Mysteries of Spinal Fluid Told Through Art and Storytelling

Dr. Masuma Ahmed

11 a.m., February 26, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday one of our members, Dr. Masuma Ahmed, will speak to us in Mountain View.

The brain is perplexing and poorly understood. A holistic approach emphasizes the interdependency of the different parts of the body to perform various functions. The cerebral spinal fluid in the dura mater of the spinal cord performs its critical function by continuously circulating around the brain, keeping it calm and cool. However, the dura mater can rupture, leaking spinal fluid, causing the brain to sag and misbehave. Dr. Masuma Ahmed presents the puzzling behavior of the brain when it lacks spinal fluid, using an innovative artistic and storytelling approach.

About our speaker
Dr. Masuma Ahmed, a physicist and high-tech professional turned artist and writer, received her Ph.D. in physics from Yale University. Masuma is a self-taught artist who has studied art and creative writing at Stanford, Yale, and the Bangladesh Art Institute. She received many awards for her artwork from international and US galleries. Masuma was one of the 16 artists selected by the City of Palo Alto to paint the BLM mural in the city in 2020. Masuma also painted murals in Palo Alto, Redwood City and Harlem. She had solo art exhibits in Palo Alto, Redwood City, and San Jose. Masuma was the “Artist of the Month” in Redwood City for the month of July 2018. Masuma’s poems were published in the New York City Poetry Table Anthology and the Waverly Writers Group Poetry Anthology. Masuma captures the voices of women, diasporas, and science through her artworks and writings at New York City Rainbow Faces, www.facebook.com/nycrainbowfaces.

23/02/26 Dr. Masuma Ahmed from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists in the Maple Room of the Mountain View Community Center at 201 S Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.
If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

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Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
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You can find international phone numbers to call here.

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The Uniqueness of Humans

A video of a talk by Robert Sapolsky

11 a.m., February 19, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we will discuss “The Uniqueness of Humans” a 36-minute TED Talk by author, biologist, and neurological scientist Robert Sapolsky. He is currently a professor of biology, and professor of neurology and neurological sciences, and, by courtesy, neurosurgery, at Stanford University. In addition, he is a research associate at the National Museums of Kenya.
You can preview this video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY1x8k79bZE.

———-

You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists in the Maple Room of the Mountain View Community Center at 201 S Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.
If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

———-

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do. Note that Amazon plans to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20, 2023. https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-closing-amazonsmile-to-focus-its-philanthropic-giving-to-programs-with-greater-impact

Why Do We Sleep?

A video of a talk by Russell Foster

11 a.m., February 12, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

At this Sunday’s Forum we will consider why we sleep. It’s a topic we are all intimately aware of. In the 2013, 21-minute TED video “Why Do We Sleep?” neuroscientist Russell Foster pursues this question, covering what happens to us during sleep and the effects of lack of sleep.
His talk by no means completely covers the topic, so you are invited to bring your own knowledge and observations to this forum. You can preview this video at: https://www.ted.com/talks/russell_foster_why_do_we_sleep.

Russell Grant Foster is a British professor of circadian neuroscience, the Director of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology and head of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi). He is also a Nicolas Kurti Senior Fellow at Brasenose College at the University of Oxford.

———-

You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists in the Maple Room of the Mountain View Community Center at 201 S Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.
If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

———-

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do. Note that Amazon plans to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20, 2023. https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-closing-amazonsmile-to-focus-its-philanthropic-giving-to-programs-with-greater-impact

Causes and Consequences of Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine

A video of a talk by Michael McFaul

11 a.m., February 5, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

At this Sunday’s Humanist Forum, we will watch and discuss a video of a talk given at Stanford last October by Michael McFaul, in which he discusses Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He cites Putin’s changing attitude toward NATO, and events in both Russia and the international scene that preceded the invasion.
Michael McFaul is an American academic and diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014. McFaul is currently the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor in International Studies in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University, where he is the Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He is also a Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute, and a contributing columnist at The Washington Post. Prior to his nomination to the ambassadorial position, McFaul worked for the U.S National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and as senior director of Russian and Eurasian affairs. In that capacity, he was the architect of U.S. President Barack Obama’s Russian reset policy.
You can watch this 42-minute video at Explaining the Causes and Consequences of Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine | Michael McFaul.

———-

You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists in the Maple Room of the Mountain View Community Center at 201 S Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.
If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

———-

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do. Note that Amazon plans to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20, 2023. https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-closing-amazonsmile-to-focus-its-philanthropic-giving-to-programs-with-greater-impact

From Junkie to Judge: Recovery without God

Retired judge Mary Beth O’Connor

11 a.m., January 29, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we welcome retired judge Mary Beth O’Connor as she joins us in the Mountain View Community Center.

Mary Beth will describe her long history of injecting methamphetamine. She will describe how she responded when her rehab ordered her to comply with the God-based approach of Alcoholics Anonymous and how she built a secular recovery program. Mary Beth then will provide an overview of substance use disorder and treatment options. This will include six peer support groups and a study comparing the efficacy of several of them. She will explain the benefits of building a personalized recovery program and the obstacles to doing so. Mary Beth will provide recovery resources and take questions.

Bio: In her memoir, From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction, Mary Beth shares her three-phase journey. The abuse and trauma that drove her to shoot methamphetamine at 17, the chaos from her addiction, and how she developed a personalized recovery plan, without a higher power, that led to twenty-nine years of sobriety thus far.

Mary Beth is a Board Member for She Recovers Foundation and a Director for LifeRing Secular Recovery. She regularly speaks on behalf of these organizations and about multiple and secular paths to recovery. She had an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, “I Beat Addiction without God,” and one in Recovery Today, “How I Attained 28 Years Sobriety by Rejecting my Rehab’s Submit to AA Order.”

Professionally, 6 years into recovery, Mary Beth attended Berkeley Law. She worked at a large firm, then litigated class actions for the federal government. In 2014 she was appointed a federal Administrative Law Judge from which position she retired in 2020.

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230129 Mary Beth O’Connor from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists in the Maple Room of the Mountain View Community Center at 201 S Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.
If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

———-

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do. Note that Amazon plans to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20, 2023. https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-closing-amazonsmile-to-focus-its-philanthropic-giving-to-programs-with-greater-impact