Archive for February, 2011

Following on from last week’s first session, on the Quaker movement, this week Perspective Citywide was joined by Aarik Subramanyam to talk about Hinduism. This was the first time a Perspective course has never covered Hinduism so we were very excited to learn about a religion which many people in the West know little about. The session was interesting and very informative, and not one to miss!

Last Tuesday myself, Si and Norm headed down to the Leeds Academy to see Feeder. While both of my friends had seen them many times, this was my first time, and I can’t help feeling that it was somewhat a fall from grace to them to be now playing a relatively small venue such as the Leeds Academy.

The gig took a bit of time to get going while they insisted on playing their new stuff but from Buck Rogers onwards the crowd picked up and despite scary comments from Si on the subject, they did manage to make the rounds on all their classics.

They also played a brand new song off their upcoming album during the encore which was somewhat annoying – I can’t help feeling everyone would have been much happier if they had simply played Buck Rogers again, but of well.

Last week saw Super Bowl XLV.

Norm is a big fan of American Football so was hosting somewhat a Super Bowl party until he came down ill, so it ended up just being a few of us braving the long night despite most of us having work in the morning.

Despite knowing nothing about American Football I found the game incredibly entertaining. With it being on the BBC, we didn’t get the watch the legendary Super Bowl commercials, which is most of the game given each 15 minute quarter took 45 minutes to play out.

I’m definitely planning to book the morning off for it next year so I can stay up without worrying about having work on the morning. Well worth staying up for.

Last Sunday was the February meeting of the Humanist Community of Leeds. Discussions were lively indeed – to the point that by the time the discussions first quietened down, most of the meeting was gone and we only just managed to squeeze the news in!

I spent last Saturday at Spice Quarter, catching up with Si and Sarann.

A few things became apparent throughout the evening. Firstly, all you can eat buffets attract an interesting crowd. It is just packed with chavettes wearing what they consider to be high class outfits. I’m still not quite sure why.

Secondly, Si needs to move to the city centre. He is clearly wasting away out is Guiseley, and who cam blame him? There is nothing to do, nothing to see. He clearly needs to move to the city centre and live it up before he is too old. Oh when will we see the return of Crazy Party Si?

Despite his 11pm curfew, he certainly managed to exert his bad influence as both myself and Sarann went home rather drunk having worked our way though a number of jugs of cocktails at Ha Ha until we eventually got kicked out at closing time.

After the success of the Enquiry 2010 Conference in Birmingham last year, we’re pleased to announce that Enquiry will be returning for a second year!

Enquiry 2011 will be taking place April 16th-17th and this year will be taking place in the beautiful city in Edinburgh, during the Science Festival. The event is being run in association with Edinburgh Skeptics and speakers already confirmed include Professor Richard Wiseman, Professor Paul Braterman, Jon Ronson and others.

Registration will open shortly, you can find out more details on the Enquiry Conference website.

Blackhouse, along with River Plate, fights for the title of best steak restaurant in Leeds. So when we heard that they were doing 50% off food throughout January, there was only one thing to do – book a table and cash in on the offer by ordering two steaks each!

So on Monday myself, Norm, George and James returned to Blackhouse for some more amazing steak. The food didn’t disappoint, nor did the wine, and given the relatively cheap cost, it was a great night.

Last Sunday I went over to Jason and Sarah’s house for Sunday dinner.

It was nice to take a break from working as despite being out for a heavy night the previous evening, I was up and ready to work at 10am and didn’t finish until gone 2am. Dinner was excellent too, the food was delicious, especially their secret recipe for roast potatoes.

Having seen the house a few months ago when they had just bought it and were beginning renovations, it has really come along. It now looks like a real family house, in the suburbs, just round the corner from a school – it seems to me to be only a matter of time before we hear the pitter patter of tiny footsteps from Little Jason.

With only ten days to go until Galileo Day, we’ve finally launched the new Galileo Day website along with a new downloadable pack for local groups and societies – this includes a whole host of resources including handouts, posters, a talk and more. You can download it from the website.