The Sydney Atheists Monthly Talk

• 
  

  Friday, November 8, 2013

  6:00 PM
• Strattons Hotel

  249 Castlereagh Street, 2000, Sydney
• This Months talk will be:

  Dr Orie Gilad "Evolution through Natural Selection"

  Orie is a Conservation Ecologist who has spent over 15 years working on wildlife related projects with an ecosystem approach.  Orie received her Doctorate degree in Zoology from Texas A&M University where she remained as a lecturer while founding Balanced Ecology Inc., a non-profit organization focusing on wildlife conservation through research and public education.  Her projects involved Mountain Lions, Bighorn Sheep, Arabian Oryx and Giant Pandas as well as other species.

  She continued as a Medical Zoologist with the US Army, studying the environmental factors contributing to zoonotic diseases and developing methods to minimize and prevent spread and transmission. 

  Orie joined the University of Sydney in 2012 and is pursuing a multi-scale system approach that blends theory with practice.  Projects include detecting missing links in disease paths of vector borne diseases, identifying the threshold of soil ecosystem resiliency, environmental factors affecting wildlife populations, and investigating the impact of micro-climate changes on emerging and re-emerging diseases.   

  
  Synopsis;
  

  Charles Darwin defined evolution as “descent with modification”.  This presentation will explain the adaptations of organisms to their environment through the process of natural selection and explain the unity and diversity of life.  It will also discuss some of the overwhelming amount of scientific evidence supporting this concept.  Evolution of population and the origin of species may also be visited, time permitting.

  Please note that the dinner and talks will both be at the one venue, First Floor Strattons Hotel, 249 Castlereagh Street Sydney.

  We do request at a minimum a couple dollar donation to cover the cost of the hall hire and any other costs we incur, we are not for profit and 100% of funds will go to operating the group. Also, as the hotel is doing us a very good deal for the space, we hope that you will avail yourself of some of the fine food and drink that they offer.
  
  Dinner will be available from 6.00pm whilst the talks will begin at 7.00pm.

  You will be able to eat before or during the talks. We will also have a 15 minute intermission. This venue affords us much in the way of social possibilities as well as the talks. Please note that catering will not be available after 8.30pm. Meals are available from $10.00.

  Location: 249 Castlereagh St, Sydney NSW
  The nearest station is Museum, whilst Town Hall Station is a 5 to 10 minute walk. Cheap parking is available at 730 George Street, $9 flat rate 6 mins from the meetup hotel. If you come in the door to the furthest right of the Pub on Castlereagh Street, then up the stairs to the right, and all the way to the top, there is a large room to the left.

  
  

  Please RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/sydneyatheists/events/134131062/

Resignation and Appointments

On behalf of the Committee of Sydney Atheists, I would like to make three announcements:

1)  Murray Love has resigned as Treasurer of Sydney Atheists Incorporated. Murray has been the Treasurer for almost two years. He has also been an active committee member. Murray has been instrumental in organising the Penrith Meetups and has been a prolific attendee at many Sydney Atheist functions. We thank Murray for all of his input and wish him well.

2)  We have offered the position of Treasurer to Semih Ilhan, which Semih has accepted.

3)  We have offered the position of Assistant Treasurer / Secretary to Mike Beecham, a position that Mike has accepted.

Many will remember Semih for his talk on "From Islam to disbelief". Semih and Mike have been frequent attendees at our social and talk evenings. They will add vibrancy to Sydney Atheists and work toward our common goals. It is with great pleasure that we welcome these two gentlemen to the committee as we look to drive membership and attendance to ever greater heights. The committee seeks to grow Sydney Atheists so that we can have a greater impact in the broader community.