When: 7PM to 11PM, Friday July 16

Looks like rain, so there is a table inside for us.

When: 7PM to 11PM, Friday June 18th.

We have a table inside, but that won’t stop us from moving to the patio if the weather is good!

Here’s a Google map that shows where The Bar is and where to find parking. RSVP on Facebook or Meetup.

Here’s a Google map that shows where The Bar is and where to find parking. RSVP on Facebook or Meetup.

Where: The Bar, 2132 East Carson Street
When: 7:30pm-11ish? Friday, November 20th. [3rd Friday of the month!]

You can RSVP on Facebook or Meetup, and check out the Google map that shows the best places to find parking.

FSM treats

I probably can’t make it but I hope you’ll join the folks who’ve RSVP’d on Facebook and Meetup and say hello to our new organizer Bill C. He’s keeping DS alive on those sites as Laura and I are no longer able to (hence the lack of updates here) and that makes him AWESOME! Thanks Bill!

So here are the deets:

Where: The Bar, 2132 East Carson Street
When: 7:30pm-11ish? Friday, November 20th. [3rd Friday of the month!]

And here’s a Google map that shows where The Bar is and where we typically find parking, that should help you if you need directions.

Oh oh… Check out the message board at the Facebook group linked above — There’ve been some great suggestions for possible outings and fun holiday things to do for next month’s gathering. It’s a great way to be in contact with the folks you meet at DS.

Happy Thanksgiving!

You should come out, especially if you’re interested in taking over this much neglected site, as several of our regulars are making long-distance moves, and have taken on new challenges like grad school and better jobs that require more of our time.

Last month we had an awesome turnout and met lots of new friends getting ready to start the new academic year. That’s very Pittsburgh, isn’t it? People coming and going — almost an annual refresh. Sure, it happens elsewhere but it’s just so noticeable here. And I like it. And, I’ll drink to that. (Tomorrow, around 7:30ish. Maybe with you.)

We are thrilled to announce a fabulous new change to our favorite monthly social gathering! We’re moving to The Bar at 2132. (That’s E. Carson St. — A Pittsburgh phrase meaning “where the bars live.”)

The owner has not only graciously let us reserve the front section of this posh place on a Friday night, but has offered to make us the official beverage of savvy skeptics the world over: Buzzed Aldrins. How awesome is that? “So awesome” is correct.

Look how sweet this place is:

See that? That’s room to mingle! And it’s all ours! We even have our own section of the bar so you can order your own drinks and maintain your own tabs. Plus, there’s food. Booze and food and space to move! This just might be the greatest Pittsburgh Drinking Skeptically yet!

Well, that is if you will be there! See you May 15th around 7:30!

RSVP here or at Meetup or Facebook.

]]> http://www.steelcityskeptics.net/2009/05/05/new-digs-for-drinking-skeptically/feed/ 1 http://www.steelcityskeptics.net/2009/04/13/drinking-skeptically-april-edition/ http://www.steelcityskeptics.net/2009/04/13/drinking-skeptically-april-edition/#comments Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:36:25 +0000 Eliza http://www.steelcityskeptics.net/?p=494

Orbs, dust, April showers, or have you just been Drinking Skeptically?

Come and join us at Claddagh’s Irish Pub, for an evening of drink and merriment. The Facebook invite is here, or you can find us on Meetup. (Or you can comment here. We’re flexible!)

Hope to see you there!

From the Are You Kidding Me files (via several alert readers), may I direct your attention to the following links:

• WPXI news item — Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters To Search For Local Univ. Ghost
• Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article by Craig Smith — Ghost hunters plan spirited investigation
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article by Anya Sostek — Paranormal investigators scrutinize Slippery Rock theater (subhead: University staff have a haunting suspicion)

Velma says WTF?

Not a note of skepticism, or a hint of anything other than credulity in the whole bunch. Is it laziness? Is it all some lame publicity stunt for a spooky production in the works by SRU? Is it just standard hopping on the trendy ghost hunting train to get viewers and readers to stay tuned after these words from our sponsor [insert commercial for The Ghost Whisperer here]? I don’t know because Craig Smith and Anya Sostek didn’t ask these questions.

A quick google search turned up the ghosthunter’s Paranormal Investigative Team’s website, Baelfire Paranormal Investigation.(According to the second Google result  it is hosted on Angelfire. You remember Angelfire, right? Like Geocities only more Angely. But also with Fire, so totally cool.) It has animations and is very stylish and professional. And I am completely convinced, as someone with several years of past work experience in a color photo lab, by their photographic evidence of paranormal energy spikes that could in no way be examples of light leak, a common cause of red and pink streaks across photos due to hairline cracks in camera bodies, or poor film handling, that this crew knows what they are doing. I can totally see why this exciting developing story is being followed so closely by our local news outlets!

I have started and deleted many drafts of a letter to the editors several times over the past week but I cannot muster anything that is more polite and respectful than I typically am. I am not the best person for this one, so I will stick to making fun of it here, and hopefully inspiring folks with more judicious balance of respect and smacktalk to write the letters, and maybe after Mr. Lewis’s two-week deliberation over whether or not the theater is “officially haunted” the local news will try the story again with a bit more professionalism, and I won’t have to.

If you are interested in a more rational approach to all-things-spooky, have a look at this excellent 2006 Skeptical Inquirer article, Ghost Hunters, written by Joe Nickell. (Thank you, Lauren!)