November Meeting

When: Sunday, November 15, 2009
Where: Penrith School of Arts (Please note change of venue!!)
3 Castlereagh Street, Penrith.
Time: 2pm - 5pm

This month Geoff Cowan will be presenting a critical evaluation of alien abduction.

Geoffrey Cowan is a Senior Correctional Officer in the NSW Corrective Services and former officer in the Australian Federal Police. During his 25 years in Australian Law Enforcement, he has served in a variety of operational, staff and training appointments within the intelligence and counter-terrorism areas. His overseas service includes Lebanon, Bougonville, Fiji and the Pacific islands as a disaster response coordinator. His 22 years millitary service includes stints in both the RAAF and Army Reserves where he retired with the rank of Warrant Officer in 2003. He has two undergraduate degrees in training and human resources and Masters degrees in Criminology and Education. Geoff now spreads his time between his woman, Cathy, his two dogs Hoover and Spike, his three full time horses Freckles, Nebraska and Empress, he still writes for both national and international intelligence publications and now the Sceptics Journal.

Mini Golf!

When: Saturday November 7th, 2009.
Where: Unreal Mini Golf. Unit 10/69 York Road (cnr Batt St) Penrith.
Time: 2pm - 5pm.

Come and get your putt put on!

This place is a lot of fun! It's indoor, so we can still go if the weather is miserable. PLUS you get a chance to win a free game.

We'll be putting from 2 until around 3 where we will then head to Jamison Park on York Rd for a picnic afternoon tea, a chat and possibly some outdoor games.

ADMISSION:
Adults $12
Concession $10
Kids $9

NOTE:
It's actually in South Penrith but Facebook wouldn't recognise South Penrith.

October Meetup - Tanya Levin!!

When: Sunday, October 25, 2009
Where: Upstairs at the Red Cow Inn, opposite Penrith Station
Time: 2:00pm - 5:00pm

We're delighted to have a very special guest speaking this month - Tanya Levin, author of 'People In Glass Houses'

Tanya Levin grew up in the church that became Hillsong - the country's most ambitious, entrepreneurial and influential religious corporation. 'People in Glass Houses' tells how a small Assemblies of God church in a suburban school hall became a multi-million dollar tax-free enterprise, a cult and a powerful force in Australia today. Opening up the world of Christian fundamentalism, this is a powerful, personal and at times very funny exploration of an all singing, all swaying mega church.

Bring your family and friends along for an informative afternoon followed by dinner and discussion.

Skepticism: Western Sydney Freethinkers September Meeting

This month's meeting was by far the best one yet.


We had around 25 people in attendance, which made for plenty of opportunity for conversations and meeting new people.


The meeting started with an episode of the Skeptics Guide 5x5 (ep #32 Occam's Razor) Which was followed by the regular discussion.

Next, we had Peter Bowditch, who gave a talk on Skepticism, covering a variety of adventures (and misadventures) that he's had over the years. Always a font of stories, it was a great talk.
After the break, we had a psychokinetics workshop from 'The Great Hamstino!" (Jason, of the Nonsense Podcast), who showed us all how to manipulate objects with the power of our minds (or at least our skepticism). His demonstrations included mastering the power of the psi wheel, moving objects without touching them, page turning, and then there was the heavy stuff; Spoon and fork bending, fry pan rolling and phone book tearing.

It was a really fun afternoon and I look froward to stunning my friends with my new found psychokinetic abilities!

Freethinkers' Picnic

Last Saturday (5/9) we held a picnic by the nepean river.

It was a beautiful sunny day and pretty much the perfect weather for a picnic.

We had a turnout of 19 humans and three dogs, which was more than I thought we were going to have! It's been great to see such an interest in our group. New faces are popping up all the time!


The day pretty much trundled along without any real formal structure to it, there was music, heaps of chatting and conversation, and a drop or two of specially crafted freethinkers wine!

You can check out all of the photos of the day on our Flickr set here.