "Highway 99 - Yuba City, Marysvill=
e"
exit. Exit at Elkhorn Boulevard less than a mile north. Turn left, cross the
overpass, and the park-&-ride lot will be on your left.)
Contact:&nbs=
p; 916-447-2169
(Don Knutson), or see the AOF Contact Page (http://www.aofonline.org/con=
tact.html).
<= o:p>
Ø&nb=
sp; Philosophers’ Table: Morality and Religion =
Sunday, November 27, 12 pm – 1 pm=
Here's a question. Religious
leaders have argued that without a god, people would lack a moral compass,
would commit heinous crimes -- because of no threat of hell. "If God d=
oes
not exist, everything is permitted," old Dostoevsky reportedly wrote. =
But
what of all the "holy wars" packed with atrocities? What of the
Inquisition, the “Magdalene Sisters,” clergy child abuse, witch executions,
poor Michael Servetus roasting at the stake? Pick any one example of religi=
ous
atrocity, then trace though the rationale. How do perpetrators justify their
acts? By appeal to logic, or to faith? Does this suggest something? Or are =
we
being a bit unfair?
Join AOF friends and members for
another Philosophers' Table discussion. Just be open to questions, and
listen as much as you speak.
Location: R=
eason
Center, 1824 Tribute Rd, Suite A, Sacramento. Map: =
https:=
//goo.gl/iVQL8z.
Ø&nb=
sp; Football + Crafts Sunday, November 27, 2016, 01:00pm - 03:30pm
Now for something different. Something Thanksgivingish, but secular. The
"speaker" will be the television, amplified by our pretty-darned-=
good
sound system. The topic: football. Wait, what?
=
Yes, America's traditional Thanksgi=
ving
weekend activity. Who's playing? Who cares? The point is the company of
like-minded folk who enjoy the same strategy-rich game. Bring your favorite
snacks to share: salty and crunchy, hot and gooey, or frosty cold. If hot,
please bring an electric crockpot or hotplate to keep it that way. Don't fo=
rget
serving utensils.
=
If you're a non-FB-fanatic, simply
enjoy some social time in the other meeting room where we will sew, knit, a=
nd
otherwise craft (or sit and chat if you like), far from the hoot and holler=
of
the concussion-inducing game.
=
It is a perfect time to work on
unfinished projects or start one for gift-giving. And we, too, can share
snacks. Bring your fave. Nom.
Location:
Reason Center, 1824 Tribute Rd,
Suite A, Sacramento. Map: https://goo.gl/iVQL8z=
.
Ø&nb=
sp; Davis Community =
Meal – Feed the Hungry Tuesday, November
29, 2016, 4pm – 7pm
Sacramento
atheists are heading west to help the Davis Community Meals Project (DCM) serve a dinner of
donated food prepared by volunteer chefs to anyone who is hungry (including=
seniors,
low-income and homeless individuals and families). Our volunteers set up ta=
bles
and chairs for about 100, serve the meal buffet style, and cleanup.
After everyone is fed, then we can partake. And as always, there=
is
music and good cheer. Come join us and make a difference.
Location:
St. Martin's Episcopal, 640 Hawthorne Lane, Davis.
Contact: 916-447-2169 (Don Knutson), or see the AOF Contact Page (http://www.aofonline.org/con=
tact.html).
« « Pro=
posed
Revision of AOF Bylaws =
« «
Have
you ever read the AOF Bylaws? (=
Hint:
it’s painful. See the website.) The AOF Board has found that they are too l=
ong
and complex for our organization, and are working to make them simpler, sho=
rter
and more useful. The bylaws contain two types of provisions: (1) Those that
affect the rights of AOF members, and (2) Those that don't. Any change to provisions of the first =
sort
require membership approval. Other kinds of changes may be decided by t=
he
Board.
