Kate organised a gay night out last week (we’re not entirely sure whether this is her way of slyly trying to tell Steven something or not) and we ended up in The Viaduct on Lower Briggate.
As soon as we walked in there a guy with a good ten years on Steven asked him to get his penis out so he could have a play with it. Scary times. What is more interesting is the fact that it is almost acceptable – as Rich pointed out, you would never get away with that in a heterosexual environment if that is the right description to give, but it’s for some reason just acceptable in a gay bar?
This was soon followed by drag cabaret. This really annoyed me because of the obvious technical inaccuracies. For example her singing was coming out of the PA system but she clearly had no microphone, if you can’t even bother to pretend to be miming then it’s just a poor effort in my book.
And why where their sex catalogues, everywhere?
And somehow people still wonder why I preach the virtues of a relaxed night chatting in Wetherspoon’s.
I just wanted to make that clear for the record because I don’t really feel enough has been said about it.
Last week myself, Oli, George and Lil headed out for a night out which ended when Lil got really drunk, decided to attack a group of guys and earned Oli a rather beat up eye for his trouble when he tried to calm things down.
Still, spoils of war and all that, at least I got myself a nice new hat.
With Rich having been doing research for his book on the Bermuda Triangle (the book isn’t about that, he’s just writing a section which it makes an excellent case to reference) he volunteered to give Skeptics in the Pub a talk on the topic.
It was really interesting even if the answers are somewhat mundane compared with the mystery. It was also interesting to know that statistically no more ships have actually disappeared in that area than any other similar size body of water – there is actually no mystery at all.
Steve also did an excellent job filling in for Daryl in the news segment.
For the final session of this year’s Perspective we invited Sam Butler over from the Church of Scientology in Manchester. It was really interesting to hear what he had to say and get a good insight into the beliefs that Scientologists hold.
Unfortunately it wasn’t chaired well and we ended up not getting any real chance for questions which was a disappointment. Also I managed to mess up the focus on my camera and so half the photos were out of focus. Still, the first of hopefully more such Perspectives.
I was interviewed by the BBC recently as part of a piece they were doing on the Humanist Community of Leeds. If you haven’t seen the article, you can read it here.
Here at the Chris Worfolk Foundation, we’re really excited about the directions in which the charity is moving. Whether it is our widely success Humanist Community that the BBC recently covered or the national splash we’re making with our Enquiry Conference.
Our trustees are busy making a difference too whether it’s Gijsbert who has spent all day talking to the Yorkshire Post, myself speaking out against Catholic Care on BBC Radio last week or Richard being one of the first people to volunteer their time on to speakers networks, we’re out there trying to make a difference.
Of course the focus of our work is promoting humanism but rather making a direct difference in the communities we work with. This can be seen in the groups we’re involved with such as the Humanist Community and the Humanist Action Group. We’re a doing organisation, not a talking organisation. We want to enable people to get stuck in there and make a measurable difference.
I’m really proud of how everyone involved in the project is pulling together and I really believe that the foundation has a bright future ahead of it. As such I am announcing today that I am doubling my personal monthly donation to the foundation to continue it’s good work.
If, like me, you feel that support for humanists, atheists or whatever non-believers choose to label themselves as then now is the time to act and support our good work. Become a supporter and help us continue or valuable work that makes a direct difference to local communities.
Chris
With out speaker from the Muslim Debate Initiative having canceled us on the night before, a speaker from the Leeds Makkah Mosque kindly stepped in at the last minute to present the session on Islam. I found it a really good session, there were some excellent questions asked and interesting answers given.
On Tuesday I gave a talk to Leeds Atheist Society on animal consciousness. I wasn’t sure how well it went at first but the feedback came back very positive, despite one of the dolphins the audience telling me he didn’t believe animals were in fact conscious.
Last Sunday we saw the second Humanist Community meeting. It was a great success, things ran a lot smoother than last time (which I’m taking as a big victory and things ran very smoothly the first time to be honest), we matched our initial attendance which is always a challenge at a second meeting and the meal in the restaurant afterwards as excellent too. Roll on April!
Last weekend Robin Ince was kind enough to stop by to give us a talk before doing a gig at The Library later that night. While I sometimes find his material a little hit and miss, live he is an excellent performer and I really enjoyed both the talk and the show.