To
update the provisions that affect members’ rights, Mynga Futrell and Fran
Evanisko have worked to eliminate wording that seem irrelevant, and to simp=
lify
language where possible. The updates are currently ready for review. This
month, AOF Voting Membership should receive a special email with a link to =
the
revisions, and another link for voting. Please watch for this email and
exercise your unique franchise as an AOF voting member. Examine the proposed
changes carefully, and vote.
=
Of
Lice and Men
Humans and chimps have similar parasites, and genetics =
tell
us these parasites share a common ancestor.
Unless evolution is true, it is an incredible coincidence that the
genetic tree of these parasitical species should so closely match the genet=
ic
tree of their human/chimp hosts.
=
"The
genetic difference between humans and chimpanzees is so small that it
corresponds to that between sibling species (closely allied) species and is
less than between two non-sibling species of the same genus. It is also
apparent that the malarial parasites of man and those of every one of the a=
pes
evolved from a common ancestor. This is an important point, as it indic=
ates
that their hosts, man and apes, did likewise." [Emphasis added.]
-- J. Richard Greenwell (Secretary of th=
e Arid
Lands Natural Resources Committee, University of Arizona), “Tiptoeing Beyond
Darwin,” Skeptical Inquirer, spring 1980, p. 42-54
=
"Interestingly,
the similarity between the various lice that live on monkeys and those of m=
an
is so close that they can interchangeably feed on one or the other host wit=
hout
harm… Such interchange of hosts is not usually possible. A louse fed on a
foreign host, in most cases, suffers a probably painful and fatal ingestion=
…The
lice that infest each species of monkey in South and Central America, so fa=
r as
known, fall into distinct species according to the hosts they infest, thus
indicating to a certain degree an evolutionary descent for both host and
parasites that evolved with them and upon them."
-- Hans Zinsser, Rats, Lice and Histo=
ry
“The
human body louse, Pediculus humanus=
,
has two ways of making a living -- either dwelling on the scalp, feeding on
blood, or snuggling into our clothes and come out once or twice a day to gr=
aze
on our bodies. For lice, we humans are the world. They cannot live for more
than a few hours away from our bodies. Only by crawling from one host to the
next does their species escape extinction.
A group of louse specialists recently decided to find out where human
lice came from. Have they been riding on our bodies since before we were hu=
man?
A comparison of the lice that live on different primates shows that they
certainly can be very loyal. If you draw an evolutionary tree of primates, =
and
then draw a tree of their lice, the trees are almost identical. On the other
hand, some lice can live on more than one species. And a side-by-side
comparison of trees reveals that in some cases they don't form a perfect
mirror. In other words, sometimes lice can make an evolutionary leap.
“As the researchers report today in = Public Library of Biology, they compared human lice to the lice of primates, looki= ng at both their DNA and their anatomy. As earlier research had shown, they fo= und a major split among lice species that live on apes and on monkeys and other= primates. That reflects an ancient split in the primates themselves: our ape ancestors diverged from other primates 20-25 million years ago. The variation in louse DNA turns out to act like a sort of molecular clock, showing when they split into different lineages. The molecular clock puts the split between lice th= at live on humans and chimps at 5.6 million years ago--exquisitely close to the age that's been estimated for humans from studies on both DNA and fossils.<= o:p>
"The research suggested that we=
've
carried our lice for millions of years, since before the time of our common
ancestor with chimpanzees. But after we parted company with the chimps, the
lice have a remarkable story to tell. Human lice split into two lineages. O=
ne
lineages is found around the world. The second is found only in North Ameri=
ca.
The worldwide branch all share a common ancestor that lived 540,000 years a=
go.
The North American branch shares a common ancestor that lived 150,000 years
ago. And finally, the two branches share a far older common ancestor, which
lived a 1,180,000 years ago."
-- Carl Zimmer, "If These Lice Could
Talk," Oct. 2004 =
=
http://scienceblogs.com/loom/2004/10/04/if-these-lice-could-talk/=
When you donate blood...
Please consider donating blood at the
BloodSource, and if you do, use AOF BloodSource ID# 4857.
Numerous BloodSource Donation Centers exist =
--
find them listed at: http://www.bl=
oodsource.org/Locations.
AOF gets no perks when members donate, but it
saves lives, and is good for public relations. And what can be more
Humanistic than donating blood?
Support Reason Center
The Reason Ce= nter opened in July 2014. Since then it has hosted over 200 freethought events.<= o:p>
Currently the Center has twelve
partner organizations.
The Reason Center mission is to support a social and
intellectual community for freethinkers, contribute to society through
education and community service, advance the civic understanding and accept=
ance
of freethinkers, and uphold the separation of religion and government.
To continue its good work, “RC”
relies on continued support for its members and donors. Please consider mak=
ing
a contribution to the Reason Center. To set up a monthly, or one-time donat=
ion
visit ReasonCenter.org.
Support =
AOF
If you shop at Amazon.com, try this: do the shopping at smile.amazon.com/ch/68-0325762. What’s the difference? Nothing,=
prices
are identical, service the same. But AOF receives a small residual for every
dollar you spend. This will enable AOF to bring in more smoking great speak=
ers
from out of Sacramento. Be smart, try it!
Not (yet) a
member of Atheists and Other Freethinkers? Join us! Please!
AOF is a
501(c)(3) non-profit association, FEIN 68-0325762. General Meetings are fre=
e and
open to the public. AOF also hosts civic service projects, dinners, movie
outings, parties! To see what awaits you, visit the website, www.aofonline.org; or contact AOF=
at
our 24/7 voice-mail: 916-447-3589; or write to PO Box 15182, Sacramento, CA
95851-0182. Or tag one of us at a
meeting.
AOF Acting President: Kristi Craven. Vice-president: Myn=
ga
Futrell. Editor: Fran Evanisko. And all the rest of us, their minions.
“The purpose of Atheists
and Other Freethinkers (AOF) is to promote the civic understanding of athei=
sm
and the acceptance of atheists in our community. Through educational programs, projects,=
and
publications, AOF will extend secular perspectives, including the separatio=
n of
religion and government and the right to think and speak freely on these
perspectives.”
Save the Date=
b>=
. At
each year’s end AOF joins hands with our sister groups, the Humanist
Association of the Greater Sacramento Area (HAGSA) and Sacramento Atheists,
Freethinkers and Nonbelievers (Sac-FAN) to host a singular and spectacular
event, the HumanLight/Solstice celebration. Will it happen this year? We ho=
pe!
But we need volunteers – for se=
tup,
for cleanup, to manage games & activities, and to deliver charity-drive
items to the appropriate places.
What=
date?
Sunday, December 18, noonish to about 3 pm. If you can help with the fun,
contact AOF, see phone number above. Our gratitude will be florid. And you will have even more fun that day, we pr=
omise.
Upcoming
elections. Not what you think. Something else occurs
about now: AOF voting members elect or re-elect a Board of Directors to lead
the group through the coming new year. If you care for AOF, if you have a g=
ood mind,
if you can serve as an officer in 2017, please contact us! Or sit tight and
listen. Because your phone may ring soon. Be kind to the caller.
Your
writings here. Help AOF News & Views avoid white spa=
ce
such as we are plugging now with mindless blather. Welcome are submissions,
from anyone. You need not be an AOF member, nor even atheist or agnostic. Y=
our
topic should simply be within the broad arenas of freethought, humanism,
skepticism, or secular (worldly) politics. It should be relevant, articulat=
e,
grammatical, spell-checked, terse. We prefer it be in sync with our basic g=
oal
and mission: to foster civil understanding, dignity and free discourse betw=
een
churched and unchurched citizens. But really, that’s between you and the
editor. Work something out.
We like poetry, stories, essays, news articles. Hate
literature is right out. Honest critiques, OK.
Oh, and the editor reserves the right to edit – that’s =
what
he’s for.
Each issue comes out at about the start of the month. T=
he
submission deadline is the middle of the third full week of the month befor=
e.
If that seems too complex, think mid-month plus a few days.